***Official*** England in Sri Lanka 2014

[Tromperie]

When Cook starts hitting sixes against you, you know you have a popgun attack...

 

[viriya]

Its a natural progression i suppose, he is always the type of guy who puts whats best for the country first.I know that sounds strange and people will no doubt say , how, by dropping us in it and leaving, but he has to go sometime and if it were me, i would rather go at the top of my game than when i am a burden to the team..

Sanga is so far ahead of all other SL batsmen bar Mathews that he won't be a burden for a long time. Even if he starts averaging 40 he'd be our best option.

 

[duffer]

Sanga is so far ahead of all other SL batsmen bar Mathews that he won't be a burden for a long time. Even if he starts averaging 40 he'd be our best option.

That said, it's fresh to see a guy go before he's pushed. Still world class, great way to go if they can lift the Cup.

 

[viriya]

SL are not winning the WC.. I was gonna root for SA but now it looks like even NZ might be a better option.. Just not Aus/Ind please.

 

[ImpatientLime]

ian bell 16 (35) 4s 1 6s 0 45.71sr

classic

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Another all LOI tour? FFS. Been too many of these pointless tours.

In fairness we don't do them very often. Not away anyway. No problem with doing it in the months leading into a world cup but not sure what we gain from playing in Sri Lanka when the conditions in the WC will be totally different.

 

[duffer]

In fairness we don't do them very often. Not away anyway. No problem with doing it in the months leading into a world cup but not sure what we gain from playing in Sri Lanka when the conditions in the WC will be totally different.

You can still work on things like death bowling, trying people in different roles etc.

 

[YorksLanka]

congrats to England, very convincing result..Ali seems to have settled in really well to opening...shame that we may lose a fair proportion of these matches to rain...

 

[Cabinet96]

England haven't played ODI's in Sri Lanka for 7 years. Still pointless because I don't like ODI's though. Not like there's a world cup coming or anything.

I suspect the result will be grim, but I'm still strangely excited for this series. Will probably be a few weeks of waking up early then going to back to sleep when we're 20-3 off 10.

 

[Energetic]

7 ODIs is too much.

 

[Maximas]

Testing combinations and playing cricket together as a side in the lead up to a tournament is just as important as playing in the right conditions IMO, plus ODIs in SL tend to get played on the fastest pitches in the country, not saying much but these aren't dustbowls or anything.

I strongly suspect the Mahela's retirement has influenced Sanga a bit, must be hard to continue on without him after all these years, not only that but he has little left to prove and has a young family, wouldn't blame him at all if he retired after NZ, would love to see him stay on and mentor the youngsters a bit, Dilshan, Samaraweera, MJ and Sanga going within 2 or so years would be really tough

 

[Howe_zat]

England haven't played ODI's in Sri Lanka for 7 years. Still pointless because I don't like ODI's though. Not like there's a world cup coming or anything.

I suspect the result will be grim, but I'm still strangely excited for this series. Will probably be a few weeks of waking up early then going to back to sleep when we're 20-3 off 10.

Yeah people mixing up 'I don't care' with 'no one cares' grinds my goat too

 

[theegyptian]

Would be great for team balance if Moeen becomes good enough as an opener and his spin bowling continues to develop. Even if he averages 30 with the bat at strike rate 90 you take that if he was your main spinner. Like Hafeez but as your main spinner ... and striking at 90 rp100 rather than 70.



In Australia and NZ for the wc we're not gonna want two spinners so it will be either Ali or Tredwell. Ali isn't a good enough bat to be selected as a batsman alone( he'd be a 6th bowler if tredwell played and you've got better candidates for that in Root and Bopara)

It's really harsh on Tredwell if he is dropped but Ali has outbowled him in the limited games they've played together and Tredwell hasn't performed well in aus. If they feel that there will be little help for the spinners in the world cup you can see them going with Ali because of the greater batting pedigree.


Come the WC you either play Ali (and no Tredwell) and probably open with him

Ali, Cook, Hales/Bell, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Bopara, Woakes/Jordan, Broad, Finn, Anderson.


Or play Tredwell and (thus don't play Ali) and you probably have to play Stokes or Woakes at 7 which I have concerns about from both batting and bowling standpoints.

Cook, Hales, Bell, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes, Tredwell, Broad, Finn, Anderson.

 

[theegyptian]

What sucks for England is Gurney. I'd like a left armer instead of 4 right arm tallish seamers but he can barely hold a bat in his hands and is a liability in the field. Australia have got it right with their next generation of bowlers nearly all being able batsman and decent athletes in the field. Gurney just isn't a good enough bowler to make up for the shortcomings in the other areas - especially as England have Anderson, Finn and kinda Broad who can't bat anyway at the bottom of the order- and who are all better bowlers.

 

[ImpatientLime]

whaddaya think of gurney as a bowler though?

like mo up top and hales first drop. mo has batted with some degree of success for worcs at the top i believe. a list a record of 30 @sr 100 ain't so bad.

 

[theegyptian]

Gurney is average to poor on an international standard imo. Pushes the ball across the right hander and seems to get some natural variation in pace from his action which makes it difficult for batsmen when trying to get after him towards the end of an innings. Isn't gonna take many wickets in conventional new ball ways because he doesn't really swing it into the right hander and isn't that consistent -probably comes from the average action. His overall usefullness as a ODI bowler is probably on a par with Jordan and Woakes.

I like the idea of different variation in the team more than anything. England don't have 4 quality seamers to send out there and just bowl high quality seam/pace so there needs to be some variation. Gurney is no quality bowler and I can't see him being around after the world cup (if he makes it that far).

He's always going to lose out to others unless his bowling really improves.

 

[FBU]

Would be great for team balance if Moeen becomes good enough as an opener and his spin bowling continues to develop. Even if he averages 30 with the bat at strike rate 90 you take that if he was your main spinner. Like Hafeez but as your main spinner ... and striking at 90 rp100 rather than 70.



In Australia and NZ for the wc we're not gonna want two spinners so it will be either Ali or Tredwell. Ali isn't a good enough bat to be selected as a batsman alone( he'd be a 6th bowler if tredwell played and you've got better candidates for that in Root and Bopara)

It's really harsh on Tredwell if he is dropped but Ali has outbowled him in the limited games they've played together and Tredwell hasn't performed well in aus. If they feel that there will be little help for the spinners in the world cup you can see them going with Ali because of the greater batting pedigree.


Come the WC you either play Ali (and no Tredwell) and probably open with him

Ali, Cook, Hales/Bell, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Bopara, Woakes/Jordan, Broad, Finn, Anderson.


Or play Tredwell and (thus don't play Ali) and you probably have to play Stokes or Woakes at 7 which I have concerns about from both batting and bowling standpoints.

Cook, Hales, Bell, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes, Tredwell, Broad, Finn, Anderson.

I wouldn't mind seeing for the WC
Cook Ali Hales Root Stokes Morgan Buttler Woakes Broad Finn Anderson

 

[grecian]

Nah, Tredders may not have the best record in Oz, but he's an infinitely better ODI bowler than Jordan, Woakes and possibly Gurney.

He did bowl well yesterday too apparently, just didn't pick up the wickets.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah people mixing up 'I don't care' with 'no one cares' grinds my goat too

Kaka boom

 

[marc71178]

ian bell 16 (35) 4s 1 6s 0 45.71sr

classic

Spot the person who hasn't been following Ian Bell in one day games in the last few years.