Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[Laurrz]

Feels really good to get one back on England. Reeeally good.

Here here

oh btw don't get my lankan friend into the colosseum haha... it'd be embarassing for me so don't

 

[wpdavid]

"Disgrace" is an overused word, but it's exactly what Harmison's been in this tournament. At his age and with his experience he should be the mainstay of our attack, but all we get is garbage & excuses. I cannot think of another bowler in the last 35 years who's given us less return for being a fixture in the side and, if anything, he's getting worse. In terms of lazy underachievement he's in a league of his own, and I wish someone would call time on this fiasco. Surely the last 7 days have spelt the end of his oneday career. No doubt he'll be a fixture in the Ashes, but he shouldn't be. Anderson is already a better bowler and Mahmood will be before long.

 

[aussie]

Interesting game with some interesting signs going into the Ashes.

Firstly for Australia, McGrath even though his pace was down again i won't be too worried since he said himself a stint bowling in Indian conditions will help him in the lead up to the Ashes, Johnson's performance with the ball now would have surely made him a serious contender for Brisbane, Watson continues to impress with bat and ball, Martyn innings was a timely reminder that he is still a extremely valuable member to Australia's middle order, while Gilly's dismissal would have made the England bowlers smile.

For England Mahmood initial spell would have done him good & would only have increased the faith that the selectors have in him, wont be surprised if he plays in the 1st test, Harmison was extremely disappointing needs a kick up the backside, Anderson is looking good on return, Collingwood continues to be the middle-order rock while Freddie's form with the bat is a temporary worry.

Looking at the tournament unfortunate that England have to go out, would have prefered them and Australia to qualify, but i guess at this stage i'd say Australia & West Indies will qualify for the semi's

 

[wpdavid]

Interesting game with some interesting signs going into the Ashes.

Firstly for Australia, McGrath even though his pace was down again i won't be too worried since he said himself a stint bowling in Indian conditions will help him in the lead up to the Ashes, Johnson's performance with the ball now would have surely made him a serious contender for Brisbane, Watson continues to impress with bat and ball, Martyn innings was a timely reminder that he is still a extremely valuable member to Australia's middle order, while Gilly's dismissal would have made the England bowlers smile.

For England Mahmood initial spell would have done him good & would only have increased the faith that the selectors have in him, wont be surprised if he plays in the 1st test, Harmison was extremely disappointing needs a kick up the backside, Anderson is looking good on return, Collingwood continues to be the middle-order rock while Freddie's form with the bat is a temporary worry.

Looking at the tournament unfortunate that England have to go out, would have prefered them and Australia to qualify, but i guess at this stage i'd say Australia & West Indies will qualify for the semi's

Maybe. Of course, India are still unbeaten. If they win their last 2 games and England beat WI, then there'll be 3 sides with one win.

 

[PY]

"Disgrace" is an overused word, but it's exactly what Harmison's been in this tournament. At his age and with his experience he should be the mainstay of our attack, but all we get is garbage & excuses. I cannot think of another bowler in the last 35 years who's given us less return for being a fixture in the side and, if anything, he's getting worse. In terms of lazy underachievement he's in a league of his own, and I wish someone would call time on this fiasco. Surely the last 7 days have spelt the end of his oneday career. No doubt he'll be a fixture in the Ashes, but he shouldn't be. Anderson is already a better bowler and Mahmood will be before long.

Agreed, I'm fed up with it.

Don't care if he has potential (or inconsistent brilliance), that was rot today. Pure and simple. He's always got an excuse too, I wish he could hear a piece of our minds (or someone giving a rocket that he doesn't know) rather than being what appears to be molly-coddled and allowed to continue being awful. You can't have someone leading the attack who can't bowl consistently or do a job for England....

He was wayward and took wickets, then he was accurate and took wickets, then he was accurate and didn't take wickets, now he's wayward and doesn't take wickets.

Every time he does take wickets, it only seems when he sees the pitch doing something for him and it makes him put effort in. Use your brain man, think people out sometimes. You're certainly not a young sprog anymore with no experience.

 

[TT Boy]

Ian Chappell on today’s game…
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/talk/content/current/multimedia/263991.html

Quite enjoying these “Turning Points”, fantastic edition to an already great website and Chappell is pretty much spot on (today).

 

[PhoenixFire]

Agreed, I'm fed up with it.

Don't care if he has potential (or inconsistent brilliance), that was rot today. Pure and simple. He's always got an excuse too, I wish he could hear a piece of our minds (or someone giving a rocket that he doesn't know) rather than being what appears to be molly-coddled and allowed to continue being awful. You can't have someone leading the attack who can't bowl consistently or do a job for England....

He was wayward and took wickets, then he was accurate and took wickets, then he was accurate and didn't take wickets, now he's wayward and doesn't take wickets.

Every time he does take wickets, it only seems when he sees the pitch doing something for him and it makes him put effort in. Use your brain man, think people out sometimes. You're certainly not a young sprog anymore with no experience.

Couldn't agree more. His attitude is ****, and he had a real shocker today. Jon Lewis out-performed him by a country mile in the Pakistan ODIs, yet he is dropped, it's a disgrace. Harmison should not get a contract next time, unless he can prove that he can sort himself out.

