The Official *England to World Twenty-20 Glory* Thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

"What is our aim?... Victory... Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory, however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival."
Sir Winston Churchill

So in just over 2 weeks time, on Friday September 21, England will begin their quest to defend their World T20 Crown in Sri Lanka, just 2 years after winning the trophy in the Caribbean.

"This England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror."
William Shakespeare

The preparations will begin with a 3 match T20 Series at home to the Saffers, win that series and England will become the No.1 T20 Side in the World. From there, England will fly off to Sri Lanka and have 2 warm-up games against Australia and Pakistan in Colombo.

"Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live."
John Milton

After that, the tournament will finally begin. In England's pool are Afghanistan and India. Afghanistan will be mercilessly thrashed, and India will be beaten soundly to once again prove that they and the IPL are overrated.

"Only the Englishman is the pinnacle of perfection and nature’s masterpiece."
Riem

Then the Super Eight phase will start. If it goes the way it should, the West Indies (one man team), South Africa (never good at tournaments or T20s) and New Zealand (whipping boys) will all be in the Super Eight Group with England. Of course, none of them will be able to compete with the might of England and will be brushed aside.

"The world still consists of two clearly divided groups; the English and the foreigners. One group consists of less than 50 million people; the other of 3,950 million people. The latter group does not really count."
George Mikes

Then a probable semi-final against the Aussies, a good test before the Final but, ultimately, an England win. England will then march into the final at Colombo - I think against the Sri Lankans but never rule out Pakistan - and give a dominant display to cement England's back-to-back titles. And remember lads:

"England expects that every man will do his duty."
Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson

[msp83]

MFC I don't think Samit Patel was as bad with the ball in previous matches as has been made out over here. OK he went for 38 against the WI in his 4 overs, but 19 of those came in one over against, well a certain Christopher Henry Gayle who has a history of ripping more accomplished bowlers apart. Brigg's against NZ wasn't much better, certainly on the lines of some of the expectations here, 36 in 4 isn't much from 38 in 4. And of course Samit could bat a bit. I was a bit surprised to see him at 4 although there could be an interesting logic to it. He has scored runs against spinners in the sub-continent, something not many others in that lineup has done in recent times.
But Dernbach and Bopara were rather ludicrous selections. We all know Bopara has been struggling to put bat to ball in recent times, and he's nowhere good enough to be picked alone for his bowling. Kieswetter was opening, Wright did a decent job at 3 in a couple of matches. They had a backup opener in Michael Lumb, yet they chose to mess up with the entire batting lineup.
Dernbach? I really couldn't understand all the hype over Dernbach as a death bowler. He was smashed out of town by MS Dhoni and co in the ODI series home and away, and gave away plenty during end overs most of the time since then. Bresnan may have lost a bit of nip, but he still is a much better bet than Dernbach is and he had done nothing wrong in the previous match to be dropped for Dernbach.

Msp - we haven't agreed too much in recent times so I thought it only fair to flag that I very much go along with this post and feel your comments are very valid.

I'm on record as being a supporter of Patel whilst recognising limitations. You make a good point about 'more accomplished bowlers' becoming unstuck against Gayle. Should he have been bowling then? Possibly a more experienced captain might have decided otherwise [that's a plug for my recent post on the 'Live Matches Discussion' thread ]. Briggs only brings to the party potential with the ball and - unlike Patel - very little with the bat.

Bopara? A batsman who can bowl a couple of tidy overs as a sixth bowler is a valuable asset. However, it's a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act if he's not a batsman. As regards his batting day job, Bopara sadly remains unfit for purpose.

Dernbach can be very effective on his day but as others - in particular, the Corporal with his 25% x 4 post - have said that's not often enough. He's a wildcard and so too unreliable and expensive a risk.

As for Lumb, I hope he got the Air Miles!

Thanks guildford.
Dernbach's List A record isn't great either and he remains average in T-20s.
I agree perhaps Samit shouldn't have bowled to Gayle in such a situation. But then after he got going the rest of the bowling also couldn't keep him in check, so sooner or later Broad had to take that tough call. Perhaps he could have kept him away for a couple more overs, Swann was creating a bit of pressure from the other end.
Do you think Cook has a future as a T-20I batsman? As I said on the live match thread I wouldn't have asked this question a year ago, but Now I am convinced he's worth a chance. Could solve the captaincy situation as well.