cricketfan90 wrote:The top 7 in australia failed and failed badly, and have done so for a while now..There are only 4 players i expect to line up in 2015 against the aussies:
Cook,Bell,Root,Stokes
my top 7 for the sri lanka series
Cook
Root
Bell
Taylor
Ballance
Stokes
Buttler (wk)
With the completion of Ashes series now over a month on, some of the dust has settled, yet for England there remains more question than answers. Having read through this thread (some of which is pretty funny) and a very fine blog, I might add, I don't think it is necessarily all doom and gloom for England. For a start, it's over a year away before they have to face the Aussies again, so there is time to rebuild... before the next annihilation.
The first thing is to sort out a coach. From an Oz point of view, I would love to see the King of Spain get the gig, because I don't rate him in any way shape or form. If the decision were up to me, my first choice would be Stephen Fleming. If he didn't fancy it, then I'd be speaking to Tom Moody. And if he didn't fancy it, then it would be Steve Rixon. An antipodean bias; maybe, but these three are highly regarded as coaches... otherwise the King of Spain it could well be.
The next point is the captaincy. I do feel that Cook had his chance, and now feel that he needs to concentrate on his ailing batting form, because England need Alistair Cook the batsman more than ever. The armband needs to be passed over to Ian Bell, who might just reveal in the role. I still don't like the Sherminator, and him being England captain will make me dislike him even more, but that's just the Aussie in me. As a cricketer, he is one of England's finest (gee, that hurt) and deserves a chance at captaincy. (That hurt too.)
I guess the next major issue is who to give the gloves to. There are three schools of thought here;
1 – Go back to Matt Prior. He has a proven record and is only 31. He's been England's best number 7 possibly in the modern era. He's no Gilchrist mind you, but neither is Brad Haddin, although Haddin is now playing as well as he ever has, and he's much older that Prior, who could still have hi best years ahead of him... or not.
2 – Stephen Davies, a great gloveman who is more than capable with the bat. He's been around, so he knows his game as well as he's ever going to, yet he's young enough to have years ahead of him. If Prior is deemed to be finished at international level (which he could well be), then just maybe this bloke is the next best bet.
3 – The third option is to go for someone young, with the idea of growing into the role, which doesn't really seem the English thing to do. Having seen a bit of Jos Buttler, I must confess to being a bit of a fan. I think this kid could be the next big thing for England, although to keep the many fickle English supporters happy, he does need to have a monster County eason to support his claim. Along a similar line of thinking, the England brains trust (bit of an oxy moron there) might be to look at options overseas, (which seems to be a very English thing to do) and have a chat to Sam Whiteman. I've peddled him before, only to be told that “England weren't interested in Aussies rejects, only rejects from Ireland, Zimbabwe and South Africa.” I reckon this kid has a big future, either for the three lions of England, or for the might baggygreen of Australia.
The next big issue, who to bring in to replace KP. This is a bit like Australia trying to replace Mike Hussey... not an easy task. I guess the current firm favourite wold appear to be James Taylor. He's batting at 4 for England A and did make runs the other day against Sri Lanka. Get him in, give him 12 months in the side to see what he can do. The cupboard seems a bit bare after that.
Next is who to open with Alistair Cook. Michael Carberry did ok I thought, in Australia, but clearly he isn't the answer long term. My answer to this problem; Sam Robson. The logic; get an Aussie in there! Given the long term goals England will have, they need long term prospects, and I reckon this bloke might just fit the bill.
Finally, who to replace Jonothan Trott at 3. Let's be honst, he ain't coming back. As much as I like Joe Root, I don't think he' quite there yet as a Test cricketer. He needs a solid year or two of County cricket to become a run machhine, then he'll be ready. In the short to medium term, for me, the answer is Nick Compton.
My top 7 for England against Sri Lanka;
Alistair Cook
Sam Robson
Nick Compton
Ian Bell (c)
James Taylor
Gary Ballance
One of; Prior/Davies/Buttler/Whiteman
I guess the back up options would be Joe Root and James Hildreth... and possibly Eoin Morgan if he has a bumper County season.
I wouldn't have Ben Stokes batting at 6, despite how well he porformed batting in that slot against the Aussies. For me, he would be contesting the number 8 slot with Tim Bresnan, but that's an issue for another thread.