TLC 'End Of Summer Awards', Pt 2

Individual One-day Performance of the Summer - Eoin Morgan v South Africa, Champions Trophy

Too few performances to choose from, and most of the aptly named shortlist came from this match, but it was Morgan's knock which carried the most significance. His 67 came off 34 balls, including five 6s at a strike-rate of 197.05. Whilst not an altogether unheard of feat in world cricket, it was an innings rarely achieved by an Englishman - ok, Irishman - and came against the hosts and No 1 ranked team in the world. Along with Collingwood's performances in that tournament, and Wright's potential, it showed that maybe England do have the modern-day firepower to match the Albie Morkel's of this world.

Unsung hero of the Summer - Kevin Pietersen

I whole-heartedly supported Kevin Pietersen's actions at the start of the year. They cost him the job of England captain, and Peter Moores that of England coach, but in the long run, I felt that only good could come of it. I was wrong about the long run bit. The new coach and captain, plus Pietersen's attitude since the affair, enabled an outstanding turn-around and an Ashes result which would not have been previously possible.

An honourable mention to the selectors, who had an excellent Ashes series. They kept faith with Bopara and Broad, giving them every chance of a form recovery during the Ashes, and comprehensively won the 'battle of the gambles' - the inclusion of Trott vs the omission of Hauritz - at the Oval.

Best Opponent of the Summer - Ricky Ponting

Quite simply didn't deserve to become the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes twice in England since Billy Murdoch. Vilified by the English crowds for being too good, he finally garnered the reception he deserved at the Oval, during a match in which he demonstrated admirable humility. Not at his absolute best with the bat, his wicket is still the most prized of any Australian, while his captaincy is remarkably underrated in his homeland. Class act.

Best thing about the Summer - England's character

One thing this England side certainly have, is character. They bounced back from leadership implosion and Test series defeat in the Caribbean to win the Ashes, unthinkable embarrassment against Holland to beat Pakistan, disaster at Headingley to triumph at the Oval, and so on. Now Flower's job is to make such recovery unnecessary; but should we go 1-0 down in SA, all is far from lost.

Worst thing about the Summer - Devaluing of the England v Australia Contest

This occurred during the 6-1 post-Ashes ODI series defeat, and was nothing to do with the score, which merely devalued the ODI format. As the 50-over circus lumbered around the country, it threatened to take the shine off an otherwise memorable summer of anglo-antipodean battles.

Three Lions Cricket 'End Of Summer Awards', Pt 1

Time - during this well-earned international break - to review the summer of 2009. Only one team in the world could lose to Holland then triumph over Australia in the space of a few months.

Man of the Summer - 1. Andrew Strauss

A stunning summer, in fact, a stunning past 18 months. Grew into captaincy - improvement between Cardiff and Oval Tests was highly significant. Top scored in the Ashes (ave: 52.66) and ensuing ODI series (ave: 38.14). Married great batting and brilliant captaincy in an Ashes series; even Michael Vaughan didn't manage that.

2. Matt Prior

Finally, a worthy successor to Alec Stewart. Only just behind Strauss in terms of consistency during the Ashes. Has become a genuinely world-class keeper in remarkably short space of time. England conceded 106 fewer extras than Australia during the Ashes. Only criticisms being a moderate high score of 63 from seven Tests this summer (Ashes high score: 61) and an inability to consistently transfer Test batting cameos to one-day arena.

3. Andy Flower

Just brilliant. Comfortable in underdog role - a product of his playing career - but aiming to guide England to a level where they can dispense with the tag. Promising early signs of a special working relationship with Strauss. Showed his humility by opting out of the Oval victory lap.

Moment of the Summer - 1. Flintoff running out Ponting at the Oval.

A script writer would dare not pen it: Ponting run-out? Flintoff heroics? Been done before. But this was how it was meant to end. With his body restricting his bowling, Freddie, at wide mid-on, defied it one last time. The purest form of theatre, no-one could have predicted it. Except it didn't really surprise us. Flintoff's last offering of utter perfection to the Test match scene.

2. Panesar and Anderson Holding On At Cardiff

A monumental passage of cricket in the context of the rest of the summer. Few figures inspire less confidence with the bat than Monty Panesar, but his contribution that day - along with those of Anderson and Collingwood - were the first glimpses of the steely character which was to prove the difference between the sides.

3. Swann's Ashes Winning Wicket

Always a sweet occurrence, but made even more sickly by the the fact England were denied an on-field winning moment in 2005. I'm sure Swann doesn't mention it. Much.

Team Performance of the Summer - 1. The Oval Test (Ashes)

Edges out the Lord's Test purely because it followed the Headingley debacle, which, though both were bad, was far worse than the performance at Cardiff. An outstanding team effort, with argument-ending contributions from Stuart Broad and Jonathan Trott.

