The summer of cricket 2020

First topic message reminder :

Stokes gone at last...and Roach gets one at last ! Bit fluky , reverse leg side edge but I think Kemar was entitled to dome good fortune...

Hell of an innings from Stokes

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

I'd be fuming if I were the West Indies coach. They only had to bat a maximum of 60 overs today to save the test and retain the trophy and couldn't manage that. Some of the dismissals were absolute garbage, the run-out and Hope's uncharacteristic shot being chief amongst them.

Some test teams that tour England - mainly the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but also India when things get difficult - seem to put in the bare minimum of effort for the most part. Embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully Pakistan are over next. They always make a good fight of it.

I think you're fuming because you were proven wrong when you wrote of Englands chances of a victory early on day 3. It wanst a great performance by the windies today but its not at all unusual for teams to struggle on day 5 on any pitch, let alone a grey day in England at the end of series against an attack perfectly set up to exploit the conditions. These arent good batsmen and they arent used to batting against the moving ball, very few of them have played much cricket here. Far better batting line ups have come here and failed, Englands manages to get bowled out more quickly at least once a summer and they are used to it! This west indies side turned up with a better attitude than some that have come here in recent times, no tantrums from Gayle etc. Holder gets credit from me for strong leadership.in the end their spirit was broken, thats just what happens in intense series. Today was utterly predictable, hence why everyone predicted it.

You could say exactly the same for England travelling, theyve really taking some pastings in recent years when going to places where conditions dont suit them, the Sri Lanka victory really went against type and just shows what a genuinely atrocious side they are now. The number of series won by visiting sides anywhere in the world is incredibly low now.

As for Pakistan, they are another team who are likely to do better with the ball than the bat but that seam attack always leaves them with the chance of England collapsing and being up against it. The crowd will be all over Amir of course. Theres some much better batting averages than the west indies side, but they are used to playing on absolute pancakes in Emirates. Abid Ali averages 101 in tests and made 10, 1 and 16 against in their warm ups here.
Overall they should be stronger opposition than the west indies, hard to know if they will turn up with as positive an attitude as the windies showed for much of the series.

As others have said, first test with Root instead of Denly could have been a different story, especially if we'd bowled first. Otherwise, we've been quite comfortably the better and more complete side, with only the loss of time in the second test making it seem close.

Just over a week off before the first Pakistan test, which will obviously present some different challenges (to be honest I don't know much about the current state of Pakistan cricket - looking at their test ranking, it looks like they have been short of matches in the last couple of years or so).

I assume we'd want to start the series with the best possible team - makes a couple of interesting choices as one of the seamers will presumably drop out (unless Stokes still can't bowl) for Crawley, and we're still no closer to knowing who the best spin option is, with Bess not needed to bowl at all this game. Form this match makes Broad and Woakes certain selections, so it's a choice between Archer and Anderson - my preference unless it's a really quick and bouncy wicket would be for Anderson to play.

If you have Woakes in the side, he can bat 8, so Bess's batting is less required, and it's a straight choice on whose bowling you prefer between Bess and Leach (even though Bess didn't bowl in this game, I detest going into a Test with a seam-only attack).

Yeah selection for the next test is really interesting. On the basis of form and wanting a balanced attack, assuming Stokes can bowl, Id be tempted to drop Anderson to get Crawley back in.
Sticking with the winning formula from this test, dropping Bess for Crawley, or dropping Archer also seem pretty viable choices. Not sure how many left handers Pakistan have, but Leach should be in the mix too if England have the extra bat back.

In terms of Pakistan travelling their last two completed tours were South Africa and Australia where they lost every test, Australia won both of theirs by an innings and change. I may revise my opinion that they should offer a sterner test than the West Indies did!

Soul Requiem wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

I'd be fuming if I were the West Indies coach. They only had to bat a maximum of 60 overs today to save the test and retain the trophy and couldn't manage that. Some of the dismissals were absolute garbage, the run-out and Hope's uncharacteristic shot being chief amongst them.

