Strange England selections
I was a bit confused to see the England team selection today, to say the least. First, their was the dropping of Collingwood. This was expected, but I still think it's wrong. Collingwood is a decent Test match batsman - he'll never be one of the greats, but he's solid, and the wrong decision he got in the 1st Test should be ignored, as I'm sure it was. But more to the point, his fielding and the venue for the Test should have seen him selected.
With conditions likely to be in the bowler's favour at Headingley, there doesn't seem to me to be any reason to play more than 4 bowlers, plus Collingwood who would be a useful change bowler - it's unlikely that they'll have to bowl more than 120 overs in an innings. Ambrose isn't a Test number 7, let alone a Test number 6, no matter how many runs he makes in the rest of the series. You only need to look at his Test record to date against New Zealand - a worse bowling attack than South Africa - he averages 27. I type this as Ambrose walks to the wicket, so I'm not writing with the benefit of hindsight if he gets a low score, and I'll be wrong if he gets consistent runs for the rest of the series (which England desperately need him to if they are going to rely on 5 batsman for the rest of the series).
Then there's Pattinson. To pick a guy with so little 1st class cricket is madness, as Graham Gooch says in this article, no matter how well he does. If England insisted on playing 5 bowlers, who would have exploited the conditions at his home ground to perfection, and is the perfect replacement for Sidebottom? Hoggard....obviously. There are some who have talked about Simon Jones but that's unrealistic given that he's only been fit for less than half a season in 2 and a half years. But Hoggard is playing and performing, and has a history of bowling very well in seamer friendly conditions, and very respectably when conditions aren't in his favour. Pattinson couldn't have asked for a better venue to start his career, so let's see how he performs.....but don't get me started on the fact he's an Aussie!
1 comment:
Hoggard was the lunchtime interviewee on Test Match Special and, although he was very dignified, he was clearly very disappointed and upset, and felt his England career was at an end. I think he is resigned to resuming his county career. It's a shame that our selectors give some people (particularly wicket-keepers) chance after chance when they clearly aren't up to the job, but reject our most reliable bowler after just one marginally disappointing performance.
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