Nasser- Toughen up England

You drink a whisky drink. You drink a lager drink. You drink a vodka drink, you drink a cider drink. You sing the songs that remind you of the good times and you sing the songs that remind you of the better times. Don't you Danny?

JKLever wrote:LOL, i'm actually hoping Shah & Sales get a decent run to show us how super smashing great they are.

I don't think Sales is in any way a better player than Ian Bell.

Anyway, you know my standpoint - we've been here before.

Aye ... we have.

But, wouldn't it be a tad more appetising for wannabe #3's like those three players
if they WERE given a half dcent run in the side?
That's the point.
Bell, despite his failings, seems to have that halo over his head which has given him a definite immunity to the push.

Perhaps we might all piss ourselves laughing if Shah, Sales or key fail after 10 tests on the trot.
perhaps we might be surprised at their success - WTF knows ...
The fact is that sadly, with Vawn still leader, there's no chance of that happening!!

Batfink Begins wrote:

JKLever wrote:LOL, i'm actually hoping Shah & Sales get a decent run to show us how super smashing great they are.

I don't think Sales is in any way a better player than Ian Bell.

Yeah... I prefer the views of his fellow professionals who rank him incredibly highly. He's certainly one of the best players of spin around.

I'm not for one minute suggesting my POV is worth as much as theirs, just my opinion after all. I rate Sales, but IMO he isn't any better than Bell.

Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:You drink a whisky drink. You drink a lager drink. You drink a vodka drink, you drink a cider drink. You sing the songs that remind you of the good times and you sing the songs that remind you of the better times. Don't you Danny?

No. I don't drink lager.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Strauss and Cook opening together? No way. They're too similar, and they've failed miserably as an opening combination in the past. We need Vaughan's classy strokeplay up there with Cook.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Collingwood's low backlift usually serves him well in swinging conditions. Doesn't edge it at catching height much, but being Colly is more liable to be gated. Why you'd put Bell at 5 and Shah at 6, in any case, is beyond me.

JKLever wrote:I'm not for one minute suggesting my POV is worth as much as theirs, just my opinion after all. I rate Sales, but IMO he isn't any better than Bell.

No, fair do's.

Henry wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Strauss and Cook opening together? No way. They're too similar, and they've failed miserably as an opening combination in the past. We need Vaughan's classy strokeplay up there with Cook.

No. Strauss is class and Vaughan is a better number 3 than Cook. Not perfect but the only way. If Tresco would get his act together it'd be him and Strauss at the top and Vaughany at 3.

Batfink Begins wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Collingwood's low backlift usually serves him well in swinging conditions. Doesn't edge it at catching height much, but being Colly is more liable to be gated. Why you'd put Bell at 5 and Shah at 6, in any case, is beyond me.

Bell's a number 5 for me and there's no other place to put Shah.

Batfink Begins wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:You drink a whisky drink. You drink a lager drink. You drink a vodka drink, you drink a cider drink. You sing the songs that remind you of the good times and you sing the songs that remind you of the better times. Don't you Danny?

No. I don't drink lager.

I had you down as a Grolsch shareholder!

No. Strauss is class and Vaughan is a better number 3 than Cook. Not perfect but the only way. If Tresco would get his act together it'd be him and Strauss at the top and Vaughany at 3.

Strauss is class when in form but so is Vaughan. Vaughan is at his best opening the innings, so why should he be the one who has to move? Strauss hasn't scored a test hundred for almost 2 years and barely deserves to be in the squad, let alone opening the innings and along with Cook getting us offf to a slow and shaky start.

Strauss has all the attributes of a Graham Thorpe style number 5 and imo that's where he should bat when and if he gets back into the starting XI.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:

Batfink Begins wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Just for the record, my top order for New Zealand would be:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
KP
Bell
Shah
Ambrose

Collingwood's low backlift usually serves him well in swinging conditions. Doesn't edge it at catching height much, but being Colly is more liable to be gated. Why you'd put Bell at 5 and Shah at 6, in any case, is beyond me.

Bell's a number 5 for me and there's no other place to put Shah.

