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Loading ...8.52am and it’s raining here in Sydney so England may wriggle into a draw - where will that leave their hopes for the final? Why do they even want to go to the final? Why not take the opportunity to lose, go home and regroup with their psychologists?( try Monty’s, his worked so well, before Monty arrived in Oz, that the old Mont has never looked back, keeping his head when all around him are losing theirs…)
A grotesque mismatch masked as an ODI
By Scott last year, at the start of February Leave a comment on this post
Coming into Friday’s game between Australia and England, for what surely must be the final time this summer, the contrast between the two squads could hardly be greater.
The Australians are happy, confident, and feel that everything is on track going towards the winning of the series and into the World Cup. England look patently miserable, tired, out of ideas, and with no appetitite for the battle. The contrast between this side and the one that won the Ashes eighteen months ago is so stark it can barely be believed.
England fans have every right to be furious with their team and especially their administration for allowing such a state of affairs.
They go into Friday’s game against Australia without Michael Vaughan, and also without James Anderson, who is flying home after a back strain. All of England’s bowling hopes will therefore rest with Flintoff and the redoubtable Monty Panesar, who looks like he’s the only Englishman with both the ability and the desire to play at this level at this point in time.
Meanwhile, Australia are feeling confident enough to introduce Shaun Tait to their one-day side, who is replacing Brett Lee. It is very much a ‘like for like’ substitution. Tait is perhaps even faster then Lee these days, and similarly erratic in performance. England faced him in the last two Tests of 2005, and also in the first game of this tour where he played in the Prime Minister’s XI. He did so well in that game that there was speculation that he would be the third seamer in the Test lineup, but Stuart Clark got the nod, and did so well that Tait’s hopes subsided.
Ricky Ponting has a slight hip strain and is in some doubt, but if he fails a fitness test, he’ll be replaced by the in-form Brad Hodge, who scored 115 off 100 balls for Victoria against South Australa on Wednesday.
A quick check of the bookies has some amazing prices. Not many betting houses are offering better then 10 to 1 on for Australia, whereas you can get odds of 13/2 on England. Remarkable, in a two horse race.
Tags: 2007-world-cup, australia, betting-odds, brad-hodge, brett-lee, commonwealth-bank-series, england, james-anderson, michael-vaughan, monty-panesar, ricky-ponting, shaun-tait |
25 Responses to “A grotesque mismatch masked as an ODI”
February 1st, 2007 at 9.51 pm
February 2nd, 2007 at 5.19 am
Amazing, England are only 1 down with plenty on the board at the 28th over..
February 2nd, 2007 at 7.15 am
Ed Joyce has possibly saved the day for England! Who would of thought, after being the butt of centuries of really, really tasteless jokes, an Irishman would spearhead their recovery? If only for the day. Perhaps the joke is really on the Poms - after all, after being roundly thrashed by Kiwis and convicts, their best players are now a South African, a Sikh and an Irishman. sopunds like some sort of irish joke….
February 2nd, 2007 at 7.17 am
Looks like England showed up to play today, and brought some luck with them. 292 is not a bad total, and Joyce gets their first ODI century in 7 months. The way things were going, they probably would have settled for a decade…
We don’t really know whether England’s bowlers, minus Lewis and Anderson, can defend a good total, because when was the last time they had one to defend? If they can keep it tight - no wides, overthrows, etc. - and put the ball in the right areas, they could actually win some money for those courageous enough to take the 13/2 odds.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7.49 am
Well, Scott, let’s hope you can eat a few of your words…
February 2nd, 2007 at 8.36 am
Well, if we can’t get Scott to eat his words, I have some tasty cheese sandwiches here. I am happy to share. Sending you all e-sandwiches. Enjoy! They should be a bit easier to swallow that some of the last England performances.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10.24 am
Two great things about this post: the title is absolutely right. And it will still be the last time these two play this summer. At least the final game between England and New Zealand will be live.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10.37 am
has shaun tait ever been in a winning aussie side? its amazing what it does to your spirits to see 2 of your young quicks firing like this - plunkett and mahmood, now thats a funny sounding pair.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10.50 am
Fabulous…. Joyce, Plunkett, Mahmood, Nixon… at last! Makes the next two games very interesting indeed.
Form/performance are weird things — they come out of nowhere.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10.52 am
ha. ha. Haha.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11.05 am
11am.Friday morning…..England.
