The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:A few home truths about Owais Shah....
1) Vaughan does not pick the England Squad. Whether he likes Shah or not is irrelevant as Miller, Giles and Whittaker are the selectors and it is their choice to omit Shah. Vaughan only has input on the final XI from the squad given to him by the selectors. Peter Moores is also a selector, and Michael Vaughan had all winter and two tours to select Shah as he was in both touring squads.
2) Despite playing in Division 2 of the County Championship, and having home games at one of the flattest batting wickets in England - Lords, Owais Shah has a batting average of 38 this season. Compare that with some of his rivals in that division for an England place: Bopara (70), Sales (58 ), Trott (61), and some cricketers who are a million miles away from being Test Match quality batsmen, Snell (68 ), Boje (48 ), Udal (43), Nixon (52). He's had three ordinary games on the bounce since the ODI series ended (where he topped England's batting averages). Before that, he was averaging over 50 for the season. Last season, he averaged 70.93 - third in the country behind Mark Ramprakash and Simon Katich.
3) Alastair Cook went a long way towards gaining an England chance with his double century against Australia in a tour match in 2005. Given a similar opportunity to impress against the South Africans, Shah decided instead to organise his benefit events instead. He was not tired, over the previous 25 days cricket he had faced an average of 9 deliveries a day in competitive cricket. He was simply putting money before England. And was struggling with a knee injury which forced him to retire hurt in the following championship match.
He's a talented batsman, that's for sure. But apart from a few pretty 70s in the shorter form of the game he is letting his talent go to waste. I don't see how a batsman with more FC hundreds than anyone in the England squad bar Michael Vaughan, who has topped 1000 runs in each of the last six seasons, who is a proven quality batsman in all formats of the game, can be seen as letting his talent go to waste. He can't be a Test match batsman if he's not able to play any Tests. He has been touted as a future England batsman for the last 10 years - but never kicked on and made an impression. Does scoring 88 on Test debut not count as making an impression? What about a hundred, batting six with the tail, against India in last year's ODI at the Oval? 82 and Man of the Match in a ODI win in Sri Lanka on a dog of a pitch where the next highest score was 44? Since his recall to the ODI side after the debacle of the World Cup, he's topped the batting averages in two out of five series, in spite of having to bat at six and rarely being able to face enough balls to constitute a properly paced innings, at an average of 34. I think he's done all right.What makes you lot all think he's gonna come in and smash Steyn, Ntini & Morkel all round the park?No-one's looking for a batsman to smash bowlers all around the park - just someone who can accumulate runs consistently. He's been doing it for years.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Points 1, 2 & 3 still stand.
1) He's not being omitted from the Test squad because of Vaughan - he doesn't select the squad.
2) He is averaging 38 in FC cricket this season. The selectors have shown they're more prepared to make knee-jerk selections based on current form rather than persuing a coherent selection strategy (Pattinson). So 38 is not doing him any favours.
3) Would Paul Collingwood (the player he is up against) really sit out a match like that, dodgy knee or not? He's played through 3 shoulder injections over the last 12 months, and still bowled his fair share of overs. You can say what you like about his talent, but you can't argue about his heart. For Shah I suspect its the opposite.
1) He's not being omitted from the Test squad because of Vaughan - he doesn't select the squad.
2) He is averaging 38 in FC cricket this season. The selectors have shown they're more prepared to make knee-jerk selections based on current form rather than persuing a coherent selection strategy (Pattinson). So 38 is not doing him any favours.
3) Would Paul Collingwood (the player he is up against) really sit out a match like that, dodgy knee or not? He's played through 3 shoulder injections over the last 12 months, and still bowled his fair share of overs. You can say what you like about his talent, but you can't argue about his heart. For Shah I suspect its the opposite.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
2) He was averaging 50 when the squad for the first Test with SA was announced and had just topped the batting averages in the ODI series with NZ. Obviously that didn't do him any favours either. Paul Collingwood, for the record, is averaging 17 in FC cricket this season.
3) I have no idea. As far as I can tell, Durham haven't played a touring side in years, aside from Bangladesh A, West Indies A and Sri Lanka A, and Collingwood hasn't featured in any of those games.
