sussexpob wrote:In short, what are we really asking a new cap to do?
a new opener has to average more than a mid 20s.....
A new middle order has to average late 20s, or low to mid 30s, which would rank them comfortably within the 4 we have.
A new bowler would have to play ten tests without having the worst career average after that time ever
A spinner would have had to take a wicket in his debut test, and carry form of having taken more than 1 wicket in 3 whole FC matches in the season
A keeper that can maybe catch
I mean we arent asking new caps to reinvent the wheel are we. The bar they have to beat to justify their selection is very low, arguably historically low.
We seem to be ignoring a high risk strategy to sit back on a status quo that is pretty much a worst case scenario..... no sense
Well quite (although does Wood have the worst average ever? Or is it just among quicks? There's a few spinners and allrounders I could name who have worse).
But we're into all-time worst selections here. We haven't had such lengthy periods of selectorial folly since the days we were picking Ian Salisbury and Mark Ramprakash (and at least he got a test match hundred, and averaged over 50 at county level, so you can see why the selectors kept trying him).
My team wasn't necessarily who should play, just a conversation starter, to point out that the 'there isn't anyone else' is clearly rubbish. Would Livingstone do worse than Vince? Would Hildreth do worse than Malan? Would Coad do worse than Wood? Livingstone may not be in great form, but he's still young and has shown sufficient quality in previous seasons and for the Lions to make most of us think he has an England future. And bugger Hildreth's age. If he's one of the best six bats in the country, he plays. With 15000 first class runs at an average of 43 in a 15 year career, he's been proven to be consistent and able to score against all comers. Australia picked the likes of Mike Hussey and Chris Rogers the wrong side of 30 - he's easily got 3 years or so left in him. What's the point of picking young players 'for the future' if they're crap? We did that three years ago, the future is now, and guess what, they haven't developed.
This team does need a shake-up. The same players keep getting picked, and we keep getting the same result. Who said that madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? As sussex points out, we made wholesale changes in 2000 when the team was at a low ebb. It was a long road back, but the core of that team became the 04/05 squad. Australia reached a low ebb of seven losses in a row towards the end of 2016, they dropped several established players, picked a bunch of youngsters, and won the Ashes back a year later. Not all the selections panned out (anyone remember Nic Maddinson?), but the team was shaken up. Shame they didn't change their attitude at the same time, but still. Pakistan have had wholesale changes forced upon them by retirements and injury, but have come here with a young squad plus a couple of experienced hands, and look what they've achieved.
Time to kick out some of the complacent ones who keep failing to perform. Give them some motivation to step up a gear and earn it back.