England team 2014

[curtd]

The following players have been picked to play in the international games in 2014.
At home to Jersey on the Saturday evening of Bournemouth pairs and away to Guernsey at the beginning of May over the Open weekend.

Congratulations to all concerned.

1. K.Tunstall confirmed
2. P.Sainsbury confirmed
3. C.Driver Captain confirmed
4. N.Senior confirmed
5. M.Trafford confirmed
6. P.Collins confirmed
7. S.Sheard confirmed
... M.James declined
8. L.Beer confirmed
9. D.Ingram confirmed
10 I Lelliott confirmed
11 Simon Coleman confirmed

1st res
Pete Sainsbury confirmed
2nd res
Tony Martin
3rd res
Stephen Coleman


Could I ask that all the above contact myself by phone,txt, pm or email to confirm if they can play in the home game and would ask that this is done by 25th January 2014.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank the selection committee for putting their trust in me and ask the players to be gentle ( at least for the 1st game)

Hope all have a great Xmas and see you in the new year.


Curt

[BB Warrior]

Ian Lelliott would be available for both matches, if required.

Ian has also asked the question of when would we know how many players Jersey and Guernsey are likely to have in the matches?

[curtd]

Dec 10, 2013 0:16:55 GMT BB Warrior said:

Ian Lelliott would be available for both matches, if required.

Ian has also asked the question of when would we know how many players Jersey and Guernsey are likely to have in the matches?

Hi

I am in the process of getting contact details from relevant parties concerning the internationals. When I have spoken to the right people I will update on here.

Thanks

Curt

[curtd]

I have now spoken to Nigel Bisson about the Jersey home game. He said he hopes to have numbers to me soon.

Bob Le Moignan has said they will have 11 for singles and 5 doubles matches for the away game in Guersney.

As info comes through I will post on here.

Curt

[bobhall]

Being curious as someone who would in the future would hope to play for England how is the selection done as to me the people selected does not make sense I am not saying they are not good enough far from it but I figured the people that would be selected would be the top ranked players in the aebba rankings or the Grand Prix players but this is not the case

The only reason I ask is as 1 day I am to play and would love to know how I stand my chance as I intend to fight for my place

[gandalf the untidy]

Dec 11, 2013 2:34:05 GMT bobhall said:

The only reason I ask is as 1 day I am to play and would love to know how I stand my chance as I intend to fight for my place

a season with a 10k average would get you noticed Robbo







[edit] fixed quote - Sav

[Chris_Sav]

Nine of the top ten ranked players form the main body of the side the tenth, Milko, I believe has 'retired'. All of the top ten are thus in so the side is heavily based on the rankings.

Apart from that, some players may not be available or do not wish to be considered. The selectors are also picking a side to play off-the-spot and may consider past performances in an England shirt, some players won't play in the away matches and there are players for the future.

Keep knocking at the door and climb the national rankings, local league counts for nothing in the big picture.

Sav.

[NigelS]

Dec 11, 2013 2:34:05 GMT bobhall said:

Being curious as someone who would in the future would hope to play for England how is the selection done as to me the people selected does not make sense I am not saying they are not good enough far from it but I figured the people that would be selected would be the top ranked players in the aebba rankings or the Grand Prix players but this is not the case

The only reason I ask is as 1 day I am to play and would love to know how I stand my chance as I intend to fight for my place

I can speak here as a selector Bob. Each selector has there own reasons for who they pick but I personally do look closely into what players have done over the past year. So I make a list of players who have made the Grand Prix, are in the top 20 in the rankings and also anyone who played in the England team last year. This year I had a list of around 32 players. I place these players in order of preference for the team based on my feeling of their performances over the last 12 months (in national open tournaments only) and their past England records. If we are playing in Jersey players with a good record in Jersey take a bit of a preference.

Bit surprised you say some of the selections dont make sense, I think the selection committee reached the team very quickly, it was pretty much unanimous. If I were to advise anyone on how to get in the team, it would be just to play well and win matches! But in particular enter opens and if you make the Grand Prix or are ranked in the top 20 you are there or thereabouts

[Chris]

and if you make the Grand Prix or are ranked in the top 20 you are there or thereabouts

Agree with all you said Nigel except the above. Barry Radford has made the Grand Prix two years running, come up the rankings and is a totally solid player with some great scores.

Not saying there is anything wrong at all with the selection committee's choices, just it is not just about the grand prix and rankings.

Chris

[NigelS]

Dec 15, 2013 19:29:32 GMT Chris said:

and if you make the Grand Prix or are ranked in the top 20 you are there or thereabouts

Agree with all you said Nigel except the above. Barry Radford has made the Grand Prix two years running, come up the rankings and is a totally solid player with some great scores.

Not saying there is anything wrong at all with the selection committee's choices, just it is not just about the grand prix and rankings.

