England's ashes squad

So no Sidearse then, after he announced his retirement. Looks like Tremlett is right in the mix, and probably Chris Woakes as well.

Clamson wrote:

JKLever wrote:Anyone care to predict what sort of a tour Cookie will have?

He made 1 ton and not much else on the last trip, seems to be his speciality at the moment.

3, 141, 59, 2, 6, 53, 5, 8, 97, 9

Avg. 38.3

No one else was geeky enough to spot the digits of pi there.

Henry wrote:This is what I think it will be-

Batsmen-

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Bell

Keepers-

Prior
Davies

Fast bowlers-

Anderson
Broad
Finn
Shahzad
Sidebottom

Spinners-

Swann
Rashid

It'll be that, but with Bresnan for Sidebottom and Panesar for Rashid. Think it was in the Telegraph, who tend to have a pretty good inside line to the England set up, on the weekend that Panesar was a likely pick for the majority of the tour only as injury back-up to Swann as England have no intention of playing two spinners and aren't sure about Rashid's readiness to be the lone spinner in the event of Swanny going down with a horrendous case of over-bite or something.

That said, Rashid will be in the "performance squad" (along with Tremlett) that will also be stationed out in Oz and probably be called into the mix should the conditions really demand two spinners, as no-one fancies England's already piss-weak batting line up being compromised by replacing a batsman with a bearded spastic.

So, all in all, Panesar's selection for the squad will be a bit of a fudge. But he's not James Tredwell, so in a sense, all of our lives will be better for it.

Interesting to look at this discussion in the wae of Sidearse's retirement.

Dello wrote:

Henry wrote:This is what I think it will be-

Batsmen-

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Bell

Keepers-

Prior
Davies

Fast bowlers-

Anderson
Broad
Finn
Shahzad
Sidebottom

Spinners-

Swann
Rashid

It'll be that, but with Bresnan for Sidebottom and Panesar for Rashid. Think it was in the Telegraph, who tend to have a pretty good inside line to the England set up, on the weekend that Panesar was a likely pick for the majority of the tour only as injury back-up to Swann as England have no intention of playing two spinners and aren't sure about Rashid's readiness to be the lone spinner in the event of Swanny going down with a horrendous case of over-bite or something.

That said, Rashid will be in the "performance squad" (along with Tremlett) that will also be stationed out in Oz and probably be called into the mix should the conditions really demand two spinners, as no-one fancies England's already piss-weak batting line up being compromised by replacing a batsman with a bearded spastic.

So, all in all, Panesar's selection for the squad will be a bit of a fudge. But he's not James Tredwell, so in a sense, all of our lives will be better for it.

So if Swann gets injured we'll suddenly have a tail of Anderson, Finn, Panesar. Great.........

Is Rashid's omission really down to cricketing issues?

At least we convicts 'came out' here to avoid being hung whereas it seems Jimmy A "came out" via a spread in an English gay mag...is this true?

Fact:
You, as a recognized convict, were SENT out there - which must never be confused with your "coming" out there of your own volition.

Re. Jimmy's coming out of a centre spread ... most likely ... though more likely to be Mayfair rather than a gay mag!

Anderson has done a shoot for Attitude, I guess he's not a homophobe and that's why he did it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/news/8014352/Jimmy-Anderson-becomes-gay-magazine-cover-star.html

So the team for Brisbane should look something like this...

Cook
Strauss
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Finn

Morgan and Bell will be batting off for the number 6 spot in the warm up games, but the rest of the team is pretty much set in stone already.

I've gotta go with Bell - whom has experience in Aus, and if by all accounts, has matured since we last saw him.


Should be an exciting experience.

I'd rather Morgan, Bell has the experience of losing in Aus.

Morgan in form would be my pick. Something of the x factor about him, and he's a leftie. Always handy having one of them in the middle order.

I would only pick Collingwood if he scores a shed load of runs in the warm-up games. His dips in form seem to be happening more frequently recently. It could be that this will be his last tour.

I've given up writing off Collingwood. I'd still prefer having him coming to the crease with England 30-3. At his age though, you start to wonder if form dips are temporary or permanent.

Just threaten to drop him, and he'll come good.

From a great height?

Henry wrote:Morgan in form would be my pick. Something of the x factor about him

You mean he's a crap singer?

He's Irish, Louis Walsh would sign him up straight away.

Squad announced tomorrow. I really hope they go with Rashid as the second spinner, but i've got a bad feeling they'll either go with Tredwell or Panesar.

The other undecided spots are the back up fast bowlers. I'd plump for Tremlett and Shahzad. Again though, i've got a bad feeling they'll go with Bresnan. I assume he'll be getting picked for his batting at number 8/9, because he's done nothing in any form of cricket to prove that he can take wickets on a regular basis. 4 five wicket hauls in 96 first class games FFS.

You could take any number of young seamers over Bresnan - Woakes, Harris, Buck, Footit, Meaker, Gemaal Hussain...the list is deep and rich with potential talent.

Bresnan will play a part in the series yes....in the one day series.

Stop kidding yourself Smerk. They'll pick Bresnan. He's a 'good bloke', he can bat a bit, and he wont complain if he has to carry the drinks.

Wont help us retain the ashes on the field, though....

Henry wrote:Stop kidding yourself Smerk. They'll pick Bresnan. He's a 'good bloke', he can bat a bit, and he wont complain if he has to carry the drinks.

Wont help us retain the ashes on the field, though....

Damn right we won't win back the Ashes by having a set of "good blokes". All friendly chummy boys around the dressing room is what we need when we're losing each session by a decisive margin.

Rashid should have played his first Test against the Banger boys, but now he probably won't play until this England squad are curtailed with injuries.

I don't mind too much if they pick Panesar, but Tredwell should never be going.

Neither should Bresnan, and I'd still have doubts about him even if we played 5 bowlers.

I'd still take Tremlett, however much Bas derided me last time!

Side pretty much picks itself, but some of the bowling is going to be caned on Aussie decks...