Have England Finally Cracked One Day Cricket?

England last night completed an impressive 4-0 series victory over old foes Australia after another rain affected match ended in victory for the home side.

Had England won the abandoned match earlier in the series at Edgbaston as well, they would now be sitting top of the ICC One Day International rankings, a remarkable feat considering their travails at the World Cup last year, where they were eliminated at the quarter final stage after some insipid displays.

As it is they sit third, and are starting to be talked about as a genuine contender for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand 2015. Here, the Golden Duck considers what’s changed for England recently to make them the formidable One Day side that has beaten Australia, West Indies and Pakistan in their last 3 series and whether they are in with a shot of World Cup success in three years’ time.

Captain Cook

Any successful cricket side needs a skipper at the helm with clear thinking and aggressive intent in the field, whilst also delivering in his own discipline of the game, be it with bat and ball. Cook is delivering on both fronts now, scoring another half century last night, the 12th for his country, and has developed a strong opening partnership with Ian Bell.

Not only that, but in the field Cook is growing in confidence, rotating his bowlers and giving them the fields they desire, as far as possible. A little conservative at times, Cook's England have now won 10 One Day Internationals on the spin, so he must be doing something right, although with a tough series against South Africa in England followed by a tour of India in the autumn to come, he will face sterner challenges.

You can only beat what's put in front of you though, and in the last three series Cook has done just that.

A Settled Batting Line Up

England have chopped and changed their batting line up at regular intervals in the past, with KP, Prior, Bell and Kieswetter all opening the batting in recent times.

They are now benefitting from some consistent batting selections, with Cook and Bell opening, Trott coming in at three to sure up things if required, and with Morgan at five England have the enforcer/match winner they've needed for so long. The stand out man this series however has been Ravi Bopara. Batting at four Rav has scored freely and finally looks to be showing signs that he belongs at this level. Cook's faith in his Essex colleague is obvious, and he will be pleased to see him finally fill his considerable potential.

England need to stick with this top five as much as possible, because consistent selection has been such a flaw in their ODI plans in the past.

A Wicket Keeper Down The Order

Ok here's a shock for you; not every wicket keeper is as good as Adam Gilchrist! For so long England have looked for the next version of the legendary Aussie, putting Prior, Kieswetter and Steven Davies in the side at the top of the order.

With an opening pair of Cook and Bell finally settled on, England have put Kieswetter down the order against Australia. He's barely had chance to shine as England have made light work of their antipodean visitors, but the balance of the side looks right with the Somerset man down there.

I’m still not convinced Kieswetter is the man for the job however, and there are plenty of challengers to the Somerset man’s position. Matt Prior is one, and okay so he had a rough World Cup last year, but he was moved from 6th to open following injury to Pietersen, before being demoted to seven a game later; hardly ideal for a man fighting for his future in the team. There is also Davies who is receiving a fair amount of support within the game for a call up, and of course there is also the explosive Yorkshire wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow to consider for the position too, so the gloves are not sown to Kieswetter yet.

A Five Man Bowling Attack

Mark Ealham, a veteran England ODI player with 64 caps, was known as a "dibby-dobber". He sent down some accurate, wobbly-seamed medium pacers and could nurdle and nudge a few singles, but was hardly your archetypal all-rounder. Still, for a while players like this made up the numbers in England’s ODI side.

The idea of having part-time bowlers seems to have been kicked to the curb by Cook and Flower, instead fancying a more specialist bowling unit. Against both the West Indies and Australia this summer England have employed 5 specialist bowlers, albeit in Bresnan, Broad and Swann they have 3 players that can more than hold their own with the bat.

With five bowlers keeping things tight for the full 50 overs, there is no respite from the accurate, probing lines and lengths that England have prided themselves on in all formats over the past 24 months. Both West Indies and Australia have struggled this summer and they will not be the only ones. England have strived to discover specialist limited overs bowlers in the past, but with what is essentially their test line up plus Steve Finn in situ now, they have struck on a winning formula that will stand them in good stead for 2015.

Extras?

Fielding is obviously a massive part of limited overs cricket and with the likes of Bopara and Morgan in the side, they have good fielding options. Having said that, there have been mistakes, with Patel and Anderson dropping clangers yesterday for example. There is a general feeling that the fielding in this series against Australia has not been as tight as it should have been and England will need to improve on this to challenge the best.