3) I have no idea. As far as I can tell, Durham haven't played a touring side in years, aside from Bangladesh A, West Indies A and Sri Lanka A, and Collingwood hasn't featured in any of those games.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Dello wrote:2) He was averaging 50 when the squad for the first Test with SA was announced and had just topped the batting averages in the ODI series with NZ. Obviously that didn't do him any favours either. Paul Collingwood, for the record, is averaging 17 in FC cricket this season.
3) I have no idea. As far as I can tell, Durham haven't played a touring side in years, aside from Bangladesh A, West Indies A and Sri Lanka A, and Collingwood hasn't featured in any of those games.
Collingwood has only played 2 County Championship matches, so its not a great comparison. Especially when one of those appearances were up against a fired up Andrew Flintoff, the kind of bowler Shah never gets to face as he's spent the last few years playing Div 2 cricket.
But seeing what Collingwood's character is like from his time in the team, I know the answer to 3). If Collingwood was the guy with 2 caps to his name, with a chance to play against South Africa, bearing in mind two of the guys keeping him out of the team were under immense pressure he'd be busting a gut to play, score a hundred and put the selectors under so much pressure they could no longer ignore him. He wouldn't be worrying about making money and private ventures, as he's a competitor and sportsman first and foremost.
Anyway, its slightly irrelevant as Collingwood I suspect is only in the squad for face value. England haven't recalled Harmison to be 12th man, and dropping Panesar, Flintoff, Anderson or Sidebottom would be slightly barmy.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:
Anyway, its slightly irrelevant as Collingwood I suspect is only in the squad for face value. England haven't recalled Harmison to be 12th man, and dropping Panesar, Flintoff, Anderson or Sidebottom would be slightly barmy.
As would sticking with Ambrose at 6 though...
Quite frankly after the shower of shoite of a selection at Leeds i've not got a diddly what they're going to come up with...
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
[quote="JKLever"]
And, quite possibly, neither have they!
Gary 111 wrote:
Quite frankly after the shower of shoite of a selection at Leeds i've not got a diddly what they're going to come up with...
And, quite possibly, neither have they!
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:A few home truths about Owais Shah....
A few home truths diluted ...
1) Vaughan does not pick the England Squad. Whether he likes Shah or not is irrelevant as Miller, Giles and Whittaker are the selectors and it is their choice to omit Shah. Vaughan only has input on the final XI from the squad given to him by the selectors.
1) yes, we all do know that Vaughan doesn't pick the England team Gaz!
It is also common knowledge on the County Circuit that Vaughan is not "a fan" of Owais Shah and the guy's modus operandi
(self determined aggresion) on a cricket field.
Now .... if you were a selector and you also knew about your captain's dislikes, would you go ahead and stick one on him by selecting someone he doesn't like ?? No, of course you bloody wouldn't! Common sense!
Remember ... "disharmony... confusion... unity" are words that feature highly in Vaughan's book of cricket verse
(rewind to last week and his bleating over Pattinson)!
2) Despite playing in Division 2 of the County Championship, and having home games at one of the flattest batting wickets in England - Lords, Owais Shah has a batting average of 38 this season. Compare that with some of his rivals in that division for an England place: Bopara (70), Sales (58 ), Trott (61), and some cricketers who are a million miles away from being Test Match quality batsmen, Snell (68 ), Boje (48 ), Udal (43), Nixon (52).
2) There isn't a great deal between Div 1 and Div 2 (bar Direbeshire and the Celts) in CC, so don't kid yourself.
This isn't football ... the reason for splitting the CC was purely because having one division caused havoc with fixtures
and was a protracted affair which, because of varying factors (not least only playing 4 counties once in a season
whilst playing the others home/away) was lop sided. Two divisions made sense - home and away - in fact original
thoughts were to have a North / South division - but it was felt that with more revenue expected down South, they
compromised on the split - notice was given, and the poor buggers who finished in the bottom half were deemed 2nd division.
The irony was that 2 of those clubs were champs and runners up the previous season! daft innit?!
