View Full Version : Official Ashes squad - includes underdone Giles. Freddie skipper
England squad for Ashes tour: A Flintoff (captain, Lancashire, 62 Tests), A Strauss (Middlesex, 31 Tests), M Trescothick (Somerset, 76 Tests), A Cook (Essex, 9 Tests), K Pietersen (Hampshire, 18 Tests), I Bell (Warwickshire, 18 Tests), P Collingwood (Durham, 15 Tests), C Read (Nottinghamshire, 13 Tests), S Mahmood (Lancashire, 5 Tests), S Harmison (Durham, 45 Tests), M Hoggard (Yorkshire, 58 Tests), M Panesar (Northants, 10 Tests), G Jones (Kent, 31 Tests), A Giles (Warwickshire, 52 Tests), J Anderson (Lancashire, 13 Tests), L Plunkett (Durham, 6 Tests).
Definitely some dodgy fast bowling selections, not to mention Giles though Monty might get the nod. Both Read and Geraint will make the trip. Eddie's lovechild is there and Cook is a youngster who will be tested on the most arduous of road trips.
Browney2006
13 Sep 2006, 00:09
Wish there was a S. Jones
Squizza
13 Sep 2006, 00:10
Might as well hand us the Ashes now.
Giles? He's crook? What a waste of a spot.
Grimwood
13 Sep 2006, 00:16
They've just picked everyone.
All the names that might have been in there have just been sent to the academy as stand bys. Which rather defeats the purpose of naming the squad now.
Cooldude
13 Sep 2006, 01:04
Those fast bowlers suck
If Freddie doesn't fire, those quicks better bowl well, or Monty has to bowl very well
eddiesmith
13 Sep 2006, 01:13
Strauss, Trescothick, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff, Read, Hoggard, Harmison, Panesar
Thats the best side we have from that squad
usalion
13 Sep 2006, 02:02
Pretty much expected, although I think the Poms blew it making Freddie captain- he should be concentrating on his bowling and batting, not field placings....think they will suffer with that.
Giles a bit of an ask...but only in sydney would they possibly want two spinners.
I'll consider eddie's most powerful team and comment later.
usalion
13 Sep 2006, 07:48
Strauss, Trescothick, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff, Read, Hoggard, Harmison, Panesar
Thats the best side we have from that squad
Probably going too deep with your batting. Both Freddie and Harmisson are coming off of injuries at the end of the summer, and Harmisson has only really been right for one match, at OT. You may really overbowl Freddie with that lineup- not a great idea coming off an ankle injury for a quick. No real viable 5th bowling option- Slopster finally took one wicket when the Pakistani got bored, while Butterfingers is only starting as a bowler in Test matches.
I'm really surprised Stuart Broad didn't get named- isn't anderson just coming back from stress fractures? And Plunkett was hurt for a good part of the summer.
I'd probably drop the Slopster and bring in an extra quick, to take some of the pressure off Freddie and Homesick Harmi. Might have to persist with Mahmood out of the weak group they are bringing.....That would be the strongest side to put out- and the one they SHOULD name for Fortress Gabba.
Grimwood
13 Sep 2006, 08:10
If Anderson's comeback goes ok then he'll be the 5th bowler.
Or at least he should be.
usalion
13 Sep 2006, 09:07
If Anderson's comeback goes ok then he'll be the 5th bowler.
Or at least he should be.
What is Anderson's recent bowling record (county stuff)? I know he has been battling injuries, and might well be the man, but it does come down to fitness....England are already going in with a couple of guys with comebacks taking place
Ray Nolan
13 Sep 2006, 10:41
Would've like Broad in there ahead of Plunkett, other than that no real surprises or complaints.
