One-day critics proved wrong (41)
- 10 Sep 07, 12:46 PM
It's all over now. The stands have been cleared, the spilt beer has been wiped up, fans have put away their funny hats and we've had a series that has had thrills, spills (quite literally from an Indian viewpoint) and chills galore.
Perhaps it is only fitting that the last full one-day international series before a Twenty20 World Cup that is set to be an advertiser's dream melange — sport, entertainment and stars served up in a timeframe that can keep the short-lived interest of the non-traditional sports fan — turned out to be an incredible advertisement for one-day cricket.
People said a seven-match series was too long to be competitive. People said the last few games of the series (coming at the end of a long tour) would lack intensity. After India's dismal start and the unveiling of a new, aggressive young band of boys under Paul Collingwood, everyone said it would be all over by game number five — India were toast.
They were wrong on every count and as game after game captured the imagination, you had to tell the guys who keep saying that T20 will kill one-day cricket, think again guys.
Finally, incredibly perhaps, when you see the one-day record of both teams before this series — India consistently erratic, England consistently poor — the better team that sustained itself right through won and it wasn't the pre-series favourite.
Honestly, England made a lot of people, including me, eat our words. I believed that India had a slight advantage over England but things looked a lot different after the first four games. Ever since that 3-1 scoreline, India have played every game to keep the series alive and that's never an easy situation to be in.
These things happen at the end of a long and generally successful tour. But we have to give England credit where it's due. With Flintoff missing and Pietersen in iffy form, Collingwood's England still managed to look impressive. With Freddie back and KP rediscovering his touch, they look a dangerous bunch who, with time, can probably threaten anyone in the world.
The rise of viable alternatives to established stars is probably the problem area for India, especially in the batting, where things have clicked only when one or all of the big three — Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly — have clicked in a game. And yes, Yuvraj Singh.
I have to ask this of those who've been writing off these incredible batsmen — how could you?
After the first couple of losses, India went in with five bowlers but soon realised it puts too much pressure on the top four and reverted to the 7-4 formula. The other interesting experiment was sticking to two spinners come what may and exposing England's weakness in handling spin. English batsmen rarely use their feet to good effect, which allowed both spinners to toss the ball up in the air and consequently, Powar and Chawla have been gains for India.
Generally you don't remember specifics in a long series like this but a few incidents stand out. Chawla's celebrations after getting Pietersen out twice in two games, Broad and Bopara's match-winning partnership at Old Trafford (Broad, I think, is a precious find for England), Dimitri's five consecutive sixes to finish off the innings at The Oval (something I had never seen live before), Sachin missing out on a century for the umpteenth time and Uthappa's cool, calm demeanour in the final stages of that incredible Oval game.
The seventh match at Lord's saw what might have been a spent force from India but like Rahul said: "England did play slightly better through the series."
There've been plenty of positives for both sides (and a big problem area for India in the fielding department) but they hardly have time to build on those. Both teams are already off to South Africa for a fortnight's intense cricket.
India's schedule is gruelling. If they make the T20 final, on September 24, they will have only a couple of days rest before taking on Australia in a seven one-day match series at home. Pakistan will be in India before the Aussies leave for a three-Test, five-ODI series. A bare week later, India head Down Under for an 85-day tour.
The pacemen, among others, will be set for a gruelling season.
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Sorry, Aakash
I can't agree about the number of one-dayers. The only reason this interminable one-day series was interesting was because the teams happened to be well-matched - on India's side with the experienced batsmen and on England's side with young, inexperienced pace and fire.
I would certainly never write off such excellent players as Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly - whatever their age!!!!!
There should have been another test match followed by a best of three one-dayers; the West Indies got 4 tests against England and I find it incomprehensible that India didn't have the same. The authorities were very lucky that it was such a close contest, otherwise they would have had financial egg all over their faces.
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I have to agree with Glynne comment #1
I rather see a good 5 test series between England and India who are evenly matched rather that a 4 test series against WI who we beat easily or 5 tests against Australia would trash us easily (except last time)
The India series was absolutely great. No one would have expected India to win the test series and England to win the ODI. I have to say what India achieved on this tour without a coach is excellent. Am sure a couple of the seniors like Ganguly or Tendulkar will soon retire and take over as coach.
Bell/Broad/Mascharanes well played..makes u realised we always had the potential to be a good ODI side if not for Duncan Fletcher. His only interest was to win the Ashes
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Hi Aakash,
Excellent review of the series and very honest. India lost momentum at the final hurdle and maybe this is due to the ageing players which you have at your disposal. Englands younger side seemed to have just that little more energy when it counted. It all culminated though into a fantastic roller coaster of a series of which has very much put the 50 over game back into people's hearts and minds!!
