England - The Team Of The Future?

England's cricket team has been through mixed fortunes in the past 12 months, a miracle performance to draw the test series 1-1 with India last March, followed by being demolished 5-1 in the one-day series. Then against Sri Lanka the English threw away several chances to win the test series, eventually drawing it 1-1, and were then whitewashed 5-0 in the ODI's. They improved against Pakistan, taking the test match series 3-0 and coming back from 2-0 down to draw the one-day series 2-2. This was followed by an early exit in the Champions Trophy, and then the disaster which was the 5-0 Ashes whitewash by Australia, before coming back from nowhere to win the Commonwealth Bank Series against their fiercest and greatest enemies.

Now the World Cup lies ahead of us, and England are expected to progress to at least the Super Eight stage of the competition, but whatever happens in the Caribbean, England can go home safe in the knowledge that they have possibly the team of the future back home in the domestic cricket scene. England can come home knowing that excitable talent and a very bright future lies ahead of them, in 5 years England could have one of, if not the best group of players in the world.

For the future, England already have established players such as Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Monty Panesar in the team. Cook and Panesar are still very much youngsters, and let's not forget that Pietersen is very much in his prime at 26, with possibly another decade of exciting cricket ahead of him. But along with them, England have a great range and variety waiting in the wings behind them. Young batsmen such as Nick Compton, Neil Dexter, Will Jefferson and James Benning wait behind them, with the wealth of talent and skill needed for the international scene, a talented all-rounder in Ravi Bopara - who impressed on ODI debut - has a promising future ahead of him, keepers such as Matt Prior and Steven Davies could become world class players behind the stumps, the fast-bowling pair of Liam Plunkett and Stuart Broad have the potential to be our Wasim and Waqar, or Walsh and Ambrose, along with Amjad Khan, who is good, and the classy spinner which is Adil Rashid hs the same potential as Monty Panesar does.

As well as that, England also have a great young set of players for back-up in the future, players such as Michael Yardy and Sajid Mahmood could become accomplished players in their own areas of the game and could prove to be sufficient back-up for the team of the future. This England line-up can be more than capable of challenging the likes of Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh in the next few years, and probably even beating them.

It could take a brave man to bet against England, which could well be skippered by Ian Bell or Pietersen, enjoying an era of success, and I think an England team 5 or 6 years down the line could consist of:
Jefferson
Cook
Bell (c)
Pietersen
Compton
Bopara
Davies (wk)
Plunkett
Anderson
Broad
Panesar

And then with back-up such as Mahmood, Yardy, Dexter, Prior, Benning, Khan and Dalrymple behind them, an England team a few years down the road could be world beaters, and for good reason too.

The Art of Captaincy

On the technical side of cricket you have the coaches, the physios, the selectors, the players, and you also have the most important player on your team, the captain, which is probably the hardest job of all.

You might think it's easy being a captain. After all, all you have to do is choose whether to bat or bowl first, choose the batting order and choose the fielding positions and choose who bowls. Simple, but it's one of the toughest and most demanding jobs in the game. If you make the wrong choice at the toss, you may come to regret it. Take Nasser Hussain at Brisbane in 2002 in the first Ashes test. He won the toss, made the wrong choice, bowled first and Australia reached 364-2 at the end of day one. Or if you put the fielders in the wrong positions. It's very well putting all your fielders on the boundary to prevent the fours and sixes, but then it's just easy for the batsmen to hit the ball gently and get a couple whilst the fielder has to run in. On the other hand, if you set all your fielders inside the circle, then the batsmen can just hit you over the top for the boundaries. And if you pick the wrong bowlers, you're going to get smacked around the park, you can't set a field for poor bowling. If you've got to pick death bowlers, are you going to pick the economical but non-wicket taking bowlers or the expensive and wicket-taking bowlers. The captain has to be the man who decides which is which.

Which is why the captain has the most difficult job on the field. If the team does badly, then the captain is one of the first to get the blame, but if he gets it right then he is praised, but what makes him good? A good captain is thinking 100% of the time about how to stem the run flow and which bowlers to bowl, and he will usually figure out something which will turn things around if it is going wrong. If a batsman's best stroke is too hit the call through cover then he can put a fielder in the cover region of the pitch, if a batsman's weakness is playing spin bowling then he can put on his spinner. A good captain will know exactly what to do in certain situations. Take Michael Vaughan for example, he is regarded by many as the best captain in the world for the reason that he can turn around a losing position. Take the England V New Zealand game in the final Commonwealth Bank Series group match for example. New Zealand were soaring at well above the rate in the first few overs of their run chase, but Vaughan took off the expensive bowlers, changed the field to make it difficult for the Kiwis to score and Vaughan turned around a seemingly losing position into a victory.

