England vs Australlia 2nd ODI

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Great start!!!!!!!!

0-2 of 0.5 overs.

Finn is the main man and needs to start bowling again!

Australia are continuing to play very positively. England need to keep taking wickets, otherwise Australia could get a very big score.

The problem with muddling through as many overs as England have had to is that if one of your bowlers does go around the park a bit (as Tredwell, who is a fine cricketer, has a bit so far) then you're looking at making up a lot of overs. Australia have sensed this, and so far their gameplan has been just on the right side of that positive-reckless ridge.

Simple lesson.  Pick a second string and you will get clattered.

Must admit I'm so bored of these two playing each other that I just don't care anymore.

A winter of this.  Bloody snore.  What a stupid schedule.

It would appear that the second string is indeed getting clattered ...but you have to give the second string a chance some time or you never find out how good - or not - they are. (In truth I suspect the main bowlers might be finding it hard work here today , but never mind that ) So a meaningless , or at least context-less , ODI is surely as good a time as any to have a look at a couple of fringe bowlers.
On another day , a couple of misses become edges to the keeper , and we have a different game...as it is , England will be chasing well over 300 and good luck with that...but I won't condemn the experiment.

True Alfie.   Pointless series is the best time if you are going to do it.

Aussie making plenty of change too but they seem to be confirmed to have more depth now.

This game is reminding me of the game against NZ many months ago. Just constant poor bowling and it going to the boundary every time. I recon Australia will get 350 up. 


Well batted though Micheal Clarke 

Clarke gets his ton, and a couple of balls later Bailey falls in somewhat skanky fashion. Necessary wicket for England, as I'm not too sure how easy it will be for the next guys to come in and swing from the word go, but Australia are well on their way to 330+ here...

Will be a good test of England's batting ability.

we have to try and limit them to 320!

Well we've stacked our side with batting, time to go out and chase down something big.

Be good to see KP opening

trebellbobaggins wrote:True Alfie.   Pointless series is the best time if you are going to do it.

Aussie making plenty of change too but they seem to be confirmed to have more depth now.

Not sure it is more depth , exactly. More that their ODI side is quite different from the Test team , and has been for some time. Partly it is picking specialists ...perhaps partly they have the wrong players in the Test team  

Consider also that England are not really playing their "first reserves" . Bowlers like Meaker , Harris ...now injured , not to mention Onions and Bresnan ...were considered ahead of Rankin in the queue , to say nothing of the other squad pace bowlers who didn't play today.

If England were playing a WC final right now , and all were fit , I doubt any of these bowlers would be picked - except perhaps Bopara.

But we need to find out who the options are.

Good couple of overs from Stokes and Bopara, time for Finn and Rankin to finish it off

Four more overs : 320 , 330...

Will be tough , but England may as well just go for it...nothing to lose is there ? Except Carberry , no-one is playing for a place in the top six...you never know...

Reward for Rankin ! Clarke gone for an excellent 105  

What a good player he is ! Makes a run a ball hundred seem almost routine...

Might not be 320 after all ? Two new players at the crease.

...and Wade gone first ball !

This is a good end. Keep it up England!!

alfie wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:True Alfie.   Pointless series is the best time if you are going to do it.

Aussie making plenty of change too but they seem to be confirmed to have more depth now.

Not sure it is more depth , exactly.  More that their ODI side is quite different from the Test team , and has been for some time.  Partly it is picking specialists ...perhaps partly they have the wrong players in the Test team  

Consider also that England are not really playing their "first reserves" .  Bowlers like Meaker , Harris ...now injured , not to mention Onions and Bresnan ...were considered ahead of Rankin in the queue , to say nothing of the other squad pace bowlers who didn't play today.

If England were playing a WC final right now , and all were fit , I doubt any of these bowlers would be picked - except perhaps Bopara.

But we need to find out who the options are.

Fair points.

More an experimental than reserve squad. Maybe this is helping to further build that depth.

A few bashings mean nothing if you get some good players out of it.

Rankin has done himself no harm here today. Couple of wickets (albeit late ones ) and with 2/49 despite that expensive last over he looks pretty good against the other England bowlers...

MJ has threatened England will fear him after this series and this situation could indeed suit him.

trebellbobaggins wrote:MJ has threatened England will fear him after this series and this situation could indeed suit him.

Probably England's best chance...for MJ to have one of his awful days and concede eighty or so...

With a long batting list , on a road , England could chase this down.

But I don't think they will.

No I can't see it.

Tms online are revealing in being "right" that england picked a poor side and were crap.

MJ bowling like JA on a good day. We have no chance

0-0 off 2 overs.

It's a slow start...

A side picked to bat apparently.

So Aussies turn to get the whitewash in this series then.

Not that many will know or care. I've heard nobody talk about this series at all.

mystiroakey wrote:MJ bowling like JA on a good day. We have no chance

So he really has become a monster they should fear?

Then the army need to sing him back into his shell or he will smash them.

A side picked to bat and we start carberry?

Pfft

Trebbs his bowling is mean. He looks up there with the best. Jimmy, broad, stynn

Anyway he has taken two wickets.. and now we have the opening partnership we should have started with!!! KP and Root

Not convinced about Carberry at this level but I guess he's earned his chance, so you need to give him the best part of this series.

Trott out to a brute you have to say. Johnson on fire, England in trouble.

Pietersen slams a perfectly reasonable ball from McKay into the stands at long-on. Gotta love that. Certainly opening is the right place for him.

Root gone though, bowled through the gate by Faulkner, who continues to impress.

Morgan or Bopara are going to have to play a substantial hand if England are to get close here.

If they hadn't picked Carberry , his supporters would have continued screaming why the hell not...

