UK "Pura Cup": who'd be up to it?

[Rachael]

As your nominations bring the tally up to just short of 60 what you are basically saying is that the domestic talent could only really justify 4 sides with 15 per squad: I suspect we've overlooked a few.. but that's an interesting starting point!

Of course... having 60 good enough players is only any use if the balance of batsmen, seam bowlers, spinners and wicketkeepers is sensible: anyone feel up to dividing those currently nominated into 4 regional teams?

As an aside.. can we actually get together a group of Kolpak players (or overseas players who have become England qualified) who are good enough? We always hear about those who ain't up to it... but there must surely be a fair few who are OK - and they really do need to be discussed as I don't think (legally) those good enough could be excluded!

[Andy Mellon]

Lets say 5 'regional' teams then North, Midlands, South East, West and then Rachael's Kolpak team

North can be selected from Durham, Lancs, Yorks, Derbys
Midlands can be selected from Warks, Notts, Northants, Leics, Worcs
West can be selected from Gloucs, Somerset, Hants, Glams
South East can be selected from Essex, Sussex, Surrey, Middlesex, Kent
Kolpak can be selected from anyteam

With the Kolpakers/England Passport, I think the following team would be very competitive:

Craig Spearman
Andy Flower
Grant Flower
Stuart Law
Murray Goodwin
Martin van Jaarsveld
+Nic Pothas
Shaun Ervine
Mohammad Akram
Ray Price
Matt Mason

For the Northerners

Lewis
Vaughan
Collingwood
Loye
White
Muchall
+Mustard
White
Silverwood/Plunkett
Mahmood/Harmison
Keedy

Midlands:

Knight
Wagh
Hick
Bell
Ben Smith/Sales
Shafayat
+ Read
Franks
Giles
Shreck
Tahir

West:

Trescothick
Weston
Hildreth
Pietersen
+ Adshead/ + Wallace
Gidman
Mascarenhas
Croft
Johnson
SP Jones
Lewis

South:
Jefferson
Hutton
Ramprakash/Key
C. Adams/Joyce
Thorpe
+ Prior/+ Foster
Napier
Martin-Jenkins
Saggers
Gough
Doshi

Howzat?

[Rachael]

Thanks Andy - great work... you've completed an excercise I started and have pretty much confirmed what I suspected: the south East have the batting and the wicket-keepers (you don't even find room for Strauss, Newman, Butcher and GO Jones).

No place for Batty and Swann.... and I wonder what chance there would be for Rikki Clarke getting into ANY of the sides....

[flanflinger]

Rikki would get into my team in place of Napier...

Napier 61 F/C games

Bat 29.48 2 Hundreds
Bowl 38.40 127 wickets

42 F/C games

Bat 36.09 5 Hundreds
Bowl 41.66 61 wickets

But it depends whether you want a Bowling all rounder or a batting one...

[Doink]

A very interesting thread! I know county cricket will always remain like what its like now but I'm sure if they really went the Aussie way they could surely raise there standard by leaps and bounds! Wish that could happen in India as well...we do have zonal cricket but I dont see the BCCI taking it seriously...for that matter they dont take anythng seriously, always busy with milking the cash cow!

[Paoli]

FF, how can you rate Rikki Clarke?!?!

Me and Mellons were laughin' our arses off at his performances in Sri Lanka and I think he has shown enough to not be considered for some time...

Anyway, you say his improved this year, but his international performances were ordinary at best.

AM, five Zimbabweans in your Kolpaker XI....Imagine if all those were back home!

[cantplaycantalk]

Interesting that Mark Davies of Durham who is 2nd in the averages and took 50 wickets at 21ish last year doesn't make the list for the "North"?
Worrying that Lewis opens the batting for the North (he is a very average player)

[cantplaycantalk]

Oh BTW I know Craig White is a very good player but he is getting on a bit, do you really think it's fair to expect him to fill two slots in one team???

[Rachael]

I'm not convinced that Andy's geographical approach has worked... because we've ended up without the one thing we would want: four sides capable of giving the Aussie Test side a tough game in a tour match. It makes more sense, I suspect, to just try for the four strongest squads.

I'm going to give it some thought in due course but am a bit busy today.

[Andy Mellon]

A few questions to answer here:

(i) Yes, I've put Craig White in 'North' twice. Anyone fancy suggesting a replacement at #5?
(ii) I've gone for 'regional' teams as this would be the result if the ECB put through reforms like those in South Africa. And yes, they wouldn't necessarily be the best teams but the majority of the best players would be included.
(iii) Paoli - its a good point that there's some very good Zimbabweans playing in the UK and there's no doubt that a full Zimbabwean team would challenge WI and NZ especially and would certainly provide a test for the other nations.
(iv) Davies doesn't make the North team at #11 as I've tried to balance each team with a spinner. Though, Davies would challenge the seamers for a place, would he get in ahead of Harmison/Silverwood/Plunkett/Mahmood based on reputation?
(v) Rikki Clarke... Yes, him and Napier would be close to getting in the team for South. I'd pick Napier over Clarke for a one day team. It would certainly be down to whether a batting all-rounder or bowling all-rounder would be needed for a 4 day game. Due to the lack of part time bowlers in the South team, then I'd plump for Napier. I did see that Jefferson had a bowl against Yorks yesterday and get a wicket (4-0-16-1) so he might be getting back his bowling fitness
(vi) There are some big names missing out. I've gone more for county reputation than any England form they show. Strauss, for example, isn't such a good performer at county level as for England, somewhat strangely. Batty and Swann would not dislodge Giles from the Midlands team but they would probably get into any of the other regions.
(vii) GO Jones was a deliberate exclusion. In my opinion, Prior, Foster, Wallace and Read should be ahead of him.
(viii) Fair point about JJB Lewis. I rate his temprament and think he would deserve at least a try at a regional level. I found that the North region was lacking in high class specialist openers.