I wouldn't have any problems with that squad. As far as I can remember those looked like the players we had narrowed the selection down to. I'd prefer Mustard and Ambrose as the keepers but overall I'm fine with that.

Now are the other selectors happy??

__________________
Mark.

Rachael - Has given her support

Ernest - Has given his support

pie_chucket - has given his support

Mike - (On the poll), has given his support.

I hope the other selectors will give their support also.

__________________
Ern

Not sure where Bresnan came from, but the rest of that seems eminently sensible. Its hard to give a disinterested view at this stage of the proceedings. By that, I mean that having seen Ambrose on the international stage over 7 or 8 tests now, I'm not convinced that he's a good enough improvement to warrant a spot in the team, but it the stage of selection last year I'm sure I would have been happy to include him.

I'm still very keen for the squad idea, mainly as this is how things operate in the real world. We have a squad from which an XI can be selected based on the prevaling match conditions. This would mean we could select Rashid & Swann on a spinning surface, but potentially a very different bowling line up under swinging conditions/flat pitch conditions.

As such, I don't feel there's a need to narrow things down to an "Eleven". I personally think this is a bit of an anachronism given the inherent limitations of having the same eleven to play in India, Australia, England or wherever. I'm happy to stick with the XIV.

Although I'm happy to post a squad, I'd still like to know who the preferred #1 spinner is and what the batting lineup might be when only one spinner is required to bowl. At least that will also indicate the preferred #1 keeper.

__________________
Administrator

My only issue with a A team squad rather than XI (and this is for the 2008 team as I wasn't involved in the 2007 pick) is that everyone will get to pick 'their player' in a 15 as places will not be at such a premium and there will be little discussion and debate.

It might not be the case but that is my worry.

__________________
Steven

This is the 2007 pick.....

__________________
Mark.

For what kind of pitch?

Swann is a finger spinner who can bat at 8 and is quite clearly the man to choose for bottling up and end or for exploiting any rough or a pitch that's breaking up. He'd be an automatic choice for most pitches in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and for pitches like the Adelaide Oval or for most WI pitches or NZ pitches.

Rashid offers a LOT more with the bat (and in 2007 he out-performed the guy batting at 6 in the current England side)... but bowls leg spin: he's possibly the 1st spinner to choose for more typically Australian or South African wickets and for other wickets (e.g. the baked mud of Pakistan) where fingerspin has to be pretty exceptional to contribute much.

To my mind the two players are so different that classing them together as "spinners" is misleading... which is why playing both would be so appealing.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. My suggestion was for the 2008 pick as I wasn't involved in the current/2007 one.

__________________
Steven

Well if you mean Ambrose - that's not hard to beat,

Schofield - Salisbury - specialist leg spinners amounted to nothing. Atherton and Kim Barnett part time leg spinners were terrible. Rashid would not get in an Xi with the bat, as he is not a specialist bat - and most definitely is not a specialist bowler.

Being you like to have a 4 man bowling attack, you are on record saying that today - it would be ludicrous to pick Swann and Rashid, and just 2 seamers.

If we must have Rashid, then it must be part of a greater squad - when he might encounter wickets that MIGHT suit him - but history says Englash leg spinners are not effective.

__________________
Ern

They are both spinners! There is absolutely no appeal to playing them together unless you were in the subcontinent.

Why are you still pushing so hard for Rashid?? There is no other support for him in an XI that would be played 90% of the time.

We have agreement that he would get into our 2007 squad.

We are endlessly debating the same issue over and over again.........

__________________
Mark.