If he truly isn't up to it , this series may well show that and England can close his file and look elsewhere...which might seem a bit brutal but you don't want to take him to Australia foe an Ashes series and then find out , do you ?

Can't see England getting anywhere near this...I know Morgan found some form the other day , so he is one player who could play a blinder : but with due respect to Ireland , this is a rather better bowling standard.

alfie wrote:If they hadn't picked Carberry , his supporters would have continued screaming why the hell not...

If he truly isn't up to it , this series may well show that and England can close his file and look elsewhere...which might seem a bit brutal but you don't want to take him to Australia foe an Ashes series and then find out , do you ?

He shouldn't be near the Test side, his FC record this summer ain't great, his One Day stuff is tho.

Hoping to see Stokes get a good bat today, think he could be a potential player for that 6 role in the test side, he's more of a batting all rounder, whereas you'd say Woakes is a bowling one

Olly wrote:Hoping to see Stokes get a good bat today, think he could be a potential player for that 6 role in the test side, he's more of a batting all rounder, whereas you'd say Woakes is a bowling one

I hope he doesn't get a bat  

Like to see KP and Morgan get 150 each...

Unfortunately you won't Alfie, as KP has just given it away on 60...

First look at Fawad Ahmed: not sure if there's anything to get excited about. Seems a decent leggie, but haven't seen anything better than that. England rightly targeted him a bit.

Pietersen slices Watson, a bit unlucky to pick out the man at cover. Big big wicket.

Australia still have plenty of bowling options, McKay, Faulkner and Watson can all bowl at the death and have plenty of overs left. On the other hand they will need to find another 6 from their spin options. I suspect Voges and even Finch may bowl a bit more.

I'd quite like to see Stokes bat, because I was impressed by his bowling (regardless of his figures).

He certainly looked like he has a yard of pace on Woakes when he bowls Mike.

Now with Bopara gone, seems we shall get out wish of seeing Stokes bat at some point

A rare recent failure for Bopara. Rather strange dismissal as he chips a very full ball from Voges back to the bowler. Surely too much to do for England now?

This is a good opportunity for Buttler to show he can play a proper innings.

What does Morgan do?

Morgan out to a good slower ball, so we will get a look at Stokes, but unfortunately it seems to be a fairly hopeless situation for him.

Still think it was more a 280 pitch. England let down by their bowling and lack of bowling options. Also, possibly the wrong call at the toss.

I suspect we will see a lot of slower balls from McKay and Faulkner, then later Watson.

Stokes enters an impossible situation. 10 an over needed off the last 16 with just 4 wickets left.

Importance of bowlers taking and batsmen hanging onto wickets again well illustrated. If we had 7 wickets left, I'd say we would have a chance - as it is, we have virtually none. Equally if we could got have got Bailey out cheaply before he got going with Clarke, we would be facing quite a few less.

And with that Stokes skies one. Straightforward catch. Almost inevitable. A pity. Saw him play for Durham earlier in the season purely as a batsman (he had a bad back and couldn't bowl) against Surrey at the Oval - looked useful, would have liked to have seen him more then and now.

Everyone on here seems to have given up... unsurprisingly.

Stokes gone. Deceived by a slower bouncer. Not much you can say about that innings. Seems compact and organised enough, but Australia were content to give him singles, so his technique and gameplans weren't being tested at all. Hopefully he gets the rest of the series, and maybe the odd knock up the order as well to show what he can do.

Australia have executed their plans well today. I'm not entirely sure what England's plan with the bat was, apart from "let's see what happens"... Of course they were hampered by those early strikes, and then losing KP and Morgan at key moments, but it's not been a great effort at a run chase.

Tredwell run out now. Buttler a bit guilty because he should have been aware that Tredwell isn't the fastest between the wickets.

Buttler has done ok, but again, because Australia have been content to give him the singles, it hasn't been much of an examination.

This is such a thrilling series I completely forgot this was being played after I went out for a walk.

I think I just don't care. England completely devalued it with their selections as Vaughan said and have given me every reason to ignore a training park run for Aussie.

Over 2 months till we're back onto the proper stuff!

been a really good knock from Buttler just a shame Finn and Rankin wont be there long enough to support him

Ah Buttler goes for a well made 75, all just a matter of time now

Nice enough innings from Buttler but I have to say (I am a big fan of his) I would call those cheap runs - game long gone, and not all that much intensity.

Nice move from Clarke to try to pick Ahmed up a couple of cheap wickets. Not sure how much of a confidence booster it would be anyway though...

Oh they are cheap runs, but runs nonetheless. Good to see him play a different type of innings to his usual come in and try and smash it

Finn gives Ahmed a bit of tap. Couple of slot balls there, need to drag the length back and toss it up to the tail, or really fire it in under the bat.

McKay's slower ball does for Finn.

Easy win for Australia. I don't mind the experimental nature of England's squad, and hope people give the guys a few more games to show what they're worth. I liked what I saw from Stokes, and to a lesser extent Rankin (because he's no spring chicken and I think England have better options in that tall hit the deck role). I wasn't convinced by Carberry either with the bat or in the field.

For Australia I'd like to see Steve Smith in the team, which probably would have to be in place of Voges. I wasn't convinced by Ahmed, but he deserves a bit of a run. I like Finch at the top of the order, and Clarke-Bailey is a good 4-5 combination.

I think for the rest of the series I'd like to see:

KP
Root
Trott
Morgan
Bopara
Stokes
Buttler
Tredwell
Finn
Rankin
Biggs

More bowling options, with Stokes having a go as a genuine all-rounder and Bopara, Root and even Trott able to chip in too. Cook and Bell could come into that top order when available, while Anderson, Swann and Broad can come back and strengthen the bowling line-up.