CT Match 3 (v NZ): Thoughts Turn To Semi-Final

29/09/09 - New Zealand won by four wickets. Both sides progress to semis.

England have spent most of September disproving the theory that winning the toss gives a team an advantage in a one-day cricket match. Yesterday they discovered to their cost that in some cases it does make a big difference.

However, it's still no excuse for being bowled out for 146 - 66 runs less than Sri Lanka managed against England on Friday.

An attacking approach and clear minds had characterised England's first two games of the tournament, but here, as on English soil, those minds were caught in two - a product of good bowling and demons in the pitch. When it looked like the good work of the opening games may be undone by a thrashing at the hands and bats of their weakest group opposition, England's bowlers added some respectability to the scoreboard.

And morale-wise that could prove important, not least because it was masterminded by the quiet-up-until-now Stuart Broad (4-39). Sidebottom (1-32) replaced Onions, but failed to do enough to add any permanence to the switch. He may be more economical than Onions, but the Durham man will target the stumps more if picked against Australia, and thus carries more threat.

And Australia it is, after they crawled over the line against Pakistan.

England must forget the NatWest series, and recall the spirit of the Sri Lanka and South Africa games. The batsmen will take solace from the venue - Centurian - and the bowlers from the brittle middle order of the Michael Clarke-less opposition, kindly exposed today by Pakistan.

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.