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

[albo97056]

Magnificent innings from Ian Bell, he just has to play in the ODi series now. I'd probably have to drop Trott and bat Bell at 3. Harsh on Trott to leave him out, but Bell is in such good form it's impossible to leave him out. I guess if you were picking on form Trott would play ahead of KP and Collingwood, but I'd be very surprised if either of those got dropped.

The answer would be to open with bell and strauss and drop davies down to 7. There's no reason why you have to have a keeper opening, just stubborn selectors. Either that or give morgan the gloves. I think collingwood could get through 10 against this side. And youve got kp to get through a few as well.

 

[Prince EWS]

The answer would be to open with bell and strauss and drop davies down to 7. There's no reason why you have to have a keeper opening, just stubborn selectors. Either that or give morgan the gloves. I think collingwood could get through 10 against this side. And youve got kp to get through a few as well.

Davies opens domestically too though; it's not just random. Personally I'd be much happier with Pietersen and Collingwood at four and five than three or four anyway.

1 Stauss
2 Davies
3 Bell
4 Pietersen
5 Collingwood
6 Morgan

I don't see why you'd pick anything else at this point. Trott's unlucky but having a one day batsman of his calibre in reserve is only a good thing.

 

[King Pietersen]

Yeah, Davies is an opener, he's even opened quite a few times in FC cricket. It isn't a stubborn selection at all.

That batting line-up is the one I'd go with. Trott will probably feel hard done-by, but you just cannot leave Bell out in this sort of form.

 

[albo97056]

Yeah, Davies is an opener, he's even opened quite a few times in FC cricket. It isn't a stubborn selection at all.

That batting line-up is the one I'd go with. Trott will probably feel hard done-by, but you just cannot leave Bell out in this sort of form.

I mean stubborn in the sense england always pick a keeper to open. I wouldnt even have davies in the side at all, but there are plenty of guys who could open better than him in england.

Edit.. to clarify, I mean they pick a keeper to open, rather than their best opener, to open up slots below I suppose, though plenty of other teams have their keeper down the order (boucher for example) with great success.

 

[superkingdave]

Davies opens domestically too though; it's not just random. Personally I'd be much happier with Pietersen and Collingwood at four and five than three or four anyway.

1 Stauss
2 Davies
3 Bell
4 Pietersen
5 Collingwood
6 Morgan

I don't see why you'd pick anything else at this point. Trott's unlucky but having a one day batsman of his calibre in reserve is only a good thing.

AWTP would be crazy to bat Davies anywhere other than as opener.

 

[superkingdave]

I mean stubborn in the sense england always pick a keeper to open. I wouldnt even have davies in the side at all, but there are plenty of guys who could open better than him in england.

Davies pretty much has a miles better record opening(domestically) than anyone else keeper or not

 

[Howe_zat]

Davies opens domestically too though; it's not just random. Personally I'd be much happier with Pietersen and Collingwood at four and five than three or four anyway.

1 Stauss
2 Davies
3 Bell
4 Pietersen
5 Collingwood
6 Morgan

I don't see why you'd pick anything else at this point. Trott's unlucky but having a one day batsman of his calibre in reserve is only a good thing.

This, really. Trott is a very good bat but doesn't play the match situation very well, he is excellent in the middle overs but often struggles to accelerate. We can't not play Bell when he's in this kind of form, though it presumably won't last.

We definately need 5 bowlers, relying on Colly and Pietersen could go horribly wrong very quickly. Yardy can bat at seven and though I don't like his bowling much he provides a great deal of control, allowing Swann to be more aggressive during his spell.

Edit: Davies opened all through the CB40 last year for Surrey, averaging 60.62 at a strike rate of 128 with a century and four fifties. Acceptable?

 

[Noble One]

Yardy will be more effective than Swann in the ODI's. Australian batsmen struggle badly against the containing type of spinners.

