Trust the stormy petrel of English cricket Graeme Swann to tell it like it is; in his latest salvo fired from the BBC radio's much vaunted "Test Match Special" programme; Swann said that he personally believed that the English cricket team did not have a "cat in hell's chance" of winning the cricket World Cup slated to be held in Australia/ New Zealand in 2015 unless they added considerable fire to their top order batting and bolstered the same.........
Continuing with his tirade; Swann said that while he had the highest regard for incumbent captain Alastair Cook; the fact remained that his position in the England ODI team was certainly in dispute as Cook only served to slow down the progress of the team in the initial overs with his dogged and dour batting that was far more suited to the 5 day format rather than the 50 over format that was being dominated by batsmen who could get their teams of to 50+ run starts at the end of the first ten overs (mandatory batting power play)..........
Elucidating his theory further; Swann said that he would have Hampshire's quicksilver opening bat alongside Alex Hales at the very top of the English batting line up while Messrs James Taylor and Jason Roy would be his selections for the number 3 and 4 batting positions in the English line up..........
According to Swann only Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales had the potential to trump the rest of the cricketing world and emerge as World Cup Champions amongst the current English ODI team while the rest of the lot only made up the ranks and served to ensure the continuance of the present committee in their positions for that much longer..........
Rounding off his sound criticism of the selectorial policies of the ECB; Swann also wondered why experienced and proven all rounder Ravi Bopara was languishing in the cricketing wilderness (out of the English ODI ranks) despite having proven his utility to the team times without end.....
One would do well to remember the fact that the 35 year old Swann represented team England with distinction in 60 test matches and 79 ODI's before announcing his retirement from all forms of the game in December 2013 after England was trounced by a 5-0 margin by a marauding or all conquering Australian team in the much vaunted Ashes series held on Australian soil..........
Continuing with his tirade; Swann said that while he had the highest regard for incumbent captain Alastair Cook; the fact remained that his position in the England ODI team was certainly in dispute as Cook only served to slow down the progress of the team in the initial overs with his dogged and dour batting that was far more suited to the 5 day format rather than the 50 over format that was being dominated by batsmen who could get their teams of to 50+ run starts at the end of the first ten overs (mandatory batting power play)..........
Elucidating his theory further; Swann said that he would have Hampshire's quicksilver opening bat alongside Alex Hales at the very top of the English batting line up while Messrs James Taylor and Jason Roy would be his selections for the number 3 and 4 batting positions in the English line up..........
According to Swann only Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales had the potential to trump the rest of the cricketing world and emerge as World Cup Champions amongst the current English ODI team while the rest of the lot only made up the ranks and served to ensure the continuance of the present committee in their positions for that much longer..........
Rounding off his sound criticism of the selectorial policies of the ECB; Swann also wondered why experienced and proven all rounder Ravi Bopara was languishing in the cricketing wilderness (out of the English ODI ranks) despite having proven his utility to the team times without end.....
One would do well to remember the fact that the 35 year old Swann represented team England with distinction in 60 test matches and 79 ODI's before announcing his retirement from all forms of the game in December 2013 after England was trounced by a 5-0 margin by a marauding or all conquering Australian team in the much vaunted Ashes series held on Australian soil..........
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