Bothan says,Hussain out Colly,or Strauss in

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

We shall see... not long till we find out, anyway!

I've just cut my hand stripping wallpaper

Ouch,it hurts,

Soon be cricket on the box,that will answer a lot of questions,who is,and who is not on form in English conditions,it will tell us a lot.Worst job in the world stripping wallpaper,it seems to go on for ever.

I sometimes play Brian Lara cricket on the playstation,I play a ten over match against whoever England is playing at the moment,It was pretty even against the Windies,last night New zealand ,got 119-8,with slogging I was out for 34.small things....

[high_on_linseed]

IMHO, there is no dilemma and its not particuarly - drop the underperforming , and ineffective in english conditions Ashley Giles, and ask Vaughan and Butcher to fill in the extra overs. Then play 6 specialist batsmen, including Nas and whoever they want to succeed him eventually. Its gonna be a wicket-fest anyway (right?) so we probably wont need a containing left-arm bowler like Giles. One way we could probably match NZs batting strength is to bat as deep as they do:

My team: Vaughan, Strauss, Butcher, Thorpe, Hussain, Trescothick, Flintoff, G Jones, S Jones, Hoggard, Harmsion

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by high_on_linseed

IMHO, there is no dilemma and its not particuarly - drop the underperforming , and ineffective in english conditions Ashley Giles, and ask Vaughan and Butcher to fill in the extra overs. Then play 6 specialist batsmen, including Nas and whoever they want to succeed him eventually. Its gonna be a wicket-fest anyway (right?) so we probably wont need a containing left-arm bowler like Giles. One way we could probably match NZs batting strength is to bat as deep as they do:

My team: Vaughan, Strauss, Butcher, Thorpe, Hussain, Trescothick, Flintoff, G Jones, S Jones, Hoggard, Harmsion

But what if one of the bowlers is underperforming or injured during the match? Leaves you a bit short in the bowling department... if you aren't going to play Giles (or a spinner), I maintain we would be better off having another bowler and bring in Anderson.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by ernest

Ouch,it hurts,

Soon be cricket on the box,that will answer a lot of questions,who is,and who is not on form in English conditions,it will tell us a lot.Worst job in the world stripping wallpaper,it seems to go on for ever.

I sometimes play Brian Lara cricket on the playstation,I play a ten over match against whoever England is playing at the moment,It was pretty even against the Windies,last night New zealand ,got 119-8,with slogging I was out for 34.small things....

Not too bad now, thanks! I hate stripping wallpaper -it takes for'bloody'ever!

34 in total? Oh dear...

[Yorky Lad]

Bringing in Anderson would leave England with an alarmingly long tail though Kirsty. A customary middle-order collapse and we could be in serious trouble, with nobody able to add those vital extra 50 or so runs with whoever is left from the top order.

How about: Vaughan, Trescothick, Butcher, Thorpe, Hussain, Collingwood, Flintoff, G Jones, Hoggard, Harmison, S Jones

Also, with this team, if one of the frontline bowlers were to get injured, Collingwood, Vaughan, Butcher and even Tres could fill in (and hopefully take a wicket or two between them) while the other quicks were having a breather.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Yorky Lad

Bringing in Anderson would leave England with an alarmingly long tail though Kirsty. A customary middle-order collapse and we could be in serious trouble, with nobody able to add those vital extra 50 or so runs with whoever is left from the top order.

How about: Vaughan, Trescothick, Butcher, Thorpe, Hussain, Collingwood, Flintoff, G Jones, Hoggard, Harmison, S Jones

Also, with this team, if one of the frontline bowlers were to get injured, Collingwood, Vaughan, Butcher and even Tres could fill in (and hopefully take a wicket or two between them) while the other quicks were having a breather.

Hmm...looks a better bet, because Collingwood could be a better stop gap bowler, and bowl quite a few overs. In the longer term though, Srauss looks a better bet to me because he seems a better batsmen overall.

Yes, it would be a long tail with Anderson, but surely the whole point of sacrificing Read was to strengthen the batting. Besides which, Jones, Hoggard and Harmy have all proved they are able to stick around awhile..

Overall, if we aren't playing a spinner, I think I'd go:Vaughan, Tres, Butcher, Thorpe, Hussain, Flintoff, G Jones, S Jones, Hoggard, Harmy, Anderdson.

Also I belive that a longer batting line up can = complaiency from the middle order!

I still wish Read hadn't been given the shove, but you have to give Jones a run in the side now, IMO.

[Yorky Lad]

I'm with you on the Read issue. Let's hope he works on his batting over the summer, gets a few decent scores and gets himself back into contention for the Winter tour.

Just wondering, do you think the selectors will actually drop Giles for the first test, because I have this gut feeling he will play.

[Rachael]

Kirsty - I'm all in favour of your bowling line-up of Jones, Hoggard, Harmison and Anderson.. but with those four to choose from... why play Flintoff? He's no match for Collingwood or Strauss with the bat... and if those four seamers can't do the job then dear old Freddie isn't going to be the answer.

6 bats, keeper and 4 seamers... with back-up from Vaughan, Tresco, Butcher and (if he played as the 6th bat) Collingwood (all injury cover, not front-line options).

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Yorky Lad

I'm with you on the Read issue. Let's hope he works on his batting over the summer, gets a few decent scores and gets himself back into contention for the Winter tour.

Just wondering, do you think the selectors will actually drop Giles for the first test, because I have this gut feeling he will play.

Well, to be realistic, I don't see any major changes to the side that played in the last test series. So I think Giles will be there ot there abouts. He will certainly play some of the tests this summer, in my opinion. It all depends on the state of the pitches...

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Kirsty - I'm all in favour of your bowling line-up of Jones, Hoggard, Harmison and Anderson.. but with those four to choose from... why play Flintoff? He's no match for Collingwood or Strauss with the bat... and if those four seamers can't do the job then dear old Freddie isn't going to be the answer.

Freddie more than merits his place in the side, as a bowler and a batsmen. Sorry, but he is more than a match for Collingwood with the bat. Strauss may or may not be the real deal - time will tell. And he has proved that in some matches, he can do th job when others can't - just through the fact that he is usually a very economical bowler who is hard to score against. Batsmen get frustrated playing Flintoff.

I think Flintoff is one of the key men in the side! Playing five seamers reduces the workload for them, and would allow us to keep the pressure on NZ with no 'stop gap' bowling.