5th Test: England vs Australia at the Brit Oval

[Leicester Fox]

Yep, we should be on the selection panel. Blatantly know more than Giles who is trying to keep Trott at Warwickshire by convincing them not to select him. I think Bopara and Bell will both play, Harmison will go and we will draw. Although I have another horrible feeling that Ramps will play and be awful.

 

[Mercules]

I've always thought Key is just a fat bastard who is only rated cause Sky ram him up the arse tbh.

But as long as Ravi & Bell aren't playing I'm not too fussed. I'd rather Jimmy batted at 3, he's done more than them

 

[RoboRocks]

If the best we can come up with is Ramprakash, who averages 27 from 52 Tests, then the future of English cricket is very undetermined. Picking someone such as Ramps would be going back too far.

I hope we go for either Key or Trott. I would possibly go for Trott because he has runs under the belt, he's been around the England side and is really the next batsman in line according to the selectors.

 

[aussie1st]

The fab trio gotta love them Please keep them in, who doesn't love them scoring a combined total that is less than the tailenders.

 

[Hooper]

I hope Bopara is kept.

I want to see his stats after a 5 match series against Australia then copy and paste them in my sig so KP and Sureshot can see how great he really is.

 

[smssia0112]

Ideally for Australia, England make no changes other than Flintoff in for Harmison or Broad.

If I wanted England to win though, I'd make these changes:
In: Flintoff, Key, Sidebottom
Out: Broad (lucky to get the 6fer really, been England's worst bowler), Bopara (Pretty obvious), Harmison (Didn't take his chance enough really)

And Australia would be crazy to make changes. That's what I reckoning.

 

[Sureshot]

I hope Bopara is kept.

I want to see his stats after a 5 match series against Australia then copy and paste them in my sig so KP and Sureshot can see how great he really is.

Eh?

I rate Ravi and still do. Bad form != bad player. Though he shouldn't be in the side.

I also think it'd be harsh to drop our only performing player at Headingley. He wasn't lucky, he bowled well. His confidence will be up after a hard series.

 

[King Pietersen]

AWTA. Ravi's still a good player, and I still rate him highly and still believe he will have a successful Test career, but he shouldn't be in the side atm, certainly not batting 3. He'll be back.

Broad was not lucky, he was the best of our bowlers, and deserved his 6fer. He was also our best bowler on that final day at Edgbaston as well, and he's relied on more than just luck. His figures overall look pretty awful, but in the last 12 months he's not done that bad. 34 wickets at 33 from 12 games with 2 5fers, he's really not had a bad year. He was picked too early, I think we've all accepted that, but he's been our best bowler in our last 2 innings, taking 8 wickets for not too many, so dropping him would be very harsh, especially given he's our joint leading wicket taker in the series iirc. He had a poor early series, but he's turned it round and started bowling well, dropping him and keeping Harmison would be very harsh on Broad.

 

[The_gas]

Excellent article on cricinfo. Well worth a read.

Oh great, just as i got over the infamous Jimmy/Stuart/Alistair photo i now have a sexy naked body painted ramps to look at.

 

[Cricketman]

Andrew Strauss (C)
Rob Key
Alastair Cook
Mark Ramprakash
Paul Collingwood
Matthew Prior (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
Ryan Sidebottom
Greame Swann
Jimmy Anderson
Graham Onions

Out: Ian Bell, Ravinder Bopara, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison
In: Mark Ramprakash, Rob Key, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Flintoff.

 

[The_gas]

Strauss
Key
Cook
Ramps
Trott
Prior
Flints
Swann
Broad
Rashid
Anderson

:banana2

 

[Themer]

Strauss
Key
Cook
Ramps
Trott
Prior
Flints
Swann
Broad
Rashid
Anderson

:banana2

Take out Rashid and add Sidebottom, Onions or even Harmison and I'd agree but no way would Rashid be anywhere near the squad now. He's been useless this season for Yorkshire.

 

[Some Guy....]

I'm honestly not sure what to make of England. They just seem to lack the confidence to stand up when it's against them. Though, when you play for a side which will panic and replace half the side at once, it's hardly unsurprising that they are like that.

 

[The_gas]

Take out Rashid and add Sidebottom, Onions or even Harmison and I'd agree but no way would Rashid be anywhere near the squad now. He's been useless this season for Yorkshire.

Even a Rashid with no arms could bowl better than Monty though. I hope we go with two spinners, as its gonna take turn as the match progresses.

 

[King Pietersen]

Ian Bell 83*(147 balls)
Jonathan Trott 84*(106 balls)
Rob Key 15 (33 balls)
Joe Denly 59 (113 balls)
Ed Joyce 53 (79 balls)

Monty Panesar: 12 overs, 1 maiden, 0-37
Graham Onions: 21 overs, 5 maidens, 0-54
Ryan Sidebottom: 12 overs, 3 maidens, 0-48

and for Gas:
Adil Rashid 117* (190 balls)

Solid day for the 2 Warwickshire hopefuls, not so good for Key, Onions or Panesar, not a good day for any of the bowlers actually.