Where do England go from here?

[Bob Bamber]

Its been a pretty tortureous time for England over the last 6 months. Few would have invisiged the Commonwealth Bank series win. But a 5-0 mullering in Austrailia followed by some pretty horrible and unconvincing performances in the carribean. Just wondering what you guys think England should do this summer.

I think Vaughan needs to go. Its been the main problem with the side over the past year , they've always been captained by the 'stand in'. And Vaughan as ive been saying is now in there in as a specialist captain , particularly evident in the One Dayers. Drop him , he hasn't been in form since the 2002 - 03 Ashes series. And is still riding on that series.

I'm not too sure about the keeping situation. I have faith in Nixon as a One Day keeper , but Id much prefer Nic Pothas as the test keeper , because it takes some of the pressure of an underperforming Andrew Flintoff.

Trescothick , is now causing problems. And there not really good. Hes missed 2 consectutive winters through stress related illness. And is talking up his return in similar ways than he did last year. I don't see the point in having Tresco in the side if hes only going to play in England.

The one day openers. They've been a problem for a while now. And without Pietersen I think a proper strategy would have been long sorted by know. I still think Mal Loye is the man for the job. Either with Trescothick , or if hes still got stress related issues , someone like Jonathan Batty (would solve the keeping problem) , James Benning or Darren Maddy. I'm not convinced with this whole 'piddle around at the start' thing at the moment. Austrailia and Sri Lanka are sucessful for two reasons. One because they've got good bowlers who can bowl straight. But they take advantage of the the early overs.

Just wondering how you guys would sort out Englands problems at the moment.

 

[open365]

Where does it go?

You may not believe it, but probably downwards.

 

[Woodster]

Well in terms of the Vaughan situation, he needs to show some form in the last 2 games to maintain his ODI position. If he is to be dropped from that side, then Collingwood imo should be made the new captain.

However, without wanting to get too far ahead of myself, he did top score today against Bangladesh, despite looking far from his best, I hope he makes some runs against SA and WI. In terms of Test cricket, he is much more suited to this and I would certainly continue to pick him in this format.

Keeping issue - Yes I would agree with Nixon, for now, in the ODI's, he has added something down the order and his constant chipper must be both uplifting and amusing!

I would like to see James Foster brought into the Test team to bat at 7 (or maybe 6), ahead of Matt Prior who has recently impressed with the 'A' team.

Finally, yes I think we've missed a trick in this W.C. with the non-selection of Mal Loye, who would certainly have offered us something different at the top of the order. Joyce, Vaughan, Bell, Strauss all similar style of players, we have missed a power hitter at the top.

I am an optimist however, and would like to think we can wrap up a nice comfortable series victory over W.I. at the start of the summer, and also edge out India later on.

 

[Poker Boy]

Vaughan has to go as ODI captain - as I wrote somewhere else I don't think he would have been ODI captain in any other country. What people outside England might not know is he isn't just a poor ODI player he is a poor one day player period. In 259 List A innings he has three centuaries and his list A average is a not good enough 28.55. This isn't a case of being a good batsman in domestic cricket but not as international level (like Brearley). Add to that his appaling fielding - the sitter he dropped yesterday is by no means his first - and you have a captain who can't bat and can't field.(unlike Brearley who from what I've seen of him was a good slip fielder) What's the difference between that and a spinner who can't bat and field, eh Duncan?
I'd keep him as Test captain for now as he has scored Test runs in the past - but I'd split the captaincy with Vaughan captaining in Tests (Strauss as vice-captain) and assuming Freddie is still in the dog house have Collingwood as ODI captain with Tresco as vice-captain. That might seem ridiculous but it brings me to another point. Tresco is the player we have missed most in this WC as the nearest we have to Hayden, Gilchrist, Gayle or Jayasuria so if I was Fletch (or his succsessor, if there is one) I'd cut a deal with him. If you agree to play on to the next WC (he'll be 35 then) he can just concentrate on ODIs (with Strauss and Cook as openers we have less need of him in Test cricket) and it might avoid his mental problems (the tours would be shorter).
As for the wicket keeper shame Nixon isn't five years younger! He's proved a point - IMO we should have picked him after the 1999 WC when we briefely dropped Stewie from the ODI team and took the gloves off him in Tests for an even briefer time - but as he has no long term future I'd pick Foster for the Tests (while hoping Geriant can get his batting confidence back in CC) and pick Davies for ODIs to groom him for the Test job long term (well it worked for the Aussies and Gilchrist didn't it). Meanwhile I'd see how Harmison and SJ perform in CC because if both could get back to their best they would still be in ahead of Mahmood and Anderson.
Two points - believe it or not I'm worried about us getting to WC SF. Once there anything can happen (remember Pakistan in 1992) and if we stole the WC like we did the CB series it might disguise our weaknesses which would be a disaster. Secondly WI and India seem to be in even more trouble than we are so we could still have a good summer....

