Options are available for England. We could promote Trott, Bell, Bopara or Prior up to open against Bangladesh tomorrow.
Personally I don’t see Trott getting the job. I do think for certain games, like the recent South Africa one, there is an argument for Trott opening on such a watchful wicket. There was no point going out and thrashing around on that pitch, if England had batted 2nd, you could understand Trott opening.
I previously wasn’t a fan of Matt Prior opening, I’m still not convinced but at the moment he is not pulling up any trees in the middle order. Add to that, the return of Eoin Morgan to the middle order and there could be an argument for moving Prior.
I’m also not convinced by Ravi Bopara at the top of the order, he didn’t do the job with any great success when he previously filled the role in T20’s. I think he is more suited to the middle order, as he showed against South Africa.
Ian Bell is my choice. He filled the role in the recent T20’s and before Pietersen’s promotion, I thought he should have got the job. He also hasn’t made a massive success of the role in the past, but then again he has never nailed down any role in England’s ODI team recently.
But if he was deemed good enough to fill the role against Australia in the T20’s, then why not now?
I think that all of them could do a job of sorts, but none of them are proabably the ideal solution. England have failed to deal with the role, the abandonment of the Steven Davies experiment at the last minute was a strange one, although I do understand it.
We are where we are now though, and sometimes in tournaments the make shift option can work, although more by default.
I would also bring in Chris Tremlett as a like for like for Broad, that might be harsh on Shahzad, but Tremlett is going to play a role in this tournament so we might as well give him a game now.
Anonymous
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Another annoying day for England fans, I guess, Dean! 20+ wides in a modest scoring game! And just when one thought Anderson, in particular, was turning a corner.
As for the opener call, I’m with you… Bell’s the man in my book too. He’s got all the shots, and would be more reliable than Prior. And aside from the T20s in Oz, I was very impressed with his match-winning 120* against Australia A as an opener… against a decent bowling side (including Lee). Plus, he seems to be struggling when starting against spinners on slower tracks (today as well as Chennai)… so maybe starting against the new ball might be better for him.
But man… England are exhausting themselves mentally with this cricket! How much fuel do they still have in their tank?
-BP
Cricket Betting Blog
Hi BP,
Didn’t see it today, only listened to the commentary and from what they were saying certain players, Anderson in particular looked shattered.
I’m not making excuses for them, and I was planing to slaughter them on my blog tonight, but I do get the feeling that they are shot.
From what I heard today as well, the body language of Swann and Anderson didn’t sound great either. Just maybe they are getting sick of the sight of each other.
The scheduling has cost us, I’m not saying that we could have won it, but look at the performances here compared to the Ashes.
Anonymous
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I do agree with you that the ECB’s scheduling has made things a lot harder for England.
But Anderson is still letting Strauss down badly. Thrice now he’s conceded 5 runs thro’ a wide down the leg-side (vs Holland, India and then B’desh). That’s just inexcusable.
-BP