Worst selectorial decision by your country that you have seen.

[drainpipe32]

and getting outrageously labeled as our future Tendulkar or some bullcrap like that.

Possibly what brought him down.

 

[King Cricket]

Possibly what brought him down.

Nah, he was crap from the very beginning.

 

[iridescentt]

I'd have to say, picking Cameron White for that Test series in India was pretty awful.

 

[drainpipe32]

Yeah, especially after Beau Casson bowled well in the Windies.

Killed him off, and Cam White wasn't any good.

We were desperate for a right arm leggie.

 

[angryangy]

Not sure about MacGill in 05, but he shouldve been tried at least, but our bowlers did a reasonable job but couldnt dismiss England in the first innings for a low score in the 2nd 3rd and 4th tests which hurt us, MacGill was hardly the type of bowler to run through a side on Day 1 or 2. Our batting was to blame in 05, none of them enhanced their reputation.

Definitely should have been tried. He actually took as many 5s in the first two innings as in the last two. A guy who can turn the ball on pretty much any surface is a real weapon and it was often wasted, but usually without regret because it wasn't always needed. In this case, Australia did need to do more to win, but were far from exhausting all their options.

The only real excuses against MacGill were semantics. We were struggling with pace and so they didn't pick a spinner to bridge the gap (never mind how many wickets Warne was taking). Instead of being seen as a wicket taker, in fact one of Australia's most effective at the time, he was simply Warne's backup.

Maybe he could have been expensive, but not more than what was already on offer. Concern about variety is a joke when you consider how well he bowled in tandem with Warne and how varied an individual wrist spin bowler is, especially compared with a complement of three right arm fast medium bowlers. All-out spin could have been the method by which Australia presented a counter-argument to England's bowling tactics.

 

[JD10]

Ravi Bopara for the ashes 09

 

[piriyanth]

Selecting Graham Manou as our 2nd choice keeper for the Ashes 2009.

 

[Harishan]

Ravi Bopara for the ashes 09

Can't say it was a great deal of wrong in picking him going into the series seeing as he was doing quite well in domestic cricket - was he not? Just a shame that he wasn't able to step up in the international arena.

 

[Leggie]

Ashish Nehra being recalled in 2009 to the national side for god knows why.

I don't know if some of these were injured, but we had so many better options;

Sudeep Tyagi
Sreesanth
RP Singh
Irfan Pathan

Those are the ones of the top of my head.

 

[Gurjot95]

Sudeep Tyagi- Yet to prove IMO but better than our Ishant
Sreesanth- He has good one day and then 2 bad days
RP Singh- Only good in non-subcontinent
Irfan Pathan- Haven't seen him bowling in past years so dont know his form, waiting to see him bowling in IPL. His batting is bonus also

We should get Sree and RP for non-subcontinent tours.

 

[Lee1981]

Ravi Bopara for the ashes 09

good shout, although pre ashes he was looking like he owned the no3 slot

 

[stereotype]

Well Warne did say pre Ashes he would be the weak link and he was right. Mind you most of the England team did bat poorly in that Ashes series bar Strauss and the odd innings.

 

[TumTum]

Can't say it was a great deal of wrong in picking him going into the series seeing as he was doing quite well in domestic cricket - was he not? Just a shame that he wasn't able to step up in the international arena.

He got 3 centuries against WI before the Ashes.

 

[Owzat]

The treatment of Andrew Caddick circa 97-99

You should throw in Cork to that particular comment, in fact the farce was that Caddick (93), Gough (94) and Cork (95) being played very few times as a trio despite making debuts in consecutive years and being our best three bowlers of that era. If only the consistent selection applied now had been about then, all three could bowl, field and bat and yet we chopped and changed too much.

