Clarke take note: England has some weak points for Ashes

So the New Zealand embarrassing England argument has now been put to bed...I was also a little bemused, irritated by the expert author's declaration about "the Durban born opener Nick Compton" and the 4 South African born batsman in the English top order. Clearly trott and pietersen are as South African as they come, but you're in no position to mudsling with the Fawad Ahmed situation ongoing. Regarding Compton and prior: Compton is the grandson of one of the greatest English cricketers of all time, just because his father moved to SA when he was young and played domestically there doesn't mean he isn't English, Compton may have then been born there but his whole cricketing education has also been in England. God forbid Shane warne and Liz Hurley procreate and the crazy little thing is born in the UK, but then moves to aus and follows in the great man's footsteps becoming a world class bowler- would we lay claim to him as an Englishman, or would he want to play for australia like his dad, of course he would. Equally prior, born in SA to an English cricket mad father, and a SA mother, moves to England before high school and then once again completes his cricketing education in England- who would he want to play for, England just like his father would have. Where is the difference between khawaja and prior? We dont have an obsession about khawaja not being born in australia. I don't want to go down this road, and feel loathed to have to defend prior and Comptons birth right, but the utter drivel spouted in the article has driven me too it, I feel especially sorry for Compton considering his familial lineage. Let the poor bloke play for the country he was born wanting to play for. My opinion is out there but I don't really want to start a debate on this issue, as it is pretty childish. The crux of the issue for Australian cricket at the moment is that it doesn't matter where your players were born, they end up playing shield or big bash cricket in a system that would rather produce and revere players like Warner and Hughes, who have questionable techniques, than the technically impressive (but still unproven) usman khawajas of the world.

I actually think Haddin's best years came 'prior' to Gilchrist's retirement. For a batsman of his obvious talent, Haddin has never really been consistent at Test level, and his 'keeping, while better than Wade's, is nothing special. A few runs for NSW and suddenly his previous mediocrity at international level is forgotten? As things stand there's no debate amongst English fans or media as to who should keep wicket for England in Test cricket. Funny that. Let's not pretend any of these guys are pure 'keepers - they're keeper/batsmen; if Test selectors chose the best wicketkeepers we'd probably be discussing Chris Hartley and either Chris Read or James Foster.

well i will agree to disagree, Prior is not far better than Haddin. Being an African has nothing to do with anything.....Just didnt realise that he was another one of thousand SA batsman to join the England squad. Obviously England cant produce their own so just making an observation if that is ok with you??? Too bad if it isnt actually. You and I disco will never see eye to eye on this or therefore any subject so i will leave you to it. Will make sure you eat your words when Haddin out plays Prior in the series and I will accept your apology, maybe.......

Haddin seems like a decent cove but he's no more than an average Test player who can be relied upon to throw his wicket away early on his innings. His domestic form hasn't previously counted for much in the Test arena. What does a player being an 'African' have to with anything? Prior is a far better player than Wade and Haddin.

Perhaps you havent been watching Haddin in recent times? His keeping is the best Ive seen him (has taken some spectacular catches recently) and he is in fine form with the bat domestically. I agree that prior may be better but certainly not much better. Haddin is much more pleasing batsman to watch although that doesnt necessarily mean anything. I wouldve also picked Haddin over wade just due to both of their form with the gloves. Im looking forward to see the two at each other actually. Expecting Haddin to really lift. Ps cant believe that Prior is another African!

Perhaps you haven't been following Prior's Test form these past couple of years. Haddin's 'keeping was riddled with errors the last time he was Australia's #1 choice, and never has he been able to show the discipline required to play some of the innings Prior has.

nick richardson "Wow mate that comment is longer than all my articles put together. Try writing articles instead of writing articles in others articles. Love to read some of your articles," Thanks mate, you're too kind. I'm sorry about my lack of concision, it has always been a weak spot. I'm not sure I'd be any good at writing articles, they'd be way too long-winded, hahaha.

St Mark W "Not a bad side, looks more solid than most sides recently selected Australian sides." Cheers, mate. "Robson almost certainly wouldn’t accept selection, even if it was offered, because it would void his current, very comfortable, County LOCAL player contract. The same reason Phil Jacques is no longer an Australian selection option, even though he has previously played for Australia." You're spot on about the implications of Robson accepting a Baggy Green and it would seem that Robson would prefer to play for England. But, at this stage, that doesn't mean that he wouldn't accept a Baggy Green. With Cook, Root, Compton (and theoretically Carberry and Chopra) about, Robson will have to wait until his late, late 20s to get a regular gig in the England team. So with that in mind, I think (even with the County implications being considered) Robson would accept a Baggy Green in the Ashes and the opportunity to tie down the spot of Australia's opening bat for the next decade. I can't be sure that he would. But I think common sense would prevail over allegiance to a country he loves and moved to as an adult (well legally as an adult). Basically, if you have any persuasive skills at all, and the power of CA, it wouldn't be difficult to say to Robson "Mate, you're gonna wait a long time to play for England, it's that simple. You may well become an England player, but only when you're older, which means a shorter international career. We, the country you were born and brought up in, are offering you an Ashes Baggy Green and the opportunity to become an Aussie opening batsman for a long, long time to come. Now this will jeopardise your Middlesex position, but you'll become NSW opener for starters. Moreover, a player of your calibre and with your County experience will not struggle to pick up the position of overseas player at one of the other counties (probably even in the County Championship). In fact, given Chris Rogers, as a 35 year old, won't be playing for Middlesex for an indefinite period of time, you may well be able to play full time for Middlesex and NSW, while being Australia's opener. If you join us, you have everything to gain". I'd find that a fairly compelling argument, I don't know about you. It still might not work, but I'd wager it would convince most players.