2. v Pakistan, World T20

A win, under huge pressure, against the eventual winners. Highly commendable due to the unthinkable embarrassment defeat would have caused. Going out of your own tournament after three days, before some teams have even played a game, would have rivaled World Cup '99 - when we exited the tournament before the official team song was released.

3. v South Africa, Champions Trophy

So they can do it. And how. The hosts barely knew what had hit them as England compiled a Shah-and-Morgan-inspired 323. Strauss said it was the best he'd seen England bat in a 50-over game, and, backed-up by sound bowling, it can act as a model performance to aspire to.

Individual Test Performance of the Summer - 1. Strauss at Lord's (Ashes)

The innings which announced England's arrival in the series as a team with pretensions of winning it. Batted for a whole day, and put on 196 with Cook for the first wicket. Fell early on day two, for 161, but had made the decisive contribution of the match by then, despite Flintoff taking the man-of-the-match honours on day five.

2. Broad at the Oval

Kudos to the selectors for sticking with him, kudos to the man himself for the decisive spell of the series. Stuart Broad won the Ashes for England in 12 overs, on day two of the last Test, during a spell of 5-37 - which included four wickets in 21 balls. Stunning stuff, and a 2005-shaped dose of excitement.

3. Trott at the Oval

A scarcely believable debut. So many parallels with KP's 158 four years ago. Siddle looked for all the world to have him caught behind off the first ball of day three, just like McGrath seemed to have snaffled Pietersen first ball in '05, but two great umpiring decisions enabled two historic innings - Trott's every bit as good as his countryman's. Actually, better. As Scyld Berry put it, "one of the all-time best England debuts."

CT Match 4 (v Aus): To Attack Or Not To Attack?

2/10/09 - Australia won by 9 wickets.

The mini-revival is over. Despite the impressive efforts of Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan, England lost this match because of their batting in the first 20 overs - during which they lost six wickets - and the inability of their bowlers to match the penetration demonstrated by Pakistan in skittling Australia in their final group game.

Bresnan's inclusion meant England entered the match looking a breakthrough bowler light. However, the brutal simplicity of his batting - in compiling 80 from 76 balls - was the major factor in his team posting a vaguely competitive score, even if it did seem about 40 runs below par.

Much debate centered around the approach of the top order, who tried to play with an attacking freedom which led to the loss of too many early wickets, despite runs flowing at a slick rate. They played their shots, and whilst few were reckless and the boundary found with refreshing regularity, the tactic did not appear to change despite the mounting wickets column. Was this the right approach?

I believe so. For a start, it worked against Sri Lanka, and - most devastatingly - against the hosts. It is also favourable when compared to the top-order's mindset at England's last major 50-over tournament, the 2007 World Cup. The cautious approach adopted by the top-order in that tournament hampered England badly. Such was the negativity and prizing of wickets-in-hand above all else, that against South Africa, in the Super Eights, England were 9-0 after 7 overs.

If going after the opposition early on works, it puts a team in a fantastic position to win a match. The same simply can't be said of platform-building defence and timidity.

Should England have adapted the approach as the wickets began to tumble? Possibly. Collingwood is usually ideal for that role, and maybe he could have consolidated for a few overs when he entered the fray in the 12th over. But he's in fine form, and understandably backed himself as he shot to 34 from 30 balls. His wicket was a huge blow, but he was pursuing a match-winning innings - an admirable, and, given his form, realistic mindset to be in.

Right tactic, poor execution. On Sky, Nick Knight - unsurprisingly in support of the positive batting - said he thought if England maintained the approach they'd win more games than they lose. That would be an improvement.

CT Match 2 (v SA): "Best Batting Ever"

27/09/09 - England won by 22 runs and progress to semi finals.

At the start of the Champions Trophy, the sentence: "That batting performance is the best I can ever remember England playing" would have been a strong contender for the Least Likely Claim To Be Made By Andrew Strauss Award. But those were his very words as England sent the hosts, South Africa, crashing out of the tournament. And he had a point.

Having arrived in South Africa with a surprisingly confident murmur against Sri Lanka on Friday, Shah (98), Collingwood (82) and Morgan (67) progressed to a shout yesterday. Any confidence shown from here on in will not be surprising.

The most pleasing thing about England's newly-lethal trio, is the affirmation to them and us that they can do it; they can perform at this level, they can construct a one-day innings, and they can do what we've seen them do before - both in county cricket (Morgan and Shah) and in ODIs of the past (Collingwood).

Strauss and Denly played their part too - no opening partnership has threatened the boundary with such regularity in the post-Tresco years. The bowling too had a bite so lacking on the late-summer English pitches, with several commentators identifying Jimmy Anderson's display (3-42) as one of his best ever.