Shah has always been the 13th man in Team England ... and sod the averages.
The point is he was always overlooked, even last season when he was averaging
in the 70's or thereabouts (if I recall) ... but was still omitted ... so explain that anomoly
Bell was shit, Cook was iffy, Strauss dropped ... strange hey ... Shah was on the fringes ...
Surprise surprise - no 'recall' !
3) Alastair Cook went a long way towards gaining an England chance with his double century against Australia in a tour match in 2005. Given a similar opportunity to impress against the South Africans, Shah decided instead to organise his benefit events instead. He was not tired, over the previous 25 days cricket he had faced an average of 9 deliveries a day in competitive cricket. He was simply putting money before England.
3)Cook was bloody lucky ... fact - he only got his chance when Tresco lost it - and the way
Tres and Strauss were going, Cook would not have got a look-in much before he was 27 or 28 y.o.
Anyway, Shah, and who can blame him, must by now be thoroughly pissed off waiting his turn which will NEVER
come as long as Captain Marvel (with his 2010 ASHES VISION) holds sway. So ... again, put yourself in
Shah's shoes ...been waiting 2 years for a call-up. Vawn crocks his knee for Lord's vs WIndies last year Shah botches
the recall. Once Vawney returns, he's again pitched out into the wilderness... carrying drinks, bats, tampons and the
like for team mates who have been lesser performers yet who keep getting selected.
So ... he has a benefit. What's wrong with that ?? All long serving cricketers do.
And in time honoured manner, he devotes time and effort to his benefit (expected to double Nash's last year
and that was a BIG payday). Does team England feature now ? Probably not, because Shah never gets a call!
Then T20 happens - Middlesex win and the kid's a hero ... expecting to capitalise on Stanford in Antigua, later on the EPL in
Dubai and finally the IPL next year in India. A couple of months work for close to $1.5 million in total, plus 1st class travel!!!
Is he now expected to get all friendly with Capn Frosty Marvel in order to resucitate his non existant England career ?!
Or ... will Antigua, Dubai and Mumbai have a greater pull ...... Errr ... a no brainer, don't you think?
So Gazza - what would you do?
You've hung around waiting in vain for 2 years for a guy (whom you know doesn't like you) to annoint you so that the selectors can
give you the final nod to enter the inner sanctum of team England - but it never comes.
Then a few doors open and the chance to earn some serious bucks over a short term arises ...
the TV pundits laud you as exciting, the selectors nominate you in a team NOT containing Vawn ... and things look good!
He's a talented batsman, that's for sure. But apart from a few pretty 70s in the shorter form of the game he is letting his talent go to waste. He has been touted as a future England batsman for the last 10 years - but never kicked on and made an impression. What makes you lot all think he's gonna come in and smash Steyn, Ntini & Morkel all round the park?
You've said it mate - Shah is talented.... but he's also exciting to watch when torn away from under the shadow of England
and Vawn. He's highly intelligent to speak to, respectful of authority and he is a loyal servant to his county.
You asked - What makes us lot think he's gonna come in and smash the Jaarpies?
Well FFS daft question! Well, if he is given a chance to - like Bell a 30 test run not just a one test injury shoe-in -
he might just prove the doubters wrong. As long as Marvel captains, Shah is unlikely to advance on his 2 caps -
neither played under Vawn's captaincy.
Case proven ??
One test in 2 years ain't gonna do it Gaz ... and I think you probably know and accept that mate!!
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
I will admit that i'm playing devil's advocate a bit here - as you may know I said I would have selected Shah in the Test team in the past.
But the fact remains that true great sportsmen are motivated by glory and not by money. And certainly not by 1st Class Travel!!!
If I was as talented as Owais Shah, and i'd only played 2 tests - I would be desperate to achieve and to play more Test match cricket. Collingwood, was in a similar position (ODI specialist) for much of his career, as well as being written off by many as not being good enough. Well he tried so hard, grafted and grafted, and now he's the one with the MBE, the Ashes medal, test average of 40 and the double century in Australia against the greatest bowling attack ever - not bad. Just think if Shah had this type of commitment what he could achieve?
