England Cricket in Crisis

Following the embarrassing 2nd test defeat at Lords yesterday, it seems it cannot get any lower for the England cricket team.  Having now gone 10 test matches without a victory, there seems to be more and more questions without any hint of an answer coming from within the England Cricket Board.

Yet how has it got this bad? Following the 5-0 whitewash in Australia, the decision was made to keep   Alastair Cook and remove the combustible Kevin Pietersen.  Rest was the order of the day for many senior players who missed the Caribbean one day series before the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.  Yet the results have not improved. A test defeat to Sri Lanka has been followed by inept cricket in two tests thus far versus an equally inept Indian side.

What is the solution? Do England make wholesale changes? Do they remove the senior players for a new zest of youth and form players. In this test series only four players can be picked on form; Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Liam Plunkett.  Tellingly there is only one bowler in my list, and he was nowhere near the Ashes squad in November.  It seems that Jimmy Anderson has got slower, Stuart Broad is again injured and Ben Stokes' poor batting form is affecting his batting.  Plunkett, meanwhile, has transferred his early season county form for Yorkshire to the test arena.

Therein is an answer. Plunkett played domestic first class cricket and his batting has been useful also. However, Anderson and Broad had torrid winters and Stokes lost to a locker room door in a straight fight.  Dropping Chris Jordan sent out the wrong message, he has youth and pace on his side as well as a desire to succeed and achieve.

Perhaps too many of these senior players have achieved too much and now want to gain riches of the IPL, where is there short term and long term targets now.  Matt Prior has removed himself from selection for the remainder of the summer and probably played his last game for England, his fitness issues were too much to overcome.  Yet the decision to play him despite being less than 100% fit was indicative of Cook wanting seniority instead of form, when Jos Buttler's one day form was screaming for selection for first test versus Sri Lanka.

Yet the in house hegemony of the England cricket team which is very cliquey and looking after their own is doing a disservice to the players who are and are not picked.  Look at how James Taylor was treated after he played two tests and did nothing wrong, supposedly dropped at the behest of Pietersen who did not rate him. Even the call back of Simon Kerrigan of Lancashire, who was coached by Peter Moores last season is a fair form of nepotism or naivety in not knowing who else is available.

England need to pick players in form. Players like Daryl Mitchell of Worcestershire, Ravi Bopara of Essex, Adam Lyth of Yorkshire and his team-mate Jack Brooks, the bowler. This is unlikely however as England do not pick players or from winning counties. They ignored Mark Alleyne when Gloucestershire was winning every one day competition; have any Lancashire player been selected after they won the domestic title, Glen Chapple remains the best county bowler not to earn an England test cap.

Yet I feel they need to change the order and ask Moeen Ali to open the batting as he does for Worcestershire with Mitchell. Then have Ballance at three, Root at four with Bell at five or six.  England need to have a long look for themselves and if players are not fit then they need to do the honourable thing and stand aside as Prior has done.

It seems England have been more worries about selecting eleven players who will fit the ethos and mindset of a supposed identity, yet when the results are not happening you go back to picking players who will create results and from there a new ethos can be ushered in.

There are many dilemmas to be addressed but only the coach, Moores and the captain, Cook, who should both remain can supply them.

England's ODI Batting Dilemma

Another English cricketing summer has begun again with Sri Lanka being the first of two renowned cricketing titans to tour our country this summer.

However, England despite the new regime change with new performance director, Paul Downton; the return of Peter Moores as Head Coach and a new group of selectors, England are still making the same mistakes in 50 over team selection.  With less than a year to go before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, England are showing their hand to be feeble and weak.

For years, England have refused to join the party of having big hitters at the top of the order as is the want of every other Test side.  Whilst there is a credit in maintaining consistency of selection across all formats and familiarity of roles for players, is that not ego massaging of the order by not putting pressure on players to succeed and garner a better quality of performance.

