***Official** West Indies in England***

[UncleTheOne]

reports this morning seem to be suggesting KP will be fit for the first test and that vaughan is recovering quicker than expected and is also in with a shout.

 

[simmy]

Massive relief about KP. Broad seems to be out though, which is a shame.

It would be a good series to push forward a decent young seamer.

 

[UncleTheOne]

i'm still not getting the love in over stuart broad to be honest. his claims to fame seem to be his height, and the fact he bowled well in 20/20.

 

[Richard]

I think even that's generous tbh. He's only scored runs on flat tracks so far this season, and against 2nd Division attacks as well.

But he's been scoring runs for 7 or 8 years - Pipe has been not scoring runs for 3 years and not playing for another 7 or 8...

 

[Richard]

i'm still not getting the love in over stuart broad to be honest. his claims to fame seem to be his height, and the fact he bowled well in 20/20.

Exactly.

For all the potential Broad's height may give him, right now his records at First-Class and List-A level are nothing notable. To have him picked right now - as has already happened in ODIs - is very poor selection.

And not just from the selectors - the whole press-pack are behind his selection.

 

[Richard]

I'd pick Shah but he seemed not to fit in with Fletcher after his excellent debut - let's hope the new regime is more sensible.

Not sure about that, TBH - you don't turn down people who debut like him unless you're completely devoid of sense, which no-one could possibly accuse them of being.

I don't know why Shah fell behind Joyce in the pecking-order, but it's not like those sorts of things never happen. Andrew Symonds replaced Simon Katich in 2004 in one of the worst selectorial decisions in history.

 

[pup11]

Broad really hasn't done anything special to suggest that he is good enough to selected.


His domestic record is pretty poor and only because he bowled economicaly in Twenty20's doesn't mean he should be selected.



Good to hear that KP would be fit in time for the 1st test.

 

[Spitfires_Fan]

But he's been scoring runs for 7 or 8 years - Pipe has been not scoring runs for 3 years and not playing for another 7 or 8...

Oh yeah, the suggestion of Pipe is as ludicrous as they come, but as far as they remember, Nash couldn't even get in the first team at Middlesex last year? Might be because he was injured, I don't remember, but Ben Scott played all of last season.

 

[UncleTheOne]

Oh yeah, the suggestion of Pipe is as ludicrous as they come, but as far as they remember, Nash couldn't even get in the first team at Middlesex last year? Might be because he was injured, I don't remember, but Ben Scott played all of last season.

ben scott went ahead of nash because he's a far better keeper, but didn't make enough runs. so nash reclaimed his place towards the back end of the season. he's not england quality but a very good county pro.

 

[Spitfires_Fan]

ben scott went ahead of nash because he's a far better keeper, but didn't make enough runs. so nash reclaimed his place towards the back end of the season. he's not england quality but a very good county pro.

Sounds like he's a poor man's Matt Prior to be honest. Which doesn't bode particularly well for him in my book. Pothas is the sensible choice for me, in that he's great with the bat, experienced, but not so old that he'll only be around for a year or two. If not Pothas, I'd probably go with Foster or Read.

 

[stafford_1990]

i reckon pothas is the best choice as well.
he's a better batsman than, geraint jones, chris read, paul nixon and basically any other english wicket keeper i can think of.

wouldn't it be a shame though that if he gets picked that'll be 3 south african born players in the side.

why can't england cook up some good home growns like in the old days? we seem to be pinching players off the saffies.

 

[Richard]

Oh yeah, the suggestion of Pipe is as ludicrous as they come, but as far as they remember, Nash couldn't even get in the first team at Middlesex last year? Might be because he was injured, I don't remember, but Ben Scott played all of last season.

As mentioned, I seem to recall Scott being picked ahead of him for most of last season, barely scoring a run, and finally giving way to Nash.

Made no sense to me why he was ever picked ahead of him, Nash's wicketkeeping's always been perfectly decent as far as I know.

Of the domestic wicketkeeper-batsmen, Nash has always been one of the better, even if never one who you'd consider especially seriously for international cricket.

 

[Richard]

Pothas is the sensible choice for me, in that he's great with the bat, experienced, but not so old that he'll only be around for a year or two. If not Pothas, I'd probably go with Foster or Read.

Thing is, not being around for long shouldn't be a problem - right now my hope is that whoever gets in at the current time would only be an interim choice, with Steven Davies coming in in a couple of years' time, and hopefully staying in for another 15 years.

Mind, Davies could fall away as Geraint Jones did - I honestly don't know much about his batting, apart from the fact he's to date scored a decent amount of runs.

Pothas would IMO be the perfect choice, and if not then Foster.

Yet it seems near certain that Nixon will get the nod... Which makes no sense at all. Yes, he's a decent keeper-batsmen, but you'd be crazy to think there weren't better options.

 

[UncleTheOne]

Sounds like he's a poor man's Matt Prior to be honest. QUOTE]


not really, nash actually knows which way on his gloves go on. prior makes geraint jones look like alan knott.

 

[Richard]

Wouldn't go that far. Prior's keeping isn't worse than Jones' was in 2004 and 2005 - that'd be impossible!!

 

[Richard]

i reckon pothas is the best choice as well.
he's a better batsman than, geraint jones, chris read, paul nixon and basically any other english wicket keeper i can think of.

wouldn't it be a shame though that if he gets picked that'll be 3 south african born players in the side.

why can't england cook up some good home growns like in the old days? we seem to be pinching players off the saffies.

It'd be a pity, but only for SAfricans!

And as Matthew Engel points-out - it's rather important for the welfare of the game that South Africa remain a powerful international force.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Of the domestic wicketkeeper-batsmen, Nash has always been one of the better, even if never one who you'd consider especially seriously for international cricket.

Yeah I can see where you're coming from in that. I have absolutely know idea why Ben Scott was selected behind the stumps tbh when he's hardly got a run in his career. Nash has a perfectly respectable average of nearly 36 as keeper/batsmen which is higher than Read, Jones or Foster. Seems strange why his name hasn't come up as a candidate seeing as how he can obviously bat in the longer form of the game.

 

[UncleTheOne]

at least geraint looked interested. i read a very worrying article in the times just after the development squad had been announced, it was about how prior really dislikes keeping wicket, and how he often lets his over confidence in himself turn into arrogance, not a team man by any means according to the article.

tbf in defence of jones, whilst his batting turned comical, his keeping last year improved big time.

 

[Richard]

Yeah I can see where you're coming from in that. I have absolutely know idea why Ben Scott was selected behind the stumps tbh when he's hardly got a run in his career. Nash has a perfectly respectable average of nearly 36 as keeper/batsmen which is higher than Read, Jones or Foster. Seems strange why his name hasn't come up as a candidate seeing as how he can obviously bat in the longer form of the game.

With Jones and Read (in 2003 and 2006) when they were picked ahead of him it was fair enough, as both were looking extremely good at the time.

Foster in 2001 and Read in 1999, however... baffling.

 

[UncleTheOne]

Yeah I can see where you're coming from in that. I have absolutely know idea why Ben Scott was selected behind the stumps tbh when he's hardly got a run in his career. Nash has a perfectly respectable average of nearly 36 as keeper/batsmen which is higher than Read, Jones or Foster. Seems strange why his name hasn't come up as a candidate seeing as how he can obviously bat in the longer form of the game.

being a middlesex follower i've seen a fair amount of him. he can be a bit of a mindless biffer at times, not much thought goes into his batting, he sees, he hits. thats about it. works at county level, would fail at international level.