**Official** 2004 Natwest Series (Eng, NZL, WI)

[marc71178]

Im absolutely certain England will bounce back..they've reached their low & they'll be far more competitive from here on in.

I'm not!

 

[chris.hinton]

Harmy was bowling quick.... he was excellent today

 

[Mingster]

Is it just me, or does all the NZ bowlers (minus Franklin) look at least 2 to 5m/p faster with the white Kook balls?

 

[Mingster]

So drop Giles for not playing in the first game then not bowling in the second.

Good Call.

It is a good call though. Giles is a pedestrian, not needed in the team at all. There are better options than use Giles.

 

[Kent]

Is it just me, or does all the NZ bowlers (minus Franklin) look at least 2 to 5m/p faster with the white Kook balls?

Yes, true. Cairns was back up at 85mph. Not really surprising seeing how much they prefer Kookaburra balls I guess.

 

[Mingster]

Oram was probably our best bowler despite Franklin's 5-for. Big Jake was absolutely superb right from the start.

It's a shame that our middle order hasn't had a decent go yet.

We had James Franklin batting at 11, he is no doubt the best 11 in ODI cricket in the world today.

 

[tooextracool]

Im amazed that Graeme Napiers name is being mentioned... England do want to win right?

actually ATM we'll be quite happy if we survived till the lights came on......

 

[tooextracool]

I will probably get criticised but I feel Vaughan is an average captain at best...I think he got a free ride in the test series because things fell into place for him rather than anything else.

He's been totally exposed in the ODI's however, it'll be interesting to see how he deals with it.

i dont know how you can blame vaughan for these losses.....he was quite brilliant with his field placings in the test series and outshone fleming. you cant blame him for these performances considering we have only 5 batsmen(only one of which is proven) and 3 bowlers in the side. if you criticised his batting im all for it......i'll give him until the end of this series to do something about this rubbish batting, otherwise hes out of the side and captaincy shifts over to tresco.

 

[garage flower]

Key and Mahmood have to play for McGrath and Blackwell. I'd then bring in either Graeme Swann, Graham Napier or Johnathan Trott for Giles, Although I'm not sure if Trott is qualified yet. My lineup for Thursday

Tres
Strauss
Key
Vaughan
Colly
Trott/Jones
Jones/Napier/Swann
Mahmood
Gough
Harmison
Anderson.

You have four clear bowlers, 6 clear batsman and one allrounder. That allrounder should be a batting allrounder. Trott would be my personal choice. More of a batsman than allrounder, but he can chip in like colly, tres and Vaughan can for the 5th bowler.

England have to accept that they have no direct replacement for Flintoff (i.e. someone who can bowl 10 good overs and bat in the top 6) and stop trying to cobble together his equivalent by using 2 or 3 inadequate all-rounders.

I would have thought that the best solution for this series is to simply pick their best 4 available bowlers, best 6 batsmen and best 'keeper/batsman. The damp conditions in which the series seems destined to be played would seem to be ideally suited to allowing Trescothick/Collingwood to make up the 5th bowler's allocation, with Vaughan also available (assuing he's fit enough to bowl). The problem with this theory is that, from memory, England don't have 6 specialist bats in the squad, which instead includes numerous mediocre "all-rounders". If they were to call up somebody like Bell, or god forbid Mark Butcher, the following team would appear to be a big improvement on the current 11:

Tresco
Key
Butcher
Strauss
Vaughan
Collingwood
Jones
Mahmood/Giles
Gough
Harmison
Anderson

 

[Mingster]

NZ went through the same stage of picking the likes of Clarke, McGrath etc a few years ago. And fortunately Styris, Oram have paid off.

 

[tooextracool]

my main concern is still a lack of pace as the options used on tour thus far have all been around 80 - 85 mph - by comparison Gough was the slowest ENG bowler seen last night at about 85..............

its not as much about pace in ODIs as it is about accuracy....the faster it comes out the faster its likely to go to the boundary as well.

 

[tooextracool]

well done James Franklin on his return to ODIs since the VB series several years back........

if he is able to maintain his form with the ball it will pose some interesting problems for the selectors in both forms of the game re bowler selections..........

despite all the success that hes had in england i'd still maintain my exertion that hes too one dimensional to succeed at the test match level.....he needs a bit of pace and a lot more accuracy to prevent himself from becoming just another bracken.....

 

[tooextracool]

Is it just me, or does all the NZ bowlers (minus Franklin) look at least 2 to 5m/p faster with the white Kook balls?

as did the england bowlers....it has more to do with the conditions than with the ball IMO.

 

[gio]

NZ went through the same stage of picking the likes of Clarke, McGrath etc a few years ago. And fortunately Styris, Oram have paid off.

I can't see McGrath or Blackwell ever paying off. Clarke on the other hand is a lot younger and has a lot to learn. He has the potential to be a successful England cricketer in both forms of International cricket.

 

[tooextracool]

I can't see McGrath or Blackwell ever paying off. Clarke on the other hand is a lot younger and has a lot to learn. He has the potential to be a successful England cricketer in both forms of International cricket.

care to explain what this potential is that clarke has? i havent seen a single impressive shot from clarke that has convinced me that he is good enough to play for zimbabwe. unless you are talking about his performances in domestic cricket?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I can't see McGrath or Blackwell ever paying off. Clarke on the other hand is a lot younger and has a lot to learn. He has the potential to be a successful England cricketer in both forms of International cricket.

Blackwell has more potential than Clarke. Then again, Solanki probably does too.

 

[MoxPearl]

hey neil.. with your writeup on the front page..

u cant actually tell who england are playing till near the end of the writeup lol

 

[MoxPearl]

also does anyone know how bond is looking ?

Will he be available for the Aus Tour we do in a few months ?

 

[gio]

care to explain what this potential is that clarke has? i havent seen a single impressive shot from clarke that has convinced me that he is good enough to play for zimbabwe. unless you are talking about his performances in domestic cricket?

He showed talent in the 30 odd he made against SA last year, his performances last season for surrey were pretty good, including an excellent quickfire 140. He's been out of form all this season, but he is getting pacier with the ball (he's added a good 4/5 mph on since last season) and posseses an excellent slower ball. His fielding is pretty good as well. Even this season, he's showed glimpses of real talent. Listening on BBC London, and watching the highlights on Surrey TV (click surrey tv on the left hand side) has been enough to prove to me he has the talent to make it. He's only 22 remember and already has a test 50 to his name.

 

[Arjun]

Blackwell has more potential than Clarke. Then again, Solanki probably does too.

Blackwell and Solanki are far more effective than Clarke, once they get runs. We have seen what they can do best- Solanki scored that century which had a hand in winning a match, while Blackwell scored a powerful 84 in the Champions Trophy in 2002, so if they can maintain this form for a long time, it wouldd help the English ODI side.