How is it a very strong batting line-up? We lost the last two Tests by virtue of lacking first-innings runs, and you could argue that this lineup is as weak as either. Strauss has got out the same way all summer around the wicket, Cook has looked in good nick but not made it count, Bell still fills me with as much confidence as the site of a caravan trying to overtake a lorry, Collingwood's place was on the line days ago, Bopara has a worse Test record with the bat than Dean Headley, Flintoff can barely buy a bloody run anywhere and Ambrose just looks like getting out every time he tries a cover drive.
Quick - bring forward the Ashes!!!
England has to pick and stick. Pick some youngish guys who've shown some decent potential, blood them and give them time to find their way. I can understand the frustration at the apparent selectorial inertia, but if the alternative is a raft of changes made in heady times following a defeat, wont you end up with the late-80s/ early 90s phenomenon where the caps seemed to be handed out to anyone and everyone?
Before the second test, threads were posted about whether Flintoff should even have been picked!!!
If that situation had applied to McGrath (who was our best bowler) and Australia, there wouldn't even have been a discussion - he's the best bowler - if he's declared fit, whether he's played once in 12 months, or thirty times in 12 months he gets picked, because he's head and shoulders above your other options. As Flintoff was over others. Why there was even a discussion about it is beyond me.
Likewise Hoggard. Now I don't get to see or read about his FC efforts this summer because I'm on the other side of the world. But if I'm barracking for SA this English summer, I'm a damn sight happier he's not there and a bloke like Broad or Anderson is. Why? Because whether he's bowling crap for his county or not, the bloke's done it at test level for a few years now and done it well. He's a proven test bowler. He's done it when it swings, he's done it when it hasn't. He's done it when it's cool and overcast, he's done it when it's hot and sunny. He's done it when it's seaming around and he's done it when it's flat as a tack, like in Adelaide.
It's all right for the selectors to opine "he's lost a yard of pace", but as far as I know he hasn't lost the respect of test batsmen, which in my mind counts for a hell of a lot more. If he got pongoed in a couple or more tests, fair enough, but surely he'd earned the right to lose his spot at the highest level.
Cook, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen are hardly old. There's a future there. I still have qualms re. Cook's technique on off stump, but he's making a go of it, while Strauss has come back after a horror run - itself a sign of mental strength. Bell looks like he'll cry every time a ball beats his bat, but he's a better player now than he was 2-3 years ago. Pietersen is a class act.
There's a nucleus there for a decent batting line up. You need someone to come in for Vaughan (assuming he's not back). If it's a decision between some bloke who's 30-odd and averages 3 runs per innings more than a bloke who's 25, FFS pick the young bloke and stick with him for a decent period!!! The selectors have to trust their judgment - if they're not prepared to take a punt based on their looking at players at FC level, they ought not be in the job.
When Australia were complete and utter ****e in the 80s (much, much worse than England are now), the selectors gave young blokes who weren't ready a go. And they did it knowing they weren't ready, but they picked the most combative guys they could who had the right mental approach, and who would grow into it - that's why blokes like Boon, S Waugh, Healy and G Marsh beacme the nucleus of a very good side - not because they immediately adjusted, but because they were given time to grow into it and to prosper.
Sure, they were talented players, but don't tell me there aren't a crop of some suitably talented fellas with the right attitudes around in county cricket. If there isn't such a crop, what the hell has the ECB been doing for the past decade or so?
Genuine LOL at that one
