in form batsmen

[Tom Partis]

so we are still on the hussain/strauss dilemma at the moment, but lets not forget that there are lots of young (and not so young) english batsmen who are scoring runs at will in the english springtime. perhaps the most prominent of these is ian bell who failed with the bat this time round, but has shown himself as a part time bowler capable of picking up wickets. of course there is the venerable graeme hick who is still slaughtering county attacks at the age of 38. Key is forcing himself back into the reckoning, left on 78* overnight as all other kent batsmen make starts but fail to capitalise on them. he resumes tomorrow in a good position to record his 5th first class century before the end of may - not a bad record. Scott Newman has also started the season in excellent form, as have young spin bowling batsmen such as dalrymple and middlebrook. it's looking good for the future - does anyone have any personal preferences among these lot?

Tom

[high_on_linseed]

6 months ago, I would have said Bell, but it seems like Key is a different man now. He seems to plucking runs off at will (14 boundaries in his 78N/O!), and reportedly his techique is much tighter now. He's more experienced and further down the line than Bell, so I think there is a very solid case for his inclusion in the squad against SA, or even sometime this summer if injuries arise. I'm afraid Collingwood is not looking so hot a proposition now at least at test level now.

I'd also like to mention Usman Afzaal. He's always been his own biggest fan and had said so to the media, but that alone tells you something - like Hussain I think he has the confidence and willpower to succeed at the highest level. To say to the mass media, "I'm gonna go out and get the runs to get my England place back, just watch me", then to go about doing it is not bravado but just brave brave in my book (what if he had fallen flat on his ****). Wild speculation, he could even be FEC material.

Also, although I'm not into selecting players on racial grounds, if Afzaal did work his way back into the England set up on merit, it would be a tremendous shot-in-the-arm to the image of England amongst the large number of Pakistani-originated cricket fans out there. I have a dream of a future England side containing Afzaal and Mahmood, and a sizeable portion of the English Pakistani community actually supporting England not Pakistan. Am I being naive here?

I agree about Newman, he's one of the few I've actually seen play a number of times and he's destined for great things, if he can just learn to concentrate longer than half-way through the afternoon session!

Lastly, the best is yet to come, with Pieterson and Middlesex's Ed Joyce England qualified in the not-too-distant future.

I suppose now is not the right time for a "Bring Back John Crawley" campaign ( ;

[Tom Partis]

yep good call - i had forgotten about pieterson and joyce for the moment, and afzaal is certainly having a good season thus far. Sales has also started pretty well for Northants, who i think have acquitted themselves quite well in Div 1. They're certainly not the pushover we might have expected them to be.

[Notts Exile]

Middlebrook is a bowler who scores a few runs. I don't see him coming into the reckoning to be honest. Dalrymple apparently is a very talented lad, still only played for a short time, be interested to know how good his bowling is.

Usman Afzaal could do the Thorpe role if given the right backing and support. Doubt it will ever happen though. Scott Newman strikes me as being similar in approach to Tresco, is this a fair comparison?

Personally I don't see Collingwood as being a contender for a Test place. I believe there are several others ahead of him in the queue on talent alone: Key and Pietersen (when eligible) being just two.

[Statto]

I watched lancs vs middlesex yesterday and dalrymple looked reasonable but no more but did come back well after his 1st over went for 13. He didnt look england quality. The had another spinner called peploe who looked reasonable but again didnt look that special

[Tom Partis]

the reason i mentioned middlebrook was that i saw he got a century the other day, but could he be an answer to our spin bowling problem?

dalrymple looks good actually, he dismissed both law and hooper this morning which isn't bad going.

i agree about collingwood, i think he is slipping further and further out of the selectors minds with regard to the test matches anyway.

Key didn't make his century this morning but he's already 33* in the follow on.

[Statto]

I also saw that Middlebrook had a ton but his bowling was 10-1-59-1 and his average is around 40. He did get 50 wickets last year though so he could have potential.
Dalrymple may well be bowling better today as you pointed out and is certainly getting his monies worth havig bowled 35 overs. Key's reached 50 again and must be close to a call up surely.

[Essex Eagle]

essex fan here but i can only say Middlebrook is a poor mans giles at the moment, although an improving batsman by the minute.

[Whips_off_the_bails]

Robert Key only added eight runs to his overnight score before being out for 86; but he's already 80 not out in Kent's second innings after following on!

[Sean Beynon]

Originally Posted by high_on_linseed

6 months ago, I would have said Bell, but it seems like Key is a different man now. He seems to plucking runs off at will (14 boundaries in his 78N/O!), and reportedly his techique is much tighter now. He's more experienced and further down the line than Bell, so I think there is a very solid case for his inclusion in the squad against SA, or even sometime this summer if injuries arise. I'm afraid Collingwood is not looking so hot a proposition now at least at test level now.

I'd also like to mention Usman Afzaal. He's always been his own biggest fan and had said so to the media, but that alone tells you something - like Hussain I think he has the confidence and willpower to succeed at the highest level. To say to the mass media, "I'm gonna go out and get the runs to get my England place back, just watch me", then to go about doing it is not bravado but just brave brave in my book (what if he had fallen flat on his ****). Wild speculation, he could even be FEC material.

Also, although I'm not into selecting players on racial grounds, if Afzaal did work his way back into the England set up on merit, it would be a tremendous shot-in-the-arm to the image of England amongst the large number of Pakistani-originated cricket fans out there. I have a dream of a future England side containing Afzaal and Mahmood, and a sizeable portion of the English Pakistani community actually supporting England not Pakistan. Am I being naive here?

I agree about Newman, he's one of the few I've actually seen play a number of times and he's destined for great things, if he can just learn to concentrate longer than half-way through the afternoon session!

Lastly, the best is yet to come, with Pieterson and Middlesex's Ed Joyce England qualified in the not-too-distant future.

I suppose now is not the right time for a "Bring Back John Crawley" campaign ( ;

I was under the impression that Mahmood's family were of Indian origin (despite the Pakistani name) but I might well be wrong.