And don't think the selectors would be above picking players the captain doesn't want - after all they've been doing it for the last 20 years. Infact even in the last match they managed to select a roof tiler that he'd never heard of!?
But the fact remains that true great sportsmen are motivated by glory and not by money. And certainly not by 1st Class Travel!!!
If I was as talented as Owais Shah, and i'd only played 2 tests - I would be desperate to achieve and to play more Test match cricket. Collingwood, was in a similar position (ODI specialist) for much of his career, as well as being written off by many as not being good enough. Well he tried so hard, grafted and grafted, and now he's the one with the MBE, the Ashes medal, test average of 40 and the double century in Australia against the greatest bowling attack ever - not bad. Just think if Shah had this type of commitment what he could achieve?
And don't think the selectors would be above picking players the captain doesn't want - after all they've been doing it for the last 20 years. Infact even in the last match they managed to select a roof tiler that he'd never heard of!?
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:
Collingwood has only played 2 County Championship matches, so its not a great comparison. Especially when one of those appearances were up against a fired up Andrew Flintoff, the kind of bowler Shah never gets to face as he's spent the last few years playing Div 2 cricket.
2005, when Middlesex were in division one, he scored 1700+ runs @ 65 (7 hundreds, 8 fifties) and, once again, finished second only to Mark Ramprakash in the batting averages for English players.
Last year he scored 77* for England A against the touring Indians and 120* against division one champions Sussex for the MCC in the season curtain raiser.
I just don't think it's a sustainable argument that he can't score runs against decent sides just because Middlesex happen to be in the second division at present.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:I will admit that i'm playing devil's advocate a bit here - as you may know I said I would have selected Shah in the Test team in the past.
But the fact remains that true great sportsmen are motivated by glory and not by money. And certainly not by 1st Class Travel!!!
If I was as talented as Owais Shah, and i'd only played 2 tests - I would be desperate to achieve and to play more Test match cricket. Collingwood, was in a similar position (ODI specialist) for much of his career, as well as being written off by many as not being good enough. Well he tried so hard, grafted and grafted, and now he's the one with the MBE, the Ashes medal, test average of 40 and the double century in Australia against the greatest bowling attack ever - not bad. Just think if Shah had this type of commitment what he could achieve?
And don't think the selectors would be above picking players the captain doesn't want - after all they've been doing it for the last 20 years. Infact even in the last match they managed to select a roof tiler that he'd never heard of!?
He's waited patiently for his "glory" for 2 years in the wilderness.
Believe this - he does have an honest passion to play test cricket for England,
but when he's baulked time and again through no fault of his own, when opportuities
are blatantly taken away from him ... the passion wiltsthrough sheer exasperation.
I have always been a Collingwood supporter for his blood and guts approach, but hey,
picking him for Edgbaston (despite not having done much since being dropped!) does
smack of vaughan intervention in order to resore "harmony" to his team.
I don't for one moment doubt that Vaughan either directly or through Moores can and does influence
selection - Pattinson was the exception - hence Vaughan's belly-aching toys out of pram
public tantrum post defeat. Vaughan certainly had Graveney's ear - big time.
Shah HAS committment Gazza - the sad fact is that he's never been given an opportunity to apply it.
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Gary 111 wrote:I will admit that i'm playing devil's advocate a bit here - as you may know I said I would have selected Shah in the Test team in the past.
But the fact remains that true great sportsmen are motivated by glory and not by money. And certainly not by 1st Class Travel!!!
If I was as talented as Owais Shah, and i'd only played 2 tests - I would be desperate to achieve and to play more Test match cricket. Collingwood, was in a similar position (ODI specialist) for much of his career, as well as being written off by many as not being good enough. Well he tried so hard, grafted and grafted, and now he's the one with the MBE, the Ashes medal, test average of 40 and the double century in Australia against the greatest bowling attack ever - not bad. Just think if Shah had this type of commitment what he could achieve?
And don't think the selectors would be above picking players the captain doesn't want - after all they've been doing it for the last 20 years. Infact even in the last match they managed to select a roof tiler that he'd never heard of!?
