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

[Dan]

He averages 36 at a 100 SR in List As with 8 tons from 84 innings.. I don't think he's just a 20 over slogger.

Incidentally, Hales' record there is remarkably similar to Josh Cobb's (37 ave @ 100 SR, 10-11 innings per ton). And Cobb should be nowhere near the England ODI team.

That's not to say Hales doesn't deserve a go, just that his stats really aren't remarkable at all in the context of England's List A comps in recent years. High scores all over the place.

Actually, screw it, Cobb & Moeen to open at the World Cup IMO.

 

[theegyptian]

I'm fairly sure they would have Rankin in the team right now were it not for the massive doubts over his general fitness. It just takes him so long to get going at the start of a season/tour/whatever that he is a liability.

Watching Finn bowl is kinda sad when comparing him to the ODI bowler of two years ago. Damn he bowled well on tours in the UAE and India (and even NZ with the shortened runup in 2013). He's bowled ok in this series but he's barely got it past 135km/h in this series and just doesn't look a threat. Still the third best fast bowler behind Anderson and Broad; just not the threat that England would have hoped.

 

[Furball]

I mean the whole year. Chopping and changing and picking then dropping Ballance for no real reason, still not having a top 3 sorted just a few weeks away from the thing starting. Finn looks to have gone backwards again so what the hell have they done to him?

It's the same **** as leading into the last 2 World Cups, remember the Mal Loye debacle in 2007 and Prior returning from nowhere in 2011?

 

[grecian]

Yes, we always talk about long-term plans then panic ridiculously in the run-in when we realise our side is crap.

I see Eoin Morgan was warned for slow over-rates, nice continuity with the captaincy there.

 

[Jarquis]

Has anyone worked out what Ben Stokes does yet?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Has anyone worked out what Ben Stokes does yet?

Good in the dressing room (well smashing it up)

 

[Cabinet96]

Hales was always hyped up before he merited it because of T20Is and Big Bash. Anyone who was complaining about him not being in the side before last season was just being stupid, but he did have a pretty great season last year in all formats. Can't really be bothered checking but I'd wager his record has improved a lot since this time last year. I think on the back of it he definitely merits a decent run, but it's still hard given he hasn't really done anything yet. I still feel really uneasy about judging performances in SL as a reason for why a player should or shouldn't be playing in Aus/NZ though.

I'm fairly sure they would have Rankin in the team right now were it not for the massive doubts over his general fitness. It just takes him so long to get going at the start of a season/tour/whatever that he is a liability.

Watching Finn bowl is kinda sad when comparing him to the ODI bowler of two years ago. Damn he bowled well on tours in the UAE and India (and even NZ with the shortened runup in 2013). He's bowled ok in this series but he's barely got it past 135km/h in this series and just doesn't look a threat. Still the third best fast bowler behind Anderson and Broad; just not the threat that England would have hoped.

Yeah, our best period of one day cricket in my lifetime occurred with Trott and Finn as our best players. He had a really good 18 month period and if he bowled like he did then in the WC he'd be a contender for best bowler in the tournament IMO. As a result of that and the general mediocrity of other options I'd definitely just tell him he's in and pray he gets it back. Him in form along with Broad and Anderson has the makings for a pretty good attack.

 

[viriya]

Incidentally, Hales' record there is remarkably similar to Josh Cobb's (37 ave @ 100 SR, 10-11 innings per ton). And Cobb should be nowhere near the England ODI team.

That's not to say Hales doesn't deserve a go, just that his stats really aren't remarkable at all in the context of England's List A comps in recent years. High scores all over the place.

Actually, screw it, Cobb & Moeen to open at the World Cup IMO.

I didn't realize that great List A records don't mean much for county players.. just that I think in another team (like SL) if you had a guy who was the only bloke to make a T20I ton for you, he would be an automatic selection in the ODI side. Look at SL picking a Kusal with a terrible record over and over - if they had someone like Hales he would've played the whole year by now.

 

[social]

Strange really, I think this tour has gone okay.

1 win, two tight matches, better than I expected which was a royal thrashing. Plus points, Moeens form, Taylor getting a chance and delivering, and despite some wides Jordan has looked good with the ball. Good performances at times from Root, Bop, Morgan too. With Jimmeh and Broad back they may do okay in Oz.

Hales, Stokes and Finn the major disappointments, along with Cook being Cook.

Given Moeen's alleged weakness against the short ball, I really wonder how much relevance this series has to the WC

 

[brockley]

Good win for Sri Lanka but 40 overs of spin will leave them short for the World cup.Plus 1 of their key pace bowlers smashed.

 

[grecian]

Given Moeen's alleged weakness against the short ball, I really wonder how much relevance this series has to the WC

It's ODI's, short balls don't play that big a part. Plenty of people with that alleged deficiency have thrived in shorter formats.

