Should Eng keep or dump Stuart Broad?

Simple question.

Can Eng afford to keep Broad going in the side at the moment as a development player?

Or do you think he needs to go back to the CC for some more development at that level?

I voted 'dump,' but only because the word makes me giggle.

I think, with the 5-man attack, he can be kept in. Like his attitude. Just not his floaty pop-gun bowling. But there's loads to work with.

Keep because you can see the talent is there.

Like someone else said i'm not so sure if he can be part of a 4 man attack atm...

I wouldn't keep him though. I want Sibo and Hoggy/Jonah back in. Being as they're definitely good bowlers.

JKLever wrote:Keep because you can see the talent is there.

Like someone else said i'm not so sure if he can be part of a 4 man attack atm...

Like Eng need any more excuses to play a 5-man attack

Definitely keep. I appreciate that the lack of success in the bowling department has turned some people against him, but I feel that he has displayed a maturity in the game so far that, allied with his potential, suggests he is a top quality Test Match all-rounder of the future. He has had to make a big step up from First-Class cricket to Test Match cricket, but apart from the unthreatening nature of his bowling, I wouldn't say he's a million miles away from being capable.

I personally don't see that he will gain a lot from going back to domestic cricket and bowling a million overs against poor batsman. He came and played for Notts. earlier in the season and looked formidable. I think he has more to gain from working international batsman out, bowling alongside class players like Flintoff, and eventually adjusting his technique to make a good bowler out of a promising one. His game is multi-faceted so he has an awful lot to offer the team in more than one area too.

That's not to say that I would persist with him indefinitely; I'd give him until the end of the series and see what progress he has made. At this stage in his career, he's not doing anything worse (he's actually doing everything better) to, for example, Andrew Flintoff after 8 matches. That's not to say he'll be as good as Flintoff, just that it takes patience when introducing a young, inexperienced man to Test Cricket. For me, he's not currently a million miles away from being a good Test Match bowler; I think it's merely a question of bowling a slightly fuller length, with a few more balls hitting the stumps. Batsman are having fun with him because he tends to bowl one ball an over that's a little short and a little wide. If he could cut that out, bingo.

Anyway, Keep, for the time being. I don't see a spectacularly brilliant replacement out there, at least not one who would solve the twin conundrums of the batting order and the bowling order. If we were to replace Broad with say Simon Jones, we'd be back to the six-man tail again. Not that Broad should be picked on his batting, it's just that, if England are adamant that a five-man attack is the way forward (and they seem to be), two of those five shall have to be capable with the bat. At the minute (including Flintoff) only Broad can claim to be.

Dump.

Being as original and insightful as I am, I believe that batsman should bat, bowlers bowl. Broad is there to bowl and he hasn't measured up yet.

SiJo, Siders, Anderson, Flintoff, Panesar (in no particular order) should be the primary 'recruitment pool', four or five man attack.

I'd give him a break for the last two Tests of this series, then have another look at him when it comes to picking the winter tour parties.

I think it will set him back if things continue like this - a rock-like SA batting line-up on unresponsive pitches - for another two matches. He could end the series with a career average of 50 or 60 (and I don't mean batting!) which would be really confidence destroying.

He's still got plenty of maturing to do as a bowler and some Championship overs for Notts with a few JAMODIs in between would probably be the best course of action for him for the rest of this season.

Dump. With that relatively weak bowling he is likely to be a better ODI player.

Drop him for the moment.

I think the side should be

Strauss (c)
Cook
Shah
KP
Bell
Fred
Foster (w)
SiBo
SiJo
Hoggy
Monty

Light on the batting but at least it should be able to bowl SA out.

Rob I wrote:
Strauss (c)
Cook
Shah
KP
Bell
Fred
Foster (w)
SiBo
SiJo
Hoggy
Monty

Have you lost your mind?

Six-man tail and our best bowler in the last two matches dropped.

Rob I wrote:Drop him for the moment.

