James Foster AKA The Child for England...

For some reason I always thought "the child" was Steven Davies.

Got that badly wrong.

Get him the test side; have a six, seven eight of Moeen, Stokes and Broad - and hey presto, your keeper doesn't have to bat any higher than nine. As a bonus, you still get to play five bowlers.

Basil, I like your way of thinking.

And specifically re: Foster - he's still a class act with the gloves. He's the Keith Andrew of the 21st century.

PeterCS wrote:Basil, I like your way of thinking.

And specifically re: Foster - he's still a class act with the gloves. He's the Keith Andrew of the 21st century.

He's a much better batsman than Andrew was though - probably better than Bob Taylor too.

Basil wrote:Get him the test side; have a six, seven eight of Moeen, Stokes and Broad - and hey presto, your keeper doesn't have to bat any higher than nine. As a bonus, you still get to play five bowlers.

Yep, fill the team with bits and pieces players. Sounds a great idea.

I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

Brass Monkey wrote:I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

What is this "earn" concept that thou talkest?

Played games. Not even Pete Sussex could justify his place. He's played one proper game this season, a month and a half ago.

Brass Monkey wrote:I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

But Prior WILL be back . . he is part of the old brigade who are entrusted with the New Dawn of English cricket.

My only counter to picking Foster is to persevere with Buttler.

Merlin wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

But Prior WILL be back . .  he is part of the old brigade who are entrusted with the New Dawn of English cricket.

My only counter to picking Foster is to persevere with Buttler.

Buttler makes too many basic errors for my liking - he'll end up as our frontline keeper I have no doubt in due course, but his season is too early for him. Leave him at Lancs for the season to improve.

taipan wrote:

Basil wrote:Get him the test side; have a six, seven eight of Moeen, Stokes and Broad - and hey presto, your keeper doesn't have to bat any higher than nine. As a bonus, you still get to play five bowlers.

Yep, fill the team with bits and pieces players. Sounds a great idea.

Moeen - frontline batsman, who bowls tidy off-spin
Stokes - remind me who scored England's only century in the Ashes
Broad - 200+ test wickets.

Not a Ryan McLaren among them.

Basil wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

But Prior WILL be back . .  he is part of the old brigade who are entrusted with the New Dawn of English cricket.

My only counter to picking Foster is to persevere with Buttler.

Buttler makes too many basic errors for my liking - he'll end up as our frontline keeper I have no doubt in due course, but his season is too early for him. Leave him at Lancs for the season to improve.

Yep, would agree to some extent - 'cept, who gets the gloves?
And please don't say "Prior" .... he doesn't deserve the gig.
I think England move on from him.
Perhaps Foster as an in-fill till Buttler comes of age.

Merlin wrote:

Basil wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:I have no qualms with Foster. I don't think Twat Prior has earned his place back.....

But Prior WILL be back . .  he is part of the old brigade who are entrusted with the New Dawn of English cricket.

My only counter to picking Foster is to persevere with Buttler.

Buttler makes too many basic errors for my liking - he'll end up as our frontline keeper I have no doubt in due course, but his season is too early for him. Leave him at Lancs for the season to improve.

Yep, would agree to some extent - 'cept, who gets the gloves?
And please don't say "Prior" .... he doesn't deserve the gig.
I think England move on from him.
Perhaps Foster as an in-fill till Buttler comes of age.

Foster it is - best keeper in England by a country mile.

No Buttler. He's only just about strung two FC matches together.

I see Davies isn't even keeping on ODs, which is strange. Still can't see past him, but if I did, I'd probably be looking in Bedwetter's direction. But, as I say, I wouldn't be too bothered if it was Foster. Not the best against spin bowling, though, which might be a factor. considering our next two opponents.

Basil wrote:

taipan wrote:

Basil wrote:Get him the test side; have a six, seven eight of Moeen, Stokes and Broad - and hey presto, your keeper doesn't have to bat any higher than nine. As a bonus, you still get to play five bowlers.

Yep, fill the team with bits and pieces players. Sounds a great idea.

Moeen - frontline batsman, who bowls tidy off-spin
Stokes - remind me who scored England's only century in the Ashes
Broad - 200+ test wickets.

Not a Ryan McLaren among them.

And this his the Moeen who has talked up on this board for two years. All I have ever seen him do is bowl one over per T20 game and score no runs.

I believe Mrs Stokes rates him as we know very well on this board.

Yes Broad might have 200+ test wickets. At over 30 if my memory serves me. And that makes a good bat at 8?

And yes, Ryan McLaren. That would be the same McLaren that I have stated repeatedly over a number of cricket boards that should never be let anywhere near a SA team. TAYPOC as I suggest 2/3 of the others are. To classify any of them an allrounder is a disgrace to the term.

As I said if you want to pack the team with bits and pieces players I think it is a great idea, particularly if you are playing SA.

Nahhh, Moeen's a good batsman.

Brass Monkey wrote:Nahhh, Moeen's a good batsman.

Maybe, I haven't seen that much of him but his FC average is 38,

It's more about how he's compiled his runs over the last couple of years. He's honed his game and is now a lovely looking player. Looks quite tight, as well, for a left hander. His bowling is a bonus, but shouldn't necessarily be relied upon. If he can maintain his composure at international level if given the opportunity, then he could do alright. He has the technical ability. It's all ifs and buts and ironically his ticket in is the lack of spinning talent in the country.

To conclude I'd prefer him to many of the walking wickets currently milling around the England set-up.

Plus, Ajmal is teaching him to chuck, so that's pretty avant garde of him as well.

Brass Monkey wrote:It's more about how he's compiled his runs over the last couple of years. He's honed his game and is now a lovely looking player. Looks quite tight, as well, for a left hander. His bowling is a bonus, but shouldn't necessarily be relied upon. If he can maintain his composure at international level if given the opportunity, then he could do alright. He has the technical ability. It's all ifs and buts and ironically his ticket in is the lack of spinning talent in the country.  

Fair enough, as I said I haven't seen much of him but his figures don't reflect a world beater, but if he has upped his game, let's see.

There's no world-beaters out there anyway. Just plenty of players who deserve a go to see what they can do. If they pick the right ones, one or two of them might become something special. And if we can find a couple of players with more than one role in the side then it's a bonus, as long as they are regular contributors in terms of what they are primarily picked for.

He's not a world beater. He doesn't have to be. He just has to bat sensibly and keep it tight with the ball. We're at rock bottom here.

taipan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Nahhh, Moeen's a good batsman.

Maybe, I haven't seen that much of him but his FC average is 38,

Two poor seasons when he was adjusting to the role of batting allrounder. He scored runs for fun last season and deserves a go purely as a batsman, but his off-spin will be useful particularly if we don't pick a specialist spinner.

Basil wrote:

taipan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Nahhh, Moeen's a good batsman.

Maybe, I haven't seen that much of him but his FC average is 38,

Two poor seasons when he was adjusting to the role of batting allrounder. He scored runs for fun last season and deserves a go purely as a batsman, but his off-spin will be useful particularly if we don't pick a specialist spinner.

Not quite sure what you are saying here. Are you saying before he was a pure batsman or a pure spinner?