Some test teams that tour England - mainly the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but also India when things get difficult - seem to put in the bare minimum of effort for the most part. Embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully Pakistan are over next. They always make a good fight of it.

Batting doesn't get much more difficult than the 2018 series and India performed admirably throughout and there bowling attack was very nearly a match for Englands, the 4-1 result makes it look more one sided than it was, could easily have been 3-2 India.

Yeah, that's a fair point, though I was thinking mainly of 2011 and 2014 (the latter where India capitulated after a good start)

Gooseberry wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

I'd be fuming if I were the West Indies coach. They only had to bat a maximum of 60 overs today to save the test and retain the trophy and couldn't manage that. Some of the dismissals were absolute garbage, the run-out and Hope's uncharacteristic shot being chief amongst them.

Some test teams that tour England - mainly the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but also India when things get difficult - seem to put in the bare minimum of effort for the most part. Embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully Pakistan are over next. They always make a good fight of it.

I think you're fuming because you were proven wrong when you wrote of Englands chances of a victory early on day 3. It wanst a great performance by the windies today but its not at all unusual for teams to struggle on day 5 on any pitch, let alone a grey day in England at the end of series against an attack perfectly set up to exploit the conditions. These arent good batsmen and they arent used to batting against the moving ball, very few of them have played much cricket here. Far better batting line ups have come here and failed, Englands manages to get bowled out more quickly at least once a summer and they are used to it! This west indies side turned up with a better attitude than some that have come here in recent times, no tantrums from Gayle etc. Holder gets credit from me for strong leadership.in the end their spirit was broken, thats just what happens in intense series. Today was utterly predictable, hence why everyone predicted it.

You could say exactly the same for England travelling, theyve really taking some pastings in recent years when going to places where conditions dont suit them, the Sri Lanka victory really went against type and just shows what a genuinely atrocious side they are now.  The number of series won by visiting sides anywhere in the world is incredibly low now.

As for Pakistan, they are another team who are likely to do better with the ball than the bat but that seam attack always leaves them with the chance of England collapsing and being up against it. The crowd will be all over Amir of course. Theres some much better batting averages than the west indies side, but they are used to playing on absolute pancakes in Emirates. Abid Ali averages 101 in tests and made 10, 1 and 16 against in their warm ups here.
Overall they should be stronger opposition than the west indies, hard to know if they will turn up with as positive an attitude as the windies showed for much of the series.

Not too much fuming. England won, which is always nice, and I backed England at 4/5 pre-match (mentioned on here). Also pre-match, I did think the West Indies attitude would be poor - expected but not accepted - and that England would demolish them if we got in 300+ overs (it didn't take that long).

My opinion was revised after seeing the rain and bad light around. All the West Indies needed to do today was survive about 4 hours of play, which they are eminently capable of doing, as shown in the first test. It wasn't that they were completely done in by exceptional bowling (though Woakes' spell was nice), they lost so many wickets through poor application and basic errors. They gifted the win to England. That's why their coach should be fuming.

Pakistan are in a bit of a state, having lost their last five away tests. Would agree their bowling poses more of a threat than their batting, with Riaz and Shah likely to be the most threatening, but we shouldn't underestimate what some of their batsmen might be able to do against an old ball in saliva-free conditions. Having said that, the last time they were over here their two best batsman in the averages were Amir (retired from test cricket) and Sohail (not coming over for this one).

Last two tours over here they've managed to draw 1-1 and 2-2, so Root won't underestimate them.

The Pakistan squad makes interesting reading.

Wahab Riaz, Sarfaz Ahmed and Fawad Alam recalled to the 20 man squad. Alam has an outstanding first class record.

Shaheen Afridi is a huge talent. Mohammad Abass is a very fine red ball bowler. Azhar Ali and Babar Azam are brilliant batsman.

Then in the spinners you've got the excellent Yasir Shaw as well as youngster Shadab Khan and an unexpected call up for 34-year old Kashif Bhatti who has a fantastic record but no international appearances. Perhaps Pakistan are going down the route Olly suggested when Chase took a five-fer and picking multiple spinners...