I support England & Australia in cricket. Been watching watching cricket since 97 & this is the worst test & ODI selections from both sides IMO:

ENGLAND:

- Picking Ben Hollioake & Ealham for test in the 97 Ashes
- Picking Andrew Flintoff in 1998
- Picking Gavin Hamilton on tour to SA 99/00
- Chris Adams playing test cricket
- Afzaal & Ian Ward playing in Ashes 2001
- Chris Schofield & Ed Giddins playing tests in 2000
- Ian Blackwell playing test in 05/06
- Amjad Khan vs WI 08
- Darren Pattinson vs SA 2008 WTF was that?
- Matthew Hoggard being dropped vs NZ 08


Most ENG ODI selections have been crap so i'll leave it there.

Ealham did ok, I think it's harsh to criticise his selection and especially the Ashes 1997 (105 runs @ 35.00 & 8 wkts @ 23.88). For ODIs several players like Ealham and Hick were dropped way too early for some very ordinary cricketers coming in yet you don't mention that

MA Ealham

8 Tests, 210 runs @ 21.00 & 17 wkts @ 28.71
64 ODIs, 716 runs @ 17.46 & 67 wkts @ 32.79 (ER 4.08)

England have brought in a lot of players to do jobs, a number who should never have debuted and others who having been given a chance should have been given more than one Test. The biggest crimes were Giles playing 50+ Tests and Key being given as many Tests as he got.

POOR SELECTIONS/POLICIES

Usman Afzaal
Kabir Ali - 5 wkts @ 27.20 and only ONE TEST
Rob Bailey
Kim Barnett
Richard Blakey
Joey Benjamin
Martin Bicknell - absolute farce his treatment, especially given his ODI record
Ian Blackwell
Tim Bresnan
Simon Brown
John Childs
Rikki Clarke
Chris Cowdrey - that was a joke, even made captain!
Tim Curtis
Richard Dawson
James Foster
Jason Gallian
Ed Giddins
Aftab Habib
Warren Hegg
Adam Hollioake
Ben Hollioake
Alan Igglesden
Mark Ilott
Ronnie Irani
Steve James
Richard Johnson
Amjad Khan
James Kirtley
Jon Lewis
Darren Maddy
Sajid Mahmood
Neil Mallender
Matthew Maynard
Anthony McGrath
John Morris
Tim Munton
Phil Newport
James Ormond
Min Patel
Darren Pattinson
Dermot Reeve
Steven Rhodes
Mark Saggers
Chris Schofield
Owais Shah
Chris Silverwood
Mike Smith (of Gloucestershire, one Ashes Test in 1997)
Ed Smith
John Stephenson
Jon (Paul) Taylor
Chris Tremlett
Alec Tudor
Shaun Udal
Ian Ward
Steve Watkin
Mike Watkinson
Alan Wells
Neil Williams

The above should either never have been picked or at least given more than 1-3 Tests or one series to 'fail'. That's around 60 in 22 years, three bad decisions per year not including one or two I could have thrown in like Plunkett, Salisbury etc who were understandable picks (all-rounder, leggie, left-armer, left-hander etc) but even so. That makes a bad list that the selectors should hang themselves or their heads in shame over.

And for me the worst selection 'crime' between 1988 and 2010 was picking Bicknell in 1993 and again in 2003 for the saffer series, but not picking him inbetween. He was one of the most solid and best pros in the counties and had a good ODI record (24.00 with bat, 26.69 with ball) So he failed against the aussies. It wasn't like players like Capel, Malcolm etc were cementing their places in the side. He could have been our McGrath, we'll never know. But pick me 10-20 better bowlers in the list above

 

[Dutch]

In more recent times id have to say in the 2006 ashes giles picked ahead of panesar that was crazy, obviously now monty has gone down hill but at the time he was our go to man for a wicket and to pick giles who couldnt turn a switch on let alone a ball was abit of mad one for me,
We still got hammered anyway......

Agreed. Monty not playing from the start was a huge mistake as was, in my opinion, appointing Flintoff captain. He is the kind of player who needs to be guided well, not the one doing the guiding as it were......