Rate 'em and slate 'em - England 2011 WC ratings

I'm knee-jerking this one out, so some numbers may be revised in the cold light of day.

Strauss: one great innings, one good innings, a complete novice against spin. Captaincy mostly veered between unimaginative and inert. 7
Pietersen: Seemed on the cusp of a major innings without ever really breaking through. Wasn't the shittiest. His cavalier attitude to maintaining his wicket was sorely missed as fear and self-loathing overcame the rest of the batting unit. 3
Prior: Recalled for his batting. Which flopped. Horribly. For good measure, reverted to his early career wicketkeeping standards too. 1
Bell: The more things change the more they stay the same. On the face of it, a nice average of 35 with a couple of nice innings worth fifty-plus runs is, well, nice. Could he be relied upon to dig a score out when the pressure was on? Of course not - he just jittered around for a bit before meekly chipping to midwicket. 2
Trott: Scored the runs. In his own sweet time. A curate's egg of a limited overs cricketer. You'd like his solid runs, but you wouldn't want him within twenty miles of the stadium when the power play overs kick in. Great arm in the field. 8
Bopara: Still looks like less of the player he thinks he is. And still can't run. I don't know about him... 5
Morgan: Not at his best - don't think he connected properly once with one of his famed reverse hits all winter. But he brought some much needed impetus to the party with his point-blank refusal to sh!t himself and cower for cover deep in the crease whenever confronted by a spinner. 6
Collingwood: Forget it. It's over. 1
Wright: It never even began. Waste of organs. 2
Yardy: Not an ODI player. We all knew it. Now they're all caught up too. 2
Tredwell: Better than expected against the Windies. As expected against Sri Lanka. 3
Bresnan: The Ian Bell of bowlers. The impression that he's going great guns is totally undermined by the reality that he isn't. Everyone loves a trier, but he really bowled some dross at times. 3
Swann: Did all right, as you'd expect out on the subcontinent. Got a bit of a strop on against Bangladesh which lost him some cool points. England's only proper bowler at this level. 6
Shahzad: I know he played a game. I saw it. I just don't remember it. Think it went okay. Before his leg fell off. 5
Tremlett: No point him playing ODIs. Not his gig. Never has been. 1
Broad: Was finding his range when he got injured. Shame. Although it wouldn't have made much difference. 6
Anderson: Wowzers. Just awful. 1

There might have been more - or less - players. I lost count. But the bottom line is this: England were horrible. It's a testament to their character (and an indictment of their opponents) that they hung on as long as they did. But it's over now. It's been a long time coming.

Strauss: One great innings but then batting faded away, captaincy negative, ODI career probably over. 5
Pietersen: Got starts but nothing more before injury exit, still a massive hole in the teamsheet without him. 4
Prior: Can't play one-day cricket as his List A average of mid-20s proves. Keeping back towards bad old days. 2
Bell: A lack of innings of substance or any sort of pace to his scoring. 3
Trott: The rock to build the innings around, unfortunately the players to build around him weren't there. One-paced but mighty consistent. 7
Bopara: Batted OK, contributed more with the ball than expected so possible new Colly role but looks a long way from making match-winning contributions. 5
Morgan: Should have gambled on his fitness from the start. While not at his best, the only one who really wanted to get on with it. 7
Collingwood: No batting form at all. Sad exit for a great servant and short of being England's first 200-cap man. For a few of his "wobblers" and his fielding, 2
Wright: The once typical England all-rounder who contributes nothing in either department. 2
Yardy: Behind the scenes problems only came to light late on but just not good enough at this level. 2
Tredwell: One good game, one crap one. 4
Bresnan: Worked hard, didn't quite happen. 5
Swann: Our only bowling weapon really, took some stick at times but had to carry a really weak attack. 6
Shahzad: Only one appearance. 5[/b]
Tremlett: Why pick a hit the deck tall fast bowler for the subcontinent? 2
Broad: Missed through early exit but impressed against SA. 6
Anderson: The cycle is at the lowest point, Jimmy Bage is back. Should have been given a break, let's hope it doesn't reverse all his progress at Test level. 1
Dernbach and Rashid: Didn't play so weren't the worst out there. 3 for making the effort to fly out!
Flower: Impressive turnaround of the Test side after the Moores fall-out but maybe we have to consider a separate coach for one-day cricket. 3
Selectors: See most of the above. TAYPOC. 2

Double post

Bell 2? You're avin a larf Dello!

Don't disagree with the rest - don't think Bopara is any worse or better than Shah tbh. I'd move on...

Broad, Swann, Morgan & Trott would be my only certs for the next ODI

JKLever wrote:Bell 2? You're avin a larf Dello!

I was feeling generous.

JKLever wrote:Bell 2? You're avin a larf Dello!

Don't disagree with the rest - don't think Bopara is any worse or better than Shah tbh. I'd move on...

Broad, Swann, Morgan & Trott would be my only certs for the next ODI

And of those four even Swann and Trott might be too old for the next World Cup. Blank sheet of paper time.

