There may be troubles ahead: England selection issues.

[Kim]

He must have had a good end of season, because I remember looking up the Div1 spinners and only Jeetan Patel had figures that weren't terrible. And yet Raynor ended the season with 41 wickets at 23. Unless I missed him.

His figures are "distorted" by 15 wickets for about 100 in a late match v Surrey where the latter prepared a raging turner for Keedy and Batty - who took loads of wickets as well.

Don't think he's anywhere near England class TBH. And he has a "curious" action as well.

Middlesex do though have a young spinner - Ravi Patel- who is miles away but very promising.

[mikesiva]

I believe in horses for courses....

Just because Anderson and Bresnan can swing the ball and bowl well in England, doesn't mean they will destroy everybody on the hard, bouncy pitches of Australia. I believe that tall pacers, such as Tremlett, Finn and Rankin should've been used ahead of that duo in Australia. It might not have necessarily given England victory, but I believe it would've given England a better shot than persisting with Anderson and trying out Bresnan.

[andy]

have i seriously just seen someone suggest Ollie Rayner for national selection..?

[meninblue]

Selectors are helpless here though. Only one player is in form and he too is injured now. Even picking one in form player is tough now.It is impossible for any selector to select a good team for this series.All they can do is wait for the core payers to come back in form for further series and that's the only solution.Whereas Aussies have Warner,Clarke, Haddin, Mitch, Harris, Siddle.This series is a huge mismatch on form basis.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, we obviously need an idea of what to do to change the situation. Which squad changes, if any need to be made in the short term. Who is going to be coach. And a look at how we prepare for games and tours.

[shankycricket]

I believe in horses for courses....

Just because Anderson and Bresnan can swing the ball and bowl well in England, doesn't mean they will destroy everybody on the hard, bouncy pitches of Australia. I believe that tall pacers, such as Tremlett, Finn and Rankin should've been used ahead of that duo in Australia. It might not have necessarily given England victory, but I believe it would've given England a better shot than persisting with Anderson and trying out Bresnan.

Did you just suggest Tremlett ahead of Anderson? I mean...

[sussexpob]

have i seriously just seen someone suggest Ollie Rayner for national selection..?

Brice McGain Part II

[Arthur Crabtree]

If England had left out Anderson, and were about to go 3-0 down, I wonder what the opinion of the press/pundits/commentators would be!

[greyblazer]

I believe in horses for courses....

Just because Anderson and Bresnan can swing the ball and bowl well in England, doesn't mean they will destroy everybody on the hard, bouncy pitches of Australia. I believe that tall pacers, such as Tremlett, Finn and Rankin should've been used ahead of that duo in Australia. It might not have necessarily given England victory, but I believe it would've given England a better shot than persisting with Anderson and trying out Bresnan.

Did you just suggest Tremlett ahead of Anderson? I mean...

At his worst James Anderson is a better seamer than Tremlett at present and even Finn. Just because he hasn't found the kind of seam movement that he has done before doesn't mean he is just a swing bowler. This thing of saying only tall guys find some movement off the pitch is just crazy. Ryan Harris or Siddle aren't tall but they extracted more movement off the pitch than Tremlett did at Gabba. Also remember Anderson took 24 wickets in 2010-11. If he was just a swing bowler he would have got about 3 as around 21 of his wickets came primarily because of his ability to extract movement off the pitch.

[D/L]

...I wouldn't have dropped Finn who is a wicket taker, s/r 48.3. Has taken wickets in every one of his 23 Tests. He should have kept his place after Trent Bridge...

If Finn had kept his place after Trent Bridge it could have been quite plausibly claimed that very poor form had ceased to become an issue when selecting a team.

As we saw at Trent Bridge, poor performance by one member of the pace attack can place additional, possibly unreasonable, demands upon its other members, more so than within a batting line-up. Fortunately, Anderson seemed to cope with that on this occasion but may not on another.

[hopeforthebest]

I believe in horses for courses....

Just because Anderson and Bresnan can swing the ball and bowl well in England, doesn't mean they will destroy everybody on the hard, bouncy pitches of Australia. I believe that tall pacers, such as Tremlett, Finn and Rankin should've been used ahead of that duo in Australia. It might not have necessarily given England victory, but I believe it would've given England a better shot than persisting with Anderson and trying out Bresnan.

Did you just suggest Tremlett ahead of Anderson? I mean...

At his worst James Anderson is a better seamer than Tremlett at present and even Finn. Just because he hasn't found the kind of seam movement that he has done before doesn't mean he is just a swing bowler. This thing of saying only tall guys find some movement off the pitch is just crazy. Ryan Harris or Siddle aren't tall but they extracted more movement off the pitch than Tremlett did at Gabba. Also remember Anderson took 24 wickets in 2010-11. If he was just a swing bowler he would have got about 3 as around 21 of his wickets came primarily because of his ability to extract movement off the pitch.

I seem to remember that the weather conditions in 2010-11 were totally different to those England are currently facing. The was far more moisture around and lower temperatures especially at Melbourne and Sydney, Queensland suffered terrible floods. Indeed I can't remember the current team facing conditions similar to the current ones. Maybe our batsmen and bowlers are simply unable to deal with conditions they have rarely faced before. I can't remember the conditions of 2006-7 because I relied on TMS for coverage back then.

[greyblazer]

The Gabba track was flat as was the Sydney one. At Adelaide it swung for a mere 4 to 5 overs. If someone says the Sydney track of 2009-10 had plenty of moisture in it you agree but not the 2010-11 one. In the last 3 years he has largely succeeded because of his ability to seam the ball. He has hardly taken wickets by prodigiously swinging it away from home. Ando though since the start of the Durham Test has suddenly lost that ability to move the ball off the track and only he knows why it has happened

[sussexpob]

The Gabba track was flat as was the Sydney one. At Adelaide it swung for a mere 4 to 5 overs. If someone says the Sydney track of 2009-10 had plenty of moisture in it you agree but not the 2010-11 one. In the last 3 years he has largely succeeded because of his ability to seam the ball. He has hardly taken wickets by prodigiously swinging it away from home. Ando though has suddenly lost that ability to move the ball off the track and only he knows why it has happened

I dont think its anything technical. The back to back match in the last ashes knackered him out, and he hasnt looked fit to 100% since. This Ashes reminds me of the 06-07 for Anderson, a time when he also was forced to play through a complete lack of fitness and was canned.

[greyblazer]

If he doesn't get it back Anderson will be in major trouble. He isn't someone who gets bounce so needs to find that movement off the track.

[Durhamfootman]

positive note, at least. Stokes' knock ought to have secured him the number 6 slot for the rest of this tour. There are no tests between Sydney and the arrival of SL in May, so I imagine he will start at 6 next year and as long as he doesn't pick up an injury or completely screw it up, I'd imagine he will probably get the whole of the summer to nail the spot down, so at least that solves that problem for a while.

And of course his bowling means that his inclusion in the side, by default, also resolves the perennial 4 man/5 man debate, assuming they don't do anything stupid like bat him at 8 in a 4 man attack.