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

[Jacknife]

That was some cherry from Lee, not much KP could do with that.

 

[Burgey]

Why has Lee been left til the game is lost to be brought back on? Blody hell, bloke has a million ODI wickets, has been rated one in the world, and the captain leaves it to the neophytes to try and get us out of this crap.

Another CA failure. I blame Hilditch.

 

[ajdude]

K, Paine's captaincy potential depends on if he gives Christian this over..

 

[vcs]

Lee definitely gives Pietersen a tough time, in general.

 

[TumTum]

Another CA failure. I blame Hilditch.

 

[Jacknife]

124 OFF 102 balls, a proper top innings from Belly and very well supported from Trott, nice to Lee bowling again at a good lick. On the whole very professional from England.

 

[Spikey]

Why has Lee been left til the game is lost to be brought back on? Blody hell, bloke has a million ODI wickets, has been rated one in the world, and the captain leaves it to the neophytes to try and get us out of this crap.

Another CA failure. I blame Hilditch.

- Hildtich doesn't pick such crap teams they don't panic and give Paine the captaincy here and do such a crap job.


pretty easy tbh

 

[pup11]

Yeah but this is what gets me, this bloody obsession with out and out pace.

Yeah it's great to watch when some bloke ducks and weaves, but you know those West Indies sides int eh 80s? they didn't win because they had four quciks. They won becuase they had four good bowlers (usually two of whom were either very good or great) who happened to be quick. Too often back then I saw our team try to replicate the Windies recipe for success and pick four quicks, but surprisingly, a 22 year old McDermott who couldn't hit the pitch; a Merv Hughes at that time averaging 150 in tests; Chris Matthews and Mike Whitney tended not to cut it.

It's about the quality, not the pace. Sure pace helps, but fmd if Copeland or anyone else bowls 125-135 from a decent height, hits the towel and moves it either through the air or off the deck, they will succeed.

Now those are skills that gotta be honed, and if as a quick you have pace to go with those then it can only help.
Brett Lee for ages coped a lot of stick for being a 2 length bowler, but what about the current Aussie quicks, its pretty evident they are just limited to one length.
I don't know whether its some stupid tactic or as you said the Aussie quicks get some pleasure in seeing the batsman duck, sway or get hit but bowling short all day doesn't get you any wickets.
That's where someone like Cooley has been a epic fail, because under his watchful eye most Australian quicks have backtracked and gotten worse rather than improving.
EDIT: Every time I hear Paine's name as a potential Oz captain, as an Aussie fan I start to fear that the worse might yet to be come for us!!!

 

[pup11]

the people at the Deccan Chargers are watching this match and thinking oh ****

900K for him might seem like too much, but he is a very handy player in the shorter format, would definitely want to see him cement a place in the Oz T20 and ODI sides.

 

[Ruckus]

Now those are skills that gotta be honed, and if as a quick you have pace to go with those then it can only help.

The thing is, players, coaches and selectors etc. just have their priorities wrong these days. Yes, pace coupled with swing/seam in the right areas is only ever going to be a good thing. But for some stupid reason pace is often being prioritised over the other essential qualities of being a good bowler. If you bowl consistently in the right areas and get any kind of movement, you can still be an excellent bowler without significant pace. However, the opposite isn't true - without those qualities pace in itself doesn't at all gaurantee success. In fact, it oftens worsens the problems associated with being inconsistent.

This entire Ashes series was a testament to why pace is trivial compared to the other basic requirements of good, consistent bowling.

 

[Spark]

That's why Asif was the definite #2 bowler in the world despite at certain times looking a gentle medium trundler. Put it on the spot, move it, you'll ask questions.

 

[Ruckus]

Yep. But for some reason the "I just try to go in and hit the deck hard" mentality has permeated our bowlers. You have to ask, where does that mentaility come from, and who the hell is encouraging/rewarding it so much?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well Ian Bell makes a good case for the one day side for the World Cup and in this form how do you leave him out. Trouble is where the hell does he bat?

Strauss and Davies will open, so is he the number 3 with KP at 4 as Colly and Morgan bat 5 and 6. No place for Trott is harsh but it is good to leave out a quality player rather than a muppet like Bopara.

