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July 5, 2010Posted by Mike Holmans on 07/05/2010 in Mike Holmans
The joke's no more on England
England have improved enough to be taken seriously as ODI competitors
© Getty ImagesDespite the strenuous efforts of those who have to find something to say or write every day to convince me that the ODIs between England and Australia had some relevance to the Ashes this winter, I remain firmly of the belief that the series was largely superfluous and meant very little beyond avenging the 6-1 result last summer.
Half of the England side will have very little to do with the Test series in a few months time, after all. Neither Luke Wright nor Mike Yardy have any business near a Test squad and Craig Kieswetter's wicketkeeping is not good enough to recommend him as the backup to Matt Prior. Eoin Morgan will almost certainly be in the squad but will only get to play if there are injuries to the specialist batsmen, and Tim Bresnan has no obvious qualifications to be in the first-choice XI. If there was one thing we learned from the series against Bangladesh, it was that Bresnan is not a Test-class new-ball bowler, and that Ajmal Shazad is a better old-ball bowler to boot. Bresnan may be a marginally better bowler than Jacques Kallis, but Kallis doesn't get into the South African side on the strength of his bowling, and Bresnan offers rather less than Kallis with the bat.
Admittedly, most of the Australian ODI XI would be in serious contention for places in the Test team but the one who would be of most significance is Shaun Tait, who doesn't play first-class cricket.
Tait's opening spell at Lord's was a fearsome piece of fast bowling in any type of cricket, and one can easily see why people will be trying to persuade him to change his mind and make himself available. I'd like to join those efforts, although perhaps not with the best of motives. I'd strongly urge Australia to build him up as their talismanic match-winner and get him fit and firing for the first Test, so that he can break down mid-Test and Australia can spend the rest of the series dithering about their selections and eagerly scrutinising fitness reports, just as England spent a good couple of years hoping that Fred Flintoff would turn up fit for a match or two, thus destabilising the team and making life difficult for themselves.
What the series was more relevant to was my colleague Michael Jeh's piece about prospects for the World Cup. Fully embroiled in the English season myself, the World Cup is a long way down my list of things to think about but Fox has made me sit up and realise that something extremely weird has happened.
At this stage in a World Cup cycle, it is traditional for England to be wringing their hands and wondering where they are going to get eleven convincing 50-over practitioners, let alone a complete squad. The summer's ODIs and the series following the Ashes see a parade of unlikely candidates with strangely impressive domestic records getting runs in the side which they use to prove their mediocrity, and we end up going into the tournament without much clue as to what side we will pick or what they will do on the field.
Today, though, and barring a string of major injuries between now and then, England have no such uncertainty. It is quite conceivable that the England XI which just played against Australia could turn out in the World Cup final, and they would stand a reasonable chance of winning it. And on the evidence of the series we have just had, it is entirely possible that their opponents would not be Australia.
Those are not predictions, of course. It is merely an arresting way of saying that England have improved enough to be taken seriously as ODI competitors instead of being regarded as jokes, only there to make up the numbers and that Australia have declined sufficiently that they aren't the white-hot favourites they have been for the last two.
The world has been turned on its head. I think I need a lie-down.
Posted by: Nadir Ali Mithani at July 6, 2010 8:32 AM
I guess England will win the World Cup in 2011. Its the start of their Glory days. They have proved them self as a serious competitors in T20 World Cup. They have beaten Australia in the final and took the revenge of 1987 lost.
Good England, Keep beating AUstralia.
Posted by: Rishabh Srivastava at July 6, 2010 4:53 PM
winning few one days and a 20-20 cup does not make England favourites. They need to show consistency over a a considerate period of time to become a real threat to world cup and that too in sub-continent. You cannot just wipe out from memory 20 years of mediocre play
Posted by: kane at July 6, 2010 5:18 PM
You gotta remember that the world cup is going to be help in the subcontinent, where the spinners play heavy role and the pitches are slow & turning big...Remember Aus didn't have any spinners in their sqaud (Hauritz or Smith are not spinners, they just bowl slowly!) Just because beating an Aussie side, which do not have their 1st choice bowlers, won't make the Eng a contender for WC. Remember Aus nearly won the 3rd ODI. It would've beeb easily 3-2 in Aus favour..I still think Aus, Ind, SA & Pak have better chance of winning WC 2011 than Eng. If you think, mearely participating in the tournament gives a chance for Eng then Canada, Netherlands too have a chance :P One thing that's clear from this article is that you don't like the aussies! btw, am neither aussie or english...
