What is wrong with:

Strauss
Prior (He has more runs than Shah in this series at least!)
Bell
Pietersen (when not ill)
Flintoff
Colingwood
Jones
Plunkett
Blackwell
Hoggard
Anderson

....?

Plunkett, IMO, has bowled well in this series, just not in today's game. Mahmood isn't good enough, and Anderson has been as expensive as Plunkett has. Ali gets wickets but it seems he is virtually guaranteed to go at 6 an over.

Solanki has been messed about and as a result I'm not sure he has the right mindset right now, Bell should definitely be playing instead of Shah. Prior has a couple of decent scores in the last two games, though not great, and Shah has barely got past ten in any innings.

Hoggy deserves a chance, he was on the wrong end of a brute in Justin Kemp in SA but is good enough. If they trust Colly to bowl (and bowl Rahul Dravid at that) then they should trust Hoggy.

I'm so annoyed. We really are going backwards at the minute. 7-0 on the cards?

Blackwell has bowled a full 10 overs and generally quite economically, and grabbing the odd wicket too. Put putting him at the pivitol position of 3 after generally failing with the bat smacked of complete desperation. It was a best risky and worst just mad.

__________________
Nothing says "Obey Me" like a bloody head on a fence post!

I think England have very little chance of winning the world cup and it would be even less if Sajid Mahmood is in the squad.I don't think he is much better than an average county bowler and if he is what we are pinning our hopes on for the future then our prospects might not be so bright afterall.

Andrew Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 7 (8 for 1)
Ran a slower one into the keeper's gloves

Ian Blackwell b Pathan 9 (27 for 2)
Played early to a slower ball and was bowled

Owais Shah c Yuvraj b Pathan 7 (47 for 3)
Chipped a slower delivery to point

Matt Prior run out (Patel/Dhoni) 37 (48 for 4)
Left stranded setting off for a single

Andrew Flintoff c Sehwag b Powar 15 (83 for 5)
Holed out to the sweeper on the leg side

Vikram Solanki c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 10 (100 for 6)
Lofted to short midwicket

Geraint Jones c Sehwag b Pathan 32 (205 for 7)
Holed out to the sweeper on the leg side going for maximum

Paul Collingwood c Raina b Harbhajan 93 (223 for 8)
Chipped to deep midwicket

Liam Plunkett b Agarkar 18 (242 for 9)
Cleaned up by a swinging yorker

Sajid Mahmood b Agarkar 8 (245 for 10)
Missed a straight yorker

maybe prior and g.o jones were having a practice match to see who should stay in the side as the top wicketkeeper batsman in world cricket hahahahah... all kudos to collingwood tho this guy is turning out to be a good allrounder.

I think Yuvraj got the best match practice today.. considering yr point.. how to thrash a side on a bad batting wicket all over the ground.. maybe fletcher is helping the indians prepare for their world cup... he aint doing that for england for sure!! embarrasing...truly embarrassing

__________________

Rachael made some very very good useful points and looking over the series it doesn't seem to have actually gone THAT badly, I honestly believe we should have won the first game if not for complacency and it seem our confidence took a dent from there.

If in the world cup, we simply play like we did in the first ODI and also don't become complacent and also with a full-strength team then we can easily do well and hopefully be confident the whole way through...

Promising signs;

Anderson is looking very good with the ball, Blackwell is very economical and well worth a place in ODI and he was unlucky not to get more, Plunkett is improving, Collingwood is proving to be defiant!

Bring back Tresco, Harmison, Giles, Vaughan, Pietersen and we have a great squad on our hands

Tresco
Strauss
Vaughan
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
G Jones
Blackwell
Plunkett
Harmison
Anderson/S. Jones

We then have a few players who are good at holding an innings; Vaughan, Collingwood and Strauss... Some explosive players; Flintoff, Pietersen and Blackwell and players who can adjust as suitable; Tresco and Jones

That team for me would challenge strongly for the world cup and a few of those players could easilyu be changed around with not much fuss, (Shah, Solanki, Bell, Prior, Giles, S Jones, Hoggard) all waiting in the wings

The manager and players in the England dressingroom are all competitive folk.... so I'm sure they telll themselves they are fully committed to trying to beat INdia... just as they are to beating each other on their playstations... but two things work against that:

{i} ODI cricket in general (aka the pyjama game) - and especially in non world-cup context - is not something that really matters in English cricketing culture: the players will always play lip-service to the notion that they take it seriously.... but even a ODI series with INdia lacks the intensity, rivalry or significance you get with a Roses match or a Test against Bangladesh - so seeing it as part of the build up to the World Cup (and as a finishing school for potential Test players) is almost unavoidable.

{ii} With Tresco, Vaughan, Giles, Harmison and Simon Jones out... this series is going to feel like a tour with the reserves even though it ain't!

