posted Mar 17, 2007

Stev66, I must have been living over here too long then and become realistic, as I went out and stuck a few quid on Italy to win the World Cup before it started and I don't think I could have borne with the attitude of some of my fellow ex-pats if by some bizarre set of circumstances we had actually won the comp.

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posted Mar 17, 2007

Hi all, England needs to remember and play basic things such as set a target, not to make silly mistakes, all players should contribute the runs and play as a team. The team is not performing well and they need to be focused.

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posted Mar 17, 2007

if they cannot handle pressure then they should do us all a favour and not play for england ...they get paid to handle the pressure they are supposed to represent the best of the english game and mentality is a major factor in cricket also a backbone is required something alot of english cricketers dont have ..but ive said it once and ill say it again the main reason england fail is simple ...1/ No explosive batting up top
2/ Average depth of bowlers who alot of the time are inconsistent and give too many wides and no balls away (flintoff and panesar the exception) 3/ Batting is very thin on the ground (strauss and flintoff have forgotten how to bat) (Joyce living off a couple of knocks in australia looks poor) collingwood very hit and miss and that leaves all the pressure on Pieterson to dig us out of a hole again..i for one cannot and will not believe this is the best english team to represent the country if it is where in trouble

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posted Mar 17, 2007

Form is fickle for any team - even Australia recently. England could easily find form again, NZ obviously has.. so enough with the doom and gloom!

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posted Mar 17, 2007

why is everyone so negative about england's performance??? i think you guys should be proud of your team. in fact, if a cricket match was only decided by effort and dedication then england would win all the matches. the world cup would be a foregone conclusion. sadly, the reality of winning a game of cricket is a little more complicated than that. just accept that you are no more than a little fish in a big pond and deal with it. only then will you be able to enjoy the spectacle of the next 2 months. just accept that england's cup final is against kenya. good luck!

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posted Mar 17, 2007

But if the current players who are deemed to be the best choices at this time by the selectors, cannot handle the pressure then who can? and if the type of player who can handle the pressure is of lesser skill should they play instead of a more skilled player who perhaps isnt able to handle the pressure so well?. A lesser skilled but mentally stronger player might perform as well as can be expected of their abillities, but would that be enough to compete with the more formidible teams?

BernieBuffon if you "cannot and will not believe this is the best english team to represent the country". Which is fair enough as far as i am concerned I dont dispute your comments, who then do you think should be in the team and why? Its easy to say or imply that the current players arent good enough and maybe they arent, but where are the alternatives going to come from? if there even are any. Apart from the ever controversial wicket keeping position.

On another note is agression and power hitting the best policy to go with? especially as it doesnt seem to be our teams forte shall we say. i guess what im saying is, is our team actually hindering itself in trying to emulate the agresssive tactics of other teams like the aussies or SA, is it playing to our strengths or is it a weakness that we need to find an alternate answer too? Perhaps if we were to use more miserly bowlers and strangle games rather than continuely try to compete and be defeated by other teams strong arm tactics. Or is total agression the only way to play one day games?

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posted Mar 17, 2007

England will progress during the tournament. In the Nat West Bank series they took a while to get going, but went on to win the trophy. The togetherness and spirit will improve, with victories against Canada and Kenya, England could go on a run like they did down under and potentially win the trophy.

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posted Mar 17, 2007

lets just get a new captain you only have to look at his decisions 14 bowling changes in 24 overs playing when his ego is fitter than what he is lets face it the man and the managment are making us look laughing stocks
enough said

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posted Mar 17, 2007

See now, you have to see beyond the quality of the players, cause our players are within the best in the world, without a doubt! What we need to change is tactics the batting order is shocking! every other team opens with one aggressive batsman why dont we?
Also why do we put so many people in the slips, constantly ball goes through the covers or through point and there isn't anyone there, in power plays understandable.

I feel Harmison and Hoggard are needed way more than any other bowler, as good as anderson is he can be hit so easily by batters with there eye in as he cant compete with pace like harmy.

And i also reckon if you let vaughan pick the team or even flintodd rather than having selectors who know absolutely nothing about playing cricket they just go on stats and word of mouth, Vaughan pickin the team will raise morale and win games definately.

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posted Mar 17, 2007

Just try and get Harmison away from the North till summer and see what the answer is. He would rather give interviews from St James park about the cricket than actually play, you know.

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