England Team vs Sri Lanka
With just a couple of days left before the first test, the makeup of the first XI for England will be at the forefront of the selectors thoughts – so in Tell Your Story Walkin’ honoured fashion here is my XI!
Openers – Vaughan and Cook. Speaks for itself really, with the lack of Strauss in the touring party, these two WILL be the openers.
No 3 – Bell. Has had a good history in this position, and despite being pushed down the order a bit when Strauss was in the team and Vaughan was at 3, he should have no problem picking it up again.
No 4 – KP. No more words needed. Has failed in the first warm up game but this is his position and he is the main player who can hurt the Sri Lankan’s
No 5 – Collingwood. The one day captain in the middle order, around to stiffen things up if we lose a couple of wickets, he is used to this position. We may also need to call on his medium pace bowling.
No 6 – umm.. err..
No 7 – Matt Prior. It could also have been Mustard who kept well in the one dayer’s but I’m going with the slightly more experienced player, telling him to have a good series or not be disappointed when he is dropped in New Zealand.
No 8 – Stuart Broad. With the uncertainty over Harmy and Anderson, Broad will be needed as a bowler firstly, and he can also bat at 8. Big things being asked of him here but I think he can handle it.
No 9 – Ryan Sidebottom. Despite my worries in the English season, he was brought into the team and to be fair, did very well. He deserves to stay in the side, as long as he is fit. Sri Lanka have some top quality left handers and he will hopefully be able to get some good movement away from them.
No 10 – Matthew Hoggard. Took wickets in the warm up games and looks fit and raring to go. Give him first use of the new ball and hope to pick up a couple of early wickets!
No 11 – Monty Panesar. Our best spinner, and in the first game I would play only one spinner which means Graham Swann missing out. Depending on his success though, I may bring in Swanny for the following tests.
You may notice a No 6 slot empty. I can’t decide who should be here – we really miss Freddie when he isn’t around! It is between Shah and Bopara – Shah in my mind being the better batsman, but Bopara offering a bit more with the ball and at only 22 is one we want to bring on in the future. We don’t necessarily need the medium pace of Ravi Bop, but he was given the new ball when Harmy and Anderson pulled out of the warm up game which suggests they are seriously looking at using him. I can’t call it.
I’ve not included Harmison with the uncertainty over his back, and despite Anderson being passed ok after pulling out of the warm up game he loses out to Broad. Broad offers more with the bat, otherwise we are uber-weak in the lower order. If we decide to play two spinners in this or any other game on the tour, expect Swann to come in at 8 for this third seamer, but I’d want to see how we fare first with just the one spinner. If things turn out that it’s an unexpected dustbowl we can call on KP who is a better bowler than he seems to get the chance to show.
So there is my 11, it may be wrong and it may fail hideously, but it is my 11 as new England selector! How does your’s differ and who would you put at No 6?
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