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I agree Aggers about the IPL thing, but Modi would probably suggest that it is very inconsiderate of the ICC to stage a Test during his big auction!
I hope the line-up does include Bell, Sidebottom and Panesar but I wouldn't have been against bringing Shah in for Collingwood. Anyway, here hoping for a good series, Harmison 7-12 anyone?

It seems as if there's always problems within the England squad these days, can the players not just focus on their jobs like the rest of us have to?

I am astounded Ian Bell may keep his place.

Shah completely outscored him in the warm up games. We all know what Bell can do (not a lot) and he can find form anywhere. If he doesn't perform this series it means we have less time to blood a replacement before the ashes.

Given our weak opposition, surely if we may make a change later we should trial it now - rather than against the Aussies?!

Why bring him not to play him?

With both cricket teams in a bit of a strange place at the moment, with the Windies seemingly not able to buy a win at present, and the shambles that has surround England over the last year or so, hopefully this can be a series where both sides can rebuild, and play some good cricket.

I sense an exciting series coming up, with both sides playing with big points to prove!

I've read reports and articles that have said Pietersen has been in consistant enthusiasm and good humour at the moment. He's very popular in the West Indies after all.

Those hoping for some kind of sulking "ghost of Banquo" over all this will probably be disappointed.

After the 10% debacle I'd be sooo tempted if I were Fred or KP to say "stuff it" and go and do a couple of full IPL seasons. Play for England if that's what Eng wanted but go out and earn the money to set themselves up for life. You'd probably find the counties offering them huge amounts for their part time services then instead of trying to get their dirty little fingers into their wallets as they are now doing...

It does seem with Modi that if you give an inch and try to be reasonable, he takes a mile. The Friday auction is an unnecessary distraction.
I think it is great that counties are getting something out of the IPL. They are the people who provide the grounds, infrastructure and grass roots of cricket. They are the people who nurture young English talent and give them their chance in the cricketing world. Our future players will come from the English county system. They get precious little from their England stars, and are often deprived of them at the vital time when they are trying to win championships.
90% of a hell of a lot of money is still a hell of a lot of money.
It seems that players who were apparently so coy about the Stanford millions a few months ago are showing their true colours.

If Shah doesn't get picked; I wish England lose by a big margin for the error.

Stop Modi bashing please. Even the last auction was done during CB series final between India and AUstralia, so its not a ploy to derail England Cricket.

As for the team, Shah and Swann should be given a chance against not so gr8 opposition.Swann has earned his place in front of Panesar during India tour.
If i was Strauss, i ll rest Flintoffand play 4 bowlers, and go for safety first, as in my experience if u have 5 bowlers, 1 is always underused.
So good luck England.

The date of the IPL auction is a classic example of the new-age Indian attitude to who rules the roost, placed without consideration for anything else - including the players that would potentially be playing in their tournament.

As for the real cricket, hopefully Strauss can galvanise the team and England play to their abilities and win the series.

why does it take so long for comment to go through the moderators????

I wish the Media would stop hyping up the "worries and distractions" the players may appear to have before a Test. It almost sounds like excuses for failure are being formulated already! The common man has, in reality, far greater worries per se, in job security, mortgages, etc etc but he still gets on with the job and does it well! These are professional cricketers for God's sake, if my only worry was where my next million was coming from, and then have sleepless nights about giving 10% of it to somebody, then I would swap places anytime!!

Can someone explain the 10% levy to me?

I keep seeing £45,000 ($65,000) quoted for KP. However his IPL auction base price is $1.35M (so 10% is $135,000?)

well said jovialStelladave , i ll be more than happy to swap places

i think , thats becasue of his involvement. Kp will be sold eg for $1.3, that is pro rata. and if he is supposed to play only 3 matches, then £45000 is approx hampshire will get

"I keep seeing ?45,000 ($65,000) quoted for KP. However his IPL auction base price is $1.35M (so 10% is $135,000?)"

As I understand it the price of $1.35M is what he would recieve if he playered the full season. What he actually gets is adjusted (proportionaly) for the fact he is only playing part of the season.

$65k is presumably 10% of what he is actually expecting to get, give that he will only play 3 weeks.

shah needs to be given his chance ahead of bell but it unfortunately seems though that its the old boy network again - with harmy coming back despite doing the sqaure root of naff all

Astounded that Ian Bell is going to keep his place? Why? He always gets picked.....but has failed over and over again home and away! The selectors say he has the talent? The talent to get out on 32 after a promising start, the talent to get 100 when England are 350+ in front already against 2nd string opposition. He has no balls...never has and never will...he is soft and weak!

Shah has out scored Bell, outplayed him and yet he never gets picked? Bell (and Shah) are also not number 3's? We need KP at 3 and Shah at 4 or 5 (sorry Colly)...Bell should not be in the team...period.