This renewed belief was thrilling to witness, so too - for once - is a dissection of the particulars:

• 12 - The number of 6s in the England innings - Shah (6), Morgan (5). Earlier this summer, England failed to hit a single maximum against Holland in the World T20 opener.
• 197.05 - Eoin Morgan's strike-rate.
• 247 - The combined score of England's numbers three, four and five.
• 323 - England's total, the second highest in the competition's history.
• 2 - Number of semi-finals that England have now reached in major tournaments held outside England.

Tomorrow England face the familiar: a dead and - for them - meaningless group game. This time, however, their place in the last four is gloriously secure.

CT Match 1 (v SL): Winning Start

25/09/09 - England won by 6 wickets.

Change of scenery, change of fortune. Before the game Andrew Strauss said he felt his side could beat anyone on their day - his players went on to prove him emphatically right.

Escaping the seemingly never-ending English summer, tired and muddled minds seemed freed from the rut of the NatWest series by a pitch which offered much for the bowlers, and an opposition that wasn't wearing green and gold.

England got it right from the start in dropping Bopara - possessor of probably the most tired and muddled mind of the lot - and winning the toss. Bopara has been handled well all summer - a four month period during which he enjoyed considerable success at the start. He was given every chance of an upsurge in form during the Ashes, until finally being dropped when his place became untenable after Headingley. His reintroduction for the NatWest series made sense, but his scores (49, 27, 10, 26, 18, 24, 13) were not enough to warrant a Champions Trophy starting berth.

Onions and Anderson furthered the promising start, reducing the Sri Lankans to 17-4 at one point. Given that, England had reason to be disappointed with Sri Lanka's eventual 212 on a tricky pitch, but to bowl any side out inside 50 overs is a notable achievement. The fact it was achieved despite conceding 25 extras and dropping short in length too frequently makes it even more impressive, whilst simultaneously highlighting what can be improved.

212 was still a worrying total for the batsmen; the lack of urgency to push the rate hovering over them as a potential pitfall. Losing Strauss and Denly early did nothing to quell the uneasiness, but the performance of the maligned trio of Shah, Collingwood and Morgan did exactly that.

In uncertain times, each has secured his place for the next two group games. Shah anchored with flashes of brilliance - he may be no KP, but he's the best option at three in the squad. Collingwood looked as carefree as he has all summer, hitting three 6s (one a flat-batted pull off Malinga) and backing up his recent fighting talk. Morgan's assurance as he came in at 82-3 was exemplary and belied the match situation.

As for Mendis, England showed him respect and nullified his threat. The batsmen were given a platform - not by the top order but by the bowlers - and they made it count, crossing the finish line with 30 balls remaining. England join New Zealand as the only sides Mendis has played but failed to take a wicket against in ODIs. His partner in crime, Muralitharan, was subdued and went for six runs an over.

No hint of getting carried away in the England camp - with Flower today saying, "It's only one game but it is confidence boosting," - but it does prove that England aren't woeful at one-day cricket. They're just woefully inconsistent.

The Champions Trophy 2009

The ICC Champions Trophy kicks off today in South Africa. Weary England barely have time to breathe before their first match - Sri Lanka on Friday.

What is the Champions Trophy?

A mini, less-important World Cup, this year to be contested by the eight highest ranked ODI sides in the world. Contrary to popular opinion, that includes England.

Australia won the last tournament in 2006, and England reached the final in 2004, before losing in improbable fashion to the West Indies. The odds for those two reaching this year's final are not high.

Do England have a chance?

In theory everyone does, which is rare for a major international tournament in any sport. It's the top eight sides in the world, all of whom have been proficient in this format at different times. However, in practice it would appear we can cross England (and the West Indies) off the list of potential winners due to dire form, crass home ODI series scheduling and non-stop cricket for a core group of players. That said, whether they're recovering from defeat to Holland in the World T20, or demolition by Australia at Headingley, England seem intent on styling themselves as comeback kings. This would be their neatest trick yet.

Are they taking the right squad?

Seemingly not, although they were hampered by a squad submission deadline which predated Jonathan Trott's reintroduction to international cricket. The luxury of a post-Australia ODI series decision would have been ideal, but it gives the consistently average performers (Morgan, Bopara, Bresnan) the chance to snuff out a few question marks.

Who will win it?

Take your pick between the top sides in the world. South Africa have the local knowledge and will be fresher than most England players will remember being since their teenage years. Australia have some serious form behind them, and Pakistan are capable of literally anything - which could be good or bad - but I'm going for Sri Lanka.

Strong batting, led by Tillakaratne Dilshan, who's been unstoppable in one-day cricket for the past year, and thrived on the South African pitches during an explosive IPL spell with the Delhi Daredevils, is backed up by the irrepressible four Ms attack: Mathews, Malinga, Mendis and Muralitharan. England have practically no time to consider this prospect before they meet it head on. It's probably just as well.

It's a big tournament for...

