England fall to clean sweep by Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka have clean sweeped the one day series against England, chasing down 322 runs to win the 5th ODI. Amazingly, Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga opened their innings with a record breaking 286 run partnership. You'd have to say English cricket has hit their lowest point in years. It's hard to believe just 12 months ago, the country was in euphoria winning back the Ashes and eyeing the #1 world rankings. Even before then, the team was going from strength to strength, going through a calendar year without losing a Test. All that good work seems to have been undone as half the team are down due to injury and producing a win-loss record deep in the negative. They suffered a huge blow this week as Michael Vaughan's knee injury has him out of the game for 4 to 6 months. Although his batting form was patchy over the Ashes, his captaincy was a huge influence on the series and the team seems a pale shadow without him at the helm. With Vaughan and Simon Jones likely to miss the Ashes (although Jones still holds out hopes he'll make it), it's hard to see England successfully retaining the urn. And who else is going to fall by the wayside during the Pakistan series? It makes what happened last year all the more startling - everything went right for England as they went through the series virtually unscathed. Are they merely treading water while they wait for the Australian tour? It'll be a true test of their character in November to see how they cope with key players missing from the squad.
| Posted by JC on Sun 2 Jul |  3 comments |
This is what I had posted on my blog viewlogic.blogspot.com on June 25th.
The English cricket team lost the one-day series in Pakistan and they lost the seven match series in India as well. I believe the English won only one match in India. The English media went hoarse with the calls saying that the English team does not take the limited overs version of the game seriously. But the same people were over the moon when England did better in the one-dayers before the last Ashes.
Now England have been beaten in a one-day series by Sri Lanka. Wonder, if the home team took the matches seriously. The fact is otherwise. If analysed carefully, there are very few players in the England team who fit the one-day game. Flintoff is good for both the tests and the one-dayers. So is the case with Kevin Pietersen. Speaking about Pietersen, he is the best English batsmen since the Ashes. But very often, after a good start, he throws his wicket away in the one-dayers. Collingwood is another player who is a very good one-day player. He can bat, bowl and field excellently.
Apart from these players, there are not many who have match winning abilities in the one dayers. Michael Vaughan was never a good one day player. Trescothick and Strauss do not have the ability to take on the opposition bowlers that is so important in the early stages of the limited overs game.
In the bowling department, there are no such English bowlers who can mix the pace and create problems for the batsmen of the opposing teams. There is no spinner to bring down the opposition run rate.
So it is time that the English team gets its act together in the one-dayers. Or, they have to accept the fact that they are not a good one day side.
Posted by Y V SAI MADHAV on 2006-07-07 02:42:03
The English cricket team lost the one-day series in Pakistan and they lost the seven match series in India as well. I believe the English won only one match in India. The English media went hoarse with the calls saying that the English team does not take the limited overs version of the game seriously. But the same people were over the moon when England did better in the one-dayers before the last Ashes.
Now England have been beaten in a one-day series by Sri Lanka. Wonder, if the home team took the matches seriously. The fact is otherwise. If analysed carefully, there are very few players in the England team who fit the one-day game. Flintoff is good for both the tests and the one-dayers. So is the case with Kevin Pietersen. Speaking about Pietersen, he is the best English batsmen since the Ashes. But very often, after a good start, he throws his wicket away in the one-dayers. Collingwood is another player who is a very good one-day player. He can bat, bowl and field excellently.
Apart from these players, there are not many who have match winning abilities in the one dayers. Michael Vaughan was never a good one day player. Trescothick and Strauss do not have the ability to take on the opposition bowlers that is so important in the early stages of the limited overs game.
In the bowling department, there are no such English bowlers who can mix the pace and create problems for the batsmen of the opposing teams. There is no spinner to bring down the opposition run rate.
So it is time that the English team gets its act together in the one-dayers. Or, they have to accept the fact that they are not a good one day side.
Posted by Y V SAI MADHAV on 2006-07-07 02:42:03
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