I'm not sure there's anything wrong with his commitment - IIRC, he hobbled around like a cripple desperately trying to get fit for an England A tour to the West Indies just a few weeks after major knee surgery. He made the tour (and subsequently got called up for the senior squad in India).
But I can understand England having reservations about him. He's an ugly player, his technique looks awkward. Although it's not how you score the runs, rather how many runs you score, England have traditionally been wary of unorthodox players.
And his fielding is pretty ordinary for a professional cricketer. He's not a natural athlete.
But when the team is struggling for runs - as this side has been for 18 months - it does seem incredible that such a highly-rated (around the county circuit) and consistently heavy-scoring batsman can't get any kind of look in, regardless of his flaws. Not scoring any runs is a far bigger flaw, no matter how pretty you look.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Dello wrote:Gary 111 wrote:
Collingwood has only played 2 County Championship matches, so its not a great comparison. Especially when one of those appearances were up against a fired up Andrew Flintoff, the kind of bowler Shah never gets to face as he's spent the last few years playing Div 2 cricket.
2005, when Middlesex were in division one, he scored 1700+ runs @ 65 (7 hundreds, 8 fifties) and, once again, finished second only to Mark Ramprakash in the batting averages for English players.
Last year he scored 77* for England A against the touring Indians and 120* against division one champions Sussex for the MCC in the season curtain raiser.
I just don't think it's a sustainable argument that he can't score runs against decent sides just because Middlesex happen to be in the second division at present.
Whatever you say about Div 1 vs Div 2, the fact still remains:
72 vs Lewry, Harris, Martin-Jenkins, Wright, Aga (!) & Beer (!!)
116 & 50 vs Malik, Cummins, Rowe, Lawson, Henderson & Allenby
0 & 12 vs Gillespie, Harrison, Watkins, Wharf, Dalrymple & Croft
3 & 43 vs Martin, Southee, O'Brien, Oram & Patel
36 & 50 vs Tahir, Anyon, Trott, Botha, Maddy, Salisbury
5 & 86 vs Langeveldt, Dean, Wagg, Clare & Needham
144 vs Masters, Tudor, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Kaneria & Middlebrook
1 & 12 vs van der Wath, Lucas, Louw, Crook, Panesar, Boje & Klusener
15 & 65 vs Lewis, Kirby, Ireland, Saxelby & North
42 & 13 vs Martin, Woakes, Carter & Maddy
1 & 6 vs Ali, Mason, Arif, Andrew & Batty
That's what Shah has done this season. Wouldn't it be a more convincing case if there was 100 against Morkel, Ntini and Steyn in there?
Because all that is left is an indifferent run of form against mainly poor bowlers. Pound for pound the bowling attacks in Division One are a lot stronger than that - so my original point still remains. Div One is a lot stronger. Not many Flintoff's in there is there?
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
A "convincing" case against Morkel, Ntini and Steyn would be in FIRST being selected as a test player !
BTW any stats for the 2007 season when he was running riot?
Bugger... I forgot - Shah plays in Div 2 on flat Lord's wickets and you're an advocate of Div 1 being "stronger" than Div 2!
So being on the fringes of test selection for the past 2 years and not having been given an opportunity by the incumbent captain must, in your book, merely mean that the selectors have had it wrong for all that time!
Okay.
BTW any stats for the 2007 season when he was running riot?
Bugger... I forgot - Shah plays in Div 2 on flat Lord's wickets and you're an advocate of Div 1 being "stronger" than Div 2!
So being on the fringes of test selection for the past 2 years and not having been given an opportunity by the incumbent captain must, in your book, merely mean that the selectors have had it wrong for all that time!
Okay.
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Just saying he's not pulling up any trees this year.
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
And if you think those bowling attacks are as good as the like of Div 1 attacks like
Flintoff, Mahmood, Chapple, Cork & Keedy
Gough, Hoggard, Bresnan, Rana Naved & Rashid
Bond, Tremlett, Mascarenahs & Tomlinson
McLaren, Mahmood, Joseph & Arafat
Harmison, Thorp, Plunkett, Onions & Davies
Sidebottom, Broad / Shreck, Pattinson (!) & Swann
etc.
then you're kidding yourself. There's a reason why the Div 2 sides aren't in Div 1!
