Prior .....GAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dropped from the Test Squad and not in the Lions Squad either.

Replaced by Ambrose.

Musical chairs.

lardbucket wrote:Musical chairs.

More like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

Probably could have made a solid enough lower order batsman, but realistically, he was dropping far too many chances. Needs to work on his keeping.

So how good is Ambrose?

doremi wrote:So how good is Ambrose?

Well he can actually keep!

Peter Sussex replaces Matt Sussex with Tim Sussex? Fork orf...... I won't believe it.

doctorspin wrote:Dropped from the Test Squad and not in the Lions Squad either.

Replaced by Ambrose.

As I predicted ... (along with Strauss and the dropping of Bopara) - and the correct decisions IMO.

England need a glove man who CAN actually keep wicket cleanly and grab the half chances when they're offered,
note the disappointment from the bowlers (especially SiBo) when Prior shelled peas with regularity in SL.

Tim Ambrose is a safe keeper who can also score runs.
Good decisions all round.

But ...... will Shah ever get a Test?
Unlikely as long as Vaughan captains ... oh well, he pushes a mean drinks trolley and gets paid for doing that!

They probably had to drop prior, your bowlers need confidence in the keeper.

Poor sidebottom looked shattered during the SL tour as he was the victim of most of the drops.

Prior is a sledging pile of doodoo.

Lets hope Ambrose takes it to the Kiwis.


I hope he can keep to Monty.

Your monty obsession is a bit worrying Smerk, do you have pictures of him on your bedroom wall?

Hmm.... not the worst decision in the world to pick Ambrose, but I'd have preferred to see Foster in the mix somewhere.

Prior was starting to look the part with the bat, but we can't carry on picking keepers who shell 2 or 3 catches per game.

Merlin wrote:

doctorspin wrote:Dropped from the Test Squad and not in the Lions Squad either.

Replaced by Ambrose.

As I predicted ... (along with Strauss and the dropping of Bopara) - and the correct decisions IMO.

England need a glove man who CAN actually keep wicket cleanly and grab the half chances when they're offered,
note the disappointment from the bowlers (especially SiBo) when Prior shelled peas with regularity in SL.

Tim Ambrose is a safe keeper who can also score runs.
Good decisions all round.

But ...... will Shah ever get a Test?
Unlikely as long as Vaughan captains ... oh well, he pushes a mean drinks trolley and gets paid for doing that!

It used to be that there were two certainties in life - death and taxes. Make that three: Merlin whinging about MPV.

Give. It. A. Rest. We know where you're coming from on this

And, by the way, you weren't the only one to "predict" Strauss replacing Bopara.

Poor man's Mystic Meg

Just having a look at Sidebottom career stats here. Had he had a better gloveman behind the stumps his test match average may well be around about 28/9 as opposed to the 34 it currently sits at!

I can understand Ambrose - but why persist with Mustard. Foster's a better keeper, and (I would wager) more likely to score runs at test level.

Basil wrote:
It used to be that there were two certainties in life - death and taxes. Make that three: Merlin whinging about MPV.

Give. It. A. Rest. We know where you're coming from on this

And, by the way, you weren't the only one to "predict" Strauss replacing Bopara.

Poor man's Mystic Meg

I agree he has a bias against Mikkel Worn, but I wholeheartedly agree that Shah has continuously been shafted harder than a prossie on payday and I'd be totally agrieved at this occurrence if I'd supported him for a long time. It was a total disgrace that Bopara got three Tests whilst Shah was just sitting there.

Batfink Begins wrote:

Basil wrote:
It used to be that there were two certainties in life - death and taxes. Make that three: Merlin whinging about MPV.

Give. It. A. Rest. We know where you're coming from on this

And, by the way, you weren't the only one to "predict" Strauss replacing Bopara.

Poor man's Mystic Meg

I agree he has a bias against Mikkel Worn, but I wholeheartedly agree that Shah has continuously been shafted harder than a prossie on payday and I'd be totally agrieved at this occurrence if I'd supported him for a long time. It was a total disgrace that Bopara got three Tests whilst Shah was just sitting there.