Everyone - England are crying out for a new one-day hero - but Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah in particular. Collingwood has been a fine limited-overs player for England, and has usually managed to up his game when required in the past. This is one such time, as the burden of all-year-round cricket, across three formats, is starting to see his form slide.

Shah is in better touch than his scores in the NatWest series suggest, but his Benny Hill impersonation between the wickets and genuinely poor fielding must have put him in somewhere approaching last chance territory.

Who cares?

Well no-one usually, the Champions Trophy having been out-muscled in recent times by its bullish yet disorganised big brother - the World Cup. However, this year it's perilously close to actually meaning something. Recent 50-over World Cups have been woefully administrated, this is the ICC's chance to show lessons have been learned. Interest here - and in Australia - is likely to be fragile and entirely performance-dependent, but this time that's thanks to the ECB's late-summer flogging of both the format and the players, rather than the ICC.

The 50-over game itself has been taking a battering - from fans, commentators and players alike. England have done it no favours over the past few weeks - the rest of the world now have a prime opportunity to rectify that.

Andrew Strauss: Back From The Brink

The Sunday Telegraph today published the first of their exclusive extracts from Andrew Strauss' new book, Testing Times.

Here he describes his feelings ahead of his career-saving innings against New Zealand in Napier last March. He was without a Test century in 15 matches and had yet to pass 50 in the series.

I knew it was do or die time. My team-mates knew it. The media knew it.

Your team-mates, in those circumstances, are not sure what to say to motivate you or get you going. But I can remember one conversation in the middle of a net-practice before the game. Collingwood came down the net and said to me: "Straussy, you're not playing your game." I said: "I've been working for three months to improve." Colly said: "I know your strengths are pulls and cuts and I've hardly seen you play one all tour." In some ways those words almost underlined the point that I was in the last-chance saloon. But it was reassuring that one of my mates had taken enough interest to think about my plight and say something.

He was out for 0 in the first innings and considered himself a doomed man as he made his way out for the second.

My first priority was not to bag a pair. Once I got to 20 or so, I had the goal of getting through to close of play, by when I had reached 42. That night I felt it could have been have been all over by now - but I was still fighting and still had a chance. Realistically, it was going to take a hundred, not a fifty to keep my England career going.

The next day, I felt a mixture of hope and excitement, two feelings I hadn't experienced much in the recent past. I flashed at a wide ball early on and it went past gully, exactly where I had been caught in the first innings, and I remember thinking this could be my day.

I had to endure a couple of very spicy overs when 97 and I played and missed two or three times. Then came a wide delivery which I drove off the front foot through the covers. It was the same shot which brought up my hundred on Test debut at Lord's.

Strauss went on to score 177, his highest Test innings, and England claimed the series 2-1. Eighteen months later he lifted the Ashes urn as England captain.

Fourth ODI (v Aus) Reaction: Selectors' Hands Tied

Australia won by 7 wickets (with 38 balls remaining). Australia win the series.

England freshened up today's line-up a bit, but not enough, as Australia claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead.

In came Denly, Broad and Rashid for Swann and the rested duo of Paul Collingwood and James Anderson. Except that in the Sky commentary box neither Michael Holding nor Sir Ian Botham could believe they were being rested. Both were at pains to point out that Collingwood has 'only' played 77 days cricket so far this year. Surely they're missing the point; since the new year he's been away in the Caribbean playing Test and ODI series before embarking on a summer of seven home Tests, more ODIs and a stint captaining his country at the World T20. Atherton stood tall for the batting fraternity, suggesting all that may have taken a mental toll, but Holding was having none of it. 77 days of England duty on the pitch it may have been, but it's been at least that or more off it. I don't begrudge Collingwood a rest ahead of the Champions Trophy, in fact, I called for it after the third ODI.

Strauss winning the toss has become as inevitable as England's batting collapsing. He chose to bat first, giving Denly a chance to impress, which he did in part. 11 off 17 balls in 20 minutes is hardly the stuff of dreams, but he did offer a glimpse of hope. First ball nerves were dispelled with a leg-side clip for four, and he's got the first one out of the way. If he can find his feet over the next three matches, England will at least head to the Champions Trophy with a settled opening pair.

Again only Strauss (63) and Shah (39) offered any resistance as England squandered their best start of the series. After 16 overs they were 89-1, which though not headline-worthy does represent an improvement.

Matt Prior's struggles with the bat reflect those of his team. At present he's not translating his Test fluency and expansive shot play to the shorter game. Today he batted at four, meaning he's now batted everywhere from one to nine in ODIs (except five), though as Scyld Berry Points out in The Telegraph, come February, England are likely to install Craig Kieswetter. How we could do with his hitting now.

Brett Lee produced the outstanding performance of the series in claiming five wickets for 49, four of them clean bowled. Sometimes you have to just admire an opponents performance, and having watched the Ashes from the sidelines, Lee is unleashing his frustration in style. That is forgivable, the treatment - or rather non-treatment - of Hauritz less so.

