Daily Post - Paul Scott Cricket Blog

Capello, Rooney and Co could learn from Flower's quiet revolution

2010-06-28T11:23:32Z

While England's overhyped footballers were making fools of themselves in South Africa on Sunday, their counterparts from the world of cricket were in the process of securing a one-day series victory over Australia in Manchester.

All that huff and puff in the media yet once the World Cup tournament began, Fabio Capello's men discovered they were completely ill-equipped to blow any houses down.

The Italian manager of the England football team - who may be out of a job if the mob gets its way - would perhaps do well to take a leaf out of the cricket coach's book should he be given the opportunity to lead The Three Donkeys into future competitions.

Andy Flower has conducted a quiet revolution at the heart of English cricket and his team taking an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Aussies at Australia was hopefully only another step on the way towards England becoming a real force.

Flower's entire attitude has infected the England set-up. Almost to a man, the players are showing greater professionalism, application and fitness.

In almost complete contrast to the hullabaloo that follows England's footballers around, the cricket side were able to win a World Twenty20 tournament earlier this year with quiet efficiency and little fuss.

Even the celebrations were muted, the players visiting 10 Downing Street to visit the new PM David Cameron, who was so gripped by their exploits that he thought one of England's most experienced and best known players Paul Collingwood was called Colin Wood.

Not that it matters. Flower wouldn't have it any other way. He wants modesty, decency and dedication. He wants his charges to apply themselves to the game just as he did as a player.

It isn't that he doesn't want the supporters to get giddy, excited and expectant, it's just that he wants them to excited for a reason.

Unlike followers of the football team who are wondering whether or not the likes of Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney are the gods they thought they were, English cricket fans are being entertained by firm pros like Andrew Strauss and dazzled by renegades like Eoin Morgan.

Against Australia the England team hasn't even had to look to Kevin Pietersen for inspiration when just a couple of years ago many would have said his absence meant England were lacking a limited-overs team at all.

With an Ashes series looming this winter, Ricky Ponting must have concerns as he sees England grow in confidence and wean themselves off the past reliance on big game players like Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.

While supporters of the English football team bemoan the fact that Rooney's failure to fire has seen them crash out of the World Cup, Andy Flower is continuing to mould a cricket side in which every player takes responsibility for results.

If Capello is shown the door, perhaps Flower could get in touch with the suits at the FA and help re-introduce them to their common sense.

No team will ever be successful unless every player is committed to and involved in the team's success.

Australia look to discover the secret of the Paddywhack

2010-06-14T14:15:22Z

The Australians have arrived in the British Isles ahead of their five-match one-day series against England and it appears they're are trying to unlock the secrets of one of England's star players.

Ricky Ponting and his men have been chatting to hurling star DJ Carey as they prepare for a warm-up international against Ireland in the republic and the Aussie skipper may be hoping some of his batsmen can show some added innovation in their ganme as a result.

England's Irish-born big hitter Eoin Morgan is a former hurler and many put his inventive style of batting down to the sport.

His array of flicks and reverse sweeps, not to mention the now legendary Paddywhack, appear to be inspired by the energetic and sometimes brutal celtic game.

And the Australians seem keen to take a leaf out the World Twenty20 winner's book.

England show grit against South Africa but will need consistency in Johannesburg

2010-01-08T13:56:34Z

England once again demonstrated great resilience as they batted out the final day of the third test against South Africa in Cape Town to secure a draw and retain their 1-0 lead in the series.

Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell were excellent, facing more than 400 balls between them in the final innings, and frustrating the hosts who at times bowled with real menace in pursuit of victory.

This England team certainly appears to have lots of character and have impressed on this tour even though star man Kevin Pietersen has been glaringly out of form.

The big number four batsman will certainly come good soon enough (don't be surprised if he produces a match defining knock in the last test in Johannesburg) but he looks uncharcteristically scratchy at the crease, nervous even.

Pietersen has just come back from a serious injury though and will take time to readjust to test cricket. A gentle tour of Bangladesh may be just what he needs to help him find his feet.

