Saintjersey

Giles wasn't that bad?!?!?! Average of 40 with the ball in 54 tests taking 143 wickets, excuse me if I am wrong but that is shocking statistics. The only time Giles ever looked like taking a wicket was when he bowled the ball into the rough, apart from that his wickets generally included the batsman getting out rather than him getting them out. I always hate the argument that 'we didn't have a better a spinner', well if we didn't have a good enough spinner for test cricket don't have one in the side!!!

Ah I see, well he's more likely to go there than us unfortunately.

When nothing happened on Monday I started to get a little bit impatient, if we haven't heard anything by Friday my impatience will turn into worry.

Could you tell us the link for those who can't access facebook from work?

If all three go we are f***ed.

I think anything can be better than the 'Championship' tbh.

Please let this be true, hopefully hear something later today if this is the case.

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I would be absolutely gutted if Niemi went to Pompey, but at the end of the day my opinion wouldn't change that much on him. I will always remember him for his fantastic saves and the great memories he has given me.

Fantastic news for the club as a whole, just means our award winning pitch will be a mess, but I'm sure that will be sorted out in time for the new season.

Pothas would definately be a good shout, but unfortunately I would say he is too old to make his Test debut. I see your point about Trott, I thought he was younger. However, Hildreth is a brilliant prospect and still as I said have far superior averages than Carberry.

Yeah I agree, we should go for Bellamy, Bojinov even Santa Cruz probably won't play much.

Oh yes, Australian I think actually. Apparently he said in his interview that he didn't even support England it was just a way he could play international cricket.

Hildreth and Trott especially have a far superior averages and are younger, surely they warrant a place more than Carberry?

Khan was it? Oh dear that was a failure. Wasn't his first over nearly a 12 ball over?

I think if he goes to Palace it will be because they have offered him more money than we have, no other explanation IMO.

Well I agree with that point now Picking Ashley Giles for 50 odd tests has to be perhaps one of the worst and mystifying decisions in sporting history.

Haha I wouldn't say cricket selects the best team, why was Ashley Giles selected for so long.

All those players who I have mentioned have far superior averages to Carberry this season. I honestly don't see any argument why Carberry should be picked ahead of those. I am really not a Key, Bell or Shah fan but I think if they are scoring the runs then they deserve to be picked for the national side. If I were them and Carberry was picked ahead of me, I would be seriously disheartened as to why he was selected.

The thing is Bell wasn't thrown in at the deep end in the middle of an Ashes series. The pressure would be immense, and for somebody on their debut very rarely they would do well (KP is obviously an exception to this). Bell in my eyes has done everything possible to gain a recall, he has piled on the runs this season and at an amazing average. If Carberry was to be picked ahead of him (with an average nowhere near as good as Bell's) this would be totally unjust in my eyes.

Surely this wouldn't make any difference though, as you can't be given a squad number unless you have a contract with the club.

Lol 606.

Bell has international experience, true he hasn't done well against Australia and I am not a fan of his but he deserves his opportunity with the runs he has scored this season. He is therefore a better candidate than Carberry who would be thrown in at the deep end, probably score nothing, lose all confidence and never return to the England set up. The other 4 players I would pick ahead of Carberry are: Hildreth, Trott, Shah and Key. None of these are excellent choices but they are certainly better than Carberry.

Tbh I would pick at least 5 batsman ahead of Carberry and Bell is averaging 30 more runs an innings than Carberry this season.

It's like with everything, women's tennis I don't find as interesting as men's tennis and they play shorter games yet they still demand equal pay. The women's cricket team have just won the world cup and ashes yet i still find it boring to watch. What they should have more of is women's beach volleyball though.