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.

Blackwell's Resurgance

Patrick Kidd's Line and Length blog today highlights one-time England all-rounder Ian Blackwell's impressive first season at Durham.

The stats look good - this season he's averaged 19 with the ball and 44 with the bat - but with Swann and Panesar playing a part in the Ashes, and Rashid tipped to have one foot on the plane to South Africa, he'd be forgiven for wondering whether he registers on the England radar these days.

Blackwell played the last of his 34 ODIs in 2006 - the same year in which he played his only Test. A consistent county performer, a black mark has always hung over his name surrounding his weight - an issue the England management clearly still value given the recent treatment of Samit Patel. Such a reputation can be as hard to shift as the actual weight itself, and to an extent, Blackwell has always been fighting a losing battle in terms of perception.

But, a move up north at the start of the season has taken him out of his comfort zone and reinvigorated him (though it has to be said that leaving Taunton would surely do that for any spinner). He spoke at the time of his international aspirations, telling SPIN Magazine in June, "I'm desperate to get back in the one-day side. It's the main reason I've come to Durham." He's since backed up his words with bat and ball.

Like Kidd, I'd place Swann and Rashid ahead of him, but Blackwell weighs in with a far superior case to Panesar for the role of third in line, especially in the one-day set-up. His on-pitch argument is convincing, but how damaging will those perceptions prove to be?