England will have an advantage from having been playing Tests while Pakistan are coming in cold. Even so I think they had better set out to pick their strongest team first up. No experiments just yet , please.
Depends a bit on Stokes , no ? If he isn't bowling you probably need the same attack (or , I suppose , swap Wood in for Archer). If Stokes is fine to bowl then I guess you can just play Anderson Broad and Woakes - like dummy_half , I don't fancy going in without a spinner - so you can bring back the extra batsman.
Always need to consider the fatigue issue with these closely packed matches...but with a bit of a break before this game I'd imagine any issues for the bowlers might be more likely to manifest after the first Pakistan Test so they can consider rotating them then. They have spares available.

Judging by the last test England (except Burns) would be pretty happy if Pakistan did deploy two front line spinners. With the weather forecast to follow a similar pattern to what we have seen recently over the next couple of weeks the pitches are going to be pretty moist and grassy. Theres some talk the the amount of wear from so many tests in a short period good leave the pitches a bit uneven, but its not any more cricket than would normally be played at the grounds through a regular summer and a much reduced period so I cant see why the groundstaff shouldn't be able to get some wickets in decent shape. Its not like these are being hosted in Taunton.

Last time Shah bowled at Old Trafford in a test he took 1 for 266 which are some of the worst figures ever form a spinner. I guess the one concern with the spinners would be the first test, England have had a bad habit in a number of series of falling foul to them first up before adapting ...Shah took 10 wickets in the first test, Lyon 9 in the first ashes test, it was similar tale with the last India tour, and we even saw it with Chase in the first test of the west indies series. England will be very short of prep time for this series too, they are getting a bubble break now and only have a couple of days together again before it starts swat up on Pakistan team. May be worth a sticking a quid on a Pakistan spinner to be lead wicket taker in the first test, you'd get decent odds.

Having Sohail in the side really negates any reason pick two specialist spinners IMO. He didnt get used as a bowler last time they came but is a handy all rounder. Burns will be relived to know hes a left armer.

Generally speaking though these are seamer friendly venues and conditions.
That lad Afridi did make a good impression at the world cup and checking his test record has been able to bowl long spells and taken wickets everywhere. Left arm genuine quicks are the golden unicorns of test cricket and something a good chunk of the England players will only really have faced in the Ashes if at all.
Mo Abbas is the ideal bowler for English conditions and terror of D2, he almost turned Leicestershire into a winning side.

My take on Pakistan is maybe a bit cliched but they clearly have bags of talent, the problem is always going to be getting them to apply it and play as a team. They've got a sacked capatin in the squad and theres always some political distraction going on, interference with selections and all the rest. Apparently theres a company trying to seize their equipment over unpaid bills from the PCB. Nothing quite on the scale of the spot fixing stuff and the bubble should help keep them away from "characters" at least. Hard to know whether the intensity of the bubble will help or hinder them in terms of keeping focused, Holder noted that the West Indies squad was mentally exhausted by the end of the tour even though it was much shorter than normal.

England coming in better prepared in some ways, but also they will only have a very short break back in the real world, another 3 tests on the bounce a step too far? They certainly will have to rest and rotate players. Id assume Stokes will be fine to bowl first up but ideally they would've been 2-0 up for the last test and rested him entirely, its a big ask for any player to get through all 6 of these tests let alone an all rounder and one whos spent long periods batting. Sibley might be glad of those ducks and not being asked to bat once!

England will almost certainly look to pick their strongest bowling unit first up, then rotate. They wont want to be 1 down again. Pakistan will need to rotate too, they have to learn the lessons of the west Indies. Huge pressure on their top 3 to cope with the new ball, two of the openers they have are left armers which will have Broad absolutely licking his lips.

Pakistan could be too good for England, they could also be a shambles. Same goes for England, the lack of specific prep time for some very different bowling challenges from Pakistan could really hurt them first up.

