Lions are bowling v the Aussies and the durham openers (Harmi and Onions) have a wicket apiece already (Hughes and Ponting).
Bresnan on first change just now and Rashid also in the team.
England v Warwickshire looks like the starting line up for the first test to me, subject to Monty not having a stinker in which case another seamer (Harmi or Onions??) which would be a mistake or Rashid depending on how he does in this match.
The Durham v Worcts game is interesting not just because of the glut of wickets which is not unusual at Chester-le Street. Onions, Harmison and Collingwood all representing England from Durham and 3 Worcts players (Solanki, Moore and Davies) all playing for Lions as well. Good test of squad depths for more than Yorkshire at the moment.
Bressy did his Ashes cause no harm today with a strong performance (3-46) against the Aussies. And with Flintoff being issued a "last chance" warning by England for his erratic behaviour off the field, Bresnan now has much better chance of going to the Ashes than he did this time yesterday.
Rashid, on the other hand, took some serious tap from the Aussies and finished with 0-72 at 5+ an over.
I know it is not a popular opinion on this forum, but in my judgment Rashid is not ready to play against the mighty Aussies. He still bowls one or two bad balls and over and is relatively expensive.
If he plays in the Tests and gets flogged, it will do his confidence and career no good at all. Besides, if they think so highly of him now even after his mediocre first half of the first class season (6 wickets @ 50+ in all First Class matches), why didn't they play him against a mediocre West Indies team in the Winter? The "Giant Brains" at the ECB, never cease but to amaze.
I think you're right to argue that he should have played in the West Indies. But how long are you prepared to wait before giving him a game? We know Cardiff is a turning pitch - why wait until we've lost the first two Tests and then throw him in to a losing cause?
Looking at the score cards today - perhaps we should send Warwickshire out to fight for the Ashes...
I watched most of the game on Sky, Rashid didn't bowl as badly as his figures suggest, the pitch though is really slow and not turning much at all, if Cardiff is anything like it was when Sky showed a game there in May, there will be much more turn. Bresnan was outstanding once he got Clarke got out.
I dont know why Alec thinks that we all want Rashid to play in the Ashes ... most members certainly dont .. Adil can and does take hatfuls of wickets ... but can still 'get tonked' if things aren't right. I think he should be 'blooded' against a 'lesser' team .... but then I still worry about Rash becoming Dawson II. Daws was a good spinner who got thrown into the 2002/3 Ashes because Giles wans't fit & he was in the country. Unfortunately Dawson's career never really recovered from the mauling he got there. I wouldn't want Adil to got the same way
Dawson did okay for England in India, he had Giles in the team too which probably helped, all the pressure wasn't on him as far as the spin bowling went. But in Australia, he played as the lone spinner and things didn't go so well. I think if Rashid plays alongside Swann, he'll be fine - if England play Rashid in the Ashes it'll be because they want two spinners.
Adil is a nineteen year-old all -rounder still learning his trade.
That he's already a most talented and exciting cricketer,there is no doubt and England have regognised this.
The nature of his bowling style means he'll often take some stick,and go for a few.
However his wicket -taking capabilities and strike-rate are impressive,and given the likely conditions at Cardiff,and the Aussie line-up he should certainly make his Test debut.A perfect foil for Swann and a far better proposition than the one-dimensional Pannesar England should definitely go with him.
We often hear the counter arguement that we are unprepared to play young cricketers until they've done agood few years in County Cricket,where asother nations throw them in early.
Adil Rashid and England can only benefit from his inclusion,and parochial reasons for him to be get back,disregarded for their negativity and self-interest.
Rashid 36* and looking good. It's Rashid's batting skills that could eventually prove to be the tipping point versus Pansear. Let's face, Monty can't bat...Rashid can!
I would think that neither Rashid or Bresnan has done enough to justify England taking a chance on them. Despite Rashid's excellent knock of 66, he probably bowled himself off the team with his very poor figures of 1-181 at more than five an over.
Bresnan did a little better with the ball, taking 3-76 but scored only 5 in his one innings.
Pansear and Flintoff it will be, and it should be.
Maybe we'll have a strong side to face Durham, after all.
The wicket at Worcester was by all accounts (and particularly Ricky Ponting's account) very slow. This is generally no use to the leg spinner. If the England selectors judge Adil by his bowling on unhelpful wickets, then they are not really using their brains.
But if if the selectors judge him on his overall performance in all first class matches this season, he's got just 7 wickets at 59 a piece and at 4 plus an over. No reasonable selector could pick an unproven young spinner to play in Ashes based on this evidence. Throwing him in when he is not bowling well, and considering is almost total lack of big game experience is akin to throwing the Christians into the Lions. It can only end badly for Rashid. He's NOT READY!
