Will Chris Tremlett play for England in the Ashes?

For England fans it is encouraging that the tall fast bowler and scourge of the Aussie batsmen Chris Tremlett is making good progress in terms of physical health and fitness levels. So the real question is, should he play during the ashes test series in England and then in Australia later in the year, or is he like Simon Jones before him just too injury prone now that he is too much of a risk and too big a gamble to take for the England selectors?

I would say yes. Probably half a season with Surrey would get him back into form.

Depends on the form of Broad and Finn

Not sure if Tremlett will feature at home , but I think England would love to have him fit and firing for the trip down under , as his type is invaluable on some of the pitches in Australia.
A Tremlett in the form of 2010/11 would just about be a first choice , especially in Australia.

He is a year or two older though , and injuries take their toll...

Actually never mind about Tremlett, I am more worried about our batsmen's ability to play the very dangerous Australian fast bowlers. With the English batters in the England Women's team collapsing like a pack of cards to Australia's bowlers in the World Cup this morning, I fear that an England batting collapse at the hands of an Australian bowling attack will be a fairly frequent event this year.

We had Onions written off by his injuries a while back, but maybe its Broad and Bresnan we should be more concerned about currently? With Harmisson and Flintoff gone That only really leaves Finn and Anderson from the seamer that did for the Aussies on the previous two occasions left fully alive.
Meakers stock seems to have fallen a bit recently (certainly for limited overs anyway). James harris is next in line for everyone to whinge about not being picked. Woakes is the new old Flintotham, but not the kind of paceman you'd want in Aus ( like err Anderson...oh). Theres players coming through, but noone yet demanding a long run in the test side.

And yes we should also be concerned about the Aussie bowling attack, and trying to work out how many of them will get injured forcing them to recall Mitch for the umpteenth time. That of course shouldn't influence the selection of our bowlers, aside form knowing we should doctor slow or spin friendly wickets at home (worked at cardiff right/ doh) and just accept the pitches will be fast and bouncy away.

Tremlett will be in the picture IF he gets fully fit and functional again, especially for the Aus series. England still like their tall fast bowlers. If anything the competition MAY be less fierce for places than it was when he was previously in the side if the likes of Broad and Bresnan dont get over their own issues.
But he does need to play some county/performance squad cricket and prove he still has it....not just be selected because hes tall and took some wickets several years ago.

Essex have a very tall left arm pace bowler in the 6ft 7 Reece Topley. How far away is he from getting selected for England? It is about time that we had a left arm pace bowler. The last one being Ryan Sidebottom.

im an essex fan with a membersip, and i have seen a lot of Topley..

he is nowhere near international cricket, he's yet to play a full season of county cricket as well..

CF wrote:im an essex fan with a membersip, and i have seen a lot of Topley..

he is nowhere near international cricket, he's yet to play a full season of county cricket as well..

Apart from Topley then, are there any other left arm pace bowlers who England can consider for the ashes this summer?

a left armer isnt a neccssity....you pick your best 4 bowlers for the job, dosent matter if they are right or left handed..

CF wrote:a left armer isnt a neccssity....you pick your best 4 bowlers for the job, dosent matter if they are right or left handed..

Don't agree with you about this unless those 4 bowlers happen to have pace around 90 mph and are of the same standard/quality as the great WI quartet of 1984 (Clarke/Moseley/Stephenson/Croft).

you dont have to have a left armer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

who gives a crap what arm they bowl with, as long as they are your best bowlers!

CF wrote:you dont have to have a left armer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

who gives a crap what arm they bowl with, as long as they are your best bowlers!

Having a left armer offers England with a different seam/swing bowling option and will give the Aussie batsmen another problem to deal with just as was the case back in 1993 when England selected the Essex left armer Mark Illott to play in the ashes.

Really hope Tremlett gets back to the level he did at 2010/11. If he does, and is fully fit, he may have a great chance of playing as Broad and Bresnan are out of favour and Onions hasn't yet proved himself in the Test team since his injury.

Finn-Tremlett-Anderson-Swann v Aussie Batting?

I like the sound of it!

Duty281 wrote:Really hope Tremlett gets back to the level he did at 2010/11. If he does, and is fully fit, he may have a great chance of playing as Broad and Bresnan are out of favour and Onions hasn't yet proved himself in the Test team since his injury.

