Swann hasn't been at his best this year but he is a vital part of our attack and baring injury will be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Swann has been in poor form recently. I would rather we play with 5 seamers and lose the spinner

boycott's just called this side but with morgan for trott.

we are looking almost certain to bowl india out for the fourth time in this series for under 300

why on earth do we need to play an extra bowler ?

rich
You're back

never really been gone and this is one of my "pet" subjects

we haven't lost a test series for over 2 years playing a 4 man attack and looking almost certain to make sure we cant lose this one now

if it aint broken dont fix it

I'd agree with that.
There will be times when we could do with an extra bowler but the extra batsmen outweighs that.

we are looking almost certain to bowl india out for the fourth time in this series for under 300

why on earth do we need to play an extra bowler ?

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you could say 'we've just scored 500 in the 2nd innings, what do we need all these batsmen for ?'. the truth is though that you need to play your best side and your best players in every game, because you never know how well the opposition is going to play. tremlett is one of our best players, so he needs to play. none of the bowlers playing in this match can be dropped.

we might need to have a think about the team we play away to india but at home i cannot see any justification for it at all

"the truth is though that you need to play your best side and your best players in every game, because you never know how well the opposition is going to play. tremlett is one of our best players, so he needs to play. none of the bowlers playing in this match can be dropped."

your best 11 individuals do not necessarily make your best side

your best 11 individuals do not necessarily make your best side
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i appreciate that, but at the moment we have a situation where we have several bowlers who are on top form and are used to playing with the rest of the players, and on the other hand we have no batsmen who are demanding selection or who are used to the england set up. we've got 4 of the 5 highest run scorers in test cricket this year, and we've got a player at number 9 who scored nearly 200 last year and who averages aout 50 this series.

At the moment neither Strauss or Cook are playing well, how can you consider dropping a batsman?

The conditions are suiting the seamers, yes Cooky and Strauss are in poor form but what happened to Cook before he went to the Ashes, people were saying his form would cost us out there

At the moment neither Strauss or Cook are playing well, how can you consider dropping a batsman?

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we just scored 500 with 10 men (5 batters and 4 bowlers). what i am advocating is the same side as this, but bringing an experienced and on form extra bowler who the team is used to playing with, rather than bringing isome random extra batsman into the setup.

we also just scored 221 in the first innings here

fact is we are winning games with this setup so why change it ?

fact is we are winning games with this setup so why change it ?
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im not suggesting changing it. i am suggesting that we go with the 12 players who have played this summer. with trott injured, i am saying you play the other 11, rather than bringing someone else in.

if there was a batsman who was setting the county circuit alight and demanding selection then that might be different, but that isnt the case - there are no stand out batting candidates.

JPB, time to change your record. Repeating the same opinion 10 times or more, doesn't improve it.

JPB, time to change your record. Repeating the same opinion 10 times or more, doesn't improve it.

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what are you talking about you clown ?

you asked me how i could justify dropping a batsman and out of courtesy i answered your question.
.

my comments were as follows :

1 a question about anderson

2 a question about morgan

3 a statement that we have a strong top 5 and a strong lower middle order

4 a comment about tredwell and carberry

5 statement that we wont always bowl sides out for less than 300 and that broad is a good all rounder who is batting too low at 9

6 statement that geoff boycott has just stated that in his opinion we should play with 5 bowlers

7 statement that tremlett is one of our best players and none of the other bowlers can be dropped

8 statement that we have several bowlers on good form and part of the team, that we have no county batsmen that could be put in the same category, and that we have a solid batting line up.

9 statement that we should play with the same players we have played with this summer.


could the abusive poster please advise how this constitutes repeating the same argument 10 times ? if you have to go out to do your Community Service, please just answer after you've got back for your curfew.

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.