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Historically shite in the 50 over format, England start off their campaign overnight against hosts and competition favourites, Australia.

With Captain Morgan managing 3 ducks in his last 4 innings, it hardly inspires confidence with pantomime villain Mitchell Johnson steaming in.

I'll be up at 3am to witness another humiliation

We've somehow ended up with a half decent team, far more by accident than design. It won't be enough though, Aus, SA and NZ all look much better than us.

I'll be watching. Not sure why.

We are shite.

Lose tonight, reach semi-finals overall. South Africa to win for me

Fuck me, we're serving up some shite here.

I'm back off to bed

Worst hatrick ever?

Just turned it on and Bell and Root got out to brain dead shots off an unthreatening fast medium bowler off the first two balls I saw. Hmm.

Probably not the worst ever but certainly the most meaningless, given that we had already dug ourselves into a very deep hole from which there would be no escape.  Couldn't believe the way our players were smiling and backslapping each other as if they had just won the match.  Idiots!

The Aussies are a very good side and are playing in their own back yard but, God, we are shite in all departments.

Ireland currently have the Windies 93-5, they're at it again.

Windies recovered to post 300 but Ireland still chased that down :eek:

Good pitch, but the Windies look disinterested, and they were crap.

I was tempted before the tournament to put Windies to not win a match. Didn't but had a flutter on Ireland yesterday, lovely job.

Oh.

Scotland and Afghanistan must be fancying their chances v England at the moment.

Bet Cook's laughing his tits off

Remember that the ECB moved the Ashes to last winter in order to give us the best possible chance to prepare for this tournament.

As it was we chopped and changed constantly over the last few years, persisted with a painfully unsuited captain until the last moment, then changed it to another player with better skills but no form whatsoever and then changed our number three for no apparent reason at the start of the tournament.

You reap what you sow and we've sown total chaos.

This!  :doh: :doh: :gay:

I know this was the excuse wheeled out, but it has always struck me that the reason for messing with the Test program, was to milk The Ashes cow, probably at the behest of Sky.

Heads should roll for this farce...from the ECB....selectors....Moores and his coaching staff.

But they didn't get another series out of it did they? They just went from 3 tournaments spaced evenly 1.5 years apart to one after 6 months and then a long break.

I'm as cynical as the next man about the ECB but I probably believe the reasoning on this one, it was just horribly managed.

I'm sure you're right....by what has annoyed me, is we used to have home Ashes series every 4 years....so 2005, 2009, 2013, but we've another this summer....so when's the next after 2015?

Peter Moores couldn't lead a horse to cunting water, never mind an international cricket "team"

Got to go....bring in Jason Gillespie.

England v Scotland tonight.

Am I a traitor to the cause if I think I might actually quite like a Scotland win? I'm sick of the media training bullshit cliches spouted by everyone involved in this set up and I'd love to see them talk about executing skills correctly if they lose to a semi-pro team. For the long term of the England team, it might not be a terrible idea.

Get rid of the Yes men and bring in forward thinking selectors coaches whatever. I'd like Scotland to win too.

Didn't work after we got beaten by Ireland.

Cricket is the ultimate old boys network.

Chin chin!

Although I hold the present coach in particular contempt at this level - along with the management team - England one-day teams, with tiresome regularity, tend to be dismantled after the world cup and then, again just before the next one.

When will the chin chinners ever fall on THEIR swords?

Here I am hoping the Scots give us a deserved bloody nose (only at cricket, mind) even if, in my dreams, I would be cheerleading if we were up against Aus in the final

I've thought exactly the same would be a laugh....much the best if our lot make an early departure, rather than prolong the agony, so they can go and practise getting it in good areas elsewhere.

Another thought....why is Mark Ramprakash the batting coach....a serial bottler at the highest level?

Whenever I hear Mark Ramprakash's name the number 28 always springs to mind.

Not a bad start against the sweaties

The Scottish kit is lovely.

Ian Bell celebrates 50 off 80 balls against a Scottish attack getting slaughtered by his opening partner (who has 103 off 91). Not sure that's a good innings Ian.

Decent start but can't help thinking Aus/Nz/India would be around 250 at this stage against this attack.

Normal service has been resumed.

Well we won !!

From the start we had after 15 overs, we should've got 350 minimum.

Bell started off slowly and never increased the pace, and the less said about Ballance the better.