England now need only draw the final test to win this series but the talk coming out of South Africa suggests the wicket at Johannesburg will yield a result.

If that is the case England will need to perform more consistently than they did at Cape Town and batsmen need to avoid throwing their wickets away like too many of them did during the first innings.

The bowlers will also need to improve on this display and show the threat they did in England's victory at Durban.

South Africa will be determined to salvage a series draw, especially having got to within a wicket of victory twice so far.

They could so easily be 2-1 ahead now if not for the defensive grit shown by the England players and the tourists will have to truly impose themselves on the hosts if they are to avoid another nail-biting climax to the conclusive encounter.

England's star man Swann is full of beans in South Africa

2009-12-30T13:21:46Z

England did not hang around this morning in wrapping up victory on the fifth day of their second test match against South Africa at Durban.

Once again Graeme Swann was the man-of-the-match, dismissing two of the hosts' final four batsmen to finish the game with nine wickets.

Swann has had a superb 2009 and his verve and enthusiasm genuinely appears to have lifted the team.

His perceived cockiness had contributed in keeping the off-spinner out of the England test set-up for some time but his personality (and he has toned down a little) was just what the team needed after the quiet anxiety that came with Monty Panesar, especially when he was struggling for form.

Unlike Panesar, Swann appears to suffer from very little self-doubt and has always shown determination and confidence when bowling and batting in difficult situations.

He likes to be centre stage and certainly has been in the two South African tests so far.

England are now 1-0 up with two test matches to play and probably can't wait to start the third five-dayer in Cape Town on Sunday.

Though that ground is usually a fortress for South Africa, Graeme Smith and his side will be low on confidence and there will be big questions to answer with regards to selection.

Both Friedel de Wet and Wayne Parnell will be in contention for a call-up, the former having impressed at Centurion with the latter being easily South Africa's most promising young seamer.

Following their batting collapse in the second innings and, what ultimately proved to be a fairly uninspiring first innings effort, questions also have to be asked about the batting line-up.

Ashwell Prince, who stood in for Smith as skipper earlier this year, is looking very uncomfortable, especially against Swann, though it seems unlikely such an experienced player will be dropped.

JP Duminy came into this tour out of touch and, while he scored a half century in the opening test, he managed just four runs in this Durban encounter.

Alviro Petersen is waiting for his chance and he may get it if Smith, his coach and selectors, feel such a thumping defeat should act as the catalyst for fairly ruthless changes.

Given the nature of England's victory, the tourists now have less to worry about where selection is concerned.

Alastair Cook and Ian Bell both scored centuries to keep themselves in the side.

There are concerns about Paul Collingwood, who dislocated his finger, but he should be fit to face the Proteas in Cape Town.

England's four-man bowling attack has now shown it is capable of taking 20 wickets in a match so that will encourage Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower to stick to their guns with Swann, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Graham Onions doing the bulk of the work with the ball.

Anderson and Onions haven't really been in the wickets yet so they will be very keen to share in the glory being shared by Swann and Broad.

England won't be getting too carried away following this latest result but they can certainly celebrate it for now and look forward to the resumption of this contest in the new year.

They need one more win from two games and that would represent a fantastic start to 2010.

Cook and Bell answer their critics as England pressure South Africa

2009-12-28T16:03:14Z

The two England batsmen under the most pressure answered their critics today with excellent performances on the third day of the second test against South Africa at Durban and their efforts will no doubt have satisfied the selectors.

Opener Alastair Cook scored a patient and stubborn 118 off 263 balls, while Ian Bell is unbeaten on 55 after a confident and fluent final-session knock that helped England to edge ahead of South Africa.

Cook has had some technical problems in the last year and has struggled at times to know when to leave the ball alone just outside his off stump.

No-one can doubt the young vice-captain's determination or strength of character as Cook is a player who does score runs even when he's out of touch.

