England Twenty/20 squad announced

[john316]

England squad: Kabir Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steve Davies (wk, Worcestershire), Joe Denly (Kent), James Foster (wk, Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Steve Harmison (Durham), Rob Key (Kent), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Napier (Essex), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (wk, Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Shaun Udal (Middlesex), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex)

Strauss has been left out of the squad which isn't a massive surprise - seems the selectors want either KP, Flintoff or Collingwood to take charge of the Twenty/20 games. WTF is Shaun Udal doing in the squad though? :nuts:

[Alan b]

I think out of that lot Rob Key would be at the top of the pile for the captain's job.

[spearce8]

WTF is Shaun Udal doing in the squad though? :nuts:

Just a filler name, although why they should name 30 is beyond me. He won't make final 15.

[cheeseypuffs]

To be fair to Udal, Middlesex are the English Twenty20 champions and he was one of the main reasons they won it. Regardless of the fact he's also pretty high up in the competitions batting averages, I bet if you asked a Middlesex follower they'd say having two very economical spinners, Udal and Kartik, bowling in the middle overs was as important as Tyron Henderson's all round displays. If they're picking a side for the future then he shouldn't be in, but if they're picking the best players to try and win it then he has to be considered.

[john316]

Shaun Udal against Yuvraj, Chris Gayle, McCullum etc would be a massacre as it was when we sent out a load of excellent domestic Twenty/20 players last time.

[cheeseypuffs]

You could say exactly the same about any of the bowlers listed above, even Freddie is expensive occassionally. Any of the top batsmen can make any bowler look average on any given day, the difference is whether the bowler can keep his discipline in the face of an onslaught, which Udal has shown he can. I don't think the same can be said for Harmison, Mahmood or Tremlett (and possibly more from that list) but you are presumably fine with them being included?
At least Udal has an excellent domestic Twenty20 record, there are players there who have done nothing of note in any Twenty20 competition!

[Siv]

Udal is an excellent 20/20 bowler, he gets through his overs quick and tends to end with excellent figures as batsman hardly notice the overs go through. He's played well for englands one day side before iirc hence his place in the quad

[john316]

Chris Schofield was an excellent Twenty/20 bowler - he got smashed by international batsmen
Darren Maddy was the top scorer I believe in domestic Twenty/20 - he was exposed badly by international class

I think we overplayed how 'good' we were at Twenty/20 coming into the last World Cup (me included!) - lets not repeat those mistakes this time. We should be picking players who are international ready cricketers - we've got potentially a very exciting team with a mix of youth and experience. I look at this side for example:

Key (C)
Bopara
KP
Napier
Colly
Flintoff
Mascarenhas
Prior (WK)
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

That side is full of players who I think can perform against top quality bowlers but still be competitive in Twenty/20 games. You've got the likes of Napier/Dimi/KP who can really hit the ball hard, you've got some youth in Rashid who we can blood in the tourney, you got top pacemen in Broad/Anderson/Flintoff in English conditions who can take top order wickets and the potential of Key getting himself back into the England fray. I'd also have Samit Patel, Joe Denly, Chris Tremlett and Owais Shah in the squad to make up the 15 players :)

[cheeseypuffs]

I still don't see why you have such a downer on Udal, who has shown he can cut it at international level in Tests and ODIs :shrug:
To be fair though that is a decent side, but having stated you want international ready cricketers you then go and include Napier and Rashid ;) I also think Dawid Malan is a bit unfortunate to not be included in that squad

[Alan b]

I have no problem with Udal being in the side, as said above he was part of the reason why Middlesex were successful last year and while he might get smashed around a bit, the same could be said for any of the other bowlers as it is a tournament where they are going to finish with impressive figures.

[john316]

To be fair though that is a decent side, but having stated you want international ready cricketers you then go and include Napier and Rashid ;) I also think Dawid Malan is a bit unfortunate to not be included in that squad

Went for Rashid because he is potentially the future and Napier because we just don't have sloggers around - his 6 hitting might be a nice addition but he is a risk. The fact that he can also bowl some handy medium pace is a bonus though.

[Alan b]

Napier should have been in the 20/20 team before this and he might have been worth a try at the 50 over game especially last year when he was at the top of his game. I hope his selection hasn't come to late for him to show everybody what he can do.

[john316]

Andrew Flintoff out of the World Twenty/20s with his knee injury - Adil Rashid in as his replacement. Flintoff badly needs to get some games under his belt now ahead of the Ashes. This tourney would have been an ideal tune up for him so all eyes on when he can start playing again now.

[Alan b]

I have a sneaky feeling that he will not be fit for the Ashes and could miss the entire series, either that or he plays then breaks down and misses the rest of the series. I think his days of playing non stop international cricket are long since gone.