If you were Chairman of selectors for the ECB who would you pick for the rest of the SA series???

Question

I'd go for

A.Cook

A.Struass

M.Vaughan (C)

K.Pietersen

I.Bell

A.Flintoff (ALL)

T.Ambrose (WK)

S.Harmison (OBW)

S.Jones

M.Hoggard (OBW)

M.Panesar

Yep the '05 Ashes attack with Panesar instead of Giles

Answer 1

i am not watching england matches,since they played against new zealand.

i will include  ryan sidebottom, james anderson,paul collingwood(best 2 of 3) instead of s.jones and mattew hoggard.If 3 of them are not available.

this squad is ok.

Answer 2

I think there are a lot of knee-jerk reactions to England's inability to rip through South Africa in their second innings at Lord's. Yes, it was very frustrating, and the bowling attack definitely lacked a cutting edge. However, lets not forget that this is the same bowling attack that has won back-to-back series against New Zealand, and has been performing consistently well together as a bowling unit for quite some time now.

One of the keys to England winning the Ashes in 2005 was that we had a bowling attack that bowled as a unit. That did not happen overnight; it took time to put together. Since then, England for one reason or another have been unable to field that bowling unit, and have been changing the attack on a regular basis. Whither Plunkett and Mahmood now? Harmison and Hoggard banished. Jones re-emerging from the abyss.

Andrew Flintoff is the only one of the "fab four" ready to return to the international arena, and able to enhance the existing attack. In 5 first-class matches this season, he has bowled 140.1 overs, and taken 13 wickets at 25.84. A decent return for an all-rounder.

Simon Jones has been hitting the headlines, not least amongst some users on this forum, and rightly so, given the startling impact he has made in his first full season since recovering from his injury. He has so far taken 29 wickets at 13.27. But in 6 first-class matches, he has only bowled 116.2 overs. Compare that to Sidebottom, who in 6 games has bowled 266.0 overs, and Anderson, who in 7 has bowled 227.2, and you see where the problem is with Jones. To play Test cricket you need to have the stamina to play for 5 days, and bowl 40-50 overs (minimum0 in the match. Jones clearly cannot do this. It is all very well saying that he won't need to bowl loads of overs as his strike rate will be high, but what if he doesn't pick up wickets, or if they have a pitch like they had at Lord's on Sunday and Monday? He would then become a liability, especially as Flintoff has only just recovered from injury. England could find themselves with serios problems if he broke down.

Anderson and Sidebotom in my opinion are certain picks for the England team. Flintoff is another. Panesar is virtually unchallenged for the spin berth.

Now to the batting. Strauss has gone from being persona non-grata, to our most consistent batsman. Cook is a fantastic young player, and is too good to be dropped. Pietersen obviously will play. Bell has redeemed himself, and probably got himself as far as the start of next years Ashes campaign before his place will be talked about again.

Collingwood is struggling badly at the moment, both with the bat, and with his temperament. He has done himself no favours with his behaviour in the ODI series.  I would personally drop him.

There are several candidates to replace him. Flintoff coming in at number six seems to be the general consensus, so that there is a five man bowling attack. But there are other options. Ravi Bopara has been in excellent form with both bat and ball this season. He has scored more first class runs than anyone: 827 at 51.68, and has also picked up 20 wickets at 27.80. Owais Shah is the other man who has been in and around the team. This season he has 710 runs at 44.37. Matt Prior, the recently dropped wicketkeeper, is staking a strong claim to be picked as a batsman alone, or as a batsman-keeper, with 788 runs at 52.53. Chris Read, another recently discarded 'keeper, has 508 runs at 46.18. Among batsman challenging for the spot are Rob Key with 641 at 53.41, and the uncapped Paul Horton with 782 at 65.16

So as you can see, there are a lot of problems facing the selectors.

The team I would pick is:

Cook, Strauss, Vaughan, Pietersen, Bell, Flintoff, Ambrose, Broad, Sidebottom, Anderson, Panesar.