In Alex Hales, England finally have a player who is both bombastic and exciting at the top of the order.  One of the best T20 players in the world, he requires the opportunity to be promoted to the fifty over game and yet England are seemingly content with the opening partnership of captain Alastair Cook and Ian Bell. Whilst Bell is scoring runs solidly, if there is someone disposable it is the Warwickshire batsmen whose removal from the limited overs team(s) will prolong his Test career of which he is the most solid of anchors following the dismal Ashes series over the winter.

Cook has shown himself quite adept at adapting to the shorter format of the game, however, do we have to select the Test captain due to his position of seniority or is he being selected on merit? The selection of Cook with Hales would give the left and right hand combination, and allow Cook to bat his way and Hales the freedom to swing his arms much like Sanath Jayasuriya was nearly 20 years ago.

Yet is this a matter of accommodation or a matter of bad management, because the formation of a competitive batting line-up is being ignored for the sake of posterity.  Ravi Bopara is possibly the most talented individual all-round cricketer in England, and yet he is mis-managed by England seemingly.  This writer has seen Bopara score centuries for Essex at the number 3 position; his experience and now veteran status should not be undermined and utilised.

Bopara at 3 followed by Eoin Morgan at 4 then the developing Gary Ballance at number 5 will allow some solidity to the order as Ben Stokes (in a perfect world) will enter at 6 followed by the wild card of Jos Buttler at number 7, where his inventiveness and unorthodox approach at the death of a first innings can garner bonus runs or be successful in a chase.

This would mean the removal of Joe Root from the team, this is required as Root a good member of the Test side and an important component of the side going forward is being accommodated in this respect of the limited overs side.  Whilst he scored a century in the Caribbean, he nonetheless scored at close or less than a run a ball.  Until Root shows he can play and score consistently for his county, only then can we add him to the discussion.

Currently England are not sitting pretty in the ODI rankings as a team and individuals, there is still time to make a statement. How about picking the ones making the loudest noises?

England v New Zealand Series review

England have beaten New Zealand in the 2nd test at Headingley by 247 runs which gave them a 2-0 series victory, more than making up for the three drawn test matches on the tour of New Zealand in February/March.

Whilst the margin of victory is huge, and came at just after 3.30pm on the fifth day with more than a session to spare - there does however remain an element of fortune in this England victory as they beat the rain, that started falling during the post-match ceremonies.

England's decision on the 3rd day to bat again rather than enforce the following on having gained a 180 run lead left many pundits and ex-internationals somewhat perplexed.  This was not helped by the play of Jonathan Trott who scored a measly 11 runs off 69 balls that stymied the initial effort of captain Alastair Cook who raced to 80 odd by the close of play.

On the fourth morning, Cook completed his 25th Test century before being out for 130.  Trott succumb for 76 before the young Yorkshire pair of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow both hit at more than a run a ball for 28 and 26 not out respectively, to set New Zealand an unrealistic target of 468 to win and England to get 10 wickets in over a day and a half.

Cook's reluctance to enforce the follow-on was mirrored by his safety first field positions for his bowlers who had a huge score to defend but a weak batting line up to attack.  Graeme Swann aiming for the footmarks left by the Kiwi left arm seamers, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, had not a lot of men round the bat especially versus the right handers who would struggle in spin from that particular rough.

Swann ended up with 10 wickets in the match, the first English spinner to take 10 in a match at Headingley (traditionally a seamer's wicket) since Derek Underwood in 1975.  Swann like Underwood though is a special talent that England must hope is fully fit after his elbow operation, unlike most other departments Swann is indispensable to the team as a specialist spinner and genuine match winner if the conditions suit him.

Cook's lack of ruthlessness could be interpreted as a weakness, would England have batted again if they were facing Australia and they had them on the rack as they so obviously had New Zealand.  Many Kiwis were laughing at the situation on the fifth morning as the game should have been completed.
England under Andy Flower have form in this over recent years when Andrew Strauss captained, England would be in the ascendancy but then bat again to apply 'scoreboard pressure' as Flower loves to entone and then dismiss the chasing side in the fourth innings.

