England v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, The Oval, June 28

Two really good bits of ground fielding by KP, shame the end result wasn't. Top stuff though.

Brass Monkey wrote:

beamer wrote:
Probably shows why umpiring was the least successful of Bumble's four careers in cricket. The only one in which he didn't reach Test level, in fact!

Probably. He's spot on with every ruling however, knows his stuff thoroughly.

Yeah, he's really found his place now, knowledgeable as well as a "character". Probably should have gone into commentary years before he did, though it was probably only having been England coach that made him a big enough name for Sky to take on.

Is there anyone else who has played, coached, umpired and commentated at such a high level of the game?

Gary 111 wrote:

Dello wrote:The team (if that is the team) has the same deficiencies that plagued it during the World Cup - too much stodge up front during the power plays, and the rest of the batting line up relying entirely on Pietersen and Morgan as no-one else has a clue how to get spinners away.

Then there's the bowling, which has nothing going for it at all on a flat deck. No wicket threat at all, with the new ball, old ball, changed ball, pink ball, orange ball, bonus ball - nadda. So the tactics will be contain, contain, contain, cross your fingers, hope for the best, we might just get away with this one, lads. Which is a completely hopeless approach once any decent batsmen get themselves in.

Optimism schmoptimism.

I think there's less stodge, as we've swapped Prior S/R in 70s for Kieswetter, S/R 85+ from his first 12 ODI's and a List A S/R of over 90 so it's liable to get even better. Ian Trott's strike rate is just a shade under 80, so he's not exactly Nasser Hussain, he was one of the best batsmen in the World Cup.

As we've said the bowling is a little weak, but Jimmy is surely a threat with the new ball? Plus we've got a top quality spinner and Dernbach will hopefully show us his skill in the later overs.

Wouldn't necessarily swap our bowlers for Sri Lanka's, especially if they leave Mendis out - Malinga yes, but Randiv, Kulasekera, Gashmal, Perera? no thanks.

You are a mardy lot - they're doing well so far.

Will reinforce my optimism from earlier in the thread. Crab 1 & Crab 2 got out quickly for a combined 28 off 27 balls. Kieswetter showed he's much better than Prior with 4 to 7 smashing quick runs. Bell was they only one not striking at over 100.

Good score and good start with the ball too, Jimmy swinging the white ball like a pro and 2 wickets for him already. See, we can play ODI cricket (sometimes)

Jimmy pitches one up and gets a wicket.

15/4 - Cardiff revisited?

With the big four all gone it will be interesting to see how they approach it from here. Can't see them just trying to bat out the overs, so could be very quick unless they find a real partnership.

Gaz - yes, I made a mistake. These sort of conditions are exactly like we will face everywhere else in the world. It's funny, but in English conditions I expected SL to smash us, what with them being incredibly adept at playing the swinging ball. Not to mention the two wickets with bad balls. As for the crabs, yes you're right. They performed impeccably. Bell didn't look like the limited striker he usually does in ODI cricket in a powerplay-style situation, he smacked it everywhere and didn't cause a dip in the RPO that only Lakmal and Malinga aided in raising late on.

Brass Monkey wrote:Gaz - yes, I made a mistake. These sort of conditions are exactly like we will face everywhere else in the world. It's funny, but in English conditions I expected SL to smash us, what with them being incredibly adept at playing the swinging ball. Not to mention the two wickets with bad balls. As for the crabs, yes you're right. They performed impeccably. Bell didn't look like the limited striker he usually does in ODI cricket in a powerplay-style situation, he smacked everywhere and didn't cause a dip in the RPO that only Lakmal and Malinga aided in raising late on.

Just saying - we had to bat on the same pitch you know.

Could it be we're actually a decent ODI side? Beat these lot on their home patch too last time we toured.

I think Jimmy should bowl straight through - given that the ball is swinging, and he tends to go round the park at the death.

Timmy Tommy Bresen,
Sweet as sugar candy,
Pretty little eyes of blue.
Everybody would be,
If they only could be,
Walking out with you.

Gary 111 wrote:
Just saying - we had to bat on the same pitch you know.

Could it be we're actually a decent ODI side? Beat these lot on their home patch too last time we toured.

Well, I think the point is that some of the personnel hinder us. There's absolutely no doubt that the likes of KP, Morgan, Swann and Broad are top ODI players. Trott's stats cannot be denied and Kieswetter just looks a good prospect. Dernbach is possibly a very good option. Who gave us the real impetus? The players mentioned.

As for us beating them on their patch, I'm a little gobsmacked. You want to talk about some series a few years back. It's a little beyond belief. We got trounced in Australia and followed that up with ignominy in a WC very recently. It's preposterous to talk about us as 'a side' when your point of reference is a series from years ago and 0.8 matches of this one.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Gary 111 wrote:
Just saying - we had to bat on the same pitch you know.

Could it be we're actually a decent ODI side? Beat these lot on their home patch too last time we toured.

