We saw it in pakistan... and at the end of the first ODI we have seen it again.. something is very wrong with the England batting order... and just why were prior and jones playing togather in the lineup is also beyond me... people are talking bout how well harbajan played and englands no 8 should have done the same but.. for gods sakes why cant england get a good start... they need to stick with the same guys in the same positions for some time and try a hand at consistency rather than all this changing... there should be only one change jones to go.. thats all.. views comments?

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Like South Africa if you haven't got the players....
Hoggard is out of the equation he can't bowl one day.
Strauss looks limited as a one day player.
Collingwood ? how many games is he going to win you, once in a blue moon.
G. Jones niether here nor there another limited edition to a limited side. Same goes for Shah or Bell.
Flintoff plays too much cricket to be fully effective.

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"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

Shah and Bell are not fully tested at this level, neither you nor we can tell at this stage.

Flintoff plays a lot of cricket, true. But then so do a lot of players.

I don't believe England have a problem honestly...

I think we were missing some VERY key players which forced us to play inexperienced... There is no way Prior should be in the side end of discussion.
Solanki shouldn't be dropped, its foolish... Hes been so unsettled in teh squad it affects his performance... He should just be a ODI regular.
Blackwell should be taught that sweep shots not the only answer and should do it apporpiately then we have a good ODI spinner and batsmen at No 8... Hes not Somerset captain for no reason!
Vaughan should play because he may be slower but everyone has a slower batsmen and he should be the one we have.
Pietersen should never be so unprofessional.. He had already planned that 6 and did it off the wrong ball... just to brig up his 50, if he hadn't done that we would have won EASY

so tehn we have a few people battling for places but thats a good thing

Pietersen's ball was way outside leg stump and tossed up, of course Pietersen was going to smash it. When he see's a ball there to be hit, he hits hit. That is his natural game in ODI's (and Tests).

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Watch this for a perfect about.
James May

Flintoff has been fairly effective with the bat anyway, Pietersen has been made to come out and bat to early, this was a very poor start from the top order.

About time our best players did not compete at this level, Flintoff in particular is going to be stale this summer.

Yes others play a lot of cricket NE, but the difference is most of them are not out and out fast bowlers.

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Ern

IMO Freddie should be rested for the Sri Lanka series after his heavy summer 1002/winter 2005/06 campaign. Use four bowlers with Collingwood in as an extra part-timer, then you have Colly, Bell, maybe Tresco and even Pietersen (if he gets his off-spin going again) to fill in for a bit. Shah could play at 5 whilst Pietersen dropped to 6. It's no offence to Sri Lanka but Fred needs a rest.

Then Freddie could come back rejuvenated to play against Pakistan and get tests under his belt again before the Ashes.

im sorry that sounds a bit like the Australian rotation policy that everyone said was arrogent even though they still smashed everyone

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

It's not a rotation policy, there's a difference between routinely resting players even when they don't need it and resting them when they are al all-rounder who has been put through a monstrous workload in the past three years. Three tests would be a good break for him.

I think we have to accept with the current workload international players are not going to play in every test or ODI. This will inevitably lead to the big players playing in the most high profile series. For England the most important is always against the Aussies and therefore any rotation will have this in mind. I don't want to underestimate the importance of the games since the Ashes but the fact is as far as English and Aussie fans are concerned (and I dare say the management of the two sides) 2006 will be considered a success or failure purely based on the ashes result. Flintoff should be given as much or little rest as he feels he needs to ensure he is performing at maximum then.