 

[honestbharani]

I have always been surprised at how, inspite of the plethora of OD games that they play in a county season, England always seem to struggle in this format.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Home?

 

[Poker Boy]

I have always been surprised at how, inspite of the plethora of OD games that they play in a county season, England always seem to struggle in this format.

But a lot of them are over 45/40 overs not 50. And we didn't have power plays in our domestic OD cricket (they are coming in to the FP (the former C & G) this year..stable doors and horses come to mind as far as this WC is concerned... )

 

[MoxPearl]

Cant win the rugby.. cant win the cricket... cant win the soccer

all a bit funny :P

 

[nikky12345]

Big Dick

 

[simmy]

Cant win the rugby.. cant win the cricket... cant win the soccer

all a bit funny :P

We are World Champions at something at least. What do NZ have? Nothing?!?!

 

[steds]

We are World Champions at something at least.

Days are numbered though.

 

[Nishant]

Big Dick

calm down!

 

[Sandman]

We are World Champions at something at least. What do NZ have? Nothing?!?!

Winning one competition doesn't make u the best in the world, especially when u cant even beat **** teams following that miracle. Lets see England even make the quarters of the rugby WC this year...

And Mal Loye is a joke, England will have to do a lot better than him if they want to start winning again. Vaughn is poo too. He's made a career out of a couple of half decent seasons. The guy hasn't even scored a ODI hundred...

 

[Tomm NCCC]

Big Dick

Intresting point, although Im not entirely in agreement with the points you raise

England keep playing and playing, but find some confidence. In all honesty, Englands undercooked bowling attack has gotten better recently, it is the top order that needs sorting out... I feel that, and I knwo you will give me some dirty looks for this, that Ravi Bopara should bat at 3

We've seen him hit runs quicky, and if he comes in, hits a run-a-ball 30 or whatever, England can pull away from teams early on in the innigs and give themselves the chance of getting into a really good position from the word go.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I reckon that had we had Trescothick playing in the Ashes, we wouldn't have lost 5-0. If you look at the Strauss-Trescothick partnership, and compare it to Strauss-Cook, then I'll be damned if Strauss-Trescothick isn't twice as good. Having the score at 10/1 every time puts the middle order under strain, a solid opening partnership of 60+ leads the way for a hogh total.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

We are World Champions at something at least. What do NZ have? Nothing?!?!

Softball (3-times consecutively)

And thats just of the top of my head.

Anywho.....

 

[marc71178]

But a lot of them are over 45/40 overs not 50. And we didn't have power plays in our domestic OD cricket (they are coming in to the FP (the former C & G) this year..stable doors and horses come to mind as far as this WC is concerned... )

Last night on TMS they said the power plays weren't going to be used.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

I reckon that had we had Trescothick playing in the Ashes, we wouldn't have lost 5-0. If you look at the Strauss-Trescothick partnership, and compare it to Strauss-Cook, then I'll be damned if Strauss-Trescothick isn't twice as good. Having the score at 10/1 every time puts the middle order under strain, a solid opening partnership of 60+ leads the way for a hogh total.

Yeah, bingo. The higher the opening partnership, the higher the team score, and the higher the morale is aswell. Pressure to score is usually removed, so players can play almost care-free cricket

 

[Ash_A55]

I'd preffer to see a Cook-Threscothick opening partnership TBH

 

[Swervy]

all this doom and gloom...I reckon England will be favourites this summer vs Indians and WIs in the tests