Arthur Crabtree wrote:Arthur Crabtree wrote:My hunch. Win the toss, win the game. Chasing team to prevail.
1/1.
Should have pitted my predictions against a crab or a snail or something.
Give Roy until the semis, then change if necessary.
Went NZ tomorrow.
Good call AC.
Job done. Very professional chase, never really looked in much doubt. That really shows how far England have come with the bat - 300 on the board, and no-one was particularly concerned about the chase. Compare two years ago, where we fell apart miserably chasing 280. But one felt it was really set up by some good death bowling. Bangladesh were cruising at 220/2 with 10 to go - most top sides would have been looking at 340+ from there. For England to keep them down to 306, especially with Woakes missing, was very good.
A decent performance, but no more than that - Australia will hardly be quaking in their boots. And still quite a few issues: injuries to key players (Root and Woakes - the latter sounds potentially pretty serious) and the form of Roy continues to be a worry. And a last minute switcheroo on selection. I think the omission of Rashid was almost certainly a tactical decision based on the fact that they were expecting the ball to do a bit for the quicks (it didn't really), plus the number of left-hand bats in the Bangladesh line-up. But it still shows the problems of England of old - going in with players less than fully fit, and making last minute changes.
Ball didn't have a great day, but Willey is also available, and with Rashid to come back, there is sufficient cover for Woakes. One expects that if he's ruled out for the tournament it'll either be Finn or Roland-Jones coming in, based on Monday's precedent.
Agree with AC, Roy will get at least the group stage games to get some runs.