1st Test: England v Australia

[karnog]

Yeah i've said it a million times Broad should be playing County and ODI/twenty20 cricket. There's no point in him playing because unlike Hughes he hasn't won a series with his bowling. He's sorta like Mcdonald except with promise. Personally i think England should stick with Anderson. He's a proven performer but i think he should be on notice in Lords. I have to mention one more thing: bring a sixth batsman. We just saw how important Marcus North was. Prior shouldnt be a number 6. He should have Haddin's role- come out and play your natural game. North is a top order player but he's done well at number 6. I think Moore, who converts starts, should be in the squad at least. Denly looked a lot more impressive but he didn't convert to a century. Bopara in the middle order. Lol i'll get a lot flame for this but i reckon Flintoff should not even bother with his batting and just focus on getting wickets. His batting is a bonus. Like Johnson.

Personally a team like the following:
Strauss (C)
Cook
Collingwood
Pietersen
Moore/Bell/county run scorer
Bopara
Prior
Flintoff
Harmison
Onions
Anderson

Capable of 500+ scores, Onions bowls good long spells, Anderson's swing, Flintoff bowls with aggession and Harmison. No offence to Monty or Swann but their rubbish as a spin conductive pitch has shown.

 

[surendar]

Personally a team like the following:
Strauss (C)
Cook
Collingwood
Pietersen
Moore/Bell/county run scorer
Bopara
Prior
Flintoff
Harmison
Onions
Anderson

A team without spinner? Nah! The bowling was crap, I agree. Infact, it was worse than the Indian bowling which I used to hate the most. And not to forget that Strauss's captaincy was not at all impressive.

1) Strauss
2) ** Try some one ** May be Prior too.
3) Bopara
4) KP
5) Flintoff
6) Colly
7) Prior
8) Swann/Rashid
9) Anderson
10) Onions/Sidebottom
11) Harmison

This looks good to me.

 

[jordox]

Interesting Suren, leaving Cook out. Aside from that 100 last series against Australia, he doesn't look good enough to play the Australians.

 

[pcfan123]

Prior
Strauss
Bopara
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Swann
Onions
Anderson
Harmison (or Sidebottom)

 

[OffCutters]

Strauss
Prior
Bopara
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Flintoff
Swann
Onions
Sidebottom
Anderson

Thats what i reckon your Pom`s teams should look like. Not too much different to Hmarkas' team though.

 

[pcfan123]

Strauss
Prior
Bopara
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Flintoff
Swann
Onions
Sidebottom
Anderson

Thats what i reckon your Pom`s teams should look like. Not too much different to Hmarkas' team though.

Great minds think alike mate.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Well if we lose today then it will definitely be 2-0, we can never win at Lord's.

 

[Sureshot]

Umm, as a Prior fan, he isn't a red-ball opener. I wouldn't drop Cook either, he has improved over the last few months and averages ~ 80 this season, even smacked it around in the T20s.

I'm laughing at people suggesting to drop Swann and Anderson, yeh, that's what you do when you concede 600+, drop your two best bowlers over the last 12 months!

Onions for Panesar is a must. 55 wickets @ 17 this year and a good performance vs the WIndies. Only about 3 bowlers have done better this season, Flintoff and Anderson and Piolet (who averages 4.3, but played one match.) averages wise.

I'd give Broad Lord's. Swann can bat 8 though, easily. He has a FC best higher than half of the top 6!

 

[pcfan123]

Umm, as a Prior fan, he isn't a red-ball opener. I wouldn't drop Cook either, he has improved over the last few months and averages ~ 80 this season, even smacked it around in the T20s.

I'm laughing at people suggesting to drop Swann and Anderson, yeh, that's what you do when you concede 600+, drop your two best bowlers over the last 12 months!

Onions for Panesar is a must. 55 wickets @ 17 this year and a good performance vs the WIndies. Only about 3 bowlers have done better this season, Flintoff and Anderson and Piolet (who averages 4.3, but played one match.) averages wise.

I'd give Broad Lord's. Swann can bat 8 though, easily. He has a FC best higher than half of the top 6!

I would be ok with giving Cook another go at Lords but what if he fails there again? Do we ride him to the bottom?

 

[OffCutters]

Give Cook a duck at Lords, then drop him.

 

[smssia0112]

Well my Sydney holiday is over, so it's time to get back to some good old English sledging.

What do you call an Englishman with 100 runs to his name? A bowler.

An oldie but a goodie.

Back to seriousness though, England have just looked awful, it just amazes me how much their media have hyped them up and comparisons to 2005 are ridiculous. Trying to write the 5-0 out of their memories is not the right thing to do. They need to use it to remember just how hard it is to beat Australia, and need to come back focused. They came in too confident and eased back at the first sight of Aussie blood. They need to come back a lot harder and a lot more committed next test and break their Lord's drought if they're to be any chance.

Having said that, we did win the first test comfortably in 2005, so it's not out of the question, but they need to stop expecting it to happen and actually work for it.

 

[SciD]

England are lucky that Lee is not playing. Otherwise all the reverse swing not happening talk would have not happened. And when did England start playing two spinners?

 

[mattfb]

Great to see Haddin get one of his all time classic tons. What a start to the bowling as well. Just like the good ole days.

 

[Skater]

My Lord's team:

1. Andrew Strauss (c)
2. Alastair Cook
3. Ravi Bopara
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Matt Prior (wk)
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Graeme Swann
9. James Anderson
10. Steve Harmison
11. Graham Onions

 

[mattfb]

Strauss
Prior
Bopara
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Flintoff
Swann
Onions
Sidebottom
Anderson

Thats what i reckon your Pom`s teams should look like. Not too much different to Hmarkas' team though.

I think Sidebottom with Freddie or Anderson would kill us. The change of angle and good swing, I would probably play him too.