Don't mean to be pinickity, but it's actually three winters he's spent down under. I'd hazard a guess the Balmein Tigers (the Sydney grade side I think he played for) would be missing him immensely this year, with Denly in the Development squad.

Godleman I have seen bat, he strikes me as being a little impetuous at times. He has got very lucky with some innings (one for the England U19's springs to mind - should have been out off an impatient drive but for the lack of a second slip, and should have been run out three or four times), and I would hazard a guess that a fair proportion of his innings have moments like that in them.

Horton is a very sensible batsman, takes his time and could well fit into an anchor role should the other opener fall quickly. As Rach says, he's very consistant - but then he needed to be, playing in a Lancashire side lacking a real second opener, instead going with Chilton and occasionally someone else.

As an aside, if as Rachael suggests, we select two spinners in this side, there is only one specially short-leg/silly point fielder I can think of that's been mentioned in any of the threads, and that's Denly again. Not an essential thing to consider, but fielding might need consideration also: something I can't account for for quite a few. Carberry is an exceptional fielder, but other than that I don't know.

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

OK folks.. this is clarifying things nicely.. but I'd love to get the same level of insight on Edwards... and not just in comparison with Denly and Horton: we're not exactly over-run with promising middle order batsmen...

Can't help much with Edwards - I've not seen him bat. But the impression I've got from certain sources is that he's probably better off at number 3, with Langer above him; not the other way round as present.

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

Scott Newman never made it above the A tour he went on because his fielding was so bad they felt they couldnt play him. That is one area where they are totally opposite, Carberry is a top quality fielder. Personally I'd pick Denly and Horton as the openers. Horton is a very good accumulator and also seems to have the patience to wait for bad balls instead of getting impetuous and nicking decent ones, but can at times be a bit one paced in his innings, although he does have a good range of shots which he has used on a couple of occasions. Denly is a lot more aggressive but his strike rate for the season is only 60, a lot lower than you would think. He does have a tendancy to go into his shell a little when he cant drive freely.
From Kent vs Yorkshire:
"The main achiever of the day was their opening batsman, Joe Denly, who reached his fourth first-class century, despite batting much less impressively on the second morning than he had on the first afternoon. The Yorkshire team effectively restricted his favourite straight drives and leg-side strokes, and apart from an occasional flourishing off-drive, he had to work harder for his runs. His century came off 201 balls. He was unexpectedly bowled on the stroke of lunch for 114, playing forward defensively and was beaten and bowled by the leg-spinner Adil Rashid"

I've just picked up a copy of this month's All Out Cricket magazine; and both Denly and Horton have been chosen in their "Top Ten Breakthrough Players" segment. I haven't time to type up the piece on Denly as I'm about to go out, but the piece on Horton is as follows:

The Denly article I'll try to add when I'm back.

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

It really does look as if Horton and Denly are going to be automatic selections as openers... but I really would like to give Neil Edwards a fair hearing before getting that voted on.

I like Brown and Horton opening but a left hand/right hand opening combination might be the way to go.

I happen to think that Denly and Horton are not just the best openers on display but could potentially form the best partnership.

Denly can at times be a bit of a dasher and take the bowling on (from what I've seen and heard particulary the quicks) whereas Horton will play a grafting innings and dig in. On paper the perfect complementary opening partnership.

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Mark.

Well he is not flash and has a steady average of 38.16 in first class cricket, he is also a left hander which is always a good idea to have coming through.

His average is not much different to Atherton when he retired, so I will give him my vote because it does no harm to have left hander coming though in A Teams.
Somerset also prospered with another lesft hander in Trescothick, so he has played with the best.

PJ Horton by comparason has a better average arround 45, but has played fewer matches, but maybe:-

PJ Horton
Neil Edwards

A right left hand combination COULD be the way to go, the alternative to Neil Edwards could be Scott Newman, a player with an average of 42.77 which is good for any opening batsman, also he has played more matches than both above put together, or not that far off.

I changed my mind and chose Scott Newman, second choice Edwards to open with Horton.

I think we have to have a Right and Left arm opening combination.

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Ern

Poll Fixed: now multiple choice. Those who voted before can have another go...