England T20 Warm-Up on Sky

Now there's a surpise.
Dernbach bowling filth - no surprise

At least it was live on Sky - Match abandoned!

I watched a bit. And then it was all over.

Gripping, it weren't.

Didn't realise Dernbach was still in the T20 squad. Which only goes to prove the old adage that it's harder to get out of the England team than it is to get in it. What possible justification could they have for sticking with him?

Dello wrote:What possible justification could they have for sticking with him?

They saved a grand on his airfare.

Harris called up for Meaker. Whoop-di-dob.

Fuuuck me. Nick 'Warwickshire' Knight reckons Chris Warks IS quick enough. Was bowling 81mph powderpuffs all innings long.

The thing is - 81mph is Woakes pushing beyond his limits. He's got no control at all at that "pace", and sprays the ball around.

Just doesn't look like a bowler, I'm afraid. Then again, if the Nick Knight rates him...

Be fair... one ball jumped to 83.1 mph. That's right - eighty three point one miles per hour. The batsman looked like he hacked it comfortably but I'm sure I saw pure exasperation deep in his pupils.

CR Woakes 2 0 10 2

3 wickets for Woakes
3 wickets for Dernbach
hat trick for Broad

All the big boys came to the party. I'm almost squealing.

The big boys didn't come to the party - I'm dumbfounded and disillusioned.

I saw it. Dire. Obviously Dernbach will get it in the neck again for being shitehouse (he attempted five yorkers - all were high full tossses, spanked to the boundary), but Finn was equally appalling - for his final over, with an entirely off-side field set, he bowled every ball short and on leg stump, including two leg-side wides.

What the f*ck was he trying to do? Complete spazmaloid.

Broad's captaincy was a joke as well. The NZ XI bat (was it Latham that scored the runs) had only one shot against the spinners, a slog sweep. He played it off every delivery. At any point, were there ever any fielders in a position on the leg-side to either A) discourage the shot or B) add an extra element of risk to the shot? Nope. Never. Jimmy Tredwell got violated all innings, without ever really bowling anything too awful.

Still, it was an exciting finish, and England could still have pulled it out of their arse, but even a NZ XI young bowler who can barely bat could correctly predict that Dernbach's final delivery would be a slower-ball half-volley.

At least one of the commentators (Simon Doull) said out loud that he was puzzled at Dernbach's continued selection for England, as his record is "awful". That was the highlight of the game, for me. No Nick Knight have-it-both-ways "I've seen him bowl much better in the past" or Nasser's wistful "I don't know where we are with Dernbach" - someone just flat out saying: "This guy's shit".

Sounds as awful as I imagined. Still, what can we expect from similar bowling personnel who f*cked our T20 WC campaign up. Then was the time for change, but it's not coming.