England v Saffers

[Colemere]

Don't forget the Nass

Born in Madras i believe

Oh yeah forgot, Didn't like him as a player let alone a captain.

Don't mind him as a commentator, speaks more sense than Gower

[Jayesh87]

AB has the record for the player not to get out on a duck, suprisingly Jimmy Anderson is in the top 10

[Shaggy]

Another depressingly shambolic day.

Vaughan simply no longer has a case to be picked. Even his captaincy is uninspired. Another failure with the bat. Go.

Broad's bowling has to improve and Ambrose must be ditched.

Our attack is lame. If you look at it we have a youngster learning Test cricket (Broad), a debutant (Pattinson) and a player making his comeback after injury problems (Fred). Not an ideal platform to attack South Africa.

Why isn't Harmison back in the side? He was asked to go back to County cricket and take wickets, which he's done and at a good average too. Get him back in. Collingwood should be restored IMO. He has a very good Test average and adds balance and a progressive cricketing brain to the side. My team would look something like this:

Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Bell
Shah/Key
Collingwood
Flintoff
Read
Sidebottom
Harmison
Panesar

Harsh on Anderson but there you go.

[Red Chilli]

I don't think many from this team will be playing next summer.

Basically, we were always on for a hiding in this series. We only have 1 batsman in form - Pietersen.
We don't have any decent bowlers and that includes Sidebottom, he's alright and has the advantage of being a leftie.
This series is basically a series for players to stake their claim for next year or regain form/fitness.
Hoggie and Harmisson will be back for next summer.
Cook Vaughan and Strauss are there to try and regain some form.
Monty is there to continue his education against some good batsmen, next summer it will be even more difficult for him.
We're still struggling to find a good keeper so it's Ambrose's turn.
Broad-same as Monty
Anderson is trying to get some consistency of line and length back.

This series is a bit of a wash-out. We need to plan for next summer, we need to get our better bowler's confidence up (Harmisson and Hoggard) so they are taking wickets for their counties.
Collingwood is out of the reckoning now, as far as all-rounders go it's Broad and Flintoff. Collingwood would get hopelessly exposed by the Australians in English conditions.
I think really we should be concentrating on winter 2010/11, next year is too early for us.

In conclusion though, Peter moores is a **** coach and the sooner he's binned the better.

[Shaggy]

Agreed about Moores. He was supposed to be inventive and progressive. I don't see it.

It's a mess at the minute. The team lacks balance. Ambrose at 6 FFS!

Hopefully we can get out of this series with a draw and regroup before next summer. Things look bleak at the moment.

[Red Chilli]

Agreed about Moores. He was supposed to be inventive and progressive. I don't see it.

It's a mess at the minute. The team lacks balance. Ambrose at 6 FFS!

Hopefully we can get out of this series with a draw and regroup before next summer. Things look bleak at the moment.

I'm not bothered about this series really, we're going to get whallopped in the Ashes again so we need to start planning for the 2010/11 Ashes now.

I think Cook, Bell, Broad are the future.
Obviously Pietersen is the present and we have to look to build a team around him.
I'd let Vaughan retire gracefully if there was anyone to step into his shoes, I actually think Bell and Cook are young enough and good enough to do the job but they are both struggling for form and we generally don't pick captains who are struggling for form.
Pietersen is a great competitor and batsman, but I think he's prone to too many rushes of blood. He'd be a captain in the disasterous style of Flintoff and Botham. He's not designed to be a captain, he's a flair player, a class player but he doesn't often think about things enough.

Keeper wise, if there's no-one on the horizon (and I don't know of any in county cricket) then I think we should just pick the best keeper and any runs they get is a bonus.
For some freaky reason Chris read never gets a look in, so the next best keeper for me is Foster. It's a crime he hasn't had more test cricket, as is the case with Read.
Monty just doesn't convince me, he needs helpful conditions to be a match winner. I'd get someone to focus on Adil Rashid's bowling. He's got something but he's stunted in his progression. England should be paying Mushtaq Ahmed or someone of that ilk to be coaching the lad.
I don't know why Shah doesn't get a game, it's a bit odd that.

We need better coaches, Moores and his men are rubbish, the chairman of selectors should be rectifying this matter ASAP.

[Neil Young]

Miller doesn't seem to have a clue. Who selected Pattinson anyway?

...or P-Dawg as they call him on BBC online. I don't know why they call him that.

[Shaggy]

I know Geoff Miller quite well although I haven't seen him for a few years....used to live about five doors down from him when I grew up. Fit daughter too.

He's a really lovely bloke but it's not going well for him, is it

[Shaggy]

Re Pattinson - Geoff is obviously the head of selectors but James Whittaker and Ashley Giles are the others, who could have pushed for his selection.

[Red Chilli]

How did Ashley Giles become a selector FFS.

We're such a bunch of ****in amateurs in this country

[Colemere]

Another depressingly shambolic day.

Vaughan simply no longer has a case to be picked. Even his captaincy is uninspired. Another failure with the bat. Go.

Broad's bowling has to improve and Ambrose must be ditched.

Our attack is lame. If you look at it we have a youngster learning Test cricket (Broad), a debutant (Pattinson) and a player making his comeback after injury problems (Fred). Not an ideal platform to attack South Africa.

Why isn't Harmison back in the side? He was asked to go back to County cricket and take wickets, which he's done and at a good average too. Get him back in. Collingwood should be restored IMO. He has a very good Test average and adds balance and a progressive cricketing brain to the side. My team would look something like this:

Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Bell
Shah/Key
Collingwood
Flintoff
Read
Sidebottom
Harmison
Panesar

Harsh on Anderson but there you go.

Can't have Key playing International cricket again, he plays across the line of everything.

As for Read he has had enough chances, give Foster another go, what you said about Harmison is the same for him.

It would be good to see Simon Jones back in the line up sometime soon agin too, he is the only bowler that mixes things up with slower balls etc.

[Harv]

[Shaggy]

How has Read had enough chances? What's he played? 12 Tests in about three different spells? He was discarded far too early.

And a big exaggeration about Key too. If he "played across the line of everything" he wouldn't ever make any runs.

Harmison is the country's best bowler, simple as that. Our attack lacks pace, aggression and menace and he provides all of those.

Agreed about Jones - he has to be knocking on the door.

[Jayesh87]

Play Nic Pothas he would fit in well

[dww]

How has Read had enough chances? What's he played? 12 Tests in about three different spells? He was discarded far too early.

And a big exaggeration about Key too. If he "played across the line of everything" he wouldn't ever make any runs.

Harmison is the country's best bowler, simple as that. Our attack lacks pace, aggression and menace and he provides all of those.

Agreed about Jones - he has to be knocking on the door.

I think we have to let Jones stay fit for a bit longer before we seriously look at him.

I do think Harmison deserves another chance. Not quite sure I would say he is the best bowler in the country as he was decidedly average for a long while with England before being dropped and other than a purple patch around the Ashes victory has had respectable rather than stunning stats throughout his career. He does however bring the aggression and pace that you correctly identify as being sadly absent from our attack.

Read an interview with Flintoff the other day where he described Key as the countries best player of pace bowling. I'm of the opinion that if he is nowhere near the selection for this series then he will never be in contention under the current selection panel.

I have to say that up until this test I think the selectors have done a good job. The Pattinson selection did however seem slightly insane and has undermined their authority quite a lot in my opinion.