hahaha - ok, nocohere - we'll hide behind the sofa­ and hope they go away ...

Mirandola, oh yes I do wish him well, absolutely.­
Unfortunately it looks like Bell's ringing at the­ Oval door. Tell you what, let's pretend there's­ no one in!

Bell gets 100, bet the Aussies bribed the Notts bowlers­ to feed him so he would get picked again. Trott also­ gets 100 so who will they go for ??? Bell of course.

nocohere - true enough; but Gould only talked about it­ because Media hacks asked him the question. The whole­ shemozzle was a media-created nonsense in a dead time­ between Tests . Now let's wish Trescothick well and­ get on to thinking about the Oval ...

To #19... I think we Aussies might have something to­ say about that!

At least Trescothick has jumped on all the speculation­ reasonably early and counted himself out of the running­ and that's a good thing, sport worldwide is­ littered with people making inglorious comebacks and­ failing, usually miserably. Bopara missing out is now­ almost a certainty, also a good thing, he looks­ completely shell-shocked and simply must be taken out­ of the firing line for his own good, as well as­ England's. Everyone on these forums seems to have­ forgotten Trott, he's an absolute shoo-in to play­ as he was next in the queue in the selectors eyes at­ least, hence his selection in the last squad. It would­ be ridiculous in the extreme to now leapfrog someone­ who has done nothing wrong in the interim, except score­ another century for his county (oops.) Personally i­ would take out Bell as well, the Aussies have his­ number and will be all over him like a rash if he plays­ at the Oval. Key would be the other obvious choice,­ another man in form.

There you go, all our problems­ solved.......Just give us the Ashes now and everyone­ can go home......

Quote: "There is a nightmare a lot of cricketers­ experience that they can't get their pads on when­ they are due in to bat,"
Fact: There is a­ nightmare that many England fans experience that­ CERTAIN England batsmen CAN get their pads on when they­ are due in to bat.

Let's be fair on this, many so called pundits­ linked him to a place in the last test not merely­ because our batting is woeful - which it is, but also­ because the Somerset management said that they thought­ Stresscothick would be open to play and he himself said­ that he would be willing to talk to the England­ selectors and see what they had to say. Then, when­ Windy Miller categorically states he will not be­ selected he has what I can see is the most horrific of­ dreams and makes himself unavailable. It is a fact­ Marcus that people are happy to feel sympathy and­ empathy but when you constantly harp on about something­ that can turn to intolerance unless of course you are­ one of the many fluffy bunnies out there.

To be honest, I'm not surprised at this. I­ commented on another story that Tresco was retired, and­ that is that. To put him into an Ashes decider (as some­ pundits and fans have said), will (to put it bluntly)­ send him to the nearest psych ward. Leave him­ be.
Saying that, I mean no disrespect to him. His test­ record is a very good and honourable one, and to admit­ his illness publicly takes a lot of courage. As an­ Australian, I admire him more for that (illnesses such­ as his can easily be swept under the carpet, especially­ for men) than for being a good servant for England in­ his time. Good luck, Tresco.
I think with Bell's 92­ no. may have given him a stay of execution from the­ England selectors. However, Bell would know failure at­ the Oval would mean curtains for his international­ career.
As for picking Ramprakash? Please do.­ That'll be for us like asking Warne, Langer, Hayden­ or Gilchrist to play. His test average of 27 is nothing­ to write home about, and picking him at 39 years old,­ what does say to young English batsmen? Talk about a­ disincentive. Key is more likely, he has had some­ experience, and at 30 (I think) also has a future at­ test level.

I just cannot understand why players who have­ "retired" are even being considered? - what­ if Marcus had played and then got bowled for a pair? -­ what would those wanting him to play say then? - how­ can England (or any team) move forward if they are­ always trying to regain the past? yes Bopara should be­ dropped but why not Bell at 3 and Trott in the line up­ - with Freddie likely to play surely it is not that big­ a deal? - let's look forward and stop trying to get­ the past back.

Knowing what Marcus has been through in the past over­ this issue, I am surprised that there are cricketing­ officionados out there still banging on about him­ playing internationally. He is a brilliant County­ player, absolutely brilliant so lets appreciate that­ and move on.

Top guts, Tresco, y'always showed guts at the­ crease, showing 'em again now to admit you've­ got a problem. I'll always think of you smacking­ the Aussies around in '85. Be proud of what you­ achieved, son - and be proud of the entertainment you­ provided.

As for now....I'd go against those who­ say Ramps is past it, Cyril Washbrook was 42 when he­ made a comeback in 56 against the Aussies in '56 -­ and scored 97 and, with Peter May, turned that series­ on it's head. As the great Bill Shankly once said,­ "form's temporary - class is permanent."­ And if that wasn't a Shanks quoute, well, it was­ good enough to be one!

Ramps has got class.....bring­ him back. He won't bottle it... horses for courses.­ He's on home ground, he's scored a lot of runs­ there this year.

I haven't forgiven him for­ depriving Lancashire (my team) of the county­ championship a couple of years ago - the s.o.b had to­ go and score two centuries, didn't­ he!

But....I'd still be the first to pick him for­ England, and remember I said this next week when he­ bows out of test cricket with a double­ hundred.....

I've enjoyed your strokeplay, Ramps,­ it'd be nice to see you go out on a high....

There is such a deep bankruptcy of talent that we need­ to be debating on the return or otherwise of a­ Trescothick and a Ramprakash!

Still, gotta be better than getting the trotts at the­ crease.....

I admire you Marcus. Many people have suffered the­ same problems, but have never had the bottle to openly­ admit it in public.

Here we go again. England in a desperate dilemna. Get­ on it, win or lose. It is not fair on the younger­ players. How do u think they feel. Must be gutted.

Tacook - have you ever suffered from stress and panic­ attacks?

It actually take a 'hard' person to­ actually get over this and an even stonger person to­ admit publically of their problems.

More power to­ Marcus - your open approach helps people who suffer­ from this terrible debiliatating illness