KP out for the series

Well, from a selfish perspective, it has been good in this instance.

Not yet it hasn't. The rumour mill has it that KP is, well, a bit of a qunt, in the sheds. His absence may well make the Limeys a more united force.

Yeah, Ian Bell will be the glue that holds them together.

In 1997 Oz had an unending supply of reserves to cover their no-shows, and the extra Test on the schedule reduced the need for panic (ie they were 1-0 down with four to play, not three). I get no 1997 vibe whatsoever from what's happened so far.

KP has described missing the rest of the Ashes series as mental torture.

In all honesty, does anyone (English) here GAF about when he returns?

I mean, I love to watch him bat and wish he played every match for England, but as he's missing the Ashes, who gives a shit about afterwards? It's a lot of meaningless one day boreathon.

I think he'll do well in South Africa in the winter if he can make it.

Henry wrote:I think he'll do well in South Africa in the winter if he can make it.

Aye and I hope to hell he's back for that series. I meant the T20 & ICCCCTT stuff. People are all 'oh no' that he may be out til Oct. I'm much more that's when clown cricket is on....

Brass Monkey wrote:

Henry wrote:I think he'll do well in South Africa in the winter if he can make it.

Aye and I hope to hell he's back for that series. I meant the T20 & ICCCCTT stuff. People are all 'oh no' that he may be out til Oct. I'm much more that's when clown cricket is on....

Quite right, get yourself 'fully fit' not 'flintoff fit' and come back for the SA series where we will need him as it seems we'll be fielding a very green side.

JKLever wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

Henry wrote:I think he'll do well in South Africa in the winter if he can make it.

Aye and I hope to hell he's back for that series. I meant the T20 & ICCCCTT stuff. People are all 'oh no' that he may be out til Oct. I'm much more that's when clown cricket is on....

Quite right, get yourself 'fully fit' not 'flintoff fit' and come back for the SA series where we will need him as it seems we'll be fielding a very green side.

What, How many tests wiil the likes of Strauss, Cook, Bell, Colly, Anderson etc have by the time the SA series rolls up.

Zat wrote:Not yet it hasn't. The rumour mill has it that KP is, well, a bit of a qunt, in the sheds. His absence may well make the Limeys a more united force.

Yes, Benjamin Martin.

taipan wrote:
What, How many tests wiil the likes of Strauss, Cook, Bell, Colly, Anderson etc have by the time the SA series rolls up.

They'll be the backbone of the side though. I guess I meant 'if KP doesn't make it' but the bowling particularly will be a bit short.

Bopara will need to make an impact soonish because that "backbone", might not last as long as one hoped.

DJ_Smerk wrote:Bopara will need to make an impact soonish because that "backbone", might not last as long as one hoped.

In terms of age or form do you mean? Looking at the batsmen only Collingwood (33) and Strauss (32) are the wrong side of 30, and they are not players who have been on the international treadmill from a very young age so may have a bit longer left in them than a player the same age who has.

I know it always seems to be the case that all our batsmen other than KP are only a couple of poor matches away from being under pressure for their place, and I guess if you lose your place after the age of 30 there's no guarantee of a recall. I think we write players off too soon, that's why we haven't had a 100 Test man since Thorpe, while some other countries have fielded several in the same team!

I don't know. If Bopara was performing at 3 and Pietersen fit the batting line up is pretty decent at the moment. Without Monty even the bowlers aren't completely useless with the bat.

beamer wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:Bopara will need to make an impact soonish because that "backbone", might not last as long as one hoped.

In terms of age or form do you mean? Looking at the batsmen only Collingwood (33) and Strauss (32) are the wrong side of 30, and they are not players who have been on the international treadmill from a very young age so may have a bit longer left in them than a player the same age who has.

I know it always seems to be the case that all our batsmen other than KP are only a couple of poor matches away from being under pressure for their place, and I guess if you lose your place after the age of 30 there's no guarantee of a recall. I think we write players off too soon, that's why we haven't had a 100 Test man since Thorpe, while some other countries have fielded several in the same team!

I mean in terms of form. Bopara is lucky, age is not a worry for him. However, I'm sort of worried he'll turn into an Ian Bell-esque (the Bell of Old, I'm hoping) batsman and will be in there to make flashy scores with plenty of substance but not much depth. He could and should come good in the next 3 test matches and even if he doesn't he will always get a chance to revel at the highest level. Somehow I don't think those three centuries against the Windies really accounts for much, especially with the problems surrounding that team and the state of the pitches on all 3 encounters.

I'm saying that Collingwood out of all the older players is having a purple patch at the minute and you've got to be wary of another slump. The backbone needs guys like Cook, Bell, Bopara and Pietersen to keep it strong. If Colly falls out of form, they'll need someone to dig in and grit it out with the tail-enders. Not many English batsmen actually do that in this current line-up.

Prior can do that. Then you've got Swann, Broad, Jimmy, Sidders, Onions; even Harmison can tonk, though he's not as sticky as the others.
Ferk, even Monty helped save a game not so long ago.
I remember some of the tails quoted on the match thread and, trust me, we've had far, far worse!

Actually, Sidebottom's not all that; but the others have quality techniques for tailies. Willis, Malcolm, Mulally anyone?

Jontyh wrote:Prior can do that. Then you've got Swann, Broad, Jimmy, Sidders, Onions; even Harmison can tonk, though he's not as sticky as the others.
Ferk, even Monty helped save a game not so long ago.
I remember some of the tails quoted on the match thread and, trust me, we've had far, far worse!

Prior's not a scrapper though, he seems so far like someone who will pile on the punishment when players ahead of him have got runs but if he comes in with not too many on the board I'm never convinced he's going to do anything other than depart quickly. Collingwood's the only batsman in the line-up who you would want coming in in a crisis to try and turn things round and get as much as possible out of the lower order. That's why I can never understand those who want rid of him after a couple of low scores just because his batting is not usually pretty to watch. He's kind of like the unglamorous holding midfielder that every football team needs alongside the attacking stars and is just as important to the side...

Yeah - point taken. But usually you only have one or two players that can do that at any given time. Athers and Thorpe are the previous two to spring to mind. In any case, you'd hopefully not want any more than that there anyway - the others being strokemakers. Batting where he does you'd think that Prior's working at that aspect of his game, and he's definitely shown aptitude this far.

beamer wrote:
Prior's not a scrapper though, he seems so far like someone who will pile on the punishment when players ahead of him have got runs but if he comes in with not too many on the board I'm never convinced he's going to do anything

Bit harsh that, I remember in 2007 against the WI he and colly rescued us from 150-5 and in the recent WI test at Lords he rescued us from 107-4 after we got horribly bogged down.

Some decent knocks in SL too.

His propensity to just give it away when seemingly well set is probably what undermines his scrapper credentials.

But if the choice of who you'd back to bat for your life was between Matt Prior and Ian Bell, the answer would be obvious.

Kill yourself.

Kill Bell. Isn't that Tarantino again?

Ponting: An Inglourious Basterd?

He's no Owain Glyn Dŵr, that's for sure.