Of course if the Aussies thought like that, they would never have picked Peter Taylor, who had no average to speak of when he was selected and took 6 for 78 on debut.
"Adil has probably bowled himself off the team sheet" for the first test.
Hardly surprising, as his preparation for this "winner takes all circus" at Worcester was by ECB determination, the carrying of drinks for 6 months. Since early April he could have been playing for Yorkshire and taking wickets; preparing himself for the Ashes series! Instead, he has been subjected to the Fletcher Era philosophy, still in sway with Team England, even though the said Fletcher has been dismissed, that the only way to become a better cricketer is to avoid playing any meaningful cricket.
When will we ever wake up to the fact that, since Nero played his violin during the 1st Century Roman Holocaust, the most misdirected thinking displayed by mankind has been the ECB approach to cricketer development during the last decade. And I include every other "cock-up" in the intervening 2000 years in that assessment.
Come on Dews, you are 'cherry picking" examples to buffer your case. A player's past performance is still the best way to judge future performance. There are far more players who are picked to play for England based on good current performance and who go on to succeed than there are those picked who are performing poorly and go on to succeed.
Ask Michael Vaughan.
Yes, but there's a difference between performance at cricket and the figures you return. Michael Vaughan is an excellent example. Look at his figures in county cricket before he was selected for England; then look at his figures for his first couple of years in test cricket. Conversely, you could do the same thing for Graeme Hick.
In my view, the odd decision with Adil was to have him play against the Aussies at Worcester. Why would you want to let them have a look at him on that kind of wicket?
No Bresnan and Rashid in the England side, no Harmison either but Onions is in the squad. No Rafiq as he plays for the England under 19`s. Onions might not play if England go for two spinners, so Durham may well be at full strength against us next week and we will have Rashid and Bresnan back but missing Rafiq. Lets hope Naved and Wainwright are fit by then.
The idea that Nero played the lyre during the fire at Rome was debunked pretty reliably about two thousand years ago by Tacitus in vol. 15 of the Annals. It seems more likely that he was actually engaged in disaster relief.
Section 39:
"Nero at this time was at Antium, and did not return to Rome until the fire approached his house, which he had built to connect the palace with the gardens of Maecenas. It could not, however, be stopped from devouring the palace, the house, and everything around it. However, to relieve the people, driven out homeless as they were, he threw open to them the Campus Martius and the public buildings of Agrippa, and even his own gardens, and raised temporary structures to receive the destitute multitude. Supplies of food were brought up from Ostia and the neighbouring towns, and the price of corn was reduced to three sesterces a peck. These acts, though popular, produced no effect, since a rumour had gone forth everywhere that, at the very time when the city was in flames, the emperor appeared on a private stage and sang of the destruction of Troy, comparing present misfortunes with the calamities of antiquity."
But prejudice is often more powerful than rational, fact-based argument. If you wish to think that England could have won the Ashes in 2005 without the Fletcher approach, you're quite at liberty to do so.
Far be it from me to suggest that Nero was some sort of innocent, string-playing hippy during the destruction and rebuilding of Rome.
In July 64 AD, a tremendous fire,lasting for more than six days, reduced the greater part of the city of Rome to ashes. Emperor Nero (54-68 AD) quickly began to rebuild the ruined city on a most ambitious scale. The very speed with which he undertook his elaborate reconstruction aroused the suspicions of the people. Perhaps the plans had been drawn up before the fire? And so a rumour spread that the fire had been malicious, that it had been a deliberate act of high authority. Indeed, people were beginning to believe that the emperor himself had instigated the burning of the city. The citizens were certainly right in their suspicions. But Nero could ill afford to have his guilty secret exposed. In order to root out suspicions, Nero needed a scapegoat.
Tacitus ("Annals of Rome" 15.44):
"Nero fastened the guilt (for the fire) and inflicted the most refined tortures on a class of people hated for their abominations, called Christians by the people. The author of this name was Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by Pontius Pilate, the procurator. Momentarily checked, the deadly superstition broke out again, not only in Judea, the source of this evil, but also in the city of Rome, where all outrageous and shameful practices from every part of the world converge and are fervently proclaimed. Accordingly, an arrest was made of all who pleaded guilty... then an immense multitude was convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as of hatred against humankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered in skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were burnt to serve as nightly illuminations when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle... Hence, even for criminals who deserve extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to satisfy one man's cruelty, that they were destroyed".
However, my reference to Nero and his harp, was simply a recourse to a popular coloquial expression, commonly used in our culture to underline the folly of Emperors.
Indeed, the Ashes of 2005 were achieved by singular means, which then and since, have had a damaging knock-on effect to the overall good of County Cricket.