Momentum also plays a huge part in any sport. ​England have won 3 series on the spin now – a successful 3 year build-up to the World Cup would make them a firm favourite.

Wickets – a lot depends on the type of wicket you play on. England have struggled on sub-continent wickets in the past, losing 5-0 to India last autumn. With the World Cup being played on the quick, bouncy tracks of Australia and New Zealand, England will fancy their bowling attack to perform and their batsmen to cope with the challenge. However, if England are to be acknowledged as the best in the world, they are going to have to find a way to perform better on the dry, spinning tracks of Asia. With 5 places in the side now allocated to bowlers, England need to play 2 spinners at least out there, and ensure their batsmen are better prepared to deal with the slow turning wickets better than they were last year.

Conclusion:

England have made an encouraging start to One Day cricket under Alastair Cook, but there’s a long way to go. They have two tough series coming up and their visit to New Zealand next winter, not to mention the tour of Australia 6 months later, will show just how far this side has come.

Cricket Needs It's Gladiators Playing - Life Is Too Short

Sport is a curious thing. For those who love it, it provides all the exhilaration one requires from life. Remember Bill Shankley's mantra, about football being more important than life and death? If you empathise with that quote, you will understand why people love watching and participating in sport so much.

And as professional sport has reached such elite standards over the past 50 years or so, so the performers of the same have grown in stature, to the almost gladiatorial standing they occupy in society today.

With that we get heroes, and the odd villain as well to keep things interesting, and that leads us nicely into one Henry Christopher Gayle, for whom there will be people wishing to categorise him as both, if truth be told.

Gayle was dropped from the West Indies squad a year and a half ago after falling out with coach Otis Gibson on matters such as Gayle's unwavering insistence on playing as much freelance Twenty20 cricket as he could shake a large, willow stick at.

The Jamaican returned to the West Indies side at the Oval yesterday and promptly filled his boots - on a decent batting track it has to be said - hitting 5 sixes in just 11 deliveries en route to a 44 ball half century against England in the second One Day International of the series.

Gayle is frequently criticised for prioritising T20 franchises ahead of his national side but at the end of the day, its Gayle's decision which direction his career takes. And you can't just criticise Gayle for his decision; you also have to question the ICC and the international cricket boards around the world who continue to insist upon scheduling international series which overlap the IPL.

Surely a world where international cricket and franchise T20 tournaments co-exist alongside each other would benefit us all? Not just fans and players, but cricket boards too, who feasibly would then have their best players available more often?

Anyway, thats a discussion for another day. At the end of the day, Chris Gayle is pure Box Office, and his bludgeoning presence at the Kia Oval yesterday morning was the perfect lift on what was a hugely sombre mood at Surrey HQ following the tragic loss of young Tom Maynard in a London Underground accident barely 24 hours earlier.



What the youngsters family must be going through right now doesn't bare thinking about, and his loss has had a profound affect on the cricket community the world over.

When Gayle batted yesterday morning however, for a few minutes at least, we were able to remember the reason we all love cricket so much, because at its best and in its purest form, sport should just exhilarate and excite us.

Maynard will never play on the stage he was so obviously destined for before tragedy struck on Monday morning, and his loss should make us all take stock and question what is important in life.

Cricket is just a game, sure, but it is an escape for people, it's a way of life and a passion that runs through peoples veins.

Surely the most important thing about life, let alone cricket, is to enjoy what precious time we have in this world, and if we live by that statement then the fact that Gayle, the best Twenty20 batsman in the world (unofficially and in TGD's opinion) has missed so much international cricket because of an on-going despute with his employers is a tragic loss to the game.

And of course the irony of Gayle returning to the West Indies side for this series is that his great pal and England's own batting superstar, Kevin Pietersen, doesn't line up against him after protracted discussions between the player and the ECB resulted in KP walking away from all international limited overs cricket.

We have talked about the loss of KP from England's limited overs sides on The Golden Duck previously, and whilst his departure presents new opportunities for younger players to get into the side, surely it's better for the game for the best players to be playing it for as long as they are fit, willing and able?

Rules are rules and contracts are contracts, but sometimes cricket is its own worst enemy.

