***Official England in India***

[Precambrian]

Here's Pietersen: "We had a chance at 29 for 3. We lost ourselves to Yuvraj. He was fantastic. We improved from the last game. Let's hope we improve more. We need to carry on our good start with the ball. One of the top five should have gone on to a big score. I don't think we missed a specialist spinner. Samit bowled ok. I bowled five overs of rubbish."


KP 5 overs for 20 and 1 wicket.
Patel 5 overs for 37 and 0 wickets.

Extreme form of self deprecation.

 

[Scaly piscine]

God are there idiots on this forum wanting Colly dropped after he's coming out to the crease with 9 an over needed?

Collingwood has a good ODI record particularly given the huge number of these piss poor situations he has to come out to bat in.


Prior just isn't anywhere near good enough and he's largely responsible for the batting below falling in a heap chasing a RRR 7+ for half the innings.

Shah wasn't much better and he never will be, he's 30 already and he's just a sub-par international bat with sub-par fielding.

 

[masterblaster]

Good win by India and a solid performance by Yuvraj again with bat and ball. India were fairly sharp in the field, although England had their moments and for a second I thouht they were really in with a chance with Flintoff, Pietersen and then Samit Patel at the crease.

One worrying aspect for India is the continued ineffectiveness of RP Singh. He looked like a world class bowler during the Australian tour and it's alarming to see him become so ineffective in such a short space of time. I'd give RP Singh one more match and then hopefully by then Ishant has had a decent rest and he can come back into the side and have a run in the ODI team.

 

[four_or_six]

I really think something has to be done with the top 3 - we have too many middle order players. I know KP is trying to give more responsibility to Shah, but I think he should take the responsibility himself and go to 3. Shah is excellent down the order anyway.

I don't understand why Flintoff didn't bowl his full ten. And I don't think Harmy is the right person for the death either.

Also, Bopara at 8 is pointless. I think Bopara is an excellent prospect - but a number 8 specialist batsman who bats at 3/4 for his county... what's the point? May as well play an extra bowler. Or perhaps Bopara could have a go up the order?

For the next game I'd go with something like...

Bell
Prior
KP
Flintoff
Collingwood
Shah
Patel
Swann
Broad
Harmison
Anderson

 

[Scaly piscine]

This would be my top 6. You need to give your best players the best possible chance to play a significant innings. What England are doing is giving this chance to the worst players and leaving KP et al to perform a miracle.

Bell
(Mustard)
KP
Colly
Flintoff
Patel

 

[FBU]

I. And I don't think Harmy is the right person for the death either.

As Harmison has said in the past he has only bowled at the death 10 times in 11 years. Anderson might go for a few but his overall death bowling is

72.3-3-577-27
21.13 econ 7.95 s/r 16.11

 

[Langeveldt]

This would be my top 6. You need to give your best players the best possible chance to play a significant innings. What England are doing is giving this chance to the worst players and leaving KP et al to perform a miracle.

Bell
(Mustard)
KP
Colly
Flintoff
Patel

Agree with the rest of it, but Bell and Mustard do not a commanding opening partnership make..

 

[laksh_01]

Friends, I started a group for all the WCL fans on facebook. So, who ever is interested pls join... Search "ICC World Cricket League" in facebook. Thanks...

 

[quick4mindia]

I really think something has to be done with the top 3 - we have too many middle order players. I know KP is trying to give more responsibility to Shah, but I think he should take the responsibility himself and go to 3. Shah is excellent down the order anyway.

I don't understand why Flintoff didn't bowl his full ten. And I don't think Harmy is the right person for the death either.

Also, Bopara at 8 is pointless. I think Bopara is an excellent prospect - but a number 8 specialist batsman who bats at 3/4 for his county... what's the point? May as well play an extra bowler. Or perhaps Bopara could have a go up the order?

For the next game I'd go with something like...

Bell
Prior
KP
Flintoff
Collingwood
Shah
Patel
Swann
Broad
Harmison
Anderson

Perhaps Prior can bat lower down the order. With Prior at top England are unlikely to get a solid start.

 

[quick4mindia]

KP is the best batsman in the English team IMO. With his technique mixed with aggression he can be good as opening batsman. Opening is the biggest worry for England at the moment IMO

 

[Scaly piscine]

Agree with the rest of it, but Bell and Mustard do not a commanding opening partnership make..

Yes but who else is there?

England desperately need someone who can score quickly at the top otherwise it just renders their batting depth meaningless.

 

[krkode]

Bring back Nick Knight, IMO. I felt like he was quite underrated for being arguably England's best ODI batsman of his time.

 

[Woodster]

I have been having a think about what side I would like England to field in ODI's and have come up with this (obviously some of these players are not on this tour, so it is a more a side for future series') :

1. A.Cook
2. R.Key
3. K.Pietersen
4. R.Bopara
5. A.Flintoff
6. P.Collingwood
7. M.Prior
8. G.Napier/D.Mascarenhas
9. S.Broad
10.G.Swann
11.S.Harmison

Now this side reverts players to playing roles they are familiar with and gives it (imo) a much more balanced look about the side.

Cook and Key are opening, Key is an innovative, clever, intelligent opener, who finds the gaps early on, will exploit powerplays, there is no need to to pick pinch hitters up there that will come off once in 10 games, but we do need quicker starts that Prior and Bell are not giving us regularly. Cook is an old fashioned style opener, but will be fully aware of his role and can play it as well as anyone.

KP is our best batsman and quite simply should have the possibility of facing a large portion of our 50 overs.

Bopara, some may prefer Shah here or Patel, has quality and has showed in 50 over cricket for Essex he can play match defining innings, however, not at number 8.