Luckily England are in the position to field four bowlers who can take 20 wickets between them at this moment in time - Anderson's swing is threatening with the new ball, but wanes after that; Stuart Broad looks resurgent; Swann can do so much with his varying flight and speed yet one question must remain over Steven Finn who although taking wickets is still struggling with his run-up and his length of delivery, on the last day he bowled far too short to Tim Southee who dismissed him for two huge 6's.

Finn was bowling to a field of a deep backward square leg and deep mid-wicket, instead of doing what he did to Doug Brownlie on Monday by bowling an unplayable ball that Brownlie attempted to duck out of the way, yet could only glove a looping catch to Bell running in from gully. Finn was bowling with fire on Monday, on Tuesday he was like the weather a bit damp and not impressive - Finn must work on his consistency.

Another possible reason for England batting again was that it gave Nick Compton a chance to gain some valuable time and runs at the top of the order to cement his place at the top of the line-up before the Ashes start in July.

However, Compton's second single digit score of the match, 7 off 45 was quite a grind to watch and instead of giving England an answer, there are now more questions for England to ponder. Joe Root's continued impressive start to his Test career including his maiden Test century on Saturday at his home ground, means England have to give serious consideration to promoting Root to open the innings especially with the returning Kevin Pietersen likely to go straight back to his position of 4 in the order.

This is a shame for Compton who had endured a baptism of fire in India but scored some useful runs with Cook, then he answered the critics again in New Zealand by scoring two centuries, now he must return to Somerset and play some four day cricket and get some time at the crease and get his confidence back.

Compton was a victim of joining the inner circle of Team England, having gone on two tours he was not allowed to bat as much with Somerset as he would have liked, although he did score 105* at home to Warwickshire on 25th-28th April - yet he also had two ducks.

Whereas Root played week in, week out for Yorkshire and made some huge scores (182, 236, 179 for England Lions v New Zealand).  Root's confidence was sky high resulting in scoring 243 runs, averaging 60.75; Compton in contrast scored 39 runs averaging 9.75 runs.

Compton may be a better batsmen to replace Ian Bell in the middle of the order, as he is used to doing for the Taunton side.  Whereas, Root who has a great technique for someone so young and plays the ball so late, would be better suited to open the batting as he has done for his county side.

However, lets remain buoyant England have won the series convincingly and head for the Champions Trophy in good spirits, another good showing in that competition will bode well for the A-word series in July.  England will start favourites, more so because their order can score heavy runs against an Australian bowling line-up that has to prove it can take 20 wickets in a match, a fact that England's four pronged attack can.

England's Line up issues

England are currently ranked the Number 1 side in the Test cricket arena, and they have not played since early September and so are touring the United Arab Emirates to play Pakistan on a neutral site. 

Whilst Pakistan have been depleted by the suspensions and convictions handed out to three good players, and the constant infighting of the Pakistan Cricket Board, they nevertheless remain an enigmatic side - able to please and frustrate in equal measure. They themselves are trying to rebuild their test status from its current lower ebb.

Yet due to the unified front being portrayed by them, Pakistan are settled on the side that will go against England in the first test which starts on Tuesday.

England have played their two warm up games and tellingly they are having to shuffle their pack owing to injuries and lack of form.  Alastair Cook continues his fine form of late as he scored a faultless century of 133, yet his seventh wicket partnership of 90 with Matt Prior (46) saved some blushes for England as they were 121-6, with only Pietersen (38) troubling the scorers.  Both Jonathon Trott and Ian Bell were dismissed for ducks off of three and two bells each, neither man is entering the Tests with significant scores nor time at the crease.  Andrew Strauss remains solid, and Pietersen will score runs on any pitch.  Yet the worry over England may well be the bowling line up and strategy.

Graeme Swann is carrying an injury carried over from the first warm up match, yet he still bowled in the PCB XI's first innings and got one wicket off of 18 overs, whereas Monty Panesar had figures of 29-12-57-5, good figures for Monty yet they do not tell the whole story.  Panesar bowled on a pitch that had been previously used, so it was deteoriating yet Swann had some joy on the first few days of the same pitch in the first warm up match. 

