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Have England started caring?
By Jonathan Liew 2 years ago, mid-February, 4 Comments »
Here are some of the things Paul Collingwood has said during the current one-day series:
“There are 11 blokes in the dressing-room who are devastated.”
“There are a lot of people in that dressing room that are very, very hurt about tonight’s performance.”
“If I had just hit those stumps, we were a millimetre or so away from winning the game. I will probably be dreaming about it for many years to come.”
Compare this with some of the quotes emanating from the England camp after their last proper one-day humiliation, the 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka:
Fletcher: “It would be very interesting if Sri Lanka were missing eight of their players and we had eight of our players back. That is the formula you have to look at. What then would the result have been?”
Trescothick: “Nothing seems to have gone our way this series, nothing’s worked. We’ve talked about a lot of things, but not put them into practice too well.”
Strauss: “Sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up and say, ‘Well played.’”
It may be that England finally have some sort of emotional investment in their one-day cricket. In the 2006 quotes there’s hardly any sense of hurt or wounded pride. Rather, the tendency was to see one-day defeat as an annoyance, mitigated by the prospect of finally being able to play some ‘proper’ cricket again. It was the equivalent of being spurned by a lover and then protesting that you didn’t want them anyway.
Under Moores – and I’m sure there’s other factors as well – one-day cricket is a fully-paid up, fully equal partner to the longer stuff. Even though the bowling performance yesterday was insipid, there’s no doubting they really wanted it. Perhaps that hunger told in the end. Compare that with Steve Harmison sleepwalking his way through ten overs of rubbish.
The one-day party has been in full swing for about 20 years. Only now, it seems, have England decided to take their coats off.
4 Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 5th ODI, Headingley
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of July, 10 Comments »
The final one-dayer. Hurrah! Come on England, let’s at least see if they can compete this time.
10 Comments »Four nil, four nil, four nil, four nil
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 3 Comments »
Another one-dayer, another win for Sri Lanka, another clueless performance from England. Even the return of two discards, Vikram Solanki and Kabir Ali, couldn’t delay the depressingly inevitable. What a chuffing shambles.
Sri Lanka look very, very good.
3 Comments »Stop being chummy, you chummers
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 5 Comments »
From Lawrence Booth’s Spin column this morning:
The seeds of England’s affable uselessness (“It’s OK to be beaten by
Mahela Jayawardene and chums: they’re a good bunch of blokes”) were
sown on the last tour of Sri Lanka in 2003-04. Nasser Hussain spotted
the danger: “I had watched how matey some of our players were with
Murali, particularly Freddie Flintoff,” he wrote in his
autobiography, “and I became concerned that this was having an
adverse effect on the side.” Hussain’s decision to get nasty as
Murali walked out to bat in the second Test at Kandy came about
because “I wanted him to feel he was in a hostile environment, not a
friendly one.”This is not to suggest that England start calling a member of the
opposition a cheat, as Hussain did. It is merely to illustrate that -
in the absence of a hard-nosed leader – England have lost their bite.
The Spin observed the off-field interaction between the English and
the Sri Lankans in this summer’s Test series very closely and it kept
reaching the same conclusion: Flintoff needs to add steel to his
repertoire, otherwise he will always hover in a lower captaincy
league than Hussain and Michael Vaughan.
Spot on. Mateyness has no place, especially when we’re losing so spectacularly. They all need a royal kick up the backside.
5 Comments »Vikram Solanki called up
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 1 Comment »
Oh whoop-de-doo. A glitzy, effortless, boundary-laden 34 is not what England need.
1 Comment »Dump Duncan?
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 5 Comments »
I must say, this has been brewing in the back of my mind since England lost the first one-dayer at Lord’s. But I avoided mentioning it in either of my verdicts as I felt it was not only premature, but too controversial. Enter Tim de Lisle who, handily, has done it for me, and rather more directly and eloquently too:
6. Replace the coach
Some players are just better suited to Test than one-day cricket. Some coaches are too. Duncan Fletcher was a handy one-day player himself for Zimbabwe, but his style as a coach – patient, methodical, painstaking – is better geared to Test cricket. With the help of central contracts, four-day cricket, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan, he has changed the culture of the Test team. But he hasn’t done much for the one-day side. He should either have a rethink or step aside for someone with a real feel for the one-day game. It could be someone Fletcher would approve of, like Andy Flower, already a mentor to Chris Read and Alistair Cook. Or it could be someone Fletcher wouldn’t approve of at all, like Adam Hollioake. Desperate times, desperate measures.
Who to pick? Matthew Maynard, who some believe is the main in waiting for the top job? Tim’s right: Fletcher is too calm and methodical a coach to be sufficiently proactive (not reactive) in a one-day series. That’s the impression I get, anyway.
