England's ODI side- Some thoughts.

Dare I say it, the batting may be starting to come together, but the bowling is still a bit dross.

Bressy lad, as hard as he tries, and as good a bloke as they all say he is, is simply not good enough in ODIs. Look at his stats. You can't really ignore them anymore. They're filth. It's time for him to be dumped from this format.

Dernbach- A little overrated all of a sudden? Can bowl a decent slower ball, but there's a lot of half-tracker filth there as well. And so far his stats aren't that great, yet he's being talked about as some sort of genius at the death of the innings.

Finn seems to be going in the right direction. Looked quality yesterday. Got up to 93 mph and was pretty accurate. Keep him in the side.

Jimmy Anderson remains hittable fodder when the ball isn't doing anything. Don't take him to India please. I GUARANTEE he will be tonked.

Broad's workload means he should really skip the odd ODI series, and not just because he's injured.

Fat Sam- Hasn't got it, i'm afraid. Looks very much the County Pro who's suddenly found himself a bit out of his depth. England desperately want him to be their batting all rounder who bowls decent spin, but he's just not the man. Doesn't look an international cricketer.

A little bit of wee came out when Bairstow hit those sixes last night. He's got something about him. I'd like to see him and Joss Buttler together in full cry. Get KP back in the side and in the mood for ODIs again and we could have some serious firepower in that middle order.

Dernbach- worth persevering with imo. I'll take a few expensive filthy spells now if he can develop. He's the only one who looks like he'll try something out of nowhere. India will be a big test for him on home soil

FatSam - difficult, he just doesn't look a good enough bowler. Which is hardly surprising seeing as he's a batsman being asked to bat at 7. Be dissapointing for him if he never really got a go as a batsman, because he's probably a better bat than Bopara. But yeah, he looks a little lost.

Bres... yeah poor series and average stats. But he's a fighter, wouldn't jettison him just yet.

Finn was the find for me. 1-50 in both games doesn't look that crash hot. If only England actually wanted to take wickets in ODI's and set fields accordngly he might have a chance.

GingerWiz... great knock. And you know what? He doesn't have a great List A record to back that performance up. Hope people don't expect that every game.

So, for the games in India then, how about-

Cook
Kieswetter+
Trott
Pietersen
Morgan
Bopara
Bairstow/Stokes
Swann
Broad
Dernbach/Borthwick
Finn

I would only take Stokes if he was fit to bowl, and I would like to take Buttler after todays's knock

Borthwick is a good shout as we might need to play two spinners. Any thoughts about meaker to provide some genuine pace?

Finn was bowling 91-94mph rockets.

Meaker's not as fast as that.

Fair enough - and Finn has the added advantage of height as well.

But yes, we'll need two spinners on the subcontinent. If not all the time.

And Sam Patel's not the answer. Unless the question is, name a fatter Michael Yardy.

See how Borthwick goes in the T20s against the random West Indians drawn out of a hat.

I think his control's pretty good, but he doesn't rag the ball much and can become quite hittable once the batsmen have gotten used to him for a couple of overs.

Meaker has the potential to be our next Simon Jones I reckon. Hopefully without the injuries.

Basil wrote:Fair enough - and Finn has the added advantage of height as well.

On the flipside, Meaker's shortish for a fast bowler. About 5' 11". Shortish for an English fast bowler anyway.

Skiddy bowlers can often be more effective in ODIs than bouncy ones. Harder to get under and whack over the top.

Henry wrote:Meaker has the potential to be our next Simon Jones I reckon. Hopefully without the injuries.

I've not seen any evidence of that. Good athlete, hits the crease hard, decent wheels and hostility. But I've not witnessed any great skills with the ball - swing, reverse swing, seam - to suggest he has any similarities to Simon Jones other than the fact that he wasn't born in England.

He's a yorker, bumper bowler. That's about as complex as it gets.

Dello wrote:

Henry wrote:Meaker has the potential to be our next Simon Jones I reckon. Hopefully without the injuries.

I've not seen any evidence of that. Good athlete, hits the crease hard, decent wheels and hostility. But I've not witnessed any great skills with the ball - swing, reverse swing, seam - to suggest he has any similarities to Simon Jones other than the fact that he wasn't born in England.

He's a yorker, bumper bowler. That's about as complex as it gets.

Reverse swing can be taught, pace can't. Jonah was hardly swinging it around corners on his test debut. Around 2004 he suddenly started to make the ball talk.

Hmmm, yeah, Meaker just seems to be straight as a die - no swing, no seam. Just skid. Seems to bustle through people in crackerjack bursts. Could say he was the reason Surrey got promoted. Ripped out middle orders after good partnerships. I'd take him on tour. Why not - it's not as if he'll be keeping out someone worthy of a place. May need some skid, on probable belters.

Brass Monkey wrote:Hmmm, yeah, Meaker just seems to be straight as a die - no swing, no seam. Just skid. Seems to bustle through people in crackerjack bursts. Could say he was the reason Surrey got promoted. Ripped out middle orders after good partnerships. I'd take him on tour. Why not - it's not as if he'll be keeping out someone worthy of a place. May need some skid, on probable belters.

There's always Ian Bell's undercrackers!

I said, there's always Ian Bell's...

At least Meaker knows how to bowl a yorker. Although its something most England bowlers seem to have coached out from them. Harmison, for example, was a good yorker away from being a top class pace bowler.

Harmison did have a good yorker - that slower ball to bowl Michael Clarke with the last delivery of the day in 2005... Probably the only one he bowled in his career though!

Yeah, okay. He did have a good yorker - but he never bowled the damn thing. I remember him getting Kallis out with a rank full toss once - but so unexpected it was that he would deviated from his preferred length of 3 foot in front of the non-strikers popping crease it did the trick!