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 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.