England v New Zealand, 5th ODI, Lord's, 28th June

Henry wrote:Admitedly, I haven't seen Key bat for a couple of years now. But I still remember the fat blob who couldn't hit the ball off the square against the Windies and NZ in the ODI tri series 4 years ago.

So he's a powerplay enforcer these days?

He's a 'clever' opener who I have no doubt would score at a better rate than Cook.

JKLever wrote:

Henry wrote:Admitedly, I haven't seen Key bat for a couple of years now. But I still remember the fat blob who couldn't hit the ball off the square against the Windies and NZ in the ODI tri series 4 years ago.

So he's a powerplay enforcer these days?

He's a 'clever' opener who I have no doubt would score at a better rate than Cook.

And Bell I would add!

Not so sure about that one

With Key at one end, you can have a controlled hitter opening up with him, knowing that your orthodox opener will not be a farking 2 shot crab, or a no balls pretty boy whose only going to get you a 20 and then get out!

Well with Key opening, you would definitely be guaranteed no pretty boys

JKLever wrote:Well with Key opening, you would definitely be guaranteed no pretty boys

Word.

IF, and I say a massive if, he could cement a place he would also be a top choice for the captaincy! Well regarded as a skipper is Blobby!

holcs wrote:With Key at one end, you can have a controlled hitter opening up with him, knowing that your orthodox opener will not be a farking 2 shot crab, or a no balls pretty boy whose only going to get you a 20 and then get out!

Solanki would be my man. He's received a lot of undue criticism on here imo. He's f*cked himself up a few times by not doing as well as he should have done against some of the poorer teams (I remember he had a woeful jamodi series against Bangladesh a few years back). But in his last stint in the England side he was being used down the order at six and seven (Often as a 'supersub' after England had typically found themselves in the shit) and had to come in and rebuild the innings, which he did pretty well on a few occasions in 2005 against the Aussies if I remember correctly. He can hit but in a controlled, orthodox way. Bit of a poor man's Herschelle Gibbs. He's got class, and he can field, too.

Slogdonkey can fark right off...

I think Solanki's time has been and gone.

I'd rather go with Key and Mustard to be honest.

Solanki's only 32. Most Aussie cricketers these days are making their debut at that age. Surely not every England jamodi opener has to be young and impetuous?

Henry wrote:Solanki's only 32. Most Aussie cricketers these days are making their debut at that age. Surely not every England jamodi opener has to be young and impetuous?

They don't, however Solanki isn't anywhere near as good as most Aussie cricketers making the debuts.

Plus his record is pretty poor for a man who ahs opened the batting for most of his ODI career. And has shown pretty much to not be good enough in 50 odd games or whatever it is.

He was first picked for England in 2000 when he wasn't ready, then he came back as an opener in 2003 and did quite well before taking it easy against Bangladesh in the winter and getting dropped. The in 2005 he was picked again but was never given a chance up the top of the order, having to bat at six or seven. When you think about it, his story is not that much different to that of Shah. Their ODI records are pretty similar as well.

Henry wrote:He was first picked for England in 2000 when he wasn't ready, then he came back as an opener in 2003 and did quite well before taking it easy against Bangladesh in the winter and getting dropped. The in 2005 he was picked again but was never given a chance up the top of the order, having to bat at six or seven. When you think about it, his story is not that much different to that of Shah. Their ODI records are pretty similar as well.

They are, however IMO, Shah has pushed on and has been one of our more consistent ODI performers since last summer. Ace has batted at 6, for the majority of that time as well.

Slogdonkey never was, and never will be consistent IMO at that level.