England in South Africa

[horseplayer]

I would be amazed if it was not his own decision to not be selected considering he is Cooks best mate.

Good squad

[TightEnd]

I would be amazed if it was not his own decision to not be selected considering he is Cooks best mate.

Good squad

all the journalists are indicating he has been dropped, selectors decision

[TightEnd]

Rashid will be playing the big bash in Australia

doubt we'll see him again in a test shirt, sadly

Ansari is the coming man, when fit

[horseplayer]

I would be amazed if it was not his own decision to not be selected considering he is Cooks best mate.

Good squad

all the journalists are indicating he has been dropped, selectors decision

That may well be the party line be surprised if it was

[fatcatstu]

Few worries in the squad.

Has Ballance really had the time to go away and improve sufficiently to come back in? (as a Yorkshire fan, I havent really seen much outstanding)

Compton coming back in at the top of the order. I dont know why, but I just do NOT like him. Would much rather see Hales given his chance.

Is Footitt the fast left armer? The last thing we need is to have another dibbly-dobbly 80mph bowler in the team. Get some bloody pace in there!!

[HutchGF]

Would have preferred to see Willey ahead of both Jordan and Woakes personally. I think he is very talented, under-rated and has a fantastically aggressive attitude.

[TightEnd]

Footitt is quick. 90mph+

top division two wicket taker for 2-3 seasons albeit on some terrible derby pitches

gets his move to surrey and is picked before he plays a game for them

[TightEnd]

Ian Bell ‏@Ian_Bell now2 minutes ago

I'm absolutely gutted not to be selected for the tour to SA. I certainly feel I could have contributed out there & have been working...

..and come back determined to win my place back. Wishing all the guys selected the best of luck.

[DungBeetle]

Good move to drop Bell.

If Buttler can get some form in the ODIs then I'd have him back over Bairstow in a shot.

[fatcatstu]

Horrible feeling Wakes will get the call to be the 3rd seamer, if so our attack will be far too 1 dimensional.

We need to have some genuine pace in their, and a left armer also offers something different.

Cook
Hales
Ballance
Root
Taylor
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Broad
Footitt
Anderson

That would be my pick from that squad

[verndog158]

Horrible feeling Wakes will get the call to be the 3rd seamer, if so our attack will be far too 1 dimensional.

We need to have some genuine pace in their, and a left armer also offers something different.

Cook
Hales
Ballance
Root
Taylor
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Broad
Footitt
Anderson

That would be my pick from that squad

Couldn't have worded any bit better myself. Don't rate worked but he's bowling 88/89mph but just doesn't look that quick
Give footit a spin

[muckthenuts]

Horrible feeling Wakes will get the call to be the 3rd seamer, if so our attack will be far too 1 dimensional.

We need to have some genuine pace in their, and a left armer also offers something different.

Cook
Hales
Ballance
Root
Taylor
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Broad
Footitt
Anderson

That would be my pick from that squad

Without Bell that top order looks decidedly devoid of experience. Maybe I'd stick 32 year old Compton to partner Cook for that reason.

Stokes is just far too high at number 6 but I guess it'll take the selectors a while before they realise he isn't going to be the new Andrew Flintoff. So much depends on the 3 pacers to generate results in South Africa.

[nellberg]

I disagree with a couple of omissions the selectors have made. Obviously Bell is the big one which will get the headlines. He isn't in the best of nick and hasn't been all calender year. I thought he might have jacked it in after the Ashes, especially when he admitted in a interview with Aggers that he would be considering retiring. Once he get over that and said he had the motivation to continue I'm pretty astounded that they've dropped him already. Against Pakistan he wasn't great, averaged 31, but apart from Cook and Root he was the next best, and it's not like there is someone in county cricket who's scored thousands of runs and is demanding a spot off him. Experience-wise I felt he had to go, and then if he didn't average 40+ then you could blood a new guy in the summer in an easier situation. No matter what combination we use in the batting order now, Cook is the only guy to have played Test cricket in S.A and that lack of experience will most likely be found out.

The omission that annoyed me the most was Plunkett. Unless it's been an attitude thing and he hasn't been a positive influence around the group, how can he go from perennial 12th man is all formats to not being in the squad for a tour in conditions that will likely suit his style of bowling? He's barely played since the summer, so I can't see how he's regressed to a level that now Footitt, Woakes and Jordan are all deemed better than him? I like the Footitt selection for the left-arm variety, he's taken good numbers of wickets (albeit at 2nd division level) so that's fair enough. But Woakes? 7 wickets in 4 tests? recently went 6 ODI's without taking a wicket? Have we really picked him because he's taken some cheap wickets in the last 2 ODI's? baffling. I don't mind Chris Jordan at ODI level, he'll contribute in all 3 disciplines, but tests we've tried and he didn't go well, 21 wickets in 8 games, Plunkett's not a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination, but he's done nothing wrong since his recall. He played 4 tests in the summer of 2014, taking 2 wickets, 9 wickets, 3 wickets and 4 wickets. If it's runs with the bat they want at 9 he got a 39 and a 55* in those games. He's a bit quicker than the rest of them, and can blow a game open with genuine pace, so would give Cook another option compared to Woakes and Jordan, who are just medium fast.

Can't see logic in Patel's selection either, wasn't great in the 3rd test, so would be out of his depth in South African conditions. If Ali went down with an injury I'd just play all-seam attack. Unless we have huge series from Cook, Root, Broad and Anderson I think we'll struggle badly. Away from home against the number 1 side in the world isn't the time to try new stuff out and gamble imo.

[TightEnd]

just the 46 ball hundred for Buttler on a flat one in dubai

nixce to see him back in form, now to translate it into the tests

[verndog158]

Jos Buttler

enough said