Teams, tactics and concerns

[honestbharani]

Well, I thought it would be a fun idea for a thread.



WE can all put in what we think should be the 15 that a particular team should take to the WC, and then what their general tactics and approach should be and what areas they should pay the most attention to, in terms of the diff. aspects of the game.



It is not necessary that it has to be your home country or the country you support. If you guys want, you can do this for all 8 teams, but if you do it in diff. posts, it might make for better reading.



Let me start off with West Indies.


I had a feeling gng into the CT finals that the Windies were still a work in progress while the Aussies are already there and have been there for a while now as far as ODIs are concerned.


Gayle and Chanderpaul at the top look solid to me. I don't see any new faces coming into the side as well between now and the WC. So, those two are gonna be the openers, I guess. Sarwan or Morton at 3 and the other guy at 4 sounds feasible to me. Lara at 5 because the others don't quite seem at home in the middle order. Bravo at 6 (and batting him at 3 or 4 all the time was a big mistake), Samuels at 7, Smith at 8, Baugh at 9 and then Bradshaw and Taylor.


The key thing for them is that their batting line up should always ALWAYS be able to put up 250+. Once that is done, their bowling is more than good enough to choke the batting side and win the game. And if they bowl first, I still have confidence in their bowling line up to restrict the batting side to 250-260 at the max.


So mainly, they will have to concentrate on avoiding the familiar collapses and try and put together a proper batting order that will ensure 250 (or there and thereabouts) almost everytime they go out to bat.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I think Australia should play a 4-4-2 combination - with Ponting in goals and Symonds up front in the strongman role vacated by Viduka. Clarke, after being groomed for the role for the last 3 years, will take over from Gregan at halfback, and will constantly have Watson and 2/3 of the Australian selectors running off him at inside centre and on the wings. Chief playmaker will be Warney, although he's running on old legs and may only play half a game before handing the no.10 jersey over to Tait, who'll then proceed to fire half a dozen thunderbolt-like passes into his teammate's toes and ears. Tait will lose favour with the selectors after he hits one sitting in the stands in his 4th attempt at an accurate pass and will spend the rest of his campaign warming up exercise bikes on the sideline. Martyn will again be tested under the high ball at fullback, and Lee will have to keep his tackles down, and leading football coaches hope Hayden doesn't go in to any tackles two-footed if he's going to see a lot of time on the pitch.

Spectators hoping to see a lot of Stuart MacGill would be well advised to head to the NSW Aquatic Centre where he'll be dropping the puck at the start of the World underwater Hockey World Cup.

 

[aussie]

Have a go with England

Once all players a fit they are pretty strong in all area's.

Opening pair of Trescothick/Strauss very capable of scoring freely againts opposition attacks.

Middle to lower order of Bell/KP/Freddie/Collingwood/Dalrymple very strong and flexible and should be able to adapt and rotate to any match situation. Only problem their is that England have a problem in the keeping department as we all know. Read needs a solid VB series to secure a world cup spot or else Jones may reclaim his spot. But as i mentioned before for the best Keeper/Bat in the country in Nic Pothas should be called up since i'm not convinced either Read/Jones are up to it, but mahbe performances in Australia may chance that idea and hopefully the selectors do look in the direction of Nic Pothas.

Fast Bowling attack Freddie/Lewis/Anderson/Harmison in this order is very capable. Much has been made about Hurricane Harmo's form but i think he is better bowling 2nd/3rd change in ODI's, Freddie is the best bowler and should open the bowling for me with Lewis who is arguably England best ODI bowler these days, and in the death overs Freddie/Anderson would bowl here since they are the best bowling options in that situation.

So based on this, preferably come the world cup, my England XI would be:

Trescothick
Strauss
Bell
Freddie
KP
Colly
Pothas
Dalrymple
Lewis
Harmison
Anderson

My back-ups to these guys to round up a possible 15-man squad would be Giles, Mahmood, Joyce, Mascarenhas

Giles has been a very steady performer in ODI's for a while now and i'd pick him over Yardy since Yardy has done well with the ball but other aspects of his game i.e batting. fielding look a bit out of depth at the highest level, while Gilo clearly isn't in those area's.

Mahmood will go as the back-up seamer, has pace can get good batsmen out and overall is just improving all the time.

Joyce as the back-up batsman, hasn't got to show his full game at the international level as yet, but hopefully he does well in the VB series where he will get chances and secure a spot since i don't think picking batsmen like Cook, Loye, Shah would be the way to go.

Mascarenhas selection is debatable, but i think his all-round capabilities would be very useful to the ODI side, he hits the ball very hard, bowlig of similar pace to Ian Harvey and is very good in the field. Admittedly England only have the VB to finalise their squad but if for some unknown reason the selectors keep going for Rikki Clarke, hopefully they see the light and give Mascarenhas a go.

