No.Looks like England are going to play Kieswetter as a specialist batsman in the first game against Bangladesh, with Prior keeping the gloves.
Is there any point in this? Might as well give the youngster the gloves and play another specialist batsman.
I agree mostly but disagree about the lower order which looks incredibly strong.I see it happening in the warm-up, but I think Trott will end up opening with Cook in the first ODi. I reckon we'll go into the first game with:
Alastair Cook *
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior +
Luke Wright
Tim Bresnan
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Ajmal Shahzad/Ryan Sidebottom (depending on Sidebottom's fitness)
Not exactly a side that's going to strike fear into the rest of the world. The middle order of Pietersen, Collingwood and Morgan is good, but the rest is very mediocre, especially the lower order and bowling attack. I'd rather see Kieswetter opening and keeping, with Trott in the middle order, at 4. Should Kieswetter play it would seem that Trott's going to be dropped though, which is just stupid considering he's one of the best OD players in England. Cook playing in place of Trott would be laughable. Why couldn't Collingwood or Pietersen captain the ODi series? Side looks terrible with Cook opening.
Too strong IMO. Surely the point of Bresnan is that he can bat a bit. He could easily be dropped for a frontline bowler and everyone else move up 1 place.I agree mostly but disagree about the lower order which looks incredibly strong.
They dont have to be fantastic. Just better. If you are telling me that Bresnan is one of the 4 best OD bowlers in England then I dont believe you.Who are the other bowling options though? There's not exactly a massive queue of fantatsic OD bowlers that he's keeping out of the side...
Yes "incredibly strong" was perhaps an overstatement on my part but the point I was making is that the lower part of that batting line-up cannot be criticised for any lack of depth, as I think you agree.Too strong IMO. Surely the point of Bresnan is that he can bat a bit. He could easily be dropped for a frontline bowler and everyone else move up 1 place.
Bear in mind that Flintoff and Anderson are injured.They dont have to be fantastic. Just better. If you are telling me that Bresnan is one of the 4 best OD bowlers in England then I dont believe you.
Ah, I'm with you. And I agree. Although it'll be interesting to see how Bresnan and Wright develop and how Shahzad gets on.Wasn't the batting depth of the lower order I was moaning about, as it's obvious that the lower order batting is strong, but more the bowling. Broad and Swann are the only 2 genuinely good OD bowlers in the line-up. I'm just not too happy about having 30 overs coming from Wright, Bresnan, Shahzad and Collingwood. Even Sidebottom doesn't really fill me with much confidence any more, just can't seem to look threatening with the white ball. It should be enough to beat Bangladesh, but if we went in with the XI I think we will, against any other side, we'd be struggling.