One Day, England Will Get It Right

♦ September 12, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment

It’s the form of the game where England have never really found the right balance or tactics to be consistently good. OK, they have been in five limited overs major finals, but have they ever won? And the majority of those runner-up ‘successes’ came in an era of lesser competition both numerically and ability wise. And, let’s not forget that one day cricket was a new idea, and sides were still getting used to the so called ‘hit and giggle’ version of the sport. I don’t want to take anything away from England, who played good cricket to reach finals. Even in this year’s Champions Trophy they played some good, competitive limited overs cricket; until the final five overs anyway, in which the rapid collapse of wickets made the fall of the Roman Empire seem insignificant. But as One Day International cricket has developed over time, England… haven’t. Well, not at a fast enough pace anyway. They always seem to play a brand of cricket that wouldn’t be out of place had they played it five or ten years earlier.

This should be an exciting time. The Test side are strong and healthy. England are trying out young blood; new innovative players. But everything’s disjointed at the moment. Take the current series with Australia for example. Cook, the captain and recognised opener, rested. Broad, our leading ODI bowler, rested. Both of these will come straight back into the side in a less congested season, so how will the players taking their place in the squad perform in this series knowing they are merely experimental players, or dare I say, just making up the numbers? Listen lads, our better players are in need of a rest so just go out and do your best.

We should be looking to thrash Australia; grind them into the ground. We want to win. This is not the series to ‘over’ experiment. I’m all for trying youngsters. One or two players seems reasonable, and I have nothing against the players coming into the squad. They could be quality players. They have performed well this season for their counties. I just think chucking four or five debutants into the deep end in such a big series is suicide. A year and a half before the next World Cup we should have a good idea of our first eleven and playing them. This resting business seems nonsense.

England’s tactics leave a lot to be desired too.  Despite comments coming out from the camp that England are not trying a three bowler attack – just three months after reaching the Champions Trophy final playing four front line bowlers – the evidence suggests that against Australia they are. The bowling looks light. Bopara and Root can make up ten overs but not twenty.

And everything is far too rigid. England stick to premade bowling plans whatever is happening out in the middle. We at home can see when England are bowling too short or too full, or bowling too many of the same deliveries to a specific batsman at his supposed weakness. Let me tell you, if you bowl that delivery at him enough he will get enough practise at it that it will no longer be a weakness. It is almost predictable when certain players will bowl and how many overs they will bowl in each spell; it’s the same every match. The batting line-up too is not flexible. There have been countless situations in recent England ODIs crying out for a pinch hitter or a change of personnel at the crease even if it is just to put in a left hand right hand combination at the crease to mess up bowlers lines. With the likes of Buttler and Bopara in the side we do have people in the side that can clear the boundary if they come in too early or too late they cannot do this. Cook and Giles need to be more flexible and sense these opportunities to get better than the ‘above average’ scores we seem to content with.

There are a lot of good things about England at the moment. Good sides in all formats of the game with strength in depth in all positions. We have good youngsters who will be good international players in the future. But our ODI side still needs improvement. It needs consistency with selection and creativity tactically. We shouldn’t be content with ‘beating statistics’ or being a side that goes out to not lose rather than out to win. We should be less Tinkerman and more Tinkerbell. A sprinkling of stardust. A bit of magic. It’s not far away. One day, England will get it right.

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