England in New Zealand

[King Pietersen]

Inconsistent batting?

He averages 40 in Test cricket, you can't ask more for that from a batting perspective for our keeper.

He performed poorly against India, with scores of 1, 42, 11, 7, 0 and 12*, that's hardly what i call consistent. He has an unbeaten century, which has really helped his average, without it i reckon he'd be averaging early to mid 30's. He did well in Sri Lanka with the bat, but failed to go on in any of his innings and score 100. I therefore believe that his average can be deceptive, i dont think he's been anywhere near consistent enough to warrant his place, especially with his dissapointing Wicket-Keeping. I'd have still liked to have seen him in the squad, and would have liked to have seen him get 1 more series to prove himself, but it's not a massively bad decision to drop him.

 

[wolf]

Have the ECB said they'll ban anyone who plays in ICL now? Because Last I read they hadn't.

Yeah it seems a public consensus now that anyone who plays in the ICL is automatically banned from playing for their country. Extremley annoying that people just don't get it.

 

[AndyRAC]

Yeah it seems a public consensus now that anyone who plays in the ICL is automatically banned from playing for their country. Extremley annoying that people just don't get it.

How petty is that?? Who decided that? What's going on with the ECB? I just hope they don't give Graveney the selectors job again, he's had it for nearly 10years, time for somebody else to have a go.
Regarding Flintoff, you couldn't play him as batsmen, he's not technically good enough, and apart from 2004/05 when he did get runs, he hasn't been a heavy scorer. This didn't matter too much as his bowling was nearly always brilliant.

 

[Sureshot]

That is no consolidation for dropped catches thought is it? I agree his batting had been good but the primary job for a keeper is to take 90-95% of their catches and Prior has probably taken 70 odd.

The perfect example of a keeper that does what he should would be Mark Boucher. He takes 90-95% of chances and averages 30 with the bat, in which, he makes 50 when he can and perhaps the occasional hundred. That is what all keepers should aim to do at test level instead of trying to be Adam Gilchrist all the time.

Mustard is not quite a test cricketer as of yet but he can still do a job in ODI's. It was quite impossible in the Sri Lankan conditions to play the way he plays in November since the conditions were alien to everyone since there is not much cricket played at that time of year very often. New Zealand will be quite encouraging for him since the ball comes on to the bat and the boundaries are very small. I would judge him after the New Zealand series and if he fails then fair enough, it should be Ambrose instead.
Ambrose should still keep in the tests though, fine wicket keeper regarded by everyone who has seen him and has been great for Warwickshire with the bat this year averaging 45 in the County Championship.

Davies cannot be far behind though since despite a poor season regarding the Worcester ground flooded, Davies is a fine keeper and equally good batsmen that could easily do the job.

Rob, I mentioned nothing about his keeping ability/record. I posted about his batting, if you want a keeper to do more with the bat than average 40 then you are in dreamland, because it won't happen.

Nixon and Read won't represent England again. Nor should they, they're not good enough.

 

[freddiw]

how close is Rashid/Lawson/Munday to Full England selection?

Do you guys think England would play 2 spinners

 

[irottev]

On NZ pitches I don't think playing 2 spinners would benefit them. Also, we seem to have more trouble against pace then spin.

I'm looking forward to Panesar and Vettori playing in the same match.

 

[RoboRocks]

Rob, I mentioned nothing about his keeping ability/record. I posted about his batting, if you want a keeper to do more with the bat than average 40 then you are in dreamland, because it won't happen.

I'm not demanding our keeper average over 40. I think he should average over 30 and be able to take 90-95% of their chances. That is what they should aim for in my opinion. Any runs that Prior gets is no consolidation for the chances that he dropped in Sri Lanka.

 

[Sureshot]

how close is Rashid/Lawson/Munday to Full England selection?

Do you guys think England would play 2 spinners

No.

Rashid is in the Lions team, I'd be surprised if he plays before the 09 Ashes. Lawson and Munday are a million miles away from the team.

Rob, King Pietersen said Prior was inconsistent with the bat, so apologies.

 

[Highlander999]

I think it is good that James Tredwell has been picked for the ODI squad. He is good bowler and very handy with the bat. However I would still choose Swann over him.

I do feel that Prior shouldn't have been dropped though

 

[Leicester Fox]

This is where our battle to regain the ashes begins, we need to find some form to beat the Saffas, if we don't Ican't see us believing we'll beat the Aussies. I'm really hoping that one ofthe younger bowlers forces his way ino the side and shows some real talent with a couple of 5fers because we could do with a world class bowler, Hoggy is with the new ball and he's very good without it but we need someone to back him up like Harmison in the Windies, Simon Jones or Flintoff.

Battingwise we have enough to talent to deal with the Aussie attack but once again they need to find form and character to battle like we had last time from KP, Fred and others.

Still I think both series will be closer than what people think, our ODI side has finally got going while the tests are the complete opposite. If Bond plays I can see us losing it.

 

[freddiw]

yea thats fair enough what, so all 3 are a long way off

I reckon England are gonna dominate both Test and ODI

Whats Flintoff Condition

 

[jordox]

The perfect example of a keeper that does what he should would be Mark Boucher. He takes 90-95% of chances and averages 30 with the bat, in which, he makes 50 when he can and perhaps the occasional hundred. That is what all keepers should aim to do at test level instead of trying to be Adam Gilchrist all the time.

:laugh : :rtfl

Uhhh people crack me up.

And by the way Matt Prior wasn't trying to be Gilchrist! I love Prior, I think this is the perfect example of why England aren't a good team. They drop players left right and center, dogging them. Prior did drop a few against SL, but surely some practice and extra application could fix that, and I thought he showed some guts with the bat, good player for me.

 

[Cricketman]

Should be a cracker of a series. Seeing as NZ conditions are similar to that of English ones, I suspect an even fight...

 

[Sureshot]

yea thats fair enough what, so all 3 are a long way off

I reckon England are gonna dominate both Test and ODI

Whats Flintoff Condition

Could play in the Lions tour of India (iirc), unlikely to feature in New Zealand. Probably going to get as much cricket and foot strengthening under him as possible.

 

[RoboRocks]

:laugh : :rtfl

Uhhh people crack me up.

And by the way Matt Prior wasn't trying to be Gilchrist! I love Prior, I think this is the perfect example of why England aren't a good team. They drop players left right and center, dogging them. Prior did drop a few against SL, but surely some practice and extra application could fix that, and I thought he showed some guts with the bat, good player for me.

I don't see why that is funny and when I mean when keepers are trying to aim towards being like Gilchrist is that they think they should make a fifty or a hundred in every innings they play in. Its good making fifities but its no consolidation for dropping catches.