We are playing like the football team did in the last world cup.Not convincing and just scraping by,as soon as we meet a decent side we will come unstuck.

Well done Colly and Freddie but apart from that not many plus points.

Regarding Mahmood, a lot of English commentators believe that he is really not good enough and in this side Plunkett and even Lewis should be given places ahead of him. I agree with them, even though those other two have not excatly set this World Cup alight themselves. Mahmood somehow comes across as dull, unimaginative and predictable to the extent that even novice batsmen can probably guess when he is going to try a slower ball or a yorker. I am willing to bet that he is not going to give any opposition batsmen sleepless nights or get into record books. He might have the odd good day, but that is likley to be once in a blue moon.

Mahmood bowls his slower ball far too often! A slower ball should be a surprise weapon and sublte, Mahmoods is niether.

Although I am not a fan of trundlers, on some of the slower pitches we have played on I'm surprised that Lewis hasnt been given a go he may be more effective than someone like Mahmood, who from what I've seen hasnt looked like taking any wickets which is the sole reason he has been selected in the first place.

Although saying that if we play a game on any of the better batting wickets Lewis would be nowhere near the team - I dont want to see six sixes happening again in this tournament .

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Mark.

I'll say Mahmood will be kept in the side for his 'pace and variety' even though he has 1 wicket at 73.00. Plunkett has done nothing wrong. He took two wickets in his last game and is capable of bowling in the high eighties. I can't see how England can drop him as he was instrumental in England winning the CB series. 12 wickets in 6 games.

Mahmood has as much variety to his bowling as a pair of identical twins. He seems predictable even when he tries his slower balls or yorkers. Plunkett is not only a better bowler, but can probably help with the bat a lot better - he has far better ODI batting average compared with Mahmood. I think England should seriously encourage Plunkett, who at 22 has the future ahead of him.

I agree. Mahmood occasionally takes wickets but looks so very ordinary. His fielding slip ups have led to a few costly errors too, although his run out yesterday was very good.

Why was Plunkett dropped in the first place?

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Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi

Vaughan said at the toss Mahmood has more pace and variety. So far I haven't seen the pace and the variety is his slower ball which is so slow most batsmen pick it. What he did nicely yesterday was bowl the right line and length for a while until Vaughan decided to tell him what to bowl and the runs started coming. Will they say that in two games he has only taken 1 wicket and bring back Plunkett? I think they see Lewis, Anderson and Plunkett as too much the same type of bowler and want a Gough/Caddick, Hoggard/Harmison scenario. Swing/pace, bounce. They should be looking at strike rates.

If we're going to pick Vaughan then Plunkett needs to play to make up for the lost runs (), but seriously, Plunkett is a better bowler than Mahmood and had been playing well whilst being refreshingly attacking with the bat. He also bowls well first up with Anderson.

Vaughan could always play as a specialist bowler, of course, the balloon-like loop on that ball would have drawn Ponting right out of his crease every time.

Of course Mahmood has plenty of variety, no two balls pitch in the same place .

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Mark.

My first thought was get one of these left handers out and then we can have a right hander to bowl to as most bowlers prefer right handed batsmen. And each time one got out another appeared, and another, and another.... it was never-ending, eventually we got a right handed batsmen.

I don't think our bowlers were very happy with the captain winning the toss and wanting to bat first as most of the games it's win the toss and bowl and get the most out of the early morning conditions as there is hardly anything for the bowlers in the afternoon.