Cricket: World Cup

[SteMerritt]

Willey and Denly miss out. I think the Kukaburra balls and their lack of movement probably did for Willey. Denly didn't add anything to the squad for me.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

If the choice was between Curran and Willey, I think that's the correct decision. I don't know enough about Dawson to have an opinion as to whether he is a better choice than Denly, although the latter didn't really make much of a claim to be included from what I've seen. I'm looking forward to the tournament starting!

 

[Foley]

Sounds about right.
Willey unfortunate but Archer had to be picked due to his x factor

 

[Sarge]

Sounds about right.
Willey unfortunate but Archer had to be picked due to his x factor

Heres hoping Archer is on target

 

[Gary Baldi]

I'd have preferred Denly over Vince, but the right decision otherwise. Dawson's form is good and he offers variety and if the pitches are worn, a proper 3rd spinner is what we need.

If Denly is going to play in the Ashes, this is a blessing in disguise for him.

 

[tonyw]

I've said it before, but I would probably have left out Vince and taken Willey. It's a long tournament, and you're going to need to rotate those fast bowlers - and pick horses for courses. A left-armer might have been a nice alternative.

Barring injury (when I assume, if long-term, we'd be able to draft in a replacement?), Vince is just going to be carrying drinks.

Anyways, time to settle in because this one is a marathon not a sprint! At least one game every day between 30th May and 6th July. And assuming Afghanistan are competitive (which they should be - they've got some good players), all of them are going to be decent games of cricket.

 

[makv]

Heres hoping Archer is on target

He certainly has been so far

 

[Sarge]

He certainly has been so far

So far so good

 

[andystroud]

I thought I’d heard that Chris Jordan had withdrawn through injury. He has scored 166 and bowled 15 overs in the current round of Championship games.

 

[Foley]

I thought I’d heard that Chris Jordan had withdrawn through injury. He has scored 166 and bowled 15 overs in the current round of Championship games.

No he was told that he could go back to Sussex. I don't think that it was due to injury

 

[SteMerritt]

No he was told that he could go back to Sussex. I don't think that it was due to injury

Was a strange one, one of the best death bowlers we have. Guess he's thought of as too similar to Wood and Archer.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

The problem with Jordan IMO is that he blows very hot and cold. For a couple of matches he is (as you say) an excellent bowler at the end of an innings, next one he can hardly bowl the ball on the cut bit!

 

[unification]

Jordan is a demon in the field too. He fits the good fielding ethos that this side has.

That said, I can see why the England management made the decisions that they have. The harshest part is having such a small squad to take to a tournament where you see players miss out when they really could be offering something. Football has 23 man squads and whilst you don’t need that many for the CWC, they could push the numbers out to 18 squad members.

The format is good this year and a necessary one that maintains interest. The 2007 World Cup was a stinker for the ICC as India and Pakistan both exited early so the big league format works well in ensuring that everyone will play at least nine matches each.

For anyone interested, there are tickets available for plenty of matches. Worth heading along even if England aren’t playing.

 

[Scotchegg]

Jordan is a demon in the field too. He fits the good fielding ethos that this side has.

That said, I can see why the England management made the decisions that they have. The harshest part is having such a small squad to take to a tournament where you see players miss out when they really could be offering something. Football has 23 man squads and whilst you don’t need that many for the CWC, they could push the numbers out to 18 squad members.

The format is good this year and a necessary one that maintains interest. The 2007 World Cup was a stinker for the ICC as India and Pakistan both exited early so the big league format works well in ensuring that everyone will play at least nine matches each.

For anyone interested, there are tickets available for plenty of matches. Worth heading along even if England aren’t playing.

I haven't looked but is it a case of everyone playing each other and the top 4 going into a semi-final/final situation? My only worry would be if we had a number of games that couldn't count due to the weather or the pitches drying out by the time we have to play India. On our own pitches I can't see anyone beating us in a straight up contest and think we could chase any target posed. The only danger would be if we threw away too many wickets and posted a substandard total, but even when we did that last week we still got 350+!!!

