England Lions v Sri Lanka 'A'

The Lions seem to be putting up a far better show in Sub Continental/Middle Eastern conditions. Perhaps this will convince the likes of Flower that a few new faces might need to be involved for the Sri Lankan tour starting next (?) month.

Kieswetter and Buttler have made runs. Not really new faces, are they?

Although it's interesting that Kieswetter's been coming in in the middle order. I've said before that he's on a hiding to nothing opening in ODIs for England before he's properly established himself in the team in his correct position.

It'd be weird if he was batting 5/6 for the Lions in one-dayers only to then be called up to open again for England.

Buttler's opportunities have been limited to a handful of T20 games batting well down the order. He's class, and hopefully he'll get a proper chance to prove it in the near future. A better bet than Bairstow at this stage, imo. That one blistering knock on debut has carried him a long way for not much else in the way of performances. He's also a talent, but on the evidence of statistics, more of a test prospect than an ODI one.

Did you miss the Bangles tour? The batting there was gash.

Dernbach has been Woe-kes-ful in the first two matches. At least the batting's going better in Lanka.

I'm willing to bet the pitches were gash as well. It was 140 plays 141/8 stuff.

Henry wrote:I'm willing to bet the pitches were gash as well. It was 140 plays 141/8 stuff.

Not denying that, it could well be the difference in pitches. Failing on spinning pitches is what the senior team is doing as well. Let's face it, Shurawadi Shuvo cannot be compared to Pakistan's spin attack.

Root has been awful, can't believe he got so close to the full squad. He just needs games under his belt. I'm sure Buck's stock has risen and I'm hoping Dirtbag and Woakes' has decreased. They're as shite as many of us expected.

In fairness to Root, it's hard to open the batting in one-dayers on the sub-continent. That tends to be the only time the ball moves, and with two new balls nowadays, you probably get 8 to 10 overs of seam movement, all at a time when you're expected to bash the f*ck out of it. People also seem to be deliberately omitting James Taylor's brilliant effort with the bat. I guess there will always be haters.

I notice that five of the Sri Lankan players have managed over 100 one-day matches. Only one of the England players has. This England side is so inexperienced. And everybody's slagging them off for losing in Bangladesh. I think they're doing pretty well. I think they've won four out of seven of their matches on the sub-continent so far. That's pretty good. And they've been playing against a lot of players with plenty of international experience. Even when they were up against Bangladesh.

Suppose some people just want to criticise England all the time. Me? I see at least five guys who could play Test Cricket in this team. I see two guys who should be ODI regulars within six months, if sanity prevails. I HAVE FAITH. English cricket is in reasonable shape. The bowling is as good and consistent as it has been for a decade at least - better than Harmison, Flintoff, Jones, Hoggard. We just need to freshen up the batting line-up, keep some of the idiots on their toes. Drop some of the guys, let them know they've got to earn it.

You're right. Root averaging 20 against B Grade players is alright. As is his 67 career strike rate opening up. He's got talent, but I'm sure there's better List 'A' players ATM.

In the OD team, the quicker we get the likes of Hales, Taylor and Buttler in the team the better. Buttler's averaging 72 S/R 131. Hales is striking over 100. Taylor's averaging 45. They need to be in the side.

I have my doubts about little Jimmy Taylor. Seems like he has trouble getting the ball off the square most of the time.