I worry for English cricket sometimes. While I may not be English, I still hope for competitive Ashes series when we take on the Poms, as competitive as duels between India are getting these days.
Sadly England is always one step behind, and especially when they have injury troubles they are caught out even worse. Their lack of depth is sadly evident.
England is currently fielding a five man bowling attack (Including the much needed Flintoff), some of which have questionable claims for being there (Namely Broad, who lacks any venom, and Jimmy Anderson, whose inconsistency continues to baffle).
The stocks in county cricket aren’t too bad for bowling. Durham has a whole plethora of good fast bowlers at their disposal, including the still developing Liam Plunkett, Graham Onions, Western Australian Callum Thorp, and the oddly ignored Mark Davies, who consistently takes more wickets than his companions.
There is other solid talent hovering around such as South African convert Ryan McLaren, who has achieved great results for Kent as an all-rounder. Chris Woakes at Warwickshire has made a fine start to his career, and of course, looming over at Worcestershire, is the bowler that cemented his reputation in the 2005 Ashes, the speedy Simon Jones.
The batting ranks look thin. Ravi Bopara is churning out runs, but apart from him, no young batsmen, apart from maybe Samit Patel, are standing up to be counted. Bob Key has led Kent well but his returns have been inconsistent. Australian-born Paul Horton looks like the best bet to replace Andrew Strauss if the latter runs out of form though.
In an odd coincidence, two former English wicketkeepers in Matt Prior and Chris Read have had good seasons with the bat, with Prior amongst the top run makers so far this year and Read leading the high flying Nottinghamshire with gusto.
That hole could be fatal if some players start to lose form and the replacements just aren’t up to scratch. The comparison England has to teams like India and Australia is that while England may have good talent on the field, they don’t have a multitude of players waiting in the wings.
Australia’s depth borders on the ridiculous. Any other nation would cry out for the luxury of having Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Chris Rogers and Ashley Noffke waiting in the wings, not to mention young talent of the quality of Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach and Ben Hilfenhaus. That’s the vital strength of Australian cricket. While some nations may have equal or more talented players, Australia has continued to churn them out.
India is beginning to show signs of this as well, already having an impressive youth set up and a number of young players showing the ability to eventually take over from an aging and transitional Indian side that will soon have to move on Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S Laxman, and that legendary figure himself, Tendulkar.
England has been accused of resting on its laurels during a time it could have dramatically raised its stock following the epic streak of 2004 and 2005, when it laid claim to being at the top of world cricket. Instead of capitalising, England got sloppy and it has cost them their prestige and a place at the top of the pecking order, now fought over between India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
A good sit down to thrash out why they have not achieved what seemed possible all those years ago is recommended. Maybe they should look to adapting some Australian development models, or even reduce the number of county teams to encourage competitiveness.
One thing on I’d like to point out though is that talent will not be coming through if county cricket continues to allow Kolpak players into the competition. Look at Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, you could form another South African side with the numbers those teams have.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
A new (and vastly unexpected) change of direction
English cricket is set to travel into a brave new world following the resignations of Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood, and then the appointment of tyro Kevin Pietersen as the next English captain over the three cricket formats.
The Vaughan era was one of sudden prosperity and sudden decline. Following every Englishman’s dream of retrieving the Ashes (Some of the younger generation had never seen it out of Australian hands before then) in 2005, England have grown steadily worse, with poor selections, lackluster performances and the declining quality in county cricket.
One of the major reasons for this decline was Vaughan’s knee injury, taking him out of action for a good 18 months and leaving England without his steely determination and sharp tactical brain. Andrew Flintoff did almost a parallel of Ian Botham during his captaincy reign, having little success. And there was Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss given a try as well.
Another key factor was the loss of Simon Jones, who seemed on the point of international explosion when he exposed flaws in the Australian batting lineup via his sharp reverse swing. He has not played a single international match since that Ashes series, and despite superb form this season, has not been reselected in the England team.
Gradually the English team lost its direction and its players performed erratically, even against weaker nations. Vaughan returned in late 2006, but was half the player he used to be. He re-inherited a team that was demoralized following an Ashes whitewash and they were soon beaten at home by India in 2007 and now South Africa in 2008. The guile of Vaughan had lost its aura.
