WAT Test match rule

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by admin

Rachael, although Imran Farhat is only 23 he has played 15 Test matches

He hasn't played a Test in more than 12 months. Neither has Umar Gul. I think that's important: players who've just been dropped shouldn't be eligible (so if Sehwag was dropped tomorrow he wouldn't be automatically eligible for the WAT 'A' Team) but anyone who has been left out for more than 12 months should be considered a "fresh" prospect.

Originally Posted by admin

Mark Ramprakash played 15 matches before turning 25 [...] those first 15 matches were enough of an indicator in my opinion to show that Ramps wasn't going to cut it at Test level.

Did you miss Ramprakash's Ashes career? Ramps was by far the most brilliant England qualified cricketer of his generation and he proved in his career v. Australia that he had no problem cutting it at Test level: playing against the best... he was generally at his best.

Whatever reasons exist for Ramps not becoming the most capped England player of his generation (and I appreciate that there are intelligible (if not sound) reasons) they are NOT down to inability to cut it at Test level: his record against the very best opposition makes Trescothick's look very, very ordinary: to my mind he should never have been dropped... and is still being missed (witness **** batting against Aus and Pak in the last few months).

This is the Tresco comparison:

                     Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0
v Australia           12   24   2   933 133   72   69*  42.40   1   6   0
                      15   30   0  1013  90   76   72   33.76   0   7   2
in Australia           6   12   2   493  72   69*  63   49.30   0   5   0
                       5   10   0   261  72   37   37   26.10   0   1   1

Full Details.

ps. I shall recall as one of the best innings I've ever seen a second innings rearguard knock by Mark Ramprakash at Perth: the scorecard shows just 47*... but he came in to face the new ball partnership at at 15/3 and carried his bat for a 270 minute knock ona pitch that saw Mark Waugh make 36 in 203 minutes and on which his first innings knock of 26 in 97 minutes stands as the longest England contribution.

[admin]

Rachael, I still maintain that guys like Anderson and Farhat are no longer fringe players having played so many Test matches. They may not be regulars in the side but they get picked in squads and act as reserves which is why they are in and out of the side. The WAT concept is to spotlight fringe players including players who may have had a brief tryout of less than 6 Test matches and then dumped back into domestic cricket to prove themselves again or just appear in the one-dayers. Often young players are picked in a Test match to give them a taster but were never seriously thought of as immediate replacement material.

Liam Plunkett is an interesting case. 20 years old and has now played one Test match. He just missed out on selection in the WAT team due to other seasoned players getting picked ahead of him. If England continue to have injuries to their main bowlers Plunkett may play more Test matches and become ineligible to be selected in the WAT team next year.

I'd like to hear what the WAT Pakistan selectors have to say about Imran Farhat and Umar Gul. Umar Gul looks like a good prospect based on his Test figures so far and it's a mystery why he hasn't been given more opportunities so far. I put that down to the revolving-door policy of the Pakistan selectors. Umar Gul still qualifies for WAT selection having played only 5 Test matches. Imran Farhat failed miserably as an opener in Australia reaching a top-score of 20. Mohammad Sami made more runs in that series in his two Test matches. I can see why Farhat was dropped and hasn't been picked in a series squad since. He is young (23) but so is Salman Butt (21) and Butt made a century in Australia. I think Farhat has had plenty of opportunities and I don't think Pakistan should persevere with him any longer. Pakistan still needs to find a good opener to partner Salman Butt. They tried Shoaib Malik in the recent series against England but, while he got starts, he never reached 50 in the series. Butt scored three times as many runs in the series.

Should Farhat be eligible for WAT selection? I'd argue against that but what do the WAT Pakistan selectors think?

[Mr Cricket]

Nice thought great question.