Hoggard is his own man!
I hate the way several articles in the press have linked Harmison and Hoggard together as if they are joined the hip. The England selectors (wrongly in my opinion) chose to drop Hoggard after one bad game. Not surprisingly on a seamer friendly wicket, Anderson came in and took wickets, but that doesn't make him a better bowler than Hoggard. Despite Fletcher's comments that Hoggard has been losing his zip for some time, he is still better than Anderson and should be picked.
Harmison is a completely different kettle of fish. He was dropped at the same time as Hoggard but he's been poor since the 2005 Ashes and being consistently that bad, even accounting for injuries, means there is no question he should be dropped and only considered for a comeback after consistently achieving at County level over a season.
Why the likes of Sidebottom and Fletcher keep mentioning them in the same sentence as if they are in the same situation mystifies (and aggrevates!) me. I'm still hoping that we pick our best 4 bowlers for the 1st Test v New Zealand on 15th May and there is no doubt in my mind that includes Hoggard.
4 comments:
Absolutely right. Hoggard is England's best seamer in terms of what he has delivered over the past few years. Harmison is a useless lump, whilst Flintoff and Jones are always injured. Sidebottom hasn't been in the Test team for a full 12 months yet.
Did anyone notice that in the Durham vs Durham UCCE match recently, one S Harmison got a solitary wicket out of 20 taken by Durham - even his own brother (a batsman) is more prolific with the ball at the moment.
With a bit of luck England will let all players play for their counties tomorrow so that Hoggard can prove his point against a Hampshire side with Pieterson in it.
Come on you Tykes!
Interesting to see today that with the prospect of facing Hoggie, Pieterson isn't playing. Maybe he is scared.
I have to agree fully with Smuts about Hoggard being Englands best seamer. His level of consistency with his performances has been amazing. All Anderson offers is one good bowling performance a series and when he isn't taking wickets he goes at 6 an over (and he is from the wrong side of the pennines!!).
I don't understand Fletcher's comments about Hoggard, especially with what happened in Adelaide.
I think it's well documented that most bowlers need plenty overs before they hit the right rhythm, which makes tours pretty difficult to pick a team from when you only have one or two warm-up games to prepare in. So I expect the likes of Hoggard and Harmison to be back in the reckoning after a few games.
And regarding Harmison's figures in that game, he may have only got one wicket but of the 20 overs, he bowled 13 maidens and went in total for about 15 runs. Not bad when at the other end wickets are falling.
it'll be interesting to see if you're right about Harmison Dhiraj. I'll be surprised if Harmison plays for England again but nothing surprises me in terms of national sports team selection in England!
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