I have thought about all the available options for England’s replacement batsman.
Ramps, Trott, Key, Shah, Moore, Denly and Bell.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think Bell or Shah is whom the Australians will want to play.
Ramps & Key have experience and class.
Trott and Moore have recent form.
Denly has some serious talent.
Shah and Bell have bucket loads of talent.
But they also have psychological impediments.
And right now Australia would prefer to play against guys like that than guys with technical flaws or those on debut.
Australia is struggling to keep the pressure on in the field, Shah can bring that himself.
Australia need batsmen to give them their wicket, the dictionary has a picture of Ian Bell.
I expect Bell to be picked, but having seen a bit of Denly and Trott if I was selecting England’s team I’d go with them.
Surprisingly I am not one of England’s selectors.
Go figure.
Choosing Ramps or Key would probably make Bell homicidal. The boy would never recover and would spend out his days muttering to himself about how he dominated Bangladesh in 2005 while wearing a straight jacket
Selecting Ramps would make my life, even though he’d almost certainly be shit.
I don’t think I’d even care if we lost the Ashes if Ramps was on the losing team.