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."

Media Round-Up: The Champions Trophy, Harmy And The Heroes Of The Summer

England's cricketers may currently be trying to remember what they used to do in their spare time, but those who write about them are having no such thoughts.

Papers and websites have been awash with comment, contemplation and analysis, at the end of a summer which included seven Tests, countless limited-overs contests and two world tournaments. The one-day international was ruthlessly KO'd, then resuscitated, all in the space of a few weeks. Time to take stock.

The Champions Trophy promised to be the party no one wanted to go to, but threatened, in the end, to be the talk-of-the-town white hot VIP ticket. It certainly re-ignited an ODI debate which England had threatened to give a definitive ending to through their dismal 6-1 series defeat to Australia.

Alison Mitchell enjoyed what she saw during her informative blogs and reports from the heart of the action. And the general consensus seemed to be that the ODI, in its current format, had been offered a lifeline. Players, such as winning captain Ricky Ponting, and commentators alike subscribed to the view that while the administration of 50-over cricket is so often found wanting, when managed well, it deserves a place in the calendar.

I have dealt with the media reaction to the Ashes success, but sub-plots - relating to the squad chosen for South Africa - have failed to die-down. The Harmison debate has dominated in recent days.

With his record as it stands, I can only see Harmy as an immensely talented actor, with a penchant for forgetting his lines. Glad, as I am, to have seen him in England colours, I think the selectors have got this one right, but Mike Selvey makes a fine case for the defence in this article, and warns that he may yet be able to add credence to the line: "I'll be back." Providing he remembers it.

The implications of a Harmison-less attack are discussed here, by Otis Gibson.

But the men of the summer have to be Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower. There is little left to say about Strauss, the subject of an excellent Paul Hayward article in The Observer, who has enjoyed a masterful summer.

In the case of Flower, it seems interviews - like victory laps around the Oval - are not for him. Martin Johnson secured such a piece for The Sunday Times a month ago, which concurred entirely with his pragmatic, sensible but ambitious image. It took, as a starting point, England's pathetic 51 all out in Jamaica, and chronicled his team's improvement since then. With the start of the journey a mere eight months ago, Flower is certainly not viewing this summer's success as any sort of ending.

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.

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.

Vaughan's England Blueprint

Under the sub-headline, "Mission: win the Ashes in Australia", Michael Vaughan offers his England blueprint for success in an interview with Scyld Berry in today's Sunday Telegraph.

He has interesting views regarding the make-up of the team, championing a three, four, five of KP - "because your best player should bat there" - Bell and Trott. He wants England to stick with Alastair Cook, introduce Rashid at number eight and take Bopara to South Africa. When pressed on bowling names he lists Broad, Anderson, Onions, Harmison and Plunkett as potential dangermen for the winter tour, and Chris Woakes and Steve Finn as ones for the future.

Sound as these comments are, Flower, Strauss and the selectors have given us plenty of reason to trust their current thinking regarding selection policy. One day, Vaughan may well find himself part of that process, but for now, this interview represents no more than the informed view of an interested bystander. Where one wishes Vaughan had a more hands-on role, is with regard to his comments relating to the structure of the English game.

Michael Vaughan is a universally liked and respected figure. He was an England weapon as a batsman and captain, and, despite recent retirement, could still be now - if only the ECB could find some sort of consultancy role for him. Even reading his newspaper column would be a start.

Vaughan is acutely aware of the fixture congestion faced by international cricketers today, and laments the lack of resting opportunities: "The players are going to get niggles in the next few weeks [during the upcoming T20I and ODI series' against Australia] and we wont go to the Champions Trophy with our best team in the best shape. It will be another tournament where we don't give ourselves the best chance of winning."

Vaughan understands the needs and necessities of both the county and international games. He excercised logic and diplomacy on the pitch, and could bring the same to an administrative role. He knows only too well that Ashes success can be wasted as a platform on which to build, and is perfectly placed to help avoid mistakes being made this time around.

Berry goes on to quote the Schofield Report, commissioned two years ago by the ECB. In the light of the recent decision to ditch 50-over domestic cricket, it makes damning reading: "The First Class Counties' One Day programme should mirror, wherever possible, the current ICC competition rules, regulations and formats. A reduction in the amount of cricket played at domestic First Class level county championship games played is essential in order to alleviate fixture congestion and allow for better preparation of the players. The domestic programme must aspire to quality and not simply to quantity and the 40-over discipline may be deemed surplus to proper requirement."

Vaughan's reaction? "It's just greed."

Moving On: Lessons From 2005

Having spent the last few months trying to replicate the summer of 2005 on and off the pitch, we now want things to head in a very different direction. And if the immediate post-victory signs are anything to go by, they will.

Sunday's scenes from the Oval may have been comparable with four years ago, but the after-party and player and press talk have been anything but. The 2005 Ashes was one of the greatest series ever played; an excellent England team peaked to beat an almighty Australian one. In a way, it was too good. The fans were left wondering if they'd ever witness cricket of such excitement and quality again; the players were left wondering if they'd ever play so well again.

Of course, as a team, and for many, as individuals, they didn't. The class of 2005 partied hard - and in hindsight thank goodness they did revel in their most glorious moment - before failing to trump it, or even adequately build on it - winning only one of their next four series before the chastening experience that was the Ashes tour 06-07.