Well, I think the point is that some of the personnel hinder us. There's absolutely no doubt that the likes of KP, Morgan, Swann and Broad are top ODI players. Trott's stats cannot be denied and Kieswetter just looks a good prospect. Dernbach is possibly a very good option. Who gave us the real impetus? The players mentioned.

Okay, so 7 of them are good. That Anderson isn't bad either, and I think Cook will prove to be a decent opener (hopefully not to the detriment of the ODI stuff).

So basically its just Bell and Bresnan. Who would you rather have instead of Bell? There's no clearly better player - though Patel may get a chance soon.

Thankfully Yardy, Wright and Bopara are further away from the team, so already better than the WC.

Soz you two, but hasn't Bres, coming back from injury done, the best he could do? I know I'm biased but I will listen to hard nosed facts.

eowyn wrote:Soz you two, but hasn't Bres, coming back from injury done, the best he could do? I know I'm biased but I will listen to hard nosed facts.

Yeah, he's played well so far. Based on his ODI career to date he's got to improve though.

I'd prefer to see Rashid in the squad too, but that's too daring for our conservative selectors.

Gary 111 wrote:
Okay, so 7 of them are good. That Anderson isn't bad either, and I think Cook will prove to be a decent opener (hopefully not to the detriment of the ODI stuff).

So basically its just Bell and Bresnan. Who would you rather have instead of Bell? There's no clearly better player - though Patel may get a chance soon.

Thankfully Yardy, Wright and Bopara are further away from the team, so already better than the WC.

Clearly no better player? I just do not get your rationale? No-one who may get a move on. No-one who can average well over 30 in tournaments? So you know how Taylor, Hales and any other manner of players will fare? We've done this before. He's tried, tested and failed again and again. It's not just him and it's not categorical that 7 are good. Four are, for certain. The jury is out on the rest.

eowyn wrote:Soz you two, but hasn't Bres, coming back from injury done, the best he could do? I know I'm biased but I will listen to hard nosed facts.

I'm just personally not that happy about a 37 and a half average with the ball after 42 ODIs. It's nothing against him as a human being.

Dirtbag bowling over 90mph at the moment.....

Gary 111 wrote:

eowyn wrote:Soz you two, but hasn't Bres, coming back from injury done, the best he could do? I know I'm biased but I will listen to hard nosed facts.

Yeah, he's played well so far. Based on his ODI career to date he's got to improve though.

I'd prefer to see Rashid in the squad too, but that's too daring for our conservative selectors.

I'd like to see Rashid there too, Gaz, though my cynical self says fat chance, which makes me said.

Fat chance of him getting picked ahead of Fat Sam?

Brass Monkey wrote:

eowyn wrote:Soz you two, but hasn't Bres, coming back from injury done, the best he could do? I know I'm biased but I will listen to hard nosed facts.

I'm just personally not that happy about a 37 and a half average with the ball after 42 ODIs. It's nothing against him as a human being.

Maybe but I feel he's always trying unlike some. He can come back and try and keep Yorkshire up at the end of the day.

Did Broad actually bowl a yorker just then?

beamer wrote:Fat chance of him getting picked ahead of Fat Sam?

Most likely

I just sang

"Fat Sam's Grand Slam, so easy"

I need to get out more, though Bugsy Malone was a brilliant film.

Am I rambling today? Tell me if I am, please.

beamer wrote:Did Broad actually bowl a yorker just then?

Was a bouncer that came out wrong.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Gary 111 wrote:
Okay, so 7 of them are good. That Anderson isn't bad either, and I think Cook will prove to be a decent opener (hopefully not to the detriment of the ODI stuff).

So basically its just Bell and Bresnan. Who would you rather have instead of Bell? There's no clearly better player - though Patel may get a chance soon.

Thankfully Yardy, Wright and Bopara are further away from the team, so already better than the WC.

Clearly no better player? I just do not get your rationale? No-one who may get a move on. No-one who can average well over 30 in tournaments? So you know how Taylor, Hales and any other manner of players will fare? We've done this before. He's tried, tested and failed again and again. It's not just him and it's not categorical that 7 are good. Four are, for certain. The jury is out on the rest.

I'm just basing this on Bell having proved he can cut it in international cricket, and his excellent domestic List A record. He's under-performed but his career has not been unremitting misery like say Michael Vaughan's or Nasser Hussain's.

If you deduct the ODI's his List A career record is:

123 matches, 4277 runs at 41.13 (no career S/R stats)

Which is very respectable, taking the last couple of years domestically in OD cricket he's much better than this averaging 66 with a strike rate of 96.

So you'd be gambling on players who perform worse at a domestic level than this being able to out perform him. Obviously there's a disparity between his domestic and international stats - but surely that's partly the gulf in class?

If he was performing badly domestically then yes, it would be a farce picking him off his Test form, but there's more to it than that.

eowyn wrote:
Maybe but I feel he's always trying unlike some. He can come back and try and keep Yorkshire up at the end of the day.

Ashley Giles always tried