Should England dispense with "bits and pieces" players

[pie_chucker]

After yet another hopeless performance from Dalrymple surely the England management realise that he should be dropped (for good) and the experiment with bits and pieces players should finally be put to bed, 10 years after all of the other nations have done.

P.S How on earth was he nearly called up for an Ashes test, what were they thinking??

Edit: Sorry, what happened to option 3 in the poll? - Had a bout of dyslexia I think .

[Rachael]

Flintoff was a bit-n-pieces player for a few years.... and didn't turn out to be a bad ODI player

[pie_chucker]

Ok, maybe the drop him for good was a bit harsh but when he's in the team we are playing with 10 men and we arent that good that we can afford that.

Re: Flintoff, he was never that bad surely?? He always at least seemed to be tidy with the ball, he just never made use of the talent he had with the bat.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Flintoff was a bit-n-pieces player for a few years.

Flintoff was never a bits and pieces player, he played bad for a while - but he had things going for him.

1) Determination.

2) Talent.

3) His bowling had pace.

4) Even at his worst - he was not caught behind, he would be caught on the boundry rather than just surrendering.

5) He is big and strong.

[Younis Khan #1]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Flintoff was never a bits and pieces player, he played bad for a while - but he had things going for him.

1) Determination.

2) Talent.

3) His bowling had pace.

4) Even at his worst - he was not caught behind, he would be caught on the boundry rather than just surrendering.

5) He is big and strong.

I like how you indirectly say dalrymple has no talent

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Younis Khan #1

I like how you indirectly say dalrymple has no talent

No he is a good county player, no he is a very good county player - but IMO not an England player.

[Younis Khan #1]

Just kidding around, ern. Though to be honest, he does seems a bit ineffective to me.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by pie_chucker

Edit: Sorry, what happened to option 3 in the poll? - Had a bout of dyslexia I think .

If it was the missing apostrophe which bugged you, p_c, worry no longer: I've put it in for you.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by pie_chucker

Re: Flintoff, he was never that bad surely?? He always at least seemed to be tidy with the ball, he just never made use of the talent he had with the bat.

(6 ball overs)       Mat    O       R   W   BB1    BB2     Ave  Econ    SR 4w 5w
overall               25  134     626  14  2/5    2/13   44.71  4.67  57.4  0  0

At the same stage in his career, Flintoff had taken just 9 wickets and had an economy rate of 5.38 (and that's despite 9 of his first 25 ODIs being against Zimbabwe, Kenya or Bangladesh). Even if you move on to the season of 2002 (at home, vs India and Sri Lanka, starting with his 40th ODI match) the season stats show a bits-n-pieces bowler....

(6 ball overs)       Mat    O       R   W   BB1    BB2     Ave  Econ    SR 4w 5w
season 2002            7   52.1   276   9  3/49   2/18   30.66  5.29  34.7  0  0

On the batting front, Flintoff also comes out worse: this is Dalrymple's contribution....

                     Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0
overall               25   24   1   484  67   62   37   21.04   0   2   2

After 25 games, Flintoff had a paltry 358 runs (not even 3/4 of what Dalrymple has made) and an average of 21.05.

Compare the two and Dalrymple wins hands-down... most especially where Fletcher thinks it matters: between the ears - the guy cemented his place by showing himself to be mentally-tougher than guys like Pietersen and Flintoff... and deserves credit for that!

Give the lad time: he's got at least as much promise with the bat as Paul Collingwood had... far more promise with the ball... and looks capable of becoming as good a fielder as Collingwood. I'd pen him in now for a no 5-6 batting spot in the next World Cup!

ps. It's not like anyone else is battering the door down to take his place: who'd you bring in... Mahmood

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Younis Khan #1

Just kidding around, ern. Though to be honest, he does seems a bit ineffective to me.

LOL I was not kidding, I agree - he is not effective as an international player.

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan 132883

If it was the missing apostrophe which bugged you, p_c, worry no longer: I've put it in for you.

Yes OF but is this your work?

Originally Posted by option 3

I don't care: I another support a major team (with no bits and pieces players)

Worry not - I have changed it to this - "I don't care: I support another major team" .