However, there have been calls for him to be dropped because of his lack of big scores so today's ton will boost his confidence and quiet some of those who questioned his position in the team.

Bell has been under even greater pressure with many wishing to see him left out of the side to make way for a fourth front line bowler.

The Warwickshire batsmen's problems have almost been the complete reverse of Cook's. Bell is exceptionally accomplished technically but often appears to lack nerve and the stomach for the fight.

It is clear he is a player that needs to get off to a good start in an innings and play some clean early shots to relax him and ease his nerves.

Bell managed that today and is well placed to follow Cook to three figures. If he can do that, he too will earn himself a stay of execution.

Cook's future in the England team looks brighter than Bell's thanks to his greater mental strength and the fact that he has been earmarked as a captain-in-waiting but Bell needs to show he is still comfortable batting at six and show some consistency in that position for the remainder of this tour.

Players like Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright are waiting for their test chance and the selectors will give them the call if Bell doesn't take this latest of many opportunities.

If he continues to perform like he has done today then his rivals will have to wait for a little longer yet.

The noughties: A decade of change in world cricket

2009-12-21T15:19:17Z

Sport, thanks to its ever-changing nature brought about by the rapid turnover of talent, moves on very quickly.

Today's stars are all too quickly tomorrow's veterans, fashions and formats change, the dominant dwindle and the downtrodden deliver.

Bragging rights are exchanged and the world order is constantly readjusting.

In the summer of 1999, Australia won the World Cup in England, Shane Warne and Glen McGrath tearing apart the Pakistan side captained by Wasim Akram. Three legends in one sentence and all now retired from international cricket.

Other all-time greats to have left the scene in the last decade include Steve Waugh, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Waqar Younis to name a few.

England have seen players such as Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Graham Thorpe, Andy Caddick, Darren Gough and many others retire.

On the other hand, great stars have emerged during the past 10 years.

For England, Kevin Pietersen has burst on to the scene as have Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, James Anderson and latterly Stuart Broad.

The careers of key players like Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison were almost entirely played out in this last decade.

On the world stage, we have seen the emergence of the likes of Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Dale Steyn and Kumar Sangakkara.

Young guns like Phillip Hughes and Wayne Parnell and those in their mid-20s like Dwayne Bravo and AB De Villiers should thrill for many years to come.

Off the field much has changed too.

There has been a real economic power shift to the Indian sub-continent and now the lucrative Indian Premier League is a firm fixture in the cricket calendar, pulling in talent from previously unimaginable sources like England and Australia.

Across the world, 20-over cricket is a big consideration and some fear for the future of the test game.

The shift of attention to Asia has also led to some serious political thought as this change in emphasis has almost exactly corresponded with a period of war and great unrest in the region, something that spilled from the ill-defined battlefields and into the sport, with the terrorist attack on Sri Lanka's players in Pakistan in March this year.

As a result, Pakistan remain largely marginalised in world cricket and the next decade may prove a travelling circus for their players as they start playing test matches in England and anywhere else that seeks to exploit their serious commercial potential by offering them a place where they can play their 'home' games.

In terms of competition, everything is wide open as we approach this new decade. The Australians are no longer the force they were while England have risen and fallen again.

India and South Africa are at the top of the world rankings but neither nation looks well-placed to enjoy three or four years of global dominance in the way that West Indian and Australian sides have done in the past.

Sri Lanka are still very competitive while the West Indies remain pitifully weak, New Zealand keep plugging away but Bangladesh are still minnows.

Zimbabwe, another victim of politics, have fallen off the perch all together while Ireland harbour test ambitions and could, with a little help and investment from the Irish government, take their place alongside cricket's big boys.

Given some of the dramatic changes within the sport over this last 10 years, it is difficult to imagine we will not see further transformation through the next decade.

The rise of Twenty20 cricket could continue to the further detriment of the five-day game, domestic competition could become increasingly global with the world's best first-class sides battling it out across the continents.

