England v Scotland - ODI Cricket Preview

After a thoroughly disastrous Ashes tour of Australia, England begin what feels like an entirely new era of cricket with a one-day international against meagre opposition. But if England should be expected to see off a Scotland team that are not exactly the strongest team in international cricket without too much difficulty, fans with any sort of memory will point out that the same thing was said about England’s last international match against the Netherlands, which they of course lost horribly.

England can at least comfort themselves with the fact that they will have a much stronger team for this game than some of their recent limited overs encounters. Strike bowler James Anderson returns to their squad for this ODI match, while captain Alastair Cook will also be involved, after he missed the world T20 due to selection preferences.

Elsewhere, this match could be an informative nod to the England test team in the future. While at least two of the bowling spots for the forthcoming series against Sri Lanka and India will be taken up by James Anderson and Stuart Broad, there are still other places up for grabs. Steven Finn looks to be in a very strong position at present, having taken a lot of wickets in the early County Championship season, but Chris Jordan, who has been selected for this match, could come into consideration. Meanwhile, the spinner slot vacated by Graeme Swann is very much open to all-comers, with no standout candidate at this point in time.

Thus, it will be interesting to see how James Tredwell fares in this match, given that the wily and experienced off-spinner may come into consideration for the test side. Incumbent England coach Peter Moors may favour his former Lancashire charge Simon Kerrigan, but a stellar performance in the three lions by Tredwell during the early season ODI stretch could very much work in his favour.

Elsewhere, some other young guns may feature against Scotland. The uncapped left-armer Harry Gurney may feature in this match, while the in-form Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance and all-rounder Moeen Ali are also likely to be in the England XI for this particular match.

In terms of the result, despite their recent travails and failures, it is hard to see anything other than an England win. Scotland have some decent county cricketers in their line-up, but nothing like the depth and quality that England can call upon. A good bet if Scotland win the toss is for one of their openers to be first out LBW, as this is a common method of dismissal for lesser batsmen playing cautiously against high quality fast bowling.

England ODI squad v Scotland:

Alastair Cook (Essex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Harry Gurney (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

Scotland squad to face England in Aberdeen on 9th May: Kyle Coetzer (Captain), Freddie Coleman, Matthew Cross, Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans, Majid Haq, Michael Leask, Matt Machan, Calum MacLeod, Preston Mommsen, Safyaan Sharif, Rob Taylor, Iain Wardlaw.

Betting Tips:

Winner – England to win (1/12 with ladbrokes) Method of First Dismissal – LBW (4/1 with bet365) Leading wicket taker – James Anderson Leading run scorer – Alastair Cook

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05/05/2014     © Frixo 2026