England squad for Ashes tour: A Flintoff (captain, Lancashire, 62 Tests), A Strauss (Middlesex, 31 Tests), M Trescothick (Somerset, 76 Tests), A Cook (Essex, 9 Tests), K Pietersen (Hampshire, 18 Tests), I Bell (Warwickshire, 18 Tests), P Collingwood (Durham, 15 Tests), C Read (Nottinghamshire, 13 Tests), S Mahmood (Lancashire, 5 Tests), S Harmison (Durham, 45 Tests), M Hoggard (Yorkshire, 58 Tests), M Panesar (Northants, 10 Tests), G Jones (Kent, 31 Tests), A Giles (Warwickshire, 52 Tests), J Anderson (Lancashire, 13 Tests), L Plunkett (Durham, 6 Tests).
Nothing to see here.
TheColeTrain
13 Sep 2006, 13:52
reckon the ashes could be quite the anti-climax this year. Flintoffs good KP's good and the rest are just meh...
eddiesmith
13 Sep 2006, 13:54
Probably going too deep with your batting. Both Freddie and Harmisson are coming off of injuries at the end of the summer, and Harmisson has only really been right for one match, at OT. You may really overbowl Freddie with that lineup- not a great idea coming off an ankle injury for a quick. No real viable 5th bowling option- Slopster finally took one wicket when the Pakistani got bored, while Butterfingers is only starting as a bowler in Test matches.
I'm really surprised Stuart Broad didn't get named- isn't anderson just coming back from stress fractures? And Plunkett was hurt for a good part of the summer.
I'd probably drop the Slopster and bring in an extra quick, to take some of the pressure off Freddie and Homesick Harmi. Might have to persist with Mahmood out of the weak group they are bringing.....That would be the strongest side to put out- and the one they SHOULD name for Fortress Gabba.
Thing is with Montys emergence we no longer have to rely on 4 quicks doing the damage whilst our spinner is the 5th bowler, look at the Aussies and see how often the 4th bowler bowls very few overs, doing some rough calculations and he would only have to bowl 15-20 overs a day at most and pushing him down to 7 puts less pressure on his batting especially now they made him captain
If we are going with the 5 batsman then our best lineup is probably Strauss, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Colly as the top 5with no Trescothick these days but in Australia we have to take advantage of their **** bowling attack and the best way is a traditional lineup with 6 batsman and Freddie to ensure we make the big 1st innings scores
we have to take advantage of their **** bowling attack
Get your hand off it.
McGrath, Lee, Warne, random other quick (hopefully Tait), more than likely Watson in there as well.
eddiesmith
13 Sep 2006, 16:09
Get your hand off it.
McGrath, Lee, Warne, random other quick (hopefully Tait), more than likely Watson in there as well.
Exactly, Lee, other quick and Watson = automatic 200+ runs an innings just between them
usalion
14 Sep 2006, 09:39
Geez, yet another injury scare for the Poms with Hoggard- only Monty seems to be free of any problems among the bowlers....good thing a major hospital is just down the road from Fortress Gabba in Brissie- when they start falling like flies, they won't have as far to go in the ambulance.
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Hoggard injury scare for England
Hoggard's 10 wickets against Pakistan this summer cost 47.3
Yorkshire seamer Matthew Hoggard has given England an injury scare ahead of this winter's Ashes by pulling out of a county match with a side strain.
The 29-year-old, who took 16 wickets in last year's Ashes, injured himself in the warm-up for Yorkshire's match against Nottinghamshire at Headingley.
He was taken to a hospital for a scan and nothing "significant" was found.
But as a precaution, Hoggard will return to hospital on Thursday for a MRI scan on the injury.
Yorkshire physiotherapist Scott McAllister said: "We want to be absolutely sure that the injury is not too serious.
TMS MESSAGE BOARD VIEW
If it's a similar strain to Plunkett's then he's going to a major doubt
KC
TMS: Have your say
"The scan shows there is no muscular tear but Matthew will have an MRI scan tomorrow at 1pm to see if he has a small abdominal strain on his right side.
"We did not play Matthew today because we did not want to go a bowler down and the decision was made for him to have a scan because there was a slight doubt about his fitness."
The injury comes a day after Hoggard was named in the Ashes squad to take on Australia at the end of the year.
