Oh dear. That wasn’t exactly the start we wanted was it. Mitchell Starc bowled a rather useful opening spell and it was pretty much downhill from there. Once you’re sixty odd for five, you need miracle.
Eoin Morgan did his best to turn things around – and his century was as welcome as it was impressive – but 234 was never going to be enough. In fact, 230 is rarely enough in any circumstances – no matter what Andy Flower’s computer used to say. Maybe it was a ZX81?
Although the Aussies were always going to win once David Warner, surely the most likeable man in the universe, started to pile on the boundaries, at least our bowlers showed some fight. Those late wickets made it semi interesting I suppose.
Feel free to vent your collective spleens below …
James Morgan
Some stats from the BBC report:
From the end of the 10th over, Eoin Morgan hit all three of England’s sixes and all but one of their 12 fours.
England managed only 29 runs between the 20th and 30th overs.
David Warner hit more fours (18) than the entire England team combined (16).
If only there was an attacking batsman that we could bring in…
Which team will win the 2015 Cricket World Cup?
Australia must be favorites!!
See the results below.
http://www.pollytopic.com/index.php/sport/item/27-which-team-will-win-the-2015-cricket-world-cup
Selectors need to kick their habit of dropping Tredwell, who’s probably our best ODI bowler right now. Every time he’s been dropped, no matter what the conditions, England’s bowling performance has deteriorated.
Agreed – the SCG generally helps spin and this specific pitch had already been used twice this season. Morgan explained dropping Tredwell post-match by blaming the short boundary on one side (60m) which sounds like a case of over-complicating things.
The biggest reason England lost though is that Starc (and Cummins to some extent) swung the new ball and no English bowler got any swing at all.
To be completely honest, neither our batting or bowling were anywhere near good enough (bar Morgan).
It’s the legacy of the ECB’s hysterical fear and loathing of limited-overs cricket. It’s why they only take limited-overs cricket seriously on the eve of each global tournament. It’s why they don’t let players into the IPL and BBL anymore (at least not the players they’re prepared to select). It’s why England are permanently behind the curve in both ODIs and T20Is despite having just as much raw talent as any other country, and despite having a new-look team jam-packed with genuinely dangerous players. There’s no way those talented but naive and inexperienced guys can possibly hope to compete with a team of equally talented IPL/BBL regulars.
How good a batting side are you in now Mr Broad ? All the hype after two wins against rank amateurs and then they had to face the real world.
The only saving grace was Morgan’s ton and thank the lord he got it otherwise we would now be subjected to endless speculation about how Cook should not have been dropped.
As to the wickets at the end of the Aussie innings I think that was more down to their determination to get the bonus point win by finishing the game in under 40 overs than any real threat from our bowlers. A target they managed to achieve.
Imagine if Cook had not been dropped – and therefore Morgan not selected…
I am foolish enough to think that our batting may yet come good… the bowling though: Pat Cummins steamed in with the new ball at 93mph, Mitchell Starc at 92mph. For England, only Chris Woakes consistently topped 85mph…
Other than the return of Tredwell, we’ve not got much (I’m skeptical that Anderson will be fit enough to make much of an impact in the World Cup).
Well done Morgan – only in the sense that he just had to stay there and get a decent score and he did, though it was slow.
We haven’t got any fast bowlers, have we? Broad doesn’t appear to be fully recovered and Anderson certainly isn’t – both of them are men of the past, I’m afraid. Finn is no longer Finn but some other guy who keeps bravely trying.
It’s a bit depressing but I think you are right. Losing Broad and Anderson in tandem will be a tad unfortunate. Woakes is giving a bit of hope but he still has some way to go. Always liked him. Shows spirit.
Morgan could not go gung ho he knew if he gave his wicket away we would have struggled to get 150. Look at his stats as captain his average is 78 so he is inspired and performs better as captain. AT 0-2 and 69-5 more often than not a score of 230 would be impossible. The Aussies have good bowlers and are one of the favorites for the world cup we are not. Lets just enjoy the cricket anything after the last 8 is a massive bonus.
Slats, yes, I didn’t mean my comment to be disparaging of Morgan but perhaps it reads that way! It’s good to have a captain that you can be pretty sure has read the game and done what he decided was necessary in the situation.
Jenny, I like Woakes too, but where’s everybody else?
