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Ashes Second Test - Lord's, 16-20 July


stevegrant
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Squad announced today for the second test, no surprises.

 

14-man squad comprising the 11 who played at Cardiff plus Harmison, Onions and Bell.

 

Flintoff is an injury doubt, he's having a scan on his knee - apparently the same knee he injured in the IPL. Great.

 

We've not beaten the Aussies at Lord's since 1934 :lol:

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Hmmm...

 

If you could name your 14, who would it be?

 

I have to say, I think it's time we started giving some promising county prospects a chance. OK, now, in the middles of the Ashes isn't an ideal time to blood them but maybe, just maybe they will be inspired to shine...

 

Surely Hildreth, Trott, Moore, Foster, Rashid and Patel are worth a shot???

 

Damn, we've never replaced Trescothick, have we?

 

For 2nd Test

 

Strauss

Cook (though I am tempted to suggest Moore)

Pietersen (moved him up to 3)

Bopara

Collingwood

Foster (Gah, going for the specialist wicketkeeper now...)

Flintoff (if fit)

Swann

Sidebottom (though I am tempted to keep Anderson, just think there is more fire in the belly of the likes of Sidebottom)

Onions

Harmison (Once again, a **** or bust decision with Harmy but I honestly think he is someone that can **** up the Aussies)

 

 

 

Also, read alot of about a Josh Cobb of Leics and Bairstow (Wk) at Yorkshire who promsing prospects... can anyone shed any light on these talents?

Edited by Crab Lungs
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No point in picking Bell end. Might as well play extra bowler who will probably score as many runs if not more.

 

Yep, I'm not sure why they keep picking Bell now. He did Ok early on but never progressed so better to bring in a younger player.

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Hmmm...

 

If you could name your 14, who would it be?

 

I have to say, I think it's time we started giving some promising county prospects a chance. OK, now, in the middles of the Ashes isn't an ideal time to blood them but maybe, just maybe they will be inspired to shine...

 

Surely Hildreth, Trott, Moore, Foster, Rashid and Patel are worth a shot???

 

Damn, we've never replaced Trescothick, have we?

 

For 2nd Test

 

Strauss

Cook (though I am tempted to suggest Moore)

Pietersen (moved him up to 3)

Bopara

Collingwood

Foster (Gah, going for the specialist wicketkeeper now...)

Flintoff (if fit)

Swann

Sidebottom (though I am tempted to keep Anderson, just think there is more fire in the belly of the likes of Sidebottom)

Onions

Harmison (Once again, a **** or bust decision with Harmy but I honestly think he is someone that can **** up the Aussies)

 

 

 

Also, read alot of about a Josh Cobb of Leics and Bairstow (Wk) at Yorkshire who promsing prospects... can anyone shed any light on these talents?

 

I'd drop Cook - Gooch needs to work on his feet and make him less vulnerable around off-stump. Geoff Miller hasn't done him any favours by keeping him in. I'd have gone for Hildreth, plays very straight which helps negate the risk of picking Bopara who is hugely talented but will always be a 0 or 100 type of player - wristy players usually are. I'd keep Prior though, we need the runs.

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You can't panic 1 game into a series. Sure, it wasn't great, but major change won't help anything now.

 

My XI would be: Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff (if fit), Swann, Broad, Anderson, Onions.

 

Close call between Onions and Harmison. If Flintoff is out then Harmy in because you need a bowler who can bang it into the pitch. You are then taking a risk by shortening the batting order, but think that is a risk you would have to take.

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You can't panic 1 game into a series. Sure, it wasn't great, but major change won't help anything now.

 

My XI would be: Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff (if fit), Swann, Broad, Anderson, Onions.

 

Close call between Onions and Harmison. If Flintoff is out then Harmy in because you need a bowler who can bang it into the pitch. You are then taking a risk by shortening the batting order, but think that is a risk you would have to take.

 

I agree with all of that. Dropping players all over the place is just panic measures. England are a much better team than they showed in that test and it's their mentality that needs to change rather than their playing staff. With the exception of Monty for Onions. And I think it should be Onions over Harmison as he's in better nick.

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I agree with all of that. Dropping players all over the place is just panic measures. England are a much better team than they showed in that test and it's their mentality that needs to change rather than their playing staff. With the exception of Monty for Onions. And I think it should be Onions over Harmison as he's in better nick.

 

Harmison's taken more wickets recently than Onions and also was better at Worcester in the warm-up. Sure, he had a stinker in Brisbane and can be infuriating but the Aussies don't like facing him whereas Onions is similar to what we already have. I'd have swapped Monty for Harmy assuming Freddie is fit. It's almost tempting to swap Broad for Onions but Broad can bat well but does need to step up a level against the top sides as he was poor against SA last summer as well. Taking millions of wickets against the WI or NZ isn't always a benchmark.

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Assuming Flintoff is fit, I'd bring in Onions and Harmison for Broad and Swann.

 

If Flintoff is injured, Broad gets a reprieve.

 

However, what I expect to happen is Onions for Monty.

 

cant drop swann imo, both him and monty had a bad game last time round but swann is the better spinner of the 2

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According to Aggers on his Twitter feed, everyone's fit, so it's 10 from Cardiff plus one from Monty, Harmison and Onions. My bet is Onions.

 

 

Agree. Especially as they said Harmlesson was only in as cover for Frediie

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Both of these openers have to cash in now and get 100s - wear the bowlers down on a pig of a slow surface like Ponting and Katich did to us in Cardiff. 500+ and then hope it gets variable bounce later on. Although I'd have been keen to have picked Harmy, Onions skiddy seamers may fare better on this surface. The bad news is that the bang-it-in bowlers like Broad and Flintoff might not do so well. Hard to tell with Mitchell Johnson as he was patchy at Cardiff.

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57-0...apparently their highest ever partnership together!! pretty poor when you consider how many efforts they've had at it....

Not true. They've got 6 century partnerships.

 

The record is that Strauss and Cook have opened the batting together for England more than any other pair of batsmen.

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Not true. They've got 6 century partnerships.

 

The record is that Strauss and Cook have opened the batting together for England more than any other pair of batsmen.

 

aaah that explains what i geard then!

 

thats what happens when customers have the cheek to phone up whilst im trying to listen and watch the game! grr i say...

 

good start. solid. bowling as woeful as ours was last test. huzzah!!!

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How??

 

Strauss has just got his 15th test 50. But he has 17 test 100s???

 

is it me or can that not work??

 

 

15 times he has got between 50 and 99

 

17 times he has gone past 100 (they dont count the 50)

 

if they did count the 50 it would read 32 50's and 17 100's

 

hope that makes sense

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