England In India - October 2011/12

I'd like to know what the ECB/England want from the India series. Is it to go out there and win, or is it to build for the next World Cup? If it is the latter then they should try some of the younger players, get a more balanced squad of same old, same old (Test players) and new faces.

If we take Trott, Bell, Cook, KP, Swann, Anderson etc etc, then they've already played overseas, they have experience - and lost! If we can look past "immediate success" and look to build up to it then we have a chance at the World Cup. Like the difference between blooding a young CB, winger and striker vs going with ageing but experiend CB, winger and striker. The latter might get you better results now, but the former is a better stepping stone to future and longer term success.

Or put another way, if we blood some youngsters we might sacrifice wins now, but towards success at the World Cup (2015 or maybe 2019)
 
A rather polite way of saying he was 'dropped' from what Nass said. Do the selectors really think he's worse than a handicapped Stokes or an Ian Bell who finds inexcusable ways to getting himself out, just when it looks like he's on the verge of making a big score? And I'm telling this again, that Stokes averages no more than 32 with the bat in List A cricket.
 
Stokes is averaging 50 this season in One Day cricket for Durham. Just a shame for him that that injury came when it did really, losing his momentum.

I don't think it's a bad thing leaving Pietersen out either, make him hungry to get back into the side and a prolonged rest is no bad thing, when we consider that the T20 World Cup comes right on the back of our domestic season next year.

I like the T20 squad though, young players getting a chance and no panic to name someone like Cook in the squad. Just hope Briggs and Borthwick get a go with the ball ahead of Patel.
 
A rather polite way of saying he was 'dropped' from what Nass said

How would Nasser have any idea about how Flower's thinking? More over why would England go to such great lengths to say he's only being rested when last year they when out and said that he had been dropped from the side?
 
I don't think there's a conspiracy with KP - I think he's genuinely being rested. Interesting choice to have a bowler as captain. Flintoff said that he felt there's too much to do if you're thinking about your own bowling as well as captaincy. Probably not as important in T20 though and there weren't a lot of other options.
 
Nass is a rampant speculator but he's always so deadpan and confident that you start to believe it
 
Interesting choice to have a bowler as captain. Flintoff said that he felt there's too much to do if you're thinking about your own bowling as well as captaincy. Probably not as important in T20 though and there weren't a lot of other options.

I think you need a captain who hasn't got to do a lot of bowling, but who does bowl a bit more often than most - like a Gooch. I think England need to sit down and think through their tactics, they're too predictable in terms of bowling changes and they end up with the pick of their bowlers not bowling out far too often.

I think someone like Collingwood is a good choice of captain, but knowing who is sharp enough upstairs to make captaincy and other duties balance isn't easy to judge. I've always believed the captain in any sport should not be a star player, let them focus on their game. Was arguably England's greatest captain ever, Michael Vaughan, just kidding I mean Mike Brearley a star player? His Test average was ordinary to say the least, few question him as captain though.

Not so convinced Gatting was a great captain, wasn't his Ashes triumph one of his very few wins as captain? Gooch did a good job for my money, captained at a time when not losing to West Indies in a match was like thrashing them these days in terms of achievement - probably more of one. He captained before Caddick, Cork and Gough were established in the side, the crime being they didn't seem to be played as the effective trio they should have proven often enough at a time when plenty of bowlers were tried, most failed. Gooch didn't have such luxuries, Fraser was always injured and the likes of DeFreitas, Foster, Lewis, Capel etc never lived up to hopes come expectations (varying degrees of success/failure)

Athers was a good leader by example, not convinced he was a good captain. Negative Nasser I think it was in charge when we beat West Indies, that when they had Lara, Chanderpaul, Walsh and Ambrose fighting much on their own and we just saw off the two bowlers and picked off the supporting cast to win - helped by some dreadful collapses, one of which TV couldn't keep up with to get all their ads in :rolleyes He did cheat us to victory in Sri Lanka, caught twice off the face of the bat and did not walk, going on to a hundred. In Pakistan we ground out a win thanks mainly to a collapse from the home side and playing many times more positively in chasing down 176 off 44 overs (?) in the dark.

Maybe we've had captains more suited to Tests than ODIs since 1992, then again I always maintain captaincy in Tests is a walk in the park and doesn't require much captaincy. Perhaps that backs up my assertion about Gooch, leading us to the final in 1992 and wasn't he the one who carried us to the final in 1987? (115 ? against India was it in the semi?)

I think the ODI captain needs to be someone only picked for ODIs, someone who has experience of playing in county one-dayers which the Test players miss a lot of. If they captain their county even better.
 
Bairstow and Buttler in as cover for Stokes, who injured a finger in practice. Hopefully for him not the same when that he's had taped up since his return. Cue neither of those two playing and Patel being brought in though.
 
Dravid's farewell ODI match. Good bye to the legend from ODI cricket. Inspite of being a greater (probably one of the greatest) test player, Dravid has achieved a lot more than what was expected of him in ODI's and is always the go-to man whenever India's youngsters wet their pants at the prospect of facing bowlers on challenging pitches. Rock solid guy, he will be remembered for his ODI achievements too.
 

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