The answer is that England on the sub-continent have two spinners; a spinner in Swann who can attack on a flat pitch, then they have Panesar who can take wickets as it becomes harder to bat.  Yet it remains England's policy to play six batsmen, one wicketkeeper and four bowlers (Swann, Anderson, Bresnan and Broad).  However, Tim Bresnan is out of the tour with a reoccurence of his elbow injury so there is room for Panesar to slot in, however Panesar remains not the best fielder nor can he hold a bat as long as Bresnan clearly can (two Test scores of 90 plus).

England have some questions yet they have faith in their batting line-up to come good and apply the scoreboard pressure of huge runs.  Andy Flower will more than likely pick the tried and tested line-up of one spinner in the line-up with Steve Finn filling in for Bresnan, consigning Panesar to the drinks duty.  Should the task fail, expect Panesar to come in at the expense of Eoin Morgan for the second test with Matt Prior batting sixth - a place where he looks ill suited but can do the job.  Obviously this makes the tail a lot longer than normal, yet you expect now one England batsmen to score a century in every innings.


The Power of Pollard
Kieron Pollard is an absolute beast in the T20 and ODI arena, his innings for Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday night 211-3 in the Caribbean T20 tournament. Pollard hit 56 off 15 balls included one over of 5 sixes, 30 runs (4 consecutively to open the over) as he laid seige to the paltry bowling offered by the Leeward Islands (the fourth went so high it delayed the game as they searched for the ball).  Pollard like Pakistan is one of those enigmatic figures, so talented and unbelievably skilled with hand eye coordination yet he fails to cement a place in the West Indian test side as it seems his mind is elsewhere.

The 300 Club's newest member

January 5th 2012, Sydney, Australia.  Michael Clarke, the Australian captain, joined an illustrious list of men as he completed the 25th score of 300+ in Australia's first innings score of 659-4, as he declared on 329*, the 14th highest individual score in Test cricket and only the 6th Australian to achieve the feat - joining countryman, Sir Donald Bradman (twice), Bob Simpson, Bob Cowper, Mark Taylor and Matthew Hayden.

Although many thought the declaration come at an odd time with many observers believing he would obviously have overtaken Mark Taylor and Donald Bradman's score of 334 and with many thinking he would have had a chance to attack Brian Lara's record of 400* on such a benign and flat SCG pitch.  Tellingly, post-innings Clarke gave the impression that the need to win the match was more important than personal milestones, he also declared when Michael Hussey had just reached 150*. Clarke can rest with the knowledge that he has scored the highest Test score at the SCG as it celebrates its centenary this year.

However, much is made of the landmark as a mythical figure that is rarely attained, it should be remembered that many of the scores come in boring draws where some teams do not even reach their second innings. 

Clarke himself was at pains to say that he had scored a better century in South Africa when his team were 37-3 and he faced down the onslaught of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel to give Australia a competitive first innings total.  Clarke himself is finding runs easier to come by now he has the captaincy, as when England toured last winter his form all but deserted him.

Clarke said the innings was a better knock, whilst this was harder only on a mental and physical scale.  And even though he has joined such an illustrious list, he would rather be remembered for that South African innings.

The same can be said of many on the list who even though they have the milestone for their career achievements all have greater moments in their lifetime.

Graham Gooch's 333 the first one I can remember witnessing in my lifetime, had a far more memorable innings of 154* at Headingley were he carried his bat against a fine West Indian bowling line-up that included Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in their pomp.

Brian Lara has done the feat twice - 375 and 400* (both at Antigua; both I saw live) - yet his career should be remembered for the 277 he scored against Australia in Perth in 1993, an innings that set him apart from other batsmen of his era.

Virender Sehwag has also done it twice (309, 319), yet his explosive 83 off 68balls laid the foundation for India to chase down a target of 387 set by England in Chennai, 2008.

