England v Australia

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Any thoughts on the ODI series starting a week today? How will the teams line up - in particular, will Australia follow England's lead & field 5 "proper" bowlers? If Morgan excels, can he force his way back into the test side?

Bell gone, lbw Lee, who has been excellent.

Good knock from Bell in very difficult conditions, though.

as always on tms some plonk who can't keep their mouth shut goes "Bell looking good" and he fails right away.

people need to just keep quiet when eng bat, they are ropey enough without needing help to fail.

Lee is great isn't he. Getting old now. They'll miss him when he goes in a year or two.

"TV replays are hinting that Bell might have got the slightest of inside edges on that lbw. No review though, so he obviously didn't think he hit it."

Looks like he really doesn't know when he gets a tiny edge. Btw, anyone who is watching, can they confirm if he did or not?

Bopara takes one to the head from Cummins. This guy is gonna be a pain in our backside for many years I think

Olly wrote:Bopara takes one to the head from Cummins. This guy is gonna be a pain in our backside for many years I think

I dunno one day theyll drop bopara for good

I have to agree I'm not a big Ravi fan. He definately played that short one badly, lets see how he reacts to it

aussie have got england by the throat. wickets tumbling, run rate way below par.

normal service has resumed. Just so good in this form.

yup cummins is just another in the aussie production line of world class talents.



will we ever come close to their depth? probably not.

This is one of the bits I like about 50 over cricket - the 20th-30th over.

It's critical for England to push on and get a decent total but Australia will be trying hard to put the squeeze on.

I heard this comment from Clarke a few months back... so they definitely put in the extra effort ... or that's the plan.

These two aren't the fastest scorers and they won't want to let the NRR drop too much.

Just over 4 runs per over isn't bad. Especially when we have 8 wickets in hand.

103-2 off 25 overs. Solid score. Could be looking at 250-270 I hope

Bopara goes for 15. Exactly what England didn't need.

Morgan comes in, suppose it gives him 20 overs or so, so he has time to get his eye in and push on. Hopefully

Bops hasn't improved a jot has he. We are going to get burned without KP.

This was a good toss for Aussie to win. Put us in tough conditions and now the sun is out they will bat in perfect ones.

They never lose at Lords. Hard to see them losing at all in this series. Eng look outmatched without the same batting forepower or pace bowling.

Long way to go yet. Even if England scrape past 250... Oz could be all out for 187!
Silly waste of a review there... in real time and in retrospect.

England a little behind where they'd like to be at the start of the powerplay. But only a little. What that does mean is that they must now capitalise.

can some one get trott out please ffs

All Trott has to do is rotate the strike to Morgan, given the average first innings score is 233 here hes been instrumental in building a base. Should get 250+ here.

I mean he has 50 from 65 balls, better or similar S/R to Cook and Bell.

problem here is it looks better to bat on in the second with the weather now.

Aussie chose well.

trebellbobaggins wrote:problem here is it looks better to bat on in the second with the weather now.

Aussie chose well.

A no-brainer really, given the forecast overhead conditions, early start and recent weather.

That powerplay was good, if not explosive. 250+ should now be easily achieved. The question is how close we can get to 280.

It's all about using your resources in 50 over cricket. And that is why England rant the best at it. We have the players..

Trott departs for a well played 54. Built a good base, now Morgan and Kieswetter should push the total now.

somebody got their wish then,



i never wish our players out as it always risks sparking a collapse and it pushes your dl up too.

Got to keep upping the rate in odi's, sometimes a wicket can win you a game.. come on england - smash it up

They are doing OK, typical englands of recent times making sure they get a decent score without pushing for a match winning one.
If they add 8 an over form the last 5 its competitive.

I know what you mean Roakey. Can do either way. Can bring in a player who then hits out big or can spark a collapse. All on the day.

so it'd a 230 par pitch then where 280 would be great and 260 good. Eng just seem to be settling for par though. Nurdling now.



and as i say that there is a 6.

258 is the average, trebs. They could get over 270 the way they're going now.

haha yeah i dont think the plan was to nurdle treb, these are the big hitters now doing what they are paid for.

not a great innings but its followed the plan

another 6, could push up to 270 now which will make the game tight

Trott knew when he needed to get out

MASSIVE OVER

apparently morgan is a decent player

and a couple more.

it's what was needed what Trotts knock allowed as it steadied things and gave us wicket.

Worries me what Aussies world class big hitters will do here.

I saw Moggie doing this against Kent the other day in the T20. He has carried this form on at the mo.

Some brave play is good to see late on.

Linebreaker wrote:258 is the average, trebs. They could get over 270 the way they're going now.

someone said 233 or something is first innings average?

In that case it's still not good enough then i guess. Needs to be way above to challenge Aussie.

I've heard it mentioned before... maybe ODI innings not Test average 1st innings? Anyway I agree with 280-300 runs minimum, England would start to feel safe from the Australians... if they're all firing and match fit. Not 100% sure they are.

233 is an avergae that is heavily weighted on history when teams didnt score runs for fun.

add 15% and you will get a better real avearge

oh and CK out last ball.. that could hurt if rain comes into it.



a little shy of the 280 needed and the 300 aussie have been getting then.

Excellent from Morgan, unlucky from Kieswetter

Aus to win as they get the better of the conditions, but a very competitive total and well paced innings ...only down period was trot/bopara getting bogged down in the middle

A good finish from England, who constructed a one-day innings along the model that is advisable with the current regulations.

Particularly good work from Morgan, who now looks back to somewhere near his best.

Australia were exposed at the death again. Watson can be both good and bad at the end, but if I were England I'd be happy to see him walk up to bowl the last.

This score is well chase-able, but if they get there it will in all likelihood have been a close game.

Quite funny - on the break just now Mark Waugh doesn't sound very confident at all... for once. Greg Blewett a little more at ease.

He thinks 270 might be a little too much for Oz to chase.
He says the England bowlers will bowl better... only chance is someone like Warner or Watson grabbing the bull by the horns.

gonna play devils advocate and say (as long as mogs keeps this up) pick him for SA tests!!

I would say that is a very competitive total for England. If we can get Warner or Watson early on it will make it interesting, especially Warner. If he bats for 25 overs I reckon Aus will breeze it.

I say England to win by 23 runs

Watson is the danger man for me- guy is true class

Aussie to win with 2 overs spare probably.

If my prediction is right and England win by 23 runs, Danish Kaneria told me

mystiroakey wrote:gonna play devils advocate and say (as long as mogs keeps this up) pick him for SA tests!!

Nothing wrong with that (people will scream I know) but if he's in great form and is scoring big runs even in ODIs... why not?
UAE was a tough experience but he will have become the better player for it. If he's the best in the country at 6 or whatever...right now, then I'd pick him too.

I hope we can win it- thats all i can say- we need to step up in this form. We have players that believe they are better than OZ. we just allways get bogged down around trott. If we dont win this series i will not be happy at all

This series became a bit more important to me when I learned a 5-0 series win for England would put us top of the ODI Rankings meaning we'd be number 1 for all 3 formats. Dare to dream?

Anyway, 272/5 is a cracking score given the conditions. Good to see Morgan getting another unbeaten half-century and the top 3 also posting 40+.

I think we have more chance being no.1 in all 3 formats than england did winning the euros. ao i am gonna believe this dream pal.

Comeon ENGLAND!! 5-0

Right altogether now:

Five nil, we're gonna win five nil, we're gonna win five nil. FIVE NIL, we're gonna win five nil, we're gonna win five nil...