Should England keep or dump Tim Ambrose?

Read isn't going to happen.

No-one who has played in the ICL is ever going to play test cricket again as things stand - his name shouldn't even be up for discussion here...

England have certainly kept the selection revolving door open on one particular position!!
The keeper!

Dump Ambrose.
Bring in Scott.
No b8llshizzle about this lad.
He's tough as nails, keeps well and scores plenty - especially under pressure.

PS. He doesn't drive a Porsche nor does he speak like a 'Strailien..

Well if we're being serious it should be DJ Pipe.

Merlin wrote:England have certainly kept the selection revolving door open on one particular position!!
The keeper!

Dump Ambrose.
Bring in Scott.
No b8llshizzle about this lad.
He's tough as nails, keeps well and scores plenty - especially under pressure.

PS. He doesn't drive a Porsche nor does he speak like a 'Strailien..

Scott lol, he's not even half the keeper Foster is...

JKLever wrote:

Priors batting sh!ts all over Ambrose....

If people want to slate him for his keeping i'm ok with that - I feel dirty for even mentioning him as a possibility.

But when you start on about Priors batting you make yourself look a fool

I massively concur!

Merlin wrote:England have certainly kept the selection revolving door open on one particular position!!
The keeper!

Dump Ambrose.
Bring in Scott.
No b8llshizzle about this lad.
He's tough as nails, keeps well and scores plenty - especially under pressure.

PS. He doesn't drive a Porsche nor does he speak like a 'Strailien..

Merlin... f*ck mate... f*ck! FOR THE LAST TIME: MATT PRIOR HAS NEVER OWNED A PORSCHE. HE DIDN'T SAY THAT. IT WAS PRESS BULLSHIT.

JKLever wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote: If your thinking about dumping Ambrose for another p!ss poor wicket keeper who's batting is no better, then your all kneejerking qunts.

Priors batting sh!ts all over Ambrose....

Trouble is that any extra runs he might make will be haemhorraged away by dropped catches and other mistakes.

JKLever wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote: If your thinking about dumping Ambrose for another p!ss poor wicket keeper who's batting is no better, then your all kneejerking qunts.

Priors batting sh!ts all over Ambrose....

If people want to slate him for his keeping i'm ok with that - I feel dirty for even mentioning him as a possibility.

But when you start on about Priors batting you make yourself look a fool

Whilst I agree Prior's batting is better than Ambrose's I think a few are over estimating how effective he would be as a No.6.

Sure in his first stint he averaged 40 but this was at No. 7 and there were quite a few low scores where he was part of a batting collapse. I think he would find the fatigue factor of batting at 6 quite high and its worth while comparing him with Alec Stewart who averaged less than 35 whilst keeping and batting in the top 6.

This would be the level I personally would expect Matt Prior to level out...So the question is (whilst his batting is good(ish)) is a sub35 average from your No.6 enough to warrant his clearly sub-standard keeping. Personally I think not but then I don't ink Eng are desperately helped by having an extra 5th bowler.

Incidentally I think Prior's keeping would improve with a longish stint in the side to a better level than it currently is but it would still be somewhat a penalty Eng would carry in the field. So again it would be a question of balancing the runs he makes versus the keeping he provides.

Pick Prior and go all out to teach him how to catch, because he's by far the best keeper batsman in England. FFS, it's yet another damning endictment of Moores' coaching that, despite being an ex keeper himself, he still couldn't teach Prior to catch the ball any better.

Send Prior off for a few sessions with Jack Russell or Alec Stewart.

I don't think it's the same TBF. The pitches were different, bowlers were in general better. I don't think it's much to ask to average 40.

Henry wrote:
Send Prior off for a few sessions with Jack Russell or Alec Stewart.

The same Alec Stewart that has been coaching him privately since 2001/02?

OK mate. Will do.

Brass Monkey wrote:I don't think it's the same TBF. The pitches were different, bowlers were in general better. I don't think it's much to ask to average 40.

I guess time will tell because I think Eng will return to Prior before the 2009 Ashes (unless Ambrose is a complete revelation with the bat beyond what we all assume) but I would be willing to bet against a 40 average for Prior batting at 6.

Even Gilchrist could not obtain this over his last 3 years in test cricket. Its harder than you think batting after you have been keeping for a long stint. And with batting so favoured these days the keeping stints are getting longer.

Some of Gilchrist's better innings came after he hadn't been in the hutch long - agreed over a sustained period of time that it'll be toughish, but it's certainly in the realms of possibility. Prior himself is incredibly fit - he'll have the physical stamina and mentally I haven't seen anything to say he'll shirk.

Keep Ambrose- well capable of averaging 30-ish over his career and keeping tidily. Would be less of an issue if England weren't striving for five bowlers and if the top 5/6 were more productive. You shouldn't keep going on this sorry old keeper merry go round just because of the deficiencies of the rest of the team. Give Ambrose the chance to learn a bit at the highest level-sorry old county cricket's not going to create any finished product, especially when you face a top team like South Africa.

Prior should get the one day/2020 gig though.

6: Flintoff
7: Broad
8: Foster