 

[unification]

I haven't looked but is it a case of everyone playing each other and the top 4 going into a semi-final/final situation? My only worry would be if we had a number of games that couldn't count due to the weather or the pitches drying out by the time we have to play India. On our own pitches I can't see anyone beating us in a straight up contest and think we could chase any target posed. The only danger would be if we threw away too many wickets and posted a substandard total, but even when we did that last week we still got 350+!!!

That sounds correct, yes. It’s essentially the Champions Trophy format plus two extra sides.

Vaughan and Tufnell made a valid point the other day regarding England’s aggressive batting in that if circumstances conspire against them, they do need to remind themselves that shooting for 350+ may not always be the score to aim for. As the tournament goes on, pitches could dry out and spin could come into it so 320 could be a winning score. If England do find themselves 30-3 in a game, do they have the patience and wherewithal to rein in their own style and play the situation? It will be interesting to see.

 

[Oufcrealist]

I've said it before, but I would probably have left out Vince and taken Willey. It's a long tournament, and you're going to need to rotate those fast bowlers - and pick horses for courses. A left-armer might have been a nice alternative.

Barring injury (when I assume, if long-term, we'd be able to draft in a replacement?), Vince is just going to be carrying drinks.

Anyways, time to settle in because this one is a marathon not a sprint! At least one game every day between 30th May and 6th July. And assuming Afghanistan are competitive (which they should be - they've got some good players), all of them are going to be decent games of cricket.

For me the left armer alternative should have been Sam Curran anyway.

 

[Sarge]

Jordan is a demon in the field too. He fits the good fielding ethos that this side has.

That said, I can see why the England management made the decisions that they have. The harshest part is having such a small squad to take to a tournament where you see players miss out when they really could be offering something. Football has 23 man squads and whilst you don’t need that many for the CWC, they could push the numbers out to 18 squad members.

The format is good this year and a necessary one that maintains interest. The 2007 World Cup was a stinker for the ICC as India and Pakistan both exited early so the big league format works well in ensuring that everyone will play at least nine matches each.

For anyone interested, there are tickets available for plenty of matches. Worth heading along even if England aren’t playing.

Hoping to catch a world cup game or 2 live at Somerset's ground (taunton)

 

[tonyw]

That sounds correct, yes. It’s essentially the Champions Trophy format plus two extra sides.

Vaughan and Tufnell made a valid point the other day regarding England’s aggressive batting in that if circumstances conspire against them, they do need to remind themselves that shooting for 350+ may not always be the score to aim for. As the tournament goes on, pitches could dry out and spin could come into it so 320 could be a winning score. If England do find themselves 30-3 in a game, do they have the patience and wherewithal to rein in their own style and play the situation? It will be interesting to see.

Shocks and disasters happen, but the way things are going I find it very hard to believe that we won't make the semis.
Our batting may misfire once or twice, but we're playing so well and have so many weapons that I can't see it failing over and over again.
Pakistan are, after all, ranked 6th in the world and we just dismissed them effortlessly.

But when the semis and final come round? Then all bets are off. We'll be playing against the best opponents and the pressure will be extreme.


[and the pedant in me wants to point out that the Champions Trophy has never actually be an eight team round-robin. Recently, it's always been two groups of four. Before that, it was four groups of three. The only time I believe this format has ever been used before was the 1992 World Cup - the one we lost in the final to Pakistan]

 

[Marked Ox]

Hoping to catch a world cup game or 2 live at Somerset's ground (taunton)

The way the wickets there have been so far then you might see lower scoring games and lots of wickets!

 

[Sarge]

The way the wickets there have been so far then you might see lower scoring games and lots of wickets!

Hope so

 

[Foley]

So Archer is 'rested ' again for today's warm up v the Australians. Is this trying to stop the opposition side seeing him?
Morgan and Root both not playing so Wiakes being played as a batsman only!
Just having the one back up batsman is a little risky I guess.

 

[Sarge]

ICC cricket world cup ticket prices ..... some seriously differing ticket prices there !