New Zealand in England

[King Pietersen]

I'm going to follow my instincts and say that England will win by 6 wickets, with an out of touch Collingwood and Bell seeing us home, thanks to good work by the top order, and a century from Strauss .

 

[shefellover93]

Here Here

 

[Sureshot]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7426322.stm

England one-day squad:
Paul Collingwood (Durham, capt), Alastair Cook (Essex), Tim Ambrose (Warks, wkt), Ian Bell (Warks), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Luke Wright (Sussex), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Stuart Broad (Notts), Ryan Sidebottom (Notts), James Anderson (Lancs), Graeme Swann (Notts), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire).

Wright to open, then?

 

[King Pietersen]

Yeh, Wright's going to open I imagine, I'd have liked to have seen Mustard in the squad though, he's been setting a good tone at the top of the innings alongside Cook, but i'm sure Wright will be as impressive. Could be a massive series for Wright.

 

[Kev]

Not sure if its a smart decision to open with Wright. I like him as a player and he has talent but he hasn't been opening for Sussex so why have him open for England? If you want an opener, pick an opener.

 

[MUFC1987]

I agree, maybe putting Wright up the order somewhere might be worth a go, but it's going to be hard for him opening. I don't see what Mustard did wrong to be dropped either.

 

[Kev]

Its tough for Mustard. He hasn't really been given that long a run (this is sounding awfully familiar). Scored 130 odd runs in the NZ series, although half of them came in one match, so batting wise it wasn't what you'd call sparkling. But its probably a good idea to go with 1 keeper anyway so one of the keepers was going to be disappointed.

 

[MUFC1987]

It just seems its come at a strange time for me, with Ambrose starting to struggle in the Test's. I think Ambrose will be similar to Geraint Jones in that he'd be best in the middle order, but he's not going to play there. He'll either be made to slog at the start, slog at the end or rebuild the innings when everyone else has collapsed, I can't see that working in my view.

 

[Kev]

You'd have to say, if you were going to pick a Keeper who you want to open and get runs and you were picking based on form then Prior should have been there, he's scored loads of runs for a poor looking Sussex side so far this season.

 

[Ollie_H]

Wright opened for Sussex in the OD's for most of last year? But Wright has never done well when opening for england but had done well when batting at 6. So a strange move, and please lets play Swanny this time!

 

[RoboRocks]

Here would be my squad:

Alastair Cook
Luke Wright
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Owais Shah
Tim Ambrose
Graeme Swann
Stuart Broad
Ryan Sidebottom
Jimmy Anderson

Actually, Swann could be an option but I think they will go with Luke Wright. I hope they don't go with Bell since an opening partnership with Cook and Bell won't scare any opening bowlers.

I would ceratinly have Pietersen above Ian Bell. The top three have to take adavntage of the powerplays. If Alastair Cooks job is to bat through the innings then there is no point in Bell being at three. Bell can do a job working the ball around after the powerplays have finished and that would be a more helpful role.

I would also have Ravi Bopara ahead of Mascarenhas. Mascarenhas won't win England a game where as Bopara has ability with the bat and he really should be bowling more than he does. Either of them won;'t get into the side anyway but I would still prefer Bopara.

Graeme Swann has to play regarding what conditions are. England need his option as a spinner or else the attack too one dimensional, his batting and fielding are useful as was shown in Sri Lanka. I would prefer him to Tredwell duo to the fact that Tredwell for me is not a genuine wicket taker.

I still don't know why the selectors have picked Chris Tremlett. He's not a one day bowler and it was proven in the ODI series against India. He should play in the side but he shouldn't be in the squad in any event. I suppose the replacement would be Graham Onions when he gets fit.

Tim Ambrose deserves his chance. He's done well so far in the tests and he's scored runs for Warwickshire in one day cricket. He is an aggressive player as well and although he certainly wouldn't be opening, he will do a good job down the order.

Jimmy Anderson will be under pressure to perform in this series after the poor series against New Zealand in the winter. He is still a good bowler but he's going to have to bowl more consistent lines or the likes of McCullum will just murder him again.

 

[Ollie_H]

I didnt mean Swann to open but I sppose that could be considered although to radical. We seem to not play spinners in ODI's and I dont think they realise how much we miss them.

 

[Kev]

To be honest, spinners haven't really played a big role in the county season so far so its possible they won't play one. Will be a different story for the second half of the season though.

 

[RoboRocks]

I didnt mean Swann to open but I sppose that could be considered although to radical.

I know. I was think about who could open and when you mentioned Swann I remembered that he has done it successfully for Nottinghamshire.

We seem to not play spinners in ODI's and I dont think they realise how much we miss them.

Agreed. Swann for me was the key to our victory in the ODI series in Sri Lanka with ability to take wickets in the middle overs and without him it will be hard to take wickets in the middle overs since I don't think they'll come from Mascarenhas somehow.

 

[Sureshot]

You'd have to say, if you were going to pick a Keeper who you want to open and get runs and you were picking based on form then Prior should have been there, he's scored loads of runs for a poor looking Sussex side so far this season.

Play Prior as a batsman alone, he's good enough, his form this season proves that. Third highest run scorer in the championship, 2 100s and 4 50s in 5 games, behind Butcher and Tres. Averages 53 in 4 FPT games, 2 50s. He can play as a batsman alone.