Fark it's pathetic!

Well, it is just pathetic, isn't it? No, it's beyond that, it's laughable, toe curlingly awful, and after what happened earlier in the summer not a little bit embarrassing.

At this point England should really gracefully withdraw from the 'Champions' Trophy for fear of prosecution under the trades description act.

From the current squad I would keep Strauss, Jimmy, Broad, Rashid, possibly Swann, and give Prior an opportunity at 6 or 7 as it is just not working trying to turn him into a top order player.

The rest of them need to be sacked off, most permanently.

I'm not at all convinced by Denly at this stage, anyone who thinks Morgan is an international cricketer is delusional in the extreme, Bopara is unravelling before our eyes, and Shah is just too highly strung and erratic to succeed under the glaring lights of the highest level of the game.

Sidebottom and Collingwood perform a job enough to hold their own in comparison to the muppets around them, but aren't the future and will not be around long enough to be part of a successful England OD side. Bresnan and Luke Wright have done nothing to convince me that they are yet, nor probably ever will be quite up to scratch in the international arena, and Dimi is just a bit meh.

That Cook cannot get into this side ahead of the likes of Morgan, Bopara and Denly is simply ludicrous, and where the heck is Jonathon Trott? If you want to look further into the future, and frankly why not, then I wouldn't be averse to a leftfield choice or two like Alex Hales or James Taylor.

On the bowling front, Onions has to now get an opportunity, and England are in dire need of some raw pace, so reluctantly I'd have to turn back to Saj the Wonderhorse and hope he finally sheds his habit of going into meltdown the moment he pulls on an England shirt.

So a new look first choice side (and I'm discounting Fred ever being fit enough to represent England again) could look something like: -

Strauss*
Cook
KP
Trott
Hales
Prior+
Broad
Rashid
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Essentially, get the side far closer to the Test team, whilst keeping an eye on using the lesser format of the game to blood some promising youngsters and proper cricketers - Hales and Rashid the case in point above - and stop mucking around with laughable choices like Eoin 'I'd rather, and probably ought to be playing hurling' Morgan.

And with that I'll go back to not giving a monkey's about JAMODI's.

We know that deep down inside, it's eating you up.

Too early to judge Denly I'd say. He's some way from the finished article but he's only had three games and not done too badly compared to some of the others, coming into a losing team is a very difficult task at the best of times. Give him 15 or 20 games in this format and then make a judgement.

And I can't believe the world's biggest Prior hater is backing keeping him in the side when everyone else has accepted he can't play one-day cricket!

Irish Owen, well I can't work him out, has been awful every game except Tuesday when he played really well. Looks like he will at least have the Champions Trophy to prove whether it was just a fluke.

Think we have to stick with Wright as he's young and we don't have many options in terms of middle order hitters. Other than that, I think I'd agree with most of it though...

Denly you could stick with, but I've just never been impressed by him when I've seen him, and his large duck collection alarms me. We'll be 0-1 far too often with him in the side.

I think Davies is the medium to long term answer in the OD lineup, but given his keeping has improved so much in the Test arena, I think Prior at least deserves a shot in a spot that should suit him better in the shorter form of the game before he gets dropped for good. But yes, the evidence increasingly points to him being incapable in international limited overs cricket.

Morgan got lucky on Tuesday with Brazen's comical drop. In 19 ODI's against Test opposition (Bangles and Zimmers included), he aggregates 315 runs at under 20, with that fortunate 58 being his highest score. Never an international cricketer. Never, ever, ever, ever. Not now, not ever . . . no nay never, no more . . .

Occasionally you see the odd flash in Luke Sussex, but mostly I just see an inadequate, slightly effeminate tosspiece winging it in international cricket and never giving the impression he's suited to it. He's doomed to fade away in time, so it may as well be sooner rather than later.

vilkrang wrote:

Zat wrote:We know that deep down inside, it's eating you up.

Ah, that's better . . .

I say put BBB in charge.

Tho Straussy could keep the nominal captaincy.

Strauss and Davies have to open.

Denly isn't an international cricketer, nor is Bopara. You can go on and add more to the list; Morgan, Wright, Mascarenhas. Anderson has been our worst ODI bowler for some time and tonight's performance is only an exception - even in taking four wickets though, I think it's quite revealing that he conceded 55 runs.

I'd rip it up and start again mostly. I'd keep Shah and bat him at 6 because I see him as one of a very few English qualified players who can hit a ball. Trott has to bat at 5, Pietersen at 4. Alastair Cook would be given forever to bat at 3 for me, not because he's good but because it will make a better cricketer of him. He also has a better ODD domestic record than most.

As for Alex Hales, PMSL - so many people getting carried away with this guy. Suppose that shows how bad we are. Personally, I think you have to look back at that SA series to see a good, balanced-ish team. I suppose Fatel probably sat on the middle of the scales though to keep it right. Anyways;

Strauss*
Davies+
Cook
Pietersen
Trott
Shah
ALLROUNDER (preferably batting)
Swann
Broad
F*CK KNOWS
F*CK KNOWS II

PS - Rashid is sh*t.

Big_Bad_Bob wrote:

vilkrang wrote:

Zat wrote:We know that deep down inside, it's eating you up.

Ah, that's better . . .

Stop living in the past.

Cunning plan by the Poms

Win an Ashes series ...get whitewashed ...win an Ashes series ...get whitewashed* ...they'll keep the Ashes when they come to Oz next season ...Evil Bastards!!!!

I'll take that.

I'll be shot to pieces for saying this, but I think it's time Blackwell was given another chance - he's been in seriously good form for Durham this year.

It's too early for Hales: everyone is creaming themselves over him since he got that ton against arguably Worcester's weakest postwar bowling attack. Let's see if the second season syndrome hits him first.

That brings me to Joe Denly - I suppose it was inevitable that he would get ago, and probably deserves a run in the side. Sadly, I think that will only prove his craptitude.

Morgan is over-rated: get rid.

Bopara needs to learn how to run between the wickets.

If Davies plays, he has to open - he's much better when he can get his eye in against the seamers.

Trott should be a nailed down certainty for the ODI side.

So, I would go with this eleven;

Strauss
Davies
Pietersen
Shah
Trott
Blackwell
Rashid
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Fatwell FFS!

*Shoots Bas down*

Missed

Agree with the sentiments though (if not Blackwell)

It's a joke that Trott wasn't in the squad, and that Onions hasn't even been given a game since getting the call

I like the top 5 but not convinced by Shah any longer.

With Blackwell in the side, it does mean playing three spinners with only Trott to provide back-up seam bowling, but given that our seamers are generally shoite in the 50 over stuff maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Then there's this Flintoff bloke - I suppose he could fill Blackwell's shoes!

Basil wrote:Bopara needs to learn how to run between the wickets.

I think there's a few more problems with his game than just that... getting rid of the run-outs would still leave 9 other ways for him to get out, and he usually manages one of them quite quickly!

Basil wrote:With Blackwell in the side, it does mean playing three spinners with only Trott to provide back-up seam bowling, but given that our seamers are generally shoite in the 50 over stuff maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Then there's this Flintoff bloke - I suppose he could fill Blackwell's shoes!

Though not his trousers . . . sorry, too easy!

So England to turn it all round tonight?

Davies+
Hales/Compton
Pietersen
Trott
Strauss(c)
Shah
Flintoff
Broad
Rashid
Swann
Plunkett


Strauss has done a good job up the top since he returned to the ODI side, but I still think he would be better suited batting at 5 and nurdling it around in the middle overs. Davies, Hales, and Pietersen are all explosive players who can get the side off to quick starts, taking advantage of the fielding restrictions. Nick Compton is also a very good one day batsman.

Broad and Flintoff (if fit, naturally) to bang it in short of a length and try and keep it tight, with Plunkett pitching the white ball up and looking for swing and wickets early on. Rashid and Swann to try and strangle the opposition in the middle overs.

So they are digging up Denis?

Nick is his grandson.

Isn't Kieswetter eligible now?

February.

Nick Compton? Jesus.....

Better than?