Tendulkar's Playing A Different Game

Sachin Tendulkar scored his 44th one-day hundred yesterday, as India defeated Sri Lanka in the Compaq Cup. This nudged him one century ahead of the entire combined total achieved by the all-time England ODI side chosen by Mike Atherton in The Times last Thursday.

It would be easy therefore, though entirely pointless, to concoct unflattering comparisons with England batsmen past and present. A fruitless venture; Tendulkar has been blessed with a rare talent and one which has graced an ODI pitch on no less than 428 occasions.

Only one England player in history can boast an ODI century count in double figures. Only one. And although Marcus Trescothick's career tally of 12 is dwarfed by Tendulkar's exploits, his games per century count is comparable: one in every 10.25 games, compared with the Indian's one in every 9.7.

Mind-boggling though Tendulkar's numbers are, the fact that Trescothick stands alone as the only Englishman to score more than eight career hundreds is the stat that should most concern England. Pietersen, on seven, must have him in his sights. A rejuvenated Strauss, on three, must be looking to double that at the very least. The likes of Trott, Denly, Bopara, Morgan, Kieswetter (from February), even Bell should be looking to share the load and inch as close to membership of the double figures club as is humanly possible.

None will get even close to the Little Master, but to match his sublime achievement as a collective unit would represent a marked improvement. Tendulkar deserves the adulation of a billion people, but what England need to build is a team of Marcus Trescothicks.

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.

Second ODI (v Aus) Reaction: Lagging Behind The World's Best

Australia won by 39 runs.

A theme is developing here; Strauss wins toss, opts to chase, Australia adopt cautious approach and compile a slightly under-par score, England fall short due to lack of big individual total/s.

This is not an Australia team that post ungettable scores. Again the England bowlers gave their team a chance - restricting the tourists to 249, with only Johnson's late knock of 43 from 23 elevating the total into the realm of competitive. Luke Wright in particular impressed, until an expensive final over damaged his figures, and a recently-subdued Jimmy Anderson claimed his first wicket since August 3rd. England can't match the great strength of the Australian bowling attack - rich variety of pace - but they are still handing their batsmen ample opportunity to press for victory.

But openings are being squandered far too often, and cracks that have been papered over in Test matches are being laid bare in the 50 over game.

In their last 20 ODI innings (excluding innings interrupted by rain before the 20 over mark) only two players have made hundreds (Pietersen 111 v India and Strauss 105 v West Indies). In addition to that, they have claimed only one score in the 80s and one in the 90s - plenty of of 50s and 60s, but these are not uncommon in losing causes.

South Africa, the number one ranked team in the world and England's winter opponents, have managed five scores in the 80s, three in the 90s and two hundreds. India, second in the ICC rankings, have managed three 80s, three 90s and a staggering nine hundreds.

England have managed one fifty in two games, and thus have it all to do at 2-0 down.

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.

England V India: Analysis

A thrilling game and a brilliant win. Here's what went well, and what needs attention:

  

  Where the game was won:

• The bowling - Hard to score off, good pace and bounce.
• Team selection - Sidebottom inclusion paid off.
• Flexible batting order - In theory, the move to bring Mascarenhas in at four was a good one. He's struggling to find the middle of the bat at the moment and India bowled well to him - meaning he finished with a sub-100 strike-rate - but England needed the momentum then, and that time in the middle may prove beneficial next time.
• Pietersen - Seems to have realised that he barely needs to alter his natural game in T20. When he plays well, so do England.
• Foster's stumping of Yuvraj - Justified his inclusion in one match-turning moment. Doubtful any other England 'keeper would have managed it.
• Fielding and catching - Flawless, save for one Stuart Broad missed stumping.
• Bowling plans and field placings - Didn't allow the Indian batsmen to play their natural game. Driving was off the menu, instead they had to resort to easily miss-timed pulls and cuts.
• Collingwood juggled his bowlers well - Maligned skipper got everything right in the field.

  Where the game was nearly lost:

• Batting - Inability to push on when Bopara and Pietersen departed. Not enough maximums again. Tempering Foster's brilliant stumping is the fact that Matt Prior coming in at five or six would be a very welcome sight.

A fine display, though defeat today would render it meaningless.

Read Jonathan Agnew's reaction

England Defeat Defending Champions

England triumphed on Survival Sunday for the second week in a row, keeping alive their World T20 chances and dumping India, the defending champions, out of the competition.

England lost the toss and laboured to 153-7, a score which would require a fine bowling effort to defend. Fortunately that's exactly what it got. Sidebottom (2-31), Swann (2-28) and Broad (0-21) in particular were superb, sending down balls which the usually free-scoring Indians were unable to dispatch to the boundary. India finished three runs short of England's total, on 150-5.

England rarely look comfortable when batting first. The foundations for their innings were laid by Pietersen (46) and Bopara (37), who shared a 71 run partnership, but 154 always looked like an achievable target for the 2007 champions. However, England bowled and fielded with panache, utilising the pace and bounce of the pitch and limiting their opponents' scoring options. India required 19 off the last over, and despite a six and four, Sidebottom held his nerve and collected the Man of the Match award. 

Now all that stands between England and the semi-finals, is the West Indies.

Scorecard

World T20 Enters Second Phase

Three tough games coming up in the next five days for England; India (Sunday), West Indies (Monday) and today's opponents, South Africa.

Captain Collingwood has called on his players to do something special. He also talked about the need, as a batting side, to capitalise on the fielding restrictions of the first six overs, which is something Wright and Bopara have done well. Stuart Broad also gets a mention, with Collingwood pointing out that he's one of our more experienced players in this format.

Today's game will be tough, with many pundits tipping South Africa for the title. Batting-wise there is no respite - dismiss their prolific top order and you still find yourself facing AB de Villiers followed by some of the game's best finishers. That said, they only managed 128 from their 20 overs against New Zealand.

But the bad news is they chased it down. With Parnell and Steyn (T20 average 13.18 at start of tournament) leading the line, the Proteas can even afford to leave out Morne Morkel. And they possess quality spin this time, in Roelof van der Merwe, who possesses the tournament's best economy rate at 3.87, and Johan Botha (though the latter has been banned from using his potent doosra).

This will be a real examination for England, but, providing the Sunday team turn up, and not the Monday one, the same could be said of South Africa.