England face selection dilemmas
There’s never enough time for preparation these days.
England would love to have had another week – one more three-day game – in which to settle on their best available team for the
As it is, there will be an element of crossed fingers about it when Michael Vaughan walks out with to toss the coin on Saturday morning.
Trying to forecast England’s final XI is purely guesswork on my part, of course.
Steve Harmison bowled very impressively in the nets on Thursday, but I get the feeling that the powers that be fear he is psychologically fallible, as well as injury-prone.
With room for only four frontline bowlers, you simply can’t afford for one either to break down, or fail to rise to the occasion which is why I suspect James Anderson will get the nod.
The only downside to that is that England would then have a very similar pace attack – Anderson, Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom - all dependent to a large extent on the ball swinging.
It will not be an easy choice.
The pitch has gone from emerald green in colour to dull brown in 24 hours. This will play a part in the selection of the man to bat at number six.
Again, this is guesswork, but I don’t see Ravi Bopara’s medium-pace being terribly effective on this surface – and Paul Collingwood can bowl gentle seamers. Therefore the specialist batsman, Owais Shah, would be the obvious choice.
Sri Lanka pulled a surprise, naming Michael Vandort as Sanath Jayasuriya’s opening partner rather than the more dashing Upul Tharanga.
This is their 10th opening combination in 19 Tests and, with Jayasuriya nearing the end, is clearly a source of concern in the Sri Lankan camp. They will decide between Malinga Bandara, the leg-spinner, and paceman Dilhara Fernando.
An absolute certainty, of course, is that during this series and, since he averages about six victims per Test, he might do it here in Kandy on his home ground.
A press sweep stake has been launched and, for the record, my nomination for the record wicket is , with caught at slip being the all important tie-breaker!
Murali will go on and on, but one career to monitor over the next three weeks is that of Chaminda Vaas, who makes his 100th appearance here.
Now almost entirely devoid of pace and all-important nip, he needs a good start to the series if he is to see it through.
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Hi, i think this will be the team,
Michel Vaughan
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Ravi Bopara
Ryan Sidebottom
Monty Panesar
Matthew Hoggard
James Anderson
This is the team i would like though
Rob Key
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Simon Cook
Monty Panesar
Matthew Hoggard
James Anderson
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I have a worrying feeling that we're going to pick Harmison, we seem to have a strange fear of dropping him in case it destroys his fragile confidence. I think there is an understandable desire for coaches - Moores and Donald and now Gibson - to prove they can get the best out of him, safe in the knowledge that if they do he's some weapon.
Regarding the concern of having three 'similar' bowlers reliant on swing: Anderson offers a bit more pace than the other two, and I think Sidebottom is more aggressive than he gets credit for, partly because he's not that quick and partly through people focusing solely on his admirable line and length. Hoggard is a wily bowler who has has shown an ever-increasing repertoire on recent tours to the subcontinent where the conditions don't suit swing bowling.
Of course another similarity is reliability which is no bad thing. Part of the variety Harmison adds to the attack is waywardness.
I also think Bopara will play. I feel he's a more testing bowler than Colly and has had more opportunities to bowl in the longer format recently through the county circuit than Colly gets in tests. His decent performance with the new ball in the tour match may prove a clincher, especially since there will be a degree of concern over either of Anderson or Harmison suffering relapses with recent injuries.
In ODI's he's shown temperament to equal Shah - I don't think either will be phased. Having Shah on the sidelines as a more realistic option to replace Bell at 3 if he struggles might be a good thing, prompting more consistent displays to help elevate Bell to the level he has hinted at for a long time.
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Sam obviously believes England are so good that they don't need an 11th player...Or perhaps he thinks that Matt Prior is so useless, he might just as well not play...
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Sadly, I think Harmy's days are over. I saw his devastating spell at Lord's when he inflicted gbh on the Oz top order. It was so quick and hostile that from the Warner stand it was impossible to follow the ball. He's produced nothing similar since. His merits are pace and bounce - certainly not the ability to bowl in any corridor, let alone the one of uncertainty! I think he's lost that raw aggression - and agree with JA that selectors - rightly - have fears about his psychological fallibility. A huge shame.
