Putting Things Right

Where do we start? Let's, for the moment, push the World Cup out of our minds. Take a look at this coming English summer: Two nPower Test Series against West Indies & India. Both sides are having struggles of their own. But that is the present. The past shapes up like this: West Indies have played 74 tests against us in Blighty and only won 29 of them. Their heyday of the 1980's has long past. And, depending on how they fare in the rest of the World Cup they could be coming here with their tails between their legs, probably with a new skipper and looking to establish themselves back into Test cricket. Currently they stand in 8th position in the ICC Test Rankings. They can only really improve. And I suspect they will be looking to start that evolution at Lords on 17th May.

By that time we ourselves should be clearer about Team England. Trescothick is playing again, Jones is playing again. Interestingly enough, both players are still on central contracts until the end of the forthcoming season. The ECB will be looking for a return on that investment. It is hard to tell whether Tressy will ever play again but he did score 256 the other day against Devon. And regardless of the strength of the opposition it was a big score and good to see. I suspect Jones' return will take a little longer but he will surely be included in the squad for training if nothing else. Now, I am not one for relying on individuals to change the fortunes of a team. Simply, we should work with what we have got. The Selectors however have had a tendency to gamble on unfit players like they did in the Ashes recently. I don't think there is any need to do that this summer.

Let's look at the bowlers:

Both Harmison & Hoggard enjoy the greentop wickets of England and have both found success at Lord's. Hoggard has taken 37 wickets in 10 matches there and Harmison has taken 30 in 7 matches. However, they haven't played for a longtime now and so are unlikely to be match fit.

Then's there is Freddie, who I think is carrying an injury. Certainly they will look to play him. But who else? Mahmood? Plunkett? Time to turn to Broad me thinks. If Hoggy, Harmy & Freddie are fit what better way to introduce new blood into the side?

Obviously Monty will play. At Test level he is great. He has struggled on the flat, slow pitches in the West Indies but give him a track with a bit of purchase on it and he's away. So, things can start to shape up a little:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Freddie
6.
7.
8. Hoggard
9. Harmison
10. Broad
11. Monty

But, wait up. Got to have a wicket keeper. So there is Nicco and oh, what were the names of these other two...eh? Surely we can't be thinking about playing Nixon at Test level? No, we can't. But then the toss up between Jones & Reed has never really been resolved. And add to that that neither of them have played for sometime we are starting to look at a series that begins in 6 weeks with very few match-fit players. Let's put Jones in For now.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Freddie
6.
7. Jones
8. Hoggard
9. Harmison
10. Broad
11. Monty

Batting then. Tressy? yes. Strauss? Yes. Virgil? Yes? Bell? Yes. KP? Yes. Collingwood? Yes. But wait. we only have 5 slots left. I suspect that Tressy will lose out for the first 2 tests until we have a dreadful collapse or someone hits a poor run of form. And so, here's what we should have left:

1. Strauss
2. Virgil
3. Bell
4. KP
5. Freddie
6. Colly
7. Jones
8. Hoggard
9. Harmison
10. Broad
11. Monty

Not perfect, but it's a start and when Jones and Tressy are ready they can slot back in nicely! Now discuss!