Eng v India, 7th ODI, Lord's, 8th September

So, it's over finally. A comfortable test win and a narrow ODI loss (Ruined by some horrendous umpiring ). I'll take it!

They're a good match up, England and India.

Test series could've gone either way, same with the one-day stuff.

Much more fun watching them play than the frankly pathetic West Indies side who turned up for a pay day earlier in the summer.

Only wish we weren't missing Fred & Hoggy for the test series.

Apart from that, couldn't fault the effort of the lads that did turn out.

But if it weren't for the crocks, we might not have learned that there's a bit of talent waiting in the wings, so it's not all doom and gloom.

Hoggard will be back, bounding in like a big, dumb puppy soon enough.

Outlook's bleak for Flintoff, though, IMHO.

Dello wrote:
Outlook's bleak for Flintoff, though, IMHO.

What do you do though, where he's concerned?

As the lads on commentary said today - if he takes a year out of the game there's no guarantee he'll come back any better.

Seems like they're not going to operate again.

Yet, as Holding said... how the hell can you take injections before every game?

Maybe it's a case of the ankle reacting to the previous op. It's probably going to be a case of picking and choosing his games from here on...

Well I doubt another operation will make much difference if the last one didn't sort it.

He needs to make a decision now - either work really hard on sorting out his batting and call it a day as a bowler (with no guarantee of ever playing for England again), or just try and play on with injections, perhaps giving up either Test or ODI cricket, or otherwise the option that nobody wants to see and that's to finish altogether.

I suppose the other alternative is to change action and reduce pace, but that's perhaps equivalent to deciding to be primarily a batsman and there's a lot to do for him to secure a place in any England side as a batsman, on current form he'd come in after Mascarenhas and possibly even Broad. If only the situation was reversed, and his batting form was great and his bowling terrible - it would be an easy decision.

But I can see England getting themselves into the position of feeling like they have to pick Flintoff as a specialist batsman - being unable to leave their superstar out - as his bowling career winds down.

And that will weaken the side big time - he's not even in the top-twenty best batsmen in England.

Dello wrote:But I can see England getting themselves into the position of feeling like they have to pick Flintoff as a specialist batsman - being unable to leave their superstar out - as his bowling career winds down.

And that will weaken the side big time - he's not even in the top-twenty best batsmen in England.

On current form he's not in the top hundred - but at his best he's in the top five in one-day terms at least.

As I've said before, he's only 29 and you don't lose the talent he has overnight. He's perhaps not a Test specialist batsman, although from 2003-05 his stats suggest he was worth a place for his batting. I think on top form he would make the one-day side as a batsman, although we haven't really missed his batting contributions in this series.

You would begin to wonder if its worth the pain and the injections whether he'd just chuck it in totally.

But you get the feeling with Fred that he does actually love the game he plays and wouldn't do that lightly.

He'll probably see the 2009 Ashes as a big target. It may be worth him skipping a few series here and there to prolong his career or maybe just play the home series next year and forget about overseas tours altogether.

England's answer to Dennis Bergkamp?

JKLever wrote:He'll probably see the 2009 Ashes as a big target. It may be worth him skipping a few series here and there to prolong his career or maybe just play the home series next year and forget about overseas tours altogether.

But if we let Freddie play home series only wouldn't that open up a whole can of worms regarding Trescothick, and possibly other reluctant tourists in the future...

beamer wrote:

JKLever wrote:He'll probably see the 2009 Ashes as a big target. It may be worth him skipping a few series here and there to prolong his career or maybe just play the home series next year and forget about overseas tours altogether.

But if we let Freddie play home series only wouldn't that open up a whole can of worms regarding Trescothick, and possibly other reluctant tourists in the future...

don't see why tbh, playing home series only would be the perfect example of 'managing his ankle' which seems to be the buzzword

One last word on today...

During the interview on Sky with Djimi Mascherenhas was I the only one anticipating Djimi ripping open his kit to reveal a shiny green and gold cricket kit? :D

Yes?

Ok, i'll get my coat

Augustus wrote:Still a team that's worryingly reliant on Flintoff to deliver vital wickets. Our attack looked completely useless in the matches he didn't play. If he's permanently crocked, as seems likely, the England ODI team is unlikely to maintain its recent improvement. Maybe Flintoff will have to accept that painkilling injections are a necessity if he wants to continue a career in cricket. Atherton had to suffer with them throughout his career, and it was just one of those things - a toss-up between playing and not.

I personally think Flintoff will prove to be knackered either way.

Anderson leading wicket taker of the series with 14. None of the Indian bowlers managed to get into double figures in the wicket column.

Leading wicket takers in 2007
1. McGrath 39
2. Flintoff 36
3. Anderson 35


Not one wide bowled by the England bowlers in the whole game.

MidnightCowboy wrote:
Not one wide bowled by the England bowlers in the whole game.

A definite change there.... I think it was a bit of a shock if we didn't fling down 25 a game last year

MidnightCowboy wrote:
Not one wide bowled by the England bowlers in the whole game.

Amazing what a difference not playing Plunkett and Mahmood has made...

Welcome, BTW, MidnightCowboy.

You could've had your own thread...

Another thing I realised today.

Everybody in the England team today apart from the wicket keeper was capable of turning his arm over.

Interesting... not

JKLever wrote:

[channelling Athers] Yeah, suck it up doremi.[/channeling Athers]

[channelling Athers] Yeah, suck it up doremi.[/channeling Athers]

PMSL @ LLL

Even doremi will laugh at that... probably

doremi wrote:

HH_pink wrote:Hey doremi, how about an avatar fight? (Hopefully he isn't a mahout)

Ummm, that's me simpsonized, except I have a stubble and am a lot uglier.

Oh, was the point of that design your own Simpsons avatar site that they're supposed to look like you?

*goes off to work on moustache*

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:[channelling Athers] Yeah, suck it up doremi.[/channeling Athers]

Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts...

well the better team won both series. the english bowlers were way better than the indian ones in the odis and thats the reason they won yesterday and the series. india depended on mostly 3-4 key players, mostly batsmen, and they were pretty much out of it when 4 down