***Official*** England in Sri Lanka

[Athlai]

Can't get past England's fascination with a WK opening TBH. NZ tries it, and it failed so we kept him in a specialist position down the order where he's most effective, England just can't find an effective role for a wicket keeper in the batting order in ODI.

 

[Nishan]

A Confidence booster for Lanka, batting again fragile but Charmara Silava continues to impress he was out for 7 years and look at him now he is providing the sort of contributions that a team neads when in crisis or in dominance. Maybe Tharanaga also need to be taking a break and hopefuly he can come back strong. I am impressed by fernando this year ever since the world cup when he bowled Sachin he has shown the potential he has. I think he is reaching his peak hope he doesnt flatter to decieve against the best(Australia).

For England well played to them but i dont see them a world beater just yet, they will be in for a tough time during the tests.

 

[Richard]

Can't get past England's fascination with a WK opening TBH. NZ tries it, and it failed so we kept him in a specialist position down the order where he's most effective, England just can't find an effective role for a wicket keeper in the batting order in ODI.

I think we could have, if we'd kept Read in for a bit longer.

 

[chaminda_00]

Didn't Read make his name opening the batting in a OD game for an England XI v PM's XI in Australia. Scored a hundred from memory. Pretty sure there was a time they considered him as opening option, until they figured he was dire with the bat.

 

[gettingbetter]

Looks like SL are saving Fernando's last couple of overs for the death.

Poor sod, he's just taken 6 for 27, and he's only 5th in the all-time SL rankings for a oneday performance. Extraordinary.

Collingwood is 7th or 8th for England.

 

[Richard]

Collingwood is top, actually - in official terms at least. It was only against Bangladesh though so to me Mark Ealham still heads the list.

 

[GIMH]

Intrigued by the thought of what our attack might be in the Test series.

I'm thinking Sidebottom-Hoggard-Anderson-Panesar-Swann but it's hard to see Harmison being left out. IIRC Bob Willis said he would leave both Hoggard and Harmison out.

 

[Richard]

Didn't Read make his name opening the batting in a OD game for an England XI v PM's XI in Australia. Scored a hundred from memory.

Can't remember any such thing, Read's only ever toured Australia once, that being last year. He has batted up the order quite a bit in domestic cricket and IIRR once or twice for England A.

Pretty sure there was a time they considered him as opening option, until they figured he was dire with the bat.

He's not, though - not in one-day cricket. He's batted higher than seven twice (once at six, once at three, and the latter back in 1999\2000).

 

[Richard]

Intrigued by the thought of what our attack might be in the Test series.

I'm thinking Sidebottom-Hoggard-Anderson-Panesar-Swann but it's hard to see Harmison being left out. IIRC Bob Willis said he would leave both Hoggard and Harmison out.

I seriously hope we don't play that because that's basically 4 people who can't really bat at all, and one who's nothing more than a decent lower-order strokeplayer.

Without Flintoff, 7 batsmen is the only option IMO.

 

[Prince EWS]

I seriously hope we don't play that because that's basically 4 people who can't really bat at all, and one who's nothing more than a decent lower-order strokeplayer.

And that's different from the team England usually play how?

 

[wpdavid]

I seriously hope we don't play that because that's basically 4 people who can't really bat at all, and one who's nothing more than a decent lower-order strokeplayer.

Without Flintoff, 7 batsmen is the only option IMO.

Presumably you mean 6 plus the keeper?

btw is the squad to be announced today? Should be quite interesting, if only to see if there's any truth in the Ramps rumours that have been circulating.

 

[GIMH]

I seriously hope we don't play that because that's basically 4 people who can't really bat at all, and one who's nothing more than a decent lower-order strokeplayer.

Without Flintoff, 7 batsmen is the only option IMO.

Well if they are going to play two spinners I'd say we needd to play five bowlers. Especially with Colly possibly unable to bowl. It's certainly far from ideal though, I agree.

 

[chaminda_00]

Can't remember any such thing, Read's only ever toured Australia once, that being last year. He has batted up the order quite a bit in domestic cricket and IIRR once or twice for England A.

