ODI preview 
/ Michael Vaughan / 27 June 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Ian Bell needs to face as many balls as possible in the form he's in
"Where I think England need to have a re-think is in the batting order. Ian Bell is the most in-form batsman in the side at the moment so we can’t have a repeat of Saturday afternoon where he was watching from the sidelines. He should definitely play and he should open the innings."
Michael Vaughan on why Ian Bell belongs at the top of the order and how Samit Patel needs to start giving something back.
A new era for England's ODI team starts on Tuesday when Alastair Cook leads the side out for the first time since being appointed the full-time ODI skipper.
Stuart Broad got his own T20 captaincy off to the worst possible start with England's lacklustre display in a heavy defeat on Saturday, as predicted in this column. Both will have wished for a slightly easier opposition than this well-drilled Sri Lanka side that contains a handful of highly-talented match-winners.
The first thing Alastair Cook needs to do is make sure he gets the right balance in the side. My guess is the team will look like this: Cook, Kieswetter, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Patel, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson. That's a good-looking side on paper and I've got no problems with the bowlers or the all-rounders. Where I think England need to have a re-think is in the batting order. Ian Bell is the most in-form batsman in the side at the moment so we can't have a repeat of Saturday afternoon where he was watching from the sidelines. He should definitely play and he should open the innings.
The best ODI openers fall into two categories. Firstly, guys like Adam Gilchrist or Virender Sehwag who hit big from the word go and can clear the ropes. And secondly, players like Sachin Tendulkar and Mark Waugh, who are masters at finding gaps in the field through sheer timing and throughout their careers perfected the art of building an innings; a little more cautious at the start and then accelerating as they start to really get their eye in. Ian Bell is very much in the latter category of course and England need to juggle the order around somehow so that he does open the batting.
I also think Kevin Pietersen needs to bat at three. A top three that contains Cook and Jonathan Trott is perhaps a little too pedestrian for my liking. They'll get you runs because they're both fantastic players but the rate at which they get them is a bit of a concern and if they eventually get out, it puts pressure on the middle-order to have to score very quickly before they've had a chance to really get themselves in. Few players in the world can score as quickly as KP when he's on-song and England need him at the crease during those crucial first 15 overs.
Samit Patel is a super prospect and I've spoken in this column before about how he has all the talent in the world to be anything he wants in this game. His weight and general fitness has been the only thing that has so far stopped him from achieving his ambitions so it was slightly disappointing that, in his first match back in the side, he lost his wicket by virtue of being lazily run out. The selectors have been patient with Patel but he needs to put in a couple of eye-catching performances throughout the series to reward the faith they've put in him.
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