Would an England second team challenge in international cricket?

With the recent loss in the first test in the three test series with South Africa it could be seen that England call on reinforcements to strengthen the side later in the series. This week it has been said that Ravi Bopara will drop out for personal reasons and James Taylor will come in as his replacement. However if a player as talented as Taylor can only be included with a drop out, just how strong is our second team? It has been said that our second team would challenge most international sides so who would be in that second string side and would they actually be able to challenge at international level.


Obviously England Lions has tour games and is used to provide some sort of international competition for upcoming players however if our best possible second eleven was in the test scene just how well would they do? My England second eleven would be as follows;


1. Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
2. Joe Root (Yorkshire)
3. Samit Patel (Nootinghamshire)
4.James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)
5.Jonathon Bairstow (Yorkshire)
6. Eoin Morgan ( Middlesex)
7. Craig Kieswetter (Somerset)
8. Chris Tremlett (Hampshire)
9. Graham Onions (Durham)
10. Danny Briggs (Hampshire)
11. Stephen Finn ( Middlesex)


If the above team was an actual test team in my opinion we would definitely challenge teams such as New Zealand, Bangladesh, and the West Indies. This goes to prove just how strong our current crop of players is and how hard it must be for selectors with the eleven above not even making it into the team. Players such as Finn who is tried and tested in test cricket and has picked up 56 wickets at just 27.42. Eion Morgan could also feel unlucky to not be in the setup after already scoring 2 centuries and averaging 30.43. With players like this in the second string side it would be hard not to say that they would beat the likes of Bangladesh.


So this bodes well for English cricket as we have so much strength in depth and when the opportunity does arise for someone to step up they have to take their chance as otherwise there is plenty more talent champing at the bit for their spot. Selectors would rather have this type of selection problem than a selection problem that England would have had in the 90’s with a solid team never being found which was reflected obviously in their results. However this is fortunately not the case now with England being ranked number 1 in the world and a host of reserves to choose from that could safely nestle into most teams. This really is a golden age for English cricket and with the players coming through hopefully it will continue into the future.

Written by Joel Waller