Mahmood out, Plunkett in. Yeah.
Another win, thats 3 in a row now. On the surface it sounds good, but the teams we beat have been ultra crap and the performances have been so...uninspiring. It has been awful to watch. There has been nothing in this world cup to suggest we are a good side, or even a good side to watch. We haven't been smashing teams in one-sided games, nor have we been scraping home in exciting games - we have just been playing very average, boring and basic 50 overs cricket.
Bowl line and length, and hit the bad balls to the boundary. That's our gameplan, and it is simply too one-dimensional to bring England the world cup. I was appalled when I read that 250 was the target score yesterday. Where is the ambition? Minnows will lose to England, but the more creative sides like Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia might annihilate us.
Now the flowery bit. I wouldn't rule out a semi final place. We have beaten Ireland, and should aim to beat Bangladesh and West Indies. And the way England are, we are just as likely to defeat SA, SL and Oz as we are to be embarassed by them. 8 points could be enough for our ticket to the semi finals, which means now beating Bangladesh and two other sides. Do we dare to dream?