In the end, he's shown he can improvise, and has shots all over the park.

 

[marc71178]

I just think he deserves more than 5 ODIs to prove his worth.. Now Eng are just running out of time for the WC but they should've given him a run much earlier.

There was no justification for picking him before they did as 2014 was his first even passable season.

 

[marc71178]

I didn't realize that great List A records don't mean much for county players.. just that I think in another team (like SL) if you had a guy who was the only bloke to make a T20I ton for you, he would be an automatic selection in the ODI side. Look at SL picking a Kusal with a terrible record over and over - if they had someone like Hales he would've played the whole year by now.

So why have we never seen you crying out for Richard Levi then?

 

[viriya]

So why have we never seen you crying out for Richard Levi then?

Never paid attention to him.. and SA don't have an issue at the top of the order.

 

[grecian]

Never paid attention to him.. and SA don't have an issue at the top of the order.

TBH, neither did we for a while, when Cook came back to ODI's he was playing well, KP and Bell both did well there, and Trott was omnipotent at 3.

Hales wasn't scoring runs in list A at the time either.

 

[social]

I'm fairly sure they would have Rankin in the team right now were it not for the massive doubts over his general fitness. It just takes him so long to get going at the start of a season/tour/whatever that he is a liability.

Watching Finn bowl is kinda sad when comparing him to the ODI bowler of two years ago. Damn he bowled well on tours in the UAE and India (and even NZ with the shortened runup in 2013). He's bowled ok in this series but he's barely got it past 135km/h in this series and just doesn't look a threat. Still the third best fast bowler behind Anderson and Broad; just not the threat that England would have hoped.

Last night was the first time that I have seen him bowl since last year's Ashes and he didn't look to have any rhythm whatsoever

Obviously not ideal conditions for a bowler of his type but something about his run-up and action just looked wrong

 

[Furball]

Hales was always hyped up before he merited it because of T20Is and Big Bash. Anyone who was complaining about him not being in the side before last season was just being stupid, but he did have a pretty great season last year in all formats. Can't really be bothered checking but I'd wager his record has improved a lot since this time last year. I think on the back of it he definitely merits a decent run, but it's still hard given he hasn't really done anything yet. I still feel really uneasy about judging performances in SL as a reason for why a player should or shouldn't be playing in Aus/NZ though.



Yeah, our best period of one day cricket in my lifetime occurred with Trott and Finn as our best players. He had a really good 18 month period and if he bowled like he did then in the WC he'd be a contender for best bowler in the tournament IMO. As a result of that and the general mediocrity of other options I'd definitely just tell him he's in and pray he gets it back. Him in form along with Broad and Anderson has the makings for a pretty good attack.

I'm pretty sure this time last year Hales was averaging around 30 in List A cricket (possibly even less), which is pretty pathetic really. I'd want a player to be averaging at least 35 with a high strike rate before considering him.

 

[FBU]

I'm pretty sure this time last year Hales was averaging around 30 in List A cricket (possibly even less), which is pretty pathetic really. I'd want a player to be averaging at least 35 with a high strike rate before considering him.

and to be a good fielder. I would hate to think how many catches Hales and Gurney would drop.

 

[theegyptian]

Jimmy has done pretty well avoiding the foreign trips since the last WC (after which I was calling on him to retire/ be dropped from ODI side).

Has played 42 ODI games since the last world cup. 35 of which have been at home + 1 in Scotland.

Played 36/43 home games England have had since the last WC
Played 6/31 away games (outside Britain) since last WC
Managed to miss both tours to India taking in 10 matches in total, only Australia tour consisting of 5 games, and the current 7 match tour of SL.


Since the last WC he's managed 42 tests (including playing 3 tests with a broken rib) which is more than any other bowler in the world (Of the seamers Broad is closest with 40 tests and Siddle who has played no ODIs in that time is next with 34) and only Cook(44) and Bell(43) of the batsmen have played more tests.

So all in all I reckon they've done a pretty good job of prolonging Anderson's career so far. Not bothering with a lot of the foreign overseas ODI series certainly will help give him much needed rests. Naturally his bowling figures (22.85 b. avg) slightly flatter him since the last WC having played very little in foreign conditions especially with the introduction of the two new balls but he's made himself once again into one of their most important players. Gonna need Anderson to take wickets with the new ball if England have any chance of progressing past the quarter finals.

Wonder if he'll continue playing ODI cricket past the world cup? Whatever happens it's worrying times for England in the near future with Broad and Anderson at the wrong end of their careers and seemingly no-one looking anywhere close to stepping up.

 

[Howe_zat]

BBC Sport - Joe Root plays Arctic Monkeys on ukulele on Sri Lanka tour

so many things about this are great