South Africa in England

[Collingwood50]

Strauss (c)
Cook
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Shah
Flintoff
Tim
Broad / Jones (whose fit?)
Anderson
Monty

Strauss is the better choice for captain in tests - Can't wait to see Simon Jones back in.

 

[Adarsh]

but it's still a test match against what is possibly the best side around right now.

No....just no.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

No....just no.

I said possibly. The standard of cricket is hardly at its greatest level at the moment is it?

 

[evertonfan]

I see you denying it Adarsh, but I don't see you listing who's better. It's certainly not India if that's what you were getting at.

(nor is it England by a long shot, just in case you were ready to play that card)

 

[Will_NA]

The Oval match is more than just a dead rubber. A 3-0 loss anywhere is embarrassing but at home, it's diabolical.

 

[DPRA]

Bopara and Harminson in for the test.

Swann, Bopara, Patel in the for the ODI series!

KP Is a absolute hero!!

 

[banjo6]

Ambrose dropped for the ODI's.

 

[Themer]

He's in there calm down lol

 

[manee]

In case anyone has been living under a rock for the last half an hour...

Test squad: Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wk), Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.

One-day squad: Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Owais Shah, Ian Bell, Samit Patel, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior (wk), Andrew Flintoff, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright.

 

[Sureshot]

Good to see Samit in there. I wonder what the ODI side will be though. I presume Tremlett wouldn't start. But I think everyone else has a fair shot. Maybe Cook is out of favour too. I'd love to see Samit play a part.

 

[Themer]

Ignore my post above as the person I was answering was "disgusted" that Shah wasn't in the ODI squad. I was correcting him hes now changed his post

 

[manee]

The ODI squad looks good; but the selection of Matt Prior for the ODIs is a baffling one and one that surely cannot succeed in the long term. He has a poor List A record and his poorer ODI record shows that he doesn't raise his game in ODIs from List A cricket. There is also the small issue of him being a shocking keeper too.

Samit Patel is a good selection, his List A average of 32.77 is supported by a nice strike rate of 81.77 and he has a very good bowling record, despite only being a part timer. I'd expect England to give him more of a bowl than Nottinghamshire and his impressive strike rate of 29.7 might set him apart from the other part timers.

Chris Tremlett is an understandable selection and a reasonable one but I don't expect it to succeed. Tremlett has Plan A, 85mph short of a length on or just outside off stump but no Plan B for when the batsmen wish to charge and cross bat him straight down the ground or play the pull shot - as Ganguly and Tendulkar showed in England not too long ago.

As for the Test squad, I would have preferred England to go with Matt Prior (as a specialist batsman, of course) in the Tests rather than Bopara - Prior plays CC Division One with similar success to Bopara in Division Two and Prior has proven himself at Test level whereas the less spoken about Bopara's disasterous entry into Test cricket, the better. Heck, having watched Bopara bat in Test cricket, I'd gladly take Stuart Broad as a batsman over Bopara.

 

[evertonfan]

Making your debut in Sri Lanka against the best spinner to ever have lived is a bit demanding though. It's not as if the rest of the batsmen showered themselves with glory in that tour either.

 

[manee]

Making your debut in Sri Lanka against the best spinner to ever have lived is a bit demanding though. It's not as if the rest of the batsmen showered themselves with glory in that tour either.

True, but I'm not judging him solely on his performances on that tour but rather how he looked at the crease, his dismissals and the fact that he has had one or two impressive CC Division Two seasons to justify his selection.

 

[Themer]

Bopara will come good in my opinion he's a class batsman as shown by his performances this year. If he doesn't take his chance in this match, if ofcourse he is selected, then it may be some time before they look at him again as Shah, Key and others are knocking on the door so there will be alot of pressure on him and he's failed so far under pressure.