England v Sri Lanka, 1xT20 + 5xODI, 21 May - 3 June, 2014

I hope England blood at least one new player - I'd go for James Vince if only because he's a right-handed batsman.

I'd go for Lionel Richie, if he's fully 'qualled' yet.

unless he's doing the Michael Jackson treatment I dont think Lionel Richie qualifies for white balls

How is Lionel seeing the ball these day?

I propose Stevie Wonder.

how about Robert Downey jnr...may not see the white ball, but his olefactory senses would be acute

It'll be the same ragtag that played Scotland. Plus Bresnan, for extra dobbing options.

England T20 squad: Morgan, Ali, Bell, Bopara, Bresnan, Buttler, Carberry, Gurney, Hales, Jordan, Root, Tredwell, Woakes.

England ODI squad: Cook, Anderson, Ballance, Bell, Bopara, Bresnan, Buttler, Carberry, Gurney, Jordan, Morgan, Root, Tredwell, Woakes.

Ha ha ha - told you Bresnan would be back. He's undroppable. It's literally impossible for him to perform badly enough to not be in the next squad of anything. Amazing.

Ian Bell back in the T20 squad to - and I shit you not - "add presence at the top of the order" according to James Chocolatebox. Ian Bell. Presence. Ian Bell. That Ian Bell. Presence.

"We need to look at a few new players and what is encouraging is a number of players are holding their hands up in domestic cricket."

Ah, picking the side based on their surrenderability. They'll fit in well.

Fark me! What sort of grinning loon is Whittaker?

You are F*CKING KIDDING ME?????

The humungous slab of irony is that the top order was the only part of that T20 WC campaign that actually ticked along reasonably. The rest was the clusterf*ck.

Astonishing. Looks to me like Jimmy Chocco may be getting an e-mail....

Remind me what Lumb has done to deserve getting dropped! And no Moeen in the ODI squad either - well, we can't have him out-bowling Joe Root can we?

Brass Monkey wrote:The humungous slab of irony is that the top order was the only part of that T20 WC campaign that actually ticked along reasonably. The rest was the clusterf*ck.

Astonishing. Looks to me like Jimmy Chocco may be getting an e-mail....

Don't forget the ECB has hired Petey to handle these types of emails.

I expect they dropped Lumb because he's getting on - and so that little Ian Ronald Bell can get in the squad, because he wants to. No, on a serious note, it's fair enough that Ian Bell gets to play T20Is. He has the credentials you need:

1. can't get it off the square in ODIs, let alone T20s.
2. wastes a massive amount of PP balls.
3. hasn't played a T20 since 2011.
4. has only played 44 T20s in his entire career

Still, at least he's not Tim Bresnan. Who averages nearly 37 with the ball in T20Is, economy over 8 - gets one wicket every 1.3 matches.

Brass Monkey wrote:I expect they dropped Lumb because he's getting on - and so that little Ian Ronald Bell can get in the squad, because he wants to. No, on a serious note, it's fair enough that Ian Bell gets to play T20Is. He has the credentials you need:

1. can't get it off the square in ODIs, let alone T20s.
2. wastes a massive amount of PP balls.
3. hasn't played a T20 since 2011.
4. has only played 44 T20s in his entire career

Still, at least he's not Tim Bresnan. Who averages nearly 37 with the ball in T20Is, economy over 8 - gets one wicket every 1.3 matches.

Same age as Carberry?

Basil wrote:
Same age as Carberry?

No, he's 100 day's older.

Seriously, I have no clue. Apart from if you refer to my second point about ickle Ian Bewwy who wants to pway wiv his fwiends.

Do they not realise that half the reason for white ball cricket is to provide some big hitting entertainment? I'd rather they picked a team of sloggers who might score 200/350 (depending on which format) once in a while, rather than block out the early overs and put ourselves on the back foot without the opposition even having to do anything!

And Bresnan... what has he done to keep being picked? He's even more of a liability here than he is in the Tests and that's saying something. No Jade at least though, Willy Wonka and his Oompa-Loompas got one thing right I suppose...

the Breshorse does at least ensure one team can score in an entertaining manner

Not televised in England?

WASP

WASP (Winning And Score Predictor) is a calculation tool used in cricket to predict scores and possible results of a match. It does not just take the match situation into the equation but also factors like the ease of scoring on the day according to the pitch, weather and boundary size. It gives the prediction of the final total in the first innings, and the probability of the chasing team winning in the second innings. Predictions are based on the average team playing against the average team in those conditions.[1] The models are based on a database of all non-shortened ODI and 20–20 games played between top-eight countries since late 2006 (slightly further back for 20–20 games). The first-innings model estimates the additional runs likely to be scored as a function of the number of balls and wickets remaining. The second innings model estimates the probability of winning as a function of balls and wickets remaining, runs scored to date, and the target score. Projected score or required run rate will not qualitatively show the real picture as they fail to take into the account the quality of the batting team and the quality of the bowling attack. As run-rate is not a parameter which we have to not depend upon, considering the new fielding rules, WASP is a very good qualitative parameter.

Okay.

Thought there was a single "white ball shit" thread to cover this and the following JAMODI series, but now we have a match thread might as well use it...

SL recovering from a seemingly shaky start to post 183, Katie Price getting a touch of the Dernbachs at the end though looks like a decent debut from Gurney.

Doesn't feel right to hear the Belf described as a "veteran". Even if it is 10 years this summer since he made his international debut...   

True. Forgot about it as it wasn't rikkied.

Everyone's given up on England I think, it's only you and the Aussies keeping this place going...

Doesn't help that we've had this seemingly endless spell of limited overs cricket... this is England's 20th straight white ball international since our last Test, just five more to go before we can start rebuilding where it matters!

Ian "Power Play" Bell with a s/r of 76. Who could've predicted that?

And that's why I'm not watching.

Wake me up when the Test series starts. Depending on who they pick.

TOP POSTING USERS THIS MONTH [MAY 2014]
Rank Username Posts Percent Graph
1 horace 197 20% AUS
2 JGK 128 13% AUS
3 taipan 118 12% SA
4 lardbucket 113 11% AUS
5 skully 106 10% AUS
6 Brass Monkey 85 8% ENG
7 tricycle 84 8% IND
8 Big Dog 81 8% AUS
9 beamer 55 5% ENG
10 Merlin 43 4% ENG

Well over 60% Australian now, this place...