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I'm very surprised that Broady doesn't get a look-in. As you say, there's a sameness about the line-up of Sido, Hoggy and Jimmy which is calling out for a tall bowler who stick a few rib-ticklers in. GBH is not ready - he really has a lot to prove after his shoulder-shrugging performances in Oz - so I would be very happy to Broad come in for Jimmy. That said, Hoggy should be able to do the Sri Lankans single-handedly.
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I think that bopara is as good at batting as shah so he should get the nod. The rewst of the team is likely to be agnews team with anderson.
By the way is it true that jayasuriya is set to retire after the first test?
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who's your wicket keeper Sam?
my dream England team for this summer's home series against NZ/SA is:
cook
bell
strauss (c)
pieterson
shah
bopara
prior (w)
broad
sidebottom
panesar
anderson
harmison should be put out to grass now. the guy's a liability and bad for morale.
vaughner. great stuff mate. hope you enjoy your last tour. how's about one more BIG one?
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I am worried about the tail. Surely only Broad and Swann are capable of batting 8? I would play Hoggard, Sidebottom, Broad and Monty. Anderson's a bit samey, and Broad may get a bit more bounce than the other two. Harmy can't be risked in a Test without proving himself completely, especially without Flintoff in the side.
My team:
Vaughan
Cook
Bell (only just!)
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Prior
Broad
Sidebottom
Hoggard
Panesar
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Jon, if the management don't think that Steve Harmison is mentally up to it, why is he there??? If you can't rely on a player from your squad, another should have been picked ahead of him!!!
Obviously, I'm a Steve Harmison fan, but the kind of reasoning that you are espousing will not do a lot for his self-confidence. Perhaps the selectors should have gone for Stuart Broad from the start?
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What sort of message does it send to the players on the fringes of England's squad that the team continues to go back to a player who has constant injury problems and hasn't produced his best form for about 3 years? Anderson and Sidebottom filled in admirably against India in the summer and both should be rewarded by getting first nod for the winter. I also think Broard deserves a call before Harmison. Let Harmison prove he's fully fit and back to his best before we pick him again.
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The series hasnt even started and Brian is implying that Matt Prior is useless. Get off his back i say he is the leading batsman/keeper of all the candidates and his stats back this up having a better first class average than any other keeper. Mustard came in for the ODI s and did only an ok job and never went on to the big one! Something Prior is always unfairly criticised of. Give him time give him and contract and get off his back.
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HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Rob Key and Simon Cook!!! Wonder who you support!! Awful selection!
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If Harmison is not selected, I believe this will be the first test for which a fit & available Harmison has not been picked since his breakthrough series in the Caribbean 4 years ago.
This may be exactly the kick up the backside he needs. Harmison's attitude has at times been poor, particularly on tour. He has often seemed unmotivated and ambivlalent about playing for England. Some of his performances (eg Brisbane) have been as spineless as others (eg Lord's 05)have been brilliant. Being dropped for the first time will hopefully cause him to sort out his attitiude once and for all, or retire.
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Why has it taken this long to conclude that Harmison is psychologically fallible for international cricket? It's been obvious for some time. He is clearly ill at ease in foreigh countries and being on tour. The Aussies had him so psyched-out it was pittifull to watch. Either get him to see a sport psychologist if he wants to retian his England place or stop torturing him and stop weakening the side by selecting him.
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I think aggers needs to take a deep breath and finally understand that the 2005 ashes was a once off you can't keep backing players simply because they were an important part of that series.
That thinking got england humiliated down under.
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I think this team would be best
1.Cook
2.Vaughan* (also as a bowling option)
3.Bell
4.K.P.Pietersen
5.collingwood
6.Bopara
7.Prior+
8.Broad
9.Sidebotom
10.Hoggard
11.Panesar
For me Anderson is simply not good enough at this level, i would play Harmison but like JA am worried that he is more likely to break down than bowl well.
without harmy the attack is very samey in terms of swing reliance, broad is a bit of a risk but he is a promising young player who deserves a chance to prove himself in tests, plus he bats and hits the deck rather than swings the pill.
Panesar is a must and swann simply wont get any wickets in the test form of the game as he has limited ability in spin or variation, his batting is also below par.