One further thing: Fletcher will believe he can turn young players like Prior, Plunkett and Mahmood into major international players: he'll also believe it takes time. He's often said "you don't build a ODI all-rounder overnight" and I'm quite sure he's happy that time invested at this stage isn't time wasted.

Well it looks a possiblility Colly.

With England's weak batting playing against one of the best ODI bowlers at the moment, Irfan Pathan, a whitewash is diffinatly on the cards.

__________________
CC

I think it is worth reiterating that today only 4 players were playing who would be certain starters in Englands strongest one day side.

I guess the question needs to be asked.How would India do with 6 certain starters missing from their side away from home?

Not that it is an excuse as even when England are at full strength they are pathetic away from home.

I don't understand this comment at all. You don't like the guys approach to Test Cricket? But England are 2nd in the rankings. His approach to ODI Cricket is OK? Yet we're 6th in the rankings and have lost 8 out of the last 10 ODI matches. Ok, well, the rest of us tend to live in a results based world, both in sport and in work. I don't agree with all of his tactics in Test Cricket but you cannot argue with the fact that he has dragged England from the pits of despair to the 2nd ranked team in the world and the first team to win The Ashes in 17 years. I reckon on that performance alone, I shall tip my hat to him and say he knows what he is doing. I don't care how he gets those kind of results to be honest; it is obvious that in the Test Match arena, he's done a lot of good both in coaching and getting the English setup working.

In the ODI game though, he seems clueless. Forget the fact this is "reserves" as you put it. That shouldn't matter, you should still be going out to win. From the current squad, why do we have a wicket-keeper opening? Ok, so Prior has done averagely with the bat; better than some specialists. Jones played well today but he hasn't really hit his straps with the bat all winter. Is Prior a better choice than anyone else we have available? Not just on tour, but in England? Alistair Cook opens the batting, I hear he isn't a bad player in ODI matches. Solanki is actually on this tour and he used to open the batting. Today he goes in at 7? Blackwell coming in at 3? Look, the guy is a decent ODI bowler but he averages 16 with the bat. Number 3 is usually a pivotal position in any form of the game. Why isn't Bell playing? Why did Shah play when he has dodgy knees and hasn't got into double figures in the first two games? Bell top scored in the warm up game.

This pitch and the last one took turn, yet we only play one spinner. Why is Batty even in the squad? To sit and watch and carry the drinks? Mahmood plays who was clearly not fit enough in my opinion and goes for plenty. Ok, I realise after the event that Hoggard is suffering from a bug but that makes the decision not to play Batty even crazier.

Fletchers desire is thus:

1 to 4 specialist batsmen
5, 6, 7 1 all rounder, 1 batsman who bowls + keeper/batsman
8, 9 bowling all-rounders
10, 11 bowlers

Lets look at India:

1 to 5 specialist batsmen
6, 7 all rounder, wicket keeper batsmen
8, 9 bowlers that bat a bit
10, 11 bowlers

Funny that the India make up looks like a test side isn't it? Lets look at Australia:

1 wicket keeper / bat (but this is Gilchrist we are talking about here)
2 - 6 specialist batsmen
7 all-rounder
8 bowler who can bat
9, 10, 11 bowlers

Again, awfully like the make up of a test side. So, on this current tour, lets look at the last side make-up (in batting order):

1 specialist batsmen
2 wicket keeper playing as a batsmen
3 bowling all rounder
4 specialist batsmen
5 all rounder
6 batsmen that bowls
7 specialist batsmen
8 wk / bat
9 bowler who can bat
10 bowler who can allegedly bat
11 bowler

Ok, well, I think I'm illustrating my point. Yes, I know Pathan batted 3 today for India but Pathan and Blackwell are hardly comparable in terms of batting records. The best ODI teams may vary personnell but they don't really change the structure of the team too much from Test Cricket. You do get ODI specialists and you also get players retiring from ODI to play Test Cricket for longer but fundamentally you tend to stick with the same make-up of the side. Unless you are Duncan Fletcher, it would seem.

Todays line up was crazy, whichever way you look at it. It doesn't even follow Fletchers desired approach which I think is fundamentally flawed (my opinion). He has to accept the fact that the number 9 position is not going to be filled by a bowler who can regularly get a score. Simon Jones I think is a half decent bat and striker of the ball. If he was fit, I would suggest he bats 9.

I like to think my criticism is not unfounded and is usually well thought out. I've thought about this at length and his ODI plan is off colour. It has flaws in its in inception and currently the execution is not following his own method.

As for saying "Oh well, its ODI cricket, we English don't really have a passion for it".... er... thats pathetic. Utterly, utterly pathetic. If we don't have the passion then we need to develop the passion. If you don't have a passion for representing your country at every single mode of the game then you need to look for another career. Look at the passion and desire in the Twenty20 match last year versus the Aussies. We need to get that into every single 50 over ODI game. Its not there right now, so it needs addressing. Quickly

Apologies for length.