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hi Aakash
this schedule is indeed gruelling. When will BCCI realise their folly. How many players can last this punishing schedule before the 85 day down under tour. Some of the players are carrying niggles with them already.
The Indian outfield was pathetic to say the least, needless to say they would get wallopped at home by the World Champions. And BCCI is raking in the moolah while the going is good.
Be AWARE , Footbal & Hockey are mass sports here in India & they are doing well at international levels again. So Cricket has tough days ahead.
Regds
kandarp
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Nice piece Aakash. I agree that the Indian schedule is gruelling, it is hard to imagine the same pacemen going through all that. So if this amount of cricket is going to be played there will need to be bigger squads, which could lead to diluted quality.
I disagree with the comment from Big Sanj. Fletcher's primary focus was to win the Ashes, yes, but it was not his sole goal. You saw a product of this in the one day series.
Ian Bell was a complete no hoper during the Ashes and would have been better replaced with another batsman earlier, or by delaying the retirement of Graham Thorpe. Bell brought very little to that Ashes series.
In the long run, however, he is now well on his way to becoming a World class batsman - potential Fletcher balanced with his Ashes winning goal.
Ade
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It doesn't really matter we only lost this series beacuse of biased umpiring decisions. Shocking
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I have to disagree with Ali Ayub's comment on umpiring decisions being the reason India lost. Umpiring mistakes benefitted both sides, and often only came to light with repeated analysis using technology unavailable to the umpires, hardly bias.
As with most spectators, I would have preferred to see the number of games weighted in favour of India, as the balance between the 2 teams made for a much more watchable series in both the test and ODI arenas.
Another change I'd have liked to have seen is the abandonment of the tradition of 2 tests being played in London for every series. This, in conjunction with the decision to sell the TV rights to Sky have resulted in far fewer spectators being able to see the game they love.
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Aakash
It was great, but I'd still have swapped two or even three ODIs for another test match - 3 simply was not enough.
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More needs to be said about the umpiring blunders in the series. It is difficult to dismiss those as human errors when the best batsman of your team is wrongly given out four times.
India obviously needs an all rounder. For his style of game, there is too much pressure on Dhoni coming in as the last recognized batsman. Powar and Agarkar aren't good enough to qualify as all-rounders.
The team for the 20-20 looks good although we sure could use Tendulkar in the batting line-up. It is funny India is playing in the world cup after having played just one 20-20 international so far. The recommended eleven with the batting order:
Sehwag
Y Pathan
Uthappa
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Gambhir
I Pathan
Sharma (Joginder or Rohit)
Harbhajan
RP
Sreesanth
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A good contest between the two teams and I think a fair result on the Test and ODI's.
However, I think India might have squeezed the ODI series if it hadn't have been for Dravid's decision to bat first (not the first in the series). I know its a bit harsh, but I think its time to change the one day captain for India like England have done and go for Dhoni with Dravid as Vice.
Also why didn't Shre Santh figure in the one dayers ?
Pluses for India - Tendulkar, Ganguly, Khan, Chawla, RP Singh and possibly Uttapa.
Pluses for England - Everyone except Cook and possibly Prior.
Its a terrible shame these two teams didn't play anything like this at the World cup. Maybe next time !
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The only reason England won was cuz they are a far better side.I am however disappointed with the incorrect decisions especially against SRT as I love watching him play.From the indian point of veiw they managed to win three games due to the experience of SRT,dradin and gangulay otherwise england would have had them on a platter.No denying that england were the better side!!!
Bell was awesome and Dimitri was too cool
Phil(Indian Supporter)
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India could have won the Test series 2-0 and they also could have won the ODIs. What India needs is an aggressive captain and Dravid is certainly not that. Mistakes after mistake will not win series.
I also think that Ganguly has passed his best, he’s not really a one player any more. He took singles when there were chances of taking doubles, didn’t look great in fielding (well who did ?).
Tendulker is still rocking, no doubts but Uthappa and Gambir should be in most of one day games if not all. Sewag should also be back, will wait and see how he performs in the 20/20 though.
I think India needs a good all rounder and Irfan Pathan could be that, India should help him get back to his best (as a bowler who can bat at number 8 not at number 3 !!)
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With so many decisions going against the players, is it not time for the authorities to look inti introducing technology for the betterment of the game? Had Tandlkur not been given out in the 7th ODI, the game would have been as interesting as that at Oval, and justicewould hve been done.
Time someone takes the issue before long.