From an England perspective you've probably got two XIs, one if Stokes can bowl, and one if he can't...

If he can't bowl, I think it should be the same XI as this last game. As said before, would always prefer the 5 man attack than the extra batsman personally...

If he can bowl, I think it should be;

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Woakes
Bess
Broad
Anderson

I'd like to see them continue with Bess all summer personally - more left handers in the Pakistan lineup should help, and I think he's done alright when he has bowled so far (and has contributed nicely with bat and in the field too). Showing a lot of promise I think, and while I know it was only a warm up knockabout...Leach hardly looked to be in great form there himself.
Rotation wise, I think the pecking order is Archer/Curran, and then Wood, he's firmly a reserve in England and the 6th option for me. Albeit you would think they'll all get another game or two during the series, Woakes and Broad have just done back to back tests, and Anderson needs to be managed at this stage...

Buttler has earned himself another game with his performance in this game - did a good job with the bat coming in at 120/4 (the only point England looked in danger all game), and kept smartly (whilst his opposing number was taking the ball with his face more than his gloves). Hopefully this game was a turning point back to the form when he was initially recalled...we will see!

Should be a good series, usually is against Pakistan. Again would expect the respective bowling attacks to have the upper hand on the batting lineups...

But before Pakistan, England have got a crucial three match ODI series against the Irish starting tomorrow. Crucial because it forms qualification for the 2023 World Cup and because it starts off the new 'Super League'. If things go badly, England might end up playing the likes of the UAE and Nepal to qualify for the World Cup. If things go really, really badly, England might relegate to something called 'League 2' and end up having to play the likes of Grimsby Town and Morecambe Papua New Guinea and the USA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9322_ICC_Cricket_World_Cup_Super_League

So it's crucial England win. Excited? Yes, I thought so...

Worth noting that the Lions easily beat Ireland the other day, this is a B team squad to some extent but still one that should be able to beat them easily. As we know it doesnt always pan out that way in white ball .....

England squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), Tom Curran (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Joe Denly (Kent), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire)

1.Roy
2.Bairstow
3.Vince
4.Morgan (c)
5.Denly
6.Banton/Billings
7.Moeen
8.Willey
9.T Curran
10.Rashid
11.Mahmood/Topley

Presumably we will see something like that. Still a strong side but the batting lineup is massively weakened. With Root, Stokes and Buttler in the top 6 the batting power just keeps coming at teams. Whereas in that lineup I think more that if Bairstow and Roy don't score runs we may be under pressure. Woakes and Plunkett both scored valuable lower order runs at times too.

I'd like to see Banton higher up the order but against South Africa he was coming in later so may well again.

With Woakes, Archer and Wood all missing having the Rashid/Moeen partnership available could be important. It's also a big opportunity for Tom Curran having ridden the bench for the World Cup campaign.

Feel like Malan shouldve been given a spot bearing in mind his absurdly good T20i record. Its fair enough that they are giving opportunities to youngsters like Banton but why are they so wedded to Vince Billings Dawson and Denly who have always been not good enough? Willey I can just about cope with to help balance an XI but still feels limp.
Phil "nearly made the world Cup squad" Salt absolutely destroyed Ireland in the warm up too with a very fast unbeaten century, no spot in the squad.
Sam "best list A batsman ever" doesn't get a sniff either.

If these games are about developing a wider pool and finding options who could improve emglands first choice squad in a couple of years time when the next 50 over world Cup happens then pick those players who have the potential to improve, not ones who have been tried and discarded many times previously.

KC
Under the curent limitations, that looks a decent enough XI to me - certainly we have two world class ODI openers, and Morgan is still an excellent bat and captain. The two spinners have been part of the mainstay of the side for the last 2 or 3 years, and both can contribute with the bat.
Seam bowling and a lack of bowling options seems to be the biggest weakness (well, and the absence of Stokes...)

I wonder if Banton would be pushed up to 3 if we lost an early wicket?

Hain and Malan not being included is bizarre when you see Denly and Billings in the squad.

