Monday, August 28, 2006
Twenty 20 cricket shows lack of 20:20 vision
The symmetry between England's success at test level and woe in the one-day format is startling. The latest one-day defeat was against Pakistan. Ok it's important to get this into perspective: Pakistan are a very classy one-day team: Akhtar, Al Naved, Asif and Razzaq are quality bowlers and Afridi, Yousuf, Khan and Inzimam are superb batsman. But I think the problems lay in England's team and their lack of continuity.
For starters why is Ian Bell opening the batting with Strauss (England's test match opening bat) at 4? I just don't understand. Pietersen at 3 makes sense. You get your most destructive batsmen in as soon as possible - using this rhetoric when fit Freddie should be in at number 4. I also think the selection of Gough is a backward step and Saj Mahmood seems too expensive to be a success in this format.
Yet there are positives: Jamie Dalrymple continues to impress with bat and ball and Stuart Broad and Michael Yardy both performed well on debut. It just seems to me that England are too willing to chop and change and this results in England not performing to their potential.
Update: As a sidepoint I wonder how many times both number 3s (in this case Pietersen and Younis Khan) have been dismissed for golden ducks?
For starters why is Ian Bell opening the batting with Strauss (England's test match opening bat) at 4? I just don't understand. Pietersen at 3 makes sense. You get your most destructive batsmen in as soon as possible - using this rhetoric when fit Freddie should be in at number 4. I also think the selection of Gough is a backward step and Saj Mahmood seems too expensive to be a success in this format.
Yet there are positives: Jamie Dalrymple continues to impress with bat and ball and Stuart Broad and Michael Yardy both performed well on debut. It just seems to me that England are too willing to chop and change and this results in England not performing to their potential.
Update: As a sidepoint I wonder how many times both number 3s (in this case Pietersen and Younis Khan) have been dismissed for golden ducks?
