Geraint Jones to play in 1st Test at the Gabba

Remove this Banner Ad

wagstaff

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 28, 2001
5,497
4,387
The Sea of Holes
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Melbourne Stars, Arsenal
England opt for Jones as wicket-keeper

England coach Duncan Fletcher says Geraint Jones will be his team's wicket-keeper in the first Ashes Test against Australia in Brisbane next week.

Jones was a member of England's victorious Ashes side in 2005 but lost his place this year to Chris Read who is also in the touring party.

"Fred (Andrew Flintoff) and myself had a good meeting yesterday and we decided we're going to go into the Test with Jones," Fletcher told reporters after the first day's play of the tour match against New South Wales.

"It was just on the batting front," Fletcher added. "At this stage we're convinced that Jones will be a better prospect for batting at number seven."

Jones did not take a catch or make a stumping as New South Wales reached 5 for 325 at stumps, though he kept wicket tidily enough.

-Reuters

I guess the best news for England is that if they're going to pick Jones, that they're more likely to pick Monty Panesar as in theory they can tolerate his weak batting. But it's still a highly surprising decision.

But that Fletcher has publicly announced this decision after Day 1 of the opening tour match, is a rather presumptious and even arrogant move. What if Jones spills some more easy chances and doesn't make any runs in the rest of the warm-up games?

I can understand to an extent the concerns about Read's batting. In one of the innings I saw him play against Pakistan, while he made a contribution with the bat what stood out for me was how much he shuffled across the crease and was a prime LBW candidate before he was eventually given LBW.

I guess what this whole debate illustrates is how underrated Alec Stewart was. While he never really delivered with the bat against Australia, what's often overlooked was how reliable a gloveman he was. In the large amount of Tests that I saw him play against Australia, I can hardly remember any errors or dropped catches he made.
 
Haha, what a joke.

A keeper that cant even catch. Good one poms :p
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Bin0077.jpg
 
start a thread, guess how many catches GG drops on tour.

dropped a few sitters already.

I reckon 30 for the series and 18 in test?
 
Here's hoping Monty takes a bag tommorow.:(

Here's hoping he would have taken a bag tomorrow but G.Jones fluffs 2 catches and a couple of stumpings, and a run out, to reverse this terrible decision!

I'm going to be a Boxing day test and I don;t want to be cheering England after the ashes are gawn!
 
Go for it, I would start it but I aint an Aussie fan so I am not allowed to

Now lets see if I can word a response to this within the laws

An odd decision indeed, that poor young chap Chris Read I thought played a couple of jolly good innings but has come undone by some below par ODI form. Lets hope master Jones can respond to his critics in a positive manner and not contribute to England losing the Ashes before Sir Duncan realises he has made a decision he regrets
 
Absolute shocker

Jones has been confirmed as no1 even though he has already allowed Aus the impetus by dropping a sitter off Jaques and giving him the chance to make two centuries ,therefore giving the effect of us beginning to look beaten. .What did Read do wrong apart from not being Flintoffs mate he scored well in the tests he played in and was totally sound as keeper .What happens if Jones continues to drop catches and score no runs .Also he was told to go away and improve did he NO
I must admit having a stake in this because I have known Read for a few years but that aside it is a travesty
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

This is the mistake of letting the coach and captain do all the selections

Imagine if John Buchanan and Ricky Ponting gets full say in selections on tour? How would everyone this board react?
They used to untill it came to a time where Steve Waugh was under threat so they took it away from the captain and onto an on tour selector alongside the coach
 
Go for it, I would start it but I aint an Aussie fan so I am not allowed to

Now lets see if I can word a response to this within the laws

An odd decision indeed, that poor young chap Chris Read I thought played a couple of jolly good innings but has come undone by some below par ODI form. Lets hope master Jones can respond to his critics in a positive manner and not contribute to England losing the Ashes before Sir Duncan realises he has made a decision he regrets

Gee, I preferred your other posts, frankly.....
Interesting to see the other English supporters (Browney, Linda) ripping the decision. Seems rather odd- do y'all take it this is Fletch wanting to keep together as much of the side as possible from last year?

Add in the Giles reappearance and chatter about Vaughan, obe returning.....

Me, I think read has earned the spot...have Jones as backup if he falls flat....
 
It didn't take me entirely by surprise. I like Jones but know he deserved to be dropped and he did absolutely nothing when he was asked to go back to county cricket and sort his batting out after 2 years of steady decline after his honeymoon period when he was first selected.

Read did bat like a complete tosser under pressure in the one dayers though, and his test innings were rather lucky.

How many more runs is Jones going to score than Read though in a test innings? 5, 10? They are both pretty rank average. Considering there is a far better chance Jones will commit some shockers with the gloves - is it worth the compromise? I'm not so sure, and would of definatly stuck with Read for at least one test.
 
What did Read do wrong apart from not being Flintoffs mate he scored well in the tests he played in and was totally sound as keeper .What happens if Jones continues to drop catches and score no runs .Also he was told to go away and improve did he NO
I must admit having a stake in this because I have known Read for a few years but that aside it is a travesty

What I've seen as an impartial observer is that Read is a vastly superior keeper, and only marginally inferior as a batsman. Stupid decision.

Most people will recall Steve Waugh making 200 in the West Indies in 1995, which pretty much decided the series. What is less commonly remembered is a stumping chance was missed by I think Courtney Browne when he was about 40. Browne was selected because he was (allegedly) a better batsman than the other choices. I wonder if the England selectors are aware of this piece of history, because this is what happens when you pick wicketkeepers on batting ability as opposed to keeping ability.

When Jones drops Ponting on 20 and he makes 150, don't be surprised Fletcher. Round 1 to Australia.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Geraint Jones to play in 1st Test at the Gabba

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top