Good captains know what is the best for their team, a good captain won't keep his field the same for the whole innings, or keep on the expensive bowlers and not take them off, he will change the field nearly every ball if he needs too and hope to compromise the batting team's performance, he will put on his more economical bowlers and he will know exactly what to do. He can win the game or lose it by his decisions out in the middle, which is why even the best teams would be nowhere without a captain. The job of a captain is the most difficult on the pitch and only the best can pull it off, and in those tough situations, you can easily tell the men out from the boys.

What Is Wrong With Australia?

What has gone wrong with the Australian cricket team at the moment? It was only a few weeks ago when they were dominating one-day international cricket and now all of a sudden they have lost 5 out of 6 matches, have injury doubts for the World Cup and have now slipped off number one in the World Rankings.

It all started on February 2nd, when they played England at the SCG. Both Australia and New Zealand had hammered England and they had lost 5 out of 6 matches. Australia had bowled England out for 155 and 110 respectively in their last two meetings, but it started there. England fought back, and registered 292-7, and the only laugh the Australians had was when Glenn McGrath got Mal Loye in the grill when he attempted to sweep him. And of their bowlers, well it was a mediocre bowling display. Tait went for 68 runs, Bracken went at almost a run a ball, Clark went wicketless for 55 runs, McGrath was the best bowler with 2-51, Clarke and Symonds went wicketless and White took 1-26 off 5 overs.

And then if it couldn't get any worse, it did, Australia were reduced to 4-2 in just 1.2 overs and Gilchrist and Hodge were already back in the pavilion, and when they recovered to 116-3, it all went wrong again. Hayden was gone for 51, Symonds was forced to retire hurt after rupturing a bicep tendon. The key batsman Hussey was bowled by Bopara was 6, and then White was gone, Bracken was bowled, McGrath was trapped lbw and Tait was run out, Australia were out for 200 and had lost by 92 runs. Now the fans probably thought it was a blip, and their presumptions looked well founded in the next match against New Zealand when they chased down 291 for victory, Ricky Ponting scoring a century and Brad Hodge finishing on 99 not-out.

And then it began to go wrong again, after Australia were 170-1 against England in the 1st Commonwealth Bank series final, everything went wrong. Australia lost their last 9 wickets for 82 runs and what could've been a potential 300 was reduced to an easily chaseable 252. However Australia started incredibly well in their reply. Six overs into England's run chase and they were 15-3, with 3 key batsmen back in the pavilion. But unbelievably again Australia threw away the game, and from nowhere England came back to score 253-6 from 49.3 overs and take the game by 6 wickets. It was then all to play for in the 2nd final, and Australia had to win the game or they lost the competition. And on a good batting track at Sydney, they reduced England to an average 246-8. Enter the rain. After a blistering start to their innings the Aussies then lost Hayden and Ponting early on and after 6 overs rain forced them to go off with them on 39-2. And then it all went wrong again, Gilchrist was bowled with the first ball after the rain break, then Clarke went for a duck, and unbelievably Hussey did the same. Australia were stuck on 63-5 and in dire straits, and with just 22 balls left until a result was possible, the rain came down again, but it didn't last. Australia built a partnership of 46 with Hodge and Watson before Watson was out, then Hogg was out before Hodge was the last man out for 49. And then rain stopped play altogether, and on 152-8, Australia were 34 runs behind the D/L method and had lost the series, England had pulled off the unthinkable and won the Commonwealth Bank series.

Now surely it couldn't get worse for them, could it? But suddenly it had, Brett Lee twisted his ankle in training for the first ODI against New Zealand, and Michael Clarke was sent home with a hip problem and then unbelievably history was made. Australia were bowled out for a lowly 148, and then it happened. The Kiwis knocked off the 149 required in 27 overs without losing a single wicket. Australia had lost an ODI by 10 wickets for the first ever time. But everything seemed to be returning to normal now in the second ODI. Australia posted a mammoth 336-4 with a century from Hussey and excellent knocks from Haddin, Hodge and White, now Australia had definitely won, hadn't they? No, they hadn't, and New Zealand miracolously made the second highest ever run chase in one-day international cricket to finish on 337-5 and win again. With this defeat, Australia have now slipped behind South Africa in the world rankings and are now the world number 2 at one-day international cricket, and they had lost four ODI's in a row for the first time since 1997.