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I feel it is bad time that we introduce a challenging umpire decesion like in tennis.This year umpire Alim Dhar spoiled so many matches,it is time for him to be reprimanded.Honest batsman will never shake their head when given caught behind.After so many wong decesion every bats man should be given an opportunity to refer to the third umpire.In tennis every player has accepted the change and the cricket umpire should be willing to accept such changes.
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With so many decisions going against the players, is it not time for the authorities to look inti introducing technology for the betterment of the game? Had Tandlkur not been given out in the 7th ODI, the game would have been as interesting as that at Oval, and justicewould hve been done.
Time someone takes the issue before long.
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From Indian point of view, I can't follow how they can squeeze so much cricket in so little time. It is unbelievable and huge task not only for players but also spectators and fans. I could see their performance deteriorate as series progress and by the time they visit Australia they would be roasted. It's sad state though..
To reflect on series, England were a better team on every count. They had almost all players performing whereas India continue to rely on Sachinn, Saurav and Dravid. How long can they last and keep performing? Yuvraj is the only other reliable player. Their fast bowling is very weak, and shortage of all arounder makes it look even worse. Fielding continues to be problem, so its back to the old days - rely on batting and in particular Sachin to perform.
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It was certainly an excellent one-day series, much more interesting than I expected. I was skeptical about the schedule when I first saw it. It seemed so wrong for the last day of test cricket to be on August 13. The excitement of the one-day series made up for that somewhat. However, on the whole I would prefer fewer ODI's and having tests that start later in the season.
India's packed schedule seems ridiculous. Ironically, with their large population and very strong fan suport, I would think India could afford to reduce their schedule. How much $ is enough?
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Val, seriously y r u hyping england's team up so much. True, they did play far better than India in the ODI side but in the Tests england were completely outplayed by india apart from the first one.
YOU shud count ur lucky stars tht Dravid didnt follow on in the 3rd test match or else it wud have been 2-0.
I dont see why ur getting so excited tht england might have won the Tests. Apart from the Ashes win in 2005, England test team has consistently underperformed and u have only beaten teams like west indies. And ur supposed to be the 2nd best team in the world lol!!1
Nothing taking away from England, they played great in ODI. Its jus Val's comments that have really annoyed me.
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I tried posting about 45 minutes ago, but perhaps I did something wrong. I don't think there was anything in the least offensive in my post. Oh, well.
Anyway, very brief comments this time.
Yes, it was a great one-day series. This helped make up for the fact that the last day of test cricket was on August 13! At the time I thought 7 ODIs was too many. This time it worked out well. However, I would normally prefer fewer ODIs and a more traditional summer of tests --- not starting too early, ending late August or early Sept, and no back-to-back tests.
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INDIA DONE WELL IN WINNING TEST SERIES.ODI DOES NOT COUNT TEST MATCHES DO.WELL DONE INDIA BEATING ENGLAND AND HAD THEM ON RACKS FOR LAST TWO TEST MATCHES.
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I think both teams are mediocre. England would struggle in bastman and spinner friendly pitches in India, as India has struggled here on pacy pitches. As an indian supporter, I am just happy we won the test series, though the manner wasnt much convincing.
This team of ours, which has its core of 5 players (Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble), has won more matches outside than anyother in past. It cant be more tragic that we lost precious 3-4 years in bickering and expermentation under Chappell while we should have focussed on finding more pacers and all-rounders and on our batsmen learning to play pace more effectively. What we could have acheieved would never be known ? But surely we would never get such batsmen of so much class and desire again at the same time, for years to come. What a waste !
I wont talk about ODIs - I think if you are a good test team, you will be a good ODI team. And individual ODI games or series are too unpredictable to even make them a basis for deciding who is better. And about Twenty20 - whatever it is - it is not cricket.
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Aakash,
I was at lords and it was total waste of money.
It is not the quantity of cricket but the quality that worries me.
Indian team is basically mediocre; you only need to see the nominations in ICC annual awards. Indian fielding at times was embarrassing. Dravid has been poor Captain. As for the future, I can’t see Powar setting the world alight. He is more suitable for power lifting than cricket.
There must be plenty of good young cricketers??
England are atleast building future team
I am totally despondent and have cancelled my trip down under. I have seen enough of Dad’s army.
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In response to 17 "val russell "
Umpiring did go the English way and esp at crucial stages .
"ALL OF OUR FRONT LINE FAST BOWLERS", - overated!!!! to the max. what was the last Ashes result and it will be the same when England tour India. Where India will have Harbhajan,Irfan,Muneff,Sewag,Kaif...all back
The fact is India won the text match series and England the one dayers and history will only remember this.