Flintoff, Mahmood, Chapple, Cork & Keedy
Gough, Hoggard, Bresnan, Rana Naved & Rashid
Bond, Tremlett, Mascarenahs & Tomlinson
McLaren, Mahmood, Joseph & Arafat
Harmison, Thorp, Plunkett, Onions & Davies
Sidebottom, Broad / Shreck, Pattinson (!) & Swann
etc.
then you're kidding yourself. There's a reason why the Div 2 sides aren't in Div 1!
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Interesting points on here, some I agree with, some I don't.
Basically my opinion would be these:
- Its obvious Shah is not liked by Vaughan, and therefore he will do all in his power as shown by his tantrum after Headingly to get the side he wants, which will include his favorites
- Its also obvious that over the past 6 years, and during his oD career more recently he is easily as talented and easily could score runs at the highest level. His performances against the same bowling attacks as Bell/Collingwood/Cook have seen him score more runs than all of them I expect.
- His stats this year. He was averaging over 50, was the highest run scorer in the ODI series I believe, and has had a slight slump in the last couple of games. No offense Gaz, but Bell and Collingwood bar 1 innings or so hacve been in a p1ss waful slump for 18 months in test cricket!!!
- With regards to the bee in the bonnet tha Gary seem to have about him not playing against the Saffa's. If he was nursing a knee injury, then he doesn't play. If he then uses the time off to work on his benefit which will hopefully help him set himself up for life, then fair play. Collingwood in the worse form of any test batter in the world I expect, didn't rock out for Durham in between tests to find form with no injury did he (the shoulder injections don't hurt and stop alot of the pain) ? So if Shah was carrying an injury then he's [erfectly within his rights not to play.
I have absolute doubt that Shah would perform as well as if not better than Bell/Collingwood has if given the 30 odd tests both have recieved, and have not deserved!!!
He's too talented, has shown with his 88 in India, and his subsequent ODI knocks to have it at the top level! And above all he has more talent than either of them IMO.
Basically my opinion would be these:
- Its obvious Shah is not liked by Vaughan, and therefore he will do all in his power as shown by his tantrum after Headingly to get the side he wants, which will include his favorites
- Its also obvious that over the past 6 years, and during his oD career more recently he is easily as talented and easily could score runs at the highest level. His performances against the same bowling attacks as Bell/Collingwood/Cook have seen him score more runs than all of them I expect.
- His stats this year. He was averaging over 50, was the highest run scorer in the ODI series I believe, and has had a slight slump in the last couple of games. No offense Gaz, but Bell and Collingwood bar 1 innings or so hacve been in a p1ss waful slump for 18 months in test cricket!!!
- With regards to the bee in the bonnet tha Gary seem to have about him not playing against the Saffa's. If he was nursing a knee injury, then he doesn't play. If he then uses the time off to work on his benefit which will hopefully help him set himself up for life, then fair play. Collingwood in the worse form of any test batter in the world I expect, didn't rock out for Durham in between tests to find form with no injury did he (the shoulder injections don't hurt and stop alot of the pain) ? So if Shah was carrying an injury then he's [erfectly within his rights not to play.
I have absolute doubt that Shah would perform as well as if not better than Bell/Collingwood has if given the 30 odd tests both have recieved, and have not deserved!!!
He's too talented, has shown with his 88 in India, and his subsequent ODI knocks to have it at the top level! And above all he has more talent than either of them IMO.
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
If I was as talented as Owais Shah, and i'd only played 2 tests - I would be desperate to achieve and to play more Test match cricket.
How do we know that he's not desperate to play more test cricket? He can only keep scoring runs. The rest is up to the selectors. In recent times he has actually told the press about how frustratind it is to be constantly overlooked for the test side. He played 1 test in India and made 88, then another at Lord's last year batting at 3 on a seamer and got a couple of good 'uns. 2 tests in 2 1/2 years- Hardly a proper chance compared to some others in the England setup.
