Fantastic win and it's great to have the Ashes back!!

Broad had to be the motm, Swann may have had more wickets but it was Broad's spell which changed the game and won us the Test.

Looking ahead I would say when KP comes back that Collingwood should be the man to go and for Trott to keep his place. For me Collingwood is definately past his best and it's a time for a change.

Agree with that.

My squad for the SA tour:

Strauss, Moore, KP, Trott, du Plessis, Compton, Lumb, Prior, Kieswetter, Groenewald, McLaren, Dernbach, Ant Botha, Kruis, Meaker, Ervine

Every one of them born in SA/Zimbabwe...should have plenty of heart for the battle at least...more so than Ian c0cking Bell anyway!!

[size=75ps....I'm only joking with this squad, but I think Moore should be in the real squad anyway[/size

i would drop colly as well tbh. I'm not sure i know i called Bell but he showed more responsibilty and determination not to throw hes wicket away in this test. Id go for

Strauss
Cook/Denly
Bell
Pieterson
Trott
Bopara (I think he wpould do very well down the order against the older ball with a lot less swing. The way he plays he chases the swing of the new ball he could take attacks apart lower down IMO)
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions/Harmison

To be fair, I think you can probably put Lumb in the same category as Moore for mine. Had a good couple of years and seems to have really matured as a cricketer, worth a shot at number three?

If England take 3 specialist openers to SA then surely Carberry has to be the 3rd on form.

So I'd be taking a squad something like:

Strauss, Cook, Carberry, Bell, Trott, Lumb, Pietersen, Prior, Davies, Swann, Rashid, Broad, Onions, Anderson, Sidebottom, Plunkett.

I doubt they'll take 16 players, especially given the lack of cricket between tests and the relative ease in which players can get overseas as replacements if necessary. Saying that, I don't think they'll take 2 spare batsmen, so I'd lose Lumb from that squad.

As for the bowlers, doubt they'll take Plunkett, they're far more likely to go with Harmison, who was making noises last night about wanting to go on the tour. Not saying I'd do that, especially without his best mate there as a baby-sitter.

Whaaaaaaaat?? That's exactly what he didnt do...he got himself in in the first innings and then, as ever, got himself out to a daft waft of a shot then in the second innings, when everyone knew what was coming, he got out to the short ball from Johnson...still not good enough.



He bats at number 3 for Essex and has done for the past 2-3 years...where this myth comes from that he isn't a number 3 batsman I don't know.



I agree entirely re Lumb - he's most certainly developed his game an awful lot since he left Yorkshire and could well be worth a look at in the middle order but I think he may be behind Hildreth and Denly (rightly or wrongly) at the minute.

And Carberry has been outstanding this season too but again I think he'd be behind Denly as an extra opener.

I think the actual squad will be...
Strauss, Cook, Bell, KP, Trott, Collingwood, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Harmison (if he can cope with A- touring and B- not having his best mate with him) with Denly, Bopara and Hildreth as cover batsmen, Davies as cover keeper and Rashid and Onions as cover bowlers.

I'd like to think they'd be a bit more ambitious and pick Plunkett ahead of Harmison and Lumb/Carberry/Sayers ahead of Bell, but doubt it after yesterday.

I think Moore will get in ahead of Carberry and considering he is available I would take Harmison above Plunkett. Don't think Plunkett has done enough to warrant a Test repreive.

Bar half an hour yesterday what has Harmison done to deserve being retained? It's to the credit of Broad and Swann that England managed to win that game with basically a two-man bowling attack.

You might only be half-joking with some of those. Steven Moore is clearly on the selectors' radar after his successful selection for the Lions match a few weeks back. Craig Kieswetter is the best young wicketkeeper in the country and has been making useful runs with the bat this summer - I'd take him as Prior's understudy this winter. Stuart Meaker bowls seriously fast and is an outstanding fielder. He's only played a handful of Championship matches and is aged just 20, but may well feature in a few years' time.