The selectors have come in for criticism from the media for selecting six players who are currently being treated for injuries.
Hoggard has become an important member of the England attack in recent seasons with his ability to swing the new ball.
On the last Australia tour in 2002/3 he played in three of the five Tests, returning for the final match to take 4-92 and 1-35 as England won by 255 runs in Sydney.
Hoggard was not Yorkshire's only casualty before play began at Headingley.
All-rounder Anthony McGrath was hit on the shin during the warm-up but a scan on his injury showed no fracture.
Yorkshire called up Andrew Gale from the second XI match at Stamford Bridge to replace McGrath and seamer Steven Patterson came in for Hoggard.
usalion
14 Sep 2006, 11:29
The Slopster adds a bit of Durham Drivel to the discussion of the English selection...
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Printable version
Paul Collingwood column
Paul Collingwood's throwing masterclass
Paul Collingwood's catching masterclass
By Paul Collingwood
England all-rounder
It was really exciting to watch the Ashes squad announcement on TV on Tuesday.
I had a good feeling I was going to be in the squad but it's exciting that the whole Ashes thing has come up again so quickly.
It's also exciting to have a look at the squad, to see Ashley Giles back in there and James Anderson, who have both had a bit of bad luck with injuries, and of course Freddie Flintoff's coming back too.
What you see in those 16 names is those who have the experience of winning the Ashes last year, plus some of the new faces who have featured in our success this year.
People keep harping on about taking too many injured players and this time there are also one or two who are not 100% match fit right now.
Freddie's such a charismatic person... He can give a side a lift because he can turn a game at any time with bat or ball
Paul Collingwood
OK, so there might be a little bit of a risk there - but they're the right players to win the Ashes.
The selectors had a really tough job picking a skipper out of Fred and Andrew Strauss.
It's not as if one has done poorly and one has done OK - they've both done so well and that's why it's been such a tricky decision to make.
Freddie's been given the nod and we are all backing him up and looking forward to getting started.
As for Straussy, it would be natural for him to be a little bit disappointed after knowing he had a chance of leading his country in an Ashes series.
But I'm sure he knows the reasons why and I'm sure he's behind Freddie too.
Freddie's such a charismatic person. He can give a side a lift because he can turn a game at any time with bat or ball.
With him coming back into the side, it puts pressure back on the three of us in the middle order - Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and myself.
But competition for places has been good. We all realise that we're fighting for just two places and have all responded well so far this summer and can take credit for that.
I've had a busy time off the field recently and it's going to stay that way. My wife's due with our first baby in two weeks or so and we've also just moved house.
It would have been heart-breaking if we had gone through the summer without a one-day win
It's exciting times for us and you could say we timed the baby exceptionally well!
I'll get back into cricket after the baby's born, but mostly I'll start preparing for the Ashes. It's the biggest tour of our lives and we have to start getting mentally switched on.
That's why the ICC Champions Trophy in India in October is a good thing for us.
If we can play some exciting cricket and get our confidence levels up - and train well together in a place where there is not a lot to do - we can use the time positively to get us working together as a team.
It was important for us to win the last two matches against Pakistan.
It would have been heart-breaking if we had gone through the summer without a one-day win, so that's given us a hell of a lot of confidence for the winter.
We showed what our potential is in that format after darker times when people have been laughing at us.
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Quote 1 bolded- What success have you had this year, Slopster? A 2-0 win over a Pakistan side that struggles outside the subcontinent. And yes, eddie, Browney et al- I KNOW it was iofficialy 3-0, but a forfeited Test that England were not winning does not figure in my counting purposes. Other than that, England have struggled in almost every Test since the Ashes ended....
Quote number 2- Has to be a political comment, or the Slopster is as thick as a brick....Freddie did so well as a cpatain? A win in Mumbai, then couldn't put away the Lankans at home....hardly stellar cred, in my eyes.
At least we know where we can find some comedy in cricket- just read the drivel from ed's Love Child....