West Indies v England, 3rd ODI, Bridgetown, Mar 27

OH FFS RAIN.

Looks like it will be a very good pitch too, so rain would be farkin annoying.

holcs wrote:And another thing, WTF is Batty playing for England. He is farking gash and hasn't even finished his quota of overs in any of the other games.

Aye, if were going to lose we may as well be playing Rashid. At least its experience, all Batty is doing is being a good county pro.

Not convinced by Bops opening. Though granted, it's got to be better than a possible Cook/Strauss combo

JKLever wrote:

holcs wrote:And another thing, WTF is Batty playing for England. He is farking gash and hasn't even finished his quota of overs in any of the other games.

Aye, if were going to lose we may as well be playing Rashid. At least its experience, all Batty is doing is being a Worcestershire county pro.

Fixed.

But what was the point of taking Rashid. He's the third spinner for the tests, the second one originally for the ODI's and now the gashlord Batty gets a spot, and he can't bat or field!

JKLever wrote:Not convinced by Bops opening. Though granted, it's got to be better than a possible Cook/Strauss combo

I don't get the fact we don't open with Fred. He can't play spin, so middle order isn't great. His misshits should clear the field, and it means we have our wristy boys who can maneouver the field in the middle order.

Oh and the buggers on sky have just shown Tres biffing it up top.

Makes you long for him back don't it!!

Interview with Bopara, just showed why we are so unbelievably CARP at ODI cricket.

Stated categorically that they want to tick along at 4 or 5 an over and don't really need to hit the ball over the top??

holcs wrote:Interview with Bopara, just showed why we are so unbelievably CARP at ODI cricket.

Stated categorically that they want to tick along at 4 or 5 an over and don't really need to hit the ball over the top??

come now, he didn't actually say that & admitted we are behind other sides in that respect.

Hey its not a dart at Ravi. Its a dart at our mindset!

In summary- England suck at ODI's and forever will.

Let's stop caring about therm. That's what we did up til the 2003 world cup and it felt good. F*ck the odi's. All this "ODI's are important" nonsense just isn't England. We'll only ever be half decent in test cricket. It is written.

Henry wrote:We'll only ever be half decent in test cricket. It is written.

Cor, I wish we were even half decent atm...

I wouldn't hold your breath on the latter either, Trev.

Back to this pile of poo . . . Gimpy the Gloveman retains his spot I see. What a load of toss.

You have to have the right players to execute power hitting at the top of the order, and IMHO England just do not have that sort of player anymore. Bopara might be able to, but I doubt it.

Windies would have exactly the same problem if Gayle was injured or gets out early as Simmons, Smith etc are not accustomed to going over the top consistently, they are more beaters of bad bowling.

Gareth Batty has taken 1 wicket in the series so far and his economy rate is 5 1/2 per over.

Why?

Because he is crap innit?

Oh - you mean why is he playing? Good question...because Samit is fat apparently.

WIFAN wrote:You have to have the right players to execute power hitting at the top of the order, and IMHO England just do not have that sort of player anymore. Bopara might be able to, but I doubt it.

Windies would have exactly the same problem if Gayle was injured or gets out early as Simmons, Smith etc are not accustomed to going over the top consistently, they are more beaters of bad bowling.

I reckon Flintoff must have refused to bat at the top of the order. It's so obvious that he should have been given a try considering the way he plays and his strengths and weaknesses, it's the only reason I can think of as to why it hasn't happened.

The scary thing is that Beefy has been calling for it for the last 9 years. He finally got one right......

I think Flintoff would struggle with the new ball as an opener. Maybe when he was in his good patch in 2004/2005 it would have been a cracking move, but now he looks technically inept against quality bowling.

Plus it's not a good idea to put your star all rounder at the top when he already has so much to do. For example, Dwayne Bravo has an excellent record at number 3 in ODI's where he is capable of getting hundreds, but it is just too much to ask of him to field brilliantly, bowl energetically and bat at the top of the order.

WIFAN wrote:I think Flintoff would struggle with the new ball as an opener. Maybe when he was in his good patch in 2004/2005 it would have been a cracking move, but now he looks technically inept against quality bowling.

Plus it's not a good idea to put your star all rounder at the top when he already has so much to do. For example, Dwayne Bravo has an excellent record at number 3 in ODI's where he is capable of getting hundreds, but it is just too much to ask of him to field brilliantly, bowl energetically and bat at the top of the order.

Jacques Kallis seems to be able to do it.

holcs wrote:Hey its not a dart at Ravi. Its a dart at our mindset!

Now I'm going to have a go at him though.

Fark him off out of the Test reckoning. He'd rather c0ck about in ODI cricket and 20:20 than bat 3 for England in the Ashes.

Well he is a reluctant bowler to say the least, and he does not carry his sides one day bowling attack like Freddie does.

It would have been a good move, but IMHO it is no longer a realistic option.

Any updates? 30 minutes ago cricinfo said the covers were coming off and a start was likely round about now, but since then I haven't heard anything, and the tv channels seems to be showing other programs.

45 overs per side starting at 3pm GMT, but it is overcast and could rain again at any moment.

Underway in about 5 minutes

"10.50am 45-over match and it'll get underway at 11am. Or 3pm for the poor UK workforce in their dreary offices up and down Great Britain."

Steady on old chap - I don't tune into Crocinfo for gonzo social commentary from some cretin who knows little about cricket, and even less about the wider world.

Thank God Powell isn't bowling on this pitch. He would have got over excited and balls would be ballooning over Ramdin's head or flying to the backward point boundary.