Commonwealth Bank Series

[Leicester Fox]

we haven't got a chance now KP's gone and the selectors have gone mental

 

[mattfb]

Well you do have a chance, its just none of the Enlgland players wanna put up there hands, Vaughan was looking good though before he got out.

 

[Leicester Fox]

vaughan is our one ray of hope. Bell has the talent and i won't expect anything from Joyce,Strauss and the bowlers apart from monty

 

[puddleduck]

Not sure why people think Joyce doesn't have talent. He's consistently averaged over 50 for the last few years, has scored a ton of runs for a poor Middlesex side, but for some unknown reason has been thrown into the England side opening the batting despite the fact that he is a middle order batsman. Personally I think if he gets a run in his normal spot he will do well.

 

[Leicester Fox]

i haven't seen much of him at middlesex so i'm just going on his England matches

 

[puddleduck]

i haven't seen much of him at middlesex so i'm just going on his England matches

Which is why it's harsh to judge him so soon, he's very rarely opened the batting, and for some reason England have decided that in the fledgeling stages of his international career that's the place to stick him... yet more madness :

 

[Leicester Fox]

our whole team is a mess. Players need to stop being messed around and we need consistency with selection in ODI's

 

[sifter132]

It'll be interesting to see how England go batting against the NZ attack. Will they be tied down by spin as well? I'd like to see Joyce play more and I guess he will now that KP is out.

I thought NZ did pretty well yesterday - sure they folded at the end but they showed some good signs.

They are good in the field - obviously better than England. It was interesting however that Hamish Marshall seemed to be on the field for the ENTIRE INNINGS. Who was off, do we know? But having Marshall on as 12th man is pretty handy.

Bond and Gillespie bowled a good length to Hayden yesterday. Bond in particular bowled shortish and had Hayden defending off the back foot and then he slipped in a fuller one to beat the bat at the end of the over a couple of times. He deserved a wicket for that. And Gillespie naturally bangs it into the pitch which is the way to go with Hayden. Get it around waist height and he's stuck. I'm surprised he has such a decent record when he seems to be a front footer basher with one back foot shot - the pull shot. Gillespie and Bond seemed to be bowling very straight to both openers, not sure why - especially to Hayden.

And good captaincy by Fleming with the bowling changes. No powerplay after 10 and straight into some spin is the way to go when Gilchrist is still in. He bowled Patel to the lefties and then once both were out Vettori came in to bowl to the righties. And Patel replaced Vettori when Hussey came in - good switching for the left/right. Vettori was firing it in though, obviously trying to trap LBW Ponting/Clarke with the arm ball. They have to play him like a medium pacer really as he hardly threw it up at all and didn't get much spin as a result.

Bond's hattrick had to be one of the most useless hattrick in history. Although he might have saved them 10 runs I guess.

Didn't see much of the NZ innings, but saw Clarkie's run out. All the media fawns over Symonds in the field - but Clarke is just as good for me. In fact Symonds had a couple of bad misfields this year at mid off in the Tests and Clarke seems to keep the ball in his hand more consistently when he dives. Symonds has taken a couple of outfield catches this year and each time Bill Lawry has fallen over himself to make it sound like a great catch, but if Jon Lewis (just for example) happened to have been in those catches they would have been "dollies".

 

[Sureshot]

Well you do have a chance, its just none of the Enlgland players wanna put up there hands, Vaughan was looking good though before he got out.

The problem I feel is through fear.

Many players (particularly newer ones) feel that if they have one bad game they'll be ousted asap, so they don't do whats natural to them. A lack of oomph in the top order is also a problem (why I advocate Prior so much for ODIs). We also lack a wicket taking bowler, why I think we should drop Lewis for Tremlett, as Lewis is going to be fairly economical he isn't penetrative in these conditions.

I see Bopara has been called up. I hope he plays, I doubt he will as Joyce is almost a shoe-in. Ravi would give us more firepower I feel, plus a better fielder and has a good knack of taking wickets at Essex. i did say knack and not job btw.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10582.html

 

[kodos]

They are good in the field - obviously better than England. It was interesting however that Hamish Marshall seemed to be on the field for the ENTIRE INNINGS. Who was off, do we know? But having Marshall on as 12th man is pretty handy.