Re. Bopara - guess you just want to make sure he's available for Essex, to provide comedy run-outs alongside Shah? Can we call up the Dustcart instead or is he only qualified for SA of the major nations?

Trott just looks old and clapped out. Think he's still in his twenties. Just.

He'll be around in four years. Still batting at the same pace, lost in his own little world...

Trott - 9. Solid, as he has been all winter/summer/thing.
Swann - 6. Reasonable, but relied upon too much.
Strauss - 6. For the 150-odd, in every other respect he was terrible.
Morgan - 5. A bit of luck, but one tough innings more than most.
Pietersen - 5. Looked okay, a few unlucky dismissals.
Broad - 5. One good performance, one bad one. A big miss though.
Shahzad - 5. Bowled beautifully, hard to rate him higher on one game though.
Tredwell - 4. One good performance, yes, but against the worst players of spin.
Bresnan - 4. Inconsistent lengths made him easy work for good batsmen.
Bopara - 4. All for his bowling. He's the exact same 'nowhere' batsman.
Wright - 3. Played one arguably match-winning innings, but still looked crap.
Bell - 3. Looked okay sometimes but cashed in most on flat pitches/against minnows.
Yardy - 3. Meh. Probably achieved as much as he was likely to.
Prior - 2. Ironically, he was called up because of Davies's terrible keeping. Ironically.
Anderson - 2. Just all over the place. His pretty hair was slowly massacred by the stress.
Tremlett - 2. Worse than Anderson. Back of a lengther on the subcontinent, eh?
Collingwood - 2. For his bowling, his batting is currently worse than Chris Martin's.

Oh well, the players who stayed at home will all be chuffed. They have instantly become better players overnight by doing absolutely nothing. Some of them may be gay, ugly or fat, but those sorts of problems are soon not going to matter any more.

I was thinking he was 29 when they first called him up? Could be wrong though. Neither he nor Swann have the international "miles on the clock" though, so could have a good 4 or 5 years left in them. Players who start young tend to burn out, unless they're freaks of nature like Tendulkar.

Still 29 for another month.

Although he must've aged at least a decade after spending so much time in the middle this winter. The sun damage alone would account for much of that.

Seems to be mainly slate them and slate them. There is a big caveat in that a number of the players have been on the road since October and were pretty damn good in the small matter of the righteous annihilation of the Aussies. For that reason Strauss, Bell, Prior, Jimmikins, Tremlett, Boad, Bresnan and of course Swann and Trott can come again. All are substantial cricketers who on form and in different conditions can do the biz.

Of the other Ashes people unfortunately Colly's dip in form has been too prolonged and ditto with the increasingly flakey KP.

As for the ODI "specialists"- Shazhad hopefully has a long career ahead and Bopara is at least average. Tredwell and Wright were hardly used but f*ck me they're short on class. Yardy- I don't want to say anything to make him more depressed.

If you're looking for the villians of the piece- it's the England management team/selectors . If they were at all serious about competing in the world cup- the peoper players would have been jetted back to the UK following the Ashes with an England A team competing in the ODIs. I guess there were commercial considerations but five months on the road... Picking some p*ss weak ODI specialists just exacerbated matters. If Andy Flower was a genuine hard a*se he would have headed matters off at the pass.

Not much point in holding up cards, really.

Funnily enough, I find myself agreeing with much of what Tom says. Is it me, or is it im?

horace wrote:I would have given chinhead an extra point for the comedy of his dismissal in the QF...a real rolling on the floor gut buster laughing experience...the only happy pom would have been Gat knowing that finally there a batsman even less capable of a reverse sweep

It wasn't really even a reverse sweep, it was a KP-style switch hit attempt, he definitely reversed the hands... even crazier shot to attempt first ball!

I called it. They were talking on commentary about the field, everyone out of the ring on the legside."Doesn't matter," I spake, "he'll switch-hit over the top on the offside." And so he did. Straight away. To crap effect.

Whether that means I've grown to understand how Swanny's game works or how his brain doesn't work, one can only speculate...

Great minds think alike.

But by the same logic, fools seldom differ either Peter

Dello wrote:I'm knee-jerking this one out, so some numbers may be revised in the cold light of day.

