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Post by newby on Oct 25, 2023 8:21:24 GMT
Australia scored 367/9 here and beat Pakistan 305 last Friday so it's a high scoring ground.
Sods law, England having learned their lesson and wanting to bat first will lose the toss and be put in anyway.
Possible team:
Bairstow, Malan, Root, Brook, Buttler, Stokes, Curran, Rashid, Woakes, Willey, Wood.
Not much faith in the bowling, but the batting should be able to get us through, if we can bat first.
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Post by tbsteve on Oct 25, 2023 10:48:05 GMT
Wasn't Atkinson pretty tight last time? Would seem harsh to drop him for Woakes/Curran. I suppose one had to play, and I'd go with Curran, but personally I wouldn't want to bring both back.
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Post by slowleftarmer on Oct 25, 2023 14:40:51 GMT
I think the reality is we dont really have that many options.
We now have a 14 man squad as Carse cannot be expected to play and then Ali appears to be no longer considered.
Do we pick bowlers who can bat, like Willey, Woakes and Curran (plus Livingstone) or bowlers who can bowl properly like Atkinson, Rashid and Wood?
I suspect the answer is a mix of the 2.
My possible team:
Bairstow, Malan, Root, Stokes, Brook, Buttler, Livingstone, S Curran, Rashid, Atkinson, Wood.
Still only 5 bowlers plus Root but a misfiring top order means we need a bit more depth to the lower order
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Post by newby on Oct 25, 2023 15:25:23 GMT
It's the only 5 bowlers that worry me. My eyes are drawn to the bowlers who have the experience and have done it before, rather than what they did last week.
Willey I like for the first couple of overs where he has tended to get an early wicket or two. He can also be a tricky customer in the death overs where he can combine with Curran. That though only really works if you are into their bowlers and all rounders by that time
Neither Atkinson nor Wood seem capable of doing anything but trying to bowl as fast as they can through the middle overs. They might frighten a few tail enders but neither of them open the bowling nor seem capable of taking the wicket of a set batsman. That leaves us with Woakes, who should be able to cover the first 10 overs with Willey and then come back as required to get a breakthrough, something he but hasn't been able to do so far.
To give the extra bowling option one of the batsmen will have to go, you would imagine they will stay with Stokes so that would have to be Brook.
The more I think about it the more I prefer the extra bowler.
My revised team:
Bairstow, Malan, Root, Brook, Buttler, Livingstone, Woakes, Curran, Rashid, Willey, Atkinson.
I can't bring myself to drop Brook so I'm replacing Stokes with Livingstone and Woakes.
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Post by karma on Oct 25, 2023 21:51:46 GMT
Curved ball,I'd replace Livingstone with Ali and he together with YJB to open. It's pretty clear to me England have a mountain to climb, to further qualify let alone win this thing, so a run out in the team for Ali ( but don't get run-out)
Win ugly or win dominantly I don't care ( for this game) but win. Or else. Oh and have a team discussion about batting or bowling IF we win the toss.
After that plan to win the next game. Keep it simple.
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Post by newby on Oct 26, 2023 9:11:17 GMT
Well they have gone with Livingstone and Ali too in a move to extend the batting by packing in the all rounders. Something had to go though and it's Brook, no real surprise.
Presuming this lot can score 300+ the question will be can Woakes and co manage to defend it.
Not quite so hot it seems but still a good idea to bat first.
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Post by karma on Oct 26, 2023 10:18:01 GMT
89 - 5 , not looking good, in fact it's just the same old turgid mess .
This game is last chance saloon, a lot depends upon Ali to shepherd this to a half-way decent score that gives our underwhelming bowling department something to defend. Will be practically a first if it happens.
I'm usually more positive than this. I should really take on board tge fact that there are two teams trying and you can't just turn up and expect to win , without practice
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Post by newby on Oct 26, 2023 10:49:14 GMT
Well the plan to extend the batting line-up by dropping one class batsman and bringing in 2 all rounders hasn't worked so far.
That being said I'm not sure picking anybody from the current 14 or 15 would have made any difference. Leadership and direction sadly absent.
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Post by karma on Oct 26, 2023 10:54:29 GMT
124 - 7.
If I didn't know better I'd assume there'll be a plane on the runway waiting to whisk the England team onto the air straight after stumps and back to England.
On the other hand , why let them run away nay, turning out in every subsequent game will just rub salt in the wounds. The team must be embarrassed if not ashamed, hopefully both.
Following an England team will be expensive at the best of times but the scheduling and air travel for this World Cup will be collossally expensive. Think on England players you won't have made many friends but you could go after the game to apologise to every supporter
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Post by newby on Oct 26, 2023 11:31:57 GMT
156 all out, good game to win from here. Looks to be a difficult pitch but I expect Sri Lanka to make it look a lot less difficult.
We look a complete shambles and there were no redeeming performances.
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Post by Hit Wicket on Oct 26, 2023 12:01:17 GMT
Oh my - I've just seen. Would 156 be the lowest winning score of the WC so far?
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Post by slowleftarmer on Oct 26, 2023 14:01:35 GMT
well that went rather well didnt it.
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Post by davemorton on Oct 26, 2023 15:06:36 GMT
Nothing is worse in a cricket team than when you get the batsmen and bowlers feuding about whose fault it was. So how thoughtful of the batsmen to show some solidarity - anything you can do, we can do worse.
It really is time to thank this ageing team for their efforts, to acknowledge how good they were, and to move on. But the new ECB contracts show they have no intention of doing that.
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Post by slowleftarmer on Oct 26, 2023 15:13:58 GMT
we must have one eye on a nice sunny trip to the Carribbean after this tournament for another 50 over series (but late by then to go and practice that format) and 5 T20s.
I can only assume the centrally contracted players will be rewarded with this trip
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Post by donnylad on Oct 26, 2023 15:22:12 GMT
Dross.
As long as the contracts are there no-one will care. Why has Wood got a 3 year deal? The eCB will try to keep him in cotton wool between injury breakdowns.
Why Archer? He is another of the 'sick note crew' - bulled up by the cricket media (chaps who know you know) and shown to be less than fantastic .... much less.
By the time Fisher gets a proper contract he will be over 30 .... or is that the plan? Walking cricket anyone? Purple bats instead of purple shorts.
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