Five Bowlers ?

You still can't answer the question of why go for 5 bowlers when England are beating everyone with four. They have just won two test by big margins against the number 1 world ranked team.
If there's a clown around look in a mirror.

You still can't answer the question of why go for 5 bowlers when England are beating everyone with four.
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yes i have. you have just chosen to ignore it and hurl abuse instead of considering the points made.

this was quite an interesting thread until you starting stamping your feet like a whiny 2 year old having a temper tantrum.

You are the one who used the word clown first.
The only concession I can make is that I would prefer Tremlett ahead of Bopara any day of the week.

ok, sorry for being insulting.

i have to say though that alternating between saying that i hadnt given an answer and saying that i had given the same answer 10 times seems a litte unfair.

i am not totally convinced by the idea of changing to 5 bowlers myself. or rather, i am not totally convinced of changing to 5 batters. however some change has to be made as up until now the selectors' intention has been to select tremlett when fit. i would also point out that due to trott's injury, we have effectively played with 5 bats in this game.

i think a summary of my reasons for suggesting 5 bowlers would be :

-we have to make a change of some sort (as above)

-we effectively played with 5 bats in this game and did ok (as above)

-broad is way too low at 9

-there is no ready made batting replacement, while there is a ready made bowling replacement

-it is not "fair" to drop any of the bowlers including tremlett

-5 of our best players are bowlers


in my opinion, these points give the selectors a dilema.

on balance i think i would go with the 5 bowlers, especially if trott is fit.

cook
strauss
trott
pietersen
bell
prior
broad
bresnan
swann
tremlett
anderson


is a strong batting line up.

In this series Stauss av. 25, Cook av. 5, Trott excluding his last innings av. 32, and Morgan av 22.
To rely on our bowlers to continue to get us out of trouble is a big risk.

In this series Stauss av. 25, Cook av. 5, Trott excluding his last innings av. 32, and Morgan av 22.
To rely on our bowlers to continue to get us out of trouble is a big risk.

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i am not advocating playing trott and morgan togethor though. the series averages of the team which i have listed above would be :

cook--------5
strauss-----26
trott--------25
pietersen -98
bell---------59
prior--------83
broad-------61


as a top 7, that's pretty healthy. on that basis, the opposition would be staring down 800+ runs per match.

the problem has been the top 3, and adding morgan to the line up doesnt help on that score.

besides, think the selectors would be right to have faith in cook that he will come back with a big score. if they thought he was going to keep on scoring 5 he wouldnt keep his place.

ok, now i have convinced you about that idea, what about this one ?

free strauss up by moving him down the order.


cook
trott
bell
pietersen
strauss
prior
broad


how about it ?

Personally I'm a great believer that scoreboard pressure is better than the extra bowler, Although I would be hard pressed to name another batsmen to replace an injured Trott. Perhaps Chopra at 3 on his home ground would be an idea. Hopefully Trott will prove his fitness in time.

"Leave out Swann.He has looked toothless against the right handers.He hasnt even managed to beat the edge of a right handed batsman in this series.The two wickets that he got were down to the batsmen playing across the line.I know the wickets havent suited him but I think India would much rather face Swann than Tremlett or Bresnan."

No no no no no. The guy averages below 30, a strike-rate of a wicket every 59 balls, and a an economy below 3!

Hes played two games where theres been nothing for spinners. At Lords he played an important role in holding up an end, in both innings'. Here he simply wasn't needed, that happens.

Dropping Swann should class you as insane along with putting your underpants on your head and sticking pencils up your nose.

And I would keep Bresnan for Edgbaston, give Tremlett an extra week to recover for the bounciest wicket in England.