stmookeyj
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We are now officially in white ball coloured clothing mode from now until about April. Will this bring a change of fortunes? England certainly hope not as they begin their World Cup preparation in earnest with the traditional annual match against the PM's XI. Not sure of the actuality of this, but I don't think that any other female world leader has given her name to a cricket team before, let alone a ranga, let alone a Doggies tragic.....
Enough of that, time to look at the teams. Unsure which squad England will draw their players from, there are a number of players who are in the 20 over squad that are not in their 50 over team and vice versa. Certainly a few test tormentors are not in either, Cook and Prior the most notable (Prior is off to Victoria, whether he gets a game is questionable). Anderson is also out until Game 4 of the 7 match ODI series having gone back to England for R&R, and if they're using their 20 over squad Kieswetter is also out with an abscess.
As this is a 50 over game, I'll assume they'll use what they have of their 50 over squad and predict the following. Andrew Strauss to rest up for this game (he's not in the 20 over squad either), so expect Paul Collingwood (still available in the limited overs formats) to skipper the team. The four specialists in their 50 over squad could get a run, being offie James Tredwell, left hander Michael Yardy, all-rounder Luke Wright and 21 year old all rounder Chris Woakes. With no Kieswetter and no Prior I'd expect Steve Davies to take the gloves, and ditto for the Irishman Eoin Morgan. Should they use their 20 over team, they could call up Michael Lumb who is playing for Queensland but they'll probably save him for Wednesday.
For Julia's (insert team name starting with J, can't be bothered thinking of one), a couple of enforced changes to the squad have been announced. Neither of Josh Hazelwood (back) or Mitchell Starc (side strain) are fit enough to take their place in the team. Called up are another NSW quick in Trent Copeland, and James Pattinson, whose older brother Darren as you may know played 1 test for England. Callum Ferguson appears to be over a groin injury suffered whilst taking off for a diving catch over an esky between 2 trees (or at least that's what I think happened in his backyard game). Captain for this side is newly appointed national 20 over Vice Captain Tim Paine, whilst right arm medium-fast bowler Tom Thornton is the local Canberra rep in the team. Thornton's record doesn't match that of the 12th man, his Comets teammate Josh Anderson who has taken 13 wickets @ Richie Benaud in the Futures League.
The biggest thing that may go against the PM's team is the fact that this is a 50 over match. Given CA's pathetic stance towards the long short form of the game, perhaps the players (many of whom would not have had a 50 over game for over a year, others like Paine and Ferguson who haven't had a 50 over game since the SL ODI series) may flag in the last 5 overs.
TEAMS
PM's XI: Tim PAINE (C), Callum FERGUSON, Dan CHRISTIAN, Xavier DOHERTY, Trent COPELAND, Alex KEATH, Usman KHAWAJA, Brett LEE, Tom THORNTON, Nic MADDINSON, James PATTINSON (12th Man: Josh ANDERSON)
ENGLAND (FROM): Andrew STRAUSS (C, Unlikely to play), Paul COLLINGWOOD (likely C if Strauss doesn't play), Ian BELL, Tim BRESNAN, Steve DAVIES, Steven FINN, Eoin MORGAN, Kevin PIETERSEN, Ajmal SHAZAD, Graeme SWANN, James TREDWELL, Chris TREMLETT, Jonathan TROTT, Chris WOAKES, Luke WRIGHT, Michael YARDY, Michael LUMB (Unlikely to play)
COVERAGE:
Cricket Australia Website should provide a stream of the match.
TICKETS: From $27 for GA, to $55 for a seat in the stand. TICKETEK is the outlet to see. First ball is 9:45AM.
