West Indies in England

[evertonfan]

Yay, Mattys in \o/

I am?! Go Me!

Seriously though, it's about friggin time that Prior get a test place.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I can't disagree with that selection,I'd rather have had Anderson but as long as it's not Mahmood I'm pleased I kind of hoped Broad would be picked even though hes injured but that was never going to happen. I think hes the last choice behind Mahmood sadly, although he has worked a lot with Peter Moores. Lancs will be a force with Murali,Jimmy and Saj now!

 

[madmusician]

Would have liked to have seen Nixon have a go - but can't say I'm too disappointed with that squad.

PLAY OWAIS SHAH!!

 

[Sureshot]

If Owais plays then a bowler will drop out, probably Plunkett. But we don't need to bat to 8 (inc keeper) against the WIndies. Plunkett may not be a No.3 but he can hold a bat well enough, plus the WIndies aren't that threatening imo. Prior should be at 6 and Fred at 7.

 

[Sureshot]

Freds ankles gone again by the sounds of it.

So do we risk him and risk missing the summer aka last summer or do we rest him and play Shah and use Bell/Colly/KP as fifth bowler?

 

[evertonfan]

Freds ankles gone again by the sounds of it.

So do we risk him and risk missing the summer aka last summer or do we rest him and play Shah and use Bell/Colly/KP as fifth bowler?

The latter would be the logical choice. But England tend not to go down the logical route most of the time.

 

[Sureshot]

Ahh, but we have Super Pete in charge now \o/

 

[evertonfan]

What's Pete like then SS? Have to say my knowledge of him is limited. Very limited.

 

[barmyarmy]

We don't need Fred against the Windies imo (famous last words...)
Let's save him for India where we'll definitely need him.
Early season conditions - bit of swing - I'd fancy Hamy, Hoggy, Plunks and Colly to do the job, ably backed up by Monster.
Means we can play Shah too

 

[Will_NA]

Hopefully, Simon Jones will play a part in the series

 

[rabeta]

Well, better Fred get injured this series. But in the longer term this is a very serious worry, he just can't seem to get rid of this ankle injury. The ECB will really have to look over his situation. As for the short term, the starting line-up, Shah should play for me, and hopefully if we use the early season conditions the bowlers minus Freddy the bowlers will do the job ably.

Oh and Will_NA, I really hope Simon Jones does not play, let him carry on getting fitter in county cricket, and if he does not get any more niggles hopefully he can play a large part in the India series.

 

[Will_NA]

Well, better Fred get injured this series. But in the longer term this is a very serious worry, he just can't seem to get rid of this ankle injury. The ECB will really have to look over his situation. As for the short term, the starting line-up, Shah should play for me, and hopefully if we use the early season conditions the bowlers minus Freddy the bowlers will do the job ably.

Oh and Will_NA, I really hope Simon Jones does not play, let him carry on getting fitter in county cricket, and if he does not get any more niggles hopefully he can play a large part in the India series.

IMHHO, we can't just throw him into the India series, he needs practise.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Fred wasn't fit in the ashes or the world cup imo. I can totally see the reason behind playing him but he must have known this deep down,he was not the Fred we know. rest him all summer, we should be strong enough in both series on home soil

 

[Sureshot]

What's Pete like then SS? Have to say my knowledge of him is limited. Very limited.

He's very much into the man management type of managements, lots of preparation work too. So we shouldn't see the debacle of players not being prepared for Test & ODI Cricket, like the Ashes last winter, etc. He's much more press friendly than Fletch too, so expect the media to be more friendly towards him. Very different character to the droll of Fletcher.

Resting Flintoff for the first test wouldn't be bad imo, we can't play 4 bowlers including Fred imo.

 

[madmusician]

Vaughan has also hit out at Fletcher, as he says that he wasn't able to help in the dressing room during the Ashes - but he will be allowed to now.
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I also feel sorry for the schoolkids he was with yesterday - Sky came along to film them for a report, but as they were standing with Vaughan, instead of filming them they filmed a close up of Vaughan's finger