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Hampton · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject: Matt Prior Dropped For NZ Series

England have dropped Matt Prior from the Test side to tour New Zealand in a few weeks time.

They will Take Wicketkeppers Phil Mustard & Tim Ambrose who will have to compete for the Wicket Keepers job.

Prior did seem to have made the job his with some good games late last year but a poor performance in the last Test against Sri Lanka seems to have been to much for the England selectors.

England seem to be having great trouble in finding a suitable & perminate Wicket Keeper right now!

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archie mackenzie · Group Performer Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 2400

hello hampton
i feel that england should just go back to having a wicketkeeper who is purely just a wicketkeeper,get back to basics if you like the keepers job is just to keep wicket,forget about having a keeper/batsmen,if he chips in a few runs fair enough but has long has he takes catches/stumpings when they come along that will do for me and let the batsmen do they job score runs
cheers archie.

Hampton · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:59 am Post subject:

archie

I away I agree with you, but these days Test sides want a keeper who can score a few runs although you could have someone like Jack Russell who was not seen as a Wicket/Batsman but was well capable of chipping in with some runs! They would need to pick another batsman to counteract the balance & right now I can not see where another batsman would come from!
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Flatz · Listed Winner Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 823

I agree with Archie. A wicketkeeper that drops one or two chances per innings could easily cost the team around 100 runs or more on occasions. Lets face it there ain't gonna be many keepers that will make those runs up when batting. It would be nice to have somebody like Gilchrist in the England side, but that ain't happening anytime soon I fear.

Cheers

Flatz

awaywardlad · Group Performer Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 2338

I read an interesting article some years ago in which the author stated for Test cricket you should pick your 6 best batsmen(irrespective of what number they bat for their county) then your 4 best bowlers(irrespective of their actions/speed etc) and your best wicketkeeper.

It was either M.Brearley or AR Lewis both of whom were very successful England captains.The writer suggested that constant compromise meant that the "best" players left out for an inferior all-rounder type quickly became disaffected or tried to change their game which more often than not did not work.
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archie mackenzie · Group Performer Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 2400

what you fellas think of englands chances in the series v new zealand???
after the complete shambles of the ashes series i didnt follow the following england series but got my enthusiam back and looking forward to staying up and watching some decent cricket from england and imo they should be beating new zealand or at least not losing
btw did any heads roll after the shambles of australia???probably not.cheers archie.

Hampton · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:52 am Post subject:

Hampton · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:56 am Post subject:

awaywardlad · Group Performer Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 2338

I think we are a better side than NZ - just!If it we were playing at home I would fancy us to win it but as we're away I'll go for a drawn series as this is the value bet I think.

Series odds from Stan James as :-

NZ - 11/4
Draw - 10/3
US - 4/6
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Hampton · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:10 am Post subject:

Hmmmm! Trust the bookies not to give too much away when pricing up England in Test Matches!

England Odds On over NZ....b*******s!

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archie mackenzie · Group Performer Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 2400

just looked at the new zealand diary before england arrive and not the best preparation to face england,2 tests against bangladesh and then just one dayers,the stats say 41 tests played 22 have been drawn,england won 16,new zealand 3.cheers archie.