WI regressed from Good to Mediocre to bad in the series.
Good result for Eng.......not good for those wanting to watch competitive sport, especially in times when it's down to TV viewership only

Which is the real WI?
I think the bad one as in 3rd test and ranked lowest in the world is their true form.

Their passion, history against Eng binds them and they punch above their weight for a bit....and then they win and get satisfied and regress to lowly levels of normalcy.

Eng's problems are relatively smaller.....they need to refrain from frivolousness in selections...and fix their spinner.

Hope Pak series will be more competitive....but knowing Pak in general.....and that they come from cold and Corona.....like Windies they too could turn up good, bad or ugly on a give day.

Although you'd expect them to start poorly and improve along the way.

Wouldn't have Denly, Billings or Willey near the first-choice squad, in truth, though I suppose these are exceptional times. England's ODI depth has been lauded before, so now we get to see the results of it. Agree that Hain and Malan should be included. Not sure what more Hain can do to get included, as he averaged 77 in the domestic OD competition last year - he hasn't misbehaved off the field has he?

Ireland shouldn't be the toughest of the opposition, although it wasn't too long ago that England were defeated by Scotland. In about a month's time England are supposed to be playing an ODI series against Australia - that will be a much sterner test.

Hain doesn't score fast enough would be my guess. When your strategy as a team is just for everyone to gun it, and you have someone like Hain who doesn't have a top gear like that, it affects everyone else.

Whilst Root plays the anchor role, he also has the top gear to match most normal players. He is basically a litmus Test of how a pitch is playing - when it is tough a la WC Final he will struggle to score quickly but when it is flat (thinking T20 vs SA in the WC where England chased 230) he can smash it too. I don't think Hain has that top gear, which is a bit harsh and he churns out runs for fun and probably would have 150 caps if he was around between 2005-2015!

Denly is pointless. I guess Parkinson is injured so in theory he offers a leg spin option but I'd have cold sweats if I was skipper and had to rely on Denly for 10 overs and I can't realistically see how he is in even the top 10 best ODI bats in England. He bats 5 and plays the Stokes role of being slightly more of a rotator and a sixth bowler I guess, but if you don't have Stokes then don't try and replace him!

Think Hales has played his last game for England. 31 now, and when guys like Banton, Salt, Livingstone are coming through I don't see how he gets back in. Malan and Morgan don't get on by all accounts, so it seems his card is marked too.

The two guys I am looking forward to see play are Vince (yes, yes I know) - but if you think Hain should be in based on weight of runs then Vince's last two seasons in RL are 509 @ 73 SR 111 and 527 @ 59 SR 110. Looking forward to seeing him get a run.

The other one is Saqib. List A is his best format at the moment, ahead of T20 and FC - he bowls rapid which is so important in modern day ODIs so he can be dangerous at the starts and also bowl those Wood overs in the middle when you need some express pace to make stuff happen.

Liam Livingstone's omission irks me more than Salt, Malan or Hain I think. The top order is still very strong, Vince is a really good white ball player who has had few opportunities due to the strength of the lineup. With Buttler and Stokes absent England are missing lower order power more than top order. Livingstone is very adept at coming in lower down the order in that 'finisher' role. He also bowls useful leggies same as Denly.

1.Roy
2.Bairstow (wk)
3.Vince
4.Morgan (c)
5.Malan
6.Livingstone
7.Moeen
8.Willey/Gregory
9.T Curran
10.Rashid
11.Mahmood/Gleeson

I just think that would be more balanced. Livingstone as a finisher, Malan for some experience then power in the top 3 as England are used too. Billings feels like he's keeping a seat warm for Buttler.

Gregory as an option to strengthen the batting depth. Willey as the better bowling option. Gleeson offers pace. Just feels there's a bit more versatility and different tactical options there.

Livingstone seems to fallen completely off the radar for some reason. It was only a few years ago (2017?) he was being talked about as a potential Test player and now he isn't getting a game in any format, even when England are weakened. Very odd.