It’s annoying. There are some 60 million people in this country. Can those paid to organise cricket here really not find and develop 2 or 3 bowlers? Smacks of incompetence
I’m not fuming, but I do feel we are in confusion mode.
We used to have a tactic build around Cook/Trott glueing the innings together of trying to get 275-300 – We were told that was ancient and we couldn’t compete with that.
So we change and give a bit more license to the batsmen and are quickly 69/5 – what do we want here? Attacking quality bowlers you could quite often end up like this.
My ideal batting line up would be
Bell, Ali, Trott, Taylor, Root, Morgan & Buttler. And then play the conditions. 270 might have been enough today. But if we’d have been 140/3 off 30 and Morgan came in with that innings 300 is always possible.
However can we ever defend 300 with our attack on a decent wicket. What has happened to Finn. Is Tredwell a good enough spinner to warrant a place in an XI on flat decks?
The bowling is the main concern for me.
But we didn’t get 275 – 300 very often did we?
Plus points for today. Morgan scored some runs which he needed. He scored more today than Cook managed in 6 innings in Sri Lanka. I still think we can score decent totals. We may bring Balance in at 3 but not all attacks are going to be as potent as this one.
We are up and running and now under no doubt about how good the Aussie bowling is. (If we were in any doubt)
The negatives are the bowling. Andy Flower has bequeathed a giant black hole in the lack of bowling talent. Perhaps he should have worried more about that than 83 page diet sheets. It has been obvious for years that we were relying on Broad and Anderson. With Swann to give us some control. Broad looks down on pace which is not surprising considering he is coming back for injury. Jimmy is still not ready.
Where has all the Sky money that the ECB boast about gone in developing new fast bowlers? Under Troy Cooly we seemed to have mastered the art of reverse swing and conventional swing. We seem unable to risk bowling the Yorker. It’s all very plain and bland.
Small sample. Checking last years Australian series we batted 1st 4 times and made 300 twice.
I don’t think you can blame the lack of bowling on Andy Flower. The problem is the standard of domestic one day cricket played in England – I can’t think of any bowler that is crying out for inclusion.
Look at the standard of bowling in the Big Bash. I reckon I could pick a dozen Aussie bowlers that wouldn’t be out of place in this England bowling line up.
Trott is not in the side so why not bring in Ballance? He can steady and take the game forward when needed. Can’t understand why he seems to be not much in favour.
Who do you leave out if Ballance comes in?
Bopara, somewhat reluctantly, because who knows what he might do. Balance is worth a try I think for a bit more stability in times of crisis and he can also go through the gears. Crises happen all too often.
The way Root and Taylor were out shows me that England batsmen are not very good against good fast bowling. The only world class England batsmen are Pietersen and Morgan.I wouldn’t be surprised if England lost every match.
is it fair to say that David Warner is the epitome of everything the English dislike about Australian cricket?
You mean he’s better than our batsmen? ;-)
I don’t think the dislike is unique to the English to be fair – it might well be shared by the Indians and South Africans. He’s a special talent, who carries on like a d**khead way too often.
Since I discovered this and Dimitri’s blog, I’ve become more sympathetic to Warner, especially in relation to Root. I find him far more tolerable than the bowling clique of Flower’s regime.
I hate sledging whoever does it. Jimmy’s behaviour is just as unacceptable. Try and knock my head off by all means – that’s the game. But after that, shut your mouth and get back to your mark.
Give me Curtly Ambrose any day. Didn’t need to say a word.
Jimmy is possibly the worst offender. He’s embarrassing at times and Cook is such a weak leader that he doesn’t have the balls to step in and say stop.
At the risk of sounding like I have an Iron Rod for a spine, I do think England can ‘take some positives out of today’s game’
They lost early wickets because they set out to attack, which is a good thing. Some days this won’t come off, but they need to keep playing this way until they find the groove.
This is the first proper game of a long and tough tour, on wickets very different to those they played on in Sri Lanka, it’s not susprising that some of the shots didn’t come off. They’ll adapt and by the time the WC starts be more comfortable.
Despite the early collapse, they didn’t completely capitulate. They fought back. Though 234 wasn’t a competitive score, they did well to get there after the start. They didn’t give up. Had just one one of the top order succeeded, then 300 was on the cards.
