England’s World Cup Squad
So England have named their squad for the world cup as you can see here. No real surprises, apart maybe from Mal Loye being dropped.
But of course, we all think we know better so here are the two squads which myself a friend would choose. We chose these before we won the Commenwealth Bank Series, but they probably still sit like this. The first 11 are listed, and then the replacements below.
My squad:
- Ed Joyce
- Michael Vaughan (C)
- Ian Bell
- KP
- Paul Collingwood
- Andrew Flintoff
- Matt Prior (wkt)
- Jamie Dalrymple
- Jon Lewis
- Monty Panesar
- Jimmy Anderson
replacements
- Andrew Strauss
- Stuart Broad
- Liam Plunkett
- Owais Shah
And my Friends Squad:
- Michael Vaughan (C)
- Ed Joyce
- KP
- Andrew Strauss
- Andrew Flintoff
- Paul Collingwood
- Steven Davies (wkt)
- Jamie Dalrymple
- Jon Lewis
- Monty Panesar
- Jimmy Anderson
replacements
- Liam Plunkett
- Saj Mahmood
- Ian Bell
- Mal Loye
So what do we read into those two teams?
Well they are generally quite similar to each other, and the real squad announced, so maybe we are heading in the right direction with our one-day squad. We disagree on the wicket keeper, and maybe this is one spot in particular that will be up for grabs come the summer test matches.
Otherwise I’ve dropped Strauss from my first XI, but he could come in if Vaughan or Joyce don’t produce the goods. The only other difference is that in my replacements, I’ve gone for Broad and Shah, two players i think could make a difference.
So the speculation is over - but who has it right - me, my friend or the ECB?! Let me know your squad by posting a comment or laughing at mine!
England do it!
Almost unbelievably considering how they were playing a couple of weeks ago, England won the Tri-Series final 2-0 after a rain interrupted game in Sydney.
Its great to finish the tour on a high - a tour that seemed to be doomed to complete failure. It doesn’t mask what was still a disapointing winter, being completely outclassed in the test matches. But that has happened now, and the players get to fly home with a smile on their face and have a small rest before the world cup squad is finalised.
Paul Nixon jumped into the crowd after the game for a couple of photos with the leftovers of the Barmy Army, and proceeded to lose his Oakley sunglasses! They tried to steal his hat as well, but he managed to hold onto that!
Back in England, net sessions are starting to happen for club cricketers in England, and people are starting to look for new equipment. I plan to give an overview of all the new stuff coming out in the next couple of weeks to help you all make the right choice!
Oh, and similar to what is going on at the BBC TMS Blog, I’ll be showing you my World Cup squad, and that of a friend of mine!
Dare to Believe
Who’d have thought we’d actually beat Australia! Not me, thats for sure. We did however, recover well with both the bat and the ball at crucial times in this game. And now we find ourselves in the ludicrous situation where we can lift the trophy on Sunday! After the dreadful time we’ve had, that would be a sweet end to the tour.
With Aus at 170-1, we fought back well to peg them back to 252 all out. Then at 15-3 in the reply, Colly and Bell put together a vital partnership. Collingwood really was man of the match - scoring an unbeaten ton and getting a couple of run outs.
But one of the greatest sights was that of Mr toys out the pram McGrath. Face like thunder and maybe the realisation that the greatest summer he had in mind is going sour. Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark could both come in to replace him.. you better watch out old man!
Pink Grips - What’s that all about?!
First there was Hayden and Symonds in the test series with bright pink grips on their bats. Now normally, seeing as pink grips look rubbish, i’d say something. But considering the size of Haydos and Roy, i kept quiet!
But yesterday I see Strauss and Collingwood with them as well, and they look even more ridiculous! (I think maybe Freddie had one as well but he wasn’t there long enough for me to confirm this sighting).
Look guys, pink grips on cricket bats DO NOT WORK! The colours are all wrong with the bat, not to mention the stick you’d get!
But then… I read that it is some kind of breast cancer awareness thing and all those thoughts have to go out of the window and applaud those that have them. Its not been recognised over here in the UK yet, maybe its an Australian thing - just watch out for people wrongly claiming giving money to charity if you want to buy one of these. You could just donate a few quid directly otherwise, and not have to own a pink grip! So, well done all those internationals who use pink grips…
They still look stupid though.
Can England Deliver?
Just when I’d allowed myself to get used to England losing, they go and win two games in a row and get into a best-of-three final against Australia. Why do they have to give me hope, which I can’t help but feel will be false hope!
For two games, we’ve actually scored some runs which has been the backbone to the wins, so maybe confidence is higher than it has been all winter. We need to ensure that we score runs against the Aussies, which may then put them on the back foot - but it’s gonna be tough. Still, at least we’re finishing the tour on a better note than it looked like at the beginning of Jan.
More International Twenty20 Cricket?
First of all, congrats to the England team for finally getting it right and beating Australia! Shame you couldn’t do it whilst I was out there but never mind! If you ask me it doesn’t mean much though - we still don’t know our best team and we will do nothing at the upcoming World Cup!
I’ve just finished watching SA hammer Pakistan in a pro20 (what they call twenty20) game, and it got me thinking. This style of game is no longer a ‘gimmick’ and it even has its own World Cup later on this year. So why do we only get one game before a long, drawn out 50 over series? If you ask me it would create more interest and enable more people to see exciting cricket, plus shorten stupidly long one-day series. In the UK twenty20 has a decent length spot in the school holidays where people can’t get enough of it… there should be more international stuff. I dunno, maybe there will be in the coming years.
