Kevin Pietersen out of Ashes series

Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the remaining 3 test matches of the Ashes series after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed the 29-year-old had an operation on Wednesday and will be out of action for up to six weeks.

Pietersen said: "The Ashes are the pinnacle of the game so I'm devastated to be missing the rest of this series."

Ian Bell looks set to come in for next week's third Test at Edgbaston.

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Is this England's 2005 Glen McGrath moment or do we have enough in the batting to not let this affect us?

huzup wrote:

Is this England's 2005 Glen McGrath moment or do we have enough in the batting to not let this affect us?

Excellent question you pose - My answer is - we may have enough with the present Australian bowling attack.

Not like they have Warne n McGrath in tandom

My problem is with A.Cook, even with his great 95 he again failed to hit 3 figures, I think I've mentioned before but his conversion rate of 50s to centuries is poor but with Strauss in form and the aussies bowling basically half trackers to the two left handers it does seem that it might not cost Enlgand too much - hopefully.

Hopefully Colly and Bell can put a couple of decent partnerships together in the middle and we wont miss KP, and also hoping the England batsman take on responsibility now with KP out.

I have a question for u Huzup.

If Bell replaces the South African -and is the only batting change - where would u bat Bell in the line up?

Is there a case of allowing Bopara to drop down a spot, or do u think its best to allow him to continue in the 3 spot?

Ian Bell would be the best option imo..

people want Key. But for the next test at least, bring in Bell

Bopara 3, Bell 4 for me. Bell is a conservative batsman who builds his innings. I feel that number 3 should be a free flowing player. We will miss KP no doubt, but hopefully it wont cost us.

It surprises me, that Huzup, you have worries about Cook. True, his conversion from 50 to 100 is very poor, but, its almost a nice problem to have to consistently score over 50!! If you were to score exactly 60 in every innings, you'd be the worlds best batsman?! Cook himself in interviews has said it is a problem that he is trying to address, but says that he too tries to see it as kind of a nice problem.

We always here that players that get in should go on, but 95 is a fair score to get, its not like hitting 30 and getting out. I think he is the perfect partner for Strauss, and up til now, it is only Bopara in the lineup for me that has question marks over his head, in my book.

I have him on my fantasy team so who do I replace him with?

On abcdef's point about Cook, maybe I've been watching Australia too much in my spare time but I want the confidence in both my openers to be able to hit big centuries and you just dont get that with Cook. If Strauss goes early then you'd want your other opener to be able to take on that responsibility.

As for the point about who to bring in - I'm a bit unsure on Bopara's role at the moment and it's taken two tests for that to hit me

I was listening to a couple of the TMS guys on BBC radio earlier and they were saying that Bopara can hide when Pietersen is there and if Bell was to come in they'd predict Bopara is still a long shot off in being able to succesfully face a bowling attack that is better than the Windies.

I would stick Bell in and probably stick with Bopara at 3 with Bell following on after as abcdef has suggested. If it doesnt work out Robert Key is the only other guy that is knocking on the door and could potentially replace Bopara at 3.

My hope is the batsman as a unit take responsiblity now KP is not there, something which they havent been doing for a very long time. I wouldnt underestimate Prior's role now as a proper batsman rather than someone to get a quick fire score to bump the runs up.

think it will be a straight swap of ian bell in and peiterson out. Id like robert key to be given a go though.
bell at 3
collingwood at 4
bopara at 5
and harmsion for onions
Pity because of his ability, but id rather have a fit Bell hitting 50s and 60s than an unfit KP getting out cheaply.

dannyboy2890 wrote:

think it will be a straight swap of ian bell in and peiterson out. Id like robert key to be given a go though.
bell at 3
collingwood at 4
bopara at 5
and harmsion for onions
Pity because of his ability, but id rather have a fit Bell hitting 50s and 60s than an unfit KP getting out cheaply.

Why not Broad?

Boycott reckons Harmison and Sidebottom should come in with Broad and either Swann or Onions being left out.

I've been reading up on his views on Broad and basically he says he gets no sideways movement from swing or off the seam and isnt extra fast.

"Stuart Broad looks to be OK in a physical sense, but he just doesn't do enough with the ball to be successful at this level. Against batsmen of the quality of Ricky Ponting or Michael Clarke you need to have some sideways movement, whether it be seam or swing. The only other option is to be exceptionally fast – which Broad is not. He may have bounced a couple of batsmen out in this series, but so far he is averaging one wicket every 16½ overs, which is putting too much strain on the other bowlers."

Interesting thoughts - remembering that Boycott did also compare Broad to Sir Garfield Sobers not so long ago,lol