England v Sri Lanka

[Horsham Gull]

Sunday will be one day revenge for the ashes shambles

 

[Bluejuice]

Bugger me, what a finale!

Shame about the result but can't complain about the drama

 

[SNOOBS]

Cheating Bastards

That Fernando stopped in his delivery stride which i thought was a no-ball, Im sure i saw malinga actually throw it as well! Well played Bopara and Nixon though

 

[Everest]

I reckon he did that on purpose.

Of course he did it on purpose. You don't just accidently hang on to the ball when bowling.

Ravi should have walked away from the wicket just as the twattwattwattwat was about to bowl again.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Still Bells fault for killing the run rate

How can you POSSIBLY blame that on Bell? He put on 90 with Pieterson and got us back in the game. Should we not be looking at the two failures at the top of the order AGAIN? Bell got 47 runs compared to 10 from those two.

Bopara played excellently and that reverse sweep from Nixon was ridiculous. Poor show from Fernando hanging on to that last delivery. He went all the way through his action, that' not really on in my book.

A decent performance but the same problems remained, we need a pinch hitter up there. Nixon to move up the order for and bring back Dalrymple into the side for the next match.

Vaughan
Nixon
Bell
Pieterson
Colllingwood
Flintoff
Bopara
Dalrymple
Mahmood
Anderson
Panesar

 

[Mendoza]

How can you POSSIBLY blame that on Bell? He put on 90 with Pieterson and got us back in the game. Should we not be looking at the two failures at the top of the order AGAIN? Bell got 47 runs compared to 10 from those two.

It just seems to me that Bell takes forever to do nothing - He does score runs (unlike some of the top order) but he gets bogged down, and wastes loads of deliveries.
A strike rate of 66 in his 70 balls faced means that there were about 25 balls which he didnt score, equivelent to 4 maiden overs

thats fine in test matches, but 1 dayers, i think not

Pietersen came in blazing, scored 20 really quickly, but then him and bell got caught dithering for a few overs, and when pietersen realised the run rate req got to over 6 he tried to force boundaries and got out, much like Flintoff and Collingwood did

 

[CHAPPERS]

It just seems to me that Bell takes forever to do nothing - He does score runs (unlike some of the top order) but he gets bogged down, and wastes loads of deliveries.
A strike rate of 66 in his 70 balls faced means that there were about 25 balls which he didnt score, equivelent to 4 maiden overs

thats fine in test matches, but 1 dayers, i think not

Pietersen came in blazing, scored 20 really quickly, but then him and bell got caught dithering for a few overs, and when pietersen realised the run rate req got to over 6 he tried to force boundaries and got out, much like Flintoff and Collingwood did

So he does better than Joyce, Vaughan, Flintoff and Collingwood (though can't really balme him) yet it's his fault? Sounds like RUBBISH to me Brett.

 

[Marc]

14 times Bell has gotten out between 40-49, damn unlucky yesterday too and I reckon he was on course for a ton. Times running out for Joyce and I think Strauss will start against the Aussies, Vaughan...unlucky that he has been, does need some runs badly and Flintoff needs to learn what the would SETTLE actually means!

 

[Trigger]

14 times Bell has gotten out between 40-49

And 14 times it has taken him between 70-100 balls no doubt.

 

[Mendoza]

So he does better than Joyce, Vaughan, Flintoff and Collingwood (though can't really balme him) yet it's his fault? Sounds like RUBBISH to me Brett.

I agree he gets the runs in the top order - and was very unlucky to get out.
but he always seems to drag other players from playing their natural game.
Vaughan, Flintoff and Joyce need to be breathalised again as they are not doing anything -
one day games need a strike rate of 85 i reckon, and i think bell needs to up his to that - hes probably the best technical player in the team,

 

[CHAPPERS]

Well Bell wouldn't need to score so slowly if the top order were contributing anything to the team but they aren't, in case you hasn't noticed. He's had to rebuild innings' from very early on and in my opinion helped to provide a platform from where the game could have been won. He was unfortunate to get out and it isn't his fault that Piterson, Flintoff and Collingwood all got out in the space of about two overs either.