Also don't write the Windies off yet, they outplayed the aussies for some sessions and should have beaten them in last year's series. Their pace attack is now more experienced and if they get early wickets, Bell fails and then its down to KP and Colly to gte us out of a hole....they can't do it all the time. W

Astounded that Ian Bell is going to keep his place? Why? He always gets picked.....but has failed over and over again home and away! The selectors say he has the talent? The talent to get out on 32 after a promising start, the talent to get 100 when England are 350+ in front already against 2nd string opposition. He has no balls...never has and never will...he is soft and weak!

Shah has out scored Bell, outplayed him and yet he never gets picked? Bell (and Shah) are also not number 3's? We need KP at 3 and Shah at 4 or 5 (sorry Colly)...Bell should not be in the team...period.

Also don't write the Windies off yet, they outplayed the aussies for some sessions and should have beaten them in last year's series. Their pace attack is now more experienced and if they get early wickets, Bell fails... Then its down to KP and Colly to get us out of a hole. They can't do it all the time and the Windies can quite easily win 1 Test out of 4.

Thank God we will soon have some cricket to listen to, to relieve the gloom.

The balance of this England team has been wrong since the 5th test of the ashes in 2005, a game we barely salvaged a draw in after playing superb cricket for the 3 tests before it. At the time it seemed like a temporary team selection but we've picked almost the same team for the next 4 years and they have not competed well. I fear they are going to have to take us a bit lower and lose to the windies and a very average aussie team before we see any change.

If you look at the players available to England I just cannot believe our top 5 is not Strauss, Cook, Key, Pieterson, Shah, followed in then by Flintoff and Prior. I think that line up would make us a lot more competitive. I've heard comments from Rob Keys Aussie colleagues that he is fuming at the way he has been handled by England and I can't blame him, he's the only natural number 3 in England.

Whatever team England choose to play it is important to get off to a good start. If the Windies win the first day England will be under pressure and will end up chasing the game.

The toss, will as usual, be crucial but let us not be downhearted if we loose it. England need to remain possitive throughout the game, and the series, in order to get something from it.

The Windies have been at a low ebb for a number of years but the tide might just be turning for an upturn in their fortunes. England are begining to take on the aura of an ageing team with too many in the ranks looking like they are coming to the end of their test careers. A steady influx of youth over a period of time will cure this but I fear that the conservatism of the English establishment will deter the necessary changes.

The next few days will give a very good indication as to how good, or how bad, the England team are.

What does Shah have to do? I'm all for sticking with players but Bell has been out of form in all forms of cricket for ages.

If the selectors are so keen on Bell at three, then the only other option I can see is to rest Flintoff. Shah needs to be tested and given a chance. We would be stupid to just drop him in against the Aussies with only two matches under his belt.

I agree England need a specialist #3 but Key isn't it: he's had opportunities before - played 15 tests and averaged only 31, even with a 225 top score.

Test players need to average over 40 (as both Bell and Collingwood still do).

So until someone emerges who is palpably a test #3 I'd give Shah a try over Bell, who I agree has only fulfilled his potential occasionally.

Collingwood also has to play. He seems to have got through his bad trot and gives England the grit they need. Test cricket isn't just about scoring fluent 40s then getting out.

Flintoff is too unreliable as a batsman to be above #6.

The only trouble with the contract system we have is clearly its a case of jobs for the boys. Ian Bell couldnt hit a cows backside with a banjo, but yet is still picked over players who are in great form, and surley he would benefit going back to his county, it did Harmison no dis-service.

moderators have gone on lunch or is somehting wrong here, ppl have comment at 12.39 and @ 13.20 there is no o/p of the comment,
bbc, how can u hav ediscussion if you have to wait that long?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

rubbish, but it might improve

I agree with magic mira (#22) that since the Oval in 05 England have had a poorly balanced team, and in fact I would say that they have never adequately replaced Graham Thorpe in the middle order. England's test batting line up is basically 4 top level batsmen, 3 all rounders, and 4 bowlers. Not a good mix at all, and todays display is an exact example of why. A couple of eatrly wickets, and you are already close to the all rounder section.

In the long run the back end of the order may look stronger, with Adil Rashid and Stuart Broad in there, but right now the tail is too long for the current batting line up, England can't afford to get to 250-5 and expect to push onto around 400.

Ok. I'll say it.KP needs help to grow up.This help should be administered now.Leave him out of the next test match.Courage is needed by the England captain to bring this about.Cricket is still and always will be a team game.Every player should be aware of this and ought to be humble enough to admit his failure to consider the team when nearing personal milestones such as a century.He gets carried away with his own personal ambition.Until this talented individual acquires this understanding and bats accordingly he needs a lesson in humility administered by England.His ego will be deflated and it will hurt for a while.But this will pass and he may attain greatness as a team player if he gets this help.Or maybe he w'ont.Hope he enjoys his money - he would enjoy the respect of others more if he opened his heart to the team ethic no matter what he says.