To be fair to Vaughan, England has been woeful. With the exception of Kevin Pietersen, they have been found wanting against strong teams. Ian Bell, for example, who has a massive amount of talent, seems to go missing when the pressure is on, and he has never scored a century unless someone has got there before him.
Vaughan’s decline as a player has been sad to watch, as he is an extremely graceful batsman to watch when on song. The runs began to dry up as his injury prevented him from having the same command of his strokeplay, and the tricks began to dry up as his team began to falter against stronger opposition.
This may now change with KP’s appointment, one that has been met across the cricket world with equal parts skepticism and enthusiasm.
Logically KP was the only choice to replace Vaughan and Collingwood. He is the one batsman who is a certainty to play across all formats and he is the only player with a forceful enough personality to take on the job. While Strauss and Alastair Cook were considered, Cook is probably too young for the job and Strauss is no certainty over all the formats.
Pietersen is still under 30 and has proven himself unable to be intimidated by big name opponents such as South Africa and Australia. While we are yet to see if he has any tactical nous that is required when matching it with a Ponting or a Jayawardene, he certainly has the determination that made is previous skipper popular and respected.
His batting will hopefully be unaffected, and knowing Pietersen it may bring the best out in him. He has shown he can lift his game against the stronger opponents; hopefully he can inspire his more insipid teammates to do the same.
The first test is to see whether he can rally his troops to win the final test in order to win some pride back. Then comes a blitz of test series against India, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and finally Australia, only the Windies of those are considered a weaker team.
KP faces a tough trot in the battle to establish himself as England’s captain, and it will take his best to inspire his team to the kind of success that cemented Vaughan’s reputation as the most successful English skipper.
The Vaughan era was one of sudden prosperity and sudden decline. Following every Englishman’s dream of retrieving the Ashes (Some of the younger generation had never seen it out of Australian hands before then) in 2005, England have grown steadily worse, with poor selections, lackluster performances and the declining quality in county cricket.
One of the major reasons for this decline was Vaughan’s knee injury, taking him out of action for a good 18 months and leaving England without his steely determination and sharp tactical brain. Andrew Flintoff did almost a parallel of Ian Botham during his captaincy reign, having little success. And there was Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss given a try as well.
Another key factor was the loss of Simon Jones, who seemed on the point of international explosion when he exposed flaws in the Australian batting lineup via his sharp reverse swing. He has not played a single international match since that Ashes series, and despite superb form this season, has not been reselected in the England team.
Gradually the English team lost its direction and its players performed erratically, even against weaker nations. Vaughan returned in late 2006, but was half the player he used to be. He re-inherited a team that was demoralized following an Ashes whitewash and they were soon beaten at home by India in 2007 and now South Africa in 2008. The guile of Vaughan had lost its aura.
To be fair to Vaughan, England has been woeful. With the exception of Kevin Pietersen, they have been found wanting against strong teams. Ian Bell, for example, who has a massive amount of talent, seems to go missing when the pressure is on, and he has never scored a century unless someone has got there before him.
Vaughan’s decline as a player has been sad to watch, as he is an extremely graceful batsman to watch when on song. The runs began to dry up as his injury prevented him from having the same command of his strokeplay, and the tricks began to dry up as his team began to falter against stronger opposition.
This may now change with KP’s appointment, one that has been met across the cricket world with equal parts skepticism and enthusiasm.
Logically KP was the only choice to replace Vaughan and Collingwood. He is the one batsman who is a certainty to play across all formats and he is the only player with a forceful enough personality to take on the job. While Strauss and Alastair Cook were considered, Cook is probably too young for the job and Strauss is no certainty over all the formats.
Pietersen is still under 30 and has proven himself unable to be intimidated by big name opponents such as South Africa and Australia. While we are yet to see if he has any tactical nous that is required when matching it with a Ponting or a Jayawardene, he certainly has the determination that made is previous skipper popular and respected.
His batting will hopefully be unaffected, and knowing Pietersen it may bring the best out in him. He has shown he can lift his game against the stronger opponents; hopefully he can inspire his more insipid teammates to do the same.
The first test is to see whether he can rally his troops to win the final test in order to win some pride back. Then comes a blitz of test series against India, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and finally Australia, only the Windies of those are considered a weaker team.
KP faces a tough trot in the battle to establish himself as England’s captain, and it will take his best to inspire his team to the kind of success that cemented Vaughan’s reputation as the most successful English skipper.
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