Cricket World Cup

[Reg Smeeton]

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...

[TheMajorSTFC]

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!

[RobertT]

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.

[Reg Smeeton]

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!

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.

[Summerof69]

England win cricket match shock !!

[Reg Smeeton]

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.

[Nomoreheroes]

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?

[ronnie21]

England win cricket match shock !!

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

[Reg Smeeton]

There are some county bowlers that deserve a look, they're just not terribly young. Mark Footit bowls 90mph left arm, not the most controlled but if you need a strike bowler he should be looked at. Onions was harshly dealt with. Gregory at Somerset can swing it quickly. These guys just aren't at fashionable counties, a lot of the old pros look at Surrey, Kent and Yorkshire and then decide there's no talent out there.

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

[Nemo]

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.

[Reg Smeeton]

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.

[Reg Smeeton]

 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.

[kerry red]

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!

[Reg Smeeton]

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

[Nemo]

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.