Job done, but not many questions answered, although in fairness it would have been tough to do so against that attack.

Ali smashed it about but we've always known he's an attractive stroke maker, the question marks are over his ability against really fast bowling, which Scotland weren't anywhere near. Bell trundled along in a supporting role and then got out the moment he attempted to find another gear, Ballance looks like a man who hasn't played for three months, which he essentially is.

For me, Taylor back to 3 which he should never have been dropped from. Don't really mind who comes in, would like Hales to get a go but he's also had very few games so maybe Bopara who can bowl some useful overs in the middle.

Sri Lanka up next is a good yardstick for where we are.

If you thought England were bad against the Kiwis, the West Indies have taken it to another level with their performance against the Saffers.

They didn't learn anything from their one-day series prior to the WC.

AB De Villiers 162 from 66 balls, even more ridiculous innings than the 149 a month ago. What a guy.

 I Know this isn't strictly the WC, but it's running atm.....the Costcutter fella,who's been put in charge of the ECB, has produced a document, advocating....4 day Tests and 2 fewer in the English summer, back to 3 day county games, an extra franchised T20 comp, and the next WC being a 40 over format.

TBF...the fella says it's just out there for discussion and he wants to be open, unlike previous incumbents.

Well, posted a decent 309 against Sri Lanka (Root 121) but their batsmen just beginning to give it some welly.

If they can't defend 309 it'll be a poor do.

WTF is Ballance still doing in the side - another dismal showing

Yesterday, was at Eden park to see a fantastic game of 50 overs cricket...well, almost 50 overs !!!.

Obviously I still follow England and any Country that plays against Australia..

Worst part of yesterdays great day in the sun was when Australia were just over 100 for Nine and all four corners of Eden Park were chanting " Your even worse than England"  :cry:

Fuck that was horrible even though I've been here over thirty years.

The more liquid refreshment seemed to smooth the pain... :pint:



 

 

Pakistan struggling on 4 for 2

Sri Lanka 125 for 1 off 23, need a wicket or two to keep the run rate down

Edit
They didn't manage another wicket
Comprehensive run chase made to look easy by Thirimanne 137 (143) Sangakkara 117 (86)

Woeful

One dimensional bowlers, predictable cricket. Another stuffing, same old :zzz:

It's quite funny at this stage, isn't it?

Let's just get this predictable farce out of the way asap.  We've a test series coming up in the Caribbean, hopefully Moores will have been axed by then, and the new man (I'd like Gillespie) can use what should be a gentle series, to work on getting a competitive unit together for the summer.

The main positive from this is that Alistair Cook, hasn't been tainted, has had a break, so should be able to come in and pick up the pieces.

How many 'new starts' can they have and still expect the fans to buy into it?

The truth of the matter is that once you take these players out of the comfort zone of jolly old 'swingfest' England they are out of their depth.

Ahhh. Fuck it. Let's all give up.

Now talk of Pietersen coming back into the team. KP should have always been in there, but this country is a mess

Good point, though obviously Cook should never have been anywhere near skippering the CWC side and hopefully Moores will have been kicked well beyond the long grass (though I doubt it).

On a separate note, a classic, unruffled innings by Kumar Sangakarra

 Something, which is annoying me this WC, is that we have certain players who fail to sing the National Anthem....now I'm not sure if they've done anthems before....can't remember it, but when you're a bit shite like we are atm, it doesn't look good, makes it look like we've several who don't really care about it.....I'm not sure if it is conducive to good team spirit.

Morgan, Bopara, Ali  and Jordan the culprits.

Did you endure the Sri Lankan anthem? Went on and on and on to the tune of a childrens TV programme.

At least our dirge is over quick

KP has not played anything except T20 for over a year. He's seemingly not interested in playing anything other than that, and, at the moment, nor does any county want him.

It's not going to happen.

Going back to today's performance, I see Morgan is blaming the bowlers. Well it's a team game, and I thought the batting performance between the 10th and 35th overs was where we lost the game, as there seemed no urgency between the wickets, and the Sri Lankan's were quite happy. Ballance has to be replaced, and put Taylor back in at three. Personally I would bring Bopara in for his medium pacers as an option, as we do seem to miss another bowling option if things don't go well like overnight.

Anyway, we now have to concentrate on beating Banglasdesh and Afghanistan.

