Good overview, Mike. I certainly look forward to seeing how Taylor shapes up. You're a little harsh on Broad's bowling, though, both in terms of his impact so far and his potential. OK, his average isn't up to much, but a couple of his spells had a genuine impact on the course of the game. His stated aim is to become a McGrath-like bowler. Ambitious, yes, but certainly the right idea. Both McGrath and Pollock have demonstrated that modern Test bowlers don't necessarily need express pace or a bag of tricks in order to be effective. I would, however, agree with you in the sense that I'd prefer to see him as part of a five-man attack. England's current quartet has done well, but I don't rate their chances against a strong batting side and/or on a flat pitch. Throw a Flintoff and/or a Jones into the mix and the missing ingredients (pace, aggression, reverse-swing) would be there.

nice piece, Mike. Your suggestion of low standards gives me (more) hope for the upcoming series. I've not seen much of Broad, but from what you say, is the new Flintoff?

Thanks, James and Stephen for the compliments.

Broad is a cricketer of immense potential. He is a good bowler, but he is not one of the three best pace bowlers in England. Yet. Therefore he is not yet worth his place in the side purely as a bowler.

He is not the new Flintoff: Fred is a power hitter (though not powerful enough to get Lancashire through to T20 finals day - Dawid Malan is my hero, fala-lala-lah-lala-la-la-la!), while Broad bats like a "proper" batsman. Fred bowls fast, Broad seems unlikely even to try and be a 90mph bowler.

If his bowling gets better, he could be the new Shaun Pollock, but if his batting is as good as I think it might be, he could be the new Kallis.

I'd prefer him not to set his ambitions so pitifully low, but emulating either of those would do as a start.

Nice piece Mike. I think the two series came away with the right results. To me, New Zealand is a team with a handful of quality players - Vettori, McCullum and now Taylor, that punch above their weight as a side (more so in ODI's). England are a side full of stars that frequently under perform - especially in ODI's.

In saying that, the outlook looks good for England, the likes of Broad, Cook and even Bopara, look like they have the package to become very good players. New Zealand have Southee, Taylor and How to look forward to, however the gaping hole Fleming left still seams along way off filling.

I look forward to the South African series to see how England fear against a more quality test side.

nice piece of writing mike, maybe including a bit about the ODI series' wouldnt help though? also a bit more of an analysis on players other than broad and taylor

Who IS Dawid Malan? and what are his SA connections? He appears to have some talent. I read he was born in England but raised in SA. Is he still eligible for SA? Maybe once we go 3-0 we should include him for the last test to keep him ours. :)

I know nothing much about Malan. I hadn't seen him play for Middx before the T20 - he'd only played one game for the first XI, in May against Essex in the Friends Provident, and I didn't go.
I assumed he was a Kolpakker, and was surprised to learn he was English-born.

Apparently he played for Boland in 2006 before joining Middx.

I would imagine that he would be chary of making himself an overseas player and thus in danger of being unemployable by Middx, though.

Good overview, I found it very informative. I've always admired Ross Taylor, not merely for his cricket, but his determination, dedication and positive outlook. As for Broad, reading this gave me somrthing to think about. Thank you.

Very interesting overview here by Mr.Mike but i fail to understand why a top order failure which indirectly means high standards of new ball bowling,good lower order performances from bowling all rounders and a series in which at least 3 matches went down to the wire result in comments like quality of cricket has been low.Quality of cricket cannot be identified only through the success or failure of the big top order players.Overall quality is very essential and if the the matches were watched keenly one would notice that the contests were quite good and performane was definitely not anywhere near "LOW".As for Stuart Broad it is yet to be seen how he performs against the likes of steyn,ntini and morkel.His bowling is suitable for overcast conditions and will be challenged in dry wickets of the sub continent! Dawid Malan played an outstanding innings in the quarter finals.Having watched the innings i should say it was the perfect t20 innings as he started off nudging and then xploded!!