He's clearly a tidy bowler - better than his career stats suggest - but he must be loving how cagily England are dealing with him. They didn't even try going after him - as his economy rate of 2.30 suggests - and with Lee on fire at the other end, this proved fatal. When the opposition are turning their potential weaknesses into strengths, it's time for changes.

Or at least it would be if the Champions Trophy squad hadn't already been announced. Bringing in fresh faces now would be counter productive - England must find their solution with this crop of players. Were this not the case, the likes of Mascarenhas, Lumb, Bell and Trott would all be in with a shout. The CT squad was named before Trott's Ashes heroics, but his unflappable temperament and a one-day average in the fourties suggests he'll feature in the winter tour to South Africa.

On to Trent Bridge, where Stuart Broad destroyed the South Africans last year.

Central Contracts: Harmison And Panesar Dropped

Despite Andy Flower reiterating that "central contracts don't decide selection - performances do," there are signs in yesterday's central contracts announcement of the direction in which England will head over the coming year. Onions, Swann and Prior - three of England's leading lights in the last twelve months - have been awarded full contracts for the first time. Panesar and Harmison - along with Patel, Ambrose and the retired Michael Vaughan - have lost theirs.

Ian Bell also received one of the eleven full-time deals - an indication he'll be on the teamsheet for the first Test in South Africa, though hopefully at four, with KP moving up to three.

With their contracts taken away, the onus is firmly on Panesar and Harmison, and neither can have many complaints. The former has slipped behind Adil Rashid in the pecking order, who, with his all-round skills will be hard to overtake. Harmison does not have the threat of a like-for-like replacement breathing down his neck. The news will test his hunger, his options being retire now or add another chapter to his jekyll and hyde England career.

Full Contracts

Anderson, Bell, Broad, Collingwood, Cook, Onions, Pietersen, Prior, Sidebottom, Strauss, Swann

Incremental Contracts

Bopara, Bresnan, Flintoff, Rashid, Shah, Trott, Wright

England's Contrary Test And ODI Form

It should come as no surprise that - at 3-0 down - England appear to be heading for defeat in the ODI series against Australia. After all, we won the Ashes.

When Test and ODI series have been paired together in recent years, England have an uncanny and near-impeccable record - at winning one and losing the other.

Rarely have England been able to buck this trend; they even triumphed in the Commonwealth Bank series that followed the Ashes mauling of 06-07 - an event no-one could have predicted with any conviction.

In the summer of 2006, a few months before that ill-fated Ashes tour, England had recovered from a comprehensive 5-0 ODI series defeat to Sri Lanka by beating Pakistan 3-0 in a now infamous four match Test series.

The following summer, fresh from a disappointing World Cup showing, England dispatched the West Indies 3-0 in another four match Test series, but couldn't translate that form to the 50-over game as they lost to the same opponents in the accompanying three match ODI series.

Gaining top marks for inconsistency during the second half of that summer, Vaughan's England then lost a Test series to the touring Indians, before Collingwood's 50-over side triumphed 4-3 in an outstanding ODI series - the limited-overs equivalent of the 2005 Ashes.

England's promising ODI form continued in Sri Lanka that winter with a 3-2 series win, which preceded - true to form - a 1-0 Test series defeat.

On to New Zealand, where the pattern continued, this time with defeat in the ODIs (3-1) and victory in the Tests - the last of which saw Panesar spin the side to victory and Andrew Strauss save his career with a Test high-score of 177. That innings has taken on extra significance given his form in the last year.

When England returned the favour and hosted New Zealand a couple of months later, the on-pitch results were almost identical - victory in the Tests (2-0), followed by defeat in the five match 50-over series (3-1).

The outcomes were reversed for the visit of South Africa later that summer, with Test series defeat prompting Michael Vaughan to relinquish captaincy duties and Kevin Pietersen making an excellent start with a win in the dead rubber Test and a resounding ODI series win.

Following defeat in all forms of the game in India in late 2008, a wounded England succumbed to dressing room chaos, misjudged declarations, flat pitches and Test series defeat in the West Indies in the new year. This was however followed up - in now familiar fashion - by ODI series victory, 3-2.

This record highlights that the reign of Peter Moores, though defined by home Test series defeat, did include a number of notable ODI series victories. It also reveals how different these two formats of the game are and how, in England's case, momentum in one counts for little in the other.

Credit England for the examples of recovery, dispair the meek squandering of the upper-hand. Andy Flower has overseen both ODI and Test series victories, his challenge is to combine the two.

Third ODI (v Aus) Reaction

Australia won by 6 wickets.

Strauss opted to bat first, hoping for a different story. Instead all we got was variations on a theme.