If they all sang it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. T Hey aren't playing the right type of cricket to win

 :nod:  I kind of guessed it would, given the Lanky propensity for long names.....like dear old Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas.

The fact of the matter is England are shite at ODI cricket, always have been and always will be IMO - even when we were no.1 in the world for a while we were still getting beat here and there.

Why Alex Hales isn't playing I don't know as he's someone that really could get the innings off to a flyer - him and Ali at the top, Taylor 3, Root 4, Morgan 5 is the way I'd go.

The bowling was poor - but do we have anything better around?

For the record, I'd still have KP back!

The Irish rugby team just did two different national anthems which only half of them sang and hen spanked us. This is nationalistic, irrelevant bullshit.

We're losing because we've clung onto an unsuitable captain for too long, chopped and changed constantly in ever other position, punted players up and down the order for no good reason and ultimately, just don't have enough variety in our bowling. Not because a man from Dublin who makes no bones about being Irish doesn't sing about the queen of England.

Don't follow cricket that closely.

Are the players still picked by a team of selectors, whom I presume are old and make the decisions over a cup of tea and cucumber sandwiches? Who is actually in charge? The selectors, the coach, the captain, or Kevin Pietersen?

Either way it seems stuck in the past and needs to modernise. Cricket is one sport that the Moneyball approach should work really well in, pretty much all of the game can be put in to statistics the same as Baseball. Is anyone in cricket doing it?

England just seem a laughing stock, in one day cricket at least. Going in to the tournament saying they could win it, what a bunch of twats.

 

The squad is picked by selectors, who aren't quite as old as they used to be. Angus Fraser is one, Mick Newell another and James Whittaker is head selector. The first two are county coaches, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire specifically, Whittaker is a bit more of a jobs for the boys type.

Giles Clarke (CEO) used to sit on meetings which was controversial. Moores, the coach, usually has a significant input too.

Once the squad is on tour, final 11 selection will usually come down to the captain and the coach, although occasionally one of the selectors may travel.


There's a lot of people in cricket who's job is data analysis, but no really high profile cases along the Moneyball lines. England get frequently criticised for playing by numbers rather than the situation, but that's tactics rather than selection, which is generally believed to be on gut feel and recommendation more than anything too statistical. Media hype matters quite a bit too.

As for England's one day cricket, we're not dreadful in between world cups, but go to shit at them consistently. General problems is that we're very well suited to English conditions but if the pitch isn't doing much the bowlers are toothless and the batsmen don't score fast enough.

Isn't it axiomatic that a tournament for nations is going to be nationalistic....if it's not then what is its point?

Morgan was a poor choice of Captain, Should have given it to Root, A player whose place in the ODI side is assured and a natural progression for him to take on the role of Test match captain. Now the selectors cant drop Morgan from the playing XI, where Hales surely would have been a good option to replace the pasty Irishman...

India & NZ both gave Kohli and Williamson exposure as captains prior to the WC, lining them up to eventually replace Dhoni and McSlogga when the time comes.

Team for the next game?:
Hales
Ali
Bell
Root
Taylor
Bopara
Buttler
Morgan
Woakes
Jordan
Tredwell

This is going well. :tumbleweed:

Win win from here, it's either going to be a Buttler masterclass or a comedy interview with coach Brent about failing to execute skills.

I dont think we're very good at one day cricket.

And that, Mr Boycott, is how you do incisive punditry.

Fuck me!

Well, at least Moores has to go now.

Well done Bangladesh. Brilliant under pressure.

Moores is the outstanding British coach of his generation. How shit are the others?

 :headhurts:

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

what would this be the equivariant of in football. are we talking losing to San Marino bad, or Wales bad?

Bangladesh are the worst of the full members, but aren't a terrible team. The issue is that we haven't qualified for the knockout stages - the closest comparison I can make to football is the McClaren/Croatia game - the result in itself is bad, but the context makes it horrendous. Bear in mind there is no qualification, and so this is the earliest stage we could go out. The only team we've beaten are Scotland, who are not even all full time pros (that would be losing to San Marino bad)

It's difficult to make a direct comparison. I would say the comparison would be to go back to the early 50's, when England could lose a WC match to USA and then get taken apart by Hungary 3-6 and 1-7.  Those results were a consequence of dull administrators and coaching structure, stuck in their firm belief that we were better than others, and failing to notice the game had moved on and we'd got left behind.

