Hussain retires from all first class cricket

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by ernest

Chill, read the Sun, they you will have something to comlain about

That's your daily of choice is it Ernest?

Do they have words in the Sun?

I imagine their writers are very into Harmison knocking the West Indians over (Harmo flattens WIndies) for next to no runs and Flintoff (Freddie hits 'em in the Pollocks) scoring big Bothamesque runs.

I don't suppose the Sun is much into Hussain type grinding knocks (Hussar bores for England).
They probably don't know who Geoff Miller is. Or Bob Taylor, or Bill Athey, or Ashley Giles, or Chris Read. They're probably not aware that Flintoff can bowl and they probably didn't notice Flintoff's 225 ball century in Antigua.
(Ahh... Rachael!)

They probably turn off the Test match after about ninety minutes.
Of course I'm wrong there...I'm sure they can just about stomach an entire ODI...though they'll be damn bored between the sixteenth and thirtieth over of each innings.

No I don't think I'll chill with the Sun, or the Mirror, or the Metro, the Star, the Sport, or Today (that went bust didn't it?)
Might have a go with Viz, it's funnier than Private Eye.

Not difficult.

[Pete]

Michael Vaughan reads The Sun

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Guy

Michael Vaughan reads The Sun

That's presumably because he knows there won't be any foundation to the criticism written within.
IF a Sun journalist doesn't like your performance it's because you're not sleeping with seventeen lovers and you're not playing soccer or snooker.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Well - it surprised me! Did anyone else expect it to be this final?

I just somehow KNEW on Monday, from the way he reacted on scoring his ton and the way he turned and raised his arms at the end of the match that we had seen the last of him in the England side... can't explain how, but I just did.

I'm sorry he has called it a day, as he still has a lot to contribute. But Nass is the kind of guy who is brave enough to take a tough decision. And as he said, it is almost as though Monday's innings was his reward for everything he has given to the game.

I'll miss him .

[sostenurter]

I have been away from the boards for a bit and coming back to them and reading the posts about Nasser, I have to say that I am shocked that a) Nasser has chosen to retire now and b) the praise he has been getting for doing this. Make no mistake, I am as big a fan of Nasser as most of the people on this board. I believe, like Clive, that he was the saviour of English cricket. He lifted us out of the doldrums and every English cricket fan should be grateful to him for this.

But this does not change the fact that, to my mind, Nasser has let this side down by retiring in the middle of the series at short notice. If he was going to quit he should have done so before this series, at the end of it, or at the end of the summer.

I can't believe that everyone is praising him for his selflessness in letting youth have its day. There are two ways of being selfish - playing on to get your 100 caps when you're not really up to it is one way of being selfish. Quitting halfway through a series so you can go out on a "high" is also selfish.

The fact is, England don't really need to play a spinner at Headingley, we need an extra batsman. If we play that extra batsman now, it will be Collingwood, which means we go into a tough Test match with two of our key batsmen having three caps between them. That's not a great situation to be in! I hope that Colly and Strauss go out and hit big scores, and I am big fans of them both, but the fact remains that they are inexperienced, and playing two of them in a side will give the New Zealanders hope. It may well be that because of this, we play Ashley Giles. I don't know what the selectors will do. But what I do know is that to have made Andrew Strauss wait two more Tests, or to have made Butcher and Trescothick or Giles work a bit harder, would not have been the end of the world. It would not have prevented the development of a new team, or stifled the development of young players.

If Nasser had instead gone at the end of this series, that would have given his replacement four Tests against the lesser challenge of the West Indies, without harming the side's success. The need for youth (or at least new players, Strauss and Colly not being all that young!) must always be weighed up carefully against the need to compete, and the need to put out the best side.

Only last week Nasser was saying "I'm the guy you want at 10-2". What's changed? He's still the guy we want and need. Nasser could have taken a leaf from Gary Kirsten's book. When Kirsten chose to retire earlier this season, he didn't go after he'd hit an important century in the first Test against NZ. He stayed on till the end of the series with NZ, and played his part in a crucial stand that saw his side win the last Test and draw the series. That's going out on a high.

[Rachael]

I guess that if he hadn't been involved in that run out with Strauss (perhaps depriving the kid of what would have been a truly historic debut) Nasser might not have taken this road at all.. and if England had lost the game he'd have at least seen out this series. As things stand though.. I don't see the big deal: it's an ideal time to find out more about Strauss, Collingwood is due a run (and I hope someone will make way, at least temporarily, so that he can be tried through what should be a relatively undemanding WI series later in the summer) and we really do need to know where we stand on those two ahead of September when Pietersen enters the reckoning (presumably as an immediate ODI player but in the frame as a 1st reserve for the Tests).

Personally, I'd have liked to have seen Nasser stay on and contest the Ashes one more time: it's basically the only series that really counts... and I think he'll be missed for it - but if he was unsure of making it through to the next Ashes series.. then he's got to be right to get out of the way and let us sort out 2-3 other squad players (presumably Strauss, Collingwood and Pietersen) and get them firmly established before that big event.

[flanflinger]

Throw into the hat

Key, Bell, Newman and further down the line Cook... we suddenly have a side that may have the quality to compete (I won't say win) in the Ashes.

The run-out though did not apparantly fully influence the deicison, he had made up his mind on Sunday. The run out just spurred him on to win the game and get his hundred. Even so he did also say that he was never going to go South Africa, so I doubt that he would have been there for the Ashes next summer.

Possible Team for the Ashes?

Strauss
Vaughan
Butcher
Thorpe
Bell
Pieterson
Flintoff
Jones
Jones
Hoggard
Harmison

[R W S]

FF - According to David Lloyd (here) Its a stated aim to have Vaughan at 4 'in the longer term'. Which makes sense to me.

[flanflinger]

I have read the opposite, and anyway I have dropped Trescothick, in that team, so who else would I open up with?

[R W S]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

I have read the opposite

Now DL is not involved in the England setup I take your point that his opinion is not gospel - where did you read your version?

Originally Posted by flanflinger

have dropped Trescothick, in that team, so who else would I open up with?

Rob Key or maybe Ed Joyce