Known Knowns

Yes I've been incredibly lazy in the last few weeks - the second and third Tests were such damp squibs that I simply didn't bother to cover them and all the other Wimbledon coverage, a classic Canadian Grand Prix and some ludicrous transfer rumours have simply passed me by. But then I am on holiday. So I'm over it.

Regarding Graeme's analysis of Saturday's T20, the highlights of which I caught on my way back from Istanbul (I resisted the temptation to ask a man in a suit if he had a match), he felt that someone with a little more experience in cricketing matters needed to analyse where it all went wrong. So here I go:

Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter were the openers in the Caribbean World Cup victory last year. Since then, Lumb has been injured and overshadowed domestically by his Hampshire opening partner James Adams. To my mind, Bell should be in the side in his place - I have a very vested interest in Kieswetter, who offers that extra dimension with the gloves as well as a superior technique. But, like Lumb, he goes hard at the ball early doors. You can only really afford one opener to do that. Bell, in the form of his life, should have been there to help his less experienced colleague to keep his head.

Suranga Lakmal did not bowl shit. Thissara Perera did. Sri Lanka are a much better one-day outfit than they are a Test unit. As a unit, with the wiles of Malinga and Jayasuriya, they gave England nothing. The only man in the XI who is not worthy of selection is Luke Wright, who is an all-rounder in that both his batting and bowling are equally mediocre at best. Rather than looking at it as an inherent problem in English T20 cricket, let's just say they had a real off day. And I actually thought Jade Dernbach bowled pretty well. Even if his name is horrendous.

Finally Broad - I will defend him by saying that selection decisions are not made by him alone. But he must stopping bowling short deliveries all the time. Yes, he does bowl a very good bouncer but by persisting with it the element of surprise is lost and you can be lined up and dispatched. As he was here, along with the very average looking Chris Woakes (Tim Bresnan would have played if fit - but Woakes is young and needs to learn how to control the new ball better. His time will come again). And you cannot position yourself at fine leg as a captain, especially in T20 when you need to be constantly changing your fields. I've done it myself for half an over and felt totally isolated from the decision-making process and so swapped myself back into the ring. This was a chastening debut for him. But he may learn.

Or he may not...
RM