He's not, though - not in one-day cricket. He's batted higher than seven twice (once at six, once at three, and the latter back in 1999\2000).

Haha I think i've gone crazy, he did play in this tour match. Only scored 33 and it was down the order. Maybe it was another game, im sure their was one that tour where he got called up and scored a 100.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Lets give Mustard a chance!

His game didnt suit the conditions he faced. Now yes, he showed he's 1 dimensional and didnt have the skill to adapt. But he is there for one thing only, and thats to take advantage of the 20 overs power play (well the first 10 at least), which none of our top order (bar maybe Pietersen) can do. Even Sri Lanka who are the masters of doing this struggled, and no batsmen really covered themselves in glory in the top order for England.

Mustard did fantastically well this season and he deserves more than just 5 games in bowler friendly conditions to prove he deserves to play for England. We've done this too often in the past, dump people far too quickly and we've paid the price for it.

 

[Richard]

Haha I think i've gone crazy, he did play in this tour match. Only scored 33 and it was down the order. Maybe it was another game, im sure their was one that tour where he got called up and scored a 100.

Funny, now you mention it I actually remember something along those lines too. But I've gone through that whole tour and the only game I can see where someone unexpected kept and opened and scored a century was Owais Shah. Read scored 91 (batting at eight, and with Mark Wallace keeping) in this game too.

Read did score 180 opening here, but this was a 4-day (12-a-side) game and it was for the Academy.

 

[Richard]

Lets give Mustard a chance!

His game didnt suit the conditions he faced. Now yes, he showed he's 1 dimensional and didnt have the skill to adapt. But he is there for one thing only, and thats to take advantage of the 20 overs power play (well the first 10 at least), which none of our top order (bar maybe Pietersen) can do. Even Sri Lanka who are the masters of doing this struggled, and no batsmen really covered themselves in glory in the top order for England.

Mustard did fantastically well this season and he deserves more than just 5 games in bowler friendly conditions to prove he deserves to play for England. We've done this too often in the past, dump people far too quickly and we've paid the price for it.

And far more times than we've paid for dumping people quickly, we've paid for picking those who have no compelling case whatsoever to be picked. Mustard is the latest example.

TBH, I hope he does play a bit more. Prior's had plenty enough chances, and the next Prior deserves equally as many. But I don't see Mustard doing anything much really, and I won't do until he has more than a single good domestic season.

 

[Richard]

And that's different from the team England usually play how?

Back in the days of yore of Alec Stewart (where the wicketkeeper was a top-order batsman first and wicketkeeper second, the way it should be ) and of Craig White, England played proper batsmen all the way down to eight; they then played three bowlers with First-Class centuries and averages in the 20s in Dominic Cork, Andy Caddick and Darren Gough at nine, ten and eleven.

No, things aren't what they used to be. Those long-lost days will probably never be seen again.

 

[Richard]

Presumably you mean 6 plus the keeper?

Sadly, really, I do. The reality is, Stewart was hounded prematurely into retirement and we lost one of the best players England have ever had so as to usher in an era of rotation of rubbish.

Let's hope the next Stewart comes along in less time than it took Stewart to became the next Knott. 'Cos otherwise our batting looks absurdly weak.

 

[Richard]

Well if they are going to play two spinners I'd say we needd to play five bowlers. Especially with Colly possibly unable to bowl. It's certainly far from ideal though, I agree.

Hopefully Vaughan might be able to do some part-time work, and he > Collingwood by a fair bit.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Sadly, really, I do. The reality is, Stewart was hounded prematurely into retirement and we lost one of the best players England have ever had so as to usher in an era of rotation of rubbish.

Let's hope the next Stewart comes along in less time than it took Stewart to became the next Knott. 'Cos otherwise our batting looks absurdly weak.

I remain ever hopeful Steven Davies is that man. But you can never really tell, and even if he is it will be a few years yet till he is at the level needed. Theres still a number of flaws in his technique, especially when he first comes out.