Our best batting all-rounders are probably Samit Patel, Ian Blackwell and Ravi Bopara, all out of favour for whatever reason. (Well, we know why Patel & Blackwell are out of favour, they simply doesn't take their fitness seriously enough.) Yardy is a more talented batsman than bowler, but not an ideal ODI batsman. The non-bowling pair of Strauss & Trott shouldn't both be accommodated in this team, and as Strauss is captain (and the more pragmatic batsman) Trott really should be omitted; like Yardy (and Alistair Cook) he isn't really suited to this form of the game.

Agree with all the other points. Luke Wright bowls an average of less than four overs per match in his ODI appearances and isn't good enough to be in for his batting, and none of the wicketkeepers used in the past couple of years is suited to opening the batting, but most of them are good enough to keep wicket and bat at 6 or 7. England's selectors have got most calls right in recent times, but I can't for the life of me understand the strategy than the wicketkeeper must open the batting in ODIs.


This looks a better-balanced team to me than the one we're likely to see:

Strauss*
Bell
Pietersen
Morgan
Yardy/Patel/Blackwell
Collingwood/Bopara
Prior+
Broad
Bresnan
Swann
Anderson

sorry double post.

Off to the Adelaide Oval me tomorrow to watch this. Only ever watched a '5 dayer' before, so looking forward to the quicker version of the game

Quote ="Prince of Denmark"Our best batting all-rounders are probably Samit Patel, Ian Blackwell and Ravi Bopara, all out of favour for whatever reason. (Well, we know why Patel & Blackwell are out of favour, they simply doesn't take their fitness seriously enough.) Yardy is a more talented batsman than bowler, but not an ideal ODI batsman. The non-bowling pair of Strauss & Trott shouldn't both be accommodated in this team, and as Strauss is captain (and the more pragmatic batsman) Trott really should be omitted; like Yardy (and Alistair Cook) he isn't really suited to this form of the game. Agree with all the other points. Luke Wright bowls an average of less than four overs per match in his ODI appearances and isn't good enough to be in for his batting, and none of the wicketkeepers used in the past couple of years is suited to opening the batting, but most of them are good enough to keep wicket and bat at 6 or 7. England's selectors have got most calls right in recent times, but I can't for the life of me understand the strategy than the wicketkeeper must open the batting in ODIs. This looks a better-balanced team to me than the one we're likely to see: Strauss* Bell Pietersen Morgan Yardy/Patel/Blackwell Collingwood/Bopara Prior+ Broad Bresnan Swann Anderson'" it was made fairly clear why Samit Patel is out of favour last week www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ja ... -world-cup which is a recurring theme www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... d-axe.html

Quote ="Prince of Denmark"Our best batting all-rounders are probably Samit Patel, Ian Blackwell and Ravi Bopara, all out of favour for whatever reason. (Well, we know why Patel & Blackwell are out of favour, they simply doesn't take their fitness seriously enough.) Yardy is a more talented batsman than bowler, but not an ideal ODI batsman. The non-bowling pair of Strauss & Trott shouldn't both be accommodated in this team, and as Strauss is captain (and the more pragmatic batsman) Trott really should be omitted; like Yardy (and Alistair Cook) he isn't really suited to this form of the game. Agree with all the other points. Luke Wright bowls an average of less than four overs per match in his ODI appearances and isn't good enough to be in for his batting, and none of the wicketkeepers used in the past couple of years is suited to opening the batting, but most of them are good enough to keep wicket and bat at 6 or 7. England's selectors have got most calls right in recent times, but I can't for the life of me understand the strategy than the wicketkeeper must open the batting in ODIs. This looks a better-balanced team to me than the one we're likely to see: Strauss* Bell Pietersen Morgan Yardy/Patel/Blackwell Collingwood/Bopara Prior+ Broad Bresnan Swann Anderson'" it was made fairly clear why Samit Patel is out of favour last week www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ja ... -world-cup which is a recurring theme www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... d-axe.html

Back to 'Business as Usual' for the English batsman today, after the good display at Adelaide, slumping to a heavy defeat.

