This is a massive question. After the spectacular collapse at Headingley Carnegie in which England's middle order (Messeurs Bopara, Bell & Collingwood) amassed a catastrophic 16 runs for 6 wickets between them, potential substitutions have been banded around leg, off and centre. From Surrey's 39-year-old veteran Mark Ramprakash to Kent's 19-years-young Joe Denly, the media speculate both ends of the age spectrum as to who will replace 'Bops and Bells'.
South-African (born) Jonathan Trott is perhaps hot favourite to be the only replacement in this team (preferred at three to Ravi Bopara), assuming Flintoff is fit to take his place batting at number seven on his final test match in an England shirt (not that he is going to appear in any other shirt, which can't be ruled out for our 'new bru' Trott). That would mean Bell gets another shot at four, while Harmison is ousted for the returning talisman.
South-African (born) Jonathan Trott is perhaps hot favourite to be the only replacement in this team (preferred at three to Ravi Bopara), assuming Flintoff is fit to take his place batting at number seven on his final test match in an England shirt (not that he is going to appear in any other shirt, which can't be ruled out for our 'new bru' Trott). That would mean Bell gets another shot at four, while Harmison is ousted for the returning talisman.
But how about wholesale changes, which robs Ian Bell of his place for the cataclysmic fifth npower Ashes test, and prefers instead the reliable experience of Mark Ramprakash. For a man averaging 54.35 in first-class cricket, a flawed statistic in itself when considering the player's form over the last five years, it is astonishing he is not more seriously been considered for selection since his last test match in the April of 2002. Some will say that he simply floundered during his international career. He had an England career which spanned almost eleven years beginning at Headingley in June 1991. In his 52 test-matches, he hit only two test-hundreds (the latter of the two intriguingly achieved against the Aussies at the Oval) at an average of 27.32, and a suprisingly slow strike-rate of 36.18, although one never associates Ramps with the big-hitters of modern day international cricket. He is more Neil Mackenzie than he is Kevin Pietersen. But there is something more aesthetic about Ramps' thrashing blade against the red leather than that of sturdy defence and the odd thump to the boundary (Mackenzie is more effective than he is pleasing to the eye). He has a graceful cover drive accompanied by a plethora of other orthodox strokes played with twenty years of batting authority. The man personifies the word 'patience', and looks in complete contrast to the hurried strokeplay of Ravi Bopara at the moment.
Onto personal opinion, I would most definitely swap Bops for Ramps as we come into land (as Mike Pilivachi famously said) on the epic Ashes Series (although perhaps not as epic as 2005 - i think the last test will make up everyone's minds). Like-for-like in that I would stick Ramps into the number three role. I would stick with Bell (I'm a fan - see previous post), not least because he'll be coming in off the back of a superb 126 for Warwickshire. I confess I know little of his Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott, other than the information provided by cricinfo.com, which is that of a well-timed 121 made yesterday alongside 'the Shermator' and that he averages a solid 44.31 in first-class cricket, and is likely to at least double the test stike-rate of Ramprakash in his first game. He is described as 'aggressive' by the experts at cricinfo. And Flintoff in for Harmison to complete the eleven; an eleven I believe capable of re-capturing the Ashes.
Onto personal opinion, I would most definitely swap Bops for Ramps as we come into land (as Mike Pilivachi famously said) on the epic Ashes Series (although perhaps not as epic as 2005 - i think the last test will make up everyone's minds). Like-for-like in that I would stick Ramps into the number three role. I would stick with Bell (I'm a fan - see previous post), not least because he'll be coming in off the back of a superb 126 for Warwickshire. I confess I know little of his Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott, other than the information provided by cricinfo.com, which is that of a well-timed 121 made yesterday alongside 'the Shermator' and that he averages a solid 44.31 in first-class cricket, and is likely to at least double the test stike-rate of Ramprakash in his first game. He is described as 'aggressive' by the experts at cricinfo. And Flintoff in for Harmison to complete the eleven; an eleven I believe capable of re-capturing the Ashes.
