Ian Bell for captain

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Harmy's Army

Alistair Cook [...] is destined to be one of England's all time greats

Um... No! He's certainly got the potential to be a stalwart of the side and to eclipse such recent stalwarts as Hussain, Butcher and Trescothick... but he looks (at best) in with a shout of matching more impressive stalwarts like Atherton and Thorpe - and he's less likely than Bell or Joyce to reach that level as he's no-where near the soft hands, touch and finesse of Atherton or Thorpe.

Sing his praises, fine.. and back him for a long and illustrious career... but bear in mind that he's no where near as impressive as (say) Michael Clarke was at the same age. Right now he's a player with obvious limitations: more Mark Richardson than Ricky Ponting... and that's no basis to start comparing with Hobbs, Hutton and May!

[pie_chucker]

Originally Posted by Rachael

...Right now he's a player with obvious limitations.....

True Rachael, but he can still become a great player if he plays within his limitations. Steve Waugh had plenty of limitations within his game, but he knew his game inside out and became an effective run getter and that didnt stop him becoming a great - yes, he never looked good but as Boycs said today "its how many you get, not how you get them"

[acker]

Originally Posted by Ernest

OK acker is he as good as Ponting?, or Chappel?, or maybe Border?.

Can he bat as good as Ponting, Border or either Chappel?, or even Kim Hughes who was the weakest Aussie captain I can remember.

Currently a young pre Bill Lawry axed Ian Chappel type who has room in his batting to take it to an Allan Border level or even possibly a Steve Waugh level.

At his age, skill and consistancy you could put this issue of captaincy to sleep for the next 12 years. It might make the England forum a bit less interesting and cricket debate in general. But the up side is that player selection and team / player form issues can be more vigorously debated.

[acker]

Bump + Bump

[acker]

77 Not Out

[flanflinger]

Cheers Acker, the guy is playing well, most of us here in England know he is a quality batsman. But he is Captaincy material, I am still to be convinced.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by acker

77 Not Out

Not against the bowing of players like Lee, Tait , Flintoff or Clarke.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Not against the bowing of players like Lee, Tait , Flintoff or Clarke.

To be fair Ern, he can only bat aganist the bowlers in front of him. I assume if we used your logic then Viv Richards was never great because he didn't score runs off Holding and Marshall, ditto Ponting with Warne and McGrath.

Tait is still unproven at Test level. I take it you mean Stuart Clark? Not a great bowler yet by any means, neither is Brett Lee.

What Bell did was score runs when the others didn't. That gets him extra brownie points and a silver star if he's lucky!

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Notts Exile

That gets him extra brownie points and a silver star if he's lucky!

Not from Ern. As you said he can only score runs against the bowlers he is up against. Again he has batted well and looked classy, but Ern will never back down on this one until he does it against Australia.

The fact is that he batted better than anyone else, played a dogged in innings and helped resist a collapse, but for Ern that will never be enough, unless he is playing against the baggy green caps.

Quick question - when will he get to prove himself against Flintoff in a Test??? What a ridiculous thing to say??

Other ridiculous things - I will admit that Bell is good enough when he scores runs against Lillee, Ambrose, Thompson, Marshall in their prime...

The boy has a Test average of over 45, with 6 Test hundreds after just 26 tests, if you can name a better player aged just 25 (for England) I will be surprised....

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Alec Stewart

When he played in the 2005 Ashes series he didn’t look comfortable playing against the number one side in the world, but that experience has proved the making of him.

From Alec's BBC blog, and I fully agree with that. For all Ern's comments that he can't make runs against Australia, he seems to ignore the fact that the 2005 Ashes was a big series for Bell, and actually although he didn't excel, what he learned then will make him a better Cricketer. I for one fully expect him to be a key player in the 2009 Ashes.