Even if Alastair Cook had achieved the milestone when he was out for 294 at Edgbaston, he would more than likely be remembered for his immense 227* at Brisbane, or the century he scored against Pakistan at the Oval which saved his Test position and led to him breaking all manner of records on the subsequent Ashes tour.

Odd also when you look at the list, how many of the players who have the accolade can be deemed one-day specialists - Sehwag (twice), Chris Gayle (twice, 317 & 333) and Sanath Jayasuriya (340).  And you add Matthew Hayden (380) the sheer finesse of those men is formidable.

Yet Clarke can be deemed one of the more elegant players to hold the special 300 club distinction along with Mahela Jayawardene (374) and Younis Khan (313).

It is a fuss to be made over, yet like Clarke is able to admit.  He would rather be remembered for winning a test series against a competitive opponent than a personal achievement.

England Struggling in Sub-Continent

It can be called that old adage, what goes around comes around.  Swings and roundabouts. Good guys finish last.  Unfortunately, you can put each of these labels to the England Cricket team at the moment.  After a glorious undefeated summer of cricket against India, where India supplanted them from the top spot of test cricket with a 4-0 whitewash followed by a 3-0 victory in the One day series.  It seems that England have come unstuck on the sub-continent.

Following Friday's old friend collapse against some very run of the mill spin, England again where given a right good spanking this time by 8 wkts with a good number of the alloted overs remaining.

Admittedly, the ODI game has altered with a new ball available from both ends meaning one ball gets 25 overs of action  This is interesting in that it limits the amount of reverse-swing available but the ball the batsmen faces is relatively new for the entirety of the innings - the ICC have made the 50 over format a slog-a-thon.  Unfortunately, England cannot get to grips with the pitches they are playing on.

On Friday, in attempting to chase down a formidable target of 301 (a target that was probably 30 more than it should have been) thanks to MS Dhoni's rallying call; England lost four wickets in the middle of the innings in just the space of four overs.  And the tail could not wag as the run rate escalated.

This time, Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat hoping to himself set a formidable target he and Kieswetter went against the grain and both lost their wickets meaning after two overs England were 0-2.  Cook was caught at backward point off an off-balance drive, whilst Kieswetter wafted outside his off stump when he did not need to.

Jonathan Trott seemed to be getting to grips and looked in touch but he was caught off the last ball of the mandatory powerplay meaning initiative suddenly went to India with Pietersen and Bopara.  The two most explosive hitters were together and set about building a respectful total, but both went in quick succession and the wind was suddenly out of the England sails.

Jonny Bairstow and Samit Patel accumulated runs rotated the strike, but again both were out quickly together meaning all of a sudden the tail was exposed without a batsmen.  Without a Stuart Broad in the side offering a left-hander down the order, England look poor with the bat for wickets 7-10 and resistance was not forthcoming as they reached only a paltry 237. 

That total was simply not good enough against a strong India line-up even without Tendulkar and Sehwag; here Virat Kohli scored 112 (off 98) and Gautam Gambhir 84 (off 90) as the bowling attack were torn apart, only Tim Bresnan having any joy as he got two wickets in his first three overs.

So why are England failing?
- For once, there fielding and catching are letting them down.  Trott's drop in the first over of the first ODI set a poor tone.  Ground fielding has gone lax with a lot of singles becoming boundaries after mistimed dives.  And India have been making crucial run outs when it counts.

- The timing of a chase, is built on the accumulation of runs and rotating the strike.  You sometimes get the impression that England would rather smash the ball as far as possible, this is alright if done properly as Bairstow showed in the warm-up match.  The absence of Eoin Morgan who can time a chase is vital here.

- They miss Jimmy Anderson's ability to bowl where necessary and restrict the scoring at the start of the innings; too often India's batsmen get easy balls to dispatch and get set.  Jade Dernbach is no Anderson, and his slower balls are easy to spot on these pitches.

- The batsmen need to make big scores; today KP got 46 and Patel 42, but nobody took the innings along to the higher total.

