To kick off the selection procedure please name your top 2 automatic inclusions that won't effect the balance of the final 11. Mine are Keedy and Pietersen

My automatic selections are,

S Mahmood.
G Keedy.
I was tempted to include Pieterson as an automatic choice, but as you say mike, we are weak in the bowling dept, so it has to be the two above.

Ern

Mahmood and Harrison are both 22 yo. I don't think we can afford to have two inexperienced front-line bowlers in the side so Harrison would miss out if Mahmood is in.

Here are both players first-class stats for 2004:
These are Anderson's bowling figures for the 2002 County season at the age of 20:

County Championship 11 275.4 53 934 46 20.30 6-23 3 0 35.9 3.38

At the age of 22 Mahmood is still way behind Anderson's figures of two years ago. Mahmood might be a late developer. It's hard to tell with young fast bowlers how much extra strength they will develop. Harrison seems ahead of Mahmood as far as development goes and probably deserves to get in on merit.

On the face of it it would seem you are right, but dont forget England A Team, so it is fair enough to include Mahmood and Keedy.

I suspect Mahmood has been watched more than Harrison, there have been a lot of possitive noises been made about Mahmood this year.
Remember Anderson plucked from the acadamy, well his inexperience did not show up, he rose to the challenge, became a wicket taker, so I would say that in part negates the inexperiece argument, young men rise to the challenge more often than not.

Anderson was different in that he had actually performed well in the games he had played for Lancs prior to his selection by England.

Mahmood's potential has clearly been recognised but it is also clear from his stats that he hasn't performed with great distinction for a Lancs side which was relegated from Div 1 this season (playing in an attack which has included at various times Chapple, Martin and Cork). He also played 11 matches so it cannot be said that he wasn't given the opportunity to shine.

Harrison has performed well (and has done better than expected) in leading a Glamorgan attack which was missing Jones and Kasprowicz for most of the season and playing a massive role in Glamorgan's promotion to Div 1.

Harrison has taken more wickets than Mahmood at a better average and with a better strike rate. Even taking into account the fact that these performances were in Div 2 it is no contest between him and Mahmood.

The point here is that Mahmood has been playing in a far higher grade than has Harrison, Mahmood was recognised early as having potential, he has had the bad luck this year in playing in a dreadful Lancashire team, the players are good enough,but something went wrong, and moral was affected.he still has got that same potential, leaving him out, will not realise this fact.

We are not selecting for a full England team, we are selecting a team for the future, nearly all the players selected have no England experience.

Some of the very best England players have had poor county form, for different reasons.

GW, what are your two automatic choices?

Yes I agree over Anderson,his figures where better than Mahmood, but this is just proving my point,Anderson moved from the acadamy into the full England team, no stepping stones.He would never have got in only for injuries.

Mahmood has played in a higher class than has Harrison, and would make the change to the higher grade,easier than would Harrison from division two.Anderson had to climb two classes higher, Mahmood only one.

Chucking my tuppenth worth (of humbug) in
Wicketkeeper Wallace from Glamorgan
I'm tempted to say Robin Martin Jenkins but feel he's not quite got it as an all rounder.
Carberry then from Kent.

__________________
I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

2 selections
G Keedy
J Lewis
As I see it the real class in the bowling dept. I would like mascarenhas in the side but I cant vote for him because he may affect the balance of the side, although with Keedy in I think we would need a seamer at 8. Also, I dont see why we are that short of bowling - Ian Bell has proven to be up to it in the cc, and that isnt going to be much different to a teams, Paul Franks is more than useful with the ball and Pieterson was supposed to be a candidate for Englands spinning position (that seems to be out of the question now though)