What a game! I need a lie down after that.

Adil Rashid epitomising what a strange game it can be. Figures of 9-0-85-1 and one over later he ends up with a five-fer by being on a hattrick twice in one over

Don’t forget Buttlers 150 in 77 balls

Got home in time to see Gayle hitting 6s for fun and West Indies so far ahead of the required rate that they looked nailed on to win. Even after he was out the Brathwaite -Nurse partnership gave the Windies a great chance.

Eoin Morgan is head and shoulders the best captain England have got and I'd have him in charge of the Test side too. Even if he's not quite Test standard as a batsman, his tactical nous would win matches just like Mike Brearley used to do.

As daft as it sounds I think it sometimes becomes a little monotonous when the odds are stacked that far in the batsman’s favour I think you need a bit more of a fair contest between bat and ball, the pitch had nothing in it and I think they need to start regulating boundary sizes where possible (obviously grounds like Eden Park that are an odd shape are exceptions) because bowling to Jos Buttler or Chris Gayle defending a sixty metre boundary is borderline shan. They were roped in miles even the straight ones, people like that can hit sixes almost double that distance which is a bit ridiculous.

Mr Dawes point about Morgan is an interesting one especially as our best Test batsman in Root hasn’t scored the volume of runs he did when he wasn’t skipper and Morgan has shown himself to be a good captain. But Morgan in red ball cricket isn’t that good his form had been awful for Middlesex on rare occasions he actually puts whites on. You question if he has the hunger for the longer format anymore? You would certainly get long odds on him playing Test cricket again given he’s now 32. Plus England top order runs out middle order is already full of better red ball batsmen than him.

Plus I think two captains works in the separate formats for England, they are essentially two different teams and both jobs with the international schedules involved these days and franchise cricket on top are probably mentally and physically demanding enough in there own right. I reckon Buttler will be the next Test Captain, he is a big part of the tactical and decision making process in the ODI team and by all accounts has all the attributes. Root is doing a good job captaincy wise and getting better all the time on that front though.

I agree about the boundary sizes although there clearly has been some recognition that things were starting to move too far in one direction after they brought in the limitations on the thickness of the blade. I think it's also reasonable to ask what the bowler is expected to do. I was listening to the end of England's innings in the car on the way home from work and it seemed that nothing the bowlers attempted made any difference. It made the commentator's assertion that the bowlers "weren't bowling it in the right areas" seem a bit daft. On the other hand occasions where over 800 runs are scored in a single ODI are still few and far between (for now!). And the other night England failed to chase down 290. That was a really enjoyable game despite the loss.


I would keep Root as captain for the test team. There isn't really any compelling evidence to suggest anyone else would do any better at the moment and I've never been one for the argument that it's a mistake to make your best batsman/bowler captain as it might affect their form. Follow this to its logical conclusion and you end up picking someone as captain who is often struggling to justify his place in the team for either batting or bowling. A worse scenario IMO. Brearley is often mentioned in this discussion but the game has moved on. It used to be the case that there was no need for your wicketkeeper to be any good with the bat but, again, things have changed.