International 50-over cricket could disappear completely as the main casualty of the Twenty20 revolution or, with further turmoil in Asia, the bubble could burst for the shortest form of the game and see it play a more modest role in the cricket calendar, perhaps handing the economic initiative back to England and Australia.

Whatever happens off the field, one thing is certain. In 10 years time we will be talking of another generation of great players who have delighted us and then disappeared into the sunset.

As I've said, trends change and administrators tinker with things all the time.

But brilliance is brilliance and, at the end of the day, we follow the sport because we are inspired by the talent on show. That won't change in the next 10 years, no more than it has done during this last dramatic decade.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to a fantastic 2010 and another captivating period in the history of this wonderful game.

England will be relieved but they have a lot to think about in South Africa

2009-12-20T21:25:44Z

England will feel mighty relieved today after hanging on at the end of the fifth day of their opening test match against South Africa at Centurion to claim a draw and they will know there is much work to be done if they are to suceed in this four-test series.

Andrew Strauss' men looked to be crusing towards a draw early on today and, when Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott were together in the middle, there was even an outside chance they might sneak a win.

A late collapse saw England in deep trouble though and they had to rely on the obduracy of Paul Colligwood and tail ender Graham Onions.

The tourists will be delighted to have secured a draw in the opening fixture but they have a lot to think about ahead of the second test in Durban, which starts on Boxing Day.

It is clear England need another bowler in the attack and that could mean Ian Bell making way for one of Ryan Sidebottom, Liam Plunkett, Mark Davies or all-rounder Luke Wright.

I would certainly like to see one of these players called up, probably Sidebottom given his experience and competitive edge.

If Bell is to be dropped England's other batsmen need to raise their game. Pietersen and Trott performed well in the final innings and other players got starts but the likes of Alastair Cook and Matt Prior have to start scoring runs.

Players like Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah have been ruthlessly cast aside in the recent past and the England selectors have to demand high standards of all the batsmen because too often it appears they are happy to stick with some players who are out of touch but equally happy to ditch others.

No-one doubts Cook is a class act but such an inconsistent approach to selection sends out the wrong message to players on the fringes of the England squad.

The tourists can certainly win this series. South Africa are a talented side but not invincible and England have the players to compete with them if they can find a way to bowl their hosts out twice.

Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graham Onions and Graeme Swann will all take wickets but one of these bowlers needs to truly spearhead this attack and play the dominant role.

With no Andrew Flintoff to call upon now and Steve Harmison seemingly out of the picture, someone needs to establish themselves as England's leading bowler and premier wicket taker.

That man needs to step forward quickly. Otherwise England will lose this series and will have a real headache going into 2010.

A great day for England but every effort must be made to ensure this proves the beginning of a successful era

2009-08-23T18:57:50Z

This was no 2005 but today is still a memorable day for followers of the England cricket team.

A resounding win in the deciding test against Australia has clinched the Ashes for Andrew Strauss' men after they were almost universally written off following a thumping defeat at Headingley.

The selectors can take great pride in getting all the tough decisions for this final game right and it can only be hoped they look at this series victory as a springboard to future success.

Jonathan Trott's inclusion was spot-on as was the choice of Steve Harmison ahead of either Graham Onions or Monty Panesar.

Trott's 119 in the second innings was crucial to the outcome of this contest and Harmison came good today by seeing off the Australian tail in what is likely to be his final appearance for England.

Andrew Flintoff had his moment too, with a brilliant run-out of Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting but it is easy to see, following his creaking performance in this last test, why the big Lancastrian has decided to bring the curtain down on a great test career.

People can point to the stats if they like but I have followed pretty much every test Freddie has played in and believe English test cricket would be in a very sorry state now if he hadn't come along.

The all-rounder blossomed into a world class player when England supporters were sick of and tired following two decades of underachievement and put cricket back on the back pages.

For at least two years culminating in the 2005 Ashes victory, he was easily the best player on the planet and that should never be forgotten.

Despite becoming one of the few England cricketers to win an Ashes series twice, Flintoff maybe didn't enjoy the fairytale end to his career that he might have hoped for.

