Taken from Cricinfo :http://http://content-uk.cricinfo.co...ry/282212.html

Matthew Hayden on the key to large totals.

One part of the qoute was:

".... because of the small grounds in the Caribbean, clean strikers like Gilchrist and Symonds would be the key to posting huge totals. However, the ability to bowl yorkers at the death and in power plays would also be crucial....."

If this is the case England could well struggle, as we only have Pieterson up the order who is a hitter. The rest of our top oder are all accumulators with only Colly being proven.

Most of the other top teams have at least one hitter up the order/opening the batting.

WI- Gayle
Aus- Gilchrist
Pakistan- Afridi
India- Sehwag
and so on.....

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Mark.

Not really IF Trescothick was playing - he can be a match for anyone - fit and on form.

As it is with the boundries being so much shorter than in Australia, no-one seems to mention Flintoff, who can hit the ball as hard as:-

WI- Gayle
Aus- Gilchrist
Pakistan- Afridi
India- Sehwag
and so on.....

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Ern

On his day Freddie is as big a hitter as anyone, but coming in at 6 he wont see any of the powerplays (hopefully!).

It just shows how much the loss of an on form Trescothick is to the balance of the one day team

Pieterson is probably thew biggest hitter of them all, but I feel he would be wasted being sent out to slog straight away.

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Mark.

The new enhanced sweet spot cricket bat technology of the past 3-4 years has certainly helped increase the number of power hitters in todays game, its also increased the number of nicks, top edges and mis-hits that now seem to sail comfortably out of the ground for 6.
If the bat technology keeps zipping along at this pace even test cricket may feel the eventual consequence, captains may be forced to change convential feild placings such as 3 slips and a gully to 3 third men and a deep backward point to compensate for the extra carry from the new high powered nicks and edges.

I know what you mean about edges flying for six. I wish that where possible the playing area could be made bigger.

Maybe its time to introduce either a weight limit on bats or a max thickness on bats to stop some bats using a "railway sleeper"

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Mark.

Not just the one day team - he has not been replaced in the Test side.
Well that's fair comment - if a batsman with the present day bats has any luck at all, conventional slips are no use at all.

Three 3rd men from the boundry up would IMO help negate the heavier bats.

And changes to the rules - allowing fielders in the crowd,

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Ern

LOL, that would make for some novel captaincy, go to seat 24 row N!

Re: Trescothick, yes he was missed in the ashes as without him we got off to slow starts all of the time - but we always lost early wickets as well.
His agressive batting at the top of the order was an important part of us winning the ashes in the first place. And he has consistanly batted well in the shorter form of the game, more than anything him and Strauss seemed to have forged a good partnership at the top of the order in both forms of the game. for some reason Strauss looks a far less effective player when he doesnt bat with Tres.

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Mark.

Decreasing playing area seems to be like an incurable disease at the moment. The easiest way to increase stadium capacity is to reduce playing area to put in extra spectator seating and the easiest way to stop delays of the games because of player safety (missiles being thrown) or spectator rubbish laying on the playing area is to rope off the playing area. I dont know the solution possibly the ICC could set a minimum playing area for international contests, but the downside to that is it knock a few current venues out of the running.
But if they ignore it the feilding team may risk becoming virtual standing room spectators.

For India, Dhoni is more likely to be the 'power hitter' than Sehwag.

Although he has still not established himself, Cameron White would have been useful for that role for Oz, especially with the uncertainity surrounding Symonds. I still feel that it was a mistake to have left White behind.

As for Pietersen, how fit & prepared is he? With all the onus on Vaughan, very little has been said about Pietersen's recovery from the rib fracture. As a GP, I know that lower rib fractures cannot be made light of; I wonder if Pitersen is 100% fit and even if he is, there is bound to be some rustiness due to lack of practice.

Probably, but does Dhoni bat high enough up the order to take advantage of the powerplays? Anyway I'd expect Sehwag to last longer and score some runs .

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Mark.