Ramps to get test call up

Rob I wrote:

doremi wrote:1986/7? You lost a test series to a side with Roger Binny and Madan Lal as their strike bowlers.

And then beat Australia in their back yard, so how carp must the Aussies have been?

Total unmitigated crap. Who suggested anything different?

Cmon, they were in a run of poor results & form but they weren't total carp.

Lets not forget Border,Boon,S Waugh,Hughes,Lawson,Reid all played in that series.

S F Barnes wrote:

Go easy Merl!

I agree, Shah shouldn't be overlooked if he performs in this ODI series and as we've discussed ad nauseaum Ramps time has passed. However, unlike some here, I just don't feel that it would be a complete disaster if Ramps was picked ... just a bit unfair on younger players.

As JKL said, Bumble was probably just leg-pulling anyway.

Aye SJB ... most likely a Bumble wind up ... and good that it creates debate, though mebbe I was a bit OTT - mea culpa!
Nonetheless, with all these central contracts handed out and the perrenial Gravey statement that youth must be brought on, I honestly can't see how Ramps would be found a slot in the present set up (unless the Bell is (w)rung out to dry!!)
No denying Ramps rich vein form though ... irritatingly 10 years too late.

How about:

Cook
Vaughan
Ramprakash
Pietersen
Collingwood
Shah
Flintoff

Fielding five middle order bats who can play spin against the best spinner in the world may be too radical a strategy for England though.

JKLever wrote:Cmon, they were in a run of poor results & form but they weren't total carp.

Lets not forget Border, Boon, S Waugh, Hughes, Lawson, Reid all played in that series.

Agreed ... Waugh, Hughes, and Reid were promising tyros at that stage. The team was crap, though.

Of course it was....

Leo wrote:How about:

Cook
Vaughan
Ramprakash
Pietersen
Collingwood
Shah
Flintoff

Fielding five middle order bats who can play spin against the best spinner in the world may be too radical a strategy for England though.

You'd have to squeeze in a WK in there somewhere. And Bell.

Leo - Fred won't play till the start of the English 2008 season so you can rule him out.

I'm not sure if Bopara's the next batting cab of the rank. Has he really proved himself as 4 day specialist batsman? Always thought he was a young jobbing all-rounder who's starting to appreciate he can bat far better than he can bowl but is not quite there yet.

Shah's miles ahead of Ramps but which other batsmen not already in the current squad are? Robert Key?

Anyway it's not going to happen so Leo can put his box of kleenex away.

Eric Air Emu wrote:I'm not sure if Bopara's the next batting cab of the rank. Has he really proved himself as 4 day specialist batsman?

Averaged 60 with the bat this year.

He's not an all rounder - end of

JKLever wrote:

Eric Air Emu wrote:I'm not sure if Bopara's the next batting cab of the rank. Has he really proved himself as 4 day specialist batsman?

Averaged 60 with the bat this year.

He's not an all rounder - end of

And the season before? Swallows, summers, anvils , cheese etc....

season before 45, the season before that he was 18 years old.

He'd probably not be my choice for the test side but bloomin eck, give the lad a chance loike

Division two runs are only worth half as much you'll find- so he actually averaged a dissappointing 30 last season.

Who cares about the standard of second division county cricket when he's played some very composed innings already at the top level?

He's played two very decent innings in one dayers with a top score of 50 something. Not really enough of a run orgy to get him in the test side.

If he moved to Surrey though...

Well put Prior at 7. What difference does it make?

And playing Bell in Sri Lanka is a waste of time.

Cue him scoring 300 in the series.

Leo wrote:And playing Bell in Sri Lanka is a waste of time.

He did very well in Pakistan and poorly in India.

Dingdong has six centuries in his thirty tests so I'd be loathe to drop him.

First mention of a possible Ramps recall in the press...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnists/result/2007/10/05/old-bats-to-vote-again-for-ramps-89520-19899951/

Bear in mind its The Mirror and its their betting pundit who probably got all his info from watching the Bumble statement on the TV like you and me

If Ramps is called up and fails miserably, then SURELY it would be the end for David Graveney? He's survived a lot but could he really survive calling up a 38 year old in place of Owais Shah? I dont think he'll want to risk losing his precious job.

Would it be so bad, him getting in instead of the woefully out of form Strauss?

doremi wrote:Would it be so bad, him getting in instead of the woefully out of form Strauss?

Probably not, and I'm not against concentrating on the here and now rather than 'for the future' either...

Would be a great story too.

Though not as great as the 42yr old Cowdrey getting recalled against the Aussies in 74/5

Strauss has been out of form for a year but he seems immune to being dropped.

Ramps getting the nod ahead of Shah? No farquing way!

Well?

This is just a wind-up, surely?

Better had be!