Chris

I can assure you Barry has been considered Chrissie, because he has performed well in opens and made the Grand Prix. We struggle to pick him because he never has any Jersey form, as he doesnt go and after all we do play the international on their tables once every 2 years. As I said I had 31 players who had made my shortlist, Barry was one of them.

It is not just about the Grand Prix and rankings but they are very much considered when picking the team.

Nige

[milhouse]

Dec 15, 2013 19:29:32 GMT Chris said:

and if you make the Grand Prix or are ranked in the top 20 you are there or thereabouts

Agree with all you said Nigel except the above. Barry Radford has made the Grand Prix two years running, come up the rankings and is a totally solid player with some great scores.

Not saying there is anything wrong at all with the selection committee's choices, just it is not just about the grand prix and rankings.

Chris

Not to put a dampner on Barry's achievements, but this year he only got into the Grand Prix due to other people dropping out. Plus the other point Nigel made was how individuals got on in Jersey/Guernsey ? Forgive me if i am wrong, but Barry does not attend these competitions ?

[Chris]

Dear Both

I have obviously not explained my post well at all.

I am in no way critising in any way the selection.

I was referring to the criteria given to Bob Hall.

I was suggesting it is not just about that given.

Sorry guys I obviously was not clear enough in my entry on here

Chris x

[bobhall]

I will be honest there is a lot of top class players and would you guys ever be willing to hold an england v selection team from outsider as there are players I would like to sEe in a shirt and I think they could do well

[BB Warrior]

Dec 16, 2013 19:42:46 GMT bobhall said:

I will be honest there is a lot of top class players and would you guys ever be willing to hold an england v selection team from outsider as there are players I would like to sEe in a shirt and I think they could do well

I seem to remember that there was a "friendly" match played a few years ago by the England Team against a Surrey Invitational Team, it was held the night before the Surrey Open at St Nicholas School and it was an enjayble evening for all involved.

The main problems that I could see with holding an event like the one proposed by Bobhall would be trying to fit this into the calendar bearing in mind that it would probably involve a considerable amount of travel for many of the players and possibly overnight accommodation if it were to be played in a similar way to the previous game that I referred to.... if it were a "stand alone" event, then the questions of costs of table hire and finding a venue and suitable date would also have to be taken into consideration as well.

Dec 19, 2013 8:08:10 GMT BB Warrior said:

I seem to remember that there was a "friendly" match played a few years ago by the England Team against a Surrey Invitational Team, it was held the night before the Surrey Open at St Nicholas School and it was an enjayble evening for all involved.

Warrior's right, Surrey used to host a 'friendly International' v the England team on a regular basis (ie every two years) after the all-day Mixed Doubles at the Frenches Club - the day before England were due to take on Jersey. It was great to see, as the Mixed was drawing to its conclusion and finals being played, illustrious faces start to appear (Milko, Auntie Pauline, Dennis Atkins, KT, Paul Sainsbury, Steve Mariner to name but a few). And then us mere mortals would get hammered about 23-5 but it was a supreme honour to be involved.

I can also remember Jersey getting wind of this one year and demanding similar, so we staged a Surrey v Jersey friendly split between two venues (Flying Scud and Old Oak) and I got to play Lemon (= then-recent World Champion) at the Scud !

KT was of course behind the organisation of these warm-up games and I'm sure new England skipper Curt will already be considering something along similar lines.

[milhouse]

Dec 19, 2013 11:15:46 GMT tommo III said:

Dec 19, 2013 8:08:10 GMT BB Warrior said:

I seem to remember that there was a "friendly" match played a few years ago by the England Team against a Surrey Invitational Team, it was held the night before the Surrey Open at St Nicholas School and it was an enjayble evening for all involved.

Warrior's right, Surrey used to host a 'friendly International' v the England team on a regular basis (ie every two years) after the all-day Mixed Doubles at the Frenches Club - the day before England were due to take on Jersey. It was great to see, as the Mixed was drawing to its conclusion and finals being played, illustrious faces start to appear (Milko, Auntie Pauline, Dennis Atkins, KT, Paul Sainsbury, Steve Mariner to name but a few). And then us mere mortals would get hammered about 23-5 but it was a supreme honour to be involved.

I can also remember Jersey getting wind of this one year and demanding similar, so we staged a Surrey v Jersey friendly split between two venues (Flying Scud and Old Oak) and I got to play Lemon (= then-recent World Champion) at the Scud !

KT was of course behind the organisation of these warm-up games and I'm sure new England skipper Curt will already be considering something along similar lines.

I remember this very well Tommo as i had only been playing for about 3/4 years when i went along with Ray Sturgess, Keith Sheard, Steven Sheard and one of the England players did not turn up, so i got asked to play and remember partnering Nigel and after getting a 10k break, then got accused of not giving the England player a go on the table!

[dipper]

You just can`t do right for doing wrong, (an old Sussex saying).

[curtd]

Hi all

England team now confirmed for home game against Jersey.

Happy new year

Curt