Instead Andrew Strauss was the side's best player and is now very close to cementing his place as one of England's best batsmen of all time. Three years at the top of his game will do just that.

Strauss will hope this series win can be the start of something special, unlike 2005 which was, in retrospect, the end of a great four years for English cricket.

The potential for a sustained period of success is there as the likes of Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Trott, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Graham Onions and the as yet unseen Adil Rashid all have their best years ahead of them.

Kevin Pietersen will come back following his injury and I am confident he will go on to establish himself as the world's premier batsman in the next five years. This break will do him good and clear his head of his difficult last 18 months.

The onus now is on the selectors to identify the two or three other players who need to be in and around this England side. Alongside Strauss and coach Andy Flower they need to formulate a plan that will see the team improve on the performance in this series.

England find themselves in a wonderful position. They have just won the Ashes and yet there is still a great deal of room for improvement. Great teams acknowledge that and look to get better all the time.

This opportunity must not be wasted.

England overlook older heads for the start of the Ashes and will ask much of their emerging players' character

2009-06-22T20:01:47Z

The rash fierce blaze of the ICC World Twenty20 reached flashover point only yesterday and already it is now reduced to no more than glowing embers as attentions turn to the Ashes series that begins on July 8 with the opening test match at Cardiff.

England have today announced their training squad, the team for a warm-up game against Warwickshire and the Lions side for a showdown with Australia and it appears they are not looking to the past but firmly focussing on players in form and likely to feature in the national side in the years to come.

Former skipper Michael Vaughan has been overlooked as has fast bowler Steve Harmison as the selectors have chosen instead to keep faith with players who have done well in the last 12 months and those who impressed during the series against the West Indies earlier this summer.

Vaughan can have few complaints. His form this season has been tepid at best and he will have been well aware that he needed to score big runs if he was to force his way past some of the younger England players and back into the team.

Ravi Bopara's emergence has now all but ended the Yorkshireman's international career and it is inconceivable that he will play any part in the Ashes series unless there is an genuine injury crisis.

Of those players on the fringes of the team it would seem Ian Bell, Joe Denly and Eoin Morgan are ahead of him in the pecking order and England might even consider calling up an alternative wicketkeeper, such as top glovesman James Foster, and using Matt Prior as a specialist batsmen should players fall to injury during the course of the summer.

It is a great shame for the man who led England to the Ashes triumph in 2005 but every dog has its day. I watched a little of Yorkshire's Twenty20 match against Nottinghamshire tonight and Vaughan cut a sullen, distracted and disinterested figure. If he is overlooked for the rest of this season, I would be surprised to see him continue playing cricket at all.

A lucrative place in the Sky Sports commentary box surely awaits and the death of Vaughan's England dream may push him into the company of former skippers Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain, David Gower and Mike Atherton sooner rather than later.

Harmison can consider himself a little unlucky given his county form so far this campaign but the Durham player has let England down since the great days of 2005 and is probably now seen as being too much of a liability.

The likes of Graham Onions and Ryan Sidebottom will never threaten batsmen in the way Harmision did four years ago but Harmison is unlikely to threaten batsmen in the way his did four years ago.

His often sulky presence on the fringes of the England team will do little to help the side this summer and will only hand the Australians a spoon with which to stir matters up going into important games.

It probably is best that he is left out all together.

Looking at the players that have been selected in the training squad, it is fair to say that the batting is hardly bulletproof, not with doubts over Kevin Pietersen's fitness and concerns over Paul Collingwood's confidence and form over this last few weeks of carnival cricket.

It is crucial for England that Collingwood is at his resilient best this summer and we will all have to hope that his World Twenty20 slump was just a blip.

England's bowling options are still light of a face rearranger in the one-time Harmison mould but there is a lot of variation with three spinners - Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar and Adil Rashid - in contention and different seam options in James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and Graham Onions.

Andrew Flintoff also returns, of course. For how long, we don't know, but he's back in the fold for now.

