Kent reached two one day finals with a team that bats down to number 11. Possible England Strategy? Team ?

Question

The recent significant winners of major one day competitions seem to win by using unorthodox tactics and strategies. Perhaps this is one england could use.

Answer 1

Yes, but they lost both games, a message there maybe ?.

Answer 2

tried it in the mid to late 90's failed got hammered by the west indies, and quite a few other sides. Cue calls for proper cricketers a side with as few changes between test and ODI as possible.

Answer 3

They also lost both of those finals (much to my dismay as a Kent fan).

It might work for a county team but not an international one. I think that having a line up where players all down the order can bat is helpful and beneficial to any team but it would be a mistake to follow that strategy every game on an international level. It could lead to an over reliance on tail-enders to get the runs if the lower and middle order fails (which happens too much as it is anyway). Bowlers have their own jobs to do without overburdening them with becoming competent batters as well, it would be too much responsibility for them and would be exhausting.

England need to find the right balance of having a team that is composed of the right amount of players with their own jobs to do as separate batters and bowlers (with the odd all-rounder thrown in for good measure), not a bunch of players who can do every job as a quasi-all-rounder.

Answer 4

who cares, anyway if i was south african i would be very embarrassed right now. OMG they lost to England Lions.

Answer 5

That would be a great idea, if England were to play a five-a-side match. What appears to have escaped your attention is the number of non-England qualified players in the Kent line up: Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood are Pakistan Internationals, Justin Kemp, Martin van Jaarsveld and Ryan McLaren are South African, and Robert Joseph is Antiguan (although I believe he may have been cleared to play for England).

So Kent becoming the England ODI side would be pretty interesting once we take out the ineligible players.

Key, Denly, Tredwell, Jones and Stevens. Possibly also Joseph. What a world beating line up.

Answer 6

Sure, why not? The most important thing for each and every team is winning. Winning is the top priority, no matter how it comes. So if England feel that they can win with 11 batters as well as have confident bowling from any of these guys, whichever team they come from - be it Kent, England national, or any other English cricket side, then that's what the national coaches might focus on bringing in.

England, like other cricket teams, just want to win matches. Nothing fancy like: scoring 400 runs in the 1st innings of a test match and then losing. No, that's not it!

The focus is purely on each and every cricket team is: winning.

So if they feel confident about 11 guys, then they'll bring those 11 guys to their national squad.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Yes, that may be so, but there is a big difference between 1st class cricket and international cricket. However, batting down the order does indeed help! You should never build your team around batting all that way down the list though. To allow a mind set that reallies on lower order batsmen, is fraught with danger. You still need your top order to fire. It may work at a local level for a short period but I don't think it is a long term prospect.