I think special credit needs to go to Woakes for that final over, he bowled a couple of loose ones for 6 and 4 so it takes some serious balls to then throw down 3 dots and a wicket delivery. If the whole squad can get that sort of mental strength then we'll be laughing.Stokes also showed he's learned form the T20 and bowled a couple of really strong death overs. They were better today but I still think 1 from Ball or Plunkett is the way forward and given their ages I'd be looking to replace the latter asap. I like the 6 bowlers though and the batting ability of Stokes, Ali, Woakes and, to an extent, Willey means we're not losing anything with the bat to go with them and it means the choice should be entirely around their ability to take wickets but more importantly give Morgan some control. We have the opening bowling down with Woakes and Willey, they're regularly getting 2-3 wickets in the first 7-8 overs which is brilliant, but the game 'drifts' too much after that if the pitch isn't helping the other seamers.Someone who can be our game changer in tougher conditions is the key, either by bowling 4-5 cheap overs or by taking big wickets. I'd have loved that person to be Mills, he looks perfect for it with the extra pace and his natural length, such a shame he can't play more than t20. Wood is an option but his injuries are worrying as well, I suspect he'll give it up himself in a few years as there's clearly an underlying issue.I've been told to keep an eye on Matt Fisher from Yorkshire, he's captaining the U19 team in India later this month and is supposed to be seriously quick. Seem to remember someone telling me about a young leftie at Notts who looked good as well but I can't remember his name.
I enjoyed the BBL semi final yesterday. Johnson was unplayable and returned the best ever figures in the BBL, 4-2-3-3.
I bet we still conceded.
Great spell from Mo in the t20 bowled out his 4 with 2-21Over all we've taken important wickets at good times all through so far to keep them from getting a huge score. 106-5 after 15.The pitch looks like a 170-180 for me, there's not a huge amount of demons in it, so I think they might struggle to make 'par' on here. Dhoni still in though so he's the key player right now.
147-7 all done I reckon that's 25 short and they'll be very disappointed, teh spell from Ali and Stokes getting Raina just as he started to go big were the key moments for me.Mills is blindingly quick and exactly what we're missing in the ODI team, such a shame he can't play the longer format.