And the Aussies are still in disarray, how can it be that a team so high on confidence and in such good form three weeks ago have suddenly lost so many games, be so low on confidence and be in such bad form? Certainly the absence of five key players doesn't help and they have had to draft in players such as Phil Jaques and Brad Haddin who haven't played international cricket for a long time. But in the end it doesn't matter what people think the theory is, the Australian cricket team are in tatters at the moment and only hard work and team spirit will put it right ahead of the World Cup.

Can they do it? Only time will tell whether they can successfully defend the World Cup in the Caribbean.

International Cricket In February

Here is a quick look at some of the international cricket that you can look forward to in the month of February:
5th February: Bermuda V Scotland, Canada V Kenya, Ireland V Holland (ICC World Cricket League)
6th February: England V New Zealand (Commonwealth Bank Series), Zimbabwe V Bangladesh (2nd ODI)
7th February: Kenya V Scotland (ICC World Cricket League Final), South Africa V Pakistan (2nd ODI)
8th February: India V Sri Lanka (1st ODI)
9th February: Australia V England (Commonwealth Bank Series 1st Final), South Africa V Pakistan (3rd ODI), Zimbabwe V Bangladesh (3rd ODI)
10th February: Zimbabwe V Bangladesh (4th ODI)
11th February: Australia V England (Commonwealth Bank Series 2nd Final), India V Sri Lanka (2nd ODI), South Africa V Pakistan (4th ODI)
13th February: Australia V England (Commonwealth Bank Series 3rd Final)
14th February: India V Sri Lanka (3rd ODI), South Africa V Pakistan (5th ODI)
16th February: New Zealand V Australia (1st ODI)
17th February: India V Sri Lanka (4th ODI)
18th February: New Zealand V Australia (2nd ODI)
20th February: New Zealand V Australia (3rd ODI)
25th February: Bangladesh V Bermuda (ODI)
26th February: Bermuda V Canada (ODI)
28th February: Bangladesh V Canada (ODI)

There are several games to look forward too in February, so make sure you check out the latest action both on here and on Cricket World.

Ponting and Hodge Star In Australia Win

A century from Australian captain Ricky Ponting and an unbeaten 99 from Brad Hodge gave Australia a 5-wicket win over New Zealand at the MCG on Sunday, after chasing down a fairly large total of 290.

Having won the toss and deciding to bat first, New Zealand made the wrong start to their innings, losing captain Stephen Fleming for 9 early on to Brett Lee. However when Lou Vincent was joined at the crease by Peter Fulton they began to build a good innings. The pair put on 151 in 172 balls before Fulton was trapped LBW by Michael Clarke for 60 from 81 balls. With the score on 162-2 from 31.3 overs, New Zealand could feel that they could've got to 300. But Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum, the remaining specialist batsmen all fell in the space of 112 runs in 18.4 overs, and it was left to Daniel Vettori and James Franklin to finish off the innings and see the Kiwis to 290-7. Of the Australian bowling attack Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Michael Clarke all finished with two wickets each.

When Australia came out to bat, unsurprisingly they did so with an attacking attitude, with Adam Gilchrist hitting a quickfire 29 from 28 balls, but when he and fellow opener fell in quick succession to James Franklin it was left to Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to continue where the openers left off. However Clarke only contributed 9 runs in a partnership of 47, and he was dismissed by Daniel Vettori with the score on 112-3 and with Australia needing 179 runs to win off 164 balls. Enter Hodge. Ponting and Hodge then set out about building a partnership worth 154 runs from 23.3 overs (in other words, 141 balls), and Ponting reached his hundred from 105 balls, including 6 fours and 1 six. Ponting was out to a spectacular catch from Lou Vincent for 104 and Michael Hussey was run-out by Jacob Oram for 8 having gone for the second run when there was only one available. Going into the penultimate over and Australia needed 3 runs to win. New batsman Cameron White hit a single and Brad Hodge was on 97, and Australia needed two runs to win. However Hodge could only manage two and was left stranded on 99, however he made a good bid for a World Cup place next month. His first ODI hundred will have to wait though. James Franklin was the most impressive of the Kiwi bowlers with 2-56 from his ten overs.

Match Summary
New Zealand 290-7 (50 overs)
L Vincent 90 (113)
PG Fulton 60 (81)
MJ Clarke 2-45 (9 overs)
SR Clark 2-61 (10)
B Lee 2-71 (10)

Australia 291-5 (48.2 overs)
RT Ponting 104 (113)
BJ Hodge 99 (86)
JEC Franklin 2-56 (10 overs)
MR Gillespie 1-45 (8.2)
DL Vettori 1-55 (10)

Australia win by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: RT Ponting (Australia)