Monday 6 April 2009

England ODI Ratings

Here are the series ratings for England's surprising 3-2 victory in the West Indies.

Andrew Strauss 8
Exceptional once more, impressing with his greater weight of stroke in his second coming as an international player. His ODI place is secure; he's a more impressive figure at the top of the order than Bell and Cook.

Ravi Bopara 6
Promising signs without ever playing a decisive innings; ultimately his average (29) and strike-rate (74) were both disappointing. But may as well be perservered with at the top of the order.

Kevin Pietersen 4
Top-scored in the final game but overall endured a miserable series.

Owais Shah 6
His 62 in the opening victory suggested he may respond admirably to his miserable Test series but it wasn't to be: perennially on edge, he too often struggled to get off strike. But his ODI place should remain secure.

Paul Collingwood 7
Ended his recent poor spell in ODIs with vital contributions with bat and ball alike.

Andrew Flintoff 6
Increasingly hopeless with a bat in his hand, but Flintoff delivered one of his finest ever spells to clinch series victory in the final game. With his 90mph yorkers and unerring consistency, he is England's best ODI bowler. But what to make of his batting?

Matt Prior 6
England have finally established he is no ODI opener but, having ended their obsession with opening with a keeper-batsman, Prior has a role to play in the middle-order. However, there is also a case for James Foster to play ODIs and Twenty20s.

Dimitri Mascarenhas 7
Bowled cannily in the middle overs, the highlight being a strangling 3-26 in the 4th game. The pitches were not conducive to his explosive late hitting, but England are a strong

Gareth Batty 4
A depressing selection, and his performances were predictably mediocre. England were incredibly cautious not to blood Adil Rashid. Batty, one must hope, will never get near an England short again.

Stuart Broad 6
Somewhat expensive at times, England will be relived he is taking the IPL off ahead of a huge summer. But his relish for the international game is beyond doubt.

Steve Harmison 5
In-out-in-out - but no wickets for 139 from 25 overs in the series suggests the next time he's dropped may just be his last.

James Anderson 7
After a mysteriously nightmarish 2008 in ODIs - 10 wickets at 75 - Anderson took his excellent form from the Tests into this series. He is now established as England's opening bowler in all formats of the game.

The Verdict
England were somewhat fortunate to win this series, coming as it did without a win in a 50-over game. However, an ODI victory in the West Indies is nonetheless a noteworthy achievement. Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower must now be given the chance to work together in the long-term. Nonetheless, England are hardly shaping up well for the looming World Twenty20.

3 comments:

Rob said...

Flintoff: returning from injury, easily the class of the bowling attack including a 5-for, hat-trick and a man of match: 6

Harmison: useless, no wickets or speed: 5

Mascarenhas: 24 off an over (and was lucky to get away with that): 7

I think you are either giving Flintoff a hard time or the others the benefit (or both).

Also, Dyson: 9 :D

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