: Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:47 pm  

Grief. That was not part of the plan.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:02 pm  

What do England do next ? The squad doesn't give you too many options to change things around. Do they even want to ?

Bell > Shah

After that ? You could make a decent case to drop half a dozen of them, not a knee jerker like, I mean if you looked at their records over the last say 18 mths.

Cook > Nobody in the squad.

Where are the 'Development Squad/England 'A'/Whatever they are called right now', where are they now, Loughborough ? Can you call any of them up ? Should you ?

Cook > Key/Denly ??
Colly > Bopara
Harmison > Amjad Khan ??
Sidebottom > Anderson
Panesar > Rashid/Swann (FWIW - I thought Monty bowled better all told, beat the beat etc, just didn't get rewards)

Just to clairfy, I'm not suggesting all of these will/should get dropped, just looking at what they could do, options they have etc.

I think they'll go with the same, maybe Shah for Bell, it's very much the England way, give the guys the opportunity to put things right.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:05 pm  

Hmmm... turned it off when England went into bat expecting to watch around now. How does a team get bowled for 51 though when you have 2 players worth £1m each

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:09 pm  

Hollywood Harrigan wrote:

Hmmm... turned it off when England went into bat expecting to watch around now. How does a team get bowled for 51 though when you have 2 players worth £1m each

So annoying, In commentary they were sort of excusing it, going on about how well Taylor had bowled. Fair enough like, the KP delivery was pretty much unplayable, especially that early in your innings, but I sat there thinking,

"Would South Africa be 26/7 ?, Would they fook."

The worst possible start for Struass. Well, nearly, 7 runs better that.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:31 pm  

JWP wrote:

What do England do next ? The squad doesn't give you too many options to change things around. Do they even want to ?

Bell > Shah

After that ? You could make a decent case to drop half a dozen of them, not a knee jerker like, I mean if you looked at their records over the last say 18 mths.

Cook > Nobody in the squad.

Where are the 'Development Squad/England 'A'/Whatever they are called right now', where are they now, Loughborough ? Can you call any of them up ? Should you ?

Cook > Key/Denly ??
Colly > Bopara
Harmison > Amjad Khan ??
Sidebottom > Anderson
Panesar > Rashid/Swann (FWIW - I thought Monty bowled better all told, beat the beat etc, just didn't get rewards)

Just to clairfy, I'm not suggesting all of these will/should get dropped, just looking at what they could do, options they have etc.

I think they'll go with the same, maybe Shah for Bell, it's very much the England way, give the guys the opportunity to put things right.

There won't be any kneejerk reactions with people being brought in from outside the original squad. Swann & Rashid won't be brought in unless the next pitch is conducive to using a second spinner. Shah might get in for either Bell or Collingwood; Anderson might get in for Sidebottom or Harmison, but I suspect not.

At least Prior & Broad enhanced their reputations in positions we've had difficulty filling in recent years. Let's hope they can both kick on from here.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:36 pm  

There'll probably be wholesale changes in the bowling unit (who didn't do a great deal wrong) and zero changes in the batting line-up (who did). It's the England way.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:15 pm  

How many more chances can Bell get?

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:53 pm  

Boris wrote:

How many more chances can Bell get?

I think that could be the last chance and could signal the end. 51 runs against an average bowling attack is shambolic. Cook's place could be under threat also, IMO.

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:54 pm  

Well that came out of nowhere, 300+ 400+ to 51?

Absolutely pathetic effort from England, no excuses whatsoever for a collapse like that.

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:59 pm  

I've lost patience with Bell, too. We've given him so much time, but he just persists in giving his wicket away cheaply, he's so inconsistent and I just can't see him becoming a top test batsman. I hope they bringe somebody in now (Shah, maybe?) so they can have their chance to settle for the ashes, but persisting with Bell clearly isn't reaping any rewards, how much longer can they persist with the blind faith?