The selectors clearly want a squad mentality and at times the team selections have almost resembled a closed shop so I wouldn't expect too many radical choices for this winter. Of the eleven who featured at the Oval I'll be surprised if any is omitted other than Flintoff obviously, while Panesar, Sidebottom and Onions were all in the squad for that game and Pietersen will obviously return barring complications with his injury. It would be wise to include an addtional top order batsman capable of opening if necessary (also with Flintoff's departure they'll probably want the option of six specialist batsmen in the event of Prior getting injured or Broad not making sufficientruns at 7), and the back-up wicketkeeper's position could be wide open after Tim Ambrose's failure to establish himself ahead of numerous other candidates, some of whom have already been tried in the past.

I hope they will be bold enough to pick Adil Rashid ahead of Panesar, and I'd like to see Craig Kieswetter get the second wicketkeeping place.

Well in the second inngs Harmison took 3 wickets so we can ignore that if you want but I don't see why. Okay then compare Plunkett/Harmison on their county form and Harmison still wins.

I know you and a few others don't like Harmison but I just think he still has something to offer. Especially now with Freddie going, Harmison/Anderson for the new ball with Broad/Onions first/second change and either Swann/Rashid as the spinner. It means Broad batting at 7 but with Swann/Rashid at 8 there is still some depth.

poms want the rugby league ashes now ENGLAND captain Jamie Peacock has called for rugby league's Ashes to be put on the line when his men take on Australia during this year's Four Nations tournament. Excited by the hype surrounding the current cricket series, the Leeds star said over the weekend it would be a big bonus for league if its version was on the line at Wigan on October 31, a one off game to decide a title Australia has held for 36 years. "The cricket Ashes this summer has been massive and really captured the imagination of everyone around the country,'' Peacock said. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5765392911

poms want the rugby league ashes now ENGLAND captain Jamie Peacock has called for rugby league's Ashes to be put on the line when his men take on Australia during this year's Four Nations tournament. Excited by the hype surrounding the current cricket series, the Leeds star said over the weekend it would be a big bonus for league if its version was on the line at Wigan on October 31, a one off game to decide a title Australia has held for 36 years. "The cricket Ashes this summer has been massive and really captured the imagination of everyone around the country,'' Peacock said. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5765392911

When does Kieswetter qualify, isn't it next year?

Look at the wickets he took - Johnson, Siddle and Clark.

The Australian top order played him with relative ease in both innings, on a pitch that should have suited him down to the ground. Time to move on IMO, and Plunkett now is a significantly better bowler than he was when he first got his chance with England.

I mistakenly thought he was already eligible. His profile on Cricinfo classifies him as South African and says he "has decided to qualify for England" without specifying when this will happen. He played for SA in the 2005/6 Under-19's World Cup, so if he's been resident here since then (he was educated in England) he should be eligible at the start of next season.

Tim Ambrose didn't really grasp the nettle; I expect the selectors will go for James Foster or Steven Davies instead.

Personally I'd give serious consideration to picking other candidates ahead of Bell, Collingwood and Harmison, though I don't expect the selectors will leave any of those off the plane. It's going to be at least as tough a series as the one just ended, so as Bopara has just been rested following poor form against testing opposition it would be a nonsense to recall him immediately.

Simple solution to the number three problem, get a steady reliable partner for Strauss up the order. If the number three is coming in to face a ball which is 40 overs old every time, with the score 120/1, whats the difference between batting there or batting at four / five?

If he could exorcise his current demons, and we find a new opener, Alistair Cook himself would be the ideal choice at number 3 IMO.

Yeah but the thing is mate County Championship bowlers are nowhere near the quality of international bowlers. I think Bopara is a very good player and shouldnt be discarded bat him lower down at 5/6 facing a old ball that isnt swinging and he will get tons of runs. The swinging ball has caused him trouble hes not going to sort that by playing CC give him a run lower down the order. Agree with the Kieswetter call hes been very impressive and gets the nod over Foster has Foster wont get you has many runs. That's test match by the way i would have Foster in the ODI and play Prior as a batter '"

pontings comming back home

Well no one else was managing to take those wickets were they? If we have a better option than Harmison then great, but Plunkett is not it, just seems to be an expensive bolwer to me. If he is the best alternative we have then Harmy should go to SA.

In his interview afterwards he said that he would go to SA. But he said it in the same tone that I might say to my wife "Yes, your dad can come to stay". Didnt inspire confidence.