The tragedy of Maynard should spur crickets administrators to look at the game we all love and ensure we all get the most out it that we can, be it players playing T20 and not One Day cricket or be it players playing in the IPL and full international schedules that run at separate periods in a global cricketing schedule.

This weeks events have shown us all that life is way too short and for me, I would rather see crickets gladiators playing in as many competitive matches as possible, rather than tying them all up in red tape.

Tom Maynard 1989-2012

Monday 18th June 2012 will be a day forever remembered for the passing of a tremendously talented young cricketer, Tom Maynard, who died in an accident on the London Underground network early on Monday morning.

At just 23, Maynard had a promising future ahead of him, with Surrey chairman Richard Thompson stating he was "clearly destined for far greater things."

Life, not only cricket, can be extremely cruel and the cricketing world today mourns the loss of a player who should have gone on to perform at the highest level for his country.

Not only that, Maynard was a young man, with family and friends who loved him and one cannot even begin to understand the hurt they must be feeling right now.

The purpose of this blog is just to echo everyone's high praise of Tom Maynard, a batsman of high repute, who excelled for Surrey having left his home county Glamorgan in 2010 following the acrimonious departure of his father Matthew from the Welsh county.

Maynard junior established himself as a key member of Surrey's batting line-up and hopes were high for a successful 2012 having won the Clydesdale Bank 40 over tournament last season.

We'll never know what Tom Maynard might have achieved now, and that is a massive tragedy. All I hope is that the Maynard family can be left in piece and allowed to grieve in dignity.

There were updates on Twitter as to the why's and how's of Maynard's death just hours after it occurred and for me, this is totally inappropriate at this point, particularly from Cricket journalists, who should surely be celebrating the guys life and career rather than chewing over the tragic events that lead to his demise

Death befalls all of us, but most of us are fortunate enough to have the chance to fulfil our potential. Tom Maynard was in the process of doing just that before this accident tragically robbed him of being able to complete his journey, and that transcends all sport and life in general.

It's just such a tragic waste of a young mans talent. RIP Tom Maynard, I still can't quite believe it as I type those horrendous words

England's One Day Side, Golden Duck Style

Saturday sees the start of England's One Day International series against the West Indies and there's plenty for the selectors to mull over as they look to piece together a side capable of beating the Windies, as well as building a competitive squad for the future.

England of course will be without Kevin Pietersen who retired from limited overs cricket last month, and there are further areas of concern for England to resolve as they look to build a side capable of challenging at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Below we've outlined the key areas England have to get right to improve in One Day cricket, who we'd pick and the reasons why. Let us know what you think:

Opening Pair:

Alistair Cook is the captain of the One Day side and is possibly the only nailed-down selection in the whole side at the moment. His opening partner - following KP's retirement - could feasibly be anyone now, with Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara and Craig Kieswetter all mentioned in recent weeks.

At present the England selectors believe Bell is the man to partner Cook in the future to the extent that the Warwickshire batsman is scheduled to open up with his skipper at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday.

Here at The Golden Duck however, we feel Kieswetter is the best option to open with Cook. Kieswetter can be explosive with the bat and will get England off to a flier with Cook's more cautious approach suring things up at the other end.

Kieswetter has opened in the past and perhaps people feel he has burned out his chances, but we believe that he can be the perfect foil for his captain and just needs to be given the chance to cement his place at the top of the order.

Trott's Fault?

In the past, a lot of England's failings in One Day cricket have been attributed to the inclusion of Jonathan Trott in the side, on account of his overly cautious approach to this form of the game. The argument is that at number three you need someone to accelerate the teams scoring, not slow it down.

However, with an average of 48 scored at a strike rate of 77 in One Day cricket, Trott is hardly a stick-in-the-mud in this form. Not only that, but Trott is also more than happy to 'Dig In' if and when the situation requires, which when talking about England in this format, is more often than not.

It is our view therefore that Trott is a must for England's One Day side, because if the openers fall quickly it is imperative you have someone capable of re-building the innings, something Trott has proven he is more than capable of doing.

Middle Order

Ian Bell has been recalled to England's One Day squad ahead of this series against the West Indies and is due to open with Alistair Cook at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday. Bell however suffered a suspected fractured jaw in nets on Friday which threatened to rule him out of the series opener in Southampton.

