Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Aidan11 wrote:I'd have left Jimmy out for this test to let him have more time to recover but these guys want to play.

If there is any lingering problem for Jimmy I'd certainly not risk him. But if he is fully recovered I think he has to play. Toss up whether you leave out Wood or Finn. The latter was a little disappointing at TB after a great Edgbaston Test...perhaps he is one of those who find it hard to back up in closely spaced games. Wood certainly finished well. Guess I'd decide after a look at the pitch.

Nice to have a bit of choice for pace bowling.

I'd leave Finn out of the final XI if Jimmy is fit.

Me too. Though the attack was good at TB, I'd keep them together with a view to finding a future beyond Anderson. New players won't produce if they remain marginalised figures. Is it fanciful to suppose Stokes wouldn't have taken a six-fer with Anderson in the side?

I get the idea of planning for the future. But it would be a bit of a kick in the teeth to Jimmy to have him miss the victory lap...assuming he is fully fit , of course.

You have to do what is best for England , of course. But you also want to win this match. So I'd probably go with Aidan and leave Finn out. He has already secured his place for UAE : though it might not suit him all that well ! Where he will really be handy is in SA.

But I'm racing ahead too far now...

LOL.

Another fail from the Daily Fail -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ashes/ ... paign=1490

I wouldn't have dropped Anderson, obviously, but I wouldn't be against keeping the attack together that sealed the Ashes. The Oval isn't Anderson's best ground,and he's never taken a 5-fer there, averages 33.5, an Anderson away average). It doesn't feel that progressive to drop one of Wood and Finn right now, after the high of Nottingham.

I'd pick Wood ahead of Finn, if only because the Oval is usually a good ground for reverse swing. Though, I'm not all that convinced that Finn is everything that was said post Edgbaston. Another reason to give him a longer run in he team, to make a more definitive case for himself.

Aidan11 wrote:I'd leave Finn out of the final XI if Jimmy is fit.

Indeed. Great idea.

Banish him to bowling to cardboard cut outs despite him averaging under 30 in tests and saying he is unpickable, send him home from a disasterous Ashes series away without giving him a chance and embarrassing him publically, leave him for 2 years, repick him, watch him smash Australia's top order apart to turn the series back to England after they had just got beat....

Then after averaging 20 a wicket, drop him for a bowler yet to prove he can take a test 5-for, who has taken the same wickets in the series despite more games, with each wicket being 16 runs more expensive, and come at double the balls he has.

And then in 5 years time we can all say, "ah that Finn had potential, I wonder why he never made it"......

sussexpob wrote:

Aidan11 wrote:I'd leave Finn out of the final XI if Jimmy is fit.

Indeed. Great idea.

Banish him to bowling to cardboard cut outs despite him averaging under 30 in tests and saying he is unpickable, send him home from a disasterous Ashes series away without giving him a chance and embarrassing him publically, leave him for 2 years, repick him, watch him smash Australia's top order apart to turn the series back to England after they had just got beat....

Then after averaging 20 a wicket, drop him for a bowler yet to prove he can take a test 5-for, who has taken the same wickets in the series despite more games, with each wicket being 16 runs more expensive, and come at double the balls he has.

And then in 2 years time we can all say, "ah that Finn had potential, I wonder why he never made it"......

Well it's gonna be either Finn or Wood and I'm not going to leave Wood out.

Trevor Bayliss - quoted in The Sunday Times - says Stokes' " bowling could make him another Jimmy Anderson." !

I know someone who posts here who aint having that...

Makes a change from people calling him the new Flintoff.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I know someone who posts here who aint having that...

Which point, the one that stated Stokes will be the next Jimmy, or the one that suggests we drop players with the lowest average in the team and replace them with inferior bowlers, simply because the latter plays for Durham?

Neither.

sussexpob wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I know someone who posts here who aint having that...

Which point, the one that stated Stokes will be the next Jimmy, or the one that suggests we drop players with the lowest average in the team and replace them with inferior bowlers, simply because the latter plays for Durham?

Wood has bowled well this series. Playing for Durham has nothing to do with it. Finn had one good test.

Aidan11 wrote:Makes a change from people calling him the new Flintoff.

I was listening to Radio 5 last night and they had Stokes down as 3rd seamer in the UAE in order to get the second spinner in.