Finn-Tremlett-Anderson-Swann v Aussie Batting?

I like the sound of it!

But Australia this time will have at their disposal a more dangerous bowling attack consisting of Jackson Bird, Mitchell "Destroyer" Starc, Sid Viscious and Nathan Lyon, with Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus as the likely backup bowlers. And this could be the key issue as to what the results will be in the test matches. In 2009 in the tests that England won, England's batsmen were helped somewhat by the constant misfiring of guys like Johnson and Hauritz when they were bowling. The same thing happened again in 2010/2011 when Australia had guys like Doherty, Smith and Beer in their bowling attack. This time England's batsmen won't have the same luxury of being able to pick easy runs off out-of-form misfiring or or poor bowlers in the Australia attack.

Tremlett has a very long way to come back, and was also injury prone earlier in his career. I would say it was fairly unlikely - tho not impossible - that he would regain sufficient of his best form to be a realistic contender for a test recall.

CF wrote:you dont have to have a left armer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

who gives a crap what arm they bowl with, as long as they are your best bowlers!

of course you dont but its always a bonus to have bowlers that offer different challenges. As well as forcing the batsmen to keep adjusting theres often players who have a particular weaknesses (note how teams always wheel out the part time left arm spinner when KP comes out to bat). Its one of the reasons England keep insisting on picking Patel in limited overs.
Ideally one of Englands seamers would be a left armer, but yes they should have to be one of the best to get picked
It works tje same in reverse with batsmen of course. A left right combination tends to annoy bowlers and make it difficult to get a rhythm.

gboycottnut wrote:

CF wrote:you dont have to have a left armer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

who gives a crap what arm they bowl with, as long as they are your best bowlers!

Having a left armer offers England with a different seam/swing bowling option and will give the Aussie batsmen another problem to deal with just as was the case back in 1993 when England selected the Essex left armer Mark Illott to play in the ashes.

Come on GBN - you can do better than that .... In 1993 when England picked Mark Illot they got smashed all over the park and lost 1-4 ... Hardly a recommendation.

CF has it right here : you pick your best four bowlers , and if a left armer is in the mix for selection , fine , it is an angle to consider ... Otherwise , never mind. They have done all right with right armers the last couple of series...

It is true Australia has a better looking attack this time but it is a bit early to be calling them the next incarnation of Lindwall & Miller , or Lillee & Thomson...anyway this thread is about Tremlett and whether he can make it back. I think most of us hope he can , but as the Corporal says it is going to be tough for him...we will have a better idea after he has played a few county games. Let us hope...

The comments currently coming from the Oval and Tremlett himself are encouraging but I share the Corporal's concerns.

Unless Surrey are totally assured as to his fitness / body strength, I suspect he'll only play something like 2 out of 3 CC games which won't be sufficient to get him an England recall.

Chris Adams told Surrey members at the end of last season that Tremlett's then current knee problem had resulted from his earlier back injury putting undue strain on other parts of his body. A slippery slope ....

alfie wrote:

gboycottnut wrote:

CF wrote:you dont have to have a left armer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

who gives a crap what arm they bowl with, as long as they are your best bowlers!

Having a left armer offers England with a different seam/swing bowling option and will give the Aussie batsmen another problem to deal with just as was the case back in 1993 when England selected the Essex left armer Mark Illott to play in the ashes.

Come on GBN - you can do better than that .... In 1993 when England picked Mark Illot they got smashed all over the park and lost 1-4 ... Hardly a recommendation.

CF has it right here : you pick your best four bowlers , and if a left armer is in the mix for selection , fine , it is an angle to consider ... Otherwise , never mind. They have done all right with right armers the last couple of series...

It is true Australia has a better looking attack this time but it is a bit early to be calling them the next incarnation of Lindwall & Miller , or Lillee & Thomson...anyway this thread is about Tremlett and whether he can make it back. I think most of us hope he can , but as the Corporal says it is going to be tough for him...we will have a better idea after he has played a few county games. Let us hope...