England's is a batting line-up out of form. Strauss - as he has done all summer - has demonstrated fluency, but at present, he's alone in his contentment with his own game. His teammates are wrestling with theirs.

None more so than Bopara. Potentially a dashing striker of the ball in limited overs cricket - recall his T20 exploits at the start of the summer - he is currently consumed with fear in pursuing his natural game, but clearly frustrated by the alternative. The end result has been 86 scratchily put together runs in three games.

Prior has lost his form completely, leading most to the easy conclusion that he experiences altitude sickness coming in at number three. Maybe true in normal circumstances, but as a natural stroke player in a Pietersen-less side, the idea had potential. Shah has looked closest to Strauss in terms of touch, but has been shackled by a run of bad luck, not all of his making.

Collingwood has made a successful career out of scratchy innings at Test level, enabling him to dispell his 'one-day specialist' tag. But he acquired that tag originally for good reason - an ability to adapt to limited-overs situations as required, be it nudging and nurdling or consistent boundary hitting. There has been little of the latter in recent times. Should really be given the rest of the series off if the management are to expect anything from him in the Champions Trophy.

Add these elements to an equation and it's no wonder the outcome has thus far been lop-sided. The imminent Champions Trophy has effectively ruled out the possible solution of drafting in fresh blood.

This Time Last Year...

England were completing a 4-0 ODI series win against South Africa - now arguably the best side in the world - with only rain in Cardiff preventing a 5-0 whitewash and a leap up to second in the world rankings. Peter Moores's England were remarkably dominant in this series, and, had a World Cup been scheduled for September, would have fancied their chances. Pietersen, the newly appointed captain, and Flintoff were rampant, but England carried no passengers; every single member of the team made telling contributions.

As an opening partnership, Bell and Prior failed only once and England seemed to have solved a lingering problem. The depth of the whole batting line-up was such that from the second match onwards Luke Wright batted at eight, with Stuart Broad at nine. Crucially, such firepower did not come at the expense of the bowling armoury, which consisted of Anderson, Flintoff, Broad, Patel and Harmison with Collingwood and KP if needed. Only the four frontline quicks were called upon at Trent Bridge, where Broad produced one of those spells (5-23) and the tourists, victors in the Test series a few weeks earlier, were dismissed for 83.

But England failed to cash in on this undoubted momentum, and ended up on the wrong end of a 5-0 whitewash a few months later in India. One-day cricket inconsistency had reared its ugly head once more.

Rain 'Saves' England

Rain caused the first T20I against Australia to be abandoned yesterday, just seven balls into the England run chase. Having restricted the Aussies to 145 - one over the par score at Old Trafford this season - England were 4-2 when the heavens opened - prompting "Lucky England Saved By Rain" headlines today.

Losing Bopara and Denly so early did represent a poor start, but such a thing is fairly common in T20, and, given the depth of the batting, a full recovery would have been a distinct possibility. Hopefully they will get another chance tomorrow.

The bowling was decent, with only Cameron White looking settled at the crease. The death-bowling duo of Broad and Sidebottom kept their cool admirably. But the fielding could have been better, with Wright and Denly uncharacteristically shelling catches.

It has emerged that Paul Collingwood doesn't know whether he will continue as T20 captain beyond tomorrow's game, but would welcome the chance to lead the side at the next World T20. A decision must be made as soon as possible.

Denly Named In Champions Trophy Squad

Joe Denly is the only new face in England's 15 man Champions Trophy squad, and a welcome inclusion. Andrew Strauss will lead the team, who will take on the Australians in seven ODIs before heading to the tournament in South Africa next month. KP misses out through injury, and Mascarenhas has been dropped.

Collingwood keeps the captaincy - in the absence of Strauss - for the forthcoming T20 internationals against Australia, and Denly and Test new-boy Trott have been included.

Only one new face puts paid to the significant changes I was hoping for, and I'd love to have seen Michael Lumb make the cut, but Bresnan, Rashid and Morgan are largely untried at this level, so hopefully they'll get a chance to impress. Overall, there is potential for fielding a relatively new-look team, which, given the lack of consistency of the current side and the relatively unimportant nature of the Champions trophy, is what I hope the management go with.

ODI series v Australia and Champions Trophy

Strauss (capt)

Anderson

Bopara

Bresnan

Broad

Collingwood

Denly

Flintoff

Morgan

Prior

Rashid

Shah

Sidebottom

Swann

Wright

T20 Squad v Australia

Same, minus Strauss and plus Trott.

Third Test Drawn

This Test merely underlined how closely matched the two teams are. Australia dominated the two outer days, England asserted themselves in the middle and rain wiped-out a whole day completely.

Friday and Sunday were the magic days for England, who first managed to decimate Australia's promising day one start in bowling them out for 263 (after they'd been 126-1), and then scoring 376 themselves and even managing to dismiss Katich and Ponting late on Sunday to set up a potentially thrilling last day. However, in more favourable batting conditions, Clarke and North kept England's attack at bay on Monday, and began to build up a sizable lead. An extra day would have proved fascinating.

