Pecking Orders

Yesterday I wrote a serious post. It was a post where I had to do research, and be reasonable. The England / Bangladesh test was drawing to a close, and Ajmal Shahzad was bowling. If all was equal, Shahzad would not have been bowling. In the England pecking order, Shahzad is well down.the list, nestling between Steve Harmison and a light breeze. Shahzad, as useful a bowler as he is, will struggle to make the plane for the Ashes tour; let alone the reckoning. Batting at five for England was one of my favourite players, Eoin Morgan. But as much as I see Morgs obvious awesomeness, he is not a test batsman. Last year, he averaged about 23 for Middlesex, and before the tests he'd only played one FC game in the past 9 months. As world-class a 20 and 50 over player as he is, he is not a test player. Ravi Bopara and Michael Carberry (who probably are) must be sitting at home wondering where they stand. As must Steve Davies, Tim Ambrose and James Foster (who have all played for England in the past two years), who appear to have been usurped by Craig Kieswetter as Matt Prior's successor. This rotation policy has probably also confused Geoff Miller.

So, in the order of public service, I've decided to handily create the pecking order list, for future reference for the Pakistan tests and beyond.

Batsmen
Strauss
Pietersen
Collingwood
Cook
Bell
Trott
Morgan
Bopara
Carberry
Vaughan
Boycott
Ramprakash

Bowlers
Swann
Anderson
Broad
Finn
Onions
Bresnan
Shahzad
Sidebottom
Woakes
Harmison
Leventhal

Wicket-Keepers
Prior
Davies
Kieswetter
Foster
Jones
Ambrose
Atkins

No need to thank me Geoff...

You can be Geoff Miller or Ashley Giles by voting on the Short Third Man's latest poll - "Who should be England's bowlers for the first Ashes test in Brisbane?"