England gloating thread

[vvvslaxman]

Way too much gloating is going on in the press and in the commentary box. Let us collect the tweets, articles, commentaries related to this here.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-7047281/England-captain-Eoin-Morgan-just-right-team-ready-World-Cup.html

England captain Eoin Morgan has it just right... his team are ready for the challenge of winning the World Cup - NASSER HUSSAIN

 

You couldn’t ask for better preparation leading into a World Cup than winning a series 4-0 and putting in the kind of performances that England have against Pakistan. There have been good contributions from pretty much everyone involved and one of the really important things for me is that the captain Eoin Morgan is in really fine form.

Over the last year or so he has been phenomenal for England and his longer-term statistics are impressive, too. Since returning from the 2015 World Cup in Australia, only Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Joe Root have scored a greater volume of one-day international runs.

Think about how England are heading into this World Cup, and compare it to how they entered the last one, and they are chalk and cheese. They have done everything possible, not just in the batting, but in their fielding, and as a bowling unit. Yes, Pakistan have scored some runs throughout but there have been some bloomin’ flat pitches.

As a group, they couldn’t have done any more, which makes the cut for the final places in the squad tough. What has been impressive is how those with the axe hovering over them have not frozen or gone conservative in their approach. None of these guys have played for themselves. That’s not something this new breed under Morgan and Trevor Bayliss do. Everyone has continued to take the no-fear approach to their cricket and for that reason I think there will be a genuine feeling of sympathy for whoever misses out.

Even at this late stage, they’re still finding players like Tom Curran putting in cameos with bat and ball, while Chris Woakes is taking wickets with the new ball. Whichever way they go on selection, they will have 15 individuals who are in the perfect place to win the World Cup. 
They have to make sure when they get to those key matches, the crunch situations, they don’t slip into bad habits.
I don’t think they will. Under Morgan and Bayliss they have adopted a go-for-it attitude and taking the right option at the right time is second nature to them. They have fine cricketers throughout, they have added to their quality with the inclusion of Jofra Archer, and possess balance in the squad.

One thing for certain is that we are set for a run-fest. We are not going to be seeing totals of 250, 260, 270. Everything is going to be 300-plus. I’ve heard people say that it is a concern that the opposition keep getting totals of 300 to 360. England — because it’s at home and they have experienced so many high-scoring matches for two or three years — won’t be intimidated when they get into tournament mode. Morgan’s team are ready for the challenge of becoming the first men’s side from England to win a global 50-over trophy.

[cric_fan]

They won’t win it. When it comes to the crunch, they will crumble.

[The Dark Horse]

Great thread, if they win the world cup...need to keep the TV switched off for a month...

[sriniwu]

the only teams with a good bowling unit are india and aus ...england have a single minded approach to batting ,and, the day it goes wrong, dont have the bowling to fall back on

[zen]

7 minutes ago, sriniwu said:

the only teams with a good bowling unit are india and aus ...england have a single minded approach to batting ,and, the day it goes wrong, dont have the bowling to fall back on

Weren’t ppl saying similar things about India in 2011?  .... in 1996, it was SL’s bubble will burst sooner or later 

[Khota]

I still think England and Australia have the best chance followed by India.

[sriniwu]

50 minutes ago, zen said:

Weren’t ppl saying similar things about India in 2011?  .... in 1996, it was SL’s bubble will burst sooner or later 

whatever...as long as we beat pak+ enter the finals

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, sriniwu said:

the only teams with a good bowling unit are india and aus ...england have a single minded approach to batting ,and, the day it goes wrong, dont have the bowling to fall back on

World cup is won by team with better bowling.  No team has ever won purely with batting ability.  They have so many banana skin matches.

[WC2011INDIA]

34 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

World cup is won by team with better bowling.  No team has ever won purely with batting ability.  They have so many banana skin matches.

Then we should have never won 2011 WC as bowling was not the strongest. It was just decent.

[Gollum]

40 minutes ago, WC2011INDIA said:

Then we should have never won 2011 WC as bowling was not the strongest. It was just decent.

2011 WC was won by our bowlers who performed beyond expectations as a unit, especially in the 3 KO matches. Even 83 WC, 85 BH we won because of our bowling. 

[SK_IH]

They have many things going for them and I think they should be highly disappointed if they dont go onto win this. The assembly of hitters in their side may not available in the next world cup and also playing at home will be a big boost.

[Bigg Brother]

Imagine them being defeated by Pakistan in  KO match after all the beating they are givng to Pakistan in Bilaterals throughout this 4 years.

[R!TTER]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

2011 WC was won by our bowlers who performed beyond expectations as a unit, especially in the 3 KO matches. Even 83 WC, 85 BH we won because of our bowling. 

Every WC game is high pressure, this is why good or avg bowling attacks punch above their weights. We did nothing special that we haven't done in 2015 or 2003, in fact if you look at the number of successful 300+ chases in a WC you'll find that it's nearly impossible especially in KO games. My point is the WC pressure adds extra teeth to good, disciplined bowling attacks - on the other hand do you remember the 2003 final & how Zak completely lost it in the first over for us 

 

The corollary to the above is that it's nearly impossible to win against great bowling attacks in a WC, like WI or Aus, unless their bowling & batting flops bigly on the same day.

Edited May 20, 2019 by R!TTER

[Khota]

I rather take strong bowling + fielding and decent batting over strong batting + fielding and decent bowling.

The only variable I can't factor is the easy pitch.

[WC2011INDIA]

9 hours ago, Gollum said:

2011 WC was won by our bowlers who performed beyond expectations as a unit, especially in the 3 KO matches. Even 83 WC, 85 BH we won because of our bowling. 

Exactly. It was a decent bowling unit that  overperformed. This so called great bowling attack could very well underperform. Need I remind you what happened in CT 2017 in the finals. Then again that match was sold.

[Norman]

17 minutes ago, WC2011INDIA said:

Exactly. It was a decent bowling unit that  overperformed. This so called great bowling attack could very well underperform. Need I remind you what happened in CT 2017 in the finals. Then again that match was sold.

This was not our attack in the CT final. 

Two or arguably three new guys if we take Shami as well. 

 

 

[Gollum]

CT final was lost by the batsmen, 350 was par score on that patta. 

[vvvslaxman]

CT final had one spinner too many for a subcontinent team. Also Ash was returning from an injury. India needs to play more seamers against Padosis

[nitinbwj]

12 hours ago, WC2011INDIA said:

Then we should have never won 2011 WC as bowling was not the strongest. It was just decent.

Huh !! Yuvraj,Zaheer ? They bowled their best in the WC.Without our bowling,we would have never won the WC.

[sandeep]

12 hours ago, Gollum said:

2011 WC was won by our bowlers who performed beyond expectations as a unit, especially in the 3 KO matches. Even 83 WC, 85 BH we won because of our bowling. 

yes, the bowlers did well in 2011.  But its undeniable that India's formidable batting strength acted as a force multiplier for the bowlers.  Don't remember whether it was Sangakarra or Mahela who said it, but they said something along the lines that facing India meant that you needed extra 15-20 runs on top of the 'par' score to feel competitive. That sort of pressure makes a decent bowling unit, more threatening.  England can expect a similar effect on their bowling.  In fact, that impact is why a guy like Liam Plunkett has decent ODI stats over the last couple of years.  Even Moeen Ali. 

 

Just like Yuvraj Singh ended up being a bowling trump-card for us in 2011, an unheralded 'just decent' bowler, can come through for England - as long as the batting keeps delivering.  Often, just the pressure of that batting threat, will make teams change their plans.