Hehe how wrong I was, sorry SA fans but that was a choke if I ever saw one. Broad is one dam good ODI player, makes quite the difference to this English attack. And credit to the English, they suck against the minnows but they are delivering the goods against the favourites.
The highlights were praising Strauss for his use of the bowlers, I am of the opposite opinion. He gave us a chance by chopping and changing, but then he gave Yardy and KP 17 overs off which 76 runs came for just one wicket when he didn't need to, in fact he should have stuck with our likeliest wicket taking options until such a time as he had to 'call for back up'. How does Strauss explain that our best bowler was 4th (?) change and when he'd taken 2/12 was taken off? Same for Anderson, bowled ok but Strauss was so in awe of what Peterson and Tahir had done that he couldn't see past spin.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have tried Yardy or Pietersen, but if we were going to win that game it wasn't going to be Yardy and Pietersen winning it. Spinners bowled 27 overs for England and took two wickets, quicks bowled 20.4 overs and took seven wickets. Raises the age old question of whether you pick horses for courses (donkeys in Yardy's case
) or pick your best bowlers regardless of type or course. Considering Yardy had taken 1/113 in the previous two matches, 0/49 against Ireland, and Pietersen had bowled just two overs for 19 runs against HOLLAND, I think I'd have been sticking with the form bowlers.
Who comes in to replace KP? Well there is a good question, I'd promote Trott to open and find a half-decent spinner batsman to come in. Shame they decided to take Look Shight (is Shight) and Tredwell, although I wonder if they'll play Tredwell soon. Would have been wise to play him against the minnows, maybe they will against Bung-le-dash