Ireland head coach John Bracewell fears England hopefuls
Thursday 7 May 2015 17:44, UK
Ireland head coach John Bracewell believes England's players will be keen to prove themselves in Friday's Royal London ODI at Malahide.
Peter Moores' side will be captained for the first time by James Taylor and may include as many as seven debutants - but Bracewell believes the stand-in players will be all the more keen to make statement.
He said: "A lot of these guys thought they probably should have been at the World Cup - and to be honest, when you look at the strategy that was needed there, a lot of them perhaps should have been.
"They've got some big points to prove, and justify their case. So I don't think they'll be a soft target, that's for sure.
"They missed the obvious chance, which was the World Cup, and a lot of them will be hurting about that.
"I'm not disappointed at all (by England's selection here), because I think they've picked a fine team that has a good chance of playing a lot of international cricket.
"They are damned good cricketers, and I think it's a reasonably well thought-out side in terms of where England cricket could be going and probably strategically and statistically needs to go."
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On England's abject failure at the World Cup, Bracewell added: "They need to change their strategy, if they're going to compete at international tournaments.
"They pick their side to par scores, and par score means the bowlers have to win more than 50% of the games - that's too much to ask of them under the playing conditions that currently exist.
"You have to have a batting line-up that's actually going to get you above par. It's as simple as that. They've failed to do that - and they can't hide from that, because the statistics say that.
"You're asking bowlers to win you games, and the rules aren't geared up for that. If they don't knock teams over in 15 overs you end up with a defensive mentality; then you end up with a broken dressing room."
Watch Ireland v England live on Sky Sports 2 on Friday - coverage from Malahide starts at 10:30am.