 

[Gloucefan]

I Agree with all of you who think Harmison needs a huge kick up the backside by being dropped at least for the Windies match. Although doubtlesly he'll have a blinder and all will be forgotten until he stinks in the Ashes.

Just wondering how overs has he bowled this year? Not an excuse for the utter crock of **** he produced today but worth taking into consideration.

Edit:

Also the batsmen are more to blame then the bowlers, we were never going to defend that miserable total against aus.

 

[open365]

Ian Chappell on today’s game…
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/talk/content/current/multimedia/263991.html

Quite enjoying these “Turning Points”, fantastic edition to an already great website and Chappell is pretty much spot on (today).

'18 of ten overs from a guy who didn't turn a single ball'

haha, good stuff.

Harmison is a bit of a joke, what's more annoying is that next match he'll be slightly better and the selectors will still not give Lewis ago because he isn't 6'4 and inconsistent.

 

[age_master]

Johnson bowling well is bonus. I think he is the 3rd best seam option for the Ashes. Gillespie shouldn't even come into consideration after his county stint and start to the Aus summer. It's down to MacGill and Johnson for the 4th bowling slot for mine.

The selectors love Tait as well. If Watson keeps taking wickets i reakon Macgills chances improve.

Johnson was quite impressive last night, a very solid follow up to his performance in the tri series. Lee also bowled with very good economy.

 

[Macka]

This Yardy bloke looks pretty bloody average. Is there a reason why, say, Shah isn't playing? Yardy is averaging 20 in one-day domestic games.

20.

That's pathetic.

 

[Mister Wright]

Some interesting stats.

 

[Burgey]

Interesting game with some interesting signs going into the Ashes.

Firstly for Australia, McGrath even though his pace was down again i won't be too worried since he said himself a stint bowling in Indian conditions will help him in the lead up to the Ashes, Johnson's performance with the ball now would have surely made him a serious contender for Brisbane, Watson continues to impress with bat and ball, Martyn innings was a timely reminder that he is still a extremely valuable member to Australia's middle order, while Gilly's dismissal would have made the England bowlers smile.

For England Mahmood initial spell would have done him good & would only have increased the faith that the selectors have in him, wont be surprised if he plays in the 1st test, Harmison was extremely disappointing needs a kick up the backside, Anderson is looking good on return, Collingwood continues to be the middle-order rock while Freddie's form with the bat is a temporary worry.

Looking at the tournament unfortunate that England have to go out, would have prefered them and Australia to qualify, but i guess at this stage i'd say Australia & West Indies will qualify for the semi's

Agreed, although frankly I'd also be a bit worried about how Freddie and Pietersen handled the short stuff.

I noticed a bit of this in the Ashes last year: a number of times sixes were hit off Lee in particular which were top edges but because they were playing on grounds like postage stamps they went all the way. It would not surprise me if that both get a bit of a working over out here on fast pitches and big boundaries with two blokes back on the hook.

Anyway, this England one-day side is a very different prospect to their test side in my opinion. The latter will be a lot harder to beat.

The one constant is that for the past 6 months, in both forms of the game, Harmison has been mostly ordinary and only sporadically penetrative. that's the biggest worry of all for England, imo.

 

[Jono]

Well after all the pathetic rubbish I've had to listen through from England over the past year or so they had better damn well retain the Ashes.

Weren't you the one that claimed England were the #2 ODI side in the world?

Yes... yes you were.

 

[Dravid]

Some interesting stats.

Wow, 3 boundaries from the last 9 batsman, after the first 3 hit 13 boundaries, and Martyn avg over 65 in 13 matches against England, thats amaizng.


Nice stats

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Weren't you the one that claimed England were the #2 ODI side in the world?

Yes... yes you were.

I doubt anyone is that stupid.

Surely you're mistaken and he made the claim about Tests.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The one constant is that for the past 6 months, in both forms of the game, Harmison has been mostly ordinary and only sporadically penetrative. that's the biggest worry of all for England, imo.

He's been that way for a lot longer than 6 months...

 

[Jono]

I doubt anyone is that stupid.

Surely you're mistaken and he made the claim about Tests.

Nope, he claimed that.

He made the claim in the thread where Boycott called England the world champions, and everyone laughed. I'm sure I can find it.

 

[Jono]

I doubt anyone is that stupid.

Surely you're mistaken and he made the claim about Tests.

Yep found it. Unbelievably he wasn't even alone in the claim.

http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthread.php?t=15727

Err did you even bother to look at the performances of England against Australia? It's pretty obvious to most people that England have used ODIs to help the progress of future Test players, they've not really taken ODIs seriously until the series against Australia. I think we'll see England move up to no. 2 in the table as they shift their focus on to the world cup. As for Sri Lanka (and New Zealand) they're on the decline I'm afraid.

England are IMO the 2nd best ODI team in the World, we got Super Subbed against Australia in the Chellenge but in the Triangular tournament us and Australia were equal. We didn't have many of our best players against SA, hence we got mauled, same in last summer's Triangular tournament. Other than that, our results have been good.

 

[Sanz]

I doubt anyone is that stupid.

Surely you're mistaken and he made the claim about Tests.

Apparently someone is.