Freddie and Colly at 5 and 6 have the experience for the middle order, Colly is a decent finisher and can either re-build an innings and continue any impetus with the side.

Prior down at 7 as I don't believe his performances at the top warrant him staying there. He is neither getting us off to electric starts or playing the long innings, he's a decent bat that will be better off at 7 in my side.

At 8 I have players that KP should be more trusting with the ball, and also have great potential in the last few overs to smash it out of the ground, and quite possibly out of the town.

Broad, Swann and Harmison complete the side. Swann probably our best ODI spinner, Broad has been more than useful in ODI's recently and Harmison (in theory) offers us a wicket-taking threat.

I have eliminated players playing bits and pieces roles, batsman like Patel will contest with Bopara, Shah, Collingwood and Bell for a role he is much more accustomed to, as a batter first and foremost with an option to be given a chuck. Everyone has a defined role, currently it is similar to what England do in international football and that is select players based on their impressive form with their clubs then play them in a entirely different role for the country, not fair on the player.

Bopara and Patel are top order players and should be picked as such, or wait for an opening. Cook and Key are specialist openers, as much as I rate Bell on the Test scene, he seems confused how to play at the top in ODI's.

 

[Richard]

Going back a few pages, not getting the Broad hate. He has been a good ODI bowler for a while now, surprised to see Richard and EWS bemoaning his getting of wickets, almost as if they are confusing Tests with ODIs

This was purely to do with the fact he didn't really bowl that well at all. Sehwag dragged one on that had most to do with the pitch, Raina was caught at square-leg off one that had everything to do with the pitch, and Rohit Sharma was caught top-edging a pull, which I always hate to see (and fortunately don't see very often).

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Just seen the highlights. My first thought was, is that the fastest outfield I've ever seen? Was like glass at times.

 

[tooextracool]

My thoughts on yesterdays game:

Matt Prior looks woefully short of ODI standard. For all those that claim that Freddie doesnt have the tecnique against the new ball, Matt Prior opening the batting in any form of the game is absolutely appalling. The only runs he scored were behind the wicket and it really beggars to believe how he is opening the batting in ODI cricket.
I thought Shah went alright, although whether he should be batting ahead of Pietersen is obviously debateable. Prior really put a lot of pressure on Shah while Shah was actually looking like scoring runs. Obviously, whatever it is with Pietersen and the subcontinent, it really needs to be sorted out because he could barely get the ball off the square yesterday.
As far as Freddie is concerned, yesterdays performance should provide even more fire to those that believe that he should open the batting. Almost singlehandedly brought us back into the game by taking advantage of the power plays. Personally think that he would be better at the top of the order by coming in against pace rather than spin so that he can take advantage of those power plays.
Patel and Bopara are batting way too low. I feel for Patel because the only opportunities hes got in his career thus far to make a name for himself have been in situations where hes been required to go berserk and hes not done a bad job for someone who should really be playing as a specialist batsman but is instead picked as a bits and pieces player.
As far as the bowling is concerned, I was disappointed with the way the bowlers bowled and some of the bowling choices were debatable to say the least. Harmison should NEVER EVER bowl in the last 10 overs of an inning let alone the last over. He simply doesnt have the variety to respond to an onslaught. Obviously as has been pointed out, Anderson and Freddie should have bowled out. Broad was fairly ordinary, bowled some long hops that were really asking to be hit. Im not sure what the fascination is with England bowlers trying to bowl short in ODIs on the subcontinent, but some of Broad's deliveries were downright pathetic.
For the next game, I really hope that Prior doesnt bat anywhere above number 8. He has by far the worst List A average in the entire side and yet he bats above every other player. If I were Samit Patel or even Bopara I would be very displeased with the fact that Prior gets an eternity to get settled in while they have essentially dont have the same freedom with which to play their inning.

 

[Burgey]

Bring back Nick Knight, IMO. I felt like he was quite underrated for being arguably England's best ODI batsman of his time.

Indeed. Better than Gilchrist TBH........

































5, 4, 3, 2, ........

 

[Richard]

Wasn't there a game like this last time we were in India - Fred & KP looking set to see us home then we collapsed in a heap?

Nah, that game really bore no resemblence. In this game today, Pietersen and Flintoff were simply looking like they might've rescued a lost cause, but never really were likely to. In that game (the First ODI of that series), we genuinely did have the game as good as won, then those two got out and Harbhajan Singh cleaned-out the rest.

It looks fairly remarkable how similar to the other game from that tour - the one I posted earlier - this game turned-out. Yuvraj century leads India to 290 which is at least 70 or 80 above-par on the pitch in question, England get a total that's probably slightly above-par thanks to some of-times shocking and of-times excellent Indian bowling, but still get nowhere near the target.

 

[Richard]

Samit Patel seems to be continuing the recent tradition of English batsmen being picked as frontline ODI spinners, starting surprisingly well with the ball, doing nothing with the bat down the order and then crashing back to earth by getting absolutely smashed with the ball as their career progresses.

Blackwell, Yardy, Dalrymple.. now Patel. It seems to be a set role: the "batsman spinner"; it's really odd. Unlike the other three, though, Patel actually has a fair bit of promise as a specialist batsman (or perhaps a batting allrounder, even) so lets hope this silly role doesn't ruin him. Then again, it's a more useful role than what Bopara and Wright have been picked for in recent times...

I made that post a little while ago TBH. But intreguingly, Blackwell doesn't actually fit that category. He never copped the pasting with the ball that he should have done, he got injured and replaced by Dalrymple (a better batsman) before it happened.

 

[Richard]

2. R.Key

I really don't rate Key as a OD batsman at all.

He's better than Prior, sure, but I don't see him doing anything much in the shorter game. His strength is in four- (and hopefully five-) day cricket.