Boppara hit 5 sixes in the first match and was missed out because of a brilliant catch by Ishant in the 4th one.Owais Shah is a better option as opener than Flintoff because he is technically better than Flintoff.England should play Mascarenhas who hit 5 sixes in a row in the middle order.
They could try. Bell is technically good, but for hte test cricket. In ODIs it does not work. Like our Wassim Jaffer. Since England has nothing ot lose at this point, they could try Flintoff and Shah or Flintoff and Bopara. This is where they miss Marcus Trescothick.
I am a votary of a certain level of flexibility in the batting order. But I certainly feel flabbergasted when a Dravid or an Irfan opens the innings or a suggestion is made that Flintoff should open for England.
So, what if this suggestion is implemented and Flintoff fails? The great Guru (perhaps trying to have a dig at Sourav) made Irfan Pathan open in an ODI against South Africa at Kolkata. The poor chap failed miserably with the bat. This failure must have weighed him down enormously while bowling later and hence he went wicketless. SA ended up winning the match by 10 wickets or 9 wickets.
The problem with the current English squad is that they must have had Alistair Cook opening the innings with Bell. Sending Flintoff is not the solution. As rightly pointed out already by KP, whoever gets a start should go on and on and try to score lot of runs.
Players like KP, Flintoff, O Shah, Bopara have had good starts in different matches played till now, only to hole out in 40's and 60's.
The second problem is that ECB has the audacity to keep its main spinner Panesar out of action, while run of the mill tweakers like Patel and Swann bowl virtually their full quota of 10 overs or thereabouts helping the Indian batsmen make merry.
Sorry Mr. Boycott, generally I appreciate your views on cricket, but this time what you have suggested is roooooobish.
If he is send opening on a regualr basis then Eng can forget abt winning any ODI anywhere! Boycott claimed an Eng victory just before this series! Poor guy has lost his credibility as a cricket pundit now!
I think it is better for Flintoff to come in at No. 3 if not as an opener. This will definitely give some chance to counter the bowling attack. At the moment, England look pathetic in all depts.
boycott is a real hardcore flintoff lover,we all know that.it would be like sun rising from west when boycott criticises flintoff.I just imagine how tough it must be for boycott to slam flintoff when ENG under flintoff were crushed,dejected as a wet hen in last ashes 5-0,must be nightmare for boycott.The prblm in english camp is lack of aggression when it matters and self belief,which has an effect on top order.England team haven't planned well before the series and r paying the price for it.The evidence seems from the unsettled batting order and the worst part is Matt Prior who comes on to bat when 8 wickets fall,quite ridiculous.In fact ENG should be more attacking as only anderson is the guy who seems to have ordinary batting technique,while india has more tailenders than ENG,still ENG 0-4 behind in the series.This happens when there is no resoluteness in the team.
By the way Boycott needs his head testing as he says "Sehwag has no brains",one of the top run scorer in the series,"Flintoff,Harmisson r going to blow away indian batting line up".Harmissson already blown up,now freddie will be in test series.
Did Fintoff opened the innings ever before ? After Prior failed this job was given to Bopara who did good in few games , now ENG wants to experiment all its option which will be of no use .
Re: What heppened...?
by minar naik on Nov 25, 2008 04:29 PM
as long as dhobi is winning, why should anyone complain? He has been far ahead of his peers in terms of cricket-thinking abilities; and all should recognise this
