WAT England A 2006 selectors wanted

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

As for the rest, Mahmood hasn't played enough County Championship games to qualify has he? I thought you had to have played at least 5 games? Anyway, I'm with Rachael as to his inclusion. I thought WAT A teams were supposed to be based on the players' performances during the county season as much as anything else; hence Shreck and Onions would press much stronger claims than Mahmood. In fact, Shreck was playing for my local state team, Wellington last year and played pretty well.

First Andy how could Mahmood have played more games for his county when he was on England call?, as for Shreck and Onions how can their claim be stronger, Mahmood has got England wickets and has not played enough Test cricket to stop his inclusion.

Being in the England squad - and being in the England one day side must not stop a player being eligable for selection IMO.

[greg]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Awesome, isn't it: the selectors will have done something criminal if his awesome form doesn't get him on a plane to Australia this winter.

No they won't.He had his chance and he couldn't cut the mustard in an England shirt.Are the Aussies going to recall Lehmann because he has had a good season at Yorkshire?

Also who would you leave out to pick him instead of then?

As for this years A team i would want Yardy,Joyce and Broad but the rest of the places are up for grabs.

[admin]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

I thought WAT A teams were supposed to be based on the players' performances during the county season as much as anything else; hence Shreck and Onions would press much stronger claims than Mahmood.

For the majority of qualifiers we have to base our assessment on their county season because this is where they play the majority of their first-class games. We also give special dispensation to fringe players who play or tour with the national squad. Paul Collingwood, for example, made the WAT team in 2004 having played only 6 FC county matches due to national commitments. During 2003/04 he played a couple of Test matches in Sri Lanka and a couple of FC tour matches in the West Indies as well as many ODIs. All this experience was taken into account when he was selected in the WAT team.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Rachael

I've nothing against him... but it's not so impressive a performance as to overshadow those of other candidates like Onions and Shrek: the selectors may well be right to say he has greater long term promise (time will tell) but it is far from clear that he's done more to deserve a current W-A-T 'A' team place.

Think this may be one of the big contentious debates when the selection process does start, I for one think that you may be on the losing side.

The fact that Mahmood has not played as many county games this season is because of his England selection, to rule him out of the A team because of that would make this years team as ridiculous as some of the selections in last years team

The A team should be guys who could and will play for England, the fact that Mahmood is, and fits into the selection criteria by value of number of Test matches played, would mean he is a shoe-in, and if he doesn't get in, then it would make our A team a farce.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Rachael

the selectors will have done something criminal if his awesome form doesn't get him on a plane to Australia this winter.

Rachael,

I am a huge Surrey fan, and Ramps has been in awesome form this season, but even I wouldn't suggest that he should get into the Ashes team!!

His time has been and gone as Test player, he never reached his potential at the highest level and he never will. If he was 20-25 I would have given him a berth, but he is not. His time has gone, that is a sad but inevitable fact.

[admin]

County Championship Division One, 2006 - Most Matches

Name                 Mat   Runs    Ave     W    Ave    Ct  St  Dis  Team	BoStyle

AD Mascarenhas        12    402  22.33    35  23.02     4   -    4  HANTS       R-A F-M
GP Swann              11    448  29.86    21  47.38     3   -    3  NOTTS       R-A OB
JWM Dalrymple         10    557  32.76    24  39.54     3   -    3  MIDDX       R-A OB
LJ Wright             10    313  22.35    14  36.71     6   -    6  SUSSEX      R-A Med
AGR Loudon             9    336  22.40    21  38.38     6   -    6  WARWICKS    R-A OB
TT Bresnan             9    246  20.50    27  29.07     4   -    4  YORKS	R-A M-F

County Championship Division Two, 2006 - Most Matches

Name                 Mat   Runs    Ave     W    Ave    Ct  St  Dis  Team	BoStyle

APR Gidman            12    899  49.94    13  46.61     2   -    2  GLOUCS	R-A Med
PD Trego              12    596  29.80    19  50.78     5   -    5  SOMERSET	R-A Med
R Clarke              11    970  64.66    18  41.00    12   -   12  SURREY	R-A F-M
RS Bopara             11    651  38.29    12  52.66    10   -   10  ESSEX	R-A Med
RE Watkins            10    421  23.38    16  41.75    10   -   10  GLAM	R-A Med
RJ Sillence           10    355  23.66    19  36.26     4   -    4  WORCS	R-A M-F
JD Middlebrook        10    318  26.50    22  53.77     3   -    3  ESSEX	R-A OB
WJ Durston             9    577  36.06     6  37.66     9   -    9  SOMERSET	R-A OB
TJ Phillips            9    273  22.75    23  46.86    11   -   11  ESSEX	SLA
DS Harrison            9    172  21.50    21  44.57     3   -    3  GLAM	R-A F-M
MA Hardinges           7    236  29.50    17  42.47     -   -    -  GLOUCS	R-A Med
AJ Tudor               7    184  23.00    21  39.76     1   -    1  ESSEX	R-A Fast

I've included Alex Tudor under the Exceptional Circumstances rule. He's played 10 Test matches but the last Test match he played was in 2002 when he was just 24. I think he deserves re-consideration for Test selection, and therefore, WAT selection.

[greg]

The allrounder slot is difficult.You need to decide whether you want the batsman who can bowl a bit or the bowler who bats a bit.

