The ODIs start tomorrow. Are you excited? Do you feel like David Boon at a XXXX factory or Giles Clarke in swill? I’ll forgive you if you couldn’t give a full toss. I strongly dislike playing ODIs after test series but that’s life.
I’m sad to say that the terrible weather, plus the distraction of Euro 2016, has curbed my appetite for cricket somewhat. Shame on me. I’m sure I’ll come to my senses when the sun comes out and Jos Buttler starts thumping a few boundaries.
Although the introduction of Super Series was supposed to make these games a little less irrelevant, I’m afraid that I’m not really feeling the love. Perhaps if we were playing Australia or South Africa I’d feel a little more enthused. I guess we just don’t dislike Sri Lanka enough to care.
Playing five ODIs just seems like overkill to me. I’m actually more interested in the performance of individual players than the overall series result. I might have a little wager to make the whole thing a bit more interesting – this betting offers tool has some good deals. This usually does the trick when I watch golf. Talking of which, can I find it in my heart to forgive Lee Westwood for shooting 80 yesterday and allowing Happy Johnson to win? And the same goes for you, Sergio.
It will be very interesting to see how England balance their side without Ben Stokes. Suddenly the Maths seems a little more complicated. If they decide that Jonny Bairstow deserves a place in the team, which seems fair enough, there will only be room for 5 of Moeen, Rashid, Woakes, Willey, Finn, Jordan and Plunkett.
As none of the likely top six of Hales, Roy, Root, Bairstow, Morgan and Buttler bowl (unless you think Root might turn his arm over a bit), whichever five we pick will need to bowl their full allocation of ten overs. I’m not sure England will go into the match with just three seamers and two spinners (especially if the weather remains poor) so that means England could be forced to drop Rashid, or even Moeen, in theory.
The other thing England could do is simply replace Stokes with Woakes, and keep the balance from the winter exactly the same. However, this would mean leaving out Bairstow (or possibly Moeen) again. I think England will be reluctant to do that.
When it comes to England’s seamers they’re pretty much interchangeable in my view. None of them are outstanding yet all of them are useful in their own way. Finn is probably certain to play, as he’s the most likely wicket-taker, but the others are all pretty much the same standard: Plunkett, Woakes, Willey and Jordan.
Personally I would probably leave out Jordan, as he was dropped in South Africa after three poor matches. However, he did well in the World T20 so perhaps the management view him as a good death-bowling option?
I suspect Willey will play, simply because his left-arm medium pace adds variation and he’s a dangerous batsman down the order, so that leaves Plunkett and Woakes fighting for one spot (or no spots if England pick Bairstow and want two spinners).
Personally I suspect Plunkett will be the one to miss out. I think this would be a shame as he’s probably our quickest and most aggressive bowler. However, Plunkett never does quite enough to stay in the side. Considering that he seems to have a shorter leash than the other seamers (heaven knows why), I suspect he’s just going to have one of those unfulfilled international careers.
It will be interesting to see how Sri Lanka shape up in these upcoming matches. One suspects they’ll do better than they did in the test matches but I still expect England to win – that’s if we play anywhere near our potential. I just feel that our batting has more genuine match-winners and Sri Lanka might struggle to take wickets.
The subplot to the series will be Eoin Morgan’s position in the team. He really, really needs a sustained run of good form. After the World T20 I controversially argued that Morgan should be dropped (or given a break for a while). This was based on two premises: (a) the fact that Morgan hasn’t performed consistently well for a long period of time (his average in the second half of his England career has been well below that of his early years), and (b) he was no longer one of the best five specialist batsmen in the country.
Although I think that Eoin has been living off past glories for a while now, the retirement of James Taylor certainly eases the pressure somewhat. Taylor’s ODI record was very good, and it made no sense to persist with a struggling Morgan while Titch was waiting in the wings. However, now that poor Taylor is out of the equation, it makes it easier to argue that Morgan merits his place.
Having said that, yet another lean series will put Morgan’s future in the spotlight again. I’ve always like Eoin, and I used to think he was one of the best ODI batsmen we’ve ever had, but I just don’t feel he’s the same player anymore. Time will tell. I hope he scores a bucket load of runs and puts this debate to bed.
England Squad: Hales, Roy, Root, Vince, Morgan, Bairstow, Buttler, Ali, Rashid, Woakes, Willey, Jordan, Plunkett, Finn
James Morgan
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Of course dropping an out of form Morgan might ease your selection headache somewhat…. but his ODI stats have a long term roller coaster look to them, so he does seems to be due some runs.
