Soldato
Well this summers going to be pretty damn special if it's to get anywhere close to the excitement of last summer, when England spectacularly regained the Ashes 
Fast-forward to this summer and the team that faces Sri Lanka will look very different to the one that defeated the Aussies. Injury has hit the England squad hard oncemore. The best captain in the world, Michael Vaughan, is still out with the knee injury that forced him to miss this winter's tour to India and Pakistan. Luckily, Freddie has done very well as a stand-in captain, but he's still not got Vaughany's nouse. Vaughan's form with the bat had been a bit shaky, however, so maybe the loss isn't so great. The loss of Simon Jones again to a knee injury is a blow though, his reverse swing would have been useful. Even worse is the fact that Harmison is out for this test too, while Anderson is out for the season with a fractured back. Such a severely depleted bowling attack will put pressure on Freddy and Hoggy's bowling, as well as the batsmen who must perform to give a makeshift bowling attack the best possible chance.
The players to come in then. Mahmood and Lewis have been plucked from the A squad to bolster the bowling ranks. I'd like to see Lewis given the chance as he's been on electric form for Glos and the A squad, having taken 9 wickets in the match against Sri Lanka A. He may not be terriffically fast, but he's accurate and managed to get Tres out twice for under twenty in the county match. Plunkett will play as well, which is fine by me, he's a good bowler who definitely looks promising. Young too, so blooding him in early should stand him in good stead for the future. On the batting side, one of Alistair Cook and Ian Bell will take Vaughan's place, with Collingwood looking set to retain his place. I'd like to see Cook get another few matches while Vaughan is out, he looks a really really good batsman and would make a great opener when Vaughan and Tresco retire in a few years time. As for Tresco, he's back, so England's formidable opening partnership returns in all its glory. Udal has been dropped, thank god, so Panesar get's the nod as spinner. There is talk, however, that Panesar may be left out and all 5 seamers will play. Interesting idea, but with Collingwood able to bowl medium to backup the seamers, Id like to see Panesar play to add that extra dimension to the bowling attack.
Match starts on Thursday at Lords. Will be on Sky, which means no Richie doing the commentary
England squad: Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire, capt), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex), Alastair Cook (Essex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Geraint Jones (Kent, wkt), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Jon Lewis (Gloucestershire).
Fast-forward to this summer and the team that faces Sri Lanka will look very different to the one that defeated the Aussies. Injury has hit the England squad hard oncemore. The best captain in the world, Michael Vaughan, is still out with the knee injury that forced him to miss this winter's tour to India and Pakistan. Luckily, Freddie has done very well as a stand-in captain, but he's still not got Vaughany's nouse. Vaughan's form with the bat had been a bit shaky, however, so maybe the loss isn't so great. The loss of Simon Jones again to a knee injury is a blow though, his reverse swing would have been useful. Even worse is the fact that Harmison is out for this test too, while Anderson is out for the season with a fractured back. Such a severely depleted bowling attack will put pressure on Freddy and Hoggy's bowling, as well as the batsmen who must perform to give a makeshift bowling attack the best possible chance.
The players to come in then. Mahmood and Lewis have been plucked from the A squad to bolster the bowling ranks. I'd like to see Lewis given the chance as he's been on electric form for Glos and the A squad, having taken 9 wickets in the match against Sri Lanka A. He may not be terriffically fast, but he's accurate and managed to get Tres out twice for under twenty in the county match. Plunkett will play as well, which is fine by me, he's a good bowler who definitely looks promising. Young too, so blooding him in early should stand him in good stead for the future. On the batting side, one of Alistair Cook and Ian Bell will take Vaughan's place, with Collingwood looking set to retain his place. I'd like to see Cook get another few matches while Vaughan is out, he looks a really really good batsman and would make a great opener when Vaughan and Tresco retire in a few years time. As for Tresco, he's back
, so England's formidable opening partnership returns in all its glory. Udal has been dropped, thank god, so Panesar get's the nod as spinner. There is talk, however, that Panesar may be left out and all 5 seamers will play. Interesting idea, but with Collingwood able to bowl medium to backup the seamers, Id like to see Panesar play to add that extra dimension to the bowling attack.Match starts on Thursday at Lords. Will be on Sky, which means no Richie doing the commentary
England squad: Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire, capt), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex), Alastair Cook (Essex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Geraint Jones (Kent, wkt), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Jon Lewis (Gloucestershire).