England v Australia, 1st ODI, Lords, 29 June, 2012

Hopefully weather fine, track good, and a fair contest.

Hopefully weather fine, track good and Aussie tourists absolutely shellacked.

I hope it rains for all five games and the ECB get punished for being such wankers.

I don't care what happens.

DIE ONE-DAY CRICKET, DIE!

England-

Cook(c)
Bell
Trott
Bopara
Morgan
Kieswetter+
Bresnan/Patel
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Finn

Australia-

Warner
Watson
Forrest
Clarke(c)
D.Hussey
Bailey
Wade+
Lee
Cummins
McKay
Doherty

**golf claps**

So, which Aussie quickie will be first to go in the fetlock then?

Got to agree with Watto that England look a little light in batting with Bresnan at 7 but I think its worth a crack to see if the 5 top bowlers theory comes off. Especially now with a new ball from either end. Might make Broady more of an important player with the bat rather than the bit part he'll always be stuck down at 9.

It's handy to have an opener (Watson) doubling as 5th bowler

IMO, none of Bresnan, Broad or Swann are all-rounders in ODIs. They're shitty tailenders. Heck, Bresnan's not even an ODI bowler.

Brass Monkey wrote:IMO, none of Bresnan, Broad or Swann are all-rounders in ODIs. They're shitty tailenders.

It's weird, in the test team they average in the 20s which is more than useful for someone so low down the order and they tend to come in and give it a whack as well. From watching them in test cricket you'd think they would do well in ODIs but like you say, they haven't performed at all.

They just can't hit from the off. It's a tailend skill in itself that is totally lacking. Bresnan in particular can't get it off the square - astonishing with someone with a decent S/R. Swann just hasn't really got the technique to hit it in areas he's not comfortable with and Broad I really don't know, but he just nicks off to the keeper loads. It's a fallacy to say that someone at 7 averaging 20 is OK, especially as 8 & 9 average under 15. Oh well, let us PLEASE keep our head in the sand.

lardbucket wrote:It's handy to have an opener (Watson) doubling as 5th bowler

nullified by having Steve Smith as a specialist fielder

He's our Ian Bell.

Brass Monkey wrote:They just can't hit from the off. It's a tailend skill in itself that is totally lacking. Bresnan in particular can't get it off the square - astonishing with someone with a decent S/R. Swann just hasn't really got the technique to hit it in areas he's not comfortable with and Broad I really don't know, but he just nicks off to the keeper loads. It's a fallacy to say that someone at 7 averaging 20 is OK, especially as 8 & 9 average under 15. Oh well, let us PLEASE keep our head in the sand.

Nobody batting below 7 ever does fark all in ODI's. You've either got a couple of overs to get your eye in, or a lost cause innings when you walk out there. If you can average double figures you're doing well. A long batting order is no real benefit.

5 bowlers and a test top 4 is worth a go, at least for a bit. See if it works? The 2 balls may totally alter the approach.

Obv, will revise this when England crawl to 200 a/o and Shane TAYPOCson smashes the much vaunted test attack all around the home of cricket tomorrow.

beamer wrote:
Nobody batting below 7 ever does fark all in ODI's. You've either got a couple of overs to get your eye in, or a lost cause innings when you walk out there. If you can average double figures you're doing well. A long batting order is no real benefit.

Mehhh, they've all had the 'fortune' of being afforded to opportunity to play long enough innings due to previous failure by the top 7 and they've got one fifty between the three of them. Which means we're sort of both pretty much reinforcing Shane Watson's comments that if you get some early wickets against us our batting-light side will be put under pressure.

JKLever wrote:The 2 balls may totally alter the approach.

Good point.

We've got an attack that looks half decent, for the first time in many years. If the alternative is 10 overs of Chavi Flops and even lesser fill-ins... stick with it for now.

I'd have liked to see Hales called into the squad though. I know they've decided on their opening strategy and he wouldn't have played barring an injury, and no point batting him down the order as he's a pure bred opener who goes in first in all formats. But it would have been deserved reward for his efforts last week. Still, I suppose it might help Notts make it through in the T20...

Anyway, Test top 4? With KP out of the JAMODI frame our red ball top 4 is now more attacking than our longer white ball one. That can't be right, can it?

I don't think so, but as long as we're winning there'll be no change. I just really don't know about this lot until they have played away from home a bit. Forget the awful Paks... pretty much the same side we're terrible against a proper side like India...

The next WC will be in Aus, not sure we should be overly worrying about playing in India tbh.

No, different conditions but they canned us on what were basically good pitches.

But still Indian pitches, with little bounce.

Still think its worth a shot now, rather than scrambling a plan together a week before the tournament. And that's coming from someone who loves a tailender who can bat!

Now watch them pick Samit tomorrow for Bres ( whose Lords record is crap)

Yeah, I'll have to put up with it for now. Like I had to put up the non brave new world after the 2007 WC that failed in the 2011 WC. It's not like I'm constantly bringing up my rightness all the time about that debacle.