- England are also not used to playing in these conditions, in these temperatures and humidity; yet England have a whole winter in these conditions to muster with tours in UAE (v Pakistan) and away to Sri Lanka coming in the new year.

However, to blame the weather is a poor excuse.  Unfortunately, England still remain a limited team when it comes to one day resources with too much reliance on Kevin Pietersen and strangely too much emphasis on brawn - hence the elevation of Bairstow, when the finesse of Morgan was getting results. England needed a like for like replacement for Morgan, Jos Buttler of Somerset has shown he has the ability to change a game with his batting as he did at Lords albeit in vain as Somerset lost that final.  Buttler may well get a chancenow on this tour, as I hope does Chris Woakes an all-rounder eager to learn.

This is far from England's best ODI team, but at the moment due to injury and rotation it is the best.  Blame should not be put at Cook's door who admits that his team are well below par at this moment, but three games to go and already the thought of a whitewash is on Indian minds.

New guests in England's ODI party

With England and their selections for the ODI series (one T20 and five ODI's) against the touring Sri Lankans, it is less a case of out with the old and in with the new; as out with the past it and in for another try.

Following the appointment of Alastair Cook as the new ODI captain and the feeble exit from the World Cup on the sub-continent, England need to re-assess their format and team selection.  Several players have seemingly written themselves out of the equation and removed from selection - Paul Collingwood, so often the heart of the England side, has been put out to pasture and is grazing in Durham with a groin strain; Michael Yardy, who worked well with Graeme Swann, is out with depression and seemingly played his last game for England.  And as always there is the query over who should keep wicket, and if that person should open the batting.

England made their selection on Tuesday morning; selecting Craig Kieswetter (Somerset) as the wicketkeeper removing Matt Prior, and recalling Samit Patel (Notts) who has won his battle of the bulge and shown enough progress to be given another chance, although he has been warned to not let himself down in terms of fitness.

In terms of Prior, he should not really worry about his position.  Far from him be looking over his shoulder for the test gloves, Prior is firmly implanted in that position and the picking of Kieswetter is England's intention of creating a pecking order.  Prior will have to do a lot wrong (of which he did not in the recent test series) to be usurped from the test side, but his non-selection is more a reflection of his inability to become an effective ODI opener, which saw him bat down the order once Pietersen took charge, and stay there once KP was injured.  Prior never scored an ODI century, and most importantly failed to be an explosive power hitter at the top of the order.  England must hope that the combination of patience (Cook) and bombast (Kieswetter) will prove decisive.

As for Samit Patel, it cannot be construed as a controversial selection, as once his weight was under control his sheer talent with bat and ball could not be overlooked.  His non-appearance in the recent World Cup on surfaces that would have suited his bowling was the x-factor missing from a dormant England side; as Yuvraj Singh showed for triumphant India - a powerful batsmen who could chip in for some profitable overs is something essential in the overall set up of a winning side.

Presumably, the non-selection of Chris Tremlett for the ODI side can be considered one of two things, either he proved too costly or one-dimensional for the one day game, or they want to keep him fit before the touring India side hit town.  You will probably see James Anderson miss one or two games for that same reason, and the inclusion of Jade Dernbach (Surrey) and Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) is indicative of that, as England attempt to breed some youngsters in high intensity atmospheres.

All in all the batting remains the same expect Cook and Kieswetter to open as discussed, with Trott coming in first wicket down, followed by KP, Bell and Morgan in a not too different Test/One day crossover, with Ravi Bopara again being the nearly man as Patel is picked ahead of him for his bowling prowess - with Swann, Anderson, Broad and one other filling up the places.

Against a Sri Lankan side itself in transition, expect a different story from the test side.  Sri Lanka are very capable one day players with proven track records and have the returning Lasith Malinga (who retired from tests) joining up with the squad and the versatile Angelo Mathews, a one-day specialist.

Expect a 3-2 scoreline to go either way, but hey the winner may be the weather who may have the last laugh.