He also said we need to 'bat out of hell'

I'll be off

Yes, two out of three ain't bad at all Hoggy.

well some one wich great amount of wisdom also said , getting to the top is onething and staying there for long term is another thing, lets first see if you can last as long as we did

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Someone also said you are only as good as your last effort

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yes neon silly me , till 2012 then

We deserve to be based on our excellent Test efforts.

We did so well to win the T20 World Cup, but I haven't been blown away since (though we have hardly played much).

Good to see us in the mix with the Worlds best!

Currently, they are hammered in the subcontinent amd that does not provide ideal momentum for the 2 test series that they are to play in the subcontinent.

Agreed. It doesn't.
As great as we have been in Tests, we have to prove ourselves away to India, Sri Lanka and South Africa to be labelled one of the greats. A long way to go but good progress.

The last great team was the Aussie team with Warne and co.

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One of the reason why I feel there is such discrepancy in their test and odi performance of English over the last decade and a half is because of selection policy. They opt for several odi specialist in shorter format which is risky because if they dont possess adequate technique, they will be exposed against the world's best.Ian Chappell constantly makes the point that most of the successful test players can do well in the ODI game because they have overcome the ultimate challenge.I remember they opted for several odi specialist in 99 WC like Ealham, Austin. Fairbrother and others and they were eliminated inspite of playing at home.

The Aussies were successful with specialist players like Moody, Lehmann, Hogg and Harvey.

and England were successful with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. Cant recall any such odi specialist apart from Nick Knight.

My point is, ODI specialists can play an important role.

None of those names I mentioned made it at test level but were all part of a succesful team.

England picking Cook as captain proves how much they care or don't care about ODI's.
He's being groomed as our test skipper and that's why he got the ODI job.

Exclude Lehman if u meant Darren Lehman

What's his test record like?

I always thought it was average although I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

Career averages Span Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St
overall 1998-2004 27 1798 177 44.95 5 15 3/42 27.46 0 11 0


I remember he played a very important role in Aussie's winning test series against Lanka in Lanka in 2004.

Ok, good record but my point is valid.

Specialist players are needed but not too many in one team.

Morgan may prove to be a ODI specialist?

Bell on the other hand is a very very good test batsman but cannot get going in ODI's.

Players like Bairstow and Kieswetter are our new breed. I cannot see either of them making it at test level but they will hopefully make it in the 50 over format.

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From memory I think most of the successful ODI teams have had 7 or 8 of their test team plus 3 or 4 specialists.
England have mostly had more of their test team or in the present case too few.

Kieswetter and Bopara are supposedly ODI specialists but their averages of 28 and 29 respectively gives lie to that belief.

Teams use to play their test players in their ODI team but Australia certainly changed that approach.

Like hope says, 3-4 is enough. These 3-4 need to be better than Luke Wright or Ronnie Irani though.

What I find odd is in the recent world cup in the tied game against India, Ian Bell scored 69, S/R 97 but has been sitting in the dressing room watching Kieswetter and Bopara fail time after time.
I have the feeling that Cook doesn't want him in his team.
I wonder if the fact that Bell applied for the ODI captaincy has something to do with it.

But Bell doesn't keep or bowl (well not no more).

You knew as soon as Cook was made skipper that Bell's place was in jepoardy.

Bopara doesn't bowl well either. I fail to understand why Trott isn't used as a bowler now and then.