perennial nearly-man James Anderson
"nearly-man"? Ouch. That's harsh.
The whole English bowling attack are nearly men. Harmison had a couple of great seasons, but hasn't got anywhere near that sort of form since then, and the rest put in an occasional good performance, but are rightly ranked well down the list of top international bowlers. Even Freddie, despite his five-for yesterday, seldom puts in match winning performances, and the fact that we have struggled to take twenty wickets in a Test all winter says it all for me.
As for a woman playing in a men's Test match? Well I'm sure we could produce a girl who could run around in the field with as much skill, stamina and athleticism as Monty, but whether we could produce one with the ability, reflexes and intestinal fortitude to stand at the wicket when a world class quickie is chucking it down at ninety miles an hour is another thing altogether.
But congratulations to Claire Taylor, (and all the girls who did so well). The accolade is well deserved and she's certainly the stand out cricketer on that list.
I'm interested in why you think exhaustion would be a factor in women playing men's cricket. I can't readily see any reason why a woman couldn't hop around for a few days as easily as a mildly fit man.
The issue would have to be (as almost always) strength and speed. A fast-bowler, for example, seems intuitively unlikely. But then again, spinning is a game of strength as well, deceptively so.
But why I think you may be right in your prediction (that we will see women in top-flight cricket) is the relative shallowness of the cricket pool. Women are never going to play top-flight soccer, because the pool is so deep. But a very good female athlete could well, imho, make a top-flight cricketer. Perhaps.
The usual question arises. If women are just as qualified, or if there is any idea they might be, why do they have their own league? Why don't they compete with men so they can get better? Does feminism now abjure Darwin? Would Taylor have won this medal if she had been competing with men? If not, how is she the "standout cricketer on the list"? How many men would have done as well as or better than she did playing against girls? How paternalistically patronizing to insist that the best girl should get a medal for no other real reason than that she's a girl.
I seem to recall a certain Sri Lankan team back in '96 that wasn't exactly overstaffed with behemoths. Of course they did benefit from the odd forfeiture from teams that didn't fancy being Tamil targets.
