So near yet so far... Still, as Victoria said, at the beginning of the tournament, no one gave them a tinker's chance of getting beyond the round-robin stage, so well done, England; & jolly good for getting to the actual final

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to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

It's been a while, but given it seems like the Pakistan series should be quite enthralling, I wondered on what people would do with the bigger squad we have for Old Trafford. I'm not a fan of chopping and changing frequently, as history shows that's ineffective at best, but here is the team I'd pick from the squad.

1. Cook
2. Hales
3. Root
4.
5.
6. Stokes
7. Bairstow
8. Woakes
9. Broad
10.
11. Anderson

Obviously I've left 4, 5 and 10 open. I think what I favour is giving Vince and Ballance another go at 4 and 5 respectively, then letting Rashid take the 10 spot. With Stokes and Woakes both capable all-rounders, this seems not too batting light, and Moeen, much as I like him, is really not at his best currently. However, given the current selection policies, which I'm mostly in favour of, I think it's more likely Ballance will be dropped for Stokes, Anderson will come in for Ball, and the order will stay the same.

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"But with a chance to make it good somehow, hey, what else could we do now?" - Bruce Springsteen

As a Hampshire Member, I have a lot of time for Vince, but either he's let it go to his head, or he's had some bad advice, because his batting for England isn't being gone about in the same way as he does for Hampshire. But I'd keep him in with a talking-to.

I also like Ballance, but he has had more chances than Vince; and I wonder about putting in Sam Billings - but then who keeps wicket?...

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to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

My hope, when I proposed this group, was that I'd have people to talk to durring the Tests. That hasn't quite happened!

However, when it comes to "the Team", the person I want dropped is Geoffrey Boycott.

Boycott does my head in! Thank goodness Sky have lovely David Lloyd . I've been keeping an eye on the cricket, but I'm watching the Olympic tennis. I've got a soft spot for Edgbaston because I was at university in Birmingham and the university's also in Edgbaston. I once managed to get sunburnt at the cricket ground when I went to watch a one-dayer between Warwickshire and Lancashire!

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We really must stop eating like this ...

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

http://setinthepast.wordpress.com/

Sky for the pictures, TMS for the commentary, Cricinfo for the stats.

Good win for England! bit nail-biting at the end when Pakistan' last pair were sticking around.

Very pleased - showed good character from the English team to bring that back.

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"But with a chance to make it good somehow, hey, what else could we do now?" - Bruce Springsteen

The Baistow Affair - where he manages to sprain his ankle, gets it strapped up and goes on to score a 50 - was very GO!

Lovely comment posted on the Cricinfo site regarding today's Eng vs Australia match

"Listening to radio broadcast backed with crinifo commentary right hear the Bangladesh -Myanmar border. But dont think we are slacking protecting the borders...even the smugglers took a day off. GO ENGLAND."