Who would you buy for England if you could

[Beny]

Originally Posted by Ernest 24632

Warne would make England the finished article, they would be untouchable.


Ern

Ohhh God.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Beny

Ohhh God.

Yes can I help?.

[acker]

Well , I would never have believed the Professor of Telecomunications with a PHD in text messaging Dr S . Warne

would be in front at this stage.

Spookily a TV show stated here in Oz when I started wring this post , with Kim Hughes being interviewed.

[Oliver]

I went for Tendulkar. Bye-bye Butcher.

I'd happily have chosen Shane Warne as well. Bye-bye Ashley.

But Tendulkar is more important. That is a fit little master. Not the current one suffering from tennis elbow.

England's top order batting all average around the 45 mark. That's not good enough in Test cricket. I think they are improving and a whole bunch of Test victories where the side are not bowled out twice will substantially improve their averages in the long term.

But it is here (in the batting) where England are most defficient. The argument thereafter is which one of those guys should one pick. Matthew Hayden was quite short odds with me, and Virender Sehwag even Raul Dravid. Not Inzamam-ul-Haq. And I'm afraid VVS Laxman is beginning to look like a one series wonder. Brian Lara too, is not the player he was, four billion on a dead pitch playing for a draw in a dead rubber was not the performance of a truly great player - it was the performance of a very selfish and single-minded captain with tremendous powers of concentration.

I go for Sachin.

[The Worker]

I'd go for McGrath, given the lack of strength in depth in our bowling attack. Handy batsman too !!
Don't see the need for a batsman, as this is the one area where we are starting to get competition for places.

[Maranello]

Surely McGrath is an all-rounder now?

[Rachael]

Surely England would be looking to pick a player they expected to be a Test player for the next 15 years... which rules out many on that list.

Despite the fact that he's relatively unproven, my wish list would start with Michael Clarke... but if not him then perhaps Danish Kaneria... or perhaps the young player who has impressed me mot of all over the past 12 months: Dwayne Bravo.

Of those on the list.. Sehwag is surely the best long term prospect...

In terms of who England could most do with right now though... Shaun Pollock would HAVE to be the number one choice as a straight swap for Jones / Anderson: great guy to take the new ball with Harmison, fantastic bat to come in at 7 and give us the depth of batting we so desperate need to compensate for the sheer lack of consistency int he top 6.

Of those one th elist.. and looking for immediate impact... Rahul Dravid (wthout doubt, to my mind, the no 1 bat in the world right now) might just sneak it on the basis that England batting needs a "wall" player... but that would be a hard decision to make when the alternative is to replace Jones/Anderson with Gillespie / McGrath.

Sure, Warne or Muralitheran in addition to Giles would be cool... but let's get real: with Warne or Murali in the side we WOULD be taking 2 spinners everywhere.. 'cos there's no way we'd drop Vaughan's able lieutenant Giles ahead of the rather less than dependable Anderson or Jones.

[Milo]

I voted for Warne - not as an addition for Giles - but for a replacement. I fully expect Giles to be irrelevant in South Africa and for the Aussies to bash him around the grounds next year. One good summer, and we suddenly forget how poor he had been. England's batting clearly needs bolstering, but one player for another I do think would have too much of an impact (with the possible excpetion of Hayden for Trescothick). Tests are won by the bowlers - and Warne would give us a good chance (with Harmison, Flintoff and Hoggard) of getting 20 in many of the tests we would play.

The only other alternative would be McGrath/Pollock/Gillespie for Jones as you said.

[Chuck Palumbo]

Warne without a doubt- The greatest spinner there has ever been and the most influential bowler ever.

[*Ben*]

I voted for the mighty chuker not muri though
basiclly bacause hes ripped through the aussies now