Aus 249

Eng 149/9 (39)

Despite a record 10th Wicket Partnership of 53 from Finn and Anderson, England still lose by 51 runs with 5 overs of the innings remaining.

According to the radio commentators covering today's game Rashid is doing really well in the Aussie T20. They suggested that he might be a better bet than Treadwell.

he is doing great for the red backs.. dont you dare pinch him for international duty before the big bash final on saturday

I think most sane people have known this for a fair while now. Even a Red Rose aficionado like me can see that Rashid is light years ahead of Tredwell in every single aspect of playing cricket. Whether he makes a better brew than him or not is another matter.

An England tour wouldn't be an England tour without a charwallah - Rashid's had a couple of goes, but clearly the tea wasn't up to standard for the Test portion of this tour so they needed to draft in Shahzad.

Just a shame for Samit Patel that they're too scared to let him have a go in case he eats all the biscuits.

On a more serious note, England's treatment of Rashid has been pathetic IMO. Any other major cricketing nation would have had him in at least the ODI and T20 side on a regular basis by now, and in the Test side for occasions where two spinners were needed.

England got their fingers burned by picking Chris Schofield when he was nowhere near ready all those years ago and are stubbornly refusing to take a risk on another young leg spinner.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 388422.stm?

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 388422.stm?

Well then. 6-1. Good form ahead of the WC I see

It's all a ruse to get the odds on us winning it up


To be honest I couldn't care less if it had been 7-0, we got the main job done what feels like months ago!

As for the World Cup - there's no one, stand-out side for me, anyone could win it which should make it far more exciting and entertaining than the last few have been.

Wouldn't worry too much about this recent series...Its been nothing more than a glorified net session for both sides.

I'm not saying we'll be any more competitive in the World Cup, but let's not forget before the last one, we had just won a One-Day comp in Oz, whilst the Aussies were looking awful....

Oh yeah, the Ashes was what mattered I agree, but would have been nice for SOME players to have got some form together

Thats very true mate but players like Swann and Anderson both had nice little "rests" so we'll be fine going into the world cup!

So you consider the 5 match snoreathon that is a test series more important than winning the world cup?

Look, you've already proved you're a bit out of your depth on this thread over the last few weeks. Try sticking to subjects a bit closer to your own intellectual level, if there are any.

*bang*

There goes my irony meter again.

I've seen very little from Rashid to suggest he merits an international place. Lest we forget, when he has played internationally, IMO he has hardly covered himself in glory.

Rashid is a serious prospect in all formats IMO, and potentially a genuine Test all-rounder. Long term: Rashid? Tredwell? Yardy? etc. He deserves faith and perseverence.

I feel Rashid should be blooded properly while we are in a position of strength spin-wise, i.e. while Swann is in his prime, rather than waiting until we're in sudden need of a spin-bowling messiah, as the Aussies are right now. The very fact that Rashid is an excellent batsman and useful fielder makes it even more of a no-brainer.

Ah! So in fact, in your roundabout way, you're trying to tell us that you do actually consider Test cricket to be the finest form of the game. Good. We have some common ground. I do wish you would make yourself absolutely clear in future instead of talking in riddles.

So are you one of those people who like to dress up in funny outfits at the test matches, pay money and be in the so called 'Barmy Army'?

Do you sing highly original and amusing songs like 'Brett Lee takes it up the arrrse' or 'Salman and the 2 Mohammeds might end up in jail la la la la la'**

** Or similar

There's a documentary on BBC 4 for those interested about the Afghan team's qualifying campaign for the World Cup in South Africa at 10pm tonight called [iOut Of The Ashes[/i. Supposed to be good.

Well as the Ashes themselves are long over, and the mammoth tour itself has finally come to an end, I suggest we move world cup related debate to the cricket world cup thread and, if anything else comes up, new threads can be started when needed.