It's going to be a long night
Also in the All-Star stakes is the England TMS ODI XI. Listening to this being debated in the lunch break of England's miserable loss to New Zealand, it was quite clear that Simon 'not good enough' Mann was one for the big names. He refused to even consider Nick Knight or Neil Fairbrother, who are two and five on England's all-time averages list, and the top two if you consider players who've played more than 50 matches. Don't even get me started on Hick's omission.
It's not just pretend cricket where England have selection troubles. Both Jon Lewis (average 27.28, economy 4.04) and Jimmy Anderson (average 26.99, economy 5.11) have picked up niggles. In their place could come Liam Plunkett (average 42.43, economy 6.04), Sajid Mahmood (average 44.80, economy 6.30), or Chris Tremlett (average 94.00, economy 5.22). All stats are excluding games against associate members, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe.
It's going to be a long night.
Labels: Commonwealth Bank Series, england, odi, tms
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| On the contrary, it could be very short indeed. I might be able to get some sleep soon.
By 
Geoff (26 Jan 2007, 10:54:00 am)
I'd perhaps only make 2 changes to the all-time XI. Bring in Hick instead of Robin Smith (despite having enjoyed watching highlights of Smith's 167 in a losing cause against Australia). They both got about the same # of runs per innings (or average too!), but Hick played over 120 games while Smith played 70-odd. That Hick proved himself over a longer period of time counts in his favour. The second change would be Emburey instead of Underwood. Underwood, with his line and length, would have bowled brilliantly. But Underwood only played 26 games, Emburey played 60-odd.
If the pitch was going to really help the quick/swing/seam bowlers, I'd draft Athers in. I've seen some highlights packages where he's batted beautifully when all others around him were struggling (then again, except when it was against Australia, that was pretty much the trend through most of the 90s, wasn't it!?)
As for Knight v/s Gooch, Gooch's batting and fielding could be anachronistic and a misfit in the modern one-day game. But he could contribute some overs with the ball.
As for today's game, England've hopefully done Australia's opponents in the World Cup a huge favour by ensuring that Hayden does get picked for the tournament. Australia were doing everything possible to make him get runs. It was a torture watching him bat. Then he got Gilly run out, ball watching. It was Gilly's call and Hayden wouldn't have been under any sort of pressure.
Even more ironic that Hayden was involved, given that he'd earlier accused Indian batsmen of being selfish. So much so for unselfish Australians. Other instances of 'unselfish' Aussie cricket: Gilchrist kept giving Warne (2/115 in 32 overs) the ball at Bangalore in 2004 to help him go past Murali's 533 wickets despite him being tonked around by the tail. A year later, Ponting scored 17(51) to ensure that Clarke got a century in a one-dayer against Pakistan.
By Jagadish (27 Jan 2007, 1:19:00 am)
Look what some idiot is selling on eBay: Haunted Replica Ashes Urn!
By Sean (28 Jan 2007, 4:11:00 pm)
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