Sri Lanka in England/Netherlands

[Sureshot]

Also it's good to see England on the 8th ODI position.

That is so petty.

Hoggard did take a pounding in the ODI's in India this year, though.

Several bowlers do.

Hoggard is improving as a bowler and is now more than just a bowler who only swings it.

@ wolf:

I'd have Gough, Harmison, Plunkett (With Gough in the team he'll learn quicker), Dalrymple and Lewis (He's reknowned for his OD abilities, yet they pick him for a test but not an ODI.

 

[Thurya]

Apart from Harmison, all of our experienced players were batsmen, and we batted pretty well throughout the series. However, our bowlers- except Harmy- were vastly inexperienced and got absolutley hammered. However, Sri Lanka had experience in their bowling; Vass, Jayasuriya, Fernando etc. so they bowled exceptionally. At the end of the day, England were slaughtered, but If we had are key players then we could have least won 1-2 games.

yeah, but Bangladeshis, Zimbabwe or Kenyans didn't get any treatment like this. :hpraise

 

[wolf]

That is so petty.



Several bowlers do.

Hoggard is improving as a bowler and is now more than just a bowler who only swings it.

@ wolf:

I'd have Gough, Harmison, Plunkett (With Gough in the team he'll learn quicker), Dalrymple and Lewis (He's reknowned for his OD abilities, yet they pick him for a test but not an ODI.

I did think of Lewis but decided we needed an extra batter and Collingwood is a more than capable bowler, and can get supported by others. I tend to go with two spinners in ODI's, they do better because they take the pace off the ball.

 

[s2sschan]

I was just sayin that you shud keep ure feet on the ground; if you beat a team like India 5-0 on their home soil, then you can start thinking you are a great side. Beating an injury-plagued England ODI side isn't that impressive; every team does it.

Still 5-0 is a Great Achievement. Absoulutely Amazing. Something's gone terribly wrong with England. Lost 5-0 at home, not abroad.

Injuries did happen, but with such a thriving County Circuit, England should have decent bench strength.

 

[Sureshot]

I've said it before that's not our strongest selection of back up players.

The selectors as I've said before have made mistakes, end of.

 

[s2sschan]

I've said it before that's not our strongest selection of back up players.

Yes, you just can't afford to have so many young, inexperienced players at the same time. They definitely need to pick experienced players in the Pakistan Tests, even if those players haven't played for England for a while.
Few names come to mind, Butcher and Ramprakash to bolster the batting. Maybe even try Alex Tudor and Dominick Cork in the bowling department.

 

[kodos]

I don't think it's Strauss fault. He's been getting lot of stick becasue of the losses. He can't bowl the all the deliveries for the Engalnd bowlers. Seriously what can Strauss do when all England bowlers bowl rubbish. Even Harmersion didn't bowl that well in some games.

I don't think the world best captain could have done anything better with bowling like that.

If you saw the match, the England bowlers were consistently bowling wide outside off stump or short where Sanath and Tharanga consitently pounded them for boundaries. Surely as a captain you would order your bowlers to keep it straight and not too wide. I didn't see that by Strauss throughout the whole ODI's and really if Vaughan it would of been totally different.

Yes, you just can't afford to have so many young, inexperienced players at the same time. They definitely need to pick experienced players in the Pakistan Tests, even if those players haven't played for England for a while.
Few names come to mind, Butcher and Ramprakash to bolster the batting. Maybe even try Alex Tudor and Dominick Cork in the bowling department.

Yep, that was what I said earlier. They are recruiting far too many young and inexperienced players simultaneously. 1 or 2 is okay, but bringing in 4 or 5 is too many and it doesn't help if the team is getting thrashed and if you're the main victime and get dropped next game. I think the batting is decent as the team does have several experienced players (Strauss, Trescothick, Pietersen who played 3 games and Collingwood) but for bowling they really should of brought in Gough to give Harmison some assistance.

