All entries for September 2009

Sympathy for Strauss as England trail 6–0

It seemed very unlikely that an extended One Day International serieswas going to put a dampener on England’s excellent Ashes win earlier in the summer.

However, after being humiliated again to go 6-0 down to Australia, England’s cricketers are doing their very best to make it happen. The performances in the limited overs series have got worse by each game and ‘embarrassing’ doesn’t quite do it justice.

The most worrying thing is that Australia have hardly slipped out of the comfort zone. The first game aside, they haven’t really been given anything like a test. They have been superior in every single department.

History does suggest that England have a rather poor ODI side, but they are outdoing themselves on this occasion.

Now, normally the blame would head towards the captain in this situation. However, I have a great deal of sympathy for Andrew Strauss who is in charge of a side that, quite simply, isn’t good enough.

How many ODI games has Owais Shah won for England? How many times has Ravi Bopara built on a decent start? How many times has Matt Prior looked like a top six batsman in the 50 over game? The reality is that you could count the combined total on one hand.

The batting from England has been nothing short of disgraceful. The tactic seems to be - get to 20 slowly and then, out of frustration, try and launch one only to get caught inside the ring.

I say this is what the ‘plan’ is, but to be honest I don’t think England’s batsman have anything like a plan in mind. Perhaps Strauss can take some blame for this, but there seems to be no intent. What is Bopara’s role at three for example?

Strauss has been England’s best batsman, but he hasn’t been supported anywhere near enough. With the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in the side, there is no-one that wants to stand up for their country. There seems to be no pride.

I can accept that we are a decent test side, but not quite as good at the 50-over game. However, this is taking it too far. On home soil, to lose every single game to an Australia side in transition is not good enough.

The quicker this series is over the better. As for whether it will be 7-0, of course it will be. What would make anyone think any different? Certainly not the One Day Cricket betting odds. Even when the batsman somehow get 300, we forget how to bowl or field.

Strauss’ ODI side are a bunch of no hopers and the only thing they have achieved is taking the shine off a superb test series win over Australia. That takes some doing.

: 24 Sep 2009 16:59 |  Tags: Australia Bopara Clarke Cricket England One Day Ponting Prior Shah Strauss |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bopara convinced he is the man for England

In what has been a successful summer for English cricket (despite the recent One Day International performances) Ravi Bopara has had a pretty rough time. He failed to make an impact batting at No.3 in the Ashes, was dropped from the side for the final test and wasn’t present for the series win celebrations.

Since then, he has been given the chance to redeem himself by opening the batting in the One Day International games, but so far it has been the same old story – Bopara is getting a start and then getting out. So, cna he overcome this nightmare run of form and establish himself in the England team?

Well, the man himself thinks so. Speaking after making only 10 in England’s defeat at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, Bopara said that ‘there is a lot to come’ from him as a batsman yet and that it is just a case of getting his game ‘in order’.

It hasn’t just been Bopara that has been suffering in this series though. We have all been frustratingly put through three mediocre England batting performances in this series with Owais Shah, Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood all struggling to find form as well as Bopara.

It is the Essex man who has come and fighting ahead of the must-win match at Lords on Saturday though. He says that he is determined to ‘go out and get a big one’ and start to become ‘the main man for England’.

This would be a fairly drastic turnaround for the 24-year-old, but it is good that he is staying positive. There is no doubting his talentand every England fan will be hoping he comes good. Perhaps he just needs one decent innings in this form of the game to help him kick on.

Part of me feels sorry for Bopara anyway. He has to opening the batting with Andrew Strauss, with the captain’s role clearly to tryand bat through most of the innings. This means that for England to make a positive start, Bopara has to take plenty of risks.

This isn’t an excuse, but perhaps it explains his struggles a little bit more. The team are missing their best batsman in Kevin Pietersen as well let’s not forget. Again, not an excuse, but it does explain why the ‘X Factor’ is missing from England’s cricket batting line up.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, I would make a few changes. Bring in Joe Denly, Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid in for Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan and Tim Bresnan. Then change the batting line-up slightly to relive Bopara of his opening duties and to stop embarrassing Prior at No.3.

So, my team to give us a sniff in this series would be: Strauss, Denly, Bopara, Prior, Collingwood, Wright, Broad, Rashid, Swann, Sidebottom, Anderson.

: 11 Sep 2009 11:43 |  Tags: Australia Bopara Clarke Cricket England English Odi Ponting Sport Strauss |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Will Flintoff play cricket again?

After announcing that he was set to retire from test cricket at the end of the recent Ashes series, Andrew Flintoff spoke of his aim to become the best One Day Internationalplayer in the world.

However, after playing a relatively small part in England’s series clinching victory at The Oval last week, Flintoff has immediately gone under the knife again to have surgery on his troublesome knee injury.

Such is the seriousness of the operation that Flintoff has openly admitted that he may never play cricket at the highest level again. Speaking in his News of The World column, he said that there was a ‘possibility’ that his days as an international cricketer are numbered.

Until he finds out how successful his operation was, Freddie admits that there is a ‘question mark’ in his mind about what the future holds. The 31-year-old will just have to wait and see how the knee is after the operation and then how it feels during the rehabilitation.

On a more positive note though, Flintoff pointed out the fact that the success rate for an operation like the one he has had is ‘pretty good’. It’s not as if the big man isn’t used to recovering from injuries either is it?

Presuming the operation and recovery process does go well, Flintoff says that he is targeting a return for the One Day Internationals against Bangladesh in March. Time will tell how realistic this is though.

Overall, it does seem as though Freddie is as determined as ever to make a comeback. He says that he doesn’t want to end his career in a physio room, instead, he wants to do it by winning the World Cup with England in 2011.

So, in the next two years, Freddie wants to recover from a serious operation, become the best ODI player in the World and somehow turn England’s 50-over sideinto a team that can win the World Cup.

Would be a good way to bow out Fred!!

: 01 Sep 2009 20:36 |  Tags: Cricket England Flintoff Retire Retiring Strauss World Cup |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem