England set to go to the top - Vaughan

I agree with his assessment.

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Ah FFS, that bollocks Vaughan

Talk about 2005 syndrome....

Vaughany is a man of wit
Opinion? He is full of it
Predictions? Always full of sense.

Nah I don't agree with Vaughan.
England might come to 2-3rd position maximum, they might overtake Aussies..

but vaughan is just in favour of England too much..

3rd is realistic at this stage. We still need to win the Ashes though, it's not in the bag yet.

If we win the Ashes and then beat India next year then we can at least start talking about being number 1, but that is a long way away right now.

It appears SA will soon overtake India at number 1, and really that's a fair reflection of their play and their recent rise v India's looming decline. SA may be hard to top for a while with their strong batting and opening bowlers.

I think England will stay at number 3 regardless of the results in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney .. but Australia may retain 4th spot if it can jag a win or two in the series, or it may fall back below Sri Lanka if their recent poor performances continue ... Sri Lanka were unlucky in that they were unable to push their points tally in the recent washout series v West Indies.

As a wiser man than I (probably Simplicius) once put it:

Πάντα ῥεῖ


He might well have put it twice, if he changed his mind.

England are currently the best team in the world BUT they have a major weakness in Paul Collingwood who should be replaced ASAP by Morgan

Best team at what?

Best team at collapsing.

Best wicket celebrations, maybe, with the sprinkler?

Best team at selecting men who are 'good blokes', but not good players. Bresnan FFS Useless in pretty much every format.

What if the format involves eating?

Maybe that's why he's seen as such a good 'team bloke', always willing to have his mouth filled

The new Ashley Giles?

Bresnan sleeps in the captain's bed? He can't be working as hard on his game as Giles did

Actually, Collingwood (according the official Middlesex website) is Cap'n Strauss' "I'd turn gay for" answer.

Or maybe the question was "best friend in cricket". I forget.

Either way, he's in the side for long haul.

Dello wrote:Best team at what?

cricket...
Its very very close between them(ENG) and SA/India BUT if i had to pick one at this instantaneous point i would go with England due to the presence of G Swann.
NONE of the 3 contenders can be called a GREAT team.

Well I think you'd have to say that South Africa are the number one team. I just can't see how India are number one when they have a bowling attack that is barely club standard.

England often rise to the challenge and pull off many an emotional victory. But they lack the ruthlessness to keep bullying lesser teams into submission, and developing winning streaks and cringeworthy traditions involving the blue cap and tattooing numbers on their arses etc.

SA are lengths ahead of India if the current test series is any indication.

you mean if the first day of a test series is any indication

And the 2nd and 3rd days.

all the 2nd and 3rd day showed was that neither team has the bowling to dismiss the other cheaply on a flat track with no swing

Given that no side has a really consistent bowling attack these days it's the batting that really holds England back in aiming for the top. If the pitch is green-ish, with a bit of pace and the bowlers are doing decent job there's no reason to expect England's finest to get even a par score. I'm sure there's a multitude of reasons but you just don't see an England batsman rock up chewing a stogie with the devil in his eyes ready to pick a fight against the odds. It's either runs time or "I'll just give this one a miss...". It's almost as if they're Indian.

Back in my day there were the likes of Athers, Lamb, Gooch, Smith, Thorpe & Hussain- not always successful admittedly, but to a man they were fighters. Who's a fighter in the current line-up? I think only Collingwood has that rep. but alas his form and technique appears to have desserted him.

The One wrote:all the 2nd and 3rd day showed was that neither team has the bowling to dismiss the other cheaply on a flat track with no swing

Clearly the pitch is no longer flat and the ball is swinging at 90 degrees