If England do play two spinners, selection is easy with Anderson and Broad filling the specialist seam positions.

If they chose to go with an extra seamer and just one spinner I think it will be Sidebottom who gets the nod as his competitive edge might be just what England need in a tough series against the Aussies.

Little will become clear before the start of that first test, even given the warm-up games to come, and we will only truly know whether or not England are capable of beating the Australians when the two teams come together.

These are two very changed sides that blend both experience and youth. In all likelihood it will simply come down to character.

And that can rarely be predicted, only tested in the heat of battle, the slow burn of a five-match series.

A special day for cricket, perhaps an even more important one for a blood-tainted world

2009-06-21T17:49:09Z

On March 3 of this year, the cricket world was left shaken when the Sri Lankan team came under attack from terrorist gunmen in Lahore ahead of a scheduled day of action against the hosts Pakistan. Today, three months after that assault these two teams came together and produced an event that demonstrated there is more about these two nations than social turmoil and bloody unrest.

Pakistan, virtually forced into exile in world cricket, were the victors and deservedly claimed the ICC World Twenty20 crown while Sri Lanka, increasingly establishing themselves as the great gentlemen of the game, were competitive throughout and dignified in defeat.

Because of the unstable domestic situation in Pakistan the nation's cricketers have barely played the game on an international level in the last 18 months but their natural talent, character and confidence has shone through during this competition and they have stunned everyone to claim an unexpected tournament win.

Shahid Afridi - my tip to be the flop of the tournament because of some lumpy batting form - was the star today and the people of Pakistan will be celebrating the match-winning performance produced by their great popular sports superstar, their David Beckham, their Michael Jordan, their Tiger Woods.

The Pakistan bowlers were superb. Umar Gul is perhaps the best limited-overs bowler in the world at the moment, the experienced Abdul Razzaq was wily and determined and the 17-year-old Mohammad Aamer could well be the country's next Wasim Akram.

They put Sri Lanka's batsmen in real throuble early on but, thanks largely to the efforts of inspirational skipper Kumar Sangakkara, the island men of the Indian Ocean were able to post a below-par but competitive total of 138.

Sangakkara has long been one of my favourite cricketers and I hope his performances and his articulate and intellegent attitude throughout this competition have endeared him to followers of cricket throughout the world.

Here is one of the men who was injured in that Lahore attack and you would never know it because Sangakkara is not the sort of person to let tough experiences - and what could be a more brutal test of character than those events? - overshadow his unflinching desire to do his country proud.

The casual or new cricket follower has fallen in love with Sri Lanka. Their cheery demeanour is a credit to the sport. Their ability to smile and shine, to inspire and illuminate, is a credit to a nervous and awkard planet of differently-mided people when you consider all this has been done against a background of decades of bloody civil unrest at home.

How lucky we are in Britain? We are not untouched by the murderous, we are not untainted by the divisive in society and we are not untroubled by those who would discriminate against us because of the colour of our skin, our religious or political beliefs, where we come from or our choice of friends, lovers and heroes.

Yet we are not reliant on our sportsmen and women to provide a shaft of sunshine in an otherwise tormenting and brutal environment.

The people of Pakistan and Sri Lanka are. Thousands of miles away from Islamabad and Columbo but within touching distance on TV screens, 22 great men today allowed proud people to forget, for just a few hours, about Taliban, the Swat valley, Tamil Tigers, Benazhir Bhutto and the grenades, rocket launchers and bullets that left people dead outside a cricket ground in Lahore.

Instead the names on their smiling lips are Afridi, Dilshan, Sangakkara and Akmal. This simple bat and ball game makes greater heroes of those who would advance the lot of their people through peaceful sporting endeavour than those who deal in bullets and bloodshed ever will.

England's women are an inspiration to us all and Claire Taylor is our nation's finest cricketer

2009-06-21T15:00:00Z

The England ladies' cricket team have added the ICC World Twenty20 trophy to the World Cup one they won earlier this year and they were utterly dominant today against New Zealand in the final.