Morgan is back and playing well. Captaincy seems to suit him. He tried a few things in the field, made good use of his bowling options and kept switching, leading to some wickets. They were unlucky to not get two lbw decisions and missed an easy run-out, had those gone England’s way, it could have been much closer.
The bowlers didn’t do a bad job. Containing Warner is incredibly difficult for any attack and his innings proved the main difference, but against the other batsmen, the bowlers performed quite well. Woakes in particular but also Broad, Ali and Bopara. Bring Anderson and Tredwell in for Finn and Jordan and the attack doesn’t look too awful.
Long way to go, but there’s the makings of a good team there.
Positivity – I bloody love it!
I agree with most of this. Early days. We have wasted most of the last 4 years plodding about. It’s going to take time.
And Australia in their own country are the best in the world.
Are you Andy Flower in disguise?
Surprised to read that Warner’s was the first Australian ODI century against England at the SCG.
Even more surprised that it was his first ODI century in three years. Even you-know-who has a more recent one….
I actually think that the current side is pretty near to England’s best – I’ve always liked Bell at the top of the order. The main problem is that this side has only just come together with a handful of games before the World Cup.
You can’t legislate for being 0 for 2 – Bell and Taylor got good balls first up, Root also got a decent ball, although a bit of a loose shot.
What disappointed me was the batting after that, particularly Moeen’s sucker shot and Bopara’s loose shot. I love Mo’s batting but it seems like he feels he has to go at everything since he was promoted up the order. At 12 for 3, surely the plan has to be to bat and rebuild – wickets in hand are important and batting at 4 an over is OK if you’re only 3 or 4 down after 30 overs, at least with Bopara, Morgan and Buttler there’s an opportunity to launch something. Good sides are never 6 down with 15 overs to go, even if they start badly.
Unlike James, for me the bowling is the real concern, because I can’t see how we’re going to get wickets with the new ball (or at any time for that matter). Woakes is developing his skills and variations, but unless Jimmy comes back and swings it, I can’t see us getting sides in difficulty.
Cricket at the top level is about creating pressure, and Australia were never put under pressure at any point. We lose wickets too regularly, and rarely seem to be able to build pressure in the field by taking wickets or drying up runs.
Good point about pressure. If a team aren’t that good a bowling unit they can create pressure by their fielding – NZ have been masters of this (although currently they are also a decent bowling unit as well). England just are not a very good fielding team – they aren’t terrible but where’s the brilliance?
George Bailey should have been run out on nought but a poorish throw by Root and a muck-up by Finn let him off. England need to take this sort of chance with this bowling line-up.
James here. I actually agree with you Hamish that the bowling is the biggest problem, albeit not today as they didn’t have enough runs to defend. I actually think the batting has potential, and there are some good players waiting in the wings who might have some success if given a chance through injuries etc. The bowling however has very little strength in depth. For the first time in a long time, I don’t rate the guys we’re picking but still think they’re probably the best available. It’s quite depressing.
At least they put up a bit of a fight, it’s been a long time since we have seen any fighting spirit in that team. I think they need to face the quality bowlers more often and get their own bowlers sorted out. The decision to drop Cook was absolutely the right one, win or lose. His demeanour brought the team right down. It may be too late to expect a win, but at least they are on the right track. I just hope they don’t leave it so late with the Ashes as they did with the WC.
Hamish +1
The deliveries that accounted for Bell and Taylor would have got anyone right at the start of their innings. Root and Moeen needed to knuckle down and get through to 10 overs before starting to open out. It was noticeable that for the Aussies both Smith and Bailey took their time. Smith was starting to click very ominously until he gave away his wicket a little rashly. The real plus is that the Indian attack is not at all as threatening, so maybe the batters can get some form together.
You have to question the worth of these warm up games England keep playing, no other country plays as many of these as England do, yet England keep starting series abroad test or ODI very slowly.
Am I the only England supporter who wonders why Bell keeps being picked. He can score centuries against no hopers but doesn’t have the bottle when facing top bowlers.
Surely Hales should have been given a chance over the last few months, especially when he was rated No 1 20/20 batter in the world.
Did you know that Bell has a better record in ODIs than Warner (in terms of average)?
I like Bell and Hales, but the latter simply isn’t in any kind of form. The big ton Bell scored against the presidents XI the other day came against a pretty good attack: Maxwell and Cummins are in Australia’s first choice side, and Behrendorff is the leading wicket taker in the IPL.
