England A in South Africa 2015.

[Arthur Crabtree]

They've just called up Tim, no doubt concerned about insufficient bowlers.

[Durhamfootman]

okay, so perhaps I'm being unfair, but given that England haven't got a single captain with any sort of ODI game plan, having that many players in the squad who can bowl, is less likely to give a range of bowling options to whichever poor chump is saddled with the captains armband, and more likely to give him increased opportunities for confusion and muddled thinking.

perhaps they think that will help solve England's many ODI problems?

[Arthur Crabtree]

James Vince is in the skipper, and is in the process of growing a Brearleyesque beard, so I think it's all under control.

[Durhamfootman]

The beard won't help him, sadly. Even Brearley couldn't win an ODI comp

He'd be better off dying his hair ginger and practicing his diving catch skills

[rich1uk]

lions team looks a remarkably similar balance to the full team, no specialist spinner and relying on samit for the spin option

[rich1uk]

stokes has made a good start with the ball today , 2 wickets in his first 4 overs

[Arthur Crabtree]

And economical, which he hasn't been for a while.

[rich1uk]

And economical, which he hasn't been for a while.

yeah if he keeps this up for a couple of games can we get someone to drop something heavy on a vital part of bopara so we can replace him

[Robert]

So Stokes is taking wickets and is probably suited to batting in Australia (potentially higher up the order), but England dumped him on the basis of what he did or rather didn't do in other parts of the world. Congratulations to the selection panel/management!

[rich1uk]

I think it ultimately came down to his batting and the argument about where he was most comfortable batting

cant see any way to justify moving the rest of the order around so a guy with an ODI average of 15 and a list A average under 30 gets to bat at #3 or #4

I would prefer to see him in the side in front of bopara and bat at #7 but no way do I think it makes us a better team if we have to bat root at 5, morgan at 6 and buttler at 7 if stokes "needs" to bat in the top 4

[rich1uk]

stokes gets another

cue all the comments about why he isn't in the world cup squad on social media

[rich1uk]

4-fer for stokes and SA A bowled out for 172

looks good , we'll see how good once we bat as well

[Aidan11]

Nice one Ben. Woody was very economical today but no wickets.

Hope they don't put Ben at 8 in the batting.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Poor Samit might wonder why he is down to bat at seven.

[rich1uk]

Poor Samit might wonder why he is down to bat at seven.

him and stokes had a race to see who got to bat in the top 6