Charlotte Edwards' team are the shining lights in international women's cricket and I hope these players will offer inspiration to every young girl in search of a sporting role model. I do hope that the successes enjoyed by our ladies will encourage our young women to take to the sports field.

In Claire Taylor, who scored 39 to lead the side to victory, England has its finest cricketer, male or female. She is the best in the women's game and so should be considered in the same light as heroines such as Kelly Holmes, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Paula Radcliffe.

Kevin Pietersen is dynamic and inspirational but even he doesn't dominate the world game as Taylor does and it would be fantastic to see this elfin-faced, steelily determined woman be given the wider recognition she deserves. At the moment, she'd be my pick for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Lords was not quite as full today as it should have been for this ladies' final. The nation has not quite embraced this great team as it should but attitudes towards these women are changing.

This lot are special. Adopt them as your own.

England deservedly go out of the World Twenty20 and those teams remaining look to force their way into the history books

2009-06-15T20:39:09Z

So, England are out of the ICC World Twenty20 after a Duckworth-Lewis affected game against the West Indies and, while the rain's influence on the contest was disappointing, the host nation will have to accept that their failure in the tournament comes as a result of their inability to make the most of the closing 10 overs of their batting innings.

Only Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen have performed with the bat for England and tonight, as in every game in this tournament, England have lacked inspiration once those two excellent batsmen have departed.

England seem to be mystified by 20-over cricket. They appear to believe there is some magic to it that they have yet to discover.

That is not the case. Good cricket shots lead to runs. Hitting straight down the ground remains the best route to boundaries. Innovation is always welcome but unneccesary where existing methods of going about your business are effective enough. Players persist with the sweep, slog sweep and reverse sweep and all at the same time as they see straight-batted shots getting results.

Pietersen looked superb today until he strayed from his orthodox game and chose to play with a cross bat. He went out playing an unneccesary stroke when he'd already worked out how to score runs and that is truly annoying.

Yet again, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood failed. Both are naturally capable of playing this form of cricket and yet both looked nervous and out of their depth. They could have made a difference by adding just 10 or 15 runs to England's eventual total but, as I say, they looked mystified, bamboozled. They allowed the Twenty20 hype to cloud their judgement and chose to cast aside their experience.

That was not the case with the West Indian duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chivnarine Chanderpaul. They came together when their team were under pressure and played as they always do.

They kept it simple, looked for run-scoring areas and punished bad balls.

It doesn't matter if it's test cricket, 50-over cricket or Twenty20, those three batting principals will yield results.

England can now begin to prepare for the Ashes series and the teams still in this competition can dream about lifting the World Twenty20 trophy.

South Africa are the clear favourites now but, if Sri Lanka can see New Zealand off tomorrow, they will be joined in the semi-finals by three unpredictable sides in Kumar Sangakara's outfit, the West Indies and Pakistan.

I think any one of those three sides can unsettle the regimented South Africans. Their feathers have yet to be ruffled and it will be interesting to see how they cope when they come under the cosh.

Personally, I'm routing for the West Indies now. There are few things more enjoyable than watching Chris Gayle cut loose, Dwayne Bravo find his rhythm or Chanderpaul and Sarwan play quietly and effectively.

We are now guaranteed two very competitive semi-finals and any of the remaining teams have a real chance of winning this competition.

I think we're also waiting for one truly definitive event in this tournament and I've no doubt we'll see it in the final stages.

Will we end up admiring the way the West Indies bounced back from an early summer of humilation against England to claim the crown? Will Sri Lanka ease the harsh memories of that terrorist attack in Pakistan by conquering the world? Will Pakistan show us all that their virtual exile from the game hasn't dulled their competitive pride? Can the now multi-racial South Africa finally achieve some success?

Whichever teams wins this tournament, they will certainly have a tale to tell. And sport is all about experiences. What happens on the field is usually only half the story.