For me, the main indictment, was v Lankies, when Moores et al thought that 310ish was a competitive score, on a flat track against good batsmen....when it was painfully obvious in England's innings that at least 350 was required, given new fielding regs, 2 new balls etc.

Michael Clarke is talking about the possibility of someone scoring a triple ton here....we're hoping to see someone like Ian Bell get his 5th or 6th one day ton in 100 and some games.

We do have some players capable of making the necessary standard, but they've been very poorly led.

Thanks.

It needs to be said, that this attitude is nothing new....we haven't won  a WC knockout game since 1992, when we should have beaten Pakistan in the final.

The 50 over stuff hasn't really been taken seriously over here, where tests matter....the domestic 50 over comp being ditched altogether a few years back, only revived last year.

It got dumped because 50 overs is a pretty dull format, but since 20-20, with a few rule changes, it has been rejuvenated, because the other sides, view it as a sort of long 20-20....in other words 350-400 + is doable, on a regular basis.

Very well put Reg. Summed up my ire in a far more succinct manner than I can muster at the moment. Frankly I hope that with a bit of luck the plane bringing the cunts home does an MH370.

But this time they DID take it seriously. They shifted the Ashes for God's sake to make back to back series.

They arranged the 50 over tri nations tournament before the WC started to give them practice in the conditions.

Then, instead of settling on a side they change captain, a new No. 3 batsman and bring Finn back.

They are just useless - that explains it

I know this has been the official reasoning for fucking with the Ashes, but I've never bought it....just an exercise in squeezing a bit extra from the cash cow.  A shite decision which will well and truly come home to roost in the summer...

What an utter shambles this ODI team are and if I'm honest I didn't expect anything else. The U13s I coach play a more exciting brand of cricket than England do!

This should be a real wake up call for the ecb that something is fundamentally wrong and the place needs ripping to shreds to get the old aristocratic knobheads out once and for all!

Don't really want to comment on the team but Peter Moores coming back was a mistake I said at the time and I still think Kevin Pietersen should be in the England team - I even tweeted him to say so!

I think the problem is that we fail to separate the various forms of the game and instead teach how to play "cricket".  The other 20/20 leagues are all franchise based unlike us using the same teams - each form of the game is unique with some players able to cross over, some not so well.  Until we treat as a sport worth playing, we won't be much kop.

Heard Downton saying we are a couple of years behind, but we always are because we just try and copy (badly) what others do.  Bell opening is about as a radical as we manage to be.

The problem is that there isn't much of a queue for the job....Moores is a thoroughly decent chap, and no doubt a good county coach.

Now though you can earn some very decent $ in the IPL, for a very short stint, whereas if you're England coach, it's long periods on tour, and dealing with the political shit at home.  The likes of Andy Flower, could survive dealing with Mugabe, so the ECB, were no problem for him.

If we lose to Afghanistan, then Moores will defo go, in the same way Ashley Giles paid for losing to the Cloggies...otherwise, I think they'll carry on with him, mainly because nobody else wants it.

England win cricket match shock !!

Right....we can now concentrate on a stack of Tests coming up...

The side, given good luck with injuries, pretty much picks itself, apart from a couple of questions....so Cook, Bell, Root, Ballance, Moeen, Buttler, Broad, Anderson are all defos.....?'s could Trott come back,  what about Ben Stokes, are Woakes and Jordan worth persevering with, how about sweet baby James Taylor.

Of those outside....the Yorkies, Lyth and Lees are knocking loudly....the bowling cupboard is distinctly thin atm.

I saw about 5 mins of The Verdict, when they were saying that there are a dozen or so young batsmen knocking on the door for England, but there are no bowlers. Who are these young players?

Great, we restored our pride with a giant killing - we beat Afghanistan . . . fucking Afghanistan!!

Unfortunately, Onions has been very injury prone, like the Tremor, and before him Simon Jones.  Footit gets it through at good pace, and had a good season in 2014, but rising 30, it would be now or never for him. 

You can tell what they're thinking, by looking at the Lions, who have been in Safferland....bowling Brookes, Dunn, Overton, got injured, Plunkett, Rankin and Wood. Spinners Rashid and Riley. Sadly the Overtons seem a bit injury prone, we know Plunkett and Rankin are decent county performers, but not quite test class, and Brookes, Dunn and Wood are little more than right arm fast medium.