I like Gregory a lot as a Somerset fan - but his bowling isn't good enough for 10 overs in ODIs I don't think. Craig Overton wouldn't be the worst shout for that 'Woakes' slot of guy who bats a bit and bowls in a ODI side. Perhaps a bit one dimensional with the ball.

Gleeson Gregory and Livingstone are the reserves, so not completely off the radar. If anything hes jumped back up the pecking order quite a bit after not touring with the Lions and doing nothing of note in the warm ups.
Craig Overton was in the red ball training squad (as was Jamie), I guess that where they see his future. He has played tests more recently than white ball international.

Parkinson is probably feeling a bit deflated after going from being an all format player in the winter tour squads to just making the wider red ball training squad for this summer.

If Parkinson weren't injured he'd have been in the white ball squad I'd guess. With Rashid having had injury issues he would seem the natural successor to Dilly longer term.

Ah that does make sense then, wasnt aware he'd been injured. I did seem odd to me that he didnt feature in the warm up squads. Not sure what the state of Rashids shoulder is now, hes not played anything since SA and appears to have bowled fine in the warm ups, if the injury was ever going to stop beinga problem I guess the enforced break wouldve been the time for it to heal. Theres an interview in the Times with him from April where he said it had improved greatly and that he was interested in playing red ball for Yorkshire again and pressing for a test recall (presumably looking at the winter Asia tour), as well as being around for the 2023 world cup. Its hard to know how much of that is blind optimism from him mind, but good signs.
Its rotten luck for Parkinson to get injured just when crickets getting going again, he really needs to be bowling a lot at the moment and missed out on a great opportunity in Sri Lanka. I hate to say it but Dawson does seem to have taken a lot of wickets in the warm ups, and scored runs, so arguably would be the reserve "moves it the other way" spinner for white ball currently.

Honourable mention too for Brooks and Helm who took the wickets against Ireland so obviously didnt get picked to play them in these games. Realistically they are just more stock English right arm fastish bowlers who dont have the added bonus of batting 8 so really just rspare parts in the grand scheme of things but still must be a slight disappointment for them not to get in the reserves. Laurie Evans is one of very few players to have featured in all 3 warm ups which suggests England see a lot of potential there, but perhaps T20 rather than 50 over. Theres not many English players with his level of experience playing in Asia so maybe a name to keep an eye on for the 2022 tournament?

I'm a bit surprised that different specialist one day spinner didn't get the chance with Parkinson injured. They have become absolutely key for England in the middle overs where the side improved so much in the last 4 years.

Mason Crane is developing into a very fine white ball bowler. Will Beer has always done an cracking job for Sussex in those middle overs in T20 as well. With the T20 World Cup the next big white ball target I thought someone like that might get a chance. Danny Briggs is very consistent in the shortest form as well.

Parkinson's T20 record is outstanding though to be fair. His emergence has meant that Stephen Parry, one of the most consistent T20 bowlers on the county circuit, has struggled to get a game for Lancashire.

It seems that the selectors still like Liam Dawson as a back up to Moeen with Parkinson challenging Rashid.

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 James Vince, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Tom Banton, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Gareth Delany, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Kevin O'Brien, 6 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 7 Simi Singh, 8 Curtis Campher, 9 Andy McBrine, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Craig Young

England win the toss and field first. Billings in for Denly because the latter is injured. Ireland have two debutants in their team. The Irish batting looks OK, but their bowling unit is pretty terrible.

Morgan wins toss and chooses to bowl.

Denly injured allowing both Banton and Billings to play.

Ireland head coach Ford and skipper Balbirnie understand the game well and are sound guys. However, and even with Test players missing, England should surely be too strong for their visitors.

