Sri Lanka in England/Netherlands

[James219]

Oh gosh, what a poor effort in the field. Fair enough, I haven't had the aid of coverage or anything, but this attack's getting murdered. Why isn't Gough in the side, too? Dalrymple has impressed with the bat and ball (statistics wise anyway- what's he like by the way?), so I guess he's a positive to extract from this ordeal, but really, most other areas but been seriously lacking in the ODI leg of the tour. Just look at the scorecards- one man in the Sri Lankan top order is taking it upon himself to go on with an innings each match, and England've only managed a series of decent starts, in general. Yeah, there's been some bad luck, but it's obvious that someone has to carry on after establishing himself so he can guide the others through the conditions at hand, bowling mentalities, etc- easier said than done, though.
GoJones- well, Fletcher must have a thing for him. I don't hate the guy, but generally you have to actually perform to warrant selection...
There's been a plague of injuries, and truth be told, that's really unsettled the camp, weakened it and forced players not quite ready for the transition onto the biggest stage. In the personnel respect, it's been a VERY unlucky tour, but sometimes you have to just block that out, which they've done to a decent level in patches, and have fought hard, but have been inconsistent in many aspects.

 

[kodos]

The amount of crucial injuries you guys have is definatly a huge factor. I agree totally, England don't have much backup.

I believe England do have the backup but its just that they are recruiting far too many new players due to these injuries.
Plunkett surely has to be dropped and Gough has to be brought back in or Chappel when he returns. Bresnan is not international standard and has to be replaced by John Lewis. Solanki another is probably not up to international standards and if Joyce was fit, he would surely be selected ahead of Solanki. Kabir Ali I think is quite decent but had a bad game yesterday. Dalrymple looks pretty decent and certainly can turn the ball a fair amount.
Next match I really do feel Jones should be promoted up the order and see his capabilities with the bat. If he fails he will surely have to be dropped for Prior or Read. The stumping yesterday really should have been taken off Dalrymple's bowling.

 

[Sureshot]

Prior didn't do much in the ODI Series against Pakistan, mainly used as a pinch hitter.

Well, he is better than Jones, he has a very good batting record in First Class cricket with 12 hundred at nearly 40.

You're right he didn't do much, but he always got a start.

 

[m_vaughan]

After the 5-1 thrashing in India and 4-1 in Pakistan, I expected them to be better at home (English weather being cooler than the ones in India and Pakistan)

3-2 in Pakistan.

But, I agree, despite all the injury problems, England's ODI form has been extremely poor. Maybe the players arent adapted to one day form of the game, and seem to take test cricket more seriously.

Anyways I still think once we have Simon Jones, Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Michael Vaughan back in the side, we'll perform well.

 

[nightprowler10]

But, I agree, despite all the injury problems, England's ODI form has been extremely poor. Maybe the players arent adapted to one day form of the game, and seem to take test cricket more seriously.

I agree, that seems to be the case with English cricketers. Its obvious they've got the potential to win a World Cup, but they just don't seem to care. Good cricket teams should take every form of the game seriously.

 

[Sureshot]

:

Stop being blinkered.

It's got naff all to do with not being bothered.

The problems with our ODI team are fairly simple to understand.

1) Injuries, it's a very valid excuse.
2) Due to them the team is changing every other game.
3) The back up players being picked aren't even the best back up players we have.
4) Our coaching staff aren't cut out for ODI cricket.

 

[evertonfan]

These sort of comments are really starting to get on my nerves. How the hell do we compete when over half our first choice ODI side is injured? This was the case in the last match.

Players missing in the last match:
Vaughan (not the best batsman but he is the captain)
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Simon Jones
Anderson
Giles/Blackwell

This would probably be the first choice side in the selectors eyes (yesterday's in brackets):
Trescothick
Strauss (c)
Vaughan c (Cook)
Pietersen (Bell)
Collingwood (Solanki)
Flintoff (Dalrymple)
G Jones
Giles/Blackwell (Bresnan)
S Jones (Plunkett)
Harmison
Anderson (Kabir Ali)

Jamie Dalrymple is the only one who has even looked close to being able to contribute something to the side. He's bowled brilliantly and batted extremely well considering the situation has been just about hopeless every time he has come to the crease. Other than him it's not good.

Bresnan isn't good enough, Solanki isn't good enough, Bell scores too slowly, Plunkett has been smashable (series econ. rate is 6.68) but came back well yesterday and Kabir Ali is far too unpredictable and arguably cost us the game with that last over.

Sooner some people realise the injuries are not an excuse and are a massive reason why England aren't at the level we'd like to see them at the better.

Just to finish off, do you really think the players enjoy getting thrashed? Do you think the fans like seeing their side getting thrashed? Answering these questions should show how ridiculous it is saying the Ashes is all we care about.

Agree with absolutley everything in that mate. It may sound like where whining, but the likes of, KP, Flintoff, Jones, Anderson, Vaughan etc. are all quality players. Take Inzamam, Afridi, Akmal, Razzaq, Akhtar, Kaneria, Yousef and Khan out of Pakistan's team, and i'm sure they wouldn't perform all that well either.

By the way, i'm aware that Naved and Akhtar are injured so please don't make that point.

 

[evertonfan]

82-1! Ah well it was good while it lasted! What are the odds on a typical England collapse now?

 

[Simbazz]

10-1 on i reckon, id give a quid for a return of 10 :P

 

[Sureshot]

170-2 (30) Tres doing a materful job.

 

[ZexyZahid]

So far it's looking good for England to avoid the whitewash. But Trescothick needs to stay on for a while.

 

[cricketmad09]

I do not like the line-up of Sri Lanka. I reakon they should have played the extra batsman instead of Fernando the whole series. And Bandara should have a permenant spot in the team.

 

[evertonfan]

Well played Trescothick! Finally, England have built on a good start! Tresco needs to be there at the end if we are to get 300 though. And call me pessimistic, but with the way we are bowling and Sri Lanka are batting, 300 could well be chased down.

EDIT: Damn! Why do we always lose a wicket when I post something positive! Please don't ruin this now England!

EDIT2: We really could have done without that! I knew Tresco would go out in that manner! Two new batsmen in and I don't feel confident of reaching 300 or winning anymore.

I hope to God that i'm made to eat those words!

 

[nightprowler10]

321 a very good total. See? I told you all the English were capable of this if they tried hard enough.

 

[m_vaughan]

Finally England perform with the bat, which is a good thing. Although once again we've depended on Trescothick to deliver. Solanki played well in the end.