Well I’m sure most fans would pick Warner in preference to Bell, and possibly the reason Hales is not in the best nick is the lack of confidence that comes from being overlooked !
Hales is out of form – sometimes that happens. It’s not always the fault of the coaches.
He plays a high risk game, which means that he’s going to go through periods where he just gets out.
The thing is with Hales is that the jury is out. He should have had seven games in Sri Lanka opening with Ali for us to find out. We would now be clearer whether he will be a viable option in ODI’s
As an opener sInce the last World Cup, Bell has averaged almost 44 at a reasonable strike rate of 82 (Amla and Warner are both around 85 and Dilshan 83).
He’s not explosive like some, but for me he’s been England’s best batsman of the last 5 years, so should have been nailed on as their ODI opener rather than being shunted up and down the order.
Hamish,
My perception of the problem with Bell is that he doesn’t make enough big scores. His ODI career seems to consist of a bunch of 30’s and 40’s which means that he falls between 2 stools. He doesn’t bat long enough to be the anchor for all the strokeplayers to blaze away around, and he doesn’t bat quickly enough to significantly raise the scoring rate when he’s there. He seems to bat just long enough that you’re then really irritated with him when he gets out :)
That said, I’d pick him over Hales, who is in no sort of form. The one who drives me nuts in this side at the moment is Bopara – seemingly guaranteed to only deliver when the game is already lost, never when it’s there to be won.
One of the lines being pushed by some in the media is that England are a young and inexperienced side so they are going to be inconsistent.
Compared to, say, a SL side including Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Dilshan this may be so but it wasn’t today. England were the slightly younger side with an average age (by my dodgy reckoning) of 26.4 compared to Australia’s 28.2. All bar Bell in the England team are in the 24-29 bracket whereas Australia are spread from Cummins at 21 to Haddin at 37. England were actually the more experienced side with a total of 708 ODI caps to Australia’s 646. Australia had only two players with over 100 caps whereas England had four.
A similarly misleading picture was put about last winter when England’s defeat was put down by some to the team being too old. The teams in the Gabba Test were in reality the same average ages and once players like Trott and Swann started dropping out England were in fact the younger team.
Too young? Too old? But like the three bears’ porridge never quite right!
Excellent.
Ace post there Simon. Strange how the ECB media train can spin it aye?
My first computer was a ZX81 and there’s no way it would have come up with any nonsense for Andy Flower to adhere to. Far too clever for that. No, he probably uses a Sinclair QL – an all mouth and no trousers kind of machine :
Sorry, was there some cricket that I missed?
Good news! Production is set to start on a remodelled version of the ZX Spectrum, which will come pre-installed with 1,000 classic game titles.
At worst the legion of backroom staff will be distracted from interfering with the cricketers playing cricket
I hope they have The Great Escape, Paperboy, Bombjack and Monty Mole. My old favourites :-)
Brilliant St John!
That comment was me by the way – funny that I feel the need to point out who I am when I mistakenly post using my real name! :)
How can I say this without getting a load of guffaws from the computer whizzes on here! I hold my hands up to say I had one of Sugar’s dummies. Kept going wrong and it went back 3 times and then got my money back. It was rubbish – but I bet you all knew that at the time. Still paid more and got the first Apple Mac made for the individual. Still got it and it still works!!! I’ve been told to hold on to it because it is worth a bit now. When I got into computers I was told I was far too old to understand computers. Well I got the last laugh on that one and still using them. Wouldn’t know ZX or any others. I would like to suggest, given my thorough experience, that the only computer Mr Flower would be using is first generation Sugar! I expect Moores is using second generation, perhaps! LOL
I’m surprised no one has mentioned that Mitch Johnson and Josh Hazelwood are still to come in yet..
I do believe some wickets were sacrificed by the Aussies to gain the bonus point.
just watching the SA v WI ODI and they have both useful attacks and batters, as do NZ and Sri Lanka currently in a series.
Chin up Poms, it can’t get much worse can it? At least when Cook was there you had someone to blame!!
Four years in the planning…back to back Ashes etc etc Cook the natural leader, the same man who bowled Anderson and Broad into the ground last Summer, the same man who said Prior could stay in the team as long as he wants, knowing full well the guy was bollocksed. That shameful excuse of a man was just the ECB’s stooge and patsy, made to cling onto a job he was wholly unsuited for. His own ego and manipulated stupidity failed to make him see that. We see now the legacy of all of that!!