For example Rikki Clarke could bat at 6 but would only be a 4th seamer but Tim Bresnan would only bat at 8 but could open the bowling at a push and is certainly good enough to be a first change bowler.We need to decide what we want i guess as there is nobody around like Flintoff.

[admin]

There are two all-rounders we should ideally pick: a batting all-rounder who can bat at 6 and support the seamers and a bowling all-rounder Of course, the balance of the team will have a bearing on whether one or two all-rounders are chosen and whether one of the all-rounders is a spinner. For example, England won the Ashes with Flintoff as the batting all-rounder and Giles as the spin bowling all-rounder. The WAT team could do something similar with Clarke at 6 and Dalrymple at 8. That gives us more flexibilty with selecting the three pacemen as the tailenders. However, that presents a problem with Mascarenhas as he filled the bowling all-rounder spot last year and has excellent form again this year. The other issue with batting all-rounders is whether the medium pacers can contribute at Test level. We've seen Collingwood struggle to take Test wickets with his medium pace so he has to bat at 5 to justify his place in the side. If Gidman was to ever make it at Test level he'd have to be good enough to bat at 5. If we go for Doshi as the spinner then Dalrymple will probably miss out because spin bowling all-rounders don't usually bat at 6 for England.

[admin]

County Championship Division One, 2006 Bowling - Most Wickets

Name                Mat    O      M     R   W    Ave  Best   5 10    SR  Econ Team

G Onions             11  312.5   58  1193   45  26.51  5-45   1  -  41.7  3.81 DURHAM
CE Shreck             7  266.2   52   939   38  24.71  8-31   3  2  42.0  3.52 NOTTS
AD Mascarenhas       12  328     89   806   35  23.02  6-65   1  -  56.2  2.45 HANTS
TT Bresnan            9  246.3   45   785   27  29.07  5-58   1  -  54.7  3.18 YORKS
TC Smith             11  317     84   880   27  32.59  4-57   -  -  70.4  2.77 LANCS
JE Anyon             10  320.2   63   953   27  35.29  5-83   1  -  71.1  2.97 WARWICKS
JTA Bruce            10  248     53   798   26  30.69  5-43   1  -  57.2  3.21 HANTS
CT Tremlett           6  183.2   39   533   24  22.20  4-43   -  -  45.8  2.90 HANTS
JWM Dalrymple        10  310.4   47   949   24  39.54  3-29   -  -  77.6  3.05 MIDDX
AGR Loudon            9  267.2   39   806   21  38.38  5-49   2  -  76.3  3.01 WARWICKS
GP Swann             11  360.5   76   995   21  47.38  4-54   -  - 103.0  2.75 NOTTS
OJ Newby              6  116.3   17   463   16  28.93  4-58   -  -  43.6  3.97 LANCS
LJ Wright            10  153     29   514   14  36.71  3-39   -  -  65.5  3.35 SUSSEX
SJ Cook               6  175     36   546   12  45.50  4-67   -  -  87.5  3.12 KENT

County Championship Division Two, 2006 Bowling - Most Wickets

Name                Mat    O      M     R   W    Ave  Best   5 10    SR  Econ Team

SP Kirby             12  418.4   79  1605   40  40.12  5-99   1  -  62.8  3.83 GLOUCS
SCJ Broad            10  311.3   59  1160   38  30.52  5-83   4  -  49.1  3.72 LEICS
ND Doshi              9  265     41   897   33  27.18  6-91   1  1  48.1  3.38 SURREY
Kabir Ali             7  226.1   48   771   29  26.58  7-43   2  -  46.7  3.40 WORCS
ID Hunter            11  296     65  1107   29  38.17  4-47   -  -  61.2  3.73 DERBY
DA Cosker             9  408.3   68  1132   28  40.42  4-78   -  -  87.5  2.77 GLAM
TJ Phillips           9  281.3   43  1078   23  46.86  3-53   -  -  73.4  3.82 ESSEX
DD Masters           11  370     94  1004   23  43.65  4-89   -  -  96.5  2.71 LEICS
JD Middlebrook       10  390     81  1183   22  53.77  3-174  -  - 106.3  3.03 ESSEX
AJ Tudor              7  205.5   36   835   21  39.76  5-67   1  -  58.8  4.05 ESSEX
DS Harrison           9  302     63   936   21  44.57  5-76   1  -  86.2  3.09 GLAM
RJ Sillence          10  181.4   27   689   19  36.26  7-96   1  -  57.3  3.79 WORCS
PD Trego             12  242.5   34   965   19  50.78  3-87   -  -  76.6  3.97 SOMERSET
R Clarke             11  188     34   738   18  41.00  4-45   -  -  62.6  3.92 SURREY
MA Hardinges          7  188.4   41   722   17  42.47  4-127  -  -  66.5  3.82 GLOUCS
RE Watkins           10  172     26   668   16  41.75  4-40   -  -  64.5  3.88 GLAM
APR Gidman           12  172.4   35   606   13  46.61  3-38   -  -  79.6  3.50 GLOUCS
RS Bopara            11  153.4   24   632   12  52.66  3-16   -  -  76.8  4.11 ESSEX

[Vrock]

Division two makes for poor reading, only Doshi and Broad really stand out from some pretty poor averages.

It really does look like the bowling line-up will be, mainly, made up of the first division.

What could be the reasons for English bowlers doing so poorly in the second division?