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[Arthur]

His performances don't warrant a place in an England squad, there's several Englishman I can think of who scored more runs in the 2008 season.

I'd go with;

Andrew Strauss
Alistair Cook
Scott Newman
Kevin Pietersen
Owais Shah
Ravi Bopara
Paul Collingwood
Jonothan Trott
Ian Bell
Andrew Flintoff
Samit Patel
Adil Rashid
Matt Prior
Steve Davies
James Anderson
Steve Harmison
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Charlie Shreck
Darren Pattinson
Monty Panesar

No Sidebottom? Despite being the best/ most consistent bowler for England this year?

[Outlaw]

There's hardly anything resting on the series, he has had a long season, his body is fragile, why risk one of your best bowlers when he could be working hard back home getting himself fully fit for the return series and then the ashes?

[Arthur]

Ok fair point, but can't the same be said for other injury-prone members of the squad, for example Flintoff?

[Outlaw]

I'd say since Freds been back he's the been the fittest he has been for a long while,  he has missed a lot of cricket, and doesn't need a break.

[Marcussjd9]

Swann - Division 1 FC - Plays on a pitch where it seams / swings.
Panesar - Division 2 FC - Plays on a pitch where it generally assits spin.

Swann out performed Panesar in the India series, and to be perfectly honest Panesar hasn't been cutting the mustart for quite some time.
I think the facts i mentioned above may be the reasoning behind why Swann is a better bowler (in my opinion anyway). By having to bowl against conditions, as well as the batsman Swann has had to come up with method to out think batsmen to take wickets. Where as at Northants, you can turn up put it on a decent line and length and let the pitch do the rest. Hence why Monty is as one dimensional as a robot. This opinion was echoed by some of the Sky commentary team.

[Coach]

O/Batsman- A.Strauss
O/Batsman- J.Denly
O/Batsman- A.Cook
Batsman- K. Pietersen
Batsman- M.Vaughan
Batsman- O.Shah
Batsman- R.Key
Batsman- D.Malan
Batsman- E.Morgan
All-Rounder- A.Flintoff
All-Rounder- S.Patel
All Rounder- T.Bresnan
Wicket Keeper- J.Foster
Wicket Keeper- C.Keiswetter
O/Bowler- S.Harmison
O/Bowler- J.Anderson
Bowler- G.Swann
Bowler- R.Sidebottom
Bowler- A.Rashid
Bowler- A.Khan
Bowler- S.Mahmood/ S.Jones

Interesting lack of Collingwood?

[Coach]

O/Batsman - Strauss
O/Batsman - Cook
O/Batsman - Denly
Batsman - Pietersen
Batsman - Shah
Batsman - Key / Bell
Batsman - Vaughan
Batsman - Bopara
Batsman - Malan
All-Rounder - Fred
All-Rounder - Colly
All Rounder - Dimi
Wicket Keeper - Prior
Wicket Keeper - Foster
O/Bowler - Anderson
O/Bowler - Sidebottom
Bowler - Kabir Ali / Broad
Bowler - Swann
Bowler - Rashid
Bowler - Harmison
Bowler - Plunkett/Mahmood/Khan/Hoggard/Jones

Harmy not getting the new ball?

[sultanofswing]

i like to follow australian method of selection, pick people who are in form why i have gone for ramprakash 2000runs in 2006 and 2007 and 6 tons last year, that better than cook for you? i didnt pick bell because he also isnt in form, his first 28 test innings - 5 tons, last 38 2 tons.

[Outlaw]

That same Australian method that has kept Lee and Hayden in the team? Would just like to point out your comparing Ramps with Cook, for one Ramps runs have been scored in the county championship and also batting in a different position,  not really able to compare with Cook who averages in the 40's opening the batting in test cricket, compare that with a test average of around 27 for Ramps.

[TheAwesomeSLA]

Yes, precisely, and out of the two, who are you going to pick, Cook with 7 Test tons and 16 50s, or Horton with only 6 first class tons and 16 50s, he has a worse record in First Class than Cook does in Tests. To think he warrants a place is ludicrous. Billy Godleman is more worthy, but I still would stick with Strauss and Cook.

i'm confused arthur? nobody has said that they'd drop cook. i said i'd bat him at 3 as he did well there and 3 is a massive problem for eng atm.

the averaging lower in fc than tests in ridiculous too. if that was the case the selectors would never have picked vaughan/tresco in a million years and look how they turned out.

horton imo is a class act, he churned out nearly if not a 1,000 runs last season and seemed to hold the lancs batting together on numerous occasions. he was also lancs leading run socrer too. horton has also showed that after his breakthorughg season, he can carry it on unlike losts of other players.

goodleman hasn't been half as good this year and is scoring runs in div 2 while horton has scored em in div 1.

[Original]

O/Batsman- Strauss
O/Batsman- Cook
O/Batsman- Key
Batsman- KP
Batsman- Bell
Batsman- Colly
Batsman- Vaughan
Batsman- Shah
Batsman- Bopara
All-Rounder- Flintoff
All-Rounder- Patel
All Rounder- Mascheraneas
Wicket Keeper- Prior
Wicket Keeper- Foster
O/Bowler - Harmison
O/Bowler- Hoggard
Bowler- Anderson
Bowler- Broad
Bowler- Swann
Bowler- Panesar
Bowler- Sidebottom

[sultanofswing]

That same Australian method that has kept Lee and Hayden in the team? Would just like to point out your comparing Ramps with Cook, for one Ramps runs have been scored in the county championship and also batting in a different position,  not really able to compare with Cook who averages in the 40's opening the batting in test cricket, compare that with a test average of around 27 for Ramps.

i think ramps would average a tad more than 27 against the quality of international bowlers around now, 12months since cooks last ton yet nobody is mentioning dropping him!

you have to pick the people in form, although i accept you have to have some consistency in selection as you dont want players looking over there shoulder after one bad game

[Outlaw]

Yet Cook has scored 8 succesive test 50's hardly out of form is he? As for Ramprakash you can't say he will score runs against todays bowling attacks, he may have scored runs in county cricket, but thats beside the point county cricket to international cricket is a big step up, a step which Ramprakash has failed to adapt to in the past as his test average shows.

[stevie]

Why do people keep on mentioning Ramps? He had his chance and he wasn't up to the mark a class batsmen in county cricket and him and Hick are two of the biggest shames in world cricket in as much that they couldn't mirror their records in 1st class records in test's.

[stevie]

No changes at all really, so I expect the same side that played in India.