Butcher To Return To England Side??.

[Ernest]

Mark Butcher has made it plain hi wishes to fight his way back into the England team.

Full details here.

Originally Posted by Mark Butcher

Mark Butcher has still not given up on an England recall despite having more surgery on his troublesome left wrist.

After the Trent Bridge fiasco, and the even bigger fiasco in Pakistan i would welcome Mark Butcher back into the side, and I would not consider it a backward step.

What do others think?.

[Chuck Palumbo]

Firstly in place of who? Strauss and Trescothick have one of the best opening partnerships in world cricket, Bell recently had a very good series against Pakistan and you can't drop Pietersen. Vaughan is captain so also unlikely to be dropped. Unless we want to play an extra batsman in place of a bowler then I can't see a place for him.

Secondly, where abouts is he in the pecking order? The likes of Cook, Joyce and Shah would be more long term picks than Butcher and all have been scoring truckloads of runs in county cricket whereas Butcher has hardly played for a couple of years. Also Collingwood and Key are there as well and they haven't disgraced themselves in test cricket.

I don't see a way back for Butcher unfortunately. He's a good batsman but just not good enough if we want to make that step up. We need to find a batsman that will score regular hundreds and average over 50 - Something that Butcher couldn't do throughout his test career.

[Vrock]

I agree. Butch's only chance IMO would be as a replacement for an injured player eg. If Tresco or Strauss were injured Vaughan would open and Butch would be brought in the number 3. Other than that type of scenario I think Butch's chance of playing for England again look bleak.

[Colourful Chaddi]

If Butcher does return to the England side it will not probably be at the expense of Ian Bell which i think is wrong. England should look to the future, and England must not choose players who are past it. Ian Bell is doing well at Test level, he had a good tour of Pakistan when other senior batsmen were struggling with the conditions.

Also Bucther has been struggling with injury the past year and who knows how many Tests he will miss because of it. He is past it and i can't see him coming back even if there is a injury because he is very low in the pecking order.

[Vrock]

Butch reckons that he has sorted his injury out now after a second bit of surgery on it but he is 33 so he is more prone to getting an injury.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Chuck Palumbo

Firstly in place of who? Strauss and Trescothick have one of the best opening partnerships in world cricket, Bell recently had a very good series against Pakistan and you can't drop Pietersen. Vaughan is captain so also unlikely to be dropped. Unless we want to play an extra batsman in place of a bowler then I can't see a place for him.

These players you have mentioned Chuck with the exception of Strauss and Tresco have not been consistent for England.
I agree we have to see if Pietersen grows into the side, but Bell has shown he can't play pace in England conditions.
Vaughan (captain or not) is looking more and more like a break would do him good.

No I would not like an extra batsman in place of a bowler, but looking at Englands batting over the last year I don't think the present batting line up is good enough to take England to the no one spot, in fact they blew it in Pakistan at Multan, and nearly did the same at Trent Bridge in the Summer.

Bell would IMO have to go, all he has proved he can bat on dead wickets, so Key in my opinion should replace him as soon as possible.
Butcher is 33 and he can hold an innings together, so I can see a place for him if Vaughan does not do well in India, in fact Butcher with his steady ways could captain the side.

[darksideofthemoon]

I think his time has gone. They are looking for players that play both formats of the game and Butcher is not considered a one day player. I also think if a batsman's average drops below 40.00 they should be dropped from the side.

Trescothick 45.47
Strauss 46.31
Vaughan 42.94
Bell 45.94
Pietersen 44.93

In the past players have had averages of

Atherton 37.69
Hussain 37.18
Hick 31.32
Ramps 27.32
Butcher 34.50

Only Thorpe was in the forties.

[Colourful Chaddi]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Bell would IMO have to go, all he has proved he can bat on dead wickets, so Key in my opinion should replace him as soon as possible.

I disagree there, Ian Bell needs another home series to prove himself. I personlly think he will bat better in the side then Butcher, also I can't Bell failling because he has a great technique, all he needs is confidence.

We all know he didn't have a great series against the Australians but he should not be jugded too much on that series, he was playing against the best spin and pace bowler around. Also how can you say that he has only shown us that he can bowl on dead picthes? If it was such a easy batting picth then why did the other England batsmen have trouble on them, Bell is a good batsmen and should stay in the side instead of Butcher.

Originally Posted by Ernest

Butcher is 33 and he can hold an innings together, so I can see a place for him if Vaughan does not do well in India, in fact Butcher with his steady ways could captain the side.

Now that is a kneejerk comment. I can never see Michael Vaughan being dropped form the Test side and the captaincy being given to Butcher. The England side is playing very well in the Flecture/Vaughan formulae and it should not be broken.

Also if Butcher was given the Captaincy he would most probably bring the England side back to one of the worst Test side around. I can't see Bucther doing any better than Vaughan.

[greg]

I wouldn't want Butcher in the team now but if any of the bats get injured he would be a very good replacement as he has the experience to do well.We need to see his form in county cricket first though as he has been out of the game without a big score for a long long time.

[adamberry]

If Butcher can prove himself to be worthy of a call-up in the early part of the summer, I'd be happy to see him back. I can remember watching him a few years back and thinking he was one of the best in the England side.

It wouldn't just be the batting he could strengthen either, unless i'm much mistaken he was a pretty useful part-time bowler as well (a bit like Ian Bell now), so could we see a like-for-like swop?

I just feel that if Bell does well on the tour to India, perhaps Butcher's final opportunity to do a job for England will have evaporated in the heat of the sub-continent...