Fair enough comment Rich - but would you bat vaughan at 9?, he has done sod all with bat or ball.

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Ern

Dont worry guys, Montys here!!

12 overs left, plenty of time for him to get a 100!!

I wouldnt play vaughan at all in an ideal world. but lack of decent captaincy options stop me dropping him. Strauss hasnt done his chances any harm though. But freddie, bar the india tour, is no more a batsman than I am at the moment. And other peoples failings, and there has been plenty, cant cover that up.

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

Still at work unfortunately but it looks like a semis place. Hall doing the damage.

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"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

I'd play with ten men rather than take the arrogant Vaughan onto the field. People call KP arrogant, at least he's got something to be arrogant about. Vaughan was talking about being England's Twenty20 captain ............. he shouldn't be within five thousand miles of that ICC Tournament!

Well, England's poor tournement comes to an end. At 121-7, I can't see them getting anymore then 170 considering the batting left. We're gonna need a miracle bowling performance by our bowlers thanks to the poor choice by Vaughan to bat, which has not won as a single match against adecent side. Fielding is always the way to beat the South Africans for England with this attack. Yet again, Vaughan couldn't turn his slow start into good runs, Bell seems to be the sort that gets runs every now and then. Strauss looked good, but really, the slow run rate started to put him under pressure. Pieterson played a losse shot, well bowled by Nel. Collingwood went after a start, our middle order has been relied on all tournement and this time they couldn't make it. I blame the opening partnership. Decent sides have openers who can stay in and put pressure on the opposition. Would do we have? Vaughan who is a guarenteed wicket after 10 overs and Bell or Strauss, look in good touch, but not good enough. I think the solution is Playing Flintoff up the order and Vaughan down the order, they can't do worse than they have done already. Either that or make Strauss or Collingwood captain, drop Vaughan and bring in Owais Shah.

I've refrained from posting thus far during the world cup, party due to work commitments, partly due to how desperately depressing I've found this whole tournament. I hate criticism from fair-weather fans, but England have been utterly pathetic. The top three are an absolute joke. I don't mind one 'bat for fifty overs' type in the top three, but we have three of them. Wouldn't be quite so bad if they actually stuck around once in a while, but they haven't. Vaughan, in particular, has been disastrous. He appears incapable of scoring quickly (not previously the case) and, as a result, England have been miserable. Our middle order batting has been pretty desperate too, losing three or four quick wickets in all of the games that mattered. I think it would have made a huge difference to have had either Loye or Benning (or Flintoff, for that matter) opening the batting. You need to be positive in one-day cricket. If you're 120-3 after 20 overs, the middle order know that they can consolidate and push on at the end. If you're 60-3 from 20, it stands to reasons that nos 4,5,6 and 7 are constantly looking at the scoreboard.

For me, the defining moment of this tournament was Pietersen reaching his ton against Australia. His celebrations were ludicrous. It was all about personal achievement and failed to recognise that it was, in part, the tortuous second half of his innings that had transformed a promising position for England into a below par one. We all know that England don't have the most talented squad in the tournament, but I had hoped they would have at least played as a team, as they did in the CB series (after KP had gone home).

All in all, a miserable effort, and I find myself in a position where I almost hope South Africa knock these runs off at a canter. What a grave injustice if a freak bowling performance propelled England into the semi-finals of a tournament where they have been lethargic, plodding and wholly one-dimensionsal. This defeat, assuming it is to come will, I hope, see a complete change in the way England approach one-day cricket and, more importantly, the end of Duncan Fletcher. He's done a great job, but he must go now.

I agree with that, but throughout this World Cup with the opening batting failing every time, the rest of the side find themselves coming in with England in trouble every game.

To be honest I have always said Flintoff is not a good one day cricketer, he was given that label because of his then big hitting a few years ago.

I also believe this proves that England need a seperate one day side - this team is depressing.

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Ern

Come on - if England bowl well and win, they will have desereved it.

Do you not call what happened with the South Arican's getting 5 wickets in as many overs anything other than 'freak'?.

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Ern

Why? No other side in the world does? If South Africans, Sri Lankans, Kiwis and Aussies can adapt then so can the english. What we need is a leader with a plan, a proper plan. Fletcher seems to come from the dark ages when it comes to ODIs, let's be honest he hasn't a clue and never has. Failure to get rid of HIM now will result in England going nowhere for even longer.

I hope the Saffers win this comfortably now. England would only embarrass themselves if they did reach the semis (and it's still an "if", they have to play the Windies and Brian Lara must be due a ton in his last ODI appearance!).

Bye bye Fletcher, clear off!