The English dilemma

England is a good cricket side. Not a great one, but a good one. They are competitive without being dominant. Efficient without being clinical. Strong without being overbearing.

In the current England v New Zealand test series, however, New Zealand, a team with few superstars to call upon, has managed to ask more questions of them than they expected. Before the series began, Michael Vaughan predicted an easy series win. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

England escaped from the first test with a draw after clearing losing the majority of the test. They managed to steal a win in the Old Trafford after Monty Panesar devastated the Kiwis to the tune of 6/37, despite being outplayed in the first innings with the bat and ball.

They go into the final test trying to prevent New Zealand from coming away with a win, despite the fact that for the majority of the series New Zealand have performed better, despite England’s better stars. Players like McCullum, Ross Taylor and Jamie How have stood up, and they have been led well by Vettori, who is taking wickets and leading with great guile.

England has access to an enviable line up of talent. It is alarming that such a lineup cannot lend itself to greater consistency. Ian Bell, like Michael Clarke, has never scored a century unless one has already been scored; KP is now averaging under 50 despite being far and away England’s best batsman.

The most frustrating aspect of England has been their bowling. Sidebottom and Panesar are both performing well, Stuart Broad has looked steady, but Jimmy Anderson has been absolutely terrible. He has a real problem with consistency, being able to deliver one good performance in one innings, then delivering 10 bad ones in a row.

My suggestion is to bring Mark Davies, the underrated Durham seamer, into the squad, or giant beanpole Chris Tremlett, who obtains good bounce. Anderson just simply isn’t good enough to maintain test quality performances.

Not only is the one fumbling for a spot, Paul Collingwood, who delivered such a wonderful 206 in the last Ashes series, is now fighting to keep out the rampant Ravi Bopara, who has set the county scene alight with his prolific run scoring. Colly needs runs to keep his spot urgently.

This series has been a frank eye opener for England, because they know with a strong South African side that has recently fought India to a standstill in India, their side will get crushed if they perform anywhere near as badly as they have this series.