Australia 227 (48.2 overs). England 231-7 (49.3 overs) At the beginning of this ODI series, Ashley Giles played down expectations to an unprecedented extent. He said England should expect some pain in these matches, as they’d picked an experimental side missing key players. Interpretation: I know I’ve lost more matches than I’ve won so far, and we’re likely to lose a few more, but can I still be England test coach next year please? It’s really not my fault. We’re not sure what...
Glory at the SWA-LAKE
England 169 all out (23.3 overs). New Zealand 159-8 (24 overs) Back in stereotypical English conditions (or is perpetual rain and damp typically Welsh?), England marched into the semis yesterday. There was no drama about the pace of the innings – even our top 3 realise you’ve got to play shots straight away in a 24 over match – and our bowlers rediscovered their teeth; who needs to tamper with the ball when you can move it off the seam for fun?! The shorter format seemed to liberate our batsmen...
Buttler serves up a treat. And farewell to New Zealand.
England 287-6 (50 overs). New Zealand 253 all out (46.3 overs) Cricket has a great way of making people look foolish. For 45 overs of England’s innings in the 3rd ODI against the Kiwis, experts were calling the pitch ‘sticky’, ‘two-paced’ and rather slow. England’s batting was laboured to say the least, although it was certainly better than the tortuous affairs witnessed in the two previous games. Enter Jos Buttler – the newcomer who had taken T20 by storm, but had yet to really cement his...
Ashley Giles: From The Bears into the bear pit
This aint like dustin’ crops boy. It hasn’t been the most auspicious start for Ashley Giles. England were thrashed in the first warm up game and beaten soundly by Delhi in the second. Thank heavens we weren’t playing Jaipur and Mumbai too, otherwise things might have got really ugly. It’s all the more embarrassing because England are, if the rather bizarre ICC Championship rankings are to be believed, the best ODI team in the world. Imagine what Delhi might have done to South Africa or...
England selection committee loses its marbles
We’re really not surprised that England lost the first T20 yesterday. Judging by the team the England management put out, we can only assume they didn’t actually want to win. How many teams need three wicket-keepers? It’s ridiculous. Two usually suffices in sixteen man squads for five match test series, so why England needed three for a short T20 match is beyond us. If you can think of any rationale for such a perplexing strategy, please let us know. We phoned up all the psychiatric units of...
