England Cricket Thread 2011

[VillaZogmariner]

With the fall out from the World Cup I thought it better to start a new thread about what is going to happen/happening with the England team this year, save it from getting lost in the World Cup thread.

Vaughan this morning saying that Broad should replace Strauss as captain of the ODI side if, as expected, Strauss retires from the One Day game.

I'm not sure Broad is ready for it just yet, but at same time there is no stand out candidate for the job.

Either way I think we'll see some major changes to the One Day set up, and not just on the playing side. First thing they need to do is start looking at the schedules. You could see that the majority of the England side were absolutely knackered after the tour of Australia.

[DBTW]

I'd give the captaincy to someone like Morgan.

[Dave Cooper please]

I'd give it to Alistair Cook who will almost certainly be back in the ODI side if Strauss retires.

As for schedules, they are at the ECB will bend over for the sponsors so it will be just as bad next time, have no doubts.

[OzVilla]

On paper, our bowling stock is probably the best it's been in years.  A group of 6-7 bowlers that can be rotated to bowl in all Test Match conditions.

The middle order is a concern though. Pietersen hasn't grown into the player I thought he would have by now, his Test career is stalling and with Collingwood retired there's a new spot to be filled - that doesn't always happen by the first cab of the rank, in this case Morgan.  So there's a case for some instability there.

India is going to be a real Test this Summer, just what we need too after Australia, a big fish to focus on and after then the Saffas visit the following Summer - beat the lot.

Ponting about to announce his retirement is the word over here, tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Simon Ward]

Surely Cook has to be given the ODI captaincy to see how he really performs under pressure, before he is offered the test job!

[OzVilla]

Cook had the most wonderful time in Australia,he was superb.  But let's just give him some time before we start elevating him to Test captaincy.  Straussy will skipper England through to the end of next Summer as least.

Broad will have had to have matured an awful lot as a Cricketer over the last 12 months to get the ODI job so if I had to pick anyone i'd give it to either Trott or Bell, mainstays of the side through to the next WC.   And both play for the Bears which is an added bonus.

[Bully2345]

I imagine Cook will get the ODI captaincy as a straight replacement for Strauss, although that does bring about the possibility of England having three captains if Cook is still not in favour for twenty20s.

I also think we've seen the end of the ODI careers of Collingwood and Strauss and probably Pietersen, so there's going to be a big gap in terms of experience to replace but they may as well begin planning for the next World Cup even if we lose a couple of series in the short-term.

On the Ponting issue, there's talk of a potential county contract for him if he retires from internationals. I'm not sure the Bears have much cash, but if we did, that would be an awesome signing to replace Younis Khan. Unlikely though

[PaulWinch again]

I would imagine Cook is the most sensible choice and noone else leaps out.

[VillaZogmariner]

I really like Cook, but I'm not sure he is what we need in the One Day team - he likes to build his innings too much and there isn't enough time for another player like that (Trott being the other).

I think the plan now should be to start looking towards the 2015 World Cup, so even if Strauss, Collingwood and Pieterson don't retire I'd be looking to phase them out. Whatever way we go about it though there are a few areas we need to be concentrating on sorting out, them being -

Captaincy (Swann maybe?)
The opening partnership (Personally I'd go with Bell and Bopara)
Wicket-keeper (as good as Prior has been, I don't think he is good enough at One Day level - Kieswetter would be my choice).
Back up spinner (Tredwell or Rashid)
Middle order/part time bowler x 2 (Bopara could drop down, also got Morgan - but think we need another).
Seam attack - we are quite fortunate in this area with Anderson, Bresnan, Tremlett, Broad all with good cases to be in the side. With Finn and Woakes looking good for the future.

On the Ponting issue - as much as we give him stick I think the International game will be a poorer place without him.

[Villan For Life]

I'm not convinced about the call for wholesale changes. It seems every time we struggle in a one day tournament then wholesale changes follow. It's not worked before, why should it work now?

Cook cannot captain the ODI team, he's not even in the squad. If Strauss wants to continue then he should continue as captain. Split test and ODI captains have not worked for us.

One of the issues is that our test players with their central contracts do not play enough one day cricket at county level. What opportunities do they get to develop reasonable one day techniques? The kind of technique that provides the variety that we lack?

We got to the quarter finals of the 50 over world cup - as did South Africa, Australia and the West Indies. Three of the four semi finalists are from the sub continent; our one day record in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is not good.

If Strauss stands down then I'd like to see Ian Bell given a chance. I was very impressed with his captaincy when he captained the Bears to the CB 40 trophy last season. He clearly thinks deeply about the game and he completely outfoxed Trescothick and a very talented Somerset side.

[spangley1812]

In my opinion we need to build the team around Woakes, Morgan, Keiswetter, Rashid with the amount of cricket the authorities expect the players to play I would even think about having a seperate 50 over and 20/20 team and them let
Strauss, Trott, Anderson play in the test team........I would only think about 2/3 players playing in both ie Swann, Broad and KP

[PaulWinch again]

Kieswetter should be invested in, I think he can be very good. They seem to have discarded him too quickly. There is a lot of talent there.

[OzVilla]

I know it's not England but Ponting has today stepped down from both the Australian Test and ODI Captaincy.  Clarke likely to take over.

Interestingly he's not retired from Cricket and still wishes to be considered as a player - virtually unheard of for this to happen (last time a Captain stepped down yet played on in the team was Ian Chappel 35 years ago - and that was for his Brother).

[Villan For Life]

I know it's not England but Ponting has today stepped down from both the Australian Test and ODI Captaincy.  Clarke likely to take over.

Interestingly he's not retired from Cricket and still wishes to be considered as a player - virtually unheard of for this to happen (last time a Captain stepped down yet played on in the team was Ian Chappel 35 years ago - and that was for his Brother).

I think he was a fantastic captain and if he does not get selected again the game will be all the poorer for it.

His one weakness seemed to be the inability to cope with the mindgames of an unflappable England captain. Think Strauss and Vaughan. He could run rings around a tub thumping chest out English captain a la Flintoff because he could always prompt a reaction. It's no coincidence that our best Ashes captains were cool customers, add Brearley to Strauss and Vaughan.

I don't think he was universally liked in his own dressing room. The number of recently retired ex-team mates who were lining up to have a pop was shocking. How can you blame Ponting for the retirement of five world class players in a relatively short period of time? Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer and Hayden were a class apart.

Anyway back on topic. I love my cricket and I'm looking forward to seeing England - India at Edgbaston this August.

[Warren Aspinall]

I don't go with this change the skipper we've had a shit world cup lark. The itinery is to blame for this, it was crazy to play a 5 test series, 2 twenty20's & 7 one dayers in oz before going to the world cup. The players were knackered & there performances were inconsistent & eventually went down as a result. Strauss actually had an excellent tournament with the bat, why should he retire?, we have the makings of a decent one day side, the trouble is in the sub continent you need to have a certain type of cricketer, the type which us, west indies, australia & South Africa don't have in abundance. We should probably look towards New Zealand when in the sub-continent as there resourcefulness has got them far.

In short, blame the itinery, stick with Strauss & the current squad & wait till the end of our summer to review anything.