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Pietersen or Flintoff to open?

Nishant

International 12th Man
haroon510 said:
i think the opening pair of england is very good for now. but if they wana change it then they should send pietersen and Trescothick. they would be a good pair spacially in indian pitches.

i agree with you....they are a lethal pair; but on the other hand flintoff may not be too bad either. The main question is; who is more likely to exposed with the new ball. The palyer that can handle it best, should open in the champions trophy! Don't u agree?:)
 

Poker Boy

State Vice-Captain
England played a warm-up game today and opened with Bell and Strauss - if that's any guide. Flintoff and KP were 3 and 4. I'd have Flintoff to open with Strauss, KP at 3 and Bell at 4 as an insurance policy against early wickets. Either Fletcher disagrees or he picked this order to try and fool us (Remember last year he had G Jones open in the 20-20 but when the ODIs started he went with Trescothick and Strauss)
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
This is silly really. I'm sure Pietersen and Flintoff would make good OD openers in India, but you can't exactly clone them and still leave them in the middle order - and they'd be more valuable there.

Strauss and Bell should open the batting. Or rather, Cook should actually be in the squad... but thats another story!
 

tooextracool

International Coach
I cant see the point of having KP opening the batting when he is clearly a middle order batsman and should be batting at 5. For mine, it should be:
Bell
Strauss
Flintoff
Collingwood
KP
Dalrymple
Yardy
Read

Once trescothick comes back id replace him for Collingwood, and have Bell move to 3 and Flintoff to 4.
I think Flintoff is clearly a much better player when he has his eye in than when he has to come in at 5 or 6 and score quickly so he should at least be batting ahead of Pietersen. As such i dont think hed be too bad at 3.
 
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open365

International Vice-Captain
It's a tough one.

I think i'd probably open with Strauss and Bell so we can save KP and Fred till later on, Mainly so i don't get bored watching if We open with Fred and he gets out first ball, even if he gets out first ball at 5/6, at least i had the anticipation of watching him bat.
 

Perm

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Strauss and Bell should definately open the batting, with Flintoff coming in at 3 and Pietersen and Collingwood at 4 and 5. That would be what I would do anyway. When Trescothick comes back he would open and Bell would drop down to three with everybody else dropping down one aswell.
 

Mister Wright

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Bell opened. Out for 4. Flintoff at 3 out for a duck. Pietersen coming in during the 8th over currently 27*. Winning the battle IMO.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Mister Wright said:
Bell opened. Out for 4. Flintoff at 3 out for a duck. Pietersen coming in during the 8th over currently 27*. Winning the battle IMO.
Have you just seen the shot he played? Never an opener for me.
 

sideshowtim

Banned
Flintoff has always batted well in the middle order and so has Pietersen, why remove them from the conditions in which they are most effective?
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
marc71178 said:
By all reports not the best of decisions to be fair.
One of those where you perhaps wonder if hawkeye is as infalliable as all that. It looked stone dead at full pace, but hawkeye had it going over by quite a bit.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
BoyBrumby said:
One of those where you perhaps wonder if hawkeye is as infalliable as all that. It looked stone dead at full pace, but hawkeye had it going over by quite a bit.
Oh right, I only had the radio and they had doubts about it in real time, but don't know what view they had.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
sideshowtim said:
Flintoff has always batted well in the middle order and so has Pietersen, why remove them from the conditions in which they are most effective?
Flintoff has batted at his best at 4 while Pietersen at 5. IMO once Tresco comes back the order would fit perfectly with Bell at 3, Freddie at 4 and KP at 5.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
BoyBrumby said:
One of those where you perhaps wonder if hawkeye is as infalliable as all that. It looked stone dead at full pace, but hawkeye had it going over by quite a bit.
I dont know about stone dead, but it was pretty obvious to me that it was too high. As such even Ian Bishop had doubts about that at full time.
 

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