Beefy's Corner.......For all off Topic threads

Not any more! Would be a big effort to keep this under 260.

 

They reckon these high scores at the end of a match will be more common under the new rule changes. England managed it at the end of the last match, whereas India were down to their tail enders by that stage.


265-5. Decent score, but not massive.

Finished 285-6 Expensive last over.

 

Not sure what I dislike more, Dernbach's bowling (I've never rated him, even before England called him up) or this new fielding restriction.

 

He seems very hit and miss to be honest. All these 'variations' and whatnot, some games it works reasonably well, other games he seems to get battered. Would prefer someone a little bit steadier.

Great batting from Dhoni and Jadeja, that helicopter shot is just ridiculous, drops my jaw every time Dhoni plays it.

 

England will have to bat really well to win this one!

 

I remember my jaw dropping when he first got called up. I'd seen him many times before in county cricket - both live and on TV - and not once did I think I was watching a future England bowler. We seem to be hung up on the fact that he's got all these different variations, and variations is apparently what the modern day fast bowler should have in limited overs cricket.

Personally, give me Dimi Mascarenhas' immense control and tight line for Hampshire any day of the week!

 

Too true. Think Dimi has been very unlucky not to have more England caps.

 

Had we used him in the right way, then I'm certain that we would have done. Unfortunately we saw him as a second change seamer, who'd generally bowl outside of the powerplay, as well as being a guy who could smash some boundaries on a regular basis up at no.6 or 7. When actually, he's an opening bowler who can sometimes clear the ropes on his day.

He was never going to do anything at international level as a second change seamer, bowling outside of the powerplay, because he was simply too easy to milk for runs. He needs fielders in close, as there are in the powerplay, to cut off those easy 1s and 2s, so that batsmen have to try and hit him - which, at county level any way, is exceptionally difficult to do. It's pretty much a rule in county cricket; if you go after Dimi, you get out.

But of course, rightly or wrongly, he was never going to get the new ball ahead of Anderson, Flintoff, Broad, Harmison etc.

 

Always thought Dimi got a rough deal, and too late for him now unfortunately. I'd take him in a heartbeat over Dernbach and Woakes but they are younger so get the nod.

Remind you of anyone else? A Hampshire sportsman who has more ability and plays to a greater level than his younger peers but doesn't get a look-in to his national team?

 

Met Dimi once. Nice guy.

 

Although his bowling hasn't been great in the past 12 months - for England or Warwickshire - I do have hopes for Woakes. Along with Ben Stokes, Woakes has the potential to become the next true all-rounder. For a bowler, the lad can seriously bat.

Both us and Notts wasted the chance to turn Broad into an all-rounder. Batting him down at no.8 was never going to improve his batting sufficiently. I hope the same mistake isn't made again with Woakes (and thankfully, Warks have batted him at no.7 before), especially because he looks a better batsmen than Broad did a few years back when there was all this hope around him.

Given another year or two, I'd like to think that Chris Wood will have moved up into this category too. But for now, I think it's just Woakes and Stokes who could be our next Botham or Flintoff.

 

Dernbach is atrocious at international level. He is only in the squad because of his reputation in county cricket. Danny Briggs should be playing instead of him.

 

But like I say, he's not even that good in country cricket.

If you want a Surrey bowler who's shown real promise in county cricket, then you want Stuart Meaker (who is currently on the fringes of the ODI team).

We'll never go into an ODI match with only two seamers, it's just not in our mentality, so the only chance that Briggs would get into this team (alongside Tredwell) would be by dropping a bastmen and playing Woakes at no.7. But I can't see that happening, and fair enough I guess.

 

Quite agree, I like Woakes with the bat, but don't like him at the moment as a third seamer, even if we are on the sub-continent. Personally prefer us to have three out-and-out seamers and a proper spinner (If they know which end of the bat to hold like Broad or Swann - Great!) and then add in all-rounders from there, for the first four batting shouldn't even come into the equation.

 

But judging by the stats of this match, 3 spinners is the way to go: 22 overs of spin for 96 runs... and 28 overs of pace for 184.

 

Strachan is brilliant in press conferences. Remember when a reporter asked if he was the right man for the Saints job he said: "No. If you ask suipid questions you're going to get a stupid answer."

 

I don't disagree with you in the slightest. I'm just saying it wont happen. It's against our mentality. It took us until we were nearly out of the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent to realise that we should play Swann and Tredwell together.

We're the same in test cricket. Starting both the away series to Pakistan and the away series to India this year with just Swann, not picking Monty alongside him until we've lost the first test.

 

Losing our way at the moment. Have to keep wickets for the late slog which seems to be the way to win under the new rules.

 

A creepy little **** called DealPly has worked its way onto my computer and I can't find a way to get rid of it. Anybody got any ideas?

 

We need wickets in hand but we also need to be in a position to actually make the late slog. We're a way off in terms of runs, if we keep going as is it would take a monumental last ten overs.