There are several ways of looking at this match. Firstly, that Australia ended the final day well on top (at 375-5) and with a good chance of winning given an extra day. That the England attack was toothless on Monday and that with the team's history of batting collapses a further day's play would have leveled the series at 1-1.

Or, that England, save for the only session of day one, were well on top, had all the momentum and would have survived another day's play on what was still a pretty flat pitch and against an attack adept at flattering to deceive. Besides, the Australian second innings was given a somewhat false complexion by Strauss's use of Bopara and Collingwood as bowlers once the result had become obvious.

The answer lies somewhere between the two. When the ball's not swinging, the attack lacks serious penetration. The flip side of that is that when it is, England's bowlers look capable of winning the Ashes for England on their own. It remains a concern though, and weather forecasts are becoming as crucial as team-sheets as the series reaches a conclusion. The top order still looks fragile, but is capable, and can be bailed out to an extent by England's superior bowling.

The sides are close, and have at different times produced excellent cricket, but the fact remains that in the last two Tests, England have produced the stand-out sessions of play - one match-winning, one potentially so. At Lord's and Edgbaston their bowling produced the innings anomaly of each match. The Australians posted low first innings totals in each of their first innings in otherwise high scoring games. At Lord's the England bowlers won them the match in the only decisive session of play so far, at Edgbaston, who knows...

The Aussies have had their moments, but not in terms of potentially winning positions. Heroic match-saving attempts - Clarke and Haddin at Lord's, Clarke and North in Birmingham - are all well and good, but not the way to level the series. Their bowlers have to really turn up to do that.

And on to Headingley. The quality isn't 2005 standard, but the nervous anticipation is exactly the same.

Steve James Column In The Sunday Telegraph

As ever, Steve James makes a number of excellent and original points in his weekly Sunday Telegraph column. He calls for the selectors to resist the temptation to lower Bopara in the order by placing Bell at three. He rightly points to Bell's poor record in that position, and insists that Bopara is backed (after all, he does already have three centuries in that position - that's three more than Bell.) In addition, he would promote Collingwood to four and have Bell at five. This is unlikely to happen, but is backed up by his stats.

Bell's record by position:

Number 3 - ave: 31.00, 0 hundreds

Number 4 - ave: 47.16, 2 hundreds

Number 5 - ave: 54.41, 2 hundreds

Number 6 - ave: 49.00, 4 hundreds

Ian Chappell argues the exact opposite in his column in the same paper - preferring Bell at three and Bopara at five. I'm with James, but it will be fascinating to see what happens.

As for the bowling, James would think about replacing Broad, and is unsure about Onions. Harmison's form is excellent, and I can see him playing a part in this series, but at Edgbaston, I would back the current bowling attack. Broad was better at Lord's and is highly capable, while Onions did fine in his first Ashes Test - no better, but certainly no worse. Both, in my opinion, deserve at least one more chance.

A final excellent and overlooked point he makes, is to remind us who the England vice-captain is. It's Alastair Cook by the way, but I did need reminding. As James points out, "It is far from obvious on the field. More advice seems to come from Paul Collingwood."

Preliminary ICC Champions Trophy Squad Announced

England announced a 30-strong squad for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, yesterday. The tournament will be staged in South Africa in September and the squad will be halved by August 23.

England's ODI form in recent years has been extremely frustrating - not least because it has at times - 2007 home series v India, 2008 home series v South Africa - been excellent. However, for each of these results there is also the whitewashes of the 2008 winter series v India or the 2006 summer series v Sri Lanka.

So, results suggest that England are not a million miles away from finding a successful ODI formula, but the current one is not good enough; one or two steps forward, followed by the same number back. They have to try something a bit new. Although the selectors have named only one uncapped player (Hampshire's Michael Lumb), the squad includes a number of fresh, young and inexperienced names. Their inclusion could provide the subtle change in direction which leads to that illusive consistency.

This is the perfect tournament in which players can shed the label of potential in favour of the far more useful tags, experienced and good enough. It's not a World Cup, and I would suggest that signs of significant improvement (an obvious and suitable gameplan, clearly defined roles within the team, picking the right players and evidence of tournament-savvy play) is more important than returning with the trophy. The logic behind that being that should England happen upon some consistency, they may one day return home with a coveted World Cup.

That means making tough calls - dispensing with good servants of the county game who have served England passably in the past - Rob Key and Gareth Batty - and even those who have an obvious Test future but have failed to grasp countless ODI opportunities - Ian Bell and, in my opinion, Andrew Strauss.

