Cricket World Cup: England in for a Sri Lankan thrashing

Sri Lanka are a strong team with dangerous batsmen and cunning skilful bowlers.  England are not very good at all; with KP, Colly, Freddie (with the ball) and Panesar the few notable exceptions.  England will lose today, and this will hopefully be another nail in the coffin lid of the Fletcher era.  Thanks for the Ashes Dunc, but your pig-headed intransigence is getting very tiresome; nearly as tiresome as every one-day game England play at present.

England's game plan is simply not working, yet Fletcher is unwilling to change his innings formula of: building block openers, KP, Colly, Freddie, mediocre bits & pieces all rounder, tail-end.  This tactic has failed again and again and again, yet Fletcher plods on like a monkey constantly grabbing an electric fence in spite of the pain and humiliation.

A change is needed now:  Joyce should be dropped and either Flintoff or KP pushed up to open, or even Bopara as a gamble. England are simply not scoring quickly enough at the beginning, and the opening bats are out so early, due to their staggering lack of form, that KP is in after about 6 overs anyway.

The bowling needs a rethink as well.  England's best two bowlers are Flintoff and Panesar and they should open the bowling; Panesar is good enough to bowl with the new ball and Freddie is Freddie - rock solid dependable.

Of course, England could shock the world and win today and I will be happy to look stupid in those circumstances.  But I think my dunce's hat will still be safely on the shelf this evening.  [lee calvert]