James "i think the fact that robson has not played for australia at senior level means that he has already made it very clear he wants to play for england and not australia. the notion that someone with his stats has not already been offered a baggy green is almost impossible, i guess they have offered, its been rebuffed and he only wants england." Nah, mate, you're wrong there, I reckon. That's highly unlikely. The notion that someone with his stats (in the Sheffield Shield!) has not already been offered a Baggy Green is almost impossible. But the notion that someone with his stats in County cricket has not already been offered a Baggy Green is plausible and probable. The Australian selectors much prefer players who have developed in the Australian domestic competition. They should be smart and humble enough to accept that Robson's feat in County cricket. It's very parochial and stupid, and I hate it. But that just the lines along which they think. I'm hoping they change. Besides Robson himself has said, I think recently, that it is highly unlikely Australia would ever court him. I think Robson would prefer to play for England. But unless he's even more stubborn than Ryan Giggs (with regard to Giggs choice of Wales over England), which is unlikely, AT THIS STAGE, he'd accept a Baggy Green in the Ashes and the opportunity to tie down Aussie opening batsman position for the next decade. With Cook, Root, Compton (and even Carberry and Chopra) he shall probably have to wait till he is in his late 20s to get a regular gig with England. But, if the Aussie selectors can shelve their pride (unlikely proposition), he can walk into the Aussie team now and be a key player for years to come.

James "i think the fact that robson has not played for australia at senior level means that he has already made it very clear he wants to play for england and not australia. the notion that someone with his stats has not already been offered a baggy green is almost impossible, i guess they have offered, its been rebuffed and he only wants england." Nah, mate, you're wrong there, I reckon. That's highly unlikely. The notion that someone with his stats (in the Sheffield Shield!) has not already been offered a Baggy Green is almost impossible. But the notion that someone with his stats in County cricket has not already been offered a Baggy Green is plausible and probable. The Australian selectors much prefer players who have developed in the Australian domestic competition. They should be smart and humble enough to accept that Robson's feat in County cricket. It's very parochial and stupid, and I hate it. But that just the lines along which they think. I'm hoping they change. Besides Robson himself has said, I think recently, that it is highly unlikely Australia would ever court him. I think Robson would prefer to play for England. But unless he's even more stubborn than Ryan Giggs (with regard to Giggs choice of Wales over England), which is unlikely, AT THIS STAGE, he'd accept a Baggy Green in the Ashes and the opportunity to tie down Aussie opening batsman position for the next decade. With Cook, Root, Compton (and even Carberry and Chopra) he shall probably have to wait till he is in his late 20s to get a regular gig with England. But, if the Aussie selectors can shelve their pride (unlikely proposition), he can walk into the Aussie team now and be a key player for years to come.

My opinion is based on 3 key players on each side making the difference as I mentioned in my original post. If England players pietersen, cook and Trott have poor series with Clarke, Hughes and Warner having a great series then there is all the chance for Australia to succeed. Like wise, if it goes in reverse, Australia will be destroyed. I certainly don't rate Prior a much better bat or keeper than Haddin but that is your opinion. The likes of Compton, root and Bairstow are unlikely test match winners as are Cowan, khawaja and Rogers. In MY opinion, three players from each side will decide the series. Yes, "on there day" I believe Australia can beat anyone but it all comes down to that 1 day, 1 session and or 1 hour where a team will dominate. I'm like everyone else who just can't wait for it to start. We will certainly put up more if a fight than NZ and I hope I can look back at this post in a couple of months time with great pride and stick it to all the "non believers". At the end of the day, I don't care if we had 11 phil tufnell's out there against the Poms, i would still support them and not sh*t can them like most "supporters".

And far, far more experienced.

NZ also have less selection issues, with a smaller pool from which to choose and seemingly a selection panel not given to favouring T20 specialists.

Well said.

Okay, fair enough, perhaps saying *very* inexperienced was exaggerative. I just meant that compared to, say, Cowan, he's inexperienced. And bear in mind, Robson's played a lot in Division Two. He may have overtaken Chopra in the minds of England's selectors, but I'd imagine he's behind Carberry and Comptonl and experience and consistent performance is the reason for that. Root is a freak, temperament-wise, who seems to have improved by making the step up to international level; no moronic sledging and tweeting from him.

are we looking at different 11 v 11s where australia match up even remotely similarly? maybe if you assume that all the australians will play the very best they can and england all play quite badly but otherwise englands batting far superior, wicket keeper way better at both keeping and batting and the bowlers are reasonably close assuming that the australians bowl to their potential as many are for the most part unproven. england are indeed beatable but still are much better than this australian team

new zealand are actually a really good team but whats happened this morning goes to show that you really dont know what a good score is until the second team bats again.

i think the fact that robson has not played for australia at senior level means that he has already made it very clear he wants to play for england and not australia. the notion that someone with his stats has not already been offered a baggy green is almost impossible, i guess they have offered, its been rebuffed and he only wants england.

Wow mate that comment is longer than all my articles put together. Try writing articles instead of writing articles in others articles. Love to read some of your articles,

Watto needs to go and the side needs to be all-rounder free, unless that player is good enough to hold his place in the team for either batting or bowling. 6batsman 1keeper(who is there cause of keeping skill) and the best four bowlers. If one of these can do the other discipline that is a bonus but we shouldn't pick bits and pieces players it is suicide.