I've often spoken about Luke Wright. For years I've remained unaware of the reasons why he's in England's one day sides, as a 'bits and pieces' bowler, and a pretty cack batsman. Wright didn't bowl in Pakistan's innings, came in at 6 (a position far too elevated for a player that bad) and scored a duck. And before anyone claims that he's in because he's a decent fielder, he also shelled an absolute dolly in the field.
Upset and angered about Wright (well, I had to be upset and angered about something; England were doing well), I had a little look on Cricinfo to amazingly find that Luke has now played 65 times for England - 40 ODIs and 25 T20 games. Incredible! For a player who averages so badly with both bat and ball (17 with bat in T20s and 52 in ODIs with the ball), he seems to have a charmed life with England selectors.
So fuelled by rage that this chancer has played 65 times for my country, I have decided to list 65 players who haven't played for England, who have deserved to play more than Luke. And every time he plays for England here on in, I'll add another player to the list.
(Note - these players aren't in any order - they're just players who I would have played ahead of Wright).
1. Jimmy Adams
2. Adam Lyth
3. Jos Buttler
4. Darren Stevens
5. James Vince
6. Wes Durston
7. Dawid Malan
8. James Taylor
9. Chris Woakes
10. Graham Napier
11. Mark Pettini
12. James Hildreth
13. Tom Smith
14. The other Tom Smith
15. The other the other Tom Smith
16. Alfonso Thomas
17. Stewart Walters
18. Matthew Spriegel (obviously)
19. Jason Roy
20. Jaik Mickleburgh
21. Alex Hales
22. Andrew Gale
23. Arul Suppiah
24. Garry Park
25. Rory Hamilton-Brown
26. Sam Northeast
27. Jim Allenby
28. Matt Walker
29. Ali Brown
30. James Benning
31. Jonny Bairstow
32. Ben Scott
33. Andrew Hodd
34. Paul Horton
35. Scott Snell
36. Ben Harmison
37. Paul Franks
38. Ben Stokes
39. Joe Gatting
40. Neil Dexter
41. Gareth Berg
42. Scott Newman
43. John Simpson
44. Jonathan Clare
45. Graeme Wagg
46. Jake Needham
47. James Harris
48. Alex Blake
49. James Middlebrook
50. Will Beer
51. David (snigger) Willey
52. Glen Chapple
53. Gary Keedy
54. Greg Smith
55. Dan Briggs
56. Tim Murtagh
57. Toby Roland-Jones
58. Danny Evans
59. Robbie Williams (not that one)
60. Tim Linley
61. Luke Fletcher
62. David Wainwright
63. Simon Cook
64. David Masters
65. Peter Trego
Murtagh should be top of that list in my very humble opinion
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Tim!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! 18! Just for the sake of it. So sad it hasn't been picked up by more people. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the entire list, though. Add Tim Ravenscroft of Guernsey, now under development by Sussex; Chris Schofield; and, of course, Ollie Rayner! After all these Saffas, Irishmen and Marsians it is time to enrich the squad with a German. Meets the minimum requirement of being more useful than LW.
Schofe doesn't make the list because he's already played for England! And because Luke is likely to play this evening, I guess I'll be adding Rayner to the list... *sigh*... Why do they keep picking him?!
ReplyDelete"Why do they keep picking him?!"
ReplyDeleteHm, owns a good pair of knee pads and uses them often?
I'll get my coat..