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wellythething

Listed below are comments made by wellythething between Monday, 26th May 2008 and Saturday, 1st August 2009.

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English swingers make Aussies suffer 09:47am on 01 Aug 2009 Bopara has been disappointing both with the bat (not least because he looks so good while he is in) and in the field where he has dropped catches and has mis-fielded too often for my liking. But please can we not keeping touting Key as a replacement, he has demonstrated that his batting is of the "rabbit trapped in headlights" variety too often to be taken seriously at this level. For the future either KP or Bopara will need to grow up and bat at 3 with more mental discipline with the other going in with more freedom at 4.
England left to absorb shocking defeat 10:57am on 06 Jun 2009 It would appear that we have found yet another form of the game that Rob Key can't play at international level, please can we stop selecting him for England! "Rabbit trapped in headlights" would be the best summation of his international batting career to date.
Lack of runs costs emotional Vaughan 5:11pm on 03 Aug 2008 Depressingly short list is about right! How does Key even get a mention? An average of 31 and 15 tests doesn't exactly make him a certainty for the team nevermind the captaincy. My memory of his batting at the highest level is that of "rabbit trapped in headlights" Would it be unfair to point out that minus his one big innings he averages in the very low 20's? Perhaps it would on reflection but his is hardly a record that fills one with confidence!

I just can't see KP as captain material myself, at least not yet, that leaves Strauss...who has done well in the role before, but we are in danger of another MV situation if he can't find more consistency with the bat, and fast!
Outstanding Smith deserves his success 11:00am on 03 Aug 2008 The problem it seems to me is that we have our 6 best batsmen playing with the possible exception of Collingwood. Key, Bopara, Shah et al are no better than what we have...Shah has the talent but his international one day performances make me very uncomfortable about him as a test player - too much of the Hick and Ramps about him in the flattering to deceive department.

As for the bowling we need to create more pressure. Harmison has ruled himself out by his "retirement" from one day internationals and reluctance to tour so should not play again until this is sorted which leaves Jones as a must for inclusion at the Oval.

Chrystal Ball Time.....The Oval is a nail on win for England who specialise in winning dead tests once the pressure is off, this will lead to the selectors retaining their jobs and little or no change for the India tour. England will be stuffed in both one dayers and tests....but will win the last dead test once the pressure is off leading to the selectors retaining their jobs and little or no change for the ashes. England will be stuffed in both one dayers and tests before winning the last dead test once the pressure is off............
Low-scoring games can be fascinating 10:55am on 22 Jun 2008 Well done NZ, a useless England opened a door that should have been firmly shut and a courageous team performance saw the Kiwi's march through.

I can't help wondering if the reason England failed to get what should have been a simple enough target was because Wright, Shah, Bopara, Swann et al are simply not international standard batsmen.

Re 20 : 20 cricket - yes it probably is because I'm of a certain vintage but my American friends went to a game the other day and loved it! I can't think of a finer condemnation myself, the truth is it is rubbish. If the idea is so good and people really do like a quick slog why not go to the logical conclusion and make it 10 : 10 or even better 5:5 then al least it would be over quicker.

More tea please vicar....
England outplay jaded Kiwis 09:13am on 16 Jun 2008 Fantastic innings by Pietersen yesterday and no of course "those" shots should not be banned. If the bowlers want to change the hand they bowl with why not? No problem for the batsmen I would have thought since he will have plenty of time to see what is happening as the bowler enters his delivery stride. As for bowling over / round the wicket a bowler would have to notify the umpire in advance, not least because the non striking batsmen will have to stand somewhere!

Interesting about the LBW rule however. My view would be that if a RH batsmen informs the umpire that he is switching before the ball is bowled he should be treated as a LH for the purposes of LBW if not he should be treated as batting RH
Anderson shines for England 09:37am on 07 Jun 2008 Yep nippywinger #53 that looks about right to me, we MUST have 5 front line bowlers against better opposition and with Broad, Flintoff and Ambrose we should be able to manage this. No need for Colly however and a specialist front line batsman should be brought in in my view. I would go for the following:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan (C)
Pietersen
Ramps / Key / Shah
Broad (yes I know it's high but I really rate his batting!)
Ambrose
Flintoff
Sidebottam / Anderson
Jones
Panesar
Old Trafford outcome in balance 10:03am on 26 May 2008 Quite agree that we need to change Anderson, but I'm afraid Harmison is a has been. As has been mentioned above looking like a decent bowler in county cricket but he has shown he doesn't have the bottle any more for Test cricket. Any bowler that can't be bothered to tour and can't be bothered to play one day internationals frankly can't be bothered to play for England and I wouldn't have him.

Strongly disagree with those who say we should not be playing Broad, he looks real class to me and will become a genuine allrounder at Test level in my view. Looks much better than Fintoff did at the same stage of his career and will only improve.

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