: Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:49 pm  

DAR130 wrote:

Flintoff tonight
93 runs off 41 balls
2-32 off 4 overs
Not bad for an 'injured' player

Just what England needed going into the Ashes IMO. Should do Flintoff a world of good to hit some runs, and can only be good for England.

: Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:51 pm  

Name me a better bowler?? Mendhis arguably Flintoff creates wickets, take wickets and also ties 1 end up dont need to wacth it played the game 12 year know who id rather not face

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:54 am  

I would have Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis over Flintoff as a bowler any day of the week...now as a good bowler who can bat a bit then you may be onto something

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:51 am  

DAR130 wrote:

Flintoff tonight
93 runs off 41 balls
2-32 off 4 overs
Not bad for an 'injured' player

Hopefully this is the start of a run of good form for him, England need him.

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:03 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

The logical replacement when (not if) Flintoff breaks down again IMO.

Bresnan would get battered by the Aussies.

He's neither a bowler who is useful with the bat nor a batsmen who can bowl a bit.

He's just average with both in my opinion. Good player at county level, but never going to do anything in the Test arena; certainly not at the Ashes level.

If Flintoff is unable to play all 5 tests I think he'll just be replaced with which ever pace bowler is left out of the starting XI; be that Sidebottom or Onions.

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:38 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

What a surprise, another Lancs fan kissing his (injured) backside...

yes handy andy muppets . we dont want to lose 5-nil

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:26 pm  

Panda Antics wrote:

If Flintoff is unable to play all 5 tests I think he'll just be replaced with which ever pace bowler is left out of the starting XI; be that Sidebottom or Onions.

In which case the top 6 better score a ton of runs...

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:26 pm  

changa wrote:

yes handy andy muppets . we dont want to lose 5-nil

He didn't make much difference last time.

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:20 pm  

If he only plays one decent innings in three, having Flintoff at 7 makes a massive difference to the England lineup. Without him the tail just looks too long. Even if we get to 300-4 the Aussies will know they're only a couple of wickets away from finishing of our innings.

: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:52 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

In which case the top 6 better score a ton of runs...

Even if you had Bresnan in though, the top 6 need to make big scores. Bresnan's first class average is 27 and to be honest I can't see Bresnan making a Test fifty against the Aussies so he's hardly going to contribute massively.

He may have a bit more staying power than the rest of the tail but if he's not going to get many runs, I'd say there's more benefit in having an extra front line bowler.

In agree with your point though, the top 6 are going to need to make some runs.