ODI Series & T20i, England v New Zealand, 2015.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I wonder if Strauss hadn't appointed Morgan captain, whether he'd be in the side.

he probably would be

you need at least one experienced player in the team surely

My impression when I heard Morgan had the captaincy was that it was done to protect Steely. A young ODI side doing well under Root would have put pressure on the Test side (and its captain) which may well have a tough year. But Morgan isn't going to come back into the Test side.

[Arthur Crabtree]

After his comments on the WC campaign, maybe Steely has some theories on how he could have improved today's performance.

[backfootpunch]

After his comments on the WC campaign, maybe Steely has some theories on how he could have improved today's performance.

the team really missed an opener who could bat 50 0vers

[Durhamfootman]

An excellent result. Very well done.

[Making_Splinters]

Hyperbole aside, a huge result for England.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I remember when it was often said that Root lacked the power to hit a long shot. But you couldn't say that now.

[sussexpob]

There are two issues with this match that are most interesting for me, and prove that England finally need to use this example as the blueprint of their ODI.

1. Anchor roles.... we need them, what happens if we lose an early wicket?

We lost one first ball today, we lost Hales not long after, but at no point did no batsman hang around and go nowhere. New Zealand took wickets but never had the initiative because England were at them, and New Zealand stopped taking wickets at important times and had to think about saving runs instead.

2. Setting up the slogger

Its been England idea that they set up the hitters late in the innings, but the middle order have left WAY too much to ask of the lower middle order in recent times.

The key example in this game was Buttler..... he hit a boundary after his 28th ball..... 38 balls later, he had scored another 80 runs and had a 66 ball hundred. The middle order gave Buttler time through putting runs on the board for him, for him to initiate the death blow... but to do that, he needed to play himself in, and those runs gave him the leeway to get his eye in and then destroy. Runs on the board in the middle overs set your finisher up to create fireworks... ask him to slog from ball one, and most will fail.

[sussexpob]

Obviously, this is a one off, but England need to now trust that they can have days like today more often, its not the skill or talent, its the balls and desire.

Someone needs to tell Cook and Bell they may aswell retire from the ODI game....I dont want to see them near a ODI match, not even at the ground.

Id rather see England lose every other match this series trying to play like this again, then trying to play another brand of cricket and scrapping wins here and there.

An approach like this may take some patience, but I am willing to be patient when we head in a direction that seems sensible.... this 11 players should be given 12 months, win lose or draw.

[Arthur Crabtree]

We lost one first ball today, we lost Hales not long after, but at no point did no batsman hang around and go nowhere. New Zealand took wickets but never had the initiative because England were at them, and New Zealand stopped taking wickets at important times and had to think about saving runs instead.

Kiwis were too defensive. Two slips to Buttler, given their plan to get him out, and NZ would have been chasing 250.

[Aidan11]

Great win today.

Sadly I was on my way home from work when Buttler & Rashid let loose so I missed it.

Hope this is indicative of the rest of the series.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Much more enjoyable game to watch, without Cook moaning at the umpire, Anderson sledging with his hand over his mouth... I so hope that, win or lose, they don't go back.

[sussexpob]

We lost one first ball today, we lost Hales not long after, but at no point did no batsman hang around and go nowhere. New Zealand took wickets but never had the initiative because England were at them, and New Zealand stopped taking wickets at important times and had to think about saving runs instead.

Kiwis were too defensive. Two slips to Buttler, given their plan to get him out, and NZ would have been chasing 250.

England scored about 185-190 by the time Root had got out before the half way point of the innings... they were on for a HUGE par score.

I would like to know a single captain in history at that point who takes men out of run saving positions when England's best hitter comes in and leaves scoring options open..... the par score was already 360-370!!!

This is my point though. When you score near 200 in the first half of an ODI, you buy the right to have the opposition stutter and become defensive. After all, Buttler as stated made no attempt to attack until the 2nd 1/3 of his innings came about. He played through a couple of wickets then unleashed

When Billings got out, England could have nudged a slow test match pace to 250, and slightly brisker but very easy run rate to 280, a normal rate at 300....

[Aidan11]

I wish the World Cup was next week.

Looks like we might have finally got it right.

[Arthur Crabtree]

McCullum is the man to do that (reply to Sussex). Bowling wide at Buttler, giving him width... was an incredibly high risk strategy at that point. To do so with one slip representing your chance of reward was an anti-McCullum decision. Arguably, he should have had three slips. His philosophy demanded it..

[Arthur Crabtree]

Otherwise, I agree!