That is the thing, he has batted in 6 positions in 31 games with 14 of those innings being at number 7. For what he has had to work with it had been a rather good effort.
As far as the Bopara question is concerned... Bopara has done poorly in ODIs so far in his career. The main reason for this is that he's been asked to play a role he is not good enough to play and is highly unlikely ever to be so.
It is pretty unfair to expect a newcomer, which he still is, to come in and start winning games for England. If we're not winning games at the moment, it is down to the experienced consistent selections to pull their fingers out, not a guy that is in and out of the team.
Sounds completely logical to me: unlike some of the criticisms, which I find unfathomable. To write off his half-centuries simply because we lost the games is odd, imo. Sure, his thrash at the fag-end of the 1st game in this series was an irrelevance, but it's hardly his fault if others failed to produce on the other occasions. And the bald statement that he is the "statistically" the 3rd worst ODIer is meaningless without a clue or two about exactly what those statistics are. imho, anyway.
7 itself is low imho in ODIs.
well yeah, but i'm allowing for someone to go up, say flintoff, gilchrist, mccullum, who are not really specialist top 6 batsmen, which quite often happens.
The trouble is, there's an abundance of these. In trying to fit them (and mediocrities like Shah, Prior etc.) in someone will inevitably get shoved down to the six and seven positions.
i'd stick with shah and bopara, seen both of them play some excellent cameos, which was a sign of the potential, but for fvck sake just try to stick with a combination for more than a nanosecond.
batted at 6 more than anywhere else, and i suggest he's no bevan, he's actually 30 already :O
I can't see where you can fault Shah since his return. I will admit that he hasn't been consistent, but nor have any other England batsmen.
Exactly. TBH, I think he has been one of England's best since mid 2007. Collingwood has been in decline since the CB series in Australia and no other English batsmen have been remotely consistent (maybe Bell).
you reckon colly's done ?
You make a fair point. Im surprised that not one person has talked about how appalling Pietersen's dismissal was yesterday. Just a few deliveries earlier, he came down the track and hit Yuvraj for a six over long on and could so easily have been caught considering that he didnt even get to the pitch off the ball. Then he came down the track and did the same with Harbhajan, got nowhere near the pitch off the ball and still went for all out for with the stroke. Worse, was the fact that at that point in time it was completely unnecessary as England were actually in a fairly healthy position. Players like Pietersen seem to get away with a lot of slack, hes been fairly ordinary in ODI cricket for a LONG time now. Dont let his record fool you, his more recent record is no better than anyone else in the England side.
Dont think Collingwood was very good to begin with tbh. Hes always been a middling cricketer who contributes a fair bit in all aspects on the field. He rose above his usual level for one series and quickly dissolved back into the depths of mediocrity that fit his career like a solved jigsaw puzzle.
Actually, having just rewatched the highlights of the England innings, I have to say that the opening partnership was the best display I have seen by any 2 openers in an England shirt since Knight and Trescothick. Some of those strokes were picture perfect from both openers IMO and theres definetly a case for Bopara opening. Its fine to want 2 specialist openers but when the best options are Key and Denly both of whom have dismal List A records, its worth a shot to give these 2 a good run at the top.
There was but hes currently playing in the ICL. Im sure there are other options, but the problem is that England are obsessed with picking a wicket keeper that can play match winning innings when instead they should be looking for someone who can provide match changing innings.Prior is a joke and should not be anywhere near the side. Its hard to really see the logic behind why Prior was reconsidered for ODI selection. Its even harder to see how Prior was batting ahead of 6-7 players who were superior to him.