And to think I missed Masterchef to watch England fall apart and South Africa plod along

2009-06-11T19:37:14Z

If England and South Africa did anything in their ICC World Twenty20 clash tonight it was demonstrate that, against all popular opinion, 20-over cricket can be boring.

This was a dull and disappointing match. To be quite frank it was a waste of three hours on a Thursday evening. God, I even missed celebrity Masterchef for it.

South Africa cannot be blamed for going through the motions after England set them a paltry 112 for victory.

They chose to knock the run-chase off in singles, punctuated by the occasional boundary, and got the job done.

England's batting was abyssmal. Shot selection was poor and James Foster's dismissal annoyed me most. How many more batsmen are going to get out in this competition reverse-sweeping straight to a fielder? The reverse sweep is supposed to be an improvisational shot played when the field is weighted to the onside. It's not to be played for the sake of playing it.

It is becoming clear that, unless Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright or Kevin Pietersen get going, England are short on Twenty20 batting.

They have two must-win games now against India and the West Indies and hopes are far from high.

South Africa still look like a good bet to win the tournament but, if they bat like they did tonight, they might also cement their place in Twenty20 history as the most boring side to have played the game.

They trotted home to victory when inflicting a brutal defeat on England would have sent out a powerful message to the two very aggressive sides they still have to play in this Super8s group stage.

Anymore of this tripe and Masterchef may win out next time.

And thanks England and South Africa, you've just undone four years of hard work trying to get my wife interested in cricket.

Dutch courage leaves the hosts England embarassed at Lords

2009-06-05T20:08:52Z

The Netherlands' players will celebrate a memorable upset long into the night and they should do because they thoroughly deserved to win tonight's ICC World Twenty20 clash against hosts England at Lords.

They were bold, brave and showed guts towards the end of their run chase to leave their opponents miserable in the drizzle.

To claim victory in the way they did, taking two runs off the last ball of the match, was a dream come true for the Dutch and they will be proud to have managed such a dramatic win at the home of cricket.

Tom de Grooth (49) and Peter Borren (30) were the players who put them in a position to claim victory. Their aggressive and fearless strokeplay made a mockery of England's timid batting during the middle and latter stages of their innings.

England started well, Ravi Bopara (46) and Luke Wright (71) setting their team up for a big total.

Unfortunately, what came after the opening pair was poor, lacklustre and unimaginative.

It has been said that, without Kevin Pietersen, England will struggle to make an impact in this tournament and never was that clearer than this evening.

Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan, Paul Collingwood, Rob Key and James Foster all failed to make an impression and the good work the openers did was not built upon.

England finished up with 162 and my initial feeling was: This is good enough to beat the Netherlands but it wouldn't be anywhere near good enough a total to defend against the top sides in this competition.

It wasn't even insurmountable for the Dutch.

I don't want to be too negative because I don't want to take anything away from the Netherlands but, if we have learnt one things tonight, it's that you don't win Twenty20 matches without hitting sixes.

England didn't manage to put one over the rope. That wasn't good enough and they deserved to lose.

Gefeliciteerd to the Dutch. I hope they're revelling in this because they played their cricket with enthusiasm and enjoyment all evening.

Pietersen injury deals the first blow to England's World Twenty20 campaign

2009-06-05T16:08:31Z

England haven't even got their ICC World Twenty20 campaign underway and already they've been dealt a huge blow with the news that Kevin Pietersen will miss the opening game of the tournament against the Netherlands tonight.

He has a back injury and there are bound to be doubts over his involvement in the rest of this competition.

Kent's Rob Key - who has not featured in either of England's warm-up games this week has been selected to replace him and there is another surprise inclusion as Adil Rashid is selected ahead of the in-form Graeme Swann.

Otherwise the team is familiar: Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara, Rob Key, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, James Foster, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson.

Even without Pietersen, England will be confident of a comfortable victory over the Netherlands.

They have enough power and ability in the batting line-up to prosper and three frontline seam bowlers which will help them take wickets and slow the Dutch innings down.