 

[Hondo]

If you saw the match, the England bowlers were consistently bowling wide outside off stump or short where Sanath and Tharanga consitently pounded them for boundaries. Surely as a captain you would order your bowlers to keep it straight and not too wide. I didn't see that by Strauss throughout the whole ODI's and really if Vaughan it would of been totally different.

Are you sure you watch the same matches as I did. I saw him numerous time coming up to the bowlers and chatting to them. He can't help it if the bowlers keep on bowling rubbish.

It wont matter if he put more fielders on the off side. Once the bowler give Jaya some width he can time it to go between the fielders or over them.

 

[andrew_nixon]

Netherlands squad for the two ODIs.

LP van Troost (Capt)
PW Borren
DLS van Bunge
RN ten Doeschate (Essex) (1st ODI only)
Mohammad Kashif
AN Kervezee
TBM de Leede
TN de Grooth (2nd ODI only)
DJ Reekers
PM Seelaar
J Smits
WF Stelling
ES Szwarczynski
B Zuiderent

 

[Sureshot]

Yes, you just can't afford to have so many young, inexperienced players at the same time. They definitely need to pick experienced players in the Pakistan Tests, even if those players haven't played for England for a while.
Few names come to mind, Butcher and Ramprakash to bolster the batting. Maybe even try Alex Tudor and Dominick Cork in the bowling department.

Batting in tests isn't a problem, even though they may be the same players.

Butcher? I'd have him in the team, Ramprakash is one of the most consistent on the county circuit although going to a 37 year old might not be the answer.

Cork is still good, Tudor? Too injured. Barely played 10 games in the last 2 seasons.

Remember Hoggard and Panesar come back for Tests.

My team for Pakistan series would be:

Trescothick
Cook
Strauss
KP
Colly
Clarke (JD has done well but do we really want 2 spinners?)
Prior (Jones will get it but Prior is a far better batsman).
Plunkett
Hoggard
Harmison
Panesar

Clarke may be poor in OD cricket but in First Class games he is doing well, another good fielder too.

I think 2 spinners at home just wouldn't work. We need to prepare pitches that:-

Seam around a bit.
Have good bounce.
Don't turn alot, or if it does (Which might be inevitable in the current weather) it needs to be slow.

 

[s2sschan]

My team for Pakistan series would be:

Trescothick
Cook
Strauss
KP
Colly
Clarke (JD has done well but do we really want 2 spinners?)
Prior (Jones will get it but Prior is a far better batsman).
Plunkett
Hoggard
Harmison
Panesar

Plunkett - Inexperienced
Harmison - Once in a while bowler.
Hoggard - Best Swing bowler in the world.
Panesar - Too young against Paistan who play spin very well.

The bowling doesn't look impressive, could be the weak link. Need another Strike Bowler who has a reputation.

 

[andrew_nixon]

Can we discuss the Pakistan series in the correct thread please? This is for discussing the recently concluded England v Sri Lanka series and the forthcoming Netherlands v Sri Lanka series.

 

[accusync_lcd]

England was absolutely slaughtered in this series. Jayasuriya, Jayawardene THaranga were all unstoppable, and bring on the World Cup.
Fletcher reckons that this isn't a reflection of their ability and they had too many injuries. Fletcher should just find the nearest bridge and jump off.
Sri Lanka too had a lot of injuries and most o f the team is young and inexperienced. The difference is that our young guys stepped up.

 

[evertonfan]

England was absolutely slaughtered in this series. Jayasuriya, Jayawardene THaranga were all unstoppable, and bring on the World Cup.
Fletcher reckons that this isn't a reflection of their ability and they had too many injuries. Fletcher should just find the nearest bridge and jump off.
Sri Lanka too had a lot of injuries and most o f the team is young and inexperienced. The difference is that our young guys stepped up.

Your young guys stepped up alright, but your young guys weren't thrown in at the deep end; they had played matches before. We did have too many injuries, and maybe you should jump off a bridge.

 

[Sureshot]

If people think that the recent thrashing was the extent of their ability, then well they haven't a clue.

We batted averagely and most of the bowlers were shocking, but give credit to Sri Lanka they did play very good cricket.