*Official* England in West Indies

[steds]

Another typical England game.

 

[four_or_six]

They can keep on criticising Strauss for being slow, but we lost this run chase because KP, Shah and Collingwood have contributed 35 runs between them.

 

[Jamee999]

Meanwhile: Nikita. Girls' name, surely?

The former Soviet Union says...da, as I don't know what the Russian for no is.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The former Soviet Union says...da, as I don't know what the Russian for no is.

 

[wpdavid]

Gareth Batty must be one of least effective players ever to feature in a odi for us. One wicket every 2nd game and a batting average of 2 is spectacularly poor.


EDIT
And sure enough he runs himself out too. Nicely done mate.

 

[King Pietersen]

Anyone think Ian Botham massively over-rates Sulieman Benn? He had 1 good game in the Test series, where he looked threatening at Jamaica. But as soon as England started attacking him, he looked nothing more than average. He's a good Twenty20 bowler, but to be as impressed with him as Botham is confuses me.

 

[Scaly piscine]

They can keep on criticising Strauss for being slow, but we lost this run chase because KP, Shah and Collingwood have contributed 35 runs between them.

Lost because Batty/Prior are piss poor and Shah scored too slowly.

 

[four_or_six]

Anyone think Ian Botham massively over-rates Sulieman Benn? He had 1 good game in the Test series, where he looked threatening at Jamaica. But as soon as England started attacking him, he looked nothing more than average. He's a good Twenty20 bowler, but to be as impressed with him as Botham is confuses me.

Yeah, I thought he was rubbish when I saw him in an ODI before. One of the Australia ones last year.

 

[King Pietersen]

More woeful running from England, great fielding from Miller, but poor running from Batty. So he's not good enough to bowl his 10 overs on a slow bowlers paradise, he's ridiculously slow in the field, and he can't bat. Cracking selection, why the hell wasn't James Tredwell brought in? He was 2nd to Swann a while back, but has seemingly been forgotten. Certainly a heck of alot better than Batty.

Time for Harmison to smack a few runs like he did with Plunkett (iirc) in the Pro40 last season.

 

[Uppercut]

Lost because Batty/Prior are piss poor and Shah scored too slowly.

Lost because they scored less runs than the other team.

 

[wpdavid]

More woeful running from England, great fielding from Miller, but poor running from Batty. So he's not good enough to bowl his 10 overs on a slow bowlers paradise, he's ridiculously slow in the field, and he can't bat. Cracking selection, why the hell wasn't James Tredwell brought in? He was 2nd to Swann a while back, but has seemingly been forgotten. Certainly a heck of alot better than Batty.

As is Blackwell.

 

[Uppercut]

Strauss can't sweep. Why does he keep trying to.

 

[ozone]

Am I the only one thinking Strauss has actually batted quite well? If those around him hadn't fallen apart, England could quite possibly be needing 30 off the last 8 with Strauss having played the anchor role. Even with the situation, he's made sure he's stuck around whilst the others have crumbled. People who criticise him for not adjusting and smacking the ball about having lost the wickets are looking for reasons to drop him.

 

[wpdavid]

Am I the only one thinking Strauss has actually batted quite well? If those around him hadn't fallen apart, England could quite possibly be needing 30 off the last 8 with Strauss having played the anchor role. Even with the situation, he's made sure he's stuck around whilst the others have crumbled. People who criticise him for not adjusting and smacking the ball about having lost the wickets are looking for reasons to drop him.

Agreed - there's room for one guy to bat like this. It's not as if we're chasing 300+

 

[alw1971]

Am I the only one thinking Strauss has actually batted quite well? If those around him hadn't fallen apart, England could quite possibly be needing 30 off the last 8 with Strauss having played the anchor role. Even with the situation, he's made sure he's stuck around whilst the others have crumbled. People who criticise him for not adjusting and smacking the ball about having lost the wickets are looking for reasons to drop him.

I agree!

 

[superkingdave]

Agreed - there's room for one guy to bat like this. It's not as if we're chasing 300+

Room for one maybe, think if Strauss is to play, Shah maybe shouldn't. Trott should really be batting 4

 

[Uppercut]

Am I the only one thinking Strauss has actually batted quite well? If those around him hadn't fallen apart, England could quite possibly be needing 30 off the last 8 with Strauss having played the anchor role. Even with the situation, he's made sure he's stuck around whilst the others have crumbled. People who criticise him for not adjusting and smacking the ball about having lost the wickets are looking for reasons to drop him.

No, you're right, he's done nothing wrong. He just hasn't looked remotely fluent at any stage. Missed and edged and such quite a bit.

 

[King Pietersen]

As is Blackwell.

Blackwell's a decent shout actually. Good with the bat and handy with the ball, not going to run through a side with his spin, but still better than Batty. Why on earth Rashid's in the ODi squad is beyond me as well. Sure he's got potential, but he's got 17 List A wickets, would just be Panesar Mk II, and it's not like he's run through county attacks either. This ODi squad is not big enough, and includes far too many players that shouldn't be there. Rashid, Batty, Strauss, Bell and Prior should not be in there. Picking guys like Tredwell, Blackwell, Trott, Napier, Foster, Bresnan, Wright, Joseph and Key could all be considered. We're just not picking OD players, but just the same old Test players that aren't performing. Just glad Alastair Cook's not in the ODi squad anymore.

Although saying Strauss, he is batting very nicely today. Has been a lone ranger out there, would be magnificent if he could somehow lead England to a win here.

 

[Uppercut]

Jonathan Trott's continued absence from the ODI squad is the biggest "WTF" for me.

 

[wpdavid]

Blackwell's a decent shout actually. Good with the bat and handy with the ball, not going to run through a side with his spin, but still better than Batty.

The odd thing about Blackwell's odi career was that his bowling was far better than his batting. But at least he has the potential to make some runs and probably needed the confidence of managing it once or twice. Batty's always been a dud, and I don't get his slection at all.