Here's my squad. The main difference between this XV and the one which will be chosen is the absence here of the captain, Strauss. For me, his inclusion is indicative of the two steps forward, two steps back policy - he's shown at times (as recently as the Caribbean tour) that he's capable in the format, but struggled badly with its concept at other times, thus, as an opener, hampering the whole team. I would certainly keep him in the selection mix, but for this tournament would give the captaincy to Stuart Broad - eighth in all-time England ODI wicket-takers list and highly-rated as a thinking cricketer by Michael Vaughan.

My XV:

James Anderson (Lancashire)

Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Paul Collingwood (Durham)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)
Michael Lumb (Hampshire)
Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire)
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
Graham Onions (Durham)
Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
Matt Prior (Sussex)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)

Luke Wright (Sussex)

Collingwood The Hero

England would be 1-0 down in this Ashes series were it not for Paul Collingwood. Anderson and Panesar may have crossed the finish line with their wickets (just about) intact, but it was Collingwood that enabled them to do so.

What he lacks in batting aesthetics he more than makes up for in character, specialising over recent years in gritty match winning or saving rearguards. Given the Cardiff result, I rate today's innings as his most important for his country. Here's his top five:

1. 74 v Australia - 8/7/09 - England were never in danger of winning this game, so the important number here was 344 - the number of minutes he spent at the crease in this unlikely match-saving effort. He faced 201 dot balls, only made 44 scoring shots and finished with a strike-rate of 30.20, but neither he nor England cared as they head to Lord's all square.

2. 135 v South Africa - 30/7/08 - Test career-saving innings. Having been in dismal form all summer, he made a tortuous 4 from 45 balls in the first innings, and approached the crease for the second knowing that this was his last chance. 296 minutes and 135 runs later he left the field, Test career intact.

3. 10 v Australia - 8/9/05 - KP made the headlines at the other end, but Colly lasted 74 priceless minutes at the crease at a time when another breakthrough may just have seen England's Ashes hopes evaporate on the last day of this epic series.

4. 206 v Australia - 1/12/06 - Amid the nightmares the Adelaide Test inevitably conjures up, it is easy to forget that an Englishman scored a double hundred. Collingwood toiled away for an epic 515 minutes, many of them in conjunction with KP, and faced 392 balls amid a barrage of sledging from Shane Warne. Mental toughness personified. If only the team could have followed suit.

5. 108 v India - 11/12/08 - Few batsmen found this Chennai pitch easy, or indeed possible, to bat on, but Collinwood did. Only three England players made it out of double figures (Strauss also made 108) in England's second innings 311, but even their heroics were unable to prevent England going down by six wickets.

First Test, Day Five, Lunch Time. Australia Nearly There.

England lost three wickets this morning in stumbling to 102-5. They still trail by 137.

Come the Lord's Test, England have very few positives to cling to. I defy even Andrew Strauss to 'find the positives' from this match. There have been plenty the past six months, but none the past five days.

Collingwood, who has batted well for his 35*, and Flintoff have a chance to provide one positive. Forget saving the match - for now - they should be aiming to be in at tea. That way they give the team a chance of a draw, and, crucially, will have played out a passage of play during which they frustrated Australia and stopped them, for the first time this match, looking like a world beating attack. After all, the pitch is not doing much. It's a tough ask, but a situation they've got themselves into. A limp capitulation here would undo much of England's recent rebuilding work. This session could have a bearing on the Lord's Test.

First Test, Day One: Australia Edge It. Just.

England won the toss and finished on 336-7.

Morning Session (belonged to): Australia

Afternoon Session: England

Evening Session: Australia

No big scores yesterday, but all batsmen (other than Cook) at least made starts. England finished the morning session on 93-3, having looked a bit shaky - no doubt a combination of poor recent Ashes displays, playing the Aussies on reputation and big match nerves.

I think the key partnership of the day was Prior and Flintoff's. Collingwood and Pietersen rescued the team in taking them from 90-3 to 228-4, but the bulk of those runs were scored in ones and twos with Hauritz and Clarke bowling in tandem to defensive fields - not particularly threatening. Prior and Flintoff, on the other hand, were the first batsmen to make batting look relatively easy. They were fluent and aggressive and the main reason England's run rate for the day reached an almost 2005-esque 3.73 runs an over. Their innings mirrored Pietersen's contribution to the Lord's Test of 2005, when he was the only batsman to offer any resistance and take the fight to the Aussies. His teammates caught up belatedly in the next Test - they wont want to leave it as late this time.

Talk of the day inevitably centered around Pietersen's dismissal - caught sweeping a very wide off-stump delivery from Hauritz. I nearly always defend Pietersen in such circumstances - buying into the 'but that's the way he plays' theory. However, as Hawkeye shows, there is no excuse for not pulling out of a stroke when a ball is that wide. Replays showed just how off balance he was in attempting the shot, which ultimately denied him the chance of getting a big hundred.

England can make yesterday a success by reaching 400 today.

Mike Atherton's take on Day 1