Although shah is a better, more proven batter than bopara, bopara is anothe player for the future who has done all he can to play, what more do we ask, he even opened the bowling well,took catches, got run outs, bats resourcefully every time he goes out there.
finally i think england will lose if the main men play badly(vaughan and pietersen)not only are they the best batsmen but, Vaughan is the skipper and kp a great fielder, they both bowl reasonable off breaks. simply the rest of the team looks up to the main men. in addition they both neutralised murali effectively in the past, kp's aggression beat him back in 2006, while Vaughans 300 ball match saving hundered in 2003 was epic, they have to do what worked well then again in order to succeed.
England can win, but must be able to rediscover the capacity to work all day to win a match.
good luck england!
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I firmly believe harmison should be dropped and never allowed back into the team without proving himself first. In fact the same goes for flintoff as well.
I am also worried about the tail. Monty, anderson and sidebottom cant bat and hoggard is only a blocker. As well as this, all the bowling styles are a bit samey. 2 at least rely solely on swing. The best two out of the 3 definites are anderson and hoggard, so I would drop sidebottom and bring in broad for extra pace and bounce.
I would play bopara ahead of shah because he is just as good, has a cooler head and can bowl too.
my team:
Cook
Vaughan
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Prior
Broad
Hoggard
Anderson
Panesar
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I firmly believe harmison should be dropped and never allowed back into the team without proving himself first. In fact the same goes for flintoff as well.
I am also worried about the tail. Monty, anderson and sidebottom cant bat and hoggard is only a blocker. As well as this, all the bowling styles are a bit samey. 2 at least rely solely on swing. The best two out of the 3 definites are anderson and hoggard, so I would drop sidebottom and bring in broad for extra pace and bounce.
I would play bopara ahead of shah because he is just as good, has a cooler head and can bowl too.
my team:
Cook
Vaughan
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Prior
Broad
Hoggard
Anderson
Panesar
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England will get a drubbing in this test series because none of the bowlers we will pick can hold a bat and our seam attack will rely on swing, which we know will only happen for first 15 overs at most in those conditions. Without a fit Flintoff and a firing Harmison we will really struggle to take twenty wickets once in the series let alone three times because all our seamers bowl 80mph and try and swing it as opposed to mixing it up with bouncers and reverse swing. Sri Lanka to win 3-0 with Murali picking up the last 5 wickets of our flimsy tail every time.
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Pietersen is only in it for the glory and cannot bat against spin, woulf not pick him until he scores consistently high numbers in the other games. Give Shah and/or Ravi a go, how else will they get experience. And we have seen how they are prepared to dig in, KP will blocka few and then go for the big one bowled by Murali!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Pietersen is only in it for the glory and cannot bat against spin, would not pick him until he scores consistently high numbers in the other games. Give Shah and/or Ravi a go, how else will they get experience. And we have seen how they are prepared to dig in, KP will blocka few and then go for the big one bowled by Murali!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I think this team would be best
1.Cook
2.Vaughan* (also as a bowling option)
3.Bell
4.K.P.Pietersen
5.collingwood
6.Bopara
7.Prior+
8.Broad
9.Sidebotom
10.Hoggard
11.Panesar
For me Anderson is simply not good enough at this level, i would play Harmison but like JA am worried that he is more likely to break down than bowl well.
without harmy the attack is very samey in terms of swing reliance, broad is a bit of a risk but he is a promising young player who deserves a chance to prove himself in tests, plus he bats and hits the deck rather than swings the pill.
Panesar is a must and swann simply wont get any wickets in the test form of the game as he has limited ability in spin or variation, his batting is also below par.
Although shah is a better, more proven batter than bopara, bopara is anothe player for the future who has done all he can to play, what more do we ask, he even opened the bowling well,took catches, got run outs, bats resourcefully every time he goes out there.
finally i think england will lose if the main men play badly(vaughan and pietersen)not only are they the best batsmen but, Vaughan is the skipper and kp a great fielder, they both bowl reasonable off breaks. simply the rest of the team looks up to the main men. in addition they both neutralised murali effectively in the past, kp's aggression beat him back in 2006, while Vaughans 300 ball match saving hundered in 2003 was epic, they have to do what worked well then again in order to succeed.
England can win, but must be able to rediscover the capacity to work all day to win a match.
good luck england!
