England vs Australia

Yes the games may well be mighty close - but the results may not entirely reflect that as Aussies have the finest finishers in the game. It wont be anything like the 6-0 dubbing England got the last time though.

I for one, won't be banking against Aussies clean sweeping anyteam right about now, your best bet against them is in Tests it seems.  Their fast bowlers are in form and have inform batters in Watson, White, Hussey, the former 2 being pretty destructive.  England though have KP, when he bats well, opposition doesn't matter and that guy Graeme Swann is awesome.

Australia has won something like 25 out of their last 30 ODIs. Wouldn't think they'd all of a sudden lose 4 out of 5 in one series! Harris has been the enforcer in ODIs alongside Bollinger, I'm more worried about the 3rd pacers spot being given to McKay. I'd rather have seen Tait given a go just for his pace and early movement with the new ball. Bollinger and Harris are sharp as well, but no faster than the English pacers.
I'm going to say 3-2 Australia based on White, Hussey and Watson's form with the bat... and Bollinger and Harris with the new ball. It will  be a good series, up for grabs for the most determined side.

England might not be too worried about the Australia bowlers... but likewise, none of the Aussie batsmen will be particularly troubled by the English bowlers either. There's no Flintoff or Simon Jones in that side. Tim Bresnan? He bowls as well as Shane Watson that bloke - which is not that great!

Edited by milkman - 22 June 2010 at 9:45am

In test cricket I'd say he's more effective, in ODIs not as much with that white ball. I don't rate Bresnan that much anyway... I'd rather see Onions opening the bowling with Anderson to be honest. Just my personal opinion though, I'm not a Bresnan hater, he's a decent player.

I said 3-2 under the assumption England has home advantage, but half the team aren't English

I think 4-1 for Australia. They are in good form in odis and odis are much different to the T20s, which England won in the T20 finals.

Originally posted by milkman In test cricket I'd say he's more effective, in ODIs not as much with that white ball. I don't rate Bresnan that much anyway... I'd rather see Onions opening the bowling with Anderson to be honest. Just my personal opinion though, I'm not a Bresnan hater, he's a decent player.

I don't rate Bresnan that highly either while I do rate Watson, I think he is a very fine bowler.

My prediction 3-2 to England. I think ENG are high on confidence and the home conditions will favor them. Their bowlers will prove to be more effective than the Aussies.

Originally posted by spin wizard Seeing Mystery made a prediction on 5-0, it most definitely now aint gonna be 5-0!

Originally posted by MalhotraRaj84 At half time , 268 to get for English, and they will do it with a style with few overs to spare.

Spot on as it turns out mate, nothing ridiculous about that assessment.

Tonight showed the huge value of Morgan. 18 months ago an England side finding themselves at 97-4 chasing 268 would have tried to survive and no more, and ended up being bowled out for 150 off about 42 overs.

I'm going to give Sam the benefit of the doubt and assume he was being massively ironic about Watson's bowling.


Edited by Clobber - 23 June 2010 at 7:42am

Originally posted by mystery If top 6 cant win it i dont think 7,8,9 and 10 will.

  I am not saying 7,8,9 and 10 will do the job.They are all good bowlers who can get seleted on bowling ability alone, then they have the extra edge of  their batting abilities. Then you have Luke at 6 who is bit of both, like Watson (more of batsman than bowler), but England's 7 (yardy),8(Bresnan),9(Swann),10(Broad) + Anderson make five good bowlers.KP and Colly add more dimention. If they play with same positive aggressive attitude, within no time we will see them soaring high in ODI rankings. 

Edited by MalhotraRaj84 - 23 June 2010 at 6:01pm

Watson actually looks decent in sub-continental conditions which is not something a lot of medium fast bowlers can say. With the old ball in tests, even here in Australia, you start seeing him to swing the ball big and he's dangerous. That's similar to Bresnan. As a new ball bowler though, Bresnan is definitely ahead. Watson's batting is good enough at the moment, he has been excellent with the bat, his bowling is a bonus to support the attack.

With regard to England, they bowled well. Batting was backed by a confident Morgan, who doesn't seem to crack under pressure - which is somewhat uncharacteristic of the English.

Watson is a more than decent 5th bowling option for his captain in ODIs. Australia always plays 3 main quicks and a spinner (Smith or Hauritz)... so overs can easily be split between he and Clarke. Anyone who is accurate and can bowl close to 140kph will do okay, it's only when you get the movement that you start getting wickets. He has a good wrist position, that's why I see him as a threat with the old ball in the longer version of the game. Perhaps next time Australia play India and there are 2 good spinner that Australia good play both the spinners and use Watson as the 3rd rather than 4th seamer. Like I said, he's actually fairly good over in the Indian conditions - even in the IPL he has done nicely opening the bowling. 

Wow!  England are actually playing good limited overs Cricket, let's hope it's here to stay, more better teams, more quality Cricket and this guy Morgan is just getting better.  When I first use to look at him, I use to say he won't last long, the guy strikes the ball very cleanly.  KP is back scoring runs as well which is a boost.  If Keiswetter does a job, England will be a good force because Strauss is a realiable player, along with the likes of KP, Morgan and Collingwood plus you have guys like Broad and Swann who can bat.

I knew ENG would do well in this series and to be honest they always do well at home but even I'm surprised that it's 2-0 and ENG have done it quite comfortably. AUS will surely come back hard though.

can't believe Collingwood is ENG's leading ODI run getter!!!