Posted by: thomascherian at July 6, 2010 6:23 PM
the English team is too bowling heavy and will not win till that is rectified....
Posted by: Jason at July 6, 2010 8:39 PM
England are certainly a respectable unit now, but I got the impression they were not really the reason for the 3-2 series win. I was more disappointed with Australia's form than England's awesomeness. In fact I think there's only 2 players that need to be feared in England's team: Pietersen and Morgan. Collingwood, Broad, Anderson and Swann are decent too of course, but I'm not ready to acclaim England an excellent ODI team on the basis of 3 wins against an ugly looking Australia.
Posted by: madii at July 6, 2010 9:58 PM
i totally agree with 'kane'... england still have a long way to lift the wc trophy... they were badly beaten in the last 2 matches... they won the third match which could have gone either way... they r still not consistant ... Morgan or Pietersen performs well... but a team can not win with 2 batsmen... others do not performs consistently(Strauss or Collingwood)... Swann is gud but on asian soil ... swann can't be as effective as indian,pakistani or srilankan spinners...
Posted by: CHRIS at July 6, 2010 10:24 PM
Australia's playing with England. How many games have we lost in World Cup's lately. Get some ticker England. You'll need morwe than the ood luck that delivered the last Ashes to you.
Posted by: Myer at July 6, 2010 11:19 PM
Well England still did not prove anything to Australia despite winning the series. From the 3rd to 5th match England was unconvincing. Had they shamefully lose the 3rd match it would have been something else.
Posted by: redneck at July 7, 2010 1:59 AM
england have definatly improved in the ODI's however its easy to look like champions in home conditions! their ODI recod in india is dismal and that needs to be addressed. also strauss needs to show more tactic than just winning the toss and bowling first every time! that will eventually bring a team unstuck if they become reliant on knowing how much they need to score to win and then all of a sudden find themselves batting first in a world cup semi final for the first time in quite a while!
Posted by: Sam at July 7, 2010 2:01 AM
@ kane u are forgetting that England have a great spinner in the form of Swann and if adil rashid gets his act together they will prove quite a handful in Indian conditions. Besides now Indian conditions are no longer foreign to most english batsmen so don't count them out.They are indeed one of the top seeds.
Posted by: Kunal Talgeri at July 7, 2010 5:54 AM
I guess how Strauss reinvents himself for 50-overs ODI will decide how compelling a case England makes for World Cup glory. Right now, it is hard to see the purist shine in a difficult ODI situation. The likes of Collingwood, Morgan, Wright are forming the core of their batting. Strauss will need to go the Martin Crowe way (1992 WC) to take this side all the way. My favourites for the World Cup, unless Tendulkar's aura and batting come in the way.
Posted by: Jackie L at July 7, 2010 1:33 PM
The likes of Wright forming the core of their batting? On the evidence of the games against Australia he didn't. Most opinion said England were a batsman light. Bell was in the squad but not tried. Given the defeat in the fourth game, he should have been tried in the fifth. How is KP performing well in ODIs? With an average of 18 since India 2008? We've found two real stars in Morgan and Swann. We still need another batsman of the calibre of Bell. I hope he restarts his ODI career with the form he's shown for Warks and the Lions.
Posted by: Andrew at July 7, 2010 5:30 PM
Mr.Ricky pointing, Andrew strauss and Kevin are back with bang by winning T20... Beware and Stay away
Posted by: ratee at July 7, 2010 8:36 PM
The writer seems to be correct that England has improved which is true in ODI's in particular.
I think he has not taken into consideration the decline in the standard of Australian cricket as they have lost their key players since last few years.
But he is right that the discipline that England have shown can may well make them the most favorite contenders as with the decline of Australian cricket, Pakistan and India do not offer the same discipline that bis required for winning the world cup. While Sri Lankan cricket had declined significantly over the year or two.
Posted by: Fibre Optic at July 9, 2010 5:11 AM
@Kane What are you on about If you think 'mearely participating in the tournament gives a chance for Eng then Canada, Netherlands too have a chance' So your saying England has the same chance as those teams you've mentioned,absolute rubbish.England have already beaten one of the teams you think could win it, SA in their own back yard in ODi's.How are Hauritz and Smith not spinners but slow bowlers, you can't have watches either bowl much then and the only bowler that was missing was Johnson.Hilf doesn't play ODi's and Siddle wouldn't get in because of Bolinger and Harris.I don't think you need to point out your not English or a Ozzie because you don't know what your talking about when it comes to either team.