I would not bring back Harmison or Hoggard. Hoggard and Sidebottom are much of a muchness, Sidebottom adds a little variety to the attack, and Anderson is sharper than Hoggard. Harmsion has consistently let England down, and I feel he needs a long spell in the wilderness before he can be given serious consideration. Flintoff is good enough to fulfil the number six spot, and even if he isn't getting any runs, neither was collingwood, so no big loss.

My most contentious selection is Ambrose. I know he hasn't exactly looked brilliant, but as I have consistently said on this forum, we need to stop tinkering with the wicketkeeping slot. Ambrose needs to be given time to develop into the role. He is a decent batsman, and is reasonable behind the stumps. He is still very young (25) and is still developing his technique. We need to give him time.

Ditto Stuart Broad. His bowling isn't penatrative, but he should be given time to develop. The last two days at Lord's can only help him to understand how to bowl on a flat pitch.

My first batting reserve would be Rob Key. I feel he is an extremely talented batsman, who did OK for England last time he was in the team, is a better batsman now, and deserves another chance.

My first bowling reserve would be Matthew Hoggard.

If Flintoff is injured again, I would bring in Bopara.

Answer 3

I DON'T LIKE CRICKET!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

YOUR CHOICE IS GOOD but when did Ambrose got england citizenship???????

Answer 5

Panesar is only an average county spin bowler, he is nothing special. He can't bat and is a liability in the field.

Answer 6

Cook

Strauss

Vaughan

Pietersen

Bell

Collingwood

Foster

Broad

S Jones

Pattinson

Panesar

Flintoff isn't in good enough form and i dont rate Sidebottom or Anderson that much.

Definitely not Graham Napier - hes not a real batsman!

Answer 7

I'd like to see Marcus Trescothick go out and prove his genius to the world one last time. It would be great to see him coming out of retirement. Even though he averaged 59.16 against us, it was always incredible seeing him bat.

I'd like to see Freddie playing the next game too.

Answer 8

agreed with flintoff not rest

Answer 9

Everyone has said how well England did to win home and away against the New Zealanders, but that was not really a stiff challenge for a team that wants to win back the Ashes next summer, so I think the whole set-up needs a bit of a shake up.

I can't say for the rest of the series, but for the Headingley Test I would pick....

Cook

Strauss (c)

Pietersen

Shah

Bell

Prior (wk)

Flintoff

Sidebottom

Hoggard

Anderson

Panesar

No space for the two weakest links in the batting line-up, Vaughan or Collingwood.  I accept that Vaughan is a good captain in the field, but his day job is to bat No.3 and score runs, something he's failing to do more often than not now. His career average has steadily dropped by about ten runs over the last five years. Strauss was very able at captaining Middlesex, and should have been captain instead of Flintoff on what turned out to be a disastrous Ashes tour of '06/'07.

Pietersen is easily England's best batsman and so should bat at No. 3.

Shah is so good it beggars belief that he isn't already an established player, he also would improve the fielding immensely over Vaughan. I'd also put him above Bell because Bell has performed particularly well down at 5 and 6.

Bringing in Prior and batting him at No. 6 allows the extra bowler, because Prior could command a place as a specialist batsman anyway.

Flintoff at No. 7 takes a bit of pressure off his batting, which isn't his strongest suit, and with four other bowlers the workload is shared, so no concerns about aggravating old injuries. Also having him in at second slip, at least to the other seamers, strengthens the slip cordon as well.

Maybe not right now for the Second Test at Headingley, but certainly in a couple of weeks I could be convinced to drop Anderson for Simon Jones at Edgbaston in the Third Test if I could be convinced of Jones' fitness. Though having got rid of Collingwood, who is admittedly a top class fielder, I may also be tempted to keep Anderson because of his ability in the field; it's a tough call, especially as neither can bat, but more often than not I would pick Jones for the Third Test if fitness is proven.

Harmison has done nothing to suggest he is worth a place, and for me, Stuart Broad loses his place because, good as his batting was at No. 8 on Saturday, his day job is to takes wickets, and his average is the wrong side of 45, with a strike rate of nearly 90!

