Also a pretty big rhyming fail. Makes Kanye West look cool.
Also, Stuart Broad has a strike rate of under 30 in ODI's now, 5th in the rankings of wicket takers in England ODI history, and could well overtake Botham this winter. Swann is averaging 24 with the ball, and has gotten past the amount of wickets Giles had in 20 fewer matches.
Some good performances and performers in the side, if only England would dump the passengers then we'd be like an eight at rowing not five rowing and three sat there eating pasties and chugging beer.
It's a shame Pakistan collapsed so dramatically, every single event like this will be viewed with raised eyebrows and cynically. What was it, 63/0 to 135 all out? Although I must say perhaps the ECB and ICC should review the playing of day-night matches where conditions will play a big part in the result. All ODIs but the second were won by the side batting first
Series performances/averages vs Pakistan
Strauss : 317 runs @ 63.40
Morgan : 225 runs @ 56.25
Davies : 197 runs @ 39.40
Trott : 131 runs @ 26.20
Bopara : 58 runs @ 29.00
Bell : 55 runs @ 27.50
Swann : 12 runs @ 6.00 & 11 wkts @ 19.00
Broad : 6 runs @ 3.00 & 11 wkts @ 22.55
Anderson : 5 runs @ 5.00 & 6 wkts @ 29.50
Collingwood : 84 runs @21.00 & 2 wkts @ 22.00
Wright : 49 runs @ 49.00 & 1 wkt @ 34.00
Bresnan : 30 runs @ 10.00 & 7 wkts @ 36.86
Yardy : 27 runs @ 13.50 & 3 wkts @ 57.67
Strauss, Morgan and Davies all had excellent series with the bat, Trott tailed off after two 50s to score 2,4 and 3. Bopara and Bell chipped in without ever really making an impact in their two ODIs apiece.
Swann and Broad took 11 wkts apiece, neither making much impression with the bat though. Anderson had a so-so series reinforcing my belief he's too inconsistent.
As for the bunch at the bottom, well Collingwood pulled his series back a bit with a 47, but didn't have a great series. His bowling is underused in my opinion, decent enough ER, SR and an average no worse than the rest of the bunch at the bottom, yet he only bowled nine overs in the series.
Wright had one good knock and a decent bowl, albeit Pakistan were collapsing at the time so his figures are tight and tidy rather than making him an excellent all-rounder. Yardy was finally dropped, someone sussing that a series average of 57.67 at an ER of 5.97 ain't good enough. Bresnan has yet to be sussed, a disappointing average of 36.86 and as poor an ER as Yardy seemingly being overlooked. Still a batting average of 10.00 makes up for that!
Still, Bresnan has had good series against Bangladesh (twice), Scotland, Ireland and West Indies. This series is his best average in a series against the rest! If he could average low 30s his late order batting might make him a valuable asset, but 25.50 & 39.31 with bat and ball respectively is not much use to England
TT Bresnan
vs SCO/IRE/BAN : 30 runs @ 15.00 & 15 wkts @ 16.67 (SR 22.00, ER 4.55)
vs AUS/PAK/SAF/SRI/WIN : 378 runs @ 27.00 & 21 wkts @ 55.48 (SR 60.43, ER 5.51)
His batting against the better sides is boosted by NINE not outs, in terms of runs per innings it is a mere 16.43. I think the time is long past since England should be looking at players other than Wright, Bresnan and Yardy. They've all had plenty of chances, chipping in here and there isn't good enough.
And re my point about wicket taking in relation to Yardy in particular, here's stats of Strauss' captaincy.
ODI results under Strauss by wickets taken
10 wkts : P13 W12 L1 (Won 92.31%)
9 wkts : P7 W6 L1 (Won 85.71%)
8 wkts : P7 W2 L5 (Won 28.57%)
7 wkts : P7 W3 L4 (Won 42.86%)
0-6 wkts : P14 W0 L13 NR 1 (Won 0.00%)
So if we take 9-10 wickets we win most of the time, if we take 0-8 wickets we don't win very often - simples
9-10 wkts : P20 W18 L2 (Won 90.00%)
0-8 wkts : P28 W5 L22 NR 1 (Won 17.86%)
The loss having taken 10 wickets was this series against Pakistan where we got off to a flier then fell apart, only to be accused of deliberately losing. The match where we took nine wickets and lost was against Sri Lanka, they scored 257/9 off 50 overs and we fell short on 237/9 off 50 overs. England were 66/4 before Trescothick and Dalrymple doubled the score more or less for the 5th wicket. FIVE batsmen reached 10 but not 20
To me the stats clearly demonstrates the importance of taking wickets and that we need wicket takers in the side better than Yardy, Bresnan and to a lesser degree Wright.