Personally I think the 3 main teams will be Australia ,India and England. I think England need Pietersen coming back to top form to win it and they need to find another fast bowler,either Finn or Shahzad will be a good bet.
Posted by: kane at July 9, 2010 3:44 PM
@Fibre optic. I think, you didn't understand what I was pointing out. 'merely participating...' means, I was telling the author's evidence to put Eng a strong contender for WC are not strong enough. With hauritz/smith, I was telling Eng will be facing spinners who are way better than them in the WC matches. i.e. Eng have batted in a condition that suits their bowling more and opponents bowling were less threatening.So do you think, having beaten SA& Aus gives Eng better chance than those 2 teams for WC ?? It's not about whether they have won thier previous series or not. But it's about a combination of a hell lot of factors like bowlers, pitches, opponents and other conditions(Which, I say, are not in Eng favour).I am sure Eng would be struggling against Harbhajan, Saeed Ajmal,Murali(if he plays),Vettori., etc. Winning a WC is not just beating one team, it's process for 45 days, where you have to be very consistent. Also, facing the same team for 5 conseq. matches is different thing..
Posted by: kane at July 9, 2010 3:54 PM
(Cont'ed) than facing 5 different teams. So Anybody who knows the cricketing facts & factors about all the teams wouldn't rate the chances for Eng no higher than 4. The question is whether Eng can beat Aus/SA/SL/India in India/SL/Bang. It's not just whether they can beat them or not. Even then, I wasn't telling Eng will not win the WC. it's a possibility, a chance. But this applies to the top 7 teams. Just that considering bowling, Batting & subcontinent conditons, I say Aus, SA, India, Pak & Sl have better chances than Eng. WI, Bang & others teams may spoil the chances for a top 7 team. But they can't win it. Basically, there are 2 groups & a team needs to in the top 2 out of 7 teams to make semi, which I am sure WI, Bang & other minnows can't do.
Posted by: gale at July 23, 2010 10:08 PM
One critical name nobody has mentioned in the English squad-FLOWER.
When Flower lead Zimbabwe it had about 300 summer club cricketers.
He was chief batsman,often captain,wicketkeeper and coach to the disadvantaged.If anyone knows how to make the most of available resources it is him.Is there a coach who commands more respect?
I cant think of anyone who has batted better against the Indians in India so he understands the conditions.
England have two ingredients missing for a few decades,discipline and self belief.They also have a chioce of spinners.
That said underestimate my home country(Oz) at your peril.So much depth here that even the second string would have to be taken seriously
- Shanaka Amarasinghe
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Shanaka Amarasinghe Possessing the best disguised googly in Sri Lanka (because no one has ever really seen it), Shanaka is the finest legspinner to never have played top-level cricket. He is a popular cricket analyst and host of The Score, the No. 1-rated, if slightly infamous, sports show on radio in Sri Lanka. While in England playing rugby, he earned his LLM at King’s College and is a lawyer by training if not inclination. He is also an actor, a journalist, a writer, and thinks he is a comedian.
- Mike Holmans
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Mike Holmans, a database consultant by profession, has spent thirty summers (and a few winters) going to the cricket. Brought up in one and working in the other, his dearest wish is for a season to end with Yorkshire winning the county championship by beating runners-up Middlesex by one wicket with five minutes to go. If it’s also a summer when England win the Ashes, so much the better.
- Michael Jeh
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Michael Jeh Born in Colombo, educated at Oxford and now living in Brisbane, Michael Jeh (Fox) is a cricket lover with a global perspective on the game. An Oxford Blue who played first-class cricket, he is a Playing Member of the MCC and still plays grade cricket. Michael now works closely with elite athletes, and is passionate about youth intervention programmes. He still chases his boyhood dream of running a wildlife safari operation called Barefoot in Africa.
- Saad Shafqat
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Saad Shafqat takes special pride that his cricket-watching life began during the three-month interval between Javed Miandad's debut Test in Lahore and Imran Khan's 12-wicket haul at Sydney. Although a practicing neurologist based in Karachi, cricket has never been far from his activities. He has co-authored Javed Miandad’s autobiography Cutting Edge and has been a contributor to Cricinfo since 2005. His regular column Reverse Swing appears fortnightly in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English daily.
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