Good we have options and a clear plan going into this world cup. Makes a change.

 

[Spark]

I mean look at Bresnan. Anderson is always going to be the primary threat with his now considerable armory and Tremlett will always ask some serious questions with his height, but Bresnan for the most part has simply bowled ball after ball on a good dry length and tempted/bored us into making mistakes. It's classic test match bowling.

EDIT: And yes today was not the finest moments for Paine. I missed much of England's innings, but giving Christian seven overs, yeah.

 

[Howe_zat]

Have to say, I was unimpressed with the game overall. Bell's innings was very good but hardly faultless, Shahzad and Woakes got some great movement but line deserted them. Yardy was decent but was played pretty badly. Only bowler who impressed me was Pattinson.

Still, it was a solid display from England and they were clearly a proffessional outfit. Fielding was excellent, in contrast to the PMs fairly poor effort.

And yeah, I'm getting annoyed with people tossing out words like "elegant" whenever Ian Bell makes runs. Learn to write.

 

[Howe_zat]

Well Ian Bell makes a good case for the one day side for the World Cup and in this form how do you leave him out. Trouble is where the hell does he bat?

Strauss and Davies will open, so is he the number 3 with KP at 4 as Colly and Morgan bat 5 and 6. No place for Trott is harsh but it is good to leave out a quality player rather than a muppet like Bopara.

Good we have options and a clear plan going into this world cup. Makes a change.

Yeah, I would agree, though I wouldn't mind seeing Trott play. Bopara is gladly a long way back now.

I'm not sure the selectors do have much of a clear plan - they're probably not clear on the Trott/Bell decision. People like Bresnan, Shahzad and Tremlett may or may not play and Wright may well sneak back into the team (for some reason).

 

[Spark]

I don't actually find Bell that elegant. Textbook, yes, but like Kallis he doesn't really have the little quirks and flourishes that for me show "elegance".

Maybe I'm just a bit weird.

Anyway, yeah, a pretty low-calibre game.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, I would agree, though I wouldn't mind seeing Trott play. Bopara is gladly a long way back now.

I'm not sure the selectors do have much of a clear plan - they're probably not clear on the Trott/Bell decision. People like Bresnan, Shahzad and Tremlett may or may not play and Wright may well sneak back into the team (for some reason).

Good series for them to sort the squad out though.

 

[Jacknife]

Have to say, I was unimpressed with the game overall. Bell's innings was very good but hardly faultless, Shahzad and Woakes got some great movement but line deserted them. Yardy was decent but was played pretty badly. Only bowler who impressed me was Pattinson.

Still, it was a solid display from England and they were clearly a proffessional outfit. Fielding was excellent, in contrast to the PMs fairly poor effort.

And yeah, I'm getting annoyed with people tossing out words like "elegant" whenever Ian Bell makes runs. Learn to write.

I thought Pattinson was OK but nothing more, he got a bit of bounce but was straight up and down, but he's young so we'll see.
I thought Yardy bowled really well and at the end of the day, in one day cricket, you have to keep scoring and Yardy makes it very difficult to maneuver the ball around, so as long as he keeps it accurate he'll always cause problems to most batsmen.
Woakes seemed to suffer from a bit of stage fright The strong part of his game is his accuracy and it showed today that nerves and maybe some match practice got the better of him. Same as Shahzad, he looked like he hadn't played cricket in a couple of months, but still, he bowled with good pace and some decent deliveries.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah, I would agree, though I wouldn't mind seeing Trott play. Bopara is gladly a long way back now.

I'm not sure the selectors do have much of a clear plan - they're probably not clear on the Trott/Bell decision. People like Bresnan, Shahzad and Tremlett may or may not play and Wright may well sneak back into the team (for some reason).

Yeah but we are closer to nailing down the the side now than previous years. Normally you could pick from about 25 players even this close to the tournament.

Strauss
Davies
Trott
Bell
KP
Colly
Morgan
Wright
Bresnan
Swann
Yardy
Anderson
Broad

I think those 13 will all be in the WC squad so there are 2 places up for grabs. The next few weeks will sort out whether it is Shahzad over Tremlett etc....