Captain Colly!

The ECB announced the One Day squad for the upcoming Twenty20 and 50-over internationals against the West Indies yesterday. Paul Collingwood will captain England, and for one am pleased with some of the decisions made by the selectors. Players like Dimitri Mascharenhas, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad are bold and brave, especially the first two. Broad has been around the squad a bit in the past year, but Mascharenhas and Trott, whilst maybe being touted by the media, haven't been considered previously be selectors. It is also good the Sidebottom is in the squad after his good performances so far this summer. Personally, I am pleased Owais Shah has another chance to shine, and hopefully he will. He is a batsman he likes to fill his boots when he gets the chance, and now is his big opportunity. I am not suprised Vaughan and Strauss were left out. Vaughan has played nearly 90 ODIs and not hit a hundred. If he wasn't captain, he would have been dropped sooner, and Strauss needs to go back to Middlesex and rediscover himself. One player I am suprised is still in the squad is Ian Bell. He is another without an ODI hundred to his name, and consistently fails to kick on in one day innings. His failure, and the rest of the teams, to take advantage of the powerplays during the world cup were a big hinderance to England. And it can be with no suprise that he was left out of Warwickshire's FP semi-final with Hamshire on Wednesday. Yes it was the day after the Test Match finished, but Hampshire flew KP down to the Rose Bowl for the match. Bell could have gone with him, but Warwickshire didn't want him to play. One player who I thought was inline for a recall was Vikram Solanki, who has been in excellent form this season, and it's also tough on Paul Nixon who started to come into his own in the world cup, but Prior is a lot younger and could play in the next 2 world cups, so he has to the be choice, plus his test appearances have been excellent so far.

I think the selectors have a tough call for which team to pick, but once again it will be with a view to looking to the next world cup. The issue with Duncan Fletcher was that he was planning for the 2007 world cup forever, even one month before it started he wasn't sure of his line-up. Hopefully Peter Moores will tackle this area successfully and settle on a line-up sooner rather than later.

So my team for the Twenty20 matches: Cook, Prior,Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty (not necessarily in that batting order, but I feel Cook can find the gaps better than Bell, so he gets the nod)

and for the 50 over matches: Cook, Prior, Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty. Yes it's the same side. It's a good mix of attacking blend and workers of the ball. It can also be flexible. You could use Dimi, Broad or Plunkett as a pinch hitter early on during a powerplay. 50 overs you hav time to build an innings, and Cook is someone who can bat through the innings whilst others play around him. I was very suprised he didn't go the world cup. Yardy is not in my choice as I am not a big fan of his, although that is based on what he did last time out in an England shirt. Maybe Moores will get more out of him this time around though.

And talking of Peter Moores, I am already pleased and impressed with the changes he is bringing in, a fresh face and fresh ideas were definately needed. The future, for me, is definately bright (hopefully I won't have changed my mind in 2 weeks time).