As a blog writer I will admit I read very few blogs (I know), but one blog I tend to always read is that of Oliver Brett on BBC Sport and when I recently read his Ashes Pick and I realised it is just over 8 weeks until England’s tour of Australia to defend the ashes begins in earnest.
Don’t worry we’ll have another 3 weeks down under before the first test begins in Brisbane. After reading his informative blog, it made me wonder;
Who would make my 16 man squad for the test series in Australia?
England cricket is experiencing a change in fortune over recent months, as the post-ashes slump appears to have refrained from happening like it did back in 2005.
This time around ‘team England’ have gone from strength to strength, having respectably drew a test series in South Africa, won the ICC T20 World Cup and defeated the Aussies in a pointless one-day series recently.
When Andrew Flintoff announced his retirement from test cricket last summer it left the England cricket side requiring a new all-rounder to strike a balance within the team, a balance Flintoff had given for all of his 70 plus tests.
Many believe that Stuart Broad will one day fill this position and subsequently fill it for many years to come, but I feel the position at number 7 should go to Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan (pictured above).
He is the ideal replacement for many reasons in my opinion and his stature continues to grow within the game as he becomes more experienced.
Following a reasonable performance in South Africa, the England cricket team head to the sub-continent for an intriguing tour of Bangladesh.
I say intriguing for this tour more than most, has many questions for England to answer
But the ultimate question is; Will England return from Bangladesh with all the answer to the questions been asked? I somehow think not.
As cricket fans, we have honestly been spoilt with a plethora of fantastic cricketers to watch in recent times and many of these can easily adopt the dubious title ‘legend’.
The names simply roll off the tongue; Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Allan Donald, Stephen Fleming, Sourav Ganguly, Michael Vaughan etc…
Yet one man’s name seems constantly missed off this list and he is arguably the greatest all-rounder of his generation.
Life throws many a challenge at all of us in everyday life and Iain O’Brien (OB), the now retired New Zealand international cricketer it was no different.
I caught up with Iain (pictured above) on Friday, to discuss life, moving to England, twitter, English weather and even cricket!!