I think the side should be

Strauss (c)
Cook
Shah
KP
Bell
Fred
Foster (w)
SiBo
SiJo
Hoggy
Monty

Light on the batting but at least it should be able to bowl SA out.

So even though Jim's been clearly our best bowler for 5 Tests he shouldn't play? F*ckin boo-hockey.

Rob I wrote:Drop him for the moment.

I think the side should be

Strauss (c)
Cook
Shah
KP
Bell
Fred
Foster (w)
SiBo
SiJo
Hoggy
Monty

Light on the batting but at least it should be able to bowl SA out.

Why Shah? Bopara seems like a better player

btw i will still keep Vaughan and Broad.

On balance, I would keep Broad. There's a mini break before the third test, which gives him a chance to recuperate.

I voted keep, but then I am a saffie.

Dump. Clearly not ready, looks wanting at the test level every time.

Brass Monkey wrote:

So even though Jim's been clearly our best bowler for 5 Tests he shouldn't play? F*ckin boo-hockey.

Hardly. Since 1 May:

SiBo 4 tests 20 wickets av 21.75
Jimmy 5 tests 25 wickets av 24

I still prefer Hoggy to Jimmy, and SiJo to any of them.

Definitely keep. If we can tolerate the top seven failing miserably with the bat series after series I'm sure we can keep a promising young bowler putting his heart and soul into it for a game or two more. Especially when his batting's currently on a par or better than most of the specialist batsmen above him.

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:Definitely keep. If we can tolerate the top seven failing miserably with the bat series after series I'm sure we can keep a promising young bowler putting his heart and soul into it for a game or two more. Especially when his batting's currently on a par or better than most of the specialist batsmen above him.

So pick him as a batting allrounder at 6.

Ambrose can go to 7.

Freddie at 8 and then 3 bowlers.

You're not going to pick many wickets if bowlers are picked for their batting.

GordoninPortsmouth wrote:Simple question.

Can Eng afford to keep Broad going in the side at the moment as a development player?

Or do you think he needs to go back to the CC for some more development at that level?

Having wielded the sword on Hoggard and Harmison; discarded Plunkett and Mahmood; called up and then
despatched Tremlett and bizarrely selected an unknown with limited experience, ability and talent, and
whom his skipper had never even sighted .... ... the real question ought to be ...
Do England's selectors really know what they're doing as far as quicks department are concerned?

If they have seen fit to persist in patiently nuturing young talented batsmen (giving them 35 + tests to finally prove their worth ...
guess who that can be ... ) I don't see why they cannot apply the same rule to young talented fast bowlers.
Unless of course they regard the bowling talent abounding in the shires whilst talented batsmen are a rareity!!

Broad clearly has the ability - with patience and correct nuturing he can be a very good bowler.
He can certainly bat a bit ... yet a mere 8 tests later - against tough opposition, he's being spoken of as
yet another fast bowling discard !

The mind boggles.

Well his batting has been fantastic (he can even join Bell and Collingwood in the 'you can't drop me I average over 40 in Tests don't you know' club after that last innings).

But as for the bowling, his stats are Sami-esque at the moment. However he has potential, steepling bounce, natural away swing to the right hander and pace that has touched 90mph in the recent ODI series vs New Zealand (where he took cheap wickets too).

If we can't bowl out SA with 5 bowlers would dropping Broad for a batsman be the answer? Especially when the possible replacements, Shah, Bopara and Collingwood (of the last 12 months) have shown little prospect so far of matching Broad's batting average of 41?

What worries me about Broad is the way his front arm falls away to offside somewhat in his delivery stride. I think some of his inconsistency in length can be traced to this, and he would stand more chance of maximising his height and extracting seam movement if his left arm was tighter to his body rather than sliding out to the side. Would he be better served with time out to rectify this? Or should we stick with him? Tricky one...

Another random uncapped (From Notts preferably) quick to be called upon?

Step foward Shreck.