This year is different. There has been considerably less partying, the opposition were not the greatest side in the world, and the gulf between the two sides was small. No England players, except Andrew Strauss, will be left wondering if they can better themselves, or worrying that they've peaked.

Strauss surely has; Ashes winning captain, series leading run-scorer and Man of the Series. It doesn't get any better. But he will be excited about his team improving to an extent where they don't rely on him as much as they did this series.

The immediate challenge for the Test side, is South Africa this winter. This is key. Not only does it provide an opportunity to build on Ashes success by targeting a series win against probably the best side in the world, but it represents their biggest challenge between now and the next Ashes, with Bangladesh (twice) and Pakistan being England's only other Test opposition in that time.

Michael Vaughan knows what lies ahead better than anyone, having been in Strauss's position four years ago. In Tuesday's Telegraph he wrote, "When we win, we have to focus on winning again. When we score a hundred, the next step must be to score another hundred. Never relax and revel in the glory of winning. Whatever [the players] did between Headingley and the Oval was perfect: we must adopt that attitude every week."

There was a rueful undercurrent to Vaughan's piece - he knows all that now, but was unable to implement it then. This Ashes win was excellent and must be used as a starting point on which to base Vaughan's vision. Crucially, Flower and Strauss are better placed to make that happen than Fletcher and Vaughan were four years ago.

Maybe 2005's greatest legacy will turn out to be a revised and improved approach to the all-important what happened next phase.

The Philosophical Approach

That's what I'm adopting after another horror show for England.

Bad days and bad Test matches are nothing new, but a match containing so few crumbs of comfort is rare, even for England. In fact, Stuart Broad's figures of 6-91 are the sole positive aspect of the past two days play. But, Test cricket is prone to over-reaction, and just like many of us got carried away after Lord's - reading too much in to one fine win - it would be easy to do so here. After all, six days ago we woke up with a genuine belief that one more good day from England would see the Ashes home at Edgbaston.

Most people are forgetting two important things:

• There is a decent sized break between Headingley and the Oval - even bigger given the quick nature of our capitulation here. Test cricket is a wrestle for momentum, and the longer England have to regroup, the more chance they have of negating Australia's current advantage.
• If England win the next Test, they win the Ashes. Australia have been brilliant here, but in Tests two and three they showed themselves capable of ordinary cricket. England wont bat and bowl that badly again.

England chose the most unforgiving of Test grounds on which to bat and bowl abysmally during the same match. Add an excellent Australian display to the mix, and you have a recipe for the sort of disaster we have witnessed here.

But I grew up during the 90s, so to watch a young and largely inexperienced England team approach the final Ashes Test knowing a win will be enough, is the sort of scenario I used to dream of. The 2005 series skewed our outlook and expectations a bit - it was the pinnacle of Vaughan and Fletcher's England, but this is Strauss and Flower's. Sure the Aussies are rebuilding, but so are we. Winning the next Test would be a great start.

Sydney Morning Herald Welcomes Trott

Here's the amusingly over-the-top Australian reaction to the possible inclusion of Jonathan Trott in tomorrow's Test team. They don't seem happy about it.

Trott is, to all intents and purposes, South African, and I can't say that fact sits easily with me. But it's never bothered me about KP, who, after all does have genuine English pedigree through his mother and was forced in that direction by the ridiculous system he encountered in South Africa.

But the journalist is way off the mark in trying to pass off Matt Prior and Andrew Strauss as South African. Both were born there, but Strauss moved to England aged six, and Prior aged 11. They received the vast majority of their cricketing education on these shores, not to mention the shaping of their personal development.

As well as having some problem with Flower being a foreign coach - which is neither disallowed nor a new thing for England - the other names mentioned in the article are possible future internationals Craig Kieswetter and Ryan McLaren. The McLaren case underlines the problem with Kolpaks - he was forced to withdraw from a South African ODI squad last year. I'm not sure what the latest is, but I haven't heard him linked with England recently. It's fair to say there are English born and bred players above him in the pecking order.

21-year-old Kieswetter is Matt Prior's natural successor, and is destined to be some player. But England can claim an element of credit for that; having grown up in South Africa he was sent to Millfield School, in Somerset.

It's nice of the SMH to take such an interest in our affairs, but the message conveyed in this article - that in England there's a massive dearth of home-grown talent and a national team full of foreigners - is simply not true.

Outstanding England Crush Pakistan

England are almost certainly through to the Super-Eight stages of the World T20 after salvaging some of their severely dented pride. Having come in for much - and largely deserved - criticism following Friday's shock defeat, England showed immense character to dispense with the 2007 finalists, winning by 48 runs.

England lost to the Dutch because they never believed they'd be involved in a contest. They didn't for a minute envisage a pressure situation, and by the time it arrived, it was too late. As a result, they had 48 hours to prepare for the most intense of pressure situations, and the way they dealt with it made Friday, not today, look like the anomaly. 

England effectively led from the word go. Previous England teams would not have reacted so well. Luke Wright (34) again set the tone, Pietersen (58) set up the victory, and every bowler contributed. The consequences of defeat were unthinkable. Andy Flower and his side deserve enormous credit. They have a couple of days off now and can approach the next stage safe in the knowledge that they wont play in a more pressurised match for the rest of the tournament.

Scorecard