As I mentioned last week, there were a few warm-up matches taking place last week, before tomorrow's ODI opener at the Rose Bowl between England and Australia - here's how they went:
Australia 231-9 (50 overs) (Paine 83 off 122) beat Ireland 192 (42 overs) (Hopes 9-1-14-5) by 39 runs
England 213-3 (33.4 overs) (Kieswetter 69 off 65, Strauss 61 off 43) beat Scotland 211 (49.5 overs) (Coetzer 51 off 63) by 7 wickets with 98 balls remaining
Australia 277-5 (47.5 overs) (White 106 off 120, M Hussey 72* off 99) beat Middlesex 275-5 (50 overs) (Shah 92 off 123, Newman 55 off 40) by 5 wickets with 13 balls remaining
Whilst England's win was every bit as convincing as it looks, the same cannot be said of the Australians. They were made to sweat in both games before an individual performance turned the game in their favour - despite all the regular faces being in the squad, they have yet to fire as a team. 231 was probably below par on a sticky Dublin wicket, especially when Will Porterfield and Paul Stirling helped Ireland reach 80-0 in the 11th over. A couple of quick Ryan Harris strikes followed by outstanding nagging medium pace from James Hopes folded the innings. Hopes is not really a strike bowler but used the conditions well in this instance - I still don't think he'll play a massive part on English pitches. Again, they struggled against Middlesex, first with the ball, where only Doug Bollinger came out with respectable figures (8-1-24-3). They then collapsed to 64-4 with the bat, before Cameron White, getting his priorities wrong playing for his country rather than Somerset, rode to the rescue. Interestingly, Middlesex fielded both overseas players, T20 star David Warner and legend Adam Gilchrist against their own country!
So what will England offer, now they seem to finally grasp the limited overs game? It will be interesting to see how Craig Kieswetter, a man I would turn for, gets on. He has yet to be tested at this level, relying on sheer hitting ability in the shorter form. He again reverted to this natural game in his 3rd ODI against Bangladesh, having looked susceptible to spin in the earlier games. Nathan Hauritz is not of that calibre but the overall attack is much more potent and so will test him. Strauss looked aggressive in Edinburgh and will want to prove his worth as a batsman, not just a captain (something I could do with learning!). What will Broad and Anderson offer? Broad was rested during the Bangladesh tests to undergo a strengthening programme (we know he can bowl in Test matches and he's quick enough so why bother?) and looked rubbish against Scotland (8-0-49-0), so needs to bounce back quickly. Anderson looked rusty in the tests after missing out on the latter half of the winter but will probably cause more problems than any other seamer in the squad. Spinners Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann should prosper. 3-2 England.
Finally, a very brief Victoria Sponge Lad of the Week - celebrating fine British performance this week:
Anthony McGrath (Yorkshire) - 73* off 50 balls (5 x 4s, 4 x 6s) in a 17 run win over local rivals Lancashire - a man for the big occasion as ever.
Gareth Batty (Surrey) - 4-0-23-4 to restrict Middlesex in another local derby to 128-9. The side got home with ease by 9 wickets
Ravi Bopara (Essex) - 4-0-13-3 followed up by 42 off 32 (5 x 4s) to seal a very comfortable win for his in-form side against Glamorgan.
Ali Brown (Notts) - 73 off 52 (6 x 4s, 3 x 6s) in an 11 run win over Durham
Tom Smith (Lancashire) - 2-0-10-0 and 51 off 55 (3 x 4s) against Warwickshire. The numbers don't look that impressive, but when your side squeezes home by 5 wickets with one ball left, runs and economiacal overs count!
I went for five nominations purely because there were so many matches this week. As for the winner... Ravi Bopara, all-round LAD
RM
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