England's 12 Man Squad for First Test

Alastair Cook (Essex) (Captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Nick Compton (Somerset), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Matt Prior (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)

Tim Bresnan is in, as is Graeme Swann coming back from injury. So I think the team will be:

1) Cook
2) Compton
3) Trott
4) Bell
5) Root
6) Bairstow
7) Prior
8) Broad
9) Swann
10) Anderson
11) Finn

A no thrills England Selection! What is the point of having a England Lions Team if the players in it other than Root and Bairstow don't have a chance to make a case for selection for the senior Test side. James Taylor for example is in a no win situation now as even if he makes a double century V NZ for the Lions he knows that he still won't be considered for test selection V NZ.

Not really anything other than what we expected.

Would've liked to see Taylor given a shot instead of Bairstow personally

I hope Bairstow would perform in the first test. If not, James Taylor, who hasn't enjoyed the usual selectorial support despite a good first class record and a decent showing in his first test, should get an opportunity.

msp83 wrote:I hope Bairstow would perform in the first test. If not, James Taylor, who hasn't enjoyed the usual selectorial support despite a good first class record and a decent showing in his first test, should get an opportunity.

Now he's been picked I think Bairstow should get these 2 Tests. Taylor is a calm lad and I see nothing wrong with picking him for the Ashes but not v NZ if need be (of course, KP will be back so hopefully neither Bairstow nor Taylor will be needed).

I think the selectors have missed a trick here. They could have selected both Bairstow and James Taylor for the NZ test series, whilst resting Matt Prior for the 10 Ashes tests. England really need to give Bairstow the experience of keeping wicket in test cricket as the backup alternative to Matt Prior should anything serious happen to Prior .e.g. he breaks a finger whilst batting etc and is out of action for many weeks.

The squad everyone expected. GBN is not , of course , being serious.

Never mind performances in the Lions game , Taylor was never going to leapfrog Bairstow at this point. Fair enough too ...Bairstow was arguably unlucky to lose his expected spot to Root in India , and I think he is worth a couple of Tests now to get a better idea of just how good he is for future reference.
And I acknowledge something similar could perhaps be said of Taylor , but we really can't be trying too many out at once : the first priority should always be to pick the best combination to win the next Test Match.

And after the recent tour of NZ nothing should be taken for granted.

alfie wrote:The squad everyone expected. GBN is not , of course , being serious.

Never mind performances in the Lions game , Taylor was never going to leapfrog Bairstow at this point. Fair enough too ...Bairstow was arguably unlucky to lose his expected spot to Root in India , and I think he is worth a couple of Tests now to get a better idea of just how good he is for future reference.
And I acknowledge something similar could perhaps be said of Taylor , but we really can't be trying too many out at once : the first priority should always be to pick the best combination to win the next Test Match.

And after the recent tour of NZ nothing should be taken for granted.

Alfie, it could also be argued that Taylor was pretty unlucky not to get more opportunities in the test side, at least a squad place after his debut test.