A beautiful Sunny morning it is good to be alive!
And in case no one has told you….England won + a bonus point.
“Well hush your mouth !”
February 2nd, 2007 at 11.45 am
I guess it will be OBE’s this time, rejoicing in the streets-Britannia rules the waves again but before you all get too much out of yourselves, you do realise that this is the loss Australia had to have, in order to win the World Cup? After all, if we had gone unbeaten all summer, then we would’ve been stale and complacent by the Caribbean. So, thanks, Poms, for that extra irk that will drive us that bit harder again.
February 2nd, 2007 at 12.03 pm
Even a dog’s arse sees the sun sometimes - White Men Can’t Jump…
February 2nd, 2007 at 12.07 pm
This result stinks….
I’m sure the ICC Curruption committee will be looking closely…
February 2nd, 2007 at 12.36 pm
Ha bloody ha! Finally!!!!! And all without Flintoff doing anything.
February 2nd, 2007 at 12.42 pm
Yes, throw those rotten tomatoes and raspberries at me. Me bad. Enjoy the victory, our guys were clearly too complacent, and didn’t pay England the respect that they deserve.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3.04 pm
“Perhaps the joke is really on the Poms - their best players are now a South African, a Sikh and an Irishman”
England’s policy on recruiting overseas players is open to debate, but let’s not confuse religion with nationality. Surely it’s not too much to get your head round that english born players may have different ethnic and religious backgrounds?
February 2nd, 2007 at 3.12 pm
When are you Pommie bashers going to learn how to lose gracefully and without a load of whimpering?
By the way…have you heard that we are building prison ships again…… and when they are fulI, I believe that they are to be sent over to you…..to replenish your bloodline!
February 2nd, 2007 at 3.15 pm
Blimey Graham, that’s a bit harsh. Perhaps you need to learn to win with grace?
February 2nd, 2007 at 3.31 pm
Hey up! Scott,
You started all this…..and Carol joined in…let’s all look forward to our next match…if we win it,I believe that we will be playing you again…and then what will our selectors do??????????
I dread the thought.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9.52 pm
Had breakfast with a bloke from Northamptonshire County Council who said that Monty has been an absolute god for more than a year. I must admit that when I saw the news this morning I did think that 292/7 was a typo. 
A South African, a Sikh and an Irishman. English cricket is a broad church and always has been. It wasn’t so long ago that there was a middle order of Hick (Zim) Lamb and Smith (SA) with a bolwing attack including Defreitas (Dominican Republic) and Devon Malcolm (Jamaica).
More recently there was the Welsh wicket keeper born in Papua New Guinea and brought up in Australia.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11.13 pm
“Perhaps the joke is really on the Poms - their best players are now a South African, a Sikh and an Irishmanâ€
Gee, didn’t that one rile you lot! You took it so seriouly. Where’s your sense of humour, Pommies? And James, you took that line of mine our of context, from another blog, where i went on to talk about the races that the English have lorded it over in your colonial past.It was a play on Irish jokes….get it?
And since you seem to think you’re so broadminded, having lived in Britain for 6 years, and was married to an Irishman there, I can tell you we got heaps from you English. Of course, we weren’t winning sporting contests for you…
February 3rd, 2007 at 9.45 am
Sean seems to think cricket is a religion.
February 3rd, 2007 at 11.34 am
Oh come on you lot…..you appear to have a very limited grasp of history….we also have Romans..some of their descendants are possibly playing cricket for us….and maybe for you!(The main mob went home 16 and a half centuries ago)Then we had the Vikings(Raping and pillaging…a bit like your cricketers performance against our team?)….round about 1060 we had the French take us over(more R & P …but on a grander scale)…the French eventually got thrashed on their own ground (Agincourt..1415.)….they never did learn to play cricket!
I could go on and on……but I will leave that to you……for the moment.
Have a G’d day.
February 13th, 2007 at 9.51 am
Shaun deserves his selection in the World Cup. Why?
Hes a mean nasty bowler with the fire and gusto to frighten all the worlds batsmen. Similar ilk to Lee when he first appeared and I believe deadlier and more ferocious. The next generation bowler that will take world cricket by storm, when he matures and is given the right opportunity that is deserved.
The new millenium Thomson. Nasty and lethal. Time to redevelop the helmet when he bursts onto the international stage.
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