The comments of Nick Walkom were spot on
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Val - Your remarks are truly exaggerated. England were a better team in one days, no denying but its too soon to make such bold remarks. England one day team has seen the lows in recent time like no team has, so its immature to talk loud so soon and that too when the series were close enough to go down to the decider. Not to mention this is home conditions for England!! So keep your pants on and only after England does this consistently for a period of time should you make such statements. You are just making a joke of yourself...
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Personally, I think the most positive aspect of the series has been the interest shown by English fans for a non-Ashes cricket series. I am genuinely delighted that the game is once again gaining in popularity in the country of its origin. I hope this is the beginning of a great rivalry.
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England were the better side in terms of fielding and bowling, but India more than made up for that through batting.
Regardless of who one; we should not forget the quality of umpiring (or the lack of it) and address that. Getting one wrong decision at key point can change the outcome (like the Srisaanth not out on LBW in first test, and Dravid & Tendulkar in 7th ODI).
We have the technology and we should use it. If the technology gets it wrong, at least it wouldn't be baised against players/teams and threfore fair and can be improved over time.
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Umpires this, umpires that, supporters of both teams should stop whining ad nauseam! i thought the umpires did a good job - they can be excused a few mistakes over a series, especially given that the ball was swinging round corners this summer. The Indians got some terrible decisions against them, and i could moan forever about Sreesanth's escape at Lord's, but i have a life to live! (more like tax returns to file). Always remember that however great your achievements or monumental your failures, more than 1billion Chinese people couldn't care less.
good article, but to generalise that 'English batsmen rarely use their feet to good effect' is ridiculous; i often bat for my local club and am also a terrific dancer at the same time.
as an england supporter, i feel loking at india that the future is bright for their new generation when the old guard step down. Ganguly was the best player on the tour, but the younger bunch were very impressive. Karthik will be a top test player, and the likes of Chawla, Uthappa, Gambhir and RP Swingh will be around for years. i get the feeling Sreesanth would perform better as a supporting fast bowler for Munaf Patel, but he's a gem too.
Indiam team of the future?
Sehwag
Karthik
Suresh/Pathan
Yuvraj
Kaif
Uthappa
Dhoni
Munaf Patel
Sreesanth
Zaheer Khan/RP Swingh
Chawla
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1. "Sachin missing out on a century for the umpteenth time", Aakash, how can you blame a player for failability when 4 out of 13 dismissals are due to umpiring errors - I agree that at the end of the day umpires are only human and are entitled to make mistakes. This really brings into perspective the need for being able to challenge decisions in the international game, like it was tried in the county format this year. People pay good money to watch batsmen make runs and bowlers get wickets, so why rob them by not giving them what they want.
2. The umpires have a tough time out there and we the viewer's who sit in our living rooms and berate them for a bad decision should really give them a break. That also means that the ICC should increase their panel and do the same.
All in all, we know that cricket will not be the same anymore with the heavy influence of technology and every one willfully over appealing, the pressure on the umpires has just started and is only going to get worse. The cricketing hierarchy has got to get their act together before it is no longer a credible sport.
Dom and Ali, you have got to realise that it was the umpiring decisions in both the tests and one-dayers that made it such a close series and NOT a bias.
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When England was narrowly ahead 3-2 in this series, I asked the question: "Given the choice, would an England fan prefer to have won this ODI series or the Test series?"
I asked this as an American baseball fan curious about cricket, who has followed the England international team closely for the past year (thanks to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport).
Overwhelmingly, England fans responded at the time that they would far rather win the Test series.
Not surprisingly, India fans retorted that England fans would change that view if England were to start winning ODIs; in other words, that the fickle English would sway with any favorable wind.
Well, now England have won a classic ODI series, and I wonder what the prevailing sentiment is now among England fans. Did this compensate for the Test loss? Would you still rather have won the Tests?
Thanks for your time. I know it's annoying to have to answer these elementary questions....
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After reading some of the comments, I must say that both teams played marvellous cricket. However, some dreadful umpiring decisions have altered the results in cricket series this summer, both test and ODI.
India suffered by some awful decisions recently, and even though the WI team didn't play to they true potential, there were some shockers that went in favor of England.
In my opinion, umpires should be made to public apologize to teams and to the ICC for making mistakes that could change the course of a game.
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How come Akash you lean so much towards the cause of British cricket. It is not out of any planning by the Indians that Flintoff cannot mend his action to sustain a long series and Pietersen is out of touch. We are hardly ever that considerate to our own players.
You keep saying Dravid should leave, Dravid is good where he is because after all the fracturing that Chappel did, he is the only person who can take an objective look at the situtaion. Don't fall for what Chappell said. The pressures on an Indian captain are way to high to judge his performance from the sidelines.