 

[CHAPPERS]

In conclusion

You = WRONGTOWN
Me = Rightsville, Tennessee

 

[Trigger]

This team would have quite obviously won the world cup posting no less than 350 each time they batted first...



Pinch Hitting Ronnie Irani
Big Hitting Mal Loye
Big Hitting Ravishing Bopara
Huge Hitting Kevin Pietersen
Big Hitting Paul Collingwood (c)
Huge Hitting Frederick Flintoff
Pinch Hitting Paul Nixon (w)
Pinch Hitting Dmitri Mascarenhas
Swing And Missing Stuart Broad
Swing And Missing Jimmy Anderson
Swing And Missing Monty Panesar

Bowlers:
1st Broad
2nd Anderson
3rd Flintoff
4th Mascarenhas
5th Panesar
6th Collingwood/Bopara

 

[Mendoza]

In conclusion

You = WRONGTOWN
Me = Rightsville, Tennessee

You are entitled to be wrong

It happens every time we play - Bell gets in, stays in for ages and gets 30/40 odd runs - by which time the run required has gone from 4.2 an over to 6.7 and the people around him try to hit out and then get out playing a silly shot

as for the rest of the top order - they do need looking at and something silly like it clicking for the next 3 games mean we some how will qualify for the semi's stage

 

[tedebear]

What a match, Vaughan wasn't out, Bopara was a giant amongst minnows, the high order England batting chaps are a waste of space, and lost it for us...although I have to say everytime Malinga bowls I cringe - how the f*** is that legal?? Was there some sort of investigation into that which I've missed?? and not bowling that last ball - is complete and utter bad sportsmanship...should have been called a no ball...

Vaughan, Pieterson, Flintoff et all lost that with their batting, Bopara did a bloody incredible job to attempt to bring it back, well done that man.....

 

[Titanic]

..although I have to say everytime Malinga bowls I cringe - how the f*** is that legal??

Law 24, clause 3 defines a fair delivery with respect to the arm:

A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler's arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.

 

[CHAPPERS]

If you notice he's got some kind of hyper extension on his wrist too.

 

[London Calling]

At the mo at least Bell is scoring. There is no room for Vaughan, we are basically playing with 10 men.

Bell is not a natural one dayer and we should and need to be looking elsewhere and not just relying on the Test side. It really stuns me that the selectors have not yet recognised, that there are different skills required in one dayers from a test game.

 

[Chesney Christ]

So he does better than Joyce, Vaughan, Flintoff and Collingwood (though can't really balme him) yet it's his fault? Sounds like RUBBISH to me Brett.

I'm 100% with Chappers. I though Bell batted beautifully. He didn't score as quickly as KP but he's not there to. He is the perfect foil for Pieterson. We don't need two people batting together both trying to hit the cover off the ball. The fact that Bell was so dilligent and watchful was what allowed KP to play his shots.

If Bell had thrown his wicket away like the openers, Pieterson wouldn't have been able to score the runs because he couldn't have played with any freedom. He needed/needs someone to stay at the other end for him, and the best man to do that in our team is Ian Bell.

If the partnership between them had continued for another 6 or 7 overs I feel certain we would have won the match.

 

[Simster]

At the mo at least Bell is scoring. There is no room for Vaughan, we are basically playing with 10 men.

Bell is not a natural one dayer and we should and need to be looking elsewhere and not just relying on the Test side. It really stuns me that the selectors have not yet recognised, that there are different skills required in one dayers from a test game.

Agree with all of that. Vaughan clearly needs a spell in country cricket, because he is obviously very very short of match practice and just isn't the same player as he was before his injury. Bell is a liability in a one day side - he's a class test batsman and you do feel his orthodox style is suited to dropping anchor rather than racking up/chasing down a big total in limited overs.

As for Nixon - he's just the sort of wicket keeper that suits the one day game. Competent, stays fit, handy and a bit of a maverick with the bat.