As mentioned above, we believe Bell is better suited to a place in the middle order rather than opening up England's batting but hey, what do we know?!

Like Trott, Bell's record is hardly shabby in this format and with over 100 caps to his name it is perhaps more reflective of England's erratic selection policy in One Day cricket that they needed to "recall" the Warwickshire batsman, as opposed to any failings on Bell's part.

Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow are also in the squad and both will surely complete the make up of England's middle order with Morgan probably now considered England's match winner following KP's retirement. England will hope that Bairstow can develop into another following an encouraging start to his international career.

It is perhaps worth also considering some of the names not considered for this squad, with the likes of James Taylor and Jos Buttler pushing hard for places in the side. Both will surely be tried and tested in the build up to the 2015 World Cup, but unfortunately for them miss out against the West Indies.

All Rounders

Tricky. England have tried a few candidates in this crucial position with varying degrees of success over the years since Freddie Flintoff retired, and have Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel in the squad for this series.

Bopara has the ability to be immense but has never quite realised his potential for England, whilst Patel is a strong, fast scoring batsman whose spin bowling is somewhat underrated.

The Golden Duck's nod goes to Patel for this series, but both men are still in with a shout of cementing this important place in the side for themselves.

Bowlers

England are fortunate that they have a few bowling options that can more than hold their own with a bat too, making them strong assets to the side. Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graham Swann can all wield an axe to good effect and also happen to be world class bowlers to boot.

It's obviously massively desirable to have batting as low down the order as possible in limited overs cricket in particular and so these three you would assume would be in pole position for selection, but then there's England's best bowler Jimmy Anderson to slot into the line-up as well, somehow.

Then there's also the likes of Steven Finn, who bowled superbly in the One Day series in the sub-continent last winter, as well as Jade Dermbach, a One Day regular in recent series for England, as well as Chris Woakes - absent from this squad - who can bat as well as bowl too, that are all potentials for England's first choice XI.

The Golden Duck has mulled over the bowling attack for many hours, sinking a few too many glasses of Merlot in the process, but at the end of our deliberations we feel the final four places in the side should go to Stuart Broad (T20 captain lest we forget) and Graham Swann - both of whom can bat a bit, with Jimmy Anderson and Steven Finn completing the line-up.

Anderson, despite some mixed One Day performances over the last twelve months is still a superb bowler who is in the form of his life right now whilst Finn, despite being an archetypal number 11 batsman if ever you saw one, is a superb One Day quick bowler who has the pace to trouble any batsman in his world on his day, and in three years time it will very much be his time.

So to confirm, our starting line-up for the Ageas Bowl is:-

Cook (c)
Kieswetter (wk)
Trott
Bell
Morgan
Bairstow
Patel
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Finn

There's some names that are close to getting in, Dernbach for example has been a bit of a favourite with the selectors over the past twelve months and the likes of James Taylor and Jos Buttler are the future and will surely come into the reckoning before long, but for us this is England's strongest line up ahead of the West Indies on Saturday with the players selected in this squad.

Good luck to both sides, we hope it's a cracking series and the rain does one for the rest of the summer!

England's Rotation Policy Considered

The question on everyone's lips at Edgbaston this week, other than, "Is it ever going to stop raining" of course, was whether England's decision to withdraw Jimmy Anderson from their squad for the third and final test against the West Indies was a good one.

With wins at Lords and Trent Bridge in May securing the Wisden Trophy for the home side inside two matches, England decided to shuffle their pack for the final match of the series - a dead rubber - with one eye on the four match series against South Africa to come later in the summer.

The deck was sent in to orbit on Saturday morning however when Andrew Strauss confirmed at the toss that Stuart Broad was also being "rested" from proceedings, with Steven Finn and Graham Onions replacing England's premier opening attack.

Now, here at The Golden Duck we love a good test match, and there are plenty of commentators out there who believe that this dalliance with rotation policy is bad for the stature of test match cricket in this county as it undermines England's ascertain that test cricket is central to their planning.

However, it would be extremely harsh to question ECB's commitment to the longest form of the game in our view - just look at the Ashes tour of 2010/11 when all England'ffort was given to winning the little Urn, with scant consideration given to the One Day World Cup that began just three moths later, England rocking up for that tournament woefully unprepared

No, the ECB's decision to rest their two premier bowlers is to prolong their careers, the thinking being that by shielding them from needless matches in decided series, they will stay fresher for longer, so actually they are putting test cricket first, not devaluing it.

