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Loading ...That’s not a bad idea, Jonathon!
Although, I’d rather see Dimi in the side in Ravi’s place.
I’d bring back Ramps toot sweet!
Trouble at t’mill
By Jonathan Liew 6 months ago Leave a comment on this post
It’s hard to pick just one scapegoat out of the wreckage of England’s latest one-day catastrophe, but let’s start with Ravi Bopara.
Clearly Bopara’s poor series in Sri Lanka has knocked the stuffing out of him. His one-day career, one sparkling innings aside, has been mediocre, and his suicidal run-out of Alastair Cook smacked of a crucial deficit of confidence.
Which raises a valuable question - what on earth is he doing batting at seven? Like most of the England batsmen, he bats in the top three for his county. But seven is possibly the hardest position in which to make your mark - you’ve generally either got three overs to hit out, or thirty to save an innings in crisis. In both situations, Bopara tends to freeze.
So here’s an idea: instead of ringing desperate changes, as the selectors will probably be pressured into doing, how’s about swapping Bopara and Mustard around? Mustard may ultimately be England’s pinch-hitter, but at the moment he doesn’t look like hanging around much longer than the first Powerplay. What’s he like in the middle overs? How will he play spin? This is how you find out.
He’s also the kind of guy you want at the death, unlike Bopara, who for all his hustle has never hit a six in an ODI. It’s worth remembering that even Gilchrist started his one-day career down the order before moving up later.
A top three of Cook, Bopara and Bell might seem a bit stodgy, but it’ll provide some much needed platforms for the likes of Pietersen and Shah to have a blaze later. And all three can score at a fair lick when they’re set, whereas Mustard’s inimitable brand of haru-kiri currently means they’re constantly having to rebuild.
Having said all that, listening to England’s capitulation made me pine for one player in particular - Super Ramps. He’d put that upstart Styris into Row V.
Tags: batting collapse, england, england in new zealand, mark-ramprakash, one-day-cricket, phil-mustard, ravi-bopara, selection, super ramps |
9 Responses to “Trouble at t’mill”
February 12th, 2008 at 11.24 am
February 13th, 2008 at 1.27 am
You can’t treat a gunshot with a band-aid- which is exactly what you’d be doing if you brought back Ramprakash, who, frankly, was an international failure. Like Suave, I’d sooner have Mascharenhas in the side than Bopara. He clearly can score a few in the final overs, and he was an extremely effective bowler in the T20s. Given that among England’s bowlers only Sidebottom and Broad are showing form, that clinches it for me.
February 13th, 2008 at 4.19 am
Great to see the Colonial Cousins bashing the living crap out of the English bowling line up.Wasnt the English fielding third rate? , and the run outs again nothing learned.At the moment they really deserve their 7th place one day ranking and may fall further.Cant see them taiming that Batting on slaught maybe it will rain on Friday
February 13th, 2008 at 8.43 am
Bopara at top of the batting order does make sense , but he doesn’t really seem to have good enough technique to last the tough conditions. Actually, like most teams .. it would make more sense to have batsmen in top 3 who are your best bet to last 50 overs. Somehow, neither Cook nor Mustard/Bopara seem to fit the bill.
Bell is an excellent choice for number 3, but would it really hurt to try him in the opener’s slot ..
February 13th, 2008 at 12.04 pm
Bopara to open? Might be good for him but then were nt we all recently bemoaning the stodgy nature of England’s early batting in ODI and clamouring for a pinch-hitter?
The lads we have out in NZ are the best we have and we should support em. I still think they are capable of winning this series.
February 13th, 2008 at 10.45 pm
The whole top order has been failing, and all the bowlers struggling, so it’s a bit harsh to blame the youngster at no. 7. He’s a class act, but I don’t think he should be an automatic selection at the moment, just like any other player.
English players need to be pushing for their places. Mascherenas did that in the Twenty20s and then got axed.
It’s a bit baffling, England’s constant struggle in one-dayers. We always seem to be 12 years behind the rest of the world. I think in the Fletcher reign, the one-day team was used as a cultivating ground for new Test players, at the expense of all success in the limited overs game. We need to be picking the best players, when they’re in form, not just sticking in young talent willy nilly and hoping our opponents will wilt.
But our best players are simply failing to perform, en masse, time and time again. What can we do if the team only musters 130? Perhaps they’re tired, perhaps they’re bored. The coach needs to find out what’s bothering them, pronto.
Cook, Bopara and Bell for a top three would be great if we were playing one-day cricket in England 20 years ago, but the game has moved on, and the England team is still struggling to adapt to powerplays and overseas conditions. It would be a miracle for England’s team to scrape together 260 in an innings - and that’s still a minimum 40 runs short by today’s standards.
Stick with Mr Mustard at the moment. Give him a chance. It’s not as if one-dayers mean anything any more. Let’s hope Marcus Trescothick can come back soon.
February 14th, 2008 at 7.39 am
Why do you guys all overreact? You won the ODI series against India and Sri Lanka… and trashed NZ at Twenty20. It’s not always going to go your way.
February 14th, 2008 at 9.30 am
The scapegoat for England’s failure is New Zealand - they are a good team, even if they have lost several of their top players recently, because they have guts. England always underestimates them. Haven’t you noticed that they are ranked 3 in the ODI’s, compared to England’s 7?
February 15th, 2008 at 10.57 pm
Well, Englan seem to have responded very well to their earlier defeats. One change I would make is to bring in Swann for Wright, as having a specialist spinner will add more variety to the bowling attack than a third medium-pacer. However, their fromtline bowling attack- Anderson, Sidebottom and Broad- is in great touch.
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