England test squad to tour the UAE

The England team depart in about a month so I assume this squad will be announced reasonably soon. Who will be picked? I'll go for-

Batsmen

Strauss(c)
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Morgan
Bopara

Keepers

Prior
Kieswetter

Fast bowlers

Anderson
Broad
Tremlett (assuming he's fit)
Bresnan
Finn

Spinners

Swann
Panesar




Thoughts?

Will Monty get a gig? He seems to be yesterdays man at the moment.

Big Dog wrote:Will Monty get a gig? He seems to be yesterdays man at the moment.

He's still the second best spinner we've got by a distance, but I think he will only play if we go for five bowlers.

Monty picked up 69 wickets at 27... doubtful any of the others did as well. Plus... wait for it.... THEY WERE MIGHTY DIVISION ONE WICKETS AS WELL THE ABSOLUTELY HUGE GULF IN CLASS MEANS THEY WERE WORTH 4,000 WICKETS PHWOAR. NO. CUM. LEFT.

As for the entire squad... picks itself.

I guess the only spot up for debate is the reserve batsman's spot. Bopara, Taylor, or someone else.....Hales? Bairstow?

C'mon Trev.. we all know. The answer is Chavi Flops and you know it!

Boo! I want debate! Not nailed on certainties!

Ok, if Trembler isn't fit, then who? Onions? Meaker?

I reckon they'll want to start getting Meaker in there... but Onions is probably the candidate due to the fact he wasn't dropped. They may go down the pace/reverse from Meaker, though, as they're quite cliche'd in their thought process. Why, what do you think?

Hope that Hales makes the cut.

PS - I played against Hales when he was a teenager - even then he was an
awesome kid - cool under pressure, good outfielder and hit the ball hard.
His old man and uncle were no different ... good club cricketers.

Yeah I think they should go with Meaker. He's something different. Not sure the pitches of the UAE are up Onions' alley.

Merlin wrote:Hope that Hales makes the cut.

PS - I played against Hales when he was a teenager - even then he was an
awesome kid - cool under pressure, good outfielder and hit the ball hard.
His old man and uncle were no different ... good club cricketers.

Oh right, weren't they in the Notts leagues then?

Henry wrote:Yeah I think they should go with Meaker. He's something different. Not sure the pitches of the UAE are up Onions' alley.

Yep, get the SA quota up.

Henry wrote:Yeah I think they should go with Meaker. He's something different. Not sure the pitches of the UAE are up Onions' alley.

Yeah, you're probably right.. quite different to what we're currently fielding, for sure. TBH, he's probably earnt it due to his FC season. Not that one good season is enough, but it's shown his propensity to rip out the heart of teams... it was his bowling spells that got Surrey promoted.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Merlin wrote:Hope that Hales makes the cut.

PS - I played against Hales when he was a teenager - even then he was an
awesome kid - cool under pressure, good outfielder and hit the ball hard.
His old man and uncle were no different ... good club cricketers.

Oh right, weren't they in the Notts leagues then?

No, they all played for Denham in Bucks.

Huh, we should've snapped him up then, they've gone across my county. F*ckers.

Brass Monkey wrote:Huh, we should've snapped him up then, they've gone across my county. F*ckers.

Must've blinked when they passed through!

Either that, or blindfolded themselves from the horror...

Brass Monkey wrote:I reckon they'll want to start getting Meaker in there... but Onions is probably the candidate due to the fact he wasn't dropped. They may go down the pace/reverse from Meaker, though, as they're quite cliche'd in their thought process. Why, what do you think?

I think they'll go with Onions "Mr Line and Length"

The Grauniad is reporting that Steve Davies will get the reserve keeper place.

He finished the season strongly, so I'm not surprised. He'd been f*ckin bobbins up until then. It's irrelevant, in a way... don't see Prior getting injured. Can see our bowlers getting injured, though. Onions had got his nip back by the end of the season and he can consistently hit an area, but I just see the more crackerjack Meaker being something out of the norm enough to take.

Because it's blatantly obvious that Tremlett's a crock.

Davies? Ok. Very little between him and Wetty, imo.

Actually i'm surprised Bairstow or Buttler aren't being considered. Potentially they are better than all of the others.

Yeah, but one doesn't even get to keep and the other one is so horrendously sh!t at playing spin that he'd be there as a specialist keeper.

Davies's keeping is a bit Chris Readish. Ie not aggressive.

Thy should send Blackwell - good for him as well as the team. He'll lose weight and everyone else will starve.

Brass Monkey wrote:
Because it's blatantly obvious that Tremlett's a crock.

Aye, unlucky for the Aussies that he managed to stay fit for three whole tests without breaking down with a fingernail injury!

Ravi will go, but he's obviously not up to this level consistently no matter if he churns out the odd score.