That was a bit of humour I was trying to inject with the example of Mark Illott in 1993. In seriously though, having a left arm pace bowler particularly someone who can bowl at speeds of 85 mph+ and can also swing it late can give the fielding captain a huge advantage in a test match when the opposition team has a strong batting lineup. The best left-arm pace bowler Willis England have had since the second world war is probably John Lever, and he complemented well the searing pace and ferocity of right armer Bob Willis charging down the other end during the ashes series in 1977.

Fair enough GBN ...I sometimes struggle to separate your bits of humor from the serious points

I'll give you John Lever as a serious attack member back then , though he didn't always play , out of a group of Willis Botham Old Handrick and himself ... He was a very useful bowler. Only Sidebottom since , though , and I think just looking for a leftie for the sale of it is a mugs game ... If he's good enough , he'll put his own case. Not sure anyone is even close ?

alfie wrote:Fair enough GBN ...I sometimes struggle to separate your bits of humor from the serious points

I'll give you John Lever as a serious attack member back then , though he didn't always play , out of a group of Willis Botham Old Handrick and himself ... He was a very useful bowler. Only Sidebottom since , though , and I think just looking for a leftie for the sale of it is a mugs game ... If he's good enough , he'll put his own case. Not sure anyone is even close ?

Gloucestershire if I remember 2/3 years ago had a promising young left arm pace bowler in the England U-19 player Adam Ball. Not sure what has happened to him since then. Although I do remember England during the mid 1990's having 3 left arm seam/swing bowlers at one time or another in the test team. Allan Mullally was the best of the trio as his test career spanned until the end of the decade to the start of the millenium. Then there were the 2 one cap wonders Simon Brown and Mike Smith both of whom were unfairly descarded after just a single test by the England regime at that time.


Anyway what I would'nt give to have a Mitchell Johnson or a Mitchell Starc quality of left arm quick bowler in the England test team at present as I belief this type of bowling is needed if England are to get back to the number 1 test ranking and beat the likes of South Africa in test matches.

gboycottnut wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Really hope Tremlett gets back to the level he did at 2010/11. If he does, and is fully fit, he may have a great chance of playing as Broad and Bresnan are out of favour and Onions hasn't yet proved himself in the Test team since his injury.

Finn-Tremlett-Anderson-Swann v Aussie Batting?

I like the sound of it!

But Australia this time will have at their disposal a more dangerous bowling attack consisting of Jackson Bird, Mitchell "Destroyer" Starc, Sid Viscious and Nathan Lyon, with Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus as the likely backup bowlers. And this could be the key issue as to what the results will be in the test matches. In 2009 in the tests that England won, England's batsmen were helped somewhat by the constant misfiring of guys like Johnson and Hauritz when they were bowling. The same thing happened again in 2010/2011 when Australia had guys like Doherty, Smith and Beer in their bowling attack. This time England's batsmen won't have the same luxury of being able to pick easy runs off out-of-form misfiring or or poor bowlers in the Australia attack.

Nathan Lyon is a decent bowler? When did this happen!

Olly wrote:

gboycottnut wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Really hope Tremlett gets back to the level he did at 2010/11. If he does, and is fully fit, he may have a great chance of playing as Broad and Bresnan are out of favour and Onions hasn't yet proved himself in the Test team since his injury.

Finn-Tremlett-Anderson-Swann v Aussie Batting?

I like the sound of it!

But Australia this time will have at their disposal a more dangerous bowling attack consisting of Jackson Bird, Mitchell "Destroyer" Starc, Sid Viscious and Nathan Lyon, with Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus as the likely backup bowlers. And this could be the key issue as to what the results will be in the test matches. In 2009 in the tests that England won, England's batsmen were helped somewhat by the constant misfiring of guys like Johnson and Hauritz when they were bowling. The same thing happened again in 2010/2011 when Australia had guys like Doherty, Smith and Beer in their bowling attack. This time England's batsmen won't have the same luxury of being able to pick easy runs off out-of-form misfiring or or poor bowlers in the Australia attack.

Nathan Lyon is a decent bowler? When did this happen!

Well he is when compared to Bryce McGain!

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Tremlett has a very long way to come back, and was also injury prone earlier in his career. I would say it was fairly unlikely - tho not impossible - that he would regain sufficient of his best form to be a realistic contender for a test recall.

At the moment Tremlett is in and out the Surrey team (omitted for the match against Notts starting today). So far he has not really got going this season so the prospects of a test recall are very low any time soon.