I think it is clear that England shot themselves in the foot, when they dropped Loye for Vaughan.

The CB Trophy winning side in Australia should have been kept together.

With Vaughan - Bell and Joyce in the same top three, England seem to be up the creek without a pedalo.

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Ern

Yes, there's no question in my mind, that Vaughan's clever tactic of playing the opening overs (when the field is in) like a Test match, is certainly the way to rack up huge scores against amateur international teams.

Oh yes, Aggers: "it's difficult to know what a decent score is on this pitch" - that's going to make us much happier.

Bye, bye Fletcher.

I wonder if Vaughan will retire from one day cricket.

I do hope so.

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

From what I've read, the WI grounds are much smaller. So how come in the 40 over, nobody has scored a 6 ? I knew the CB trophy was a false dawn and so its proved, yet that will be why the ecb wont be swinging the axe like a coked-up lumberjack. The top 3 is all wrong post tresco - and too slow to boot - and KP aside, its catching.

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

Oh yes, one bad ball, and Rachael's greatest finisher since she was proved wrong the last time, still can't get the damn thing away for a single.

Well done Collingwood.

Anyway, rant aside...

How many do we need to give the Irish a couple of jitters?

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

Funny thing... Why don't they play with red balls?

I've heard that they last around eighty overs.
Sometimes a bit longer.

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

I see that England made 301 with a Trescothick ton when we beat Ireland by 38 runs at Stormont last year.

Six overs to go 195-5... oh dear.

OK... it's a slow pitch, and Ravi Bopara is probably going to be our most effective bowler, but still... oh dear!

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

I'm actually lost for words. Apparently this is a 300 pitch.

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

Perhaps a couple of overs from a batsman pretending to be Herschelle Gibbs and a bowler pretending to be Malcolm Nash, and we could get to 300 almost.

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

Pitch to slow for much more than 250/260 IMO Rich, even Colly and Flintoff could not time the ball.

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Ern

I'd settle for 260 but reckon less than that.

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