I am not opposed to International cricket, though I do perceive it to be an imperial "gravy train", but I am opposed to the destruction of County Cricket, which its all consuming desires continues to fuel.
I also know, that all empires throughout history have sown the seeds of their own destruction. In my opinion there are signs that International Cricket has already travelled well down that road. Where in the world outside these islands, are local crowds flocking to see Test matches?
When all roads lead to Rome, there is attraction for the hordes to attack and despoil the heart of the Empire and a different brand of ashes is the consequent result.
Beware or Deria will once again be fighting Bernicia on the greenswards of the Broad Acres!
So we'll get Bresnan & Rashid ... which is good ... but Harmi will be out to prove the selectors wrong ... which isn't. I don't expect Yorks to pick 2 spinnders at Headingley early in July so Bres will replace Lee & Rash with replace Rafiq .... perhaps Kruis will be in for Patterson
I don't think the imperial or 'gravy train' metaphors work, I'm afraid, though I'm open to rational persuasion on the question and if you can make a case for them, then I'll consider it.
The problem, as it seems to me, is that test cricket (in this country) is financially viable and county cricket isn't. If you start from that point, then it's difficult to see how the poverty-stricken tail could be allowed to wag the prosperous dog (to add another layer of metaphor).
Perhaps we have to agree to differ on this. I'm not trying to have the last word, so I'll leave the field open to yourself or others if you/they want to persuade me that I'm wrong.
The Roman Empire spread out across the then known world, not in some philanthropic desire to improve the lot of conquered peoples, but rather to draw back to Rome the foodstuffs and other commodities which the lazy Etruscan farmers were too idle to produce for themselves. Today we admire the straightness of say The Fosse Way or Watling Street, but these were not built to bring about our admiration. Rather, they were constructed to provide quick and secure routes by which British grain or German wine could be brought quickly back to Rome.
So Rome, in order to be the financial power-house of the Empire, had drawn in the all-rounders and leg-spinners produced by the counties (the foodstuffs and commodities of the provinces), and it had secured a financial well-being, some of which (though precious little) it shared back with the provinces, for the Etruscan elite (Team England backroom boys and media pundits). The provinces which had produced the "talents" in the first place were worse-off rather than better.
This is the purpose of Empire; it is an imperial mindset! However, such wealth attracts unwanted attention, and the upshot was the fourth century Sack of Rome by the Barbarians.
Ultimately, around the edges of Empire the marginalised concluded that such riches were to be found in the capital, that its rape was vouchsafed.
The Empire fell, and a prolonged period of barbarism ensued.
Unless the ECB can use its whits to rebalance the relationship between Team England and the Counties (this is not beyond the capability of mankind and would be beneficial at both International and County levels) then the provinces will fall fallow (many already have!) and the Empire will be unable to renew itself.
The prospect of Deira playing Bernicia in perpetuity seems tome to be the equivalent of a cricketing Dark Age.
There is one point that everyone appears to have missed. We keep being told that the county game is bankrupt because the counties get much of their money from the ECB. A significant amount of the ECB's imcome is from Sky TV. As a sizeable chunk of Sky's output is from the domestic game this mean that the counties are indirectly financing themselves.
I agree with you that the counties effectively federated and handed control over to the ECB, but they did so in the hope that both International and County Cricket would benefit as a result.
My contention is not only that the ECB has subsequently put the needs of Team England above those of the Counties, but that the mechanisms which it has used have been very damaging to the Counties and equally, if not more, damaging (ultimately) to international cricket.
The balance between the "Celebrity Cricketer" and the grassroots performers at County Level has been deconstructed. (We have a good example of this at YCCC currently, in the form of our overseas player).
At England level, the cosy gravy train of the selected squads, is closed to current form and miopically focussed on past performances. How often do we have to await the return of Flintof, or suffer the media's desire to rehabilitate Simon Jones, before we go on to recognise that there have been alternatives who have never been considered.
On the back of what evidence has Flintof, for example, been selected for the up-coming Test Match.
How does it serve the interests of England, Yorkshire or Rashid, if by its actions the ECB prevents him from bowling enough overs to be match-fit, but promotes his integration into Team England as a drinks waiter?
This is where, what was sold as federation, has been used to establish a pampered capital (Team England) and unduly expoilted provinces (the Counties). That the Counties seem unable to negotiate rational structures with the ECB, but are required to go along with whatever Team England dictates, is the degree to which federation has become invasion and annexation.
Some Counties (most) have just given up producing and are now simply employing mercenaries, even filling short-term vacancies with imports from overseas, as we did with Inzamam and Tahir.
Consequently, when the invaders arrive, as soon they will, we will not have the reserves in depth, to repel their attack. And Rome will fall.
The provinces will no longer be held together by the imperial glue and a Dark Age of Deira playing Bernicia will return.