Been a while since i actually posted about England test cricket it seems, but its time to start thinking about the squad that is going to be picked for the first test against NZ in a couple of weeks. There are undoubtedly a few questions which need to be asked, and some tough decisions made in the coming week before the squad is announced on Sunday.

There is talk that we will stick with the 6 batsman, 4 bowlers and a keeper formation that we have done since Freddie has been out injured. In the past he always gave us the freedom with him batting at 6 to still keep 4 bowlers in addition to him, but we’ve almost settled with the new look side, and barring injury during a game, it should be enough firepower with the ball to bowl sides out twice.

If we stick with the 6 batsman formation, expect no change from the side that beat NZ – Strauss still there at the top with Cook, with Vaughan, Bell, KP and Colly following. Despite the storming start to the season Ravi Bop has had, it would take an almighty shift of focus to pick him, or other outsiders such as Shah. If Vaughan has another poor series though, expect the calls for change to louden, as they will if someone like Strauss also doesn’t score big. Ambrose will keep the gloves in the test matches, he was tidy overseas and we’ll be hoping for more of the same.

It is with the ball that questions need to be answered. Sideshow Ryan and Monty P will obviously be there without any shadow of a doubt but who will join them? In NZ it was Broad, Anderson, Harmison and Hoggard to pick 2 from, but now we can throw Flintoff back into the mix as well. Freddie has been bowling for Lancashire since the start of the season and the talk coming through is positive. Whether his ankle can stand up to being one of four main bowlers is a question I can’t answer, but I know that if he is fit, I want him in the team. His bowling is hard, fast and aggressive, and even if his batting isn’t where it was a few years ago we won’t be as reliant on him if we put him at 7, or even 8 behind Ambrose.

So that would leave me with one spot to fill, and I would have it between Hoggard and Broad. I’m still not quite sure why Hoggy was dropped in NZ, and it wasn’t that long ago he was the mainstay of the attack. Picking him is the safe and maybe boring choice, especially in early season England where the conditions should suit him, and looking forward to the rest of the summer we’ll probably be crying out for his experience against the South Africans, but I can’t help but want to live on the edge a little and pick Broad. I don’t think I can rationalise it, its a hunch and a look to the future – and I’m glad I don’t have the final say!

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on this, and maybe I havn’t questioned the batsmen enough, so let me know if you would do anything different!

Well the Telegraph Fantasy Cricket competition started its point scoring last week, so I thought it time to show who I went for and a brief reason why after my summary of some of the players a week or so back.

Batsman
Chris Rogers and Stuart Law are both excellent Australian batsman who should both score bags of runs pretty easily. Put them both in at 6 points and have a good foundation to the team, although I’ve now heard that Rogers is being replaced for the twenty20 tournament. Usman Afzaal was too cheap at 3 points to miss out on, despite every man and his dog choosing him. Marcus North of Gloucestershire has already shown points scoring ability with bat and ball, so despite not being a household name and 7 points, I chose him and stuck the captaincy on him so I expect big things now!

All Rounder
I was going with Rikki Clarke and ten Doeschate at 5 points each, but seeing the start of the season Boje has had and the fact he has the ability to score big in this game I changed my tactics a bit and stuck him in as a 7 pointer. And his double hundred over the weekend helped justify my decision! The other all rounder i went for is Azaar Mahmood from Kent. He may be 33, but at only 4 points he is a proven performer if he can keep fit.

Wicket Keeper
I went with Luke Sutton from Lancs here – despite a lack of time in the middle already I’ve taken a punt on someone a bit different at 5 points.

Bowlers
This is where i was most uncertain – there were a number of ways I could have played it, and I expect this to be where I’ll have to make changes. Saj Mahmood looked good value at 5, but being my third Lancs player I’m a little bit unsure, and he missed the games over the bank holiday weekend and I’m not sure why. Yasir Arafat always seems to do well in this country, so I stuck him in as a 7 pointer, alongside 6 pointer Kabir Ali. He seems to be a decent county pro and had ability to be talked about for England a few years back, but it’s a bit of a guess, and he has become injured as well! The final spot only came onto my radar whilst making my final changes – Saqlain Mushtaq from Surrey. I did have Pedro Collins from the same county in my team, but the thought of having a name as big as Saqlain at only 4 points was too big a temptation. Yes, being a spinner he may have to wait to get some wickets, and Schofield had such a blinding year last year getting in the team might be a struggle, but he has the potential to take big wickets so I took a bit of a gamble. It looks like Surrey will play him in the four day games and Schofield in the shorter forms of the game, so I might have to rethink my strategy here in a couple of weeks.

So there we have my brilliant title winning team! Well ok, maybe not, but it should do ok and my aim is to win the mini league that I’m in! Only problem is the injuries and lack of playing in the bowling department already! I won’t make any knee jerk reactions though as I was still top of the league when I looked last night!

As you will no doubt notice I have gone for a new theme for this site! I last changed it back in November 2007, but I was never that happy with the theme I chose and I was waiting for the right theme to come along. I think it has now, and I hope you find this one as easy to read and follow! If I’ve missed anything out, please let me know!