I am a great Woakes fan; I firmly believe that he is a much better test cricketer than Stokes who always reminds me of Freddie – a great reputation based on turning up and performing one game in 3 or 4. However, even the most die hard Warwicks supporter will say that Woakes is a much better red ball cricketer than white ball. He bowls line and length (not always the answer in white ball) and has an orthodox batting technique. It is to the great shame of England selectors that they pushed him in white ball cricket and neglected him for tests. Of course, their attitude was summed up by the Collingwood quote after the Oz game early in Woakes career when he hit the winning runs and Collingwood said that he didn’t know he could bat. He only had a better FC batting average than the great Collingwood at the time.
I would leave Woakes out, let him play CC and make sure he knows he is now a core test player.
Hi Andy. I remember that innings by Woakes well. We played incredibly well and hit the ball of out the park. He’s certainly orthodox, with a good technique, but I think he can be a good hitter down the order too. He’s certainly a better batsman than Jordan and all the other bowlers. Willey might be better as a pure hitter but I’d fancy Woakes to play more substantial innings.
The crowds will be very interesting.
Trent Bridge, Edgbaston & The Oval are particularly big grounds to fill
At least it’s a good forecast for TB.
I am still disappointed in Bairstow over billings. It devalues the selection programme and long term, if buttler is to bat 4, billings at 6 with stokes at 5 could be very good, especially in England. I don’t think Bairstow is good enough to bat 4 and I don’t think he is as good at stokes or billings in the lower middle order. I would like to see stokes open for Durham in one day cricket as I think it could be a really good way of getting the best out of him. Especially in t20 where he doesn’t face too many balls. People over look his batting I feel. I remember he batted 3 in Australia with a few good knocks.
Although I think Jonny has improved as a player, it’s worth noting that his domestic list A record is actually quite poor for a player of his class: an average of 33 and just two hundreds.
I can’t see any argument for leaving Bairstow out of any team at the moment. He’s currently England’s best batsman by a stretch so he has to play. Billings has been a little unlucky, and I’d definitely give him a run in T20s, but I think domestic limited overs form takes second place to what Bairstow has been doing in the last year on the international stage – add to that his 80-odd against NZ last year and it’s a no-brainer. It’s not a devaluation of the selectionprogramme, it’s a recognition that a batsman is on fire.
What did surprise me was that he’s only played 12 ODIs, and last year’s knock against NZ was his first ODI for 3 years.
Do agree with you about Stokes – I’d have him opening because it allows him to take advantage of the initial PP, but more importantly, when he comes in at 30 overs plus he seems to be trying to hit the cover off it from ball 1.
The bowling is a big issue as I don’t think either of the spinners are particularly good. I’d be tempted to leave one of them out and go with Finn Willey woakes and Jordan. However, despite the weather I expect all the pitches to be flat which may warrant rash if playing
I can’t say I’m overly excited about this series but maybe once it gets going things might liven up a bit.
I would have dropped Morgan and made Taylor captain but sadly that’s not to be and his place seems secure for a while. Morgan does indeed seem to have a bit of a roller coaster ride so hopefully he’ll be in the runs this time.
Everyone has to earn their place and I can’t see both spinners doing it. Bairstow for Ali would be my choice. Sorry and all that but it’s not working out too well for Moeen.
Finn, Woakes, Willy Plunkett and Rashid to take the ball for me.
I’m watching Plunkett dish up his usual rubbish and coming to the conclusion that the England selectors rate ODIs about as highly as I do – otherwise why not have Broad and Anderson bowling?
An interesting point: we play more ODIs than Tests in a typical year – does this make them more or less important than Tests? I would argue less!
Wicket for Plunkett, but probably would have been a wide if the batsman had left it………..
They keep saying that Broad has been left out on merit! Whether anyone believes that is a different matter. Personally I’d like him to play in the Champions Trophy so I’d keep him around the ODI squad but well rested.
They covered this well during the innings break. Nasser thoroughly convinced that Broad is one of the best options available and is being “managed”. Reckons he’ll be there in 2019
I was in favour of bringing Broad back in ODIs – but there is an argument to say his ODI record has been poor for quite some time.
Broad took 124 ODI wickets at 25.7 from his debut up until the end of 2010. Since the start of 2011, he has taken 54 wickets at 40.3.
The match between England versus SriLanka going very interestingly, Eoin Morgan put all his experience to bring his team into a winning team and definitely grab the series.