Try telling that to the punters of Birmingham however, who missed two whole days of cricket due to rain only to be presented with an England side missing two of the best fast bowlers in the world, let alone in this country.

Pundits like Ian Botham and Bob Willis spoke passionately about how the resting of these players was wrong for the game but also for the future of the team, as it could disrupt the rhythm of the bowlers who have both bowled beautifully so far this summer it has to be said.

Botham stated that gym work was no alternative for bowling out in the middle and he is right. Bowling is all about rhythm and once you have it, you don't want to lose it, but if Jimmy or Stuart were to injure themselves in Birmingham and then miss any of the series against South Africa, well what then? Sure England would have been true to the format, as they say, but they wouldn't have half done themselves a disservice by losing one of the aforementioned best bowlers in the world going into the aforementioned sterner tests awaiting them this summer.

Is it disrespectful to the West Indies for Onions and Finn to be playing? These two bowlers would walk into most other pace attacks the world over and with Onions in particular bowling so nicely on day one, surely maintained the integrity of England's selection policy for the series finale in Birmingham.

And that is another key point that needs to be raised here: Finn, Onions, Tremlett - England have so many good options in the pace bowling department - why not use them? If Broad or Anderson break down in the first test against South Africa, these guys will need to come in and hit the ground running, and what better way to ensure that happens than to give them experience in the test side just before that series starts?

Finally, it just may be that there is a vacancy in this star studded England team. The place of Tim Bresnan, who performed so well in the second test at Trent Bridge, has been questioned already this summer. If either Finn or Onions plays a blinder at Edgbaston, surely that gives England another option? A selection headache, but a good one.

Bresnan's contribution with the bat is a huge asset to the team, but with Broad and Swann also providing runs perhaps including Onions to provide a greater threat with the ball might be an inviting option for Strauss and Flower with South Africa in mind?

Certainly there are lots of view points on rotation policies and what-not, but it is the way of modern sport nowadays. In fact, you could say that cricket is behind the times in that regard compared to football for example.

This is perhaps just the natural evolution of test cricket. With the growing schedules and ever-increasing demands on players, perhaps rotation is actually just the better management of resources so that the best talent in the world can go on playing for a longer period of time?

Let's see if it catches on.

Surely Everyone Wants Pietersen To Play for England, Don't They?

Kevin Pietersen might just be the most naturally gifted batsmen of his generation. Forget formats of cricket for a second, when Pietersen is on song, few can touch him.

In 2005 when England won the Ashes, it was Pietersen's aggression against a bowling attack containing McGrath, Warne, Lee and Gillespie that set the tone for England's victory. Pietersen inspired his side, showing others they could take on the legendary Aussie attack and prevail, something few players across the world had been able to do up until that point.

Pietersen has been integral to England ever since, playing his part in England's Ashes victory in Australia in 2011 and was Man of the Series en route to England winning the T20 World Cup in 2010, their first limited overs trophy ever.

But with Pietersen retiring from limited overs cricket last week, reaction to the news has been quite similar to people's opinion of the man himself; mixed

Some have said that KP has been selfish to leave his country without the services of the best T20 batsman in the world, in the lead up to the World Cup later this year. Others have suggested that the ECB's reluctance to meet the player half way, allowing Pietersen to remain in the T20 squad whilst defecting from One Day Internationals - as was the players request - has ended up being a firm but ultimately counter-productive stance.

It's unreasonable to assert that England will be better off without Pietersen. KP is world class and in T20 in particular is the fulcrum that the England side is built around. Not only that, but with just 3 months to go until the World Cup in Sri Lanka begins, England have next to no time to introduce a new match winner and bed them in with any degree of success.

There are options, with James Taylor, Michael Carberry and Jos Buttler all players to consider for the vacancies on offer, but with Pietersen now on a collision course with the ECB it's not inconceivable to further suggest that the central contract that Pietersen has in place with his employers at present, due to expire in September, may be his last.

A future without Pietersen was always going to come at some point, heck retirement comes to us all at some stage, but when the player in question is the best of his generation, surely all parties concerned would fight tooth and nail to ensure that moment is as far off in the future as possible, no?

Must just be me then.