We’re a week away from the first Test, which will finally give England the chance to undertake arguably the toughest assignment in the game right now, and Graeme Swann something better to do than offer the world his thoughts on the only surviving female X Factor contestant, through the medium of his beloved Twitter.
The most telling story from today’s warm-up game looks to be Jonathan Trott coming in at the loss of the first wicket. Three is supposed to be a magic number, and I’d prefer to see England’s chief magician, Kevin Pietersen, fill the role. That said, Trott is no stranger to the new ball, thanks to opening experience for club and country, and has answered every question thrown at him by international cricket so far. Cook, on 66 not out, made some timely runs.
The other major issue surrounding the team, is that holy grail of Test cricket – finding the right balance. This can take years to find, and, as South Africa have just found out, the time it takes to fracture a rib, to lose.
Of the solutions open to England, none – it seems – is perfect. The doubts surrounding Anderson’s fitness only add to the headache, but the imperfection I’d opt for, would be five batsman, Prior and Broad as allrounders, plus four bowlers. Sure, Broad is a place too high at seven, but naming four specialist bowlers takes some pressure off that facet of his game and gives Strauss plenty of options. A glance down South Africa’s batting line-up suggests that will be handy.
This approach would, of course, require a much improved batting performance. In the Ashes, of the seven innings in which every member of the team batted, the players selected for their batting alone (numbers one to five in the batting order) – were outscored by the all-rounders and bowlers (numbers six to eleven, plus extras) on five occasions, coming out on top just twice. Take extras out of the equation and the non-specialist batsmen still come out on top, four-three. However, the early evidence of this tour – notable contributions from Strauss and Trott, the rejuvination of Collingwood and the return of KP – hints at the emergence of a more potent unit.
In short, assuming Anderson is fit, I’d opt for this starting XI at Centurion: Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Trott, Collingwood, Prior, Broad, Swann, Plunkett, Anderson, Onions.
Many of you are bound to disagree, and I hope you do – a healthy debate may just fill the time between now and next Wednesday.
And for the record: on hearing that X Factor’s Stacey hails from Essex, Graeme Swann – gentleman that he is – upgraded her from ‘jackpot’ to ‘tap in’. Lucky girl.
I’d go with the batting line up. As the likes of Bell are not guaranteed to get runs, there is no point in having an extra batsman over a specialist bowler.
I think Broad , Plunkett and Anderson can all have really wayward spells and I would be tempted to give Mark Davies a go, instead of Plunkett as he provides something different. If there are any injuries I would certainly play Davies as he has some form and has played well in South Africa with the EPPs
The warm up matches are situated in the wet part of South Africa. It’s rained loads and continues to rain so the chances of comparing the form and merits of the England bowlers is going to be severely limited. Wonder if the extra wet weather is down to the fact that the winter of 2009/10 is an el nino one?
Graeme Swann is a genuine allrounder at first class level, has a test average of 35 having made most of his runs against Australia (Broad’s is 30) and bats above Broad for Notts.
He’s a perfectly dependable batsman, although I would have said he is not quite good enough to be a specialist Test batsman if he wasn’t picked for his bowling. Why not play him at 7 with Broad at 8? If he gets going against Dale Steyn it should be fun to watch!
That would be good to watch, and he certainly contributed vital runs during the Ashes. I think the idea is for Broad to stick around a bit at 7, allowing Swanny to come in and swing the bat at 8. He probably gets more freedom in that position, however, it is likely to hamper his ambition for a Test hundred! That said, Johnson managed a hundred and a 90 batting at 8 in SA earlier this year…
I wonder if Broad’s ready to move up the order? As a number 8, he can bat with plenty of freedom and can indulge in the kind of strokeplay which gets him runs, whereas at 7 he might have to rescue the innings once in a while. It just seems that the promotion would mean that he’s no longer a bowler who can bat (with freedom) but an allrounder, and heaping that responsibility on him at this stage might spoil him a bit.
England team still have to concentrate on the betting department specially its true that number 1-5 positions can change the entire drama, beside this England team can do any thing at any time and they prove themselves in Ashes.
Fair point, and I do think that Broad would be a place too high in that line-up, but I still think I prefer it to the alternatives.
However, it is now certain the team will be different to the one I mentioned. Looks like either six batsmen will be picked, or five with Prior at six and Luke Wright at seven. How would people feel about Wright making his debut?
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