England in West Indies

[barmyarmy]

My ideal team for the next Test:

1. Andrew Strauss (c)
2. Alastair Cook
3. Owais Shah
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Ravi Bopara
6. Matt Prior (wk)
7. Stuart Broad
8. Graeme Swann
9. James Anderson
10. Steve Harmison
11. Amjad Khan

So not only are you dropping KP to teach him a lesson? You're dropping him from a must-win test match...
Have you considered applying for the England job?

 

[Skater]

I don't see the next Test as a must win. It is nothing more than a dead rubber, drawing and losing should be seen as one and the same.

 

[barmyarmy]

I don't see the next Test as a must win. It is nothing more than a dead rubber, drawing and losing should be seen as one and the same.

Losing 1-0 or 2-0 can be seen as one and the same but not drawing the series and retaining the Wisden Trophy.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I would drop Bopara, it's too soon for Shah to go and whilst it's great to make 100 it was on a road. He will get his time with England, he's only 23 whilst Colly is 32 and has 3-4 years at most and Shah is no youngster either.

I'd bring Rashid in because he would offer us something with the bat and he might have another cracking debut. Amjad would play too although Harmy didn't actually bowl that badly in the last game.

 

[King Pietersen]

Lee. That team selection takes the biscuit. You do not drop your best player for a must win game. I don't see West Indies dropping Chanderpaul to try and rejuvinate the spark in him, it's a ridiculous idea and ridiculous opinion. It's not often opinions can be wrong, but yours is, I doubt you'll find anyone that even remotely agrees with you. Ludicrous.

 

[Dare]

Guessing that'll mean Baker and Simmons coming in right? Considering the squad named is the same as the last Test, or do they plan on making changes to that as well?

yea they are the most likely replacements, I cant really think of any other guys that would be ahead of the 2 you mentioned.

 

[WestIndian]

good to hear Gayle say that there will be some changes made for the next test. I hope he is talking about Powell and maybe Hinds.

Oh there should be no question about these two!!! The last 10 test matches in Trinidad, going back to 1998 have had results, am wishing for the same, and for us to win we need help for Taylor and Edwards.
Fast bowlers out of a total of 342 wickets, took 291 wickets, compare to spinners 51.

 

[Dare]

Oh there should be no question about these two!!! The last 10 test matches in Trinidad, going back to 1998 have had results, am wishing for the same, and for us to win we need help for Taylor and Edwards.
Fast bowlers out of that took 291 wickets, compare to spinners 51.

first we have to see whats the news on Taylor and how serious his injury is. If he cant play than its Powell and Baker with Edwards.

 

[WestIndian]

first we have to see whats the news on Taylor and how serious his injury is. If he cant play than its Powell and Baker with Edwards.

We do hope its not serious, and he can play, will be rested for a couple ODIs and with Bravo coming back for the ODI Series then we should be good with Taylor playing the last test!!!

 

[King Pietersen]

What do you guys reckon will be the Windies side for the ODi's then? I anticipate England's ODi team to be something like:

Strauss (C)
Bopara/Prior
Shah
Pietersen
Flintoff
Collingwood
Prior/Bopara
Mascarenhas
Swann
Broad
Anderson

Happy with the batting line-up, but the 3rd seamer position is a serious problem, so unless they go for an all-rounder in Patel or Mascarenhas then I think we've got a problem. I'd love to see Dimi back in the side, playing a sort of floating role in the batting line-up, coming up the order to hit some big shots (like an Albie Morkel type role). His bowling is probably of more use than Sidey or Harmy's as well. Be interesting to see who they go with.

 

[Kev]

My ideal team for the next Test:

1. Andrew Strauss (c)
2. Alastair Cook
3. Owais Shah
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Ravi Bopara
6. Matt Prior (wk)
7. Stuart Broad
8. Graeme Swann
9. James Anderson
10. Steve Harmison
11. Amjad Khan

Not a hope in hell of getting that side out there. As Colin says, you are mental for dropping KP. Not only that but Amjad is a much better bat than Jimmy and Steve Plus why even bother to stick Prior in there, he isn't available, if you are going to go for an ideal team where reality doesn't matter then stick Botham, Gatting, Gooch and Gower in there too

I think England need to try Amjad, he might fail but they need a wicket taking bowler and nobody else is standing up to that job at the moment. If the pitch is looking like it might take spin then go for the second spinner too. Don't care who, Monty or Rashid. Maybe the safer option is to go with Monty if you are going to take a punt on Amjad and don't want to rock the boat too much, but personally I don't see what harm rocking the boat can do at this point. Who to drop batsman wise? Tough call. Shah hasn't really had that much of a chance, but I'd go for him, they need to drop a batsman as simple as. Don't need to drop him from the side completely, just this match because they need an extra bowler. No shame in that.

Therefore I guess My team is

Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Ambrose
Broad
Rashid
Amjad
Swann
Anderson

Although If I'm honest when I look at it written down, its not a team that fills me with confidence. Oh btw only 8 more days until I can stop ending my posts with penguins?

 

[barmyarmy]

It's tempting that team but I'd play Shah instead of Bopara. Why have someone who offers little with the ball and not a lot with the bat instead of someone who might actually get a shed-load of runs?
My only other quibble would be over whether to play Amjad or Harmison. Maybe depends on the pitch.
If there are only 8 days left I might have to change the words...

 

[Leicester Fox]

I'm happy with either of Shah or Bopara for the tests but i just think Shah would score more runs so he should play imo.

For ODI's I would go with patel ahead of Mascarenhas on these wickets. Then again Dimi offers a lot more explosiveness with the bat so could be sent up the order so I don't really care because I'd be happy with either. 4 quality bowlers and 10 overs from Patel/mascarenhas, Collingwood and Bopara will do for me.

Then when we get back to England and decide to pick a proper team I'd drop Bopara, push everyone down a place and put Trott where he belongs at 3.

 

[Kev]

Not convinced with Harmi over Amjad, probably because of my bias, but mainly because Harmison has had his chance and he did sod all with it, so try someone else. If Amjad doesn't work then go back to Harmison for the home series, where he will play better. But Shah/Bopara is one where I could go either way and now I look at the team I posted it might look a bit stronger with Shah at 3 and Bopara missing.

Can't change the words now Would spoil the fun. Truth be told, I almost started a post on another forum the other day with Not and almost ended it with penguins?

 

[Dare]

What do you guys reckon will be the Windies side for the ODi's then?

Well I hope that we can have Bravo back for the ODIs. He is due to start playing some club cricket soon and than play some games for T&T.
I also think they might just call up Andre Fletcher and Pollard.

Its hard picking a WI ODI side because other than the big 3 nobody really performed in the Pakistan and NZ ODIs.

Gayle *
Fletcher
Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Pollard
Bravo (if fit, if not then they should give his younger brother a go)
Ramdin +
Taylor (if fit, if not then Powell is the next likely choice for ODIs)
Mohammed ( deserves to play some ODIs, he has a good record and is better than Miller and Benn)
Baker
Edwards

Thats what I would like to be but at this moment its anybody guess really.