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Now the dream team would be
Trescothick
Cook
Ramprakash (cpt)
Pieterson
Collingwood
Bopara
Prior
Trego
Broad
Hoggard
Panesar
Can I be selector for one test?
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Trego????
Especially Trego batting at 8! He'll throw his bat at anything.
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trescothick
key
ramprakash
vaughn
collingwood
flintoff
nixon
swann
hoggard
harmison
mahmood
hahaha
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Pakistan went into the test match today with India gambling with Shoaib Akhtar's Fitness as the fulcrum of their 4 pronged attack. The result - he broke down both mentally and physically, and India plundered runs from a depleted attack.
England's decision to field Stephen Harmison could result in similar consequences. With the lack of pace, and hot conditions Sidebottom and Hoggard could struggle to swing the bowl both ways, and Sri Lankans are proven players of Spin, so Monty may not be as effective.
Not only do England have to pick their best Eleven, but also the fittist eleven, as the conditions will take their toll.
I would love to be writing here that England will play Ramprakash at 4 with Pietersen and Collingwood to follow. But a conservative and unimaginative approach from the selectors has denied us that, and I hope they now opt for Bopara. He can be an allrounder in the mould of the burly South African Brian McMillan, and has youth on his side. Shah is 29, and selectors I am sure will be considering him 'too old' pretty soon. Additionally, Bopara has been the more impressive of the 2 so far on tour, and had a very productive time with the academy on their South Asisn tour last year.
Also, I hope Micheal Vaughan maintains his fitness throughout the series. Geoffrey Boycott said recently that he's the Best Modern Captain, and I am sure few would disagree. His one day fallacies aside, he's been nothing but stirling in test matches and would be a delight to watch on the bakes south asian pitches.
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Pakistan went into the test match today with India gambling with Shoaib Akhtar's Fitness as the fulcrum of their 4 pronged attack. The result - he broke down both mentally and physically, and India plundered runs from a depleted attack.
England's decision to field Stephen Harmison could result in similar consequences. With the lack of pace, and hot conditions Sidebottom and Hoggard could struggle to swing the bowl both ways, and Sri Lankans are proven players of Spin, so Monty may not be as effective.
Not only do England have to pick their best Eleven, but also the fittist eleven, as the conditions will take their toll.
I would love to be writing here that England will play Ramprakash at 4 with Pietersen and Collingwood to follow. But a conservative and unimaginative approach from the selectors has denied us that, and I hope they now opt for Bopara. He can be an allrounder in the mould of the burly South African Brian McMillan, and has youth on his side. Shah is 29, and selectors I am sure will be considering him 'too old' pretty soon. Additionally, Bopara has been the more impressive of the 2 so far on tour, and had a very productive time with the academy on their South Asisn tour last year.
Also, I hope Micheal Vaughan maintains his fitness throughout the series. Geoffrey Boycott said recently that he's the Best Modern Captain, and I am sure few would disagree. His one day fallacies aside, he's been nothing but stirling in test matches and would be a delight to watch on the bakes south asian pitches.
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It's a tough one but I would go for Anderson and Boapara. How can England drop Anderson after all his improvement over the last 12 months? And Bopara has looked a class act since his heroics against Sri Lanka in the World Cup. Harmisson has been a big disappointment for a couple of years now - I think he has mental and physical failing which makes it just too big a risk for this test match. But generally, I think England's team looks strong and it is now time to build a bit of momentum.
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I'm suprised it has taken this long to realise Harmison is not mentaly right for tests abroad and so, England must look elsewhere
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To the fairly bizarre individual who claims that KP can't bat against spin- is that the same guy who scored hundreds against Warne and Murali? Just a thought.....
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I am not surprised that Harmison has slipped down the pecking order with Moores at the helm. The boss is a great believer in mental strength and that a player should have the ability to motivate themselves, which is an area that SH has always been severely lacking at the international level.
As for lack of variety, I agree that this would be a problem with the current choices if they were all right arm but Sidebottom is a southpaw, which asks a whole range of different questions to the batsman.
Whilst it would be different if the wickets were going to be fast and bouncy, in Sri Lanka they tend to be slow and low with swing bowling on a length generally being far more effective than banging it in a bit shorter, so of our options I believe that Hoggard, Anderson and Sidebottom are the best we could pick even if everyone else was fit and firing too.
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