Are you satisfied by the team selection of the English side for this test series so far?

Question

Should Vaughan be retained or is he another Good Luck Chuck ?

Answer 1

If Vaughan wasn't skipper his form wouldn't warrant a place in the England side and Hoggy should have been brought in for the injured Siddy. Hoggy is the perfect bowler in English conditions and knows Headingly like the back of his hand.

The selectors picked Pattinson who had only previously played about 11 first class matches.

The selectors stink like the pies on sale at the match.

Answer 2

i think hoggard should be there and one of Harmison and Jones. who performing wel should be there in team

Answer 3

selection has been good

Answer 4

For the 1st test, England had no need to change there side. Ok so Freddy was back and firing, but England had played the same side 5 times in a row, and this side hadnt lost a test match. Yes they were against NZ, but still they were gathering a winning mentality.

In the 1st test the batting line-up mostly fired, and the bowling line-up did well to skittle South Africa out for less than 250 in the 1st innings. The 2nd innings was different though, it proved that England missed that firepower needed in tough situations, firepower that could be created by a Harmison or a Flintoff.

So for the 2nd test Collingwood was widely tipped to be dropped for Flintoff, which i have no problem with because Flintoff not only gives England a different edge, but because Collingwood is not scoring any runs, it means England wont miss his runs.

The next question was should Tim Ambrose stay or go, well i would have dropped him to be honest. Many people have said that Ambrose should be given the whole summer to prove that he can handle test matches, BUT not only has Ambrose lost all confidence with bat in hand, BUT he is dropping important catches too! Ambrose is not international standard, his technique can easily be found out by international quality bowlers. So i would have picked Prior and not Ambrose. Prior has been scoring runs for fun in the Championship, and his keeping has improved as well.

Now Sidebottom and Anderson both had lingering injuries leading into the test match, leading for the selectors to call up Chris Tremlett and Darren Pattinson. Now both of these inclusions are ludicrious! First of all Tremlett is never going to play, the pitch is a seamers paradise and not a pitch which suits pace and bounce! so why Tremlett is in the squad is beyond me! Including Pattinson is actually more sensible than Tremlett IMO! because the conditions at Headingley suit Pattinsons style of bowling

Also Pattinson has taken a lot of wickets at 20 this year, compared to others (like Hoggard who have taken less wickets at an average of 25)

BUT still even though Pattinson has an excellent record this year, i would have still drafted Hoggard into the squad because he knows the ground so well, and he is a geniune swing bowler. Now this may sound strange but i would have actually played Sajid Mahmood! not only does he swing the ball but he does it at great pace, so he would be an excellent inclusion, ALSO he has good memories of this ground, he took loads of wickets against Pakistan at Headingley in 2006

So to sum up

I wouldnt have changed a thing at Lords so i am happy with the selectors there.

I would have played Mahmood and not Pattinson! for the 2nd test and i would have played Matt Prior as keeper, so i am disappointed there

Vaughan will come good! He is a class act, who deserves a little patience from the selectors!

Answer 5

I would have preferred Chris Tremlett in place of Pattinson. The players who have not performed well are: Ambrose, Vaughan and Collingwood. I think we should give more time for Vaughan to click.

Answer 6

Not if they are picking players I've never heard of! But I am not an advocate of changing the team simply because we have lost one game. The bowling lacks a cutting edge, as our strike bowlers, Anderson and Flintoff, had to perform as stock bowlers in the last game. What we need is a third who can bowl long spells and allow that strike bowlers to have short, sharp bursts. seamer who can  We also need a spin bowler who can bowl in conditions where it is not conducive to seam bowling (and yes, I said seam, not spin). Monty takes wickets in conditions that don't suit his bowling. Our batting needs more consistency, instead of relying on KP all the time. And Ian Bell needed to score big runs at Headingley: it is all very well getting them in the run-glut at Lord's, but if he wants to be a top performer, the time to get them was when England were in the mire in deepest darkest Yorkshire.

As for Vaughan...................I don't envy him. Perhaps the players just need a change of voice. He certainly isn't justifying his place through his performances.

Answer 7

No, I don't know where the idea of selecting Pattinson came from, but I have a feeling that he would not have been the choice of Vaughan. I would have rather seen Lancashire;s Mamhoud selected ahead of him, or even a half-fit Hoggard, and people can't expect Flintoff to do the job on his own coming back from long term injury. Vaughan's form has deserted him and he has got to ask himself if he should be selected, captain or not, the openers seem to be getting a start but are not making a big enough dent in the attack, and there is not enough consistency among the middle order, KP is KP and I don't think that he will ever play anything other than his own game, if he makes a big score, great, but once he is out, things tend to look a bit fragile. Hopefully Collingwood will find his form again back at Durham and be back soon, and Sidebottom recovers sooner than later. I think that the selctors got it very wrong at Headingley, lets hope lessons have been learned.

Answer 8

The batsmen are ok. I think that they should change tim ambrose for foster (the essex keeper)- he has been brilliant in the games where i have seen him on sky. I think hat the bowlers should be Steve Harmison, simon jones, matthew hoggard, adil rashid(yorkshire legspinner) and flintoff. all of these people take lots of wickets and that is th emain reason why we didnt win the first test and why we didnt lose the second one. My team is this

1. Strauss

2. Cook

3.Vaughan

4. Pietersen

5.Bell

6.Flintoff

7.Rashid

8.Foster (keeper)

9.Harmison

10.Hoggard

11.Jones

Answer 9

i think it is simply perfect, and Vaughan is a gd player give him chance.