*Official* England in Australia (2 T20 & 7 ODIs)

[MW1304]

Just watching the highlights, even though KP hasn't managed to go on in these Odi's and get a 100, he does look in good touch, probably the best in Odi's I've seen him in this last year.
Strauss has been finding all kinds of ways to get out, hopefully it's just this series because the past 18 months or so he has proved he's a very good Odi opener.
Morgan even though he's got some credit in the bank, the way he's got out in every match is something hard to understand, he seems to be picking the man out every time.I know sitting in the stands watching the Test matches for nearly 2 months won't have helped, but who knows.
The injuries problem has got way out of hand now, Shahzad added to the list. I wonder if they'd risk giving Broad a run out, It obviously isn't worth the risk but it's becoming the case of the last man standing.
That was some mighty fine tail end hitting by Finn and to some extent Jimmy, didn't know he had it him in. Woakes, 2nd best bowling figures in a ODi, by any team, well done him and he bowled very well.

Nah just by England. But yeah, miiighty fiiine.

Lolworthy how no England bowler has managed to better Colly's best ODI bowling 'analysis'.

 

[thierry henry]

Well, it depends what question the on-field umpires asked, doesn't it? For all we (the viewing public) know they could've asked the TMO something along the lines of "I thought he took that cleanly, is there any reason why I can't give it out?" In that case I suspect any doubt would go to Smith.

This could be the case in a theoretical "player drops a catch and still asks for the referral" scenario, but it clearly wasn't the case last night...it was immediately clear that no-one on the field thought he had caught it and the referral was an afterthought.

 

[thierry henry]

ftr I think Smith referred it very much as an afterthought as well.....he dropped the ball, fumbled around blindly for it, and it ended up back in his hand....of course he would've thought it had hit the ground, but decided to check because he couldn't see.

 

[Jacknife]

Nah just by England. But yeah, miiighty fiiine.

Lolworthy how no England bowler has managed to better Colly's best ODI bowling 'analysis'.

Damn that Nick Knight, that was his exact words and I thought at the time, did I here that correctly, so I did a rewind and sure enough that's what he said.

 

[ajdude]

So uh, if Marsh is ruled out, who comes in for him? Finch? Bailey? ****in Dan Harris?

 

[Prince EWS]

So uh, if Marsh is ruled out, who comes in for him? Finch? Bailey? ****in Dan Harris?

Ferguson I'd say.

 

[brockley]

Finch for marsh and patterson for tait.

 

[brockley]

No need for fergo we have clarke at 4.white 5 and d hussey 6,what we need is an opener who bats 3 and thats finch.

 

[Prince EWS]

No need for fergo we have clarke at 4.white 5 and d hussey 6,what we need is an opener who bats 3 and thats finch.

*sigh* Ferguson is so much better than Finch though, and he bats four for SA which isn't too different. White actually has an epic record at three too IIRC and of course Clarke batted three earlier in the series.

Your post sounds like the sort of dire stuff the Australian selectors would come up with to pick an obviously inferior player though so it'll probably happen.

 

[ajdude]

Yeah I'd say Fergo, don't know how he slipped my mind hahaha.

Finch in a few years, he's only established himself in T20 cricket at the moment really.

 

[brockley]

Clarke at 3
Call me mr hildich .

 

[Spikey]

...........you want aaron finch in the team.

 

[Prince EWS]

Clarke at 3
Call me mr hildich .

I'd bat White or Ferguson at three, personally (well actually I'd just pick Hodge but that's obviously not going to happen), but Clarke batting three obviously isn't something the selectors think is a terrible idea given they did it a week ago. And tbh I'd rather Clarke at 3 and Ferguson in the middle order than Finch at 3 and Clarke in the middle order.

The other option, of course, is Paine. Obviously not the best option available but he's in the World Cup squad so it could be of value to give him a run. Ferguson and Finch aren't going to be there.

 

[tooextracool]

Out of curiousity, why isnt Clarke considered for the opening role instead of Haddin? This whole wk opening the batting thing seems to have spread like a disease and quite frankly its quite overrated.

 

[Prince EWS]

Out of curiousity, why isnt Clarke considered for the opening role instead of Haddin? This whole wk opening the batting thing seems to have spread like a disease and quite frankly its quite overrated.

Since taking over from Gilchrist, Haddin has scored 1058 ODI runs opening at 37.78 with a strike rate of 87.65. He's a bit frustrating sometimes but that's definitely not something I would want to change, particularly given his record down the order isn't nearly as impressive.

 

[Spark]

20 innings, average 43.44, SR 83.54 with two hundreds (of 8 50+ scores, far better than his total rate of 5/49)

Not the worst call actually.

Haddin's doing OK though. Just being, y'know, a bit of a ****** with the way he's getting out at the moment.

 

[tooextracool]

Well personally, I think Clarke at the top has the opportunity to build an innings. I just think that him coming in after the openers have gotten off to a flyer and plodding around is detrimental to the side. 100 off 125 isnt as bad at the top of the order as 70 off 95 at 4.

 

[Prince EWS]

20 innings, average 43.44, SR 83.54 with two hundreds (of 8 50+ scores, far better than his total rate of 5/49)

Yeah, but that's inflated by an unbeaten hundred against Zimbabwe. If you take Zimbabwe out, Haddin-opening-post-Gilchrist has a better average and a much better strike-rate than Clarke-opening.

 

[Spark]

True. The average would still be pretty close to 40 though, although the SR might take a bit of a beating. It's not the worst choice.

Mind you, best option would be for Haddin to grow a bloody brain.

 

[Prince EWS]

True. The average would still be pretty close to 40 though, although the SR might take a bit of a beating. It's not the worst choice.

Removing Zimbabwe and Bangladesh:

Clarke opening: 19 innings, 1 not out, 677 runs @ 37.61 (81.17). 1 hundred and 6 fifties
Haddin opening*: 29 innings, 1 not out, 1058 runs @ 37.78 (87.65), 2 hundreds and 6 fifties
*stats taken since he took over from Gilchrist full-time

Haddin frankly has the much better record opening if you break up their stats properly. He could definitely convert some more of those 30s and 40s but he's getting Australia off to good starts consistently and scoring more runs (against real teams) at a better rate than Clarke did when he had a go there.