It was James Franklin who came off, think he had a migraine or something similar to that.

And good captaincy by Fleming with the bowling changes. No powerplay after 10 and straight into some spin is the way to go when Gilchrist is still in. He bowled Patel to the lefties and then once both were out Vettori came in to bowl to the righties. And Patel replaced Vettori when Hussey came in - good switching for the left/right. Vettori was firing it in though, obviously trying to trap LBW Ponting/Clarke with the arm ball. They have to play him like a medium pacer really as he hardly threw it up at all and didn't get much spin as a result.

Pitch didn't offer that much turn except for the odd Patel delivery, but Vetorri has never been a bowler that generates large amount of turn, he's more of a bowler that mixes up his pace like the slower flighted one against White where it wasn't given leg before.

Bond's hattrick had to be one of the most useless hattrick in history. Although he might have saved them 10 runs I guess.

And if an Aussie bowler got a hat trick in the last over of the match??

There is still a chance Pietersen returning to the series if England qualify to the finals, but I feel it may be too much of a risk since you would expect the Aussie bowler to target his rib cage once he returns.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Pietersen-planning-triseries-return/2007/01/14/1168709618472.html

 

[MUFC1987]

It will be good to see Joyce is his natural position, but he's going to be coming in at a tricky situation for my liking. He'll either come in with us 40-2 after 15, or about 150-2 after 40 overs. We don't have players who can force the tempo. One area where we could do that with a low risk, would be either the Wicketkeeper or one of the lesser bowlers.

Prior or even Jones could up the tempo batting at say 3 if needed, yet we have Nixon, who is only going to get a lot against spin bowlers and then only in the middle overs. The other problem is the 4th bowler is Dalrymple. Another player who likes to take his time to score his runs, now he's good at it for Middlesex at 6 or 7, but at 8 in this England side, he's there for a collapse basically. We need Flintoff to click to stand a chance, or perhaps one of Collingwood, Strauss or Joyce to be approaching a century during the slogging overs. I can't see it happening to be honest.

Just a point on NZ, they would be a World Class side if they sorted out their lower order. It's great having 5 specialist bowlers, but having Vettori and Franklin at 7 and 8 is risky, whereas at 8 and 9 it's strong. One player out from a World Class side in my view, the good news for New Zealand is that those players are Styris and/or Oram.

 

[Dez]

pThere is still a chance Pietersen returning to the series if England qualify to the finals, but I feel it may be too much of a risk since you would expect the Aussie bowler to target his rib cage once he returns.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Pietersen-planning-triseries-return/2007/01/14/1168709618472.html

It's not McGrath's fault Pietersen is an idiot, what kind of player goes down the pitch to 130km short ball?

The answer is noone who has a brain.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

It's not McGrath's fault Pietersen is an idiot, what kind of player goes down the pitch to 130km short ball?

The answer is noone who has a brain.

Or someone who is prepared to try something different? It's about time someone tried something against McGrath, too many batsmen let him bowl how he wants at them. Obviously you need the talent also, but it's nice to see. I also believe it was the first time Pietersen had been hit trying this tactic so it has been working to an extent.

 

[mattfb]

It's not McGrath's fault Pietersen is an idiot, what kind of player goes down the pitch to 130km short ball?

The answer is noone who has a brain.

I must admit when it first happened i was thinking, what an idiot too but now i dont think it was a bad tatic, i mean he hit about 17/20 this ahses with about 15 of those 17 being good hits, and out of the 3 he missed i think he only got hit that 1 time couple of days ago

 

[genghis_khan]

England need to play Tremlett or Mahmood tomorrow...their fast bowling looked weak on Friday. They need an imposing big bowler like Tremlett to bowl with Flintoff, Lewis is only gentle medium pace and Anderson is is way off his best.

No McCullum down the order hurt NZ yesterday, to have your most pugnacious batsman dismissed in the 4th over is a blow. And Dan the man Vettori proved he was human yesterday too.

Just curious, if Simon Jones were fit and had've played in the test series would he have been in the One-Day team?