My point was that he's better in the longer forms of the game... his levels of concentration are exceptional once he's in, a point proven by his 115* out of 199 all out against Hampshire. Warne & co couldn't get him out.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

I do recall commentators wondering if the pressure to score off every ball was what exposed him in the shorter form of the game: they suggested he was more of a block or basher than a player to work the ball around.

Edit: how about Michael Brown as an opener? He seems to have slipped through our nominations net... but he did just as well as Carberry (slightly more runs, slightly lower average) and out-performed Adams and Crawley.

I notice that he opened for Hampshire against Durham at the Riverside this summer and really shone as all about him stumbled: he carried his bat in the first innings as Gibson returned astonishing figures of 17.3-1-47-10 to skittle Hampshire for 115... and then added an unbeaten 126 in the second innings as Wiseman took 5/65 to engineer a second successive Hampshire implosion.

Sounds true, but then Matthew Hayden's a bit like that at times; with his experience he can carry it off and look for the gaps occasionally - Denly doesn't yet have that experience, but then neither do Godleman, Edwards or Horton particularly!

For interest, each player's averages on away (i.e. unknown, "foreign" pitches):

And also, slightly off topic but I want to prove a point to Rachael: average away team innings totals by ground:
Still think Canterbury's batsman friendly, especially given Kent's bowling attack this year?

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

It's fair to say that England have as much a problem of producing a good supply of emerging openers as they do spinners. Generally, England seem to have no problem producing good young seamers, wicketkeepers and middle-order bats. Our previous WAT openers were Jefferson, Hutton, Newman, Cook and Compton. Cook is the only one who has stepped up to Test level. Jefferson and Compton have recently been tried at A level but neither are producing consistent results as Cook did.

It's anyone's guess if the four players mentioned for consideration in this year's team will fair any better.

Neil Edwards (Sm) 23y 41FC 3c
Paul Horton (La) 25y 26FC 3c
Joe Denly (Kent,EngA) 21y 21FC 4c
Billy Godleman (Mx) 18y 16FC 1c

Three of them have played less than two full seasons. Neil Edwards has played more First-class matches than the other three but has only 3 centuries to his name. That return is simply not good enough when you consider Alastair Cook has 17 First-class centuries (including 6 at Test level) and he's only 22 years. Billy Godleman is simply too young and too inexperienced to even consider. That leaves Paul Horton and Joe Denly. If one of these players had to be dropped to make room for Rashid in the side I'd find it difficult to choose between the two. In any case, our side could be considerably weakened by dropping either player and using a makeshift opener like Shah just for the sake of squeezing another middle-order bat into the side.

You treat Carberry as a batting god and Brown as some sort of non-entity: curious... given that there's nothing much to choose between their returns this season!Both made 8 major contributions: give 50s the credit they deserve and please, please, PLEASE stop putting out stats as if three figure scores (and especially big three figure scores) are way, way more important.

Brown's stunning performance in saving a game in the face of destruction wreaked first by Otis Gibson and then by Paul Wiseman is surely far more meritworthy than the unbeaten 192 that Carberry racked up in a match in which Hampshire feasted on Warwickshire's lack of penetration and ended up declaring twice in the same match. Indeed.. the unbeaten half century in the first innings should probably get more credit than the 192... and that's before you add in the three figure contribution in the second innings!

Scores as all around you lose their wickets are, to my mind, far more impressive than major contributions to massive totals.

I'm not suggesting that Brown is a must or that Carberry is a no-no... but I do think we need to keep some balance in the discussion.

ps. Horton was the model of consistency this season: you dismiss him as only scoring 2 centuries... but he passed 50 ten occasions in 17 matches... the same as Sales and Hildreth and 25% more often than your much vaunted Carberry.

pps. I'd not over-sell Cook just yet (until he's proven himself against spin on the sub-continent and shown a bit more finesse: great start... but Strauss made one of those)... and I'd not dismiss either Jefferson or Compton - both strike me as players with a bright future.

That statement is factually wrong. I don't dismiss Horton. I said the WAT side would be considerably weakened by dropping either Horton or Denly. That statement is not dismissive. I also noted that Horton has made 3 centuries (not 2 as you stated): Paul Horton (La) 25y 26FC 3c. 3c stands for 3 centuries.

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Ooops, typo: I meant Edwards!

The Warwickshire attack is popgun you'll have no arguments from me on that but that was not an easy pitch to bat on after being under water for the previous couple of days (hence the declerations) and the fact that the next highest score in Hampshire's perfectly judged run chase was 40 from Benham kind of highlights what a fine innings it was from Carberry. The ball moved all over the shop in the morning session and he batted with great restraint and no little skill against the new ball and one of Anyon and Streak's better opening spells (the words damning with faint praise sadly spring to mind ) and only started to open up once the platfom had been set. He milked Harris expertly on a pitch offering a fair bit of purchase for the spinner and gradually accelerated aganst the change bowlers before cutting loose at the end despite suffering with cramp for the final 70-80 runs.

I'm probable a tad influenced by the fact that Carberry scores runs for fun against Warwickshire but he definitely has far more about him than Brown who no offense to him is your archetypal solid county pro (wholehearted but limited) and some way short of international class. I'm not convinced that opening is Carberry's best position as there is a clear vulnerability outside off stump which the best new ball bowlers in international cricket would ruthlessly exploit but in full flow he is a terrific player to watch. Sadly I suspect he may just fall into the Scott Newman bracket of dominant county run machine never because of some minor technical flaws trusted with a shot at the big time.

Now that is what I call good input: thank-you.

On a more constructive note: who HAS impressed you as having the technique to make the step up?

For me Joe Denly is the standout. I know it's just the one shot but his now signiture straight drive sets him that class apart from his rivals and thanks to a winter down under playing grade cricket the once weaker back foot game has progressed phenominally in the space of the last 12 months both defensively and (forgive the Americanism) offensively. He plays the spinners very well and has a willingness to take them on which I find refreshing from a young English batsmen. Like all strokemakers there are still shot selection issues to iron out but that is something he will learn with experience and you don't want him to change his natural attacking game which is what I believe will see him fast tracked into the England side. England post Trescothick have missed that dominant opener and Denly has the potential to be the perfect foil for Cook in the test arena.

In terms of the equally important mental side of the game he is impressive. As has already been mentioned by Adam his levels of concentration are outstanding for a 21 year old and whilst I know you shouldn't read a great deal into A (sorry Lions) games but the way he stepped up against India did speak volumes for his confidence and temperament. Like all emerging players he could suffer from the dreaded second season syndrome but he is far more equipped to deal with the increased expectations than say a Compton who's nowhere near as mentally tough.

(Godleman is from all accounts an England star in the making but until I actually see him bat I'm going to reign in the hype)