 

[honestbharani]

I think Australia should play a 4-4-2 combination - with Ponting in goals and Symonds up front in the strongman role vacated by Viduka. Clarke, after being groomed for the role for the last 3 years, will take over from Gregan at halfback, and will constantly have Watson and 2/3 of the Australian selectors running off him at inside centre and on the wings. Chief playmaker will be Warney, although he's running on old legs and may only play half a game before handing the no.10 jersey over to Tait, who'll then proceed to fire half a dozen thunderbolt-like passes into his teammate's toes and ears. Tait will lose favour with the selectors after he hits one sitting in the stands in his 4th attempt at an accurate pass and will spend the rest of his campaign warming up exercise bikes on the sideline. Martyn will again be tested under the high ball at fullback, and Lee will have to keep his tackles down, and leading football coaches hope Hayden doesn't go in to any tackles two-footed if he's going to see a lot of time on the pitch.

Spectators hoping to see a lot of Stuart MacGill would be well advised to head to the NSW Aquatic Centre where he'll be dropping the puck at the start of the World underwater Hockey World Cup.

So this way, the Aussie dominance of cricket ends, right?


Great strategy.

 

[honestbharani]

Have a go with England

Once all players a fit they are pretty strong in all area's.

Opening pair of Trescothick/Strauss very capable of scoring freely againts opposition attacks.

Middle to lower order of Bell/KP/Freddie/Collingwood/Dalrymple very strong and flexible and should be able to adapt and rotate to any match situation. Only problem their is that England have a problem in the keeping department as we all know. Read needs a solid VB series to secure a world cup spot or else Jones may reclaim his spot. But as i mentioned before for the best Keeper/Bat in the country in Nic Pothas should be called up since i'm not convinced either Read/Jones are up to it, but mahbe performances in Australia may chance that idea and hopefully the selectors do look in the direction of Nic Pothas.

Fast Bowling attack Freddie/Lewis/Anderson/Harmison in this order is very capable. Much has been made about Hurricane Harmo's form but i think he is better bowling 2nd/3rd change in ODI's, Freddie is the best bowler and should open the bowling for me with Lewis who is arguably England best ODI bowler these days, and in the death overs Freddie/Anderson would bowl here since they are the best bowling options in that situation.

So based on this, preferably come the world cup, my England XI would be:

Trescothick
Strauss
Bell
Freddie
KP
Colly
Pothas
Dalrymple
Lewis
Harmison
Anderson

My back-ups to these guys to round up a possible 15-man squad would be Giles, Mahmood, Joyce, Mascarenhas

Giles has been a very steady performer in ODI's for a while now and i'd pick him over Yardy since Yardy has done well with the ball but other aspects of his game i.e batting. fielding look a bit out of depth at the highest level, while Gilo clearly isn't in those area's.

Mahmood will go as the back-up seamer, has pace can get good batsmen out and overall is just improving all the time.

Joyce as the back-up batsman, hasn't got to show his full game at the international level as yet, but hopefully he does well in the VB series where he will get chances and secure a spot since i don't think picking batsmen like Cook, Loye, Shah would be the way to go.

Mascarenhas selection is debatable, but i think his all-round capabilities would be very useful to the ODI side, he hits the ball very hard, bowlig of similar pace to Ian Harvey and is very good in the field. Admittedly England only have the VB to finalise their squad but if for some unknown reason the selectors keep going for Rikki Clarke, hopefully they see the light and give Mascarenhas a go.

I agree that at full strength, England do look good, at least on paper. But I think Anderson should bowl with the new ball. HIs strength is swing and the white kookaburra doesn't swing after a few overs.


Mahmood, to me, should always be played above blokes like Lewis. He is a potential matchwinner and a guy who, at least to me, looks like he has what it takes to be a really good bowler in the international scene. He should be given as many games as is possible for he isn't all that bad as a tailend batter either.

I agree that the keeper is the only position that looks really shaky at this point for England. Giles and Freddie along with Mahmood, Anderson and Harmison/Lewis sounds like a really good bowling attack. Heck, on a slow wicket, toss both Harmison and Lewis out and play Dalrymple. England could be a good bet as dark horses, I think.

 

[aussie]

But I think Anderson should bowl with the new ball. HIs strength is swing and the white kookaburra doesn't swing after a few overs.

Well probably, but Anderson can be effective with the older ball as well but with really either Freddie or Anderson opening the bowling won't be a problem

Mahmood, to me, should always be played above blokes like Lewis. He is a potential matchwinner and a guy who, at least to me, looks like he has what it takes to be a really good bowler in the international scene. He should be given as many games as is possible for he isn't all that bad as a tailend batter either.

Yea Mahmood has potential, but Lewis to date has been very effective in what he does i.e bowling his 10 overs out within the first 30 overs and being pretty economical while nipping a few blokes out so for now i would stick with him in that role, but things could change between now and the WC.