The English cricket team is sort of like an enigma.
While having a reputation of being extremely professional, their on field performance has been - sometimes brilliant and other times very mediocre.
They are perhaps the only team that can swamp Australia in the Ashes and in return get thumped in the one-dayers.
Any student of the game might expect the English team to have won the World Cup atleast once, for good reason - the game originated in the country.
But sadly, while they've had some very good match winners, the English team has been ousted twice in the semis and stumbled thrice in the finals.
The Master Blaster, Viv Richards, denied them the trophy in 1979 with his daredevilry along with Collis King.
Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott batted as if it was a test match making it difficult for Gooch, Gower and Botham to make a come back and their subsequent batting collapse was historic.
Their best chance, however, came in 1987 when they swept India away in the semis to meet the Aussies in the final. David Boon and Mike Veletta propped up a good but gettable score. The English looked on course to overhaul the score when a rush of blood from Mike Gatting handed the initiative back to the Aussies.
From there on Allan Border, Bruce Reid along with Steve Waugh bowled miserly spells to lead Australia to a highly unlikely 7 run victory.
1992 saw the Pommies up against a resurgent Pakistan. The Cup had Imran Khan written all over it. He was dropped quite early and went on the make the highest score for that final. His decision to bring back the young Wasim Akram paid rich dividends. Inspite of having a great batting lineup and Derek Pringle's fantastic bowling effort, the English team struggled against the pace of Akram and the spin of Mushtaq & Aamer Sohail.
Since then, they have not even made it to the semi finals which reflects very poorly on England's ability to make it big on the world stage.
The only success they've had thus far, was last year, when Paul Collingwood's young team won the T20 World Cup defeating arch rivals Australia, at the Kensington Oval, Barbados.
This is the first ever ICC tournament won by England.
The side for 2011 has a young look about it and boasts of quite a
few one day specialists. In Andrew Strauss, they have a level headed leader while the batting looks solid with Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Trott and Bopara eager to make their mark. The bowling looks much better with the return of Stuart Broad and also has the world's best off-spinner, Graeme Swann, in their ranks.
With a settled side and a smart coach in Andy Flower, the Pommies would look to shed their tag of being 'Perennial Bridesmaids' and etch England's name on the World Cup winners list.
While having a reputation of being extremely professional, their on field performance has been - sometimes brilliant and other times very mediocre.
They are perhaps the only team that can swamp Australia in the Ashes and in return get thumped in the one-dayers.
Any student of the game might expect the English team to have won the World Cup atleast once, for good reason - the game originated in the country.
But sadly, while they've had some very good match winners, the English team has been ousted twice in the semis and stumbled thrice in the finals.
The Master Blaster, Viv Richards, denied them the trophy in 1979 with his daredevilry along with Collis King.
Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott batted as if it was a test match making it difficult for Gooch, Gower and Botham to make a come back and their subsequent batting collapse was historic.
Their best chance, however, came in 1987 when they swept India away in the semis to meet the Aussies in the final. David Boon and Mike Veletta propped up a good but gettable score. The English looked on course to overhaul the score when a rush of blood from Mike Gatting handed the initiative back to the Aussies.
From there on Allan Border, Bruce Reid along with Steve Waugh bowled miserly spells to lead Australia to a highly unlikely 7 run victory.
1992 saw the Pommies up against a resurgent Pakistan. The Cup had Imran Khan written all over it. He was dropped quite early and went on the make the highest score for that final. His decision to bring back the young Wasim Akram paid rich dividends. Inspite of having a great batting lineup and Derek Pringle's fantastic bowling effort, the English team struggled against the pace of Akram and the spin of Mushtaq & Aamer Sohail.
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| Young guns of English cricket |
The only success they've had thus far, was last year, when Paul Collingwood's young team won the T20 World Cup defeating arch rivals Australia, at the Kensington Oval, Barbados.
This is the first ever ICC tournament won by England.
The side for 2011 has a young look about it and boasts of quite a
few one day specialists. In Andrew Strauss, they have a level headed leader while the batting looks solid with Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Trott and Bopara eager to make their mark. The bowling looks much better with the return of Stuart Broad and also has the world's best off-spinner, Graeme Swann, in their ranks.
With a settled side and a smart coach in Andy Flower, the Pommies would look to shed their tag of being 'Perennial Bridesmaids' and etch England's name on the World Cup winners list.
Cricket originated in England but their attitude to the ODI version has bordered on disrespect! While the world prepares for the World Cup, the English county system plays 40 overs an innings matches!! I dont think that is the way to go about it. COntrast this with Australia or Sri Lanka. They take their preparations seriously and that is the reason for their success.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, you also mention match winners in the England team? Match winners??? Leave out Kevin Peiterson and there is no one in that team that can win you more than an odd match in a career!! All succesful teams have great openers, a couple of people in the middle order who will set the match up and some good finishers and this is only batting. England have none. They had a good couple of matches in the World Cup (I am writing this after their match with South Africa) but that was more exception than anything else. Both India and SA had very bad days! England did play well but for them to keep up that intensity through the length of the tournament on the back of what they did in the Ashes requires a superhuman effort and now with Peiterson out of it, they are going to wait longer to lay their hands on the coveted World Cup!!!
With the tie against India, I would have given it to England to make it to the Semis. But they imploded against minnows. More often than not, England resembles the Indian team the early part of the century - immense potential, but hardly ever living up to it.
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