Monty and the balance of the team
Following Monty's fine performance yesterday, I've been thinking, should the balance of the England team be altered? At the moment, the management appear to be trying to fit players into a model team of 5 batsmen, an all rounder, a batting wicket keeper, a bowler who can bat and three others who can't. It seems though that Ashley Giles is the only candidate for the role of a bowler who can bat. Plunkett doesn't look up to it to me. Ashley will be back from injury soon probably, but his coming back into the team would mean dropping Monty, and Monty is starting to look like a class act. 2-26 from 15 overs on an unhelpful wicket against well set batsmen who are good players of spin? That's impressive.
For years Australia have got away with playing just four bowlers because of the quality of those four bowlers, and in particular the quality of their spinner. Warne contains. He takes wickets and he can bowl a lot more overs during a day than a seamer. I'm not suggesting that Panesar will ever be even nearly as good as Warne, but if he can consistently take wickets and concede runs at less than three an over, then why not pick him with three other seamers? This idea seems particularly sensible if one or more of our four leading seamers isn't fit (as is often the case), and let's face it, old Ashley is little more than a stock bowler, who can be carted around if he's not at his best.
The question for the selectors is: would three of Harmison, Jones, Flintoff and Hoggard, plus Giles, plus AN Other represent a stronger bowling attack than the same three plus Panesar? I'm not so sure. Of course, the batting would also be significantly stronger with the second option. Just a thought.
For years Australia have got away with playing just four bowlers because of the quality of those four bowlers, and in particular the quality of their spinner. Warne contains. He takes wickets and he can bowl a lot more overs during a day than a seamer. I'm not suggesting that Panesar will ever be even nearly as good as Warne, but if he can consistently take wickets and concede runs at less than three an over, then why not pick him with three other seamers? This idea seems particularly sensible if one or more of our four leading seamers isn't fit (as is often the case), and let's face it, old Ashley is little more than a stock bowler, who can be carted around if he's not at his best.
The question for the selectors is: would three of Harmison, Jones, Flintoff and Hoggard, plus Giles, plus AN Other represent a stronger bowling attack than the same three plus Panesar? I'm not so sure. Of course, the batting would also be significantly stronger with the second option. Just a thought.

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