England thread

[grecian]

I'm going to make posting these Sky Sports info graphics into here a regular thing.

Taylor's played there 3 times now hasn't he? 168 runs I think.

Hales at 34 from 2 now.

 

[WalkingWicket]

I'm going to make posting these Sky Sports info graphics into here a regular thing.

#BringbackLukeWright

 

[theegyptian]

It doesn't look an awful side.

It's got Bopara in it. It's pretty awful.

 

[theegyptian]

That side is considerably better in Aus/NZ conditions than the side four years ago were for 2011. Will also probably be the first time we're actually playing our strongest XI since the Champions Trophy, where we got to the final. No Trott is huge and we need Finn to find his proper one day mojo again, but it's still an OK side. We'll qualify for the quarters and then you only need to win three games, so who knows.

Yes that's why cricket sucks. England can be as bad as they want and they're still gonna make the quarter finals of the world cup. Still as you say you get to a WC qf and you don't know what will happen. Plenty of other teams with concerns also.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Bopara will be about as useful in the World Cup as Stokes has been in the Sri Lanka series. So again what was the point of the series other than making Bopara look vaguely competent in the only conditions he will be vaguely competent in - slow dry wickets in nothing games. When Sadsack whimpers out to the crease in a tight situation the opposition will be rubbing their hands.

They've consistently messed Stokes around, stopped him getting a mindset for a particular position. Australian conditions are ideal for him because it fits his natural game. And yes experience does matter a lot with Stokes because he's barely played limited overs cricket for Durham and was similarly useless early on. You need to understand your own game in 50 overs cricket and he doesn't. He's been moved around with indifferent form in nuanced situations. England's handling of him is atrocious. They either needed to give some responsibility in ODIs and pick him in a particular role consistently or not pick him at all and let him learn at a lower level.

 

[marc71178]

And of course none of it is Stokes' fault is it?

I bet it was Moores who told him to punch the locker...

 

[Furball]

It doesn't but you would have liked them to have had more games as a unit and not been cobbled together last minute and hope it comes off.

Why break with tradition?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Why break with tradition?

True, it is bloody annoying that we do it this way all the time and never learn from our mistakes.

 

[Blocky]

It's so interesting considering how successful Stokes was early - you have to ask what changed for him, there are a few different players, KP isn't in the line up and there was always the suggestion that he was the most helpful to the younger batsmen entering the side. I also get the feeling that Anderson and Broad are more about themselves then helping out with the bowling.

England have a very weak looking squad and will rely heavily on Bell, Ali and Root in the batting and hope that Broad/Anderson peak during the tournament.

 

[grecian]

It's so interesting considering how successful Stokes was early - you have to ask what changed for him, there are a few different players, KP isn't in the line up and there was always the suggestion that he was the most helpful to the younger batsmen entering the side. I also get the feeling that Anderson and Broad are more about themselves then helping out with the bowling.

England have a very weak looking squad and will rely heavily on Bell, Ali and Root in the batting and hope that Broad/Anderson peak during the tournament.

Yeah James Taylor will be missing him loads. Our young bats did pretty well this Summer TBH.

 

[BeeGee]

England can be as bad as they want and they're still gonna make the quarter finals of the world cup.

Probably, but it only takes one dropped game against a team like Bangladesh and suddenly they're making the QFs and not you. And England do have form when it comes to losing games in WCs against minnows.

 

[theegyptian]

Probably, but it only takes one dropped game against a team like Bangladesh and suddenly they're making the QFs and not you. And England do have form when it comes to losing games in WCs against minnows.

Lost to Bangladesh and Ireland last time. Still made the quarters. We're that damn good.

 

[Niall]

England will definitely get through to the quarter finals, no disrespect to Bangladesh but apart from beating up Zimbabwe they have been useless all year. If if was in the SC, I'd be worried, but not in Australia. Its not the most absurd thing to think that England could win a game or two against South Africa, Sri Lanka or Australia either which would render any loss to Bangladesh meaningless.

 

[Flem274*]

England are annoying. Outside those few years just recently where they were quite good, they've usually been awful then randomly clicked and played well for a few games. Thankfully it doesn't happen in World Cups (yet), but the 2007 tri series in Aussie springs to mind as a really irritating one.

All they need is a few guys in form and they'll be back to driving the good ODI sides mad.

 

[grecian]

Just listening to the Greg James cricket show, james Taylor said KP was his hero growing up, but laughed off his criticisms of him.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He stopped growing UP aged about 12 by the look of him.

 

[Woodster]

I am for the first time in quite a while relatively excited by the England ODI side, not necessarily because I think they can achieve real positive results in this World Cup, but I do think we look to have the potential to be an exciting side.

We are now being led by an ODI specialist which should make a difference. Eoin Morgan should bring to the role a more flexible approach in-keeping with the kind of 'thinking on your feet' strategies that may need to be adopted at various stages of an ODI. We have for me always retained the Plan A approach devised prior to the game and not been willing to veer from that should the need arise. Hopefully Morgan will identify the key times of the game and if necessary have the nous to apply tactics from outside the pre-match think tank.

I am also excited by some of the young talents we have around the squad. The likes of Buttler, Root, Hales, Ballance, Taylor, Ali (young in international terms if not that young at 27), Jordan and Finn with the ball if they can get it right. It is with the ball that I do think we may struggle, yes we'll have Anderson and Broad back but I still have reservations whether we have the wicket-taking threat needed to stem the run-rate. Also we still haven't really identified our power play and death bowlers.

Should we be chasing any scores over 300, it will not all be down to KP to ensure we have a sniff of keeping up with the run rate. We do have players that can find the boundary regularly. Now of course there's more to batting in ODI's than that, and the usual sedate middle overs where we never really seem to go anywhere will have to be improved upon. But I do think we have an exciting squad, which is capable of upsetting a couple of the more fancied teams, but I don't expect us to be consistent enough to be around when the medals are being handed out.

 

[Susan Mary]

The final 15 men squad is annoucned.

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) (Capt)
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Gary Ballance (Yorkshire)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Steven Finn (Middlesex)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
Chris Jordan (Sussex)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)
James Tredwell (Kent)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

 

[Flem274*]

I just posted this on cricsim

Moeen, Bell, Taylor, Root, Morgan, Bopara, Buttler, Tredwell, Broad, Finn, Anderson

Won't win the thing but isn't terrible. Good mixture of aggression and accumulation in the batting and the bowling is expensive but takes wickets. A lot rests on getting through the 10 of Bopara/Moeen unscathed though imo.

I know people are dubious about Tredwell when Moeen is already in the team but I have very little faith in Woakes to keep the runs down or take wickets and Jordan has very little control.

English ODI sides always sound decent in theory though before going on to perform below the sum of their ability.

Then remembered this

England are annoying. Outside those few years just recently where they were quite good, they've usually been awful then randomly clicked and played well for a few games. Thankfully it doesn't happen in World Cups (yet), but the 2007 tri series in Aussie springs to mind as a really irritating one.

All they need is a few guys in form and they'll be back to driving the good ODI sides mad.

And now I have the horrible feeling they're going to do their "win lots of games when even the most optimistic fan gives them no chance" thing and win the World Cup.

If they reach a semi final I believe it is best for cricket if we bomb the stadium, just to make sure.

 

[Days of Grace]

I reckon Bangladesh are a chance to finish 4th ahead of England in Group A.