Shah ahead of Bell .... definitely.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:
Bell's a number 5 for me and there's no other place to put Shah.

Fair enough. He's barely ever played there though.

Shah at 3 with Bell at his favoured number 6 spot. Strauss has no right to waltz back into the test side straight away. What's he done since he was dropped to prove that he isn't still woefully out on nick?

Shah deserves his chance, and Bell did enough in Sri Lanka to keep his spot. Strauss will just have to work hard in the nets, and bide his time imo.

Henry wrote:

No. Strauss is class and Vaughan is a better number 3 than Cook. Not perfect but the only way. If Tresco would get his act together it'd be him and Strauss at the top and Vaughany at 3.

Strauss is class when in form but so is Vaughan. Vaughan is at his best opening the innings, so why should he be the one who has to move? Strauss hasn't scored a test hundred for almost 2 years and barely deserves to be in the squad, let alone opening the innings and along with Cook getting us offf to a slow and shaky start.

Strauss has all the attributes of a Graham Thorpe style number 5 and imo that's where he should bat when and if he gets back into the starting XI.

Because Strauss is an opener, whereas Vaughan is more versatile.

I don't think Strauss is anything like Thorpe, personally. Thorpe was a "find the gap and play nurdle it around, all the while accumulating runs", type player with the occasional front foot punch through the offside. Strauss is a back foot cutter and puller who scores more quickly.

Henry wrote:Shah at 3 with Bell at his favoured number 6 spot. Strauss has no right to waltz back into the test side straight away. What's he done since he was dropped to prove that he isn't still woefully out on nick?

Shah deserves his chance, and Bell did enough in Sri Lanka to keep his spot. Strauss will just have to work hard in the nets, and bide his time imo.

Yeah totally agreed. Shah should never have been a passenger on the SL tour, in fact it's made Moores look like a bit of a tw@t. It was bang out of order. As for Strauss, I rate him very highly but as mentioned, Bell did well enough to retain his spot and Strauss has done nothing. Furthermore, as he refuses to play as straight as he used to - view any of his first 6 tons - then his cross-batted swishes will be dangerous to play in UnZud.

Merlin wrote:I had you down as a Grolsch shareholder!

No, no lager at all for me. Doesn't sit well, makes me naughty in loads of ways that other alcohol doesn't.

Henry wrote:Shah at 3 with Bell at his favoured number 6 spot. Strauss has no right to waltz back into the test side straight away. What's he done since he was dropped to prove that he isn't still woefully out on nick?

Shah deserves his chance, and Bell did enough in Sri Lanka to keep his spot. Strauss will just have to work hard in the nets, and bide his time imo.

Strauss has EVERY right.
The guy's been Mr. Consistent since he came into the squad...
WTF ... he 'gets out of nick' - and he loses his rights?!! FFS.
If he's never tried again, we'd never know now, would we ?
... simple as that!!

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:

Because Strauss is an opener, whereas Vaughan is more versatile.

Strauss played a long time for Middx at #4.

Strauss and Cook as an opening partnership doesn't work. One of them needs to find a new home.

Strauss at five just looks right. We need a left hander in the middle order to break up the procession of right-handers from one wicket down, he's a lefty looking for a position. He's struggled a bit against the new ball of late, so a drop down the order also makes some sense.

And, when he takes over the captaincy (Geoff Miller was apparently out-voted when the choice came down to Flintoff or Strauss for the Ashes 2006/7), the breather between innings will suit him better, I'd imagine.

Cook
Vaughan *
Shah
Pietersen
Strauss
Collingwood/Bell
Keeper +

Looks a nicely balanced line-up to me.

Batfink Begins wrote:No, no lager at all for me. Doesn't sit well, makes me naughty in loads of ways that other alcohol doesn't.

*Stocks up on lager for when Danny visits Australia*

freddled gruntbuggly wrote:

Batfink Begins wrote:No, no lager at all for me. Doesn't sit well, makes me naughty in loads of ways that other alcohol doesn't.

*Stocks up on lager for when Danny visits Australia*

What? You like guys shitting in your handbag?

I don't have a handbag.

How would you know the ways in which lager makes him misbehave?

Real men drink lager.