the annoying thing is this will probably work out for england.
it's tedious and irritating cricket but clearly they wanted to get to say 35 over with as many wickets in hand as possible and then attack. just odd to see, trott has played like they were 4 or 5 down inside the first 10 overs.
England have loaded themselves on the batting side and are hoping Bopara and Root get through overs, not the best approach in my book as you're basically given away much prospect of a wicket from your fifth bowler and just hoping the 10 overs go for say 40-50 runs. Even if it does 'go to plan', they'll be giving away 50 runs before the death overs and releasing pressure.
At least Woakes posed a real wicket threat, not that I'd stick with him (overall)
England are tossing this one away, with their 'strength' lying in batting they really could have done with posting a big total. At the moment they're heading for a par total. Where was the acceleration?
10 overs : 54/0 - two batsmen set
20 overs : 87/1 - momentum gone, Trott 11 off 24 balls while Bell added 18 more to his score off 29 balls
30 overs : 142/1 - picked up a bit
40 overs : 196/4 - wickets falling, but still six in hand to push on
Just lost too much in that second spell while Trott plays Test cricket. I think we'll be looking at 270-280 when 300+ was on for most of that innings.
142/1 doubled = 284 but we've gone with extra batting, Bopara is an ok bowler but the aussies should target him and Root, if Anderson doesn't turn up or Broad or Bresnan are expensive as they are half the time, then we'll be lucky to defend this.
As I type it's now six down, England looking like they might only limp past 250 with 32 balls left and only 216 on the board. Shambles?
re the issue of Morgan/promoting batsmen, you want to give your aggressive one-day stroke-maker enough time to make a big score, not so long he's every chance of not being there at the end and you don't want him in when wickets are tumbling.
I'd suggest the fall of Trott's wicket at 168/2 in the 34th over would have been about right, 16 overs to go, no worries at that stage about wickets in hand and the innings could have done with an injection of pace, even if only scurrying singles better. Problem is the one-day side is filled with Test players and the importance of pacing the innings, quick singles etc isn't a big part of Test cricket.
It's interesting just scanning down the c*****fo scorecard that only Bopara of the (top seven) batsmen has an SR of greater than 80 in this innings. Putting Bell down as the anchor that is weak, considering all got a start and Bopara could be the fourth to make it to 30.
England are way too wooden, "rigid" as tuffers put it, and just simply don't seem to get one-day cricket. They seem better suited to leisurely accumulating runs on decent batting tracks, rotating the bowlers until the opposition make a mistake or pressure is built from a big total on the board.
Should make around 260 now, thanks to some fortune for Bresnan. I think that "double your score at 30 overs" rule of thumb may show England are likely to fall a good 20-25 runs shy of a decent total, should really have been looking at 300 from 163/1 after 33 overs. Don't forget we're effectively gambling on our fifth bowler, are without Swann and don't know if Bresnan or Broad will keep it tight, Anderson too for that matter, although he's become a little more consistent recently