Finally, I don't agree with your analysis, since when did cricket take to such backwrad thinking that it refuses to make use of technology that every sport is using. In tennis a player can quesion a call, in college football in U.S, a coach can question a call and that option is available for any play. And again remeber in Criket the benefit of the doubt is with the batsmen. Atleast that is what the rule book says.
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Indian cricketer and columnist Akash Chopra is developing into a fine cricket analyst who can present his views in a very appealing and attractive manner. Congrats Akash and keep it up. Concentrate on your batting as well.
You say One-Day critics proved wrong. I think true sport consists in proving critics wrong. Otherwise it ceases to be sport and remains a mere traditional ritual or procession treading along the beaten path.
In this ODI series we have seen the importance of all rounders leading from the front. Paul Collingwood was outstanding as leader, bowler, batsmen and fielder. In the 1983 World Cup, India had a leader of extraordnary abilities in Kapil Dev. This English side has really impressed many with their quality allrounders like Dimitri, Wright, Stuart Broad, Ravi Bopara, Collingwood and Flintoff.
You also say there is plenty of international cricket coming up for India in the months after the WC in South Africa. Some of our guys could experience tiredness. But there are many talented cricketers waiting to make their debuts and others ready and willing to stage comebacks.
Many among us would love to see those waiting in the wings to be part of Team India some day.
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I personally would have preferred to win the test series, although that was probably more because that was the one I would have expected us to win- winning the ODI was a rather pleasant surprise, and, considering the way that we played, and particularly the way that the youngsters played, bodes very well for the future, even had we ended up losing it.
With regards to the test series, I, as I'm sure many other England fans did, was gutted that the rain prevented us winning that first test, as it would have set up the series very nicely, especially considering the way that India came back and dominated the last two games. It would have been extremely interesting to see how that last test might have played out, series tied 1-1 and England struggling to save it as compared to India simply settling for the draw and series win.
On the whole, a very good test and ODI series, extremely enjoyable
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in response to van russel comment
----------------------------------------
ENGLAND FRONT LINE BOWLERS WERE NOT AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY ARE INJURED & MAYBE ONLY FLINTOFF IS TRYING TO MAKE A COMEBACK BY CHANGING HIS BOWLING ACTIONS ETC , BUT THE OTHER BOWLERS ARE OUT OF FORM TOO. LESS SAID FOR HARMISON, SIMON JONES THE BETTER.
ALL THIS BIG TALK ABOUT ENGLAND BEATING INDIA 3 TO NOTHING IN TESTS IS NOTHING SHORT OF WISHFULL THINKING.
...............
Kandarp
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I'd always prefer to win the Test series.
As for umpires decisions going against a team - a team may also have more wrong decisions against them because they are facing more believable appeals. You give the umpires enough decisions to make, sooner or later they'll get one wrong.
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There seem to be three Smiths playing in this match, but each is listed as simply "Smith" on the scorecard. Yet the two Morkels are distinguished by an initial. Don't Smiths get equal rights?
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At 3-1 I also thought that the series was over but thankfully India fought back to win the next two matches and force a decider at Lords. That made it a very memorable one day series.
On the Test, I think the weather denied England a certain victory and after that India played better and got the Test series. I wonder what would have happened had England won the first Test.
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Somewhere on this site there's a story about "Graeme Swann's surprise inclusion" in the ODI squad for Sri Lanka.
Why should we be surprised that the best all-rounder in the country has been selected to play for his country?
With no disrespect intended to A. Flintoff, Freddie has become an outstanding fast bowler who might get you a few runs down the order (so long as a 'leggie' isn't playing for the opposition).
It is a sign of Flintoff's pedigree that he'd march into any side in the world (in any format) just on the strength of his bowling. But it is not obvious that he'll recapture the batting form of 2003 -2005.
England's management set up should also be commended for returning to players who may have been thought to have burnt their bridges under the DF regime (whose motto, in Swann's case, may well have been 'A la recherhe du temps perdu'!).
Graeme Swann won't be carrying drinks that often this time.
England may want to play two spinners in the SL Test series as well. So the future for Swann is looking brighter than the past.
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7 matches - 7 results - 3-3 with one to play - FIX!
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hi
first and foremost l would like to congrulate the Zimbabwean boys actual man because they have earned the right to play amongest them all, for they once in a lifetime win over Austrilia
tambai vakomana England you are next tomorrow
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I think it's wrong to put blame on umpiring biased blundle. No other teams are complaining about umpire decision, except India, it's shocking. Whenever India lose the game first thing they blame umpire.!!!!
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