As opposed to what? 2 weeks R&R in Blackpool?

I assume playing in the Scotland game and the 2 Twenty20's. It was announced a while back he would be missing those and returning to Australia for a bit. He may even be missing for a couple of the early ODI's against England, but he'll be back here for the end of the tour.

Remember, as soon as the series is over it's off to SA for the Champions Trophy. England's first game there is only 5 days after the last Australia game.

Harmison is definatly a better than option Plunkett looked so much out of he's depth at international hes only ever going to be a steady county player

Statistically Harmison should be in there. In this year’s Championship Plunkett has a respectable number of wickets at 25 apiece, but Harmison has plenty more at 18 apiece. However it’s not always as simple as that. Statistically Ramprakash ought to be batting at 3 for England and Chris Read would be a shoo-in for the second wicketkeeper’s place and a whisker away from usurping Prior in the XI.

Harmison has been particularly erratic in recent years, especially on tour overseas. Matthew Hoggard was dropped for good after far fewer inadequate performances. Personally I think the time has come to identify suitable younger bowlers and give them a go, although there isn’t a long queue of impressive candidates.

Bresnan is the most recent discard and didn’t seem to impress many. Mahmood hasn’t pressed his case convincingly. Plunkett is having a decent season for the best team in the championship; he was too raw when first chosen and is a useful lower order bat to boot. However, as Harmison’s latest recall was initially reported as being to provide cover specifically for Flintoff, who is now out of the equasion, I’ll be surprised if the selectors don’t keep him in. The best untried option that springs to mind is Mark Davies, yet another Durham man, but he seems extremely prone to niggling injuries.

As for the batting: Cook has just had a run of poor form in the last three matches after a relatively long spell of consistency in which he rarely seemed to be out for less than 20 or 30 even if his conversion rate of 50’s to 100’s isn’t great. Bell & Bopara both bat 3 at county level but don’t look convincing there at Test level, and I can’t think of another county no.3 worth considering other than Owais Shah, who has also been sketchy in his occasional previous Tests, so going with three openers is an option worth pondering. Rob Key would be the experienced option, otherwise his Kent partner Joe Denly or Steven Moore or Michael Carberry are others apparently being monitored by the powers that be. I saw a fair bit of Carberry, who was a squad player at Surrey during their era of dominance around the start of the decade. He’s a very attractive batsman to watch but in those days never seemed to turn his promising starts into anything substantial, as he has done for Hampshire this summer, and he’s also a splendid fielder at cover or midwicket.

Having just introduced Jonathan Trott I’m not sure the selectors will want another newcomer in the top order just yet though. If they do pick a new man for the tour I expect he’ll be very much the reserve batsman unless something extraordinary occurs in the pre-Test warm up matches, of which there will no doubt be two at most. I do feel we need a third batsman in the party capable of opening if necessary, although I can’t help feeling the selectors will stick with Collingwood and include Bopara, leaving us with a potential headache if Cook or (worse still) Strauss is incapacitated on the eve of a Test match. Strauss, Cook, Bell, Pietersen and Trott are certainties, not only for the squad but probably for the First Test too. Despite Broad & Swann both doing well with the bat in the series just ended, in the wake of Flintoff’s retirement I reckon the selectors will also want the option of picking an extra batsman in the XI and going with just four bowlers plus an auxiliary medium pacer such as Collingwood or Bopara.

The squad I expect the selectors to choose is:

Strauss
Cook
Bell
Pietersen
Trott
Collingwood
Bopara

Prior
Foster or Davies (no real preference)

Broad
Anderson
Onions
Sidebottom
Harmison
Swann
Panesar or (preferably) Rashid

I’d like them to choose a third opener instead of Collingwood, a limited batsman who’s done his best and often produced the goods when the chips are down, but must be close to the end of his Test career now; and a younger fast bowler instead of Harmison, Plunkett probably being the best option – I haven’t seen enough of him to judge whether he’s improved sufficiently in the last couple of years. I’d also be minded to take Shah instead of Bopara, but let’s face it there will be minimal changes after we’ve just won the Ashes.