I like the look of Riley, but as Swanny showed you need a bit of craft, and Riley should play championship cricket next season, and go on a winter tour to the sub continent.

Mills has moved to Sussex for next season, so it's to be hoped he might come on, Reece Topley seems to have stood still.

Think they're pretty much guaranteed to go with a combo of Ali, Stokes, Woakes, Jordan, Broad Anderson

The Overtons only get injured with England, they're fine with Somerset. Not sure what England do to seamers but they just constantly give them stress fractures.

Obviously a Surrey/Middlesex plot, to stymie the mighty Cidermen.

 So the WI squad out.....

 Full England squad: Alastair Cook (capt, Essex), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Gary Ballance, Joe Root (both Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Jos Buttler (wk, Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett (all Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Mark Wood (Durham), James Tredwell (Kent)

No Moeen or Woakes....and Trott back.

Glad to see Rashid get picked, as I wanted him last year, but mainly because Moeen is in the side.....I saw Rashid doing a Steve Smith role....namely lower order bat, who can operate as a 5th bowler. Of course, they pick but won't play him now, outside of an emergency.

Dear old Tredders gets on the plane  :)  a man with about 30 FC wickets at 50 in the last 2 seasons, the presence of Riley meaning Kent loaned him out to Sussex to get a game...

I love Tredders, but don't see the point in taking him....surely Riley would be a better bet. WI are truly terrible, so I suppose they think Tredders will do a job while Moeen gets fit.

Only seen a bit of Wood, but looks innocuous, got to give him a chance though.

Good luck to Trotty....always liked him, and hope he can cash in the Caribbean.

Knocking over the Windies in a Caribbean knees-up is like putting lipstick on a pig.

The Aussies will tear us (another) new one. Even Trotty can't get homesick in Barbados!

With the caveat that the last time we were there a far too long 6 years ago....we got beat 1-0 in a really 4 match series, although 5 were played. The oddity being the game at the new Antigua stadium which was abandoned more or less straight away due to an unfit pitch.

England had a far better side than now.....this is the outfit, that Jerome Taylor and Suleiman Benn routed for 51, losing at Sabina Park.

Strauss
Cook
Bell
Pieterson
Collingwood
Flintoff
Prior
Broad
Sidebottom
Harmison
Monty

That was the tour that got Moores sacked the first time round and Flower appointed, no?

Anyone hear James Whittaker talking to Pat Murphy on the radio? I love Murphy as an interviewer, he gives people as much rope as they'll take and Whittaker took plenty.

May well have been...although Strauss was captain, and I kind of think KP was captain when Moores was sacked, so not sure.

Didn't hear that, but Murphy is good as you say.....

In a funny way, I'd like to see the Windies do good....cricket needs them, I was raised on their greats, and it's painful to see the current generation being so shoddy in Test cricket.

Was at Eden Park last night and watched possibly the most fantastic game of 50 over cricket ever..!!!

What a team can achieve with an excellent management and a group of young players who really believe everything is possible.

Possibly only a couple of NZ players would have been considered for a place in England side prior to this event starting.

However, every NZ player has proven better than their English counter parts.     

Not sure if they can achieve such quality in the final on Sunday....but, fuck they were top shelf last night.   :pint:

COYMR's

   

Hope NZ win the final. Where's the final played? Hopefully Basin Reserve, although probably too small in reality.

Not really right....I'd have said that from the start maybe only Buttler, from the England team would get in the Kiwi team.

At the MCG, in Australia.

Think the truth is somewhere on between- certainly before the tournament NZ were picked as having 6-7 great players - Bmac, Kane, Southee, Boult, Corey Andersom, Taylor but there were questions over the rest of the XI- which is why the fact that they've got this far is impressive, but more impressive that fringe players like Grant Eliott and Martin Guptill have played a huge role.

Fwiw before the tournament I'd have put in Moeen for Guptill, Buttler for Ronchi, Root for Elliott and Anderson for Henry/Milne. So not a majority but certainly a few from england.

I remember Guptill battering us around the park in England for 180 odd, 2013?,  a kind of Kiwi Hales, who of course doesn't get picked for us.....I wouldn't have Jimmy anywhere near a white ball team.  Moeen might get a look if Vetori was injured again....but he's a class above anything we've got.

Should have guessed really, that will be an awesome atmosphere If the Aussies make the final.

It's the host nation final :

Aussies vs The Kiwis