i don't doubt he is, it just seemed a bit odd that they'd persisted with him for so long when he wasn't performing and then dropped him when he improved.

That's it Michael, just become another british sporting ostrich. This is why this country's sportsmen never achieve anything. You need to look at the weaknesses mate, so you can sort them out.

But that would mean he'd still be talking when we should be playing Australia on Sonday

south africa look like losing to bangladesh, this could offer an unlikely lifeline to ENGLAND.

It could also mean that Balgla get into the last 4 (They won by 60 odd runs)

hmm, they were bottom with a rr of -3.44 before the game, and they'd have to win at leat 2 of their last 3 games. can't see it.

i do wonder though whether this is history repeating itself. sri lanka came of age as a cricketing side on the back of an improved performance in the world cup and started to perform in the test arena afterwards.

what a fucking pile of steaming shit. the usual formula for 1-dayers is to double the score at 30 overs. england were 166-3 at that point. since then they have managed just the 3 boundaries and 74 runs.

74 fucking runs in 19 overs.

fucks sake, you'd expect 74 from the last 10.

nixon playing schoolboy cricket in the last over, 6 and out.

oh and a big hand for freddie, another mature responsible innings.

only 3 players in double figures? fucking pathetic.

I saw three overs last night - my first observation of the world cup so far.

England are basically pathetic When 2 batmen make over 170 between them a team should be getting over 300 whilst we made under 250. And when will they realise Mahmood isn't up to it as a bowler. Basically the England team should COME HOME NOW.

England aren't very good though as a team are they? One or two individually decent players but most are not really up to it. I can't understand why anyone thought they had any kind of a chance.

Most cricket fans hoped we'd do well, but expected us to get hammered when we played a test nation. So far that's what's happened. Today game should be interesting. To stand any chance of getting to the semi finals England have to beat Bangladesh. So far in the competition England have beaten 'minows' whilst Bangla have beaten India & South Africa. It could be tears by bedtime on Sky tonight.

Bangladesh 42 - 4 in the 14h over.

All out for 143 in the 38th over.

Well England won, just, but it was awful to watch. If they bat like they did today against Bangladesh South Africa & the Windies will murder us.

Now the West Indies are a poor side.

Well done to the Irish who beat Bangladesh yesterday ..... & it looked far more easy than when England played Bangla !!

Also as South Africabeat the Windies the England/South Africa match becomes really important. I think that if S.Africa win they are through. If Engalnd win it's all down to the Windies game.

england win the toss and will bat....too sedately is my opinion.

they need to get after pollock, but that will only happen if KP gets to the crease nice and early. thankfully there is no sign of ntini.

5-0 off 5 overs.

fucking hell. game over.

56 for 3 in the 19th over

Now 97 - 3 27.3 overs. (Still but at least Strauss and Collingwood are in and Strauss is due a knock.)

Lost for words

winning the one day series in Oz before we flew out to the world cup papered over so many cracks it was untrue. admittedly even I didn't believe we'd be quite so cack tho.

What a pile of shit. Fletcher should publicly apologise to the thousands of England fans who've spent thousands of pounds over the winter to watch the wrong players giving very poor performances & then resign. When Vaughan gets back from the Caribean he should be playing for Yorks 2nds as why should Yorkshire suffer to get someone fit for England.

Vaughans thoughts Here

They rely on a couple of players to do it for them. When they don't fire, as yesterday, they are poor.

In Fletcher's defence, he did coach as side that beat the Australians a couple of years ago. In the world cup, the team was without three top class quick bowlers and one top class batsman.

And at least England are not in the same depth of crisis as the Windies.

are we not?

well, we're only a month away from finding out.

So what do we think about Fletcher's departure?

Personally i think if you have to change it then the changes must start from the very top so not sure if Fletcher going will make a lot of difference. That said, i do rate him a lot as a coach and believe he has done a great job when you think of what he inherited.

100-1 Beefy Botham anyone?

inevitable really when you combine the results in the ashes and the world cup.

new coach should be tom moody, but will be peter moores.

Sorry but this has been coming ever since the Ashes. Fletcher took 'resting' to it's extreme so England were playing cricketers who weren't match fit in tests. Some players can just turn up & turn on. Others such as Harmison & Haggard need to keep bolwing to keep match fit. Fletcher wouldn't let Harmison bowl for Durham after he came back from injury in 2006...... the result was the first ball of the Ashes.

It's amazing that 'the Sky mob' have just realised that players such a Anderson & Mahmood have hardly bowled outside tests & ODIs. The pair of them should be sent back to Lancs to get some overs in. This won't happen of course because England play a test in mid May. At least Hoggard will be OK as he's easing himself in for Yorks at the moment having not been picked fo the World Cup

He's right you know !

Let's hope that never happens. It would be preferable to Boycott taking over, but that's all. Neither of them has any idea about coaching and they're both full of shit, however talented they were as cricketers.

W Indies 101 for 0 off 14.3 overs

My father and uncle should have arrived in the WI by now to watch the last three games. Look out for them in the crowds for me?

How many hundreds have Yorkshite scored this season now? Another by Younis Khan today. I reckon that's 5 so far.

Why the sudden rant against God's Wonderful County ?

Hardly a rant RedStar (my god you really do think you're persecuted, don't you?) - sounded more like Andy was saying he was impressed to me.

Sarah, when someone calls us Yorsh*t* rather than Yorkshire us Tykes take umbrage (& anything else that's not tied down, before someone says it )

I am a Tyke born and bred. Not particularly proud or disappointed about that. Despite living in Wiltshire for 28 years, I still have a Yorkshire accent. I'm finding it very difficult to believe all the runs scored and wickets taken that's all because, in recent years, Yorkshire have been Yorkshite.

Yorks 1 day form has been abolsute cr*p for a few years, but in the last 2 years we've got promoted & stayed up (admitedy just) in the championship. I wouldn't put any credence on the runs scored at the Oval as it's a noted batsman's pitch (& Surrrey dropped some vital catches)..... we'll see how good they are this week when Yorks play Durham at Headingley.

I'd assumed, seeing as Andy is a fairly reasonable guy (unlike me, I'm a bitch) that it was an innocent typo.
You are rather fond of assuming that everyone is attacking Yorkshire and the North though.

I've been trying not to upset you for the past couple of weeks. I seem to have failed ..... back to lurking for a while 'till the heat dies down.

RedStar, there isn't any heat and you haven't upset me and it shouldn't matter if you do, I'm a big girl, I can handle it.
The world isn't out to get you so you don't have to act like it is.

wow, we've not had an unfounded paranoid for ages. keep up the good work.

glos-ter-shire la la la, glos-ter-shire la la la

Yorkshite. Yorkshite. Come on, you white nose cunty.


It's nice of you to say such wonderful things about me. However, it was not a typo. I meant to write Yorkshite. It's my idea of a joke. I'm only sorry that it wasn't funny.

It was.

Decent things to come out of Yorkshire

1. my mrs
2. yorkshire puddings
3. erm.....

Just 'cos I'm paranoid .... & it wasn't funny....... & Moster you missed the A1& M1.

3. Me
4. Alan Smith
5. The Humber Bridge

So we're one game into the new season and Heath Streak resigns as captain. Wouldn't it be a little more sensible to implode further towards the end of the season? He reckons he can't cope with the pressure of playing and captaining, i reckon it 's bullshit that i smell.

SA 35/5 after ten overs...looks like a Sri Lanka v Australia final. I didn't see that coming.

Irony, eh?