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Good point made that none of the previous reporting on Monty leaving Northants has mentioned.

Monty basically was only ever going to play at Northants when they played two spinners because of Boje being there, Northants who were expecting to only see him occasionally for years a couple of seasons ago have quite sensibly veered more towards the strengths they had in the seam area so playing two spinners at home is just not that viable.

Frankly both Northants and Monty have been impeccable in the whole thing, Northants could have held him to his contract, or demanded a transfer fee, they did not.

As for England, it was the right choice to ignore Monty this time and he clearly knows that and agrees. He had to go away and spend some time working on his game, improving in some areas and finding his form in others, he has a plan in place that involves playing regularly with The Lions this winter and then Sussex next year, aiming for getting back with England next summer, possibly starting with the Bangladesh/Australia tri-nations and definately the Pakistan tests/ODIs. Calling him up now would destroy that schedule completely.

I'd love to see Monty mature into World renowned spinner, but feels he needs more variation, his top spinner needs improvement and he needs a wrong-un to build the aura of mystique over batsmen. But I Love his enthusiasm and back him to make a return to International cricket before too long.

I was at the 5th Day in Cardiff this year, and I will never forget the resillience he showed on that day!!!

Well said Monty and glad to see the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ providing a voice to one of the nice guys of English cricket.

what a top bloke, in an age where that appears all too rare

Monty Panesar can yearn or whine all he wants about getting back on the England squad. But he won’t. It’s fait accompli. He has had his day in the sun and it did not pan out. Now it’s time for him to move on.

This animated chap has a strange penchant to appeal irrationally for anything hitting the pads, even for deliveries drifting way down leg side; and he often gets right in the faces of the umpires in the process which would lead one to think that he’s patently ignorant of the laws of the game. Needless to say, his boorish antics are not only punishable by laws (as in excessive appealing), they have certainly cost England many turned down appeals that may have been adjudicated favorably otherwise.

He was part of England’s problem; not the solution. Good riddance!

Monty's move to Sussex and his current contract with Highveld Lions surely makes sense. He was for a period England's most reliable bowler, who could tie up an end or produce very destructive spells (eight times he has taken 5 wickets in a Test innings), but clearly he has lost his way. He seems to me to have suffered from carping criticisms, which led to a dramatic loss of confidence and form, but now he is working to get himself back to the top of his game, and surely that is what all English cricket fans would love to see. Ten wickets already for the Lions is a good start. Go Monty!

As a Northants fan my understanding was his agent was summoned to the office at Wantage Road in early September and told his client was too expensive for the club, his deal for 2010 certainly not going ot be extended and could he possibly leave in september one year early, presumbly with no huge pay off. Monty did not want to leave at that point and was upset. But he since realised the move was the only option and accepted things. He could have held Northants to the contract and picked up his 140 grand plus, not the other way around, certainly no 'transfer fees' in the offing. He did the decent thing a decent guy woud do and we shall always be grateful. He really could have put the club in serious problems if he had stayed. Im baffeld why NCCC offered him such a huge deal in the first place though if he was to lose his Central Contract.

Meteoric rise and meteoric fall. All cricket fans want Monty back at his best because he offers England an attacking option that they have not had since the mid-1980s. Monty at his best is a fundamental part of a balanced attack. Sadly, he has received much vitriol, in part from fans who resented his antics and in part from fans in other parts of the world who seemed to regard him as a traitor for turning his back on his heritage (strange, but sadly true...)

That said, I am not sure how easy the way back is. There is now, after many years of a bare cupboard that allowed him to make a Test debut after just half a season at county level, he must now compete with Swann and Rashid (both clearly capable of scoring regular Test 50s) and the rising Tredwell. When Monty first entered the England set-up it was said that he needed to average 2 wickets more per Test than Ashley Giles to make up for his lack of contribution in other areas. How much truer that is now.

Setting the record straight when is Monty Panesar goin to come in to the England sqaud?.

When hell freezes over?

If Monty gets his mojo back he will be in the 12. Two zeroes and 2-140 in his last Hiedveld Lions suggests he has a long way to go.

Do you moonlight as a comedian?

For those that say we all want Monty back to his best, can you not see that he has a very limited armoury and his best is not good enough?

He is still playing the same, he hasn't become a bad player overnight, he just hasn't progressed. While Monty has been at a stand still others have worked him out and how to best play against him.

Who cares? He is a miserable bloke and a rubbish spinner. I have a few thoughts-
1. He makes a controversial comment or two to keep himself in the headlines. Am i being a bit obvious??
2. He's playing bunny cricket in SA at the moment in the hope ( fruitless ) of getting selected for England should an injury or two occur in the main squad.
3. As an Aussie, might i suggest that England sideline him until the next Ashes tour ( November isn't that far away ) and then give him one last shot??! Go on. We'll welcome him with open arms.

Unfortunately Monty took his eye off the ball (eg bringing out DVDs). His game has suffered in the last 2 years from hype he couldn't live up to.

Can he bounce back to his impressive 2006 form, or is it downhill ever since India chased a last day 380 against him?

well, in panesar's case, i think he should not only learn how to ball but to learn the rudiments of how to bat at number 9 or 10 since these days it has been understood by many people that at number 9 or 10 there must be someone who can chip in at some crucial times with bat. so i sometimes think that why the national selectors ignore a man like ian blackwell and jamie dalrymper who can be very handy specially in the shorter format of the game with ball and bat altogether rather than going for tredwell, swann and rashid.

Panasar is finished, not good enough to play in the England cricket team, there are better players than him!

Any chance of getting another TMS blog soon? Bearing in mind that since this was published England have one the ODI series and played two warm up matches before a massive test series staring on Wednesday, its a bit of a shoddy effort.

Apologies for the whinge, but its a backhanded compliment as well - I generally rather like the TMS blogs.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Apperently, Monty was entitled to £130,000 a year county salary for 2010 for Northants under his central contract agreement by England and the ECB. The rules on central contracts state that should a player lose his England contract then for the 1st season after that his club have to pay that figure, the full 130,000 for the 1st season. It can then be re-negotiated down after that. Because we are a small county we did not have a hope of being able to afford to keep Monty.

Sussex, allegedly, offered Monty only £100,000 and because they refused to pay Monty anymore and there were no other offers on the table at this point Northants had to pay Monty £30,000 to sell him to Sussex. I had my suspicions that we would have to pay up some of his contract to off-load him. This is good business at the end of the day to get rid of the 100k and a burnt out player and we wouldnt lay too much blame with the club.

Im hearing from a good source Monty felt guilty about this and the £10,000 'may have been' part of the £30,000 that Northants gave him in the first place to allow his move to Sussex?? Bl**dy cheek! Not so magnaminous after all Mr Panesar. It looks like Mr Middlebrook will be his likely replacement.

As a Northants fan my understanding was his agent was summoned to the office at Wantage Road in early September and told his client was too expensive for the club, his deal for 2010 certainly not going ot be extended and could he possibly leave in september one year early, presumbly with no huge pay off. Monty did not want to leave at that point and was upset. But he since realised the move was the only option and accepted things. He could have held Northants to the contract and picked up his 140 grand plus, not the other way around, certainly no 'transfer fees' in the offing. He did the decent thing a decent guy woud do and we shall always be grateful. He really could Improve vertical have put the club in serious problems if he had stayed. Im baffeld why NCCC offered him such a huge deal in the first place though if he was to lose his Central Contract.