The series starts tomorrow. With australia still trying to find their feet in Egnlish conditions and bD just there to fill the third place, England must be favourites to win the series, even though writing off Australia is a dangerous proposition. Will Australia put on the flawless show they are so famous for? Watch the series.
NatWest Series 2005 Schedule and Results
Thu 16 Jun England v Bangladesh Brit Oval
Sat 18 Jun Australia v Bangladesh Sophia Gardens
Sun 19 Jun England v Australia Bristol
Tue 21 Jun England v Bangladesh Trent Bridge
Thu 23 Jun England v Australia Riverside
Sat 25 Jun Australia v Bangladesh Old Trafford
Sun 26 Jun England v Bangladesh Headingley
Tue 28 Jun England v Australia Edgbaston
Thu 30 Jun Australia v Bangladesh Canterbury
Sat 02 Jul Lord’s Final
[QUOTE]
The series starts tomorrow. With australia still trying to find their feet in Egnlish conditions and bD just there to fill the third place, England must be favourites to win the series, even though writing off Australia is a dangerous proposition. Will Australia put on the flawless show they are so famous for? Watch the series
I think that would be a premature statement to make at this stage that england must be favourite. Australia can bounce back any time plus i dont know if england will be able to perform consistently well in the ODI's. Mind you that they haven't proved to be a solid ODI side lately unlike their test performance. But yes they can feel very strongly that they can defeat australia in the ODI series.
Australia’s LG ICC ODI Championship lead not under threat in NatWest Series
Australia goes into the NatWest Series against England and Bangladesh with the highest ever rating in the LG ICC One-Day International Championship.
Its rating of 140 is four points higher that when it won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 and its lead at the top of the official table is such that even if it loses all of its matches against England and Bangladesh it will still hold a comfortable 13-point advantage over its nearest rival, Sri Lanka.
England, currently sixth in the LG ICC table, can close the gap on the top five with a winning series. If England makes the final without losing a game it will climb from 103 to 111 points, one point less than Pakistan and South Africa. A victory in the final would see England overtake both of these sides.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings Ricky Ponting must perform well to hold on to number one spot in the ODI batting. His closest rival going into the series is teammate Adam Gilchrist while Andrew Flintoff, fifth, is the highest ranked English batsman.
Flintoff has a chance to become the only player to feature in both batting and bowling ODI top tens if he has a good series with the ball. He is currently the second ranked English bowler in 11th place, one place behind Darren Gough. The leading ODI bowler is currently Australia’s Glenn McGrath while his teammates Brett Lee, fourth, and Jason Gillespie, sixth are also in the top ten.
The highest ranked Bangladeshi in the LG ICC ODI Player Rankings is bowler Mohammad Rafiq who will be looking to improve on 29th place over the course of the series.
Aus beaten by Somerset as well.... hmmmm.... Brett Lee, McGrath/Gillespie not very effective in these games - I would say that England have the best chance they will ever have to gain some morale boosting advantage before the real stuff begins....
Khan Sahib read the full post, I did say that writing off Australia is a dangerous proposition. The last time these two sides met in an ODI, guess who won?
ehsan bhai i did read your whole post. There is nothing new which you said about australia i.e. writing off aussies is a dangerous proposition. Every one knows that. But c’mon at the same time you said that england must be favourite. Now how can you say that? There is NO team in cricket right now for which you can say that they are favourite to win agianst australia. Yes if some one like england is performing well you can say that they will give them a tough fight.
As long as you statement that who won the last encounter, yes it was england in ICC semi final . But do you want to know when was the last time england beat australia in an ODI before the ICC semi final victory? They beat aussies in January 1999. After that Australia beat them in 14 consecutive matches until ICC semi final. So i don’t think that really matters who won the last match
Having said that i really hope that aussie get an ass kicking defeat this summer:D
Australia is always dangerous and probably will win but right now England have got their tails up and Aus won't find it that easy. Australia is not invincible, there is no such thing in cricket.
Yes Australia is the strongest team in the world but that does not mean that they cannot be defeated. WI was teh strongest team in the 80's, much stronger than what Australia is today, yet they lost the 1983 world cup to India. You can be strong yet lose a tournament or two.
Who said that aussies are not invincible???
Ehsan sahib read my earlier posts and you wil get an idea what i am trying to say. Since the time Ashes related threads were started i have been constantly saying kay england has a chance to beat australia this time. After a long time we will hopefully see Ashes where england will have a chance to regain what they won in 1987.
I was disagreeing when you said that england must be favorite to win .
^ Read the full sentence England must be favourites to win the series, even though writing off Australia is a dangerous proposition.
OK that is enough on this subject. Personally I don't care who wins. I will be at Edgbaston to watch Eng v Aus and hope to enjoy it regardless of the result. A few sixes from Hayden and Gilchrist followed by Flintoff and Pieterson will make my day.
haan jee aap kay kenay par aik aur dafa read karlya hay kay England must be favourites to win the series, even though writing off Australia is a dangerous proposition.
Yes i guess enough:bukbuk: on this suject.
Lets see how badly bengalis will perform in the first ODI
and you wil get an idea what i am trying to say. Since the time Ashes related threads were started i have been constantly saying kay england has a chance to beat australia this time. After a long time we will hopefully see Ashes where england will have a chance to regain what they won in 1987.