Why should Oram be a replacement?

Well recent news has its say that the England all-rounder Paul Collingwood has been replaced by the New Zealand hard hitting batsman cum bowler Jacob Oram. One has to decide as to what on earth makes anybody go in for a replacement for Paul Collingwood who is not that gifted with hard hitting abilities. No matter that Paul Collingwood has had a lot of contribution to English side especially in the Ashes. Jacob Oram himself is a star player and having him replace someone else should not go down as a decent move whatsoever. In my sence, Oram is better than Collingwood.

I can remember Jacob Oram belting the Aussie bowlers in the Commonwealth Bank series 2006/07 when he scored an unbeaten 101 off just 71 balls chasing a mammoth total of 344 and falling short of the total by 8 runs when they finished at 335 on board. If the teams they played for are given a closer look at, then Jacob Oram comes from New Zealand which is a better outfit compared to England. Jacob Oram was instrumental in the victory over the Proteas in the quarter-finals of the 2011 world cup concluded last week. Justifying Oram makes no sense when things are so evident.

If at all Paul Collingwood is to be given a preference, then it would be in his fielding when videos suggest the spectacular catches he has taken. I can recall the catch of Mathew Hayden taken by Paul Collingwood in the Natwest trophy 2006 which was similar to the one taken against West Indies in the 2007 world cup in the super eights. That catch was one among the five best dismissals of that year collected by ESPN. In the year next to that as well, Collingwood's spectacular catch in the slips against Pakistan was recorded as the fourth best dismissal of that year.

With players recently auctioned, one has to nothing but wait to see who would be taking sides in the Rajasthan Royals' side. Of course, the team will be captained by Shane Warne. If the squad is considered, the big hitters include Ross Taylor, Shaun Tait, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha and Swapnil Asnbodkar. Having someone like Jacob Oram is a must with Rahul Dravid, and Asnodkar not being upto the mark in a T20 tournament. Of course, Shane Watson can fill in the blocks in case he is available after the series against Bangladesh gets over. That would be a day after the 1^st IPL match would have got over.