Morgan is the right sort of man, a solid and honest cricketer, who has the talent and leadership to salvage something from the whole political mess…
I, for one, am confident he will. He has a lot of talent at his disposal….the future is bright!!
Welcome to the forums, Mrs Morgan :)
Mrs Morgan is currently making me breakfast.
For how long are you going to blame Cook? Till our exit from the tournament I expect. If it makes you happier to think that way it can’t be all bad I suppose.
Well at least no one is blaming KP or is that still to come?
The futures so bright, I’ve got to wear shades
Why are we in this culture of blame?
What’s happened has now gone. Please move on.
This is a young exciting team. We aren’t blessed with many alternatives either. Get behind them.
maybe this ‘move on’ ECB Hack mantra is bad for us.. just ‘moving on’ gives the ECB what they want… a free ride. Why should I get behind some non performing, over paid, under worked sportsmen if they aren’t producing the goods and the equally over paid mangers, analysts, coaches and ECB are given gold plated jobs for life…
Moving on is the right thing but ONLY when all the bad eggs are fired.. not all blamed on one player, who.. is still (considering he played with a bad knee for ages!) better than 99% of what we have now!
In my opinion Pietersen was sacked because he told the truth on a Sky TV interview after the Melbourne Test that scheduling back-to back Ashes series had made the senior players knackered ie it was the ECB schedulers fault-I said at the time to everyone who would listen that, knowing the attitude of certain ECB bosses they would get Pietersen for his apparent lack of respect for those ECB bosses. In my opinion they put their own boss perogatives before the interests of the country,and it`s not possible to `move on ` without finding out whether the ECB bosses indeed put their own interests before those of the country and England cricket lovers or not. If they did they should have no place in England cricket.
“I see no ships!”
“Break out the FGs!!!
Well…I really don’t know what to say.
Nor moi Ian. Me flabber is ghasted! They are playing one of the best teams in the world. England have a rubbish coach and management! Really pleased Eoin did well.
Who’s a lucky boy then? You get your own in our house. :-)
Pietersen reaches 50 off 27 in the Bash…looking in fine form.
Should ensure the Stars stay in the tournament, possibly to the irritation of Moores.
As the saying goes – Form is temporary class is permanent.
A fully fit KP will be an asset to any team for years to come yet.
and the ECB have kicked him out for what// so that a few not really good enough players can scam a massive living.. it’s ok though.. we keep getting told to ‘move on’… ‘support the lads’…
sod that.. until the ECB fire most of their staff, ALL the coaches, analysts etc are gone and the ego’s go from the england team (so Anderson, Broad)… then tbh, I’d rather see England get smashed against the good teams.. What they do against a crap India, crap WI etc is irrelevant tbh.
I’m definitely not moving on.
Not ever.
Now that is how I feel. I’m certainly not “moving on” until the present incumbents at the ECB are all ‘MOVED ON’. Of course we are stuck with the ECB miscreant Clarke but in there is any justice new geezer will send Downtown out of the ground to some scrubland somewhere!
Class is most definitely permanent! Indeed it is!!!
Eoin Morgan doesn’t spell his name ‘Owen’ and unless you’d prefer to have Nigel Farage leading the one day team, I suggest you get over that.
I’m really enjoying this. Not much could go better, but a few suggestions:
Pietersen embarks on a world club cricket tour during the world cup, and every time he scores a century he has the star tattooed on him, live on youtube. Ratings are higher than for England’s World Cup games
England lose to Afghanistan in the World Cup, eliminating them, and Morgan suggests afterwards that they would have had a better chance if the ECB wasn’t run by pitiful cretins
Pietersen gets a tattoo of Andrew Strauss’s face over his own face
“England lose to Afghanistan in the World Cup”.
Afghanistan just thumped Ireland so March 13th could be very interesting indeed. The match is at the SCG which of all the pitches in Australia is most likely to suit Afghanistan’s bowling. It is also England’s last Pool game so heaven knows what condition they’ll be in (triumphantly qualified or down and disintegrating?).
Which team will win the 2015 Cricket World Cup?
Australia must be favorites!!
See the results below.
http://www.pollytopic.com/index.php/sport/item/27-which-team-will-win-the-2015-cricket-world-cup
Can someone delete this dickhead and his stupid spam?