England V Australia 2013-14 Ashes - ODI & T20 Series

Exciting final day .
Shame it had to end like it did but it was thrilling stuff while it lasted.

If the light meter had been brought out onto the pitch half an hour earlier the reading would've more than likely stopped play at that point.The umpires ignored the light in the hope that the match could be completed until the had no option,but in a way it made in worse by getting so close to the end of the match.

To be fair,Clarke's declaration gave Australia very little chance to win & maybe with a bit more imagination by England in terms of their batting line-up could have forced a result.Putting Bell,Pietersen & Prior in earlier.

Agree with most of that but I think they paced their innings well. Look what happened to Oz when they shuffled with the order. Aussie had no choice but to try and get something out of the series. 3-0 will do for England and they were never going to do anything silly.

(25-08-2013 22:11 )Jack Bishop Wrote:  Aussie had no choice but to try and get something out of the series.

I don't agree that Clarke had no choice. It's hard to imagine most captains in his situation allowing the opposition such a chance. Bowling England out in one session was always a real long shot and I don't think he's been given as much credit as he deserved for making a game of it. If England and South Africa can't win a match they always concentrate on not losing. So I say well done to Clarke and I'm not sour about the bad light either, because it had got pretty dark and play wouldn't normally be allowed in those conditions, though I've heard some mutterings that the rules on bad light need to be changed.

Australia declared in the hope England would chase "the carrot" .I would expect Darren Lehman will have had a big say in this decision as well as Michael Clarke .Crying shame the weather and the lighting laws spoilt an exciting result .However ,England should keep quiet about their percieved injuistice .Afterall ,didn't the same lighting laws save them from defeat at Old Trafford ? What goes around ,comes around !

(26-08-2013 12:16 )William H Bonney Wrote:  

(25-08-2013 22:11 )Jack Bishop Wrote:  Aussie had no choice but to try and get something out of the series.

I don't agree that Clarke had no choice. It's hard to imagine most captains in his situation allowing the opposition such a chance. Bowling England out in one session was always a real long shot and I don't think he's been given as much credit as he deserved for making a game of it. If England and South Africa can't win a match they always concentrate on not losing. So I say well done to Clarke and I'm not sour about the bad light either, because it had got pretty dark and play wouldn't normally be allowed in those conditions, though I've heard some mutterings that the rules on bad light need to be changed.

Your are correct they did have a choice. What I was trying to say badly was they were keen to try and get something out of the series therefore gave England a very getable target (no doubt would have been more had it not rained) England were already 3-0 and had no real need to chase down the runs.

England will rest Cook,Bell,Anderson,Broad & Swann from the ODI Squad for the upcoming series.

If those are going to be rested I would have rested Trott also. It's good to see Carberry selected, he deserves a chance. Eoin Morgan will captain the side.

Here are the squads -

England squad to play Ireland: Eoin Morgan (capt), Gary Ballance, Ravi Bopara, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Steven Finn, Chris Jordan, Jamie Overton, Boyd Rankin, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Luke Wright

England squad to play Australia: Eoin Morgan (capt), Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Steven Finn, Chris Jordan, Jamie Overton, Kevin Pietersen, Boyd Rankin, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright

Good to see Overton in both squads, he has bags of potential.

My XI to play in the 1st ODI against Australia:
Root, Carberry, Trott, Pietersen, Morgan, Bopara, Buttler, Tredwell, Overton, Rankin, Finn

I think Morgan owes England big time,he hasn't delivered for a while & is one of the few to have a very lucrative central contract & only playing ODI & T20 cricket,due to his greed at wanting to play IPL,he hasn't been considered for Test cricket as he misses the start of the season.His first class record is average,worst still this year & hasn't contributed must in domestic T20 & ODI competitions.
He wouldn't make my team,never mind captaining them.I would play either Luke Wright or Ben Stokes in his place.Tredwell would be my captain.