What England seam team do you - expect, - hope for, come the Ashes?

Jim apart, a bunch of crocks and fallabouts lately.


Would hope for:

Anderson
Broad (in full health and at full pace)
Finn (uninjured) and/or
Tremlett (parts glued together)

Expect:

Anderson (if fit ....)
Broad (at 76 mph)
Meaker?? or
Onions???
Dernbach??????????

Who else?

Who can we guarantee on being all good and no bad? None of them.

Hopefully Jimothy has turned the dobby corner.

The best thing for Broad would be to miss the NZ Tests and get some proper bowling under his belt at Notts.

Tremlett? Heard he just injured his ribs, when laughing at Shane Watson's misfortune. That'll lead to two more operations.

Finn? I don't have a great deal of confidence in his Tremlett-esque body.

I don't think Bresnan will play for a while, now. I think the dim selectors have had it reiterated enough as to why he shouldn't have played since the WI.

What will happen is that Anderson and Broad will play if 'fit' - as will Finn. But Finn will break down. They'll go to Bresnan. Who'll be a little spray-y and shitey.

Onions will be in by the fourth Test and be mediocre.

I'm with Pete on his 4 choices.

Brass Monkey wrote:
Tremlett? Heard he just injured his ribs, when laughing at Shane Watson's misfortune. That'll lead to two more operations.

Got to feel sorry for the Aussies that just about the only time Goober has been fully fit for more than 2 weeks in the last 25 years coincided with our Ashes tour down under.

No really, you have.

Aren't we batting in the next Ashes?

I'd like to Cook, Trott and Root, thanks.

Oh it says seam team, soz.

Hoping for Tremlett would seem to be a bit far-fetched, but yeah, would be nice to have him fit and firing. With all these injuries and his advancing age though, there will come a time where he wont be able to jarr bat handles at 88mph anymore. Sooner or later he's going to come back from injury as an 80mph 'floater', and I reckon it will be this time, unfortunately.

It would also be nice to have Broad back to his best. Surely at 26 his loss of pace isn't permanent. He just needs time to get his body 100% again. Funny how he started picking up injuries as soon as they sent him off to the gym to 'bulk up'. Same with Finn. If a bowler is naturally lean, he should be kept lean. I've never seen a muscly fast bowler who has stayed relatively injury free throughout his career.

I don't expect the side to be too different to what it is now. A debut for Roland-Jones, Meaker, and Stokes could be a possibility. I hope Woakes and Harris don't get near the side, though.

eowyn wrote:
I'd like to Cook, Trott and Root, thanks.

Cool, because I'm happy to Eat, Root and Run.

eowyn wrote:Oh it says seam team, soz.

Don't worry, with your bowling attack I'd be focusing on the batters too. It's the exact opposite for us.

The Kookaburras haven't swung much this year so they will need at least one of the bang it in types if it's the same next summer.

I'm hoping for Plunkett, FFS Lewis, Bicknell, and the offspring of Phil Newport or Alan Igglesden.

lardbucket wrote:I'm hoping for Plunkett, FFS Lewis, Bicknell, and the offspring of Phil Newport or Alan Igglesden.

If 2012 is anything to go by, you won't be facing far off that. You. Will. Not. Be. Facing. Far. Off. That.

lardbucket wrote:I'm hoping for Plunkett, FFS Lewis, Bicknell, and the offspring of Phil Newport or Alan Igglesden.

Well with Huss gawn, lets face it they'll be bowling to the offspring of the likes of Graeme Wood, Greg Ritchie, Wayne Phillips.

Ashes 2013... the battle of who can be least shoite.

Aus not doing up SL too badly.

2 dogfish > kipper?

Whoever Aus select in the bowling, will do a decent enough job in English conditions. For me, Australias chance of regaining the urn depend on their batting in those conditions.

For England, I think our bowling is the same as Aus, it'll do decently whoever is picked. If we can get our batting back to the level we saw down under we'll win and that's a big call because i've not made us favourites for either of the last 2 series!

Brass Monkey wrote:

lardbucket wrote:I'm hoping for Plunkett, FFS Lewis, Bicknell, and the offspring of Phil Newport or Alan Igglesden.

If 2012 is anything to go by, you won't be facing far off that. You. Will. Not. Be. Facing. Far. Off. That.

Martin Bicknell only plays Tests in years ending in 3... you might be onto something there!

Anderson and Finn (if fit) are shoo-ins.

For the third seamer, perm any one from Broad, Bresnan and Onions. I'm not going to rule Bresnan out if he can get his pace back to where it was during the last Ashes.

I certainly wouldn't rule him out, as the selectors like him as an honest hard working sort who can bat a bit, even if he's bowling 75mph pies!

I was on about the calibre rather than the personnel. If were on about getting pace back then I'm backing Bob Willis. Heck, I'm backing Tom Richardson. Point is they haven't the pace, they're an iota of the threat they were, so I don't particularly judge them as Test bowlers.

If Finn can stay fit, you'd think he's earned a shot at a proper run in the side now, alongside Jammy.

I'd imagine Broad is still considered a shoo-in for the third seamer's spot, regardless of his obvious decline in form (batting as well).

Onions will be in the mix. Or the stew.

Tremlett's done. Dusted. Busted. Though, if he were able to stand up unaided at some point in the summer, he'd be a decent option to airlift in for a Test here or there in the event of injuries.

Bresnan can f*ck right off. He's the Ashley Giles of seam bowling. He got away with it for a while, but the secret's out now.

Hope Meaker can step up and put some pressure on the more established folks - Alec Stewart's given him the big one on BBC's cricketers to watch in 2013.

Meaker better address his shit accuracy. He's an 8mph quicker version on Bresnan. I've as much confidence in our attack as a freckly braces chap has of pulling in a nightclub

Dello wrote:Onions will be in the mix. Or the stew.

Or he might have the Aussies in a pickle...

Anyway, how about we prepare a load of turning pitches and go with Swanny and Monty, negating the impact of pace bowling which is the Aussies' only reasonably strong suit other than Michael Clarke?

That's what India did to England .....

But they didn't bargain for the fact that England's spinners were actually better than theirs. Unless the Aussies unearth a new Warne or two in the next few months there's little chance of them having the stronger spin department!

Easier said than done to just say "Let's prepare turning pitches" in England. The weather could make that difficult. The Aussies have hardly shown an amazing ability to counter high quality swing in recent times, anyway. We'll be better off with three quicks and Swann. Monty for Old Trafford and the Oval, perhaps.

beamer wrote:But they didn't bargain for the fact that England's spinners were actually better than theirs. Unless the Aussies unearth a new Warne or two in the next few months there's little chance of them having the stronger spin department!

Invers has that covered....apparently.