As a biased Hampshire fan, Dawson should be in for Billings surely

Hi Jimbo - Dawson often gets a raw deal and nearly always here!

jimbohammers wrote:As a biased Hampshire fan, Dawson should be in for Billings surely

This would deny potential James Vince overs though - so I’m conflicted personally

Duty281 wrote:England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 James Vince, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Tom Banton, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Gareth Delany, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Kevin O'Brien, 6 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 7 Simi Singh, 8 Curtis Campher, 9 Andy McBrine, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Craig Young

England win the toss and field first. Billings in for Denly because the latter is injured. Ireland have two debutants in their team. The Irish batting looks OK, but their bowling unit is pretty terrible.

McBrine can be tidy and is capable of picking up a couple but, yeah, no name stands out. Ireland can't even call on the ever willing and experienced Murtagh who has thrown in his lot with Middlesex.

Charlie Dagnall on comms which suggests Sky aren't breaking the bank in their coverage of this one.

Excited to see Harry Tector. He's got a good reputation for such a young batsman.

I'll get to see Tector early then...

David Willey making the most of his recall.

Ireland's batting currently struggling to look even OK.

7/2 in the third. Both to Willey. Poor play from Balbirnie hoding his bat out and snicking it.

Two down already, though Delany appears to be starting the counter-attack. Two poor dismissals, in truth.

On the wider topic of the ODI super league, 8 of the 13 teams automatically qualify for the 2023 World Cup. You'd think five teams (Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa) would be absolutely nailed-on. India have already qualified as hosts. But it should be an interesting battle between six other teams (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ireland, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe) for the remaining two spots. Can't see the Netherlands doing anything of note. Every game gives ten points for a win, so there are no dead rubbers as such.

Pleasantly surprised to see this is on TV here...

That team is a bit light on for spare bowling , no ? Banton doesn't bowl , does he ? Given Jonny is keeping why bother playing Billings ...could have included Dawson , surely ...

Ought not matter the way Willey has started off . But it would be a little embarrassing if a bowler got injured and Vince had to bowl some overs

Mahmood in on the act now... 28/3 : might be a short game .

king_carlos wrote:I'll get to see Tector early then...

David Willey making the most of his recall.

Not going to see a lot of him , unfortunately

Love Delany's unorthodox stance. Maybe he should be playing for the Texas Rangers with a stance like that?

Ireland have a long tail, so this might not take too long. Unless KOB resurrects the spirit of 2011?

28/4 now. Think I overestimated Ireland's batting!

Understandable on debut but Tector was too keen to get off the mark. Delany was scoring enough for both of them and the priority was not to lose a third.

And now Delany's gone. 28/4. Oh dear.

Three now for Willey...

Point to prove after missing World Cup ? OK not India or Australia but can't do much more than take three in twenty balls...

Might be four ?

Review...

Yeah , four for Willey

Now : will-e get a hat trick ?

just switched on to sit down and enjoy the cricket. over before it started

alfie wrote:Yeah , four for Willey

Now : will-e get a hat trick ?

See what you did there, Alfie.

I'm off out now for the afternoon. Suspect I'll be seeing the rest of this game on highlights.

Mahmood quite rapid , isn't he ? Consistent close to 90 I think. Decent lines too.

If , as guildford suggested , Ireland's batting is their strong suit ; this might be a rather one sided series !

Spin now : nice to see Rashid twirling them down again...

This lad Campher batting quite well...and Ireland certainly need someone to do so !

Useful partnership at least ensuring this won't be over before the interval. Assuming there isn't another collapse coming...

Chances of 100 looking distant now, after KOB plays an ill-advised loft and a very silly run-out leaves them 79/7.

England have had tougher days.

Poor show from Ireland really, had been hoping to drop into a good contest this evening.

Nice spell from Rashid...the enforced rest might have done him good. The shoulder probably needed some time off.

Think I'd bring Mahmood back now to try and wrap this up.

Good fifty for Campher

Under a lot of pressure coming in at 28/5 , on debut. Dragging Ireland towards some sort of respectability ...good support from McBrine.

Yes, quite good from Campher. Only played 1 List A game before this match against England, but must have impressed heavily during his turnout for Ireland 'A'.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/player/595921.html

157/9 currently. Gives the Irish something to bowl at.