England Cricket Shambles

[Beeneys gloves]

I would like to see players given more of a chance in the test game but the only person who has had that in recent years is Freddie, and look the cricketer he's turning into now, unfortunately we havent got a good enough side where we can do that so the selectors are looking for the ultimate quick fix, names like Maddy, Afzaal, Hamilton, Habib roll off the tongue as people who have been forgotten in recent years. Unfortunately I dont reckon Solanki will make it as a test player although ur right we will never know until he is tried.

Hopefully Vaughan will be given a say although there are rumours him and Thorpe dont get on at all but surely as captain of England ud want ur best side and that has to include Thorpe

 

[Simster]

The county system just isn't good enough to improve our players to the standard required to be successful at International level.

Absolutely 100% agree with that. The problem is that the talent is dilluted, meaning that batsmen don't get enough practice batting against world class bowlers from both ends in the same spell. Similarly, bowlers will not get enough experience stemming the flow of runs and dismissing the batsmen if one of the batsmen is not world class and likely to throw his wicket away.

Look at SA and Aus - Sheffield Shield cricket is played at state level (7 sides) and players are picked directly from clubs. You look at a Sheffield Shield match and the teams are crammed full of test class players who are on the fringes of the Aussie team and would walk into any other. Law, Bevan, Hussey, Kasprovic etc all playing test match quality domestic matches.

We only have strong club leagues in Yorkshire, Lancashire and (arguably) Surrey so our players ought to be picked from counties. My solution would be to make the counties a one-day set up and play 5 day cricket amonsgt 6 regional sides, selected from the counties.

 

[Gwylan]

I don't think it's anything to do with the county set-up. It's to do with mindset - Aussies have got that competitive spirit and just seem to hate losing.

We need to foster that spirit in England (it starts at school level). Until we start doing that, we're never going to start winning, whether we have a county set-up, a regional set-up, or whatever.

As for the present team, the first four pick themselves. I think Thorpe would be retrogade step - it would clearly not be the best way to promote team spirit by picking someone who opts out of tours when he doesn't fancy it - he either wants to play cricket for England or doesn't.

Stewart should have gone before the start of the season - he's patently past his best. Read should be given a chance - it won't be Prior, if he's not even first choice for his county.

I wouldn't mind a bet that Johnson will be in the next test team and Kirtley isn't.

And I'd bet as much as you like that Ambrose will have played for England by August 2006.

 

[JEM]

Best cricketing quote I've heard:

"There's a whole generation of kids growing up who think England batting test collapse is all one word"

 

[Storer68]

Absolutely 100% agree with that. The problem is that the talent is dilluted, meaning that batsmen don't get enough practice batting against world class bowlers from both ends in the same spell. Similarly, bowlers will not get enough experience stemming the flow of runs and dismissing the batsmen if one of the batsmen is not world class and likely to throw his wicket away.

Look at SA and Aus - Sheffield Shield cricket is played at state level (7 sides) and players are picked directly from clubs. You look at a Sheffield Shield match and the teams are crammed full of test class players who are on the fringes of the Aussie team and would walk into any other. Law, Bevan, Hussey, Kasprovic etc all playing test match quality domestic matches.

We only have strong club leagues in Yorkshire, Lancashire and (arguably) Surrey so our players ought to be picked from counties. My solution would be to make the counties a one-day set up and play 5 day cricket amonsgt 6 regional sides, selected from the counties.

But thats nonsense. We have central contracts. England players barely play ANY county cricket now. All the etst players are coached through Academies and Age group internationals at u.15 upwards. County cricket is not a development process for international players now, that is all centrally controlled by the ECB

We would be better asking why is it that players are seemingly unable to make the step from stuffing everyone at U.19 level to being any good at Test

I went and watched NSW play Victoria last December at Sydney and whilst the NSW side was packed with either ex-Test players or players on the finge, the Victoria side hardly had any one with Test experience in it (Ian Harvey was the only one and he barely makes their one day squad) . In fact I was struck just how weak the depth of the Australian game was for the future was. There did not seem to be any new batting coming throuh and the bowling would have barely made a county seccond XI

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think that England must win this series. Cricket needed 20/20 to reach a wider audience, but that audience will only remain interested if the England team is successful. Therefore we must pick our best XI now to give us the maximum chance of winning this series - now is not the time for experimenting with youth. My line-up for the next test would be as follows:

Trescothick
Vaughan
Butcher
Hussain
Thorpe
Flintoff
Read
Giles
Kirtley
Gough
Anderson

I would retain Nasser on the basis that he got a few runs last time out, should be motivated and it keeps a bit of experience both to help Vaughan in the early days of captaincy and the team as a whole.

I would bring back Thorpe because we need his runs, his experience and his temperament. There are very few English players capable of scoring big centuries against quality oppostion and, in a series where the opposition have quality batting, we need reliable batsment of our own.

Read should now be ready to take the step-up to Test level. Being in the middle order with Flintoff, Thorpe and Giles will give him reliable support at the other end.

I'd play Kirtley not because he's Sussex but because he's reliable and bang in form. Harmison should be rested. Gough deserves more than a couple of tests after his lengthy rehab from injury, but should be left in no uncertain terms that he's out if he doesn't take wickets.

 

[hart's shirt]

Time for Thorpe to make a long-overdue return to the side - class.

 

[Brixtaan]

Welldone for mpointing out Jones Simster, just dig a little deeper into the Kent squad and you'll find other hidden gems.We mustn't forget Ealham, he has always served England well, is just coming into form and is pushing the County towards a late Championship bid.

Then there's another gentleman,also quality,but with the right coaching might have his confidence repaired after the battering it has taken of late............... you know who i mean.KKK

 

[Italiaseagull]

Brixtaan, the best England player to come out of the dark repungent depths of Kent in recent years was not Mark Ealham but Dean Headley. I though he was a very good young bowler who could have gone on to make a lot more appearences for England if it wasn't for injury. Shame that!