5 Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI, Riverside
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 7 Comments »
Another bloody one-dayer. Chat away, if you can stand it.
7 Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI, The Oval
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 7 Comments »
Another one-dayer, let’s hope England can give Sri Lanka a run for their money. Doubt anyone will even bother coming here, but if you do, chat away! I’ll be at the ground, but will post thoughts on the game on Wednesday (alt. just read Cricinfo…)
7 Comments »Sri Lanka building nicely
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
I really don’t know what else to add about England’s performance on Saturday which hasn’t already been said. Check the verdict and today’s preview for more on that.
For Sri Lanka, they are much better placed and are building very nicely towards the World Cup. They have a nucleus of settled players, a world-class spinner, and several batsmen capable of hundreds (and who are able to adapt to the game’s situation). They’ve really turned things around after being belted 6-1 by India; they’re looking good.
I’ll be at The Oval for more fun and games tomorrow. If only to make this series competitive, let’s hope England can level it – but, moreover, let’s see England do the basics right and leave the slapdash strokeplay in the locker.
No Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, Lord’s
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 4 Comments »
The first ODI at Lord’s between England and Sri Lanka. Ought to be a scorcher. Get a’chattin’
4 Comments »Tomorrow’s one-dayer
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 2 Comments »
England take on Sri Lanka tomorrow in the first of five one-dayers. In doing some little research for the series preview, I worked out (bollocks I did, sorry, I’m lying – Robin did. Thanks Robin. But he knew it off the top of his head, as well I assumed he might) England have a minimum of 19 matches until the World Cup. Oh dear.
Glen Chapple (32) is injured; so is Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones, Ed Joyce and probably more that I’ve forgotten. So the significance of this series, and tomorrow’s match, should not be underestimated for both sides. Every one-day match henceforth is a potential “sighter” for next year’s World Cup. And for all Andrew Strauss’ remarkable confidence in the quotes that came out today, even he would admit that England are in dire one-day form.
I’m making my debut too, tomorrow; it’s my first international for Cricinfo, a little under 12 months since I joined. Couple of friends (bonjour, C&N) who I met with the other night asked “Did you ever imagine you’d be doing this?” I don’t think I ever did seriously contemplate it, although aged twelve we did a roleplay exercise during a French lesson where we had to pretend we were speaking to the TV camera as “something”. One bloke was a horseracing commentator (even at that age, his knowledge of the horses was phenomenal; he’s now either stinking rich or bankrupt, I imagine), another at Twickenham, Wembley, Wimbledon and so on. I was at Lord’s! And I distinctly remember thinking “well yeah – it’d be nice, but it’s so not possible.”
My ambitions of becoming a doctor were also dealt a blow aged 13 when I nearly blew the school up. Chemistry and Physics weren’t my strong point, although I enjoyed disecting a pig’s eye and liver in biology. Sadly that’s not a requirement, or even a benefit, to become a quack over here.
Anyway. Enough ramblings. I’ll post thoughts of Saturday’s game on Sunday, and there will be a post up tomorrow for you to leave your comments etc. Until then, then.
2 Comments »Andrew Strauss in line for captaincy
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 1 Comment »
As soon as he hit a hundred on his debut in 2004, Andrew Strauss was talked of as a future England captain. Since then, despite a recent minor-blip in form, many have spoken that he should have taken over from Michael Vaughan when he missed England’s tour of India and not Andrew Flintoff.
Following England’s defeat in the final Test against Sri Lanka, Flintoff’s “follow me, lads” style of captaincy has received criticism from Mike Atherton, among others, and it’s noteworthy that Strauss has been chosen. This surely represents the first signal that it is he, rather than Flintoff, that Duncan Fletcher and co. want to lead England in the post-Vaughan era (which could come sooner than we think).
England face Ireland tomorrow for the first time, at Stormont, before a Twenty20 against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl on Thursday ahead of the first one-dayer at Lord’s on Saturday.
1 Comment »England’s loss to Sri Lanka
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of June, 5 Comments »
It was a fabulous bowling performance from Murali, but how worried are you about England’s latest slip-up? Does it smack of arrogance and complacency, or is this just a team in the rebuilding phase, missing key players? Leave a comment, vote, or both. I’ll offer my own thoughts later in the week.
(you’ll need to visit the main page in order to vote, if you’re reading this via RSS)
5 Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Trent Bridge, 4th day
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of June, 14 Comments »
(Posted in advance)
The fourth day of the final Test at Nottingham. Get a’chattin’.
Update: Murali has ruined England with 8 for 70. Super piece of bowling, that
14 Comments »England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Trent Bridge, 3rd day
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of June, 4 Comments »
(Posted in advance)
The third day of the final Test at Nottingham. Get talkin’.
4 Comments » « Previous Entries