What a shambles

[Ninjaman]

I'm going to have to have a lie down.

I can't believe I've just seen Rachael use a batting performance from Matthew Hayden in a positive manner.

Are you ok, Rachael?

[Younis Khan #1]

First for everything, huh?

[pie_chucker]

When Hayden takes his time to get in he scores runs. Vaughan & Bell block for a few overs then gets out!

Its also a helluva lot easier getting your eye in when youve got Gilchrist at the other end.

As its turned out Englands game plan was feeble, the top 4 teams in the tournament all look to take advantage of the powerplays we didnt.

Result: we lost to all 4 of them!

[feverpitch]

England may have "competed" in three games out of four, but they were soundly beaten by Aus and NZ in the end.

Rachael, who are you trying to kid? We have won one ODI series out of 12, and have won two World Cup games against real (ie top eight) opposition since 1992!

Your comparisons are ridiculous. Comparing Bell, KP and Collingwood to Kallis, De Villiers and Gibbs is just about fair enough...but you refrain from mentioning the destructive Smith, or the lower0order hitting of Boucher and Hall.

And by the way, SA are now ranked 2 in ODIs. They should never have been one anyway; they're great at home but have only about a 50-50 record against serious opposition away from home in the last five years.

[Quagmire]

Everyone will probably disagree with me but, the problem with England is that they look to the future and not to the present. There is no point looking to the future, yes it is good to give young players a go but the only way that a young player should be put in the national side is if they are one of the best eleven players in the country. It is quite simple just looking at the standard of county cricket with all the imports that come to England to play, the young players in County cricket get to play against test standard players and they can learn a lot from it. Just look at some of the players that play county cricket from other nations

International players that will play County cricket 2007 that have played ODI or Test cricket

Simon Katich (AUS, 23 tests, 45 ODI's)
Ian Harvey (AUS, 73 ODI's)
Paul Wiseman (NZL, 25 tests, 15 ODI's)
Andy Flower (ZIM, 63 tests, 213 ODI's)
Grant Flower (ZIM, 67 tests, 219 ODI's)
Mitchell Johnson (AUS, 18 ODI's)
Andy Bichel (AUS, 19 tests, 67 ODI's)
Danish Kaneria (PAK, 46 tests, 18 ODI's)
Andre Nel (SA, 27 tests, 61 ODI's)
Matthew Elliot (AUS, 21 tests, 1 ODI)
Jimmy Maher (AUS, 26 ODI's)
Hamish Marshall (NZL, 13 tests, 66 ODI's)
Umar Gul (PAK, 14 tests, 28 ODI's)
Shane Warne (AUS, 145 tests, 194 ODI's)
Sean Ervine (ZIM, 5 tests, 42 ODI's)
Andrew Hall (SAF, 21 tests, 84 ODI's)
Yasir Arafat (PAK, 7 ODI's)
Stuart Law (AUS, 1 test, 54 ODI's)
Brad Hodge (AUS, 5 tests, 18 ODI's)
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL, 110 tests, 295 ODI's)
Rudra Pratap Singh (IND, 2 tests, 20 ODI's)
Murali Kartik (IND, 8 tests, 30 ODI's)
Chaminda Vaas (SL, 96 tests, 298 ODI's)
Lance Klusener (SAF, 49 tests, 171 ODI's)
Johan van der Wath (SAF, 8 ODI's)
Stephen Fleming (NZ, 104 tests, 278 ODI's)
Justin Langer (AUS, 105 tests, 8 ODI's)
Cameron White (AUS, 16 ODI's)
Azhar Mahmood (PAK, 21 tests, 143 ODI's)
Matthew Nicholson (AUS, 1 test)
Murray Goodwin (ZIM, 19 tests, 71 ODI's)
Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK, 52 tests, 144 ODI's)
Naved-ul-Hasan (PAK, 9 tests, 62 ODI's)
Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK, 49 tests, 169 ODI's)
Heath Streak (ZIM, 65 tests, 189 ODI's)
Paul Harris (SA, 4 tests)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL, 64 tests, 198 ODI's)
Dale Steyn (SA, 11 tests, 4 ODI's)
Phil Jaques (AUS, 2 tests, 6 ODI's)
Jason Gillespie (AUS, 71 tests, 97 ODI's)
Younis Khan (PAK, 53 tests, 151 ODI's)

Plus the English players that are currently playing or are ex English international players. This shows the sort of talent that county cricket has, which makes it easier to come straight into test or ODI cricket with out such a massive gap in standard. Play your best XI don't worry about the age of the older players or the future of cricket. Look how old the Australian Ashes side was and they wiped the floor with England because they had there best XI that they could put out. England have the talent to be better in ODI's than they are but by not playing there best players they will be around 7th and 8th consistently.

[vvvrulz]

My question is, why on earth did Pieterson not knuckle down and build an innings, that was a ridiculous shot he played off Andre Nel!! Many will now say that Pieterson has done so much good work that its impossible to lay the blame on him, but when has a Pieterson contribution actually WON england matches.

Think long and hard, for me its only his maiden series in South Africa and a lower order onslaught versus Australia some time ago in the Natwest series. Thats about it. He has biffed a number of fifties with incredible consistency, but he almost always fails to carry the team forward. Its about time that everyone realised who Englands true matchwinners are, more importantly the England team themselves. If they look to "build around" Pieterson, well you do the math.

The Commonwealth Bank series victory was done without KP.. remember that.