I accept that this lengthens the tail, but the bowling attack is so much stronger that most of the time they wouldn't need the extra runs from Broad at No.8, especially as the top six is now significantly stronger too.

Answer 10

Interesting question mate. I'm suprised you left Sidebottom out. He has been so consistent over the last year or so.

I have had this team in my head for a long time.

Alastair Cook

Michael Vaughan (C)

Kevin Pietersen

Owais Shah

Ian Bell

Andrew Flintoff (ALL)

Matt Prior (WK)

Adil Rashid

Ryan Sidebottom (OBW)

Simon Jones

Matthew Hoggard (OBW)

This team may look completly different to the current one, but i believe with this team England could seriously challenge for the Top spot in the Test Rankings.

Cook is a great young batsmen he will keep his place at the top of the order for years to come, Vaughan bats best at the top of the order (see Australian series 02/03).

Pietersen is the best English batsmen for a long time, so he should bat for as long as possible, so i would promote him up to 3. Owais Shah is just full of talent, so i would finally give him chance to prove himself at 4. Bell at 5 is a no-brainer. A fully confident Fred at 6, now Prior HAS to come in for Ambrose! Prior is a superb batsmen and a decent keeper! Ambrose isnt the best keeper or batter in England

Rashid is England's spinning future! plus he can bat! Sidebottom is another no-brainer, as is a fully fit Jones and Hoggard! The bowling attack is perfectly balanced! 2 great swing bowlers! 2 fast swinging bowlers! and a magical leg-spin bowler

Answer 11

I want James Foster to take over Tim Ambrose's wicketkeeping and Graham Napier for Flintoff because I dont think hes ready yet. Maybe we could also fit in Bopara.

GO ESSEX!!

Answer 12

Not Flintoff! His not fit enough and is likely to break down during match.

Answer 13

No both Hoggard and Harmison have had their day . Hoggy was a fantastic trier and on occasions a match winner but now he really needs swinging conditions to have any chance of being an effective test bowler  Harmison has never really made the total commitment to cricket , and whilst I can understand that he misses his family and home in Durham there need to be much more commitment before I would pick him again

I would bring back James Foster as the guy never really did anything wrong except break his arm !!!  Jones came in for him and he has never had a chance again and he is currently in very good form

I'd like to see Jones back again , but maybe he needs a few more county games to fully prove his match fitness so I would stick to the current crop of seamers . I agree Flintoff back and leave out Collingwood , although Flintoffs batting does not appear to have come back as much as his bowling so perhaps that is a bit of a risk

Answer 14

A.Cook

A.Struass

M.Vaughan (C)

K.Pietersen

I.Bell

collingwood

A.Flintoff (ALL)

T.Ambrose (WK)

Sidebottom (OBW)

M.Hoggard (OBW)

M.Panesar

Answer 15

Your choice is good to beat South Africa but they are a tough team so i would giv a chance to this team to prove

Alaister Cook     -     Neil Mckenzie

Andrew Strauss  -    Greame Smith

Micheal Vaughan   -   Jack Kallis

Ian Bell                -     Hashim Amla

Kevin Peterson   -  mark Boucher

Andrew Flintoff   -  Aswell Prince

Matt Prior         -     Albie Morkel

Straut Broad    -    

Monty Panesar   -  Paul Harris

Ryan Sidebottom       -      Dale Steyn

James Andreson        -    Makhaya ntini

Answer 16

i won't argue with that team, apart from ambrose. i'd go back to prior, his keeping was ok untill sri lanka & he could bat at 6 & freddie 7.

Answer 17

The current team is fine,except a wicket keeper that can bat,and  sidebottom/jones/tremlett instead of patterson

Answer 18

i would say the same as you but tim ambrose for prior or mustard

Answer 19

still living in the past i see.

Answer 20

Why does everybody persist in picking the useless Michael Vaughan. He's averaging about two runs per test at the moment and he's not that much good as a bowler or a captain. I can't believe he declared at just under 600 runs in the last test and then had to fight to get a miserable draw!