With you about Shah, bet my mortgage against him getting a game in NZ though!

Batfink Begins wrote:

Basil wrote:
It used to be that there were two certainties in life - death and taxes. Make that three: Merlin whinging about MPV.

Give. It. A. Rest. We know where you're coming from on this

And, by the way, you weren't the only one to "predict" Strauss replacing Bopara.

Poor man's Mystic Meg

I agree he has a bias against Mikkel Worn, but I wholeheartedly agree that Shah has continuously been shafted harder than a prossie on payday and I'd be totally agrieved at this occurrence if I'd supported him for a long time. It was a total disgrace that Bopara got three Tests whilst Shah was just sitting there.

Shah's got two T20s and five ODIs to put himself in the mix for a Test place. It's not ideal, but he's still got a chance to push his case with a Pietersen vs South Africa type ODI series.

They wouldn't be able to not pick him then.

By the same token, it's funny that Graveney has said Ambrose will start as number one keeper in the Tests, but Mustard will be "the man" in the one-dayers. What happens if Big Phil has a blinding one day series, a biffing run machine?

They've not thought this through. Again.

Dello wrote:

Batfink Begins wrote:

Basil wrote:
It used to be that there were two certainties in life - death and taxes. Make that three: Merlin whinging about MPV.

Give. It. A. Rest. We know where you're coming from on this

And, by the way, you weren't the only one to "predict" Strauss replacing Bopara.

Poor man's Mystic Meg

I agree he has a bias against Mikkel Worn, but I wholeheartedly agree that Shah has continuously been shafted harder than a prossie on payday and I'd be totally agrieved at this occurrence if I'd supported him for a long time. It was a total disgrace that Bopara got three Tests whilst Shah was just sitting there.

Shah's got two T20s and five ODIs to put himself in the mix for a Test place. It's not ideal, but he's still got a chance to push his case with a Pietersen vs South Africa type ODI series.

They wouldn't be able to not pick him then.

By the same token, it's funny that Graveney has said Ambrose will start as number one keeper in the Tests, but Mustard will be "the man" in the one-dayers. What happens if Big Phil has a blinding one day series, a biffing run machine?

They've not thought this through. Again.

Which begs the question - why is Mustard in the test squad if Ambrose can leapfrog him? By definition, he is not the second best keeper available and is anyone seriously suggesting that he can get by on his batting? Why not do something totally left-field and pick two keepers, both with a genuine chance of playing.

Could the answer be as simple as: they don't know what they're doing.

Dello wrote:Could the answer be as simple as: they don't know what they're doing.

I was forgetting the Graveney factor.

Dello wrote:

By the same token, it's funny that Graveney has said Ambrose will start as number one keeper in the Tests, but Mustard will be "the man" in the one-dayers. What happens if Big Phil has a blinding one day series, a biffing run machine?

One of the journo's at the press conference made exactly that point to The Orange One, and the Gravmeister conceded that in those circumstances they may consider giving Mustard the gloves for the first Test.

I still think Foster is unlucky not to be one of the two keepers in the Test squad. At least he's got some Test experience.

[quote="Neil D"]

Dello wrote:

I still think Foster is unlucky not to be one of the two keepers in the Test squad. At least he's got some Test experience.

Agreed: he probably doesn't sledge enough

Dello wrote:Could the answer be as simple as: they don't know what they're doing.

I think they're working on the assumption that if you throw enough sh*t at a wall, some of it will eventually stick. Throw enough keepers into the team and eventually one has to come good.

How many keepers have we had since Stewie now?? Read, Jones, Nixon, Prior, Mustard, and now Ambrose. And ironically, the only one who hasn't had a chance is the only one who looked decent in his last few outings in the Test team - James Foster.

With Davies being picked for the Lions - you have to assume that Foster is nowhere on the selectors' radar. Good luck to Davies, but I don't think his batting technique is up to test level yet.