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baylysimon

Listed below are comments made by baylysimon between Monday, 4th August 2008 and Saturday, 9th August 2008.

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Pietersen hides cracks in England batting 7:36pm on 09 Aug 2008 We do not HAVE to play Prior. It's one option, but the specialist keeper route is opened up by playing Bopara at 6 as the fifth bolwer.
Pietersen hides cracks in England batting 8:09pm on 08 Aug 2008 How many times does it have to be proven that Flintoff is not a test match 6? He had a golden summer, 2005, that's it. He is one of the best bowlers in the world. Pick him as a bowler.

Ambrose can't bat and Prior can't keep so pick the best keeper - Read or Foster.

Time to bring back Tresco, in for Strauss. Surely he is over his 'stress related illness' now.

Bopara is good enough to do a 'Kallis' as the fifth bowler.

Adil Rashid is growing in sture all the time (7 wickets yesterday?) and should be given a chance. He adds real depth to the batting too.

My starting 11 for Ahmedabad:

Cook
Trescothick
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Flintoff
Rashid
Read
S. Jones
Anderson

Key, Denly, Shah, Foster, Broad, Sidebottom, Harmison to tour as well.
Harmison and Anderson shine for KP 8:19pm on 07 Aug 2008 #16: 'If we can live with a system whereby players don't sulk if they are dropped then they will one day realise that it is worth it.'

excellent point. we have to stop this 'in my gang' ... #'not in my gang' business, especially when it comes to the bowlers. leave marmison at home in nov/december but msot definitely send s. jones.

come feb, send harmison and jones to WI, and leave sidebottom behind.

the whipper snappers (anderson and broad) have to go on all the trips to carry kp's bags.
Harmison and Anderson shine for KP 7:16pm on 07 Aug 2008 Well that was more like it! I think the decision to bring back Harmison and give him the new ball really set the tone. It’s a nice philosophy. Give people responsibility and tell them you believe in their ability. It’s natural to stand a little taller, try a little harder. If they don’t, of course, then you have to say that they had their chance and move on.

From what I could envisage in my mind’s eye, listening to the radio, it sounded like there were some possibly naïve field placings etc., but on the whole the energy and enthusiasm really came through. I liked the bowling changes. I very much liked Broad staying on, and ending up taking two wickets. Pietersen showed faith in him and that will give him confidence. I also thought the use of Panesar and the rotation of the bowlers at the end to stop the tail-enders settling was smart and lively. Most pleasing of all was coming home from work to find us not 30-3, as I was expecting, but a very nicely placed 49-1.

Incidentally: Strauss the only failure of the day. Is that what becomes of the unbelievers?
Bold Pietersen puts faith in Flintoff and Harmison 5:53pm on 06 Aug 2008 tomoslovan, agreed, time will tell ...

but my point is really that Aggers seems to have already made his mind up about KP, and like chairmanmo I think this has a lot to do with the 'old guard' having bad taste in their mouth over all sorts of things - 20/20, KP's decidedly un-English approach, his glamour lifestyle etc. Aggers didn't see this KP captaincy coming (whereas Boycott has been saying for a while that KP would be a good captian) and so he felt at liberty to say quite disparaging things about him. Now that KP has been made captain we are in the odd situation of the BBC chief cricket chap being in a rather antagonistic relationship with the England captain - and we haven't even played a game yet!

Everyone will say 'lay off Aggers' but think it stinks of prejudice.

Blowers by contrast is a libertine and loves KP!
Bold Pietersen puts faith in Flintoff and Harmison 5:41pm on 06 Aug 2008 vanty9 ... you mean Adil Rashid
Bold Pietersen puts faith in Flintoff and Harmison 5:36pm on 06 Aug 2008 I think the criticism of KP by Mr Agnew is quite over the top and has put him in rather a compromised position vis-a-vis the new England captain.

At the beginning of the last test at Edgbaston, Mr Agnew was one of the key media individuals piling pressure onto Michael Vaughan. Many people have raised an eyebrow about his approach.

But what has happened since then is more worrying. On his blog last Friday he criticised Kevin Pietersen for his "irresponsible" shot selection which, he said, means Pietersen must "surely have ruled himself out of the reckoning" for the captaincy. Well he got that one wrong! In radio interviews over the last few days, Agnew has repeatedly referred to Pietersen's "selfishness" and his "big ego".

Having seemingly failed to envisage even the possibility that Pietersen might be made test captain once Vaughan departed (whether that was this weekend or in 6 months time), he has somewhat shot himself in the foot. He has already laid his cards on the table, and this calls into question his role as a journalist. It is one thing for Alex Stewart, Geoffrey Boycott and others to speak their mind as commentators, but surely the BBC's Chief Cricket Correspondent is supposed to be more disinterested?
Bold Pietersen puts faith in Flintoff and Harmison 3:33pm on 06 Aug 2008 seeingthefuture ... I was buying into all this, quite enjoying it really (no need to pay for that Sky sub) until I got this:

"KP is unfortunately a shadow of his former self, riddled with responsibility and self doubt"

KP, self doubt? Don't be mad. If it doesn't all go swimmingly than he'll have already headed off on his 'KP 20/20 tour' one man takes on the world.
Bold Pietersen puts faith in Flintoff and Harmison 3:26pm on 06 Aug 2008 This side shows positive intent BUT:

Bopara should've played instead of Collingwood. Bopara is a techincially better and more dynamic batsman. Also, Collingwood never bowls in tests, whereas Bopara is a handy medium pacer. This gives further options. Note that Collingowwod at 5 means he is being judged solely as a batsman. He'd better perform or go.

Flintoff at 6 is not the answer. Technically he isn't - and never has been - good enough, particularly against spin. They have had to play him there because the selectors have insisted on picking Ambrose again (what better time could there have been to have a look at Matt Prior again?). Flintoff at 6 is a pragantic intermim solution, but let's hope Ambrose is replaced by Prior ASAP. Then Prior can bat at 6, with Flintoff/Broad at 7.

As for Broad, yes, he has enormous potential, but I'd still rather see him rotate in and out of the squad for a while, as Flintoff's understudy if you like. Longer term, the #7 slot is his. But his bowling, whilst less penetrating, is too similar to Flintoff's and Harmison's. He is tall, hits the deck etc. He can swing it too, but we need the likes of S. Jones with his reverse swing and Anderson/Hoggard/Sidebottom to get proper movement in the air. (Good that Siders has been rested. We all need a break now and gain. God knows I do.)

Lastly, Monty. He's been keeping quiet of late, in many ways. But his performances recently aren't anything to write home about. He too can be rested, allowed to "spend more time with his county". We should have played Rashid and seen how he performs. What we do know is that unlike a certain Mr Panesar he is an excellent bat (test #8) and a reasonable fielder too.

I predict an overwhelming England win ... KP centuries in both innings.

Cough cough.
Pietersen revels in his coronation 10:34pm on 04 Aug 2008 how bizarre that TMS have allowed someone to have "aggers" as a username and make the real Mr Agnew look so ridiculous!

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