The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad

Harmison & Sidebottom in the squad for Pattinson/Tremlett
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7525893.stm

Initial thoughts are that we must be going back to 6 batsmen, but see we're still sticking with the same old failures at 6.

If ever there was a chance to include someone at the expense of Collingwood who still can't buy a run all season, it was now.

Good Lord. Oh well, good luck to the big galoot.

Just watched the interview with Miller on Sky, and based on what he said, it looks like:

Harmy will definitely play.

Broad will be dropped/rested.

Bearing in mind that England won't want a 6/7/8 of Ambrose, Flintoff and Siders, it looks like a recall for Collingwood.

Last chance for Harmison if he plays badly?

Basil wrote:Just watched the interview with Miller on Sky, and based on what he said, it looks like:

Harmy will definitely play.

Broad will be dropped/rested.

Bearing in mind that England won't want a 6/7/8 of Ambrose, Flintoff and Siders, it looks like a recall for Collingwood.

So its:

Strauss
Cook
Vawn
KP
Tinker
Colly
Fred
Amby
Harmy/Jimmy
SiBo
Monstar

???

Or is it Harmy/SiBo??

We played the team we should have played at Lords at Headingley and the team we should have played at Headingley at Lords. Who knows what the selectors will do next..!

Could potentially be:

6 ) Ambrose
7 ) Flintoff
8 ) Sidebottom
9 ) Anderson
10)Harmison
11)Panesar

Although on form and on paper that would be a formidable bowling attack.

If they go down the 4 bowlers road who sits out? You would think they need the spinner, Harmi hasn't been recalled to sit on the sidelines, Anderson is bowling as well as i've ever seen him and Sidebottom is our best bowler. By that logic you would say Flintoff, but he's considered undroppable isn't he...?

I'm really surprised that Collingwood is there. He's not even been doing well for Durham.

Demelza wrote:I'm really surprised that Collingwood is there. He's not even been doing well for Durham.

Are we that surprised? It's harder to get out of the side than in it!!

skully wrote:

Basil wrote:Just watched the interview with Miller on Sky, and based on what he said, it looks like:

Harmy will definitely play.

Broad will be dropped/rested.

Bearing in mind that England won't want a 6/7/8 of Ambrose, Flintoff and Siders, it looks like a recall for Collingwood.

So its:

Strauss
Cook
Vawn
KP
Tinker
Colly
Fred
Amby
Harmy/Jimmy
SiBo
Monstar

???

Or is it Harmy/SiBo??

I doesn't matter whether they go for a five man or four man attack, they can't get Harmy, Jimmy and Siders in the same side unless they drop Monty, which would be ludicrous. So I agree, it looks like a straight choice between Siders and GBH

It'll be Ambrose at 6 again...

JKLever wrote:It'll be Ambrose at 6 again...

If Miller is suggesting Harmy will definitely play, SiBo has been England's best for the past 12 months, and Jimmy has been lion-hearted in the 1st 2 Tests, then Colly must carry the drinks.

skully wrote:

JKLever wrote:It'll be Ambrose at 6 again...

If Miller is suggesting Harmy will definitely play, SiBo has been England's best for the past 12 months, and Jimmy has been lion-hearted in the 1st 2 Tests, then Colly must carry the drinks.

That would be logical, but this is England we're talking about.

Tremlett's been badly treated hasn't he?

Gary 111 wrote:

Could potentially be:

6 ) Ambrose
7 ) Flintoff
8 ) Sidebottom
9 ) Anderson
10)Harmison
11)Panesar

Agree with this, Colly being retained in the squad purely for effect because he's about to lead the JAMODI side in a couple of weeks.

Going to leave us with a shocking tail.

I really fail to see the logic of the Barmy Harmy selection apart from the fact that Miller & Co clearly watch their cricket on Sky, and have been influenced by the vocal fan club in the likes of Nasser and the Beef.

The only way I would have countenanced this would have been if he had agreed to make himself available for the One Day side as well.

As it is, we will now get a maximum of 10 days cricket from the bloke before he drops beneath the direct radar of the England setup again for the bloated diet of pyjama cricket England will then play until December when the Test side will fly out to India.

Sure, he may be playing for Durham regularly for another month or so, but there is then an extended period where the work shy loon will be largely left to his own devices, and there is a serious danger of him coming out to India (where conditions won't suit him anyway) as undercooked as he was for the Kiwi series in February / March.

Is there a Lions tour we can send him on during that dead period?

As ridiculous in its own way as the Pattinson selection for Headingley in my opinion, and with the potential to blow up in the selectors' faces even more spectacularly.

Should have gone for SiJo instead. Ahhh well, they'll learn eventually (though hopefully not until after the 2009 Ashes . . . )

freddled gruntbuggly wrote:Should have gone for SiJo instead. Ahhh well, they'll learn eventually (though hopefully not until after the 2009 Ashes . . . )

I think Jonah is a good bet for the ODI squad after the tests.

freddled gruntbuggly wrote:Should have gone for SiJo instead.

Big time.

English cricket in crisis.

I guess from a selfish point of view, we (Aus) don't want Harmy to get his confidence back leading up to Ashes 09. Will be interesting to see how his fragile confidence holds up in the coming Test.

Error.

England shall go one further at Edgbaston and secure the innings defeat they strove for at Headingley. Harmison is an over-rated, pea-hearted sook who every now and again gets a recall just to prove that he's not up to it in a big way. It's almost as if he's there to accompany Freddie, and I'll be very surprised if he has an effect on a South African line-up that plays pace (and more importantly, has historically played Steve Harmison) pretty well. The logic in the selection is non-existent really; it's just desperation because we can't get twenty wickets. I commend desperation where it's well-invested, but desperation that ploughs the very depths of seediness and depravity, such as this, is simply unwelcome. Good try, Geoff, Virgil and Moores, but the result will be the same. The way forward is certainly not going to come in ignoring an even bigger problem - the batting - and by weakening it further still.

Will a four-man attack consisting of Sidebottom, Freddie, Harmless-son and Panesar be an improvement? Yes, but only because of Sidebottom.

I'm not sure what's worse, giving a test spot to a complete newbie to the game who's never shown much worth of a test place, or Pattinson.

This is his last chance, we know what he's capable of at his best and he has to show that here.

Not quite sure who misses out, ideally we'd play 12 here - Colly at 6 and five bowlers! (Can we just put a dustbin behind the stumps or something? )

Augustus wrote:

Will a four-man attack consisting of Sidebottom, Freddie, Harmless-son and Panesar be an improvement? Yes, but only because of Sidebottom.

I just can't see us dropping Anderson can you?

JKLever wrote:

Augustus wrote:

Will a four-man attack consisting of Sidebottom, Freddie, Harmless-son and Panesar be an improvement? Yes, but only because of Sidebottom.

I just can't see us dropping Anderson can you?

Why would you want to?