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.

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.

Fifth ODI (v Aus) Reaction

England lost by 4 wickets, with 10 balls remaining.

Despite England's highest total of the series so far, this match was no closer than the previous four, with Australia in rarely-unwavering control of their run chase.

The 'highlights' were the batting displays of youngsters Morgan and Denly. Denly is at the crawling stage of his international career, but his performance - 45 runs from 68 balls - suggests he'll be walking soon. For now Strauss (35 from 38) is playing the aggressor role, looking to alleviate the pressure from his inexperienced partner; the plan - in time - must be for these roles to reverse, with Denly attacking and Strauss looking to bat through.

Morgan played excellently for his 58 from 41 (including three 6s) proving that he can be more than a run-a-ball merchant at this level.

Sidebottom's performance yesterday (0-43, economy 4.60) reflected his side's throughout the series - decent containment, lacking in penetration. He has bowled his first spell of each match brilliantly, rarely conceding more than one or two an over. Eventually though, consistency leads to predictability, and his lack of variety is compounded by the one-paced nature of the rest of the attack.

A sign of England's travails in recent games, has been the disintegration of their fielding standards - a reliable barometer on which to measure commitment to the cause.

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.

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.

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)

England World T20 Report Card: Batsmen

Bopara - Scores: 55, 37, 2, 5, 46. A couple of soft dismissals aside, showed why he'll be a focal point of England's batting in all three formats for the next decade or more. 8/10

Wright - 6, 1, 1, 34, 71. Will always be quite literally hit or miss, but makes a good opening partner for Bopara. If it works, England get off to a flyer, if it doesn't KP's in early - win/win. His warm-up match score against the West Indies and his 34 off 16 against Pakistan proved that he can score runs against quality attacks as well as the minnows. 7/10

Pietersen - 31, 46, 19, 58. Vital to his team's chances. Has finally worked out how to bat in T20. Match-winning 58 against Pakistan was made under intense pressure given the match and injury situation. Has by far the team's best boundary hitting ability. When he plays well, so do England. 8.5/10

Shah - 18, 12, 38, 33, 5. The jury is still out to an extent, but he warrants his place for now. Has six-hitting ability - a rare commodity in this England team. Useful contributions, but will be as frustrated as anybody at being unable to push on for a bigger score. 7/10

Collingwood - 11, 7, 19, 15, 11. The reluctant captain's scores were not good enough. Always scores at a run-a-ball, but comes in near the end when England need illusive boundaries. Captaincy-wise acted with dignity and honestly, rotated his bowlers well, but made a big mistake in opting to bat first against the West Indies. Well worth a place in the other forms of the game, but T20 future looks uncertain. 6/10

Key - 10*. Hopelessly out of form coming into the tournament. Needed more explosive finish than he could provide against the Dutch. Main argument for squad inclusion seemed to be previous captaincy success, but he wasn't captain. Including his Kent opening partner would have been more beneficial. 5/10

Morgan - 6. Can't judge on his solitary performance, but has done enough over the past few weeks to suggest an England future. Exciting and - crucially for T20 - innovative, though we didn't see it in this tournament.  5/10

Foster - 13, 6, 1, 14, 3*. As an experiment it worked and it didn't. Quality 'keeper - the best at England's disposal, but an inferior batsman to Matt Prior. How do you balance his crucial stumpings of Yuvraj and Bravo with the middle-order boundary hitting of Prior? Maybe include them both, Prior as a specialist batsman. 7/10

Mascarenhas - 1, 16, 25. Curious tournament - was unable to find the middle of the bat. He's there to hit maximums and cause clean-hitting chaos in the closing overs, but it never materialised. Scoring 25 off 27 when coming in at four against India cannot have been what was asked of him. 6/10

Napier - Did not play. The middle order was crying out for his big-hitting finishing. Can't have been impressing in the nets. n/a 

England World T20 Analysis

Two good wins, one disaster, one comprehensive defeat, and one rain-affected disappointment. England did their best to single-handedly prove the unpredictability of the T20 format.

Overall, it was a passable showing. They won two out of three must-win games in impressive fashion; the Pakistan game in particular was highly pressurised - the consequences of defeat unthinkable. 

The Holland and South Africa defeats are hardly worth dwelling on. Holland were clearly taken far too lightly - putting in an inspired performance on the day - and South Africa, who have a superior balance to their side, were a class apart in every department on that day.

Had the West Indies game been 20 overs a side, it would have been fascinating to see how England fared. However, had they prevailed, it would again largely have been a case of the bowlers getting the batsmen out of jail. 

England are still not entirely comfortable with batting in this format. Interestingly, this tournament has taught us that a solid 50 over player does not necessarily make a decent 20 over player - and England possess a number of those. The likes of Collingwood and Foster - and arguably Shah and Morgan - are consistent run-a-ball strike-rate players, a commendable skill, but one which falls short in T20. Without Mascarenhas firing, all of England's explosive players are up top, and once they're out the run-rate slows to a run a ball - and a once possible score of 180 becomes 150.

Ultimately, England depart the 2009 World T20 in much better shape than they did in 2007. Two years ago England had no idea about their best team, now they're 75% there. As individuals, the players are getting more T20 savvy - though are still relatively inexperienced in the format - and the team possess a nucleus of young players like Bopara and Broad to tweak the side around. Some promising signs and a fitting curtain raiser to this summer of high-class cricket.