 

[albo97056]

Davies pretty much has a miles better record opening(domestically) than anyone else keeper or not

Well we shall see. But id have money on him scoring good 20s and 30s and then getting out, especially during the world cup on the slower pitches.

 

[King Pietersen]

I disagree. Davies has been in exceptional form in England for a few seasons, and could open for England as a pure bat AFAIC. Class player, and I'm hoping he proves that in the WC.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well we shall see. But id have money on him scoring good 20s and 30s and then getting out, especially during the world cup on the slower pitches.

Rather have Davies than Bedwetter anyway.

 

[Prince EWS]

I mean stubborn in the sense england always pick a keeper to open. I wouldnt even have davies in the side at all, but there are plenty of guys who could open better than him in england.

Edit.. to clarify, I mean they pick a keeper to open, rather than their best opener, to open up slots below I suppose, though plenty of other teams have their keeper down the order (boucher for example) with great success.

Well, their best keeper is an opener. Davies is probably actually one of their best two openers whether he keeps or not as well. It's not like they've just bunted him up there for no reason like they did with Geraint Jones.

 

[Spark]

Yardy will be more effective than Swann in the ODI's. Australian batsmen struggle badly against the containing type of spinners.

Depends, really. Towards the end of the last series Ponting/Clarke/Hussey finally worked out that you have to try and hit Yardy fairly straight. He's not the kind of bowler who's going to beat the bat on the drive very often, so as long as you hit down the line of the ball and not across it you should be fine.

 

[Howe_zat]

Depends, really. Towards the end of the last series Ponting/Clarke/Hussey finally worked out that you have to try and hit Yardy fairly straight. He's not the kind of bowler who's going to beat the bat on the drive very often, so as long as you hit down the line of the ball and not across it you should be fine.

Very true. All of Yardy's wickets in the warm up were from batsmen playng across the line to him. The senior batsmen should have more nous than that - and Cam White seemed really keep to get on top of him in the world T20.

 

[Spark]

Yeah indeed. Rubbish batting really, when a bowler is bowling what are effectively fast, straight darts, no reason to be trying to pinch risky singles to square leg and behind.

Mind you the bats he was getting weren't much pop aside from Paine so...

EDIT: On that note there was quite a bit of chatter of Paine potentially playing as a specialist bat. Now, I love watching him bat (2nd favourite player to watch after Pup) and he's been fairly impressive in Tests thus far, but geez.....

 

[marc71178]

The answer would be to open with bell and strauss and drop davies down to 7.

That would be an answer but not the right one.

Davies has made his name through his opening, something he's done very well for a number of years. He's worked out a successful way of scoring from ball 1 when the field is up. Bringing him in at 7 requires a different type of batting entirely, one he's not had practice at.

 

[Prince EWS]

That would be an answer but not the right one.

Davies has made his name through his opening, something he's done very well for a number of years. He's worked out a successful way of scoring from ball 1 when the field is up. Bringing him in at 7 requires a different type of batting entirely, one he's not had practice at.

It'd also mean either batting Yardy at six or relying on Collingwood/Pietersen to get through ten. Not to mention Pietersen and Collingwood batting one place too high each, respectively.

 

[marc71178]

I mean stubborn in the sense england always pick a keeper to open. I wouldnt even have davies in the side at all, but there are plenty of guys who could open better than him in england.

Go on then, name these "plenty of guys"

Have you not seen his figures over the past few seasons? That he's a keeper as well is a big bonus, but even if he didn't keep he should be in the team (and should've been for the past 3 years or so)

 

[Furball]

I mean stubborn in the sense england always pick a keeper to open. I wouldnt even have davies in the side at all, but there are plenty of guys who could open better than him in england.

Edit.. to clarify, I mean they pick a keeper to open, rather than their best opener, to open up slots below I suppose, though plenty of other teams have their keeper down the order (boucher for example) with great success.

Davies is the best OD opening bat in the country.

 

[GIMH]

Ian Bell, WAG