For whatever reason, England just aren't prepared to give Shah a whole series to prove himself. He's been county cricket's best English qualified batsman for the last 6 years, but we still don't really know how good he is, and imo that's a disgrace when the current lot have hardly been setting the world on fire in the last 2 years.
Yes, he's cocky, he's brash, he thinks he's the dog's bollocks. But in a lot of international teams, that kind of attitude is sought after, rather than frowned upon.
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
what I find interesting is that harmi after publicly bagging the the dandy tiler's selection in the last test has been rewarded with a call up...the great pity is the call up was not delayed until the ashes series
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
The simple summation of Owais Shah's England ambitions are this:
Heads Vaughan wins, Tails Shah loses.
Shah has topped the averages, scored heavily in all forms of the game these past 2 years, carried drinks, practised actively with and been an integral part of the squad - all in the hope he got that elusive slot in a final Test XI.
It has never come under Vaughan - and it never will.
So WTF - he's got massive pay days just around the corner, through his Benefit
and through Stanford, Dubai and the IPL.
Leveling criticism at him now for "not being as dedicated as Collingwood" in his ambitions to play for England is both laughable and just plain bloody daft.
Heads Vaughan wins, Tails Shah loses.
Shah has topped the averages, scored heavily in all forms of the game these past 2 years, carried drinks, practised actively with and been an integral part of the squad - all in the hope he got that elusive slot in a final Test XI.
It has never come under Vaughan - and it never will.
So WTF - he's got massive pay days just around the corner, through his Benefit
and through Stanford, Dubai and the IPL.
Leveling criticism at him now for "not being as dedicated as Collingwood" in his ambitions to play for England is both laughable and just plain bloody daft.
Merlin- Number of posts : 14718
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Exactly. If an opportunity in your life has it's door firmly closed then there is no shame in seeking other lucrative opportunities.Merlin wrote:The simple summation of Owais Shah's England ambitions are this:
Heads Vaughan wins, Tails Shah loses.
Shah has topped the averages, scored heavily in all forms of the game these past 2 years, carried drinks, practised actively with and been an integral part of the squad - all in the hope he got that elusive slot in a final Test XI.
It has never come under Vaughan - and it never will.
So WTF - he's got massive pay days just around the corner, through his Benefit
and through Stanford, Dubai and the IPL.
Leveling criticism at him now for "not being as dedicated as Collingwood" in his ambitions to play for England is both laughable and just plain bloody daft.
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Concerning Harmison........
Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse said conditions for Wednesday's Test would not suit the extra pace and bounce that Harmison can find.
Rouse told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I don't think whacking it in half way down here will do you any good. It's always been a 'kiss the turf and get it to swing' wicket.
"If you whack it in short it will just stand up."
Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse said conditions for Wednesday's Test would not suit the extra pace and bounce that Harmison can find.
Rouse told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I don't think whacking it in half way down here will do you any good. It's always been a 'kiss the turf and get it to swing' wicket.
"If you whack it in short it will just stand up."
Guest- Guest
Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Tell that to the Windian bowlers who rocked up on that 'kiss the pitch' deck in the 90's and rolled us horribly!
holcs- Number of posts : 5481
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Demelza wrote:Concerning Harmison........
Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse said conditions for Wednesday's Test would not suit the extra pace and bounce that Harmison can find.
Rouse told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I don't think whacking it in half way down here will do you any good. It's always been a 'kiss the turf and get it to swing' wicket.
"If you whack itin shortit will just stand up."
You can never find a roof tiler when you need one, eh!
Fixed.
Merlin- Number of posts : 14718
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Re: The End is Nigh - GBH recalled to the test squad
Selecting Shah is becoming pointless. I also see no point in picking the out of form Collingwood. I guess we will stick by a 5 bowler strategy especially as we have to win the game!
Shah can count himself very unlucky but wisden is full of retired players who should have played more international cricket. The smart thing to do is to skip a generation and throw in the best young batsman and at this moment that's probably Joe Denly.
Shah can count himself very unlucky but wisden is full of retired players who should have played more international cricket. The smart thing to do is to skip a generation and throw in the best young batsman and at this moment that's probably Joe Denly.
THICKEDGE- Number of posts : 434
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