Rebuilding for the next World Cup.

[rich1uk]

cook will only be 34 when the next world cup comes around and would obviously be the ideal captain for a home world cup

[sussexpob]

The selectors made that decision because they thought it was the best for English cricket. Hindsight has probably proved them wrong, but now it's easy to say that

I think you saw in Australia at the World Cup the dangers of making such a big decision so close to the tournament. I don't know what's gone on on that tour, but it did look like the lads were shell shocked from the first two games. That's when you need real leadership to help steer you through that. I would have loved to have had the opportunity that was taken away from me

This is what Captain Fantastic said. Unbelievable

I didn't read the second part, that is incredible..... his leadership in Australia last time was, er.... questionable at best, disasterous at worst.

[rich1uk]

leadership cook style

[Aidan11]

It's sounding like Cook & Downton vs Moores & Whittaker with Graves being the new broom.

Why do they still say new broom? Surely a vacuum cleaner would be more apt. It sucks up more than a broom can.


I'd like to suck Downton into oblivion.

[Aidan11]

Iv'e just realised that last sentence could be mis-interpreted.

[rich1uk]

Iv'e just realised that last sentence could be mis-interpreted.

[meninblue]

Bell 262 runs @ 52.40 @ SR 77.28
Joe 202 runs @ 40.40 @ SR 84.16
Moeen 192 runs @ 38.40 @ SR 105.49
Taylor 149 runs @ 37.25 @ SR 88.69
Jos 141 runs @ 35.35 @ SR 135.57

Bell is useless. There are much better run scoring batsman atm in England.Discuss.....

Two problems with Bell - struggled to time the ball and is slow running between the wickets, turning 2s into 1s and 3s into 2s.

the main problem with bell comes after the powerplay, first ten overs he is excellent, but when the sweepers go back his main boundary option (lofted cover drive) gets put away and he gets bogged down against the spinners/medium pacers

his inability to rotate the strike efficiently against the slow bowlers means he plays ambitious shots against the fast bowlers and gets himself out, it is why he has made so few hundreds

he was not the issue at the world cup though, that was ballance, morgan and taylor (bar the 90 odd against the aussies that didnt really matter since the game was already over)

not only did they not score any runs they swallowed up deliveries as well, though obviously taylor is fairly blameless since he was batting out of position

If someone is scoring 52 runs average then the SR of 77 is not that bad, although SR if in 80- 85 would make it look ideal. Also considering we are discussing team England wherein only few batters are scoring enough runs to make the SR worthy, Bells contributions become crucial in building totals. 52 @ SR 77 is a good contribution when i look at the relative performance of other batters of England team in this WC. He may get in bad patch next series, but here in WC he has been Englands highlight player. Now looking at Bell as option at next WC which the thread is about. He would be 36 at next WC which is no way a retirement age for a specialist batsman who does not bowls in both formats of the game. If he is form prior to series before WC, he should be in team. if he is out of form the way Morgan etc are, he should be dropped. Specialist batsmen under 40 should not be discarded for reasons such as age if they are fit, experienced and in form.

Compare Bell to other openers at the World Cup. They nearly all have a strike rate over 100.

I would rather compare Bell with other England players first. If Bell was an Indian cricketer or an Aussie cricketer he would never had made this WC squad. But if Bell could not , remaining England batters would definitely not. He is still England highest run scorer in this WC and every team needs their highest run scorer.

[Arthur Crabtree]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/m ... -world-cup

Ravi feels the problem is the England team is too English. Isn't it that people have been suggesting the opposite?

[braveneutral]

Ravi getting a bit of early praise for this on twitterland.

[Arthur Crabtree]

He seems to think he's got an international future though.

[Aidan11]

Good luck with that.

[Arthur Crabtree]

He should have a T20 future.

[braveneutral]

He does have a future.

[Aidan11]

Shame about his past and present.

[rich1uk]

Shame about his past and present.