Strauss: one great innings, one good innings, a complete novice against spin. Captaincy mostly veered between unimaginative and inert. 7
Pietersen: Seemed on the cusp of a major innings without ever really breaking through. Wasn't the shittiest. His cavalier attitude to maintaining his wicket was sorely missed as fear and self-loathing overcame the rest of the batting unit. 3
Prior: Recalled for his batting. Which flopped. Horribly. For good measure, reverted to his early career wicketkeeping standards too. 1
Bell: The more things change the more they stay the same. On the face of it, a nice average of 35 with a couple of nice innings worth fifty-plus runs is, well, nice. Could he be relied upon to dig a score out when the pressure was on? Of course not - he just jittered around for a bit before meekly chipping to midwicket. 2
Trott: Scored the runs. In his own sweet time. A curate's egg of a limited overs cricketer. You'd like his solid runs, but you wouldn't want him within twenty miles of the stadium when the power play overs kick in. Great arm in the field. 8
Bopara: Still looks like less of the player he thinks he is. And still can't run. I don't know about him... 5
Morgan: Not at his best - don't think he connected properly once with one of his famed reverse hits all winter. But he brought some much needed impetus to the party with his point-blank refusal to sh!t himself and cower for cover deep in the crease whenever confronted by a spinner. 6
Collingwood: Forget it. It's over. 1
Wright: It never even began. Waste of organs. 2
Yardy: Not an ODI player. We all knew it. Now they're all caught up too. 2
Tredwell: Better than expected against the Windies. As expected against Sri Lanka. 3
Bresnan: The Ian Bell of bowlers. The impression that he's going great guns is totally undermined by the reality that he isn't. Everyone loves a trier, but he really bowled some dross at times. 3
Swann: Did all right, as you'd expect out on the subcontinent. Got a bit of a strop on against Bangladesh which lost him some cool points. England's only proper bowler at this level. 6
Shahzad: I know he played a game. I saw it. I just don't remember it. Think it went okay. Before his leg fell off. 5
Tremlett: No point him playing ODIs. Not his gig. Never has been. 1
Broad: Was finding his range when he got injured. Shame. Although it wouldn't have made much difference. 6
Anderson: Wowzers. Just awful. 1

There might have been more - or less - players. I lost count. But the bottom line is this: England were horrible. It's a testament to their character (and an indictment of their opponents) that they hung on as long as they did. But it's over now. It's been a long time coming.

Pretty much to the point.

Bell disappointed a lot though. He sems to have improved in Test cricket but seems to be having the same old problems in 50 over games i.e an inability to capitalise on starts and accelerate. Let Hildreth have his chance at no. 4 now. 6

Prior- Has so far failed to replicate his success in Test cricket in ODIs. In fairness though, his cause was not helped by experiments to convert him into an aggressive opener.His natural domain was number 6/7. Bring in Kieswetter and make him bat at no 6 4

James Tredwell- Can be a handy in bowler English condtions. Knows his limitations and tries to work within them. It would be interesting to see how Rashid comes along this summer. 5

Anderson- What went wrong dring the WC? Anyhow he is still a very good bowler to have in your side.However woakes should be given a decent run in the ODI side this summer to see how he fares. 1

Bresnan- Bowled very well against but then things went pear shaped. Dernbach should get a chance this summer in the ODI team. Bresnan should come back for the winter ODI tour. 5

Swann- Still the number one spinner. Rashid needs to step up.7

Yardy- Honest trier but thats it really. 1

Broad- should be the mainstay of the bowling attack until the next world cup. Fitness ned to be monitored though. 6

Wright- Has had enough chances already.Time to look elsewhere. Possible replacements would be Ben Stokes or Dawid Malan 2

Bopara- Same as above.He is still young though my still come back if he works on his game 3

Shahzad- Decent bowler.Needs to work a bit more on his control though. 4

Collingwood- End of the road? Will always be remembered as on of the best English ODI players. 2

Morgan- He is going to be the lynchpin of the middle order for next four years.Can only get better 6

Pietersen- Should lead the side in ODIs and T20. Also a permanent mov into opener's role in ODIs and T20 can be potentially beneficial for his batting.Would make an imaginative captain 4

Strauss- His batting in ODIs has improve a lot and bears a testament to his hard work. His captaincy was a little dull at times.Wouldnot be around in 2015. 7

Tremlett- Thrown in the deep end on pitches that didnt suit his style of bowling. Should be a handy Test bower for next four years though 0

The Realist wrote:
James Tredwell- Can be a handy in English condtions. Knows his limitaions and tries to work within them.

Far too nice, that's almost a positive write up.

Strauss: OK
Pietersen: OK
Prior: sh!t
Bell: sh!t
Trott: OK
Bopara: OK
Morgan: OK
Collingwood: sh!t
Wright: OK
Yardy: sh!t
Tredwell: OK
Bresnan: sh!t
Swann: OK
Shahzad: OK
Tremlett: sh!t
Broad: OK
Anderson: sh!t

Brass Monkey wrote:
Wright: OK
Tredwell: OK

FFS

Tredwell: OK?? I think we need to work on a LBG or a SLA. Lancs have two - Parry and Kerrigan - not sure of either of them yet though.

Nice binary system Danny. Have you worked in a fruit factory? ...

Wright: OK ... for T20s.

It's quite simple really, I looked at their actual contributions, then marked them either sh!t or OK. None of them excelled, Trott batted too slow for instance. Anderson got smashed = sh!t. Wright got a few runs, bowled OK, good in the field = OK.

Wright IS good in the field, hence T20. Agressive little battler with bat and ball, gets stuck in: T20.