England in India

[MUFC1987]

Fair enough.

Let's look at an area where we can compare them then.

As I said earlier, Chris Read's first class batting average in the two years since he was dropped is just under 50.

The equivalent area of Gerraint Jones' career would be the two years prior to his test debut. In those two years he averaged 44.

Everyone accepts that Chris Read is much better than Jones behind the stumps. At the moment he is a better batsman than Jones was when he made his test debut. So why not give him a go?

You're looking at it in a very simplistic way. The best FC batsmen don't make the best Test batsman. To use Tendulkar, if someone averages more then him in FC cricket but less in Test matches, are they going to leave Tendulkar out to give the other guy a 'chance'? No, of course not. Read failed miserably as a Test batsman, whereas Jones has proven his ability to hang around at the crease, or even attack. Read is very poor at both, he may well have improved, but there is no need to take this risk. The only way Read can get back into an England squad is if he continues to open in One Day games and he gets a chance there for England, until then, it's not going to happen.

 

[barmyarmy]

His batting was the reason Read lost his place but his has since improved and Geraint Jones' batting is not sufficiently better to justify the chances he misses as keeper.
I was supporting Jones for the England team long before most people had heard of him and have always believed it's better to have a batsman who can keep than a keeper who can bat. The problem for me is Jones' batting at present. It isn't making up for the chances he is missing. I really hope he gets it together but he's not cutting it anymore as far as I'm concerned.

 

[FishBowlMan]

I would love to see Chris Read given another chance. As folk have mentioned, his batting has improved quite a bit over the last couple of years. I believe a keeper should be able to bat, but I am of the opinion that he should be in the side for his wicket keeping first and foremost. England have been spoilt in recent years by having Alec Stewart who was a world class batsman / keeper. I don't believe any current English keeper is in his class as a batsman, but that seems to be the way the selectors want to go. That's fine if you have the player to perform that way, but causes problems when you are trying to squeeze a player into a particular role.

I think the experiment with Jones should be abandoned. We've tried it for a couple of years, and I don't think its working. Lets give Read another go, or if we do insist on batting before keeping ability, get James Foster back into the squad. He's a good batsman and a better keeper than Jones.

 

[MUFC1987]

England have been spoilt in recent years by having Alec Stewart who was a world class batsman / keeper. I
.

I wouldn't go that far. Although Stewart was a better batsman, substitute Jones for Stewart and Read for Russell and it's 10 years ago.

 

[JamesyJames3]

I think everyone is forgetting a certain Mr.Prior, who will no doubt get a chance before Read does again. Although I am starting to believe bringing Read back into the setup would be a good thing.

 

[usy]

Whats England's lineup for tomorrows match ?

 

[barmyarmy]

Whats England's lineup for tomorrows match ?

Not yet announced but likely to be unchanged with Udal or Plunkett coming in for Blackwell depending on which pitch they end up using.

 

[alfa_beta]

India has announced their shortlisted squad - Laxman, Kaif & Sreesanth are sitting out!

Laxman is dropped, Kaif is replaced by Yuvraj and Sreesanth will sit out this match due to viral fever. India will play with 5 bowlers - Munaf Patel is all set to make his debut in place of Sreesanth and the 5th bowling position will be a toss up between Piyush Chawla (17 year old leggie) or RP Singh.

Indian Team :-

Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Harbhajan
Munaf Patel
RP Singh/Piyush Chawla


And going by statements coming out of England camp, Plunkett is all set to replace Blackwell.

 

[FishBowlMan]

Very true MUFC regarding Stewart and Russell. Very close call, but I think Stewart would have justified his place as a pure batsman anyway. Blimey! 10 years ago. Time flies eh?

Regarding the pitch for the next test, talksport have been saying they have chosen the dustier pitch for the game.

 

[alfa_beta]

It's official - dusty pitch has been selected for the test match. It's not really a surprize as India's decision to go with 5 batsmen & 5 bowlers hinted at dusty pitch for the test.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Erm... what does a dusty pitch give to seamers/pace bowlers? I haven't seen a lot fo dusty pitches before...

 

[sohum]

I guess this means Piyush and Munaf will be playing their debuts together! This is a great preview into the future of Indian cricket.

 

[SaiSrini]

I Would like to point here that Indians are more professional than there English counterparts as far as representing your country is concerned.In the last few years there have been many instances of the English and Australian cricketers leaving the tour for "personal" reasons.Show me one instance in the recent past where Indians have done this.Here are a few examples that the Indians take their jobs quiet seriously.Dravid got the news of his becoming father when he was on tour,he continued the tour.In the world cup 1999 in England Tendulkar got the shocking sad news of his father's demise yet he did not leave the team.Amazing commitment.
Now if the English team is depleted due to some "personal" reasons they themselves are to be accounted for that.(Keep aside the injuries side)

who said tendulkar didnt leave? tendulkar rushed back home immediately after hearing the news of his dad's death and he missed the match of India vs Zimbabwe which turned out to be crucial to India's world cup fortunes. India lost to Zimbabwe by some 4 or 5 runs with Robin Singh and Mongia messing it up. Zimbabwe eventually entered the Super Sixes and what happened was since India also entered, had India beat Zimbabwe in that match, India would have carried 4 points into the Super Sixes which would have greatly helped them enter the semifinal which they couldnt!

What makes you think players like Rahul Sanghvi and Sairaj Bahutule will make it into the English team?

Are they of anyuse outside the subcontinent? What good are they on wickets that dont turn?

Thats where your other abilities that I mentioned above come into action. The fact that Monty Panesar has such a good record on English pitches shows that he is just the man England needed.

What makes you think that a slot in the English team is the "seen it all" for a cricketer?

I don't get why Sachin Tendulkar is rated as a good player of Spin. In his last two tests against England, he's been out to Monty Panesar for his first Test wicket and bowled my Michael Vaughan!


Would you care to quote Chris Read's Test match batting average? I'll tell you what, I'll have a go. It's 15, or maybe it's 15.3, I'll tell you what, I'll give him 15.5 round it up a bit. Hardly impressive is it?

By the way, 'Choke' referred to big games, such as Test matches, not county matches.

he has been an excellent player of spin. go and ask one Mr. Shane warne. he will tell you tales about his nightmarish experience with sachin tendulkar. he had sleepless nights and he got those bad visualisations of tendulkar repeatedly coming down the track and tonking him around...

 

[FishBowlMan]

Erm... what does a dusty pitch give to seamers/pace bowlers? I haven't seen a lot fo dusty pitches before...

I think its more suited to the spinners as the surface will break up a bit over the 5 days as there is not much moisture holding it together. Both of the pitches on this ground are slightly harder than the one for the last test though, so the seam bowlers should be able to be more of a threat than for the last test.

 

[SaiSrini]

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Laxman and Kaif both dropped! But fantastic decision! I think Munaf and Irfan are enough to exploit any swing and seam that the pitch might offer on the first two days.. India should hand Piyush Chawla his debut test match. Piyush Chawla is a very promising spinner and an extremely handy batsman lower down the order. Since India are going with only 5 batsman, India should prefer the lower order Chawla to the tail end RP Singh!

Great XII announced by India! Very positive signs!