Englands two year demise

The Last two years for England have been a tale of two teams.

One of the test team, a decent side that was ranked no2 in the world falling flat on its face and have since tumbled to 5th.

And an ODI team of pure rubbish, barring that miracle in the CB series. Ok, so not much has changed there.

England have actually won 3 of the 7 test series they have been in during the last two years. However, before 2006 England enjoyed a remarkable run winning 20 of the 40 tests they played and losing only 9

The ODI team were even more abysmal back then, if that is possible, than they are now. Losing 32 of the 60 odd games they played.

Since 2006 Dec, England have won only 8 test matches out of the 20 they’ve played.

The ODI results have not changed much, still losing more games than they have won.

So the question is what has gone wrong with the Test team and what has NOT gone wrong with the ODI team.

Captaincy- both the ODI team and Test team have had 4 captains within these 2 years. Change of leadership invariably has an effect on how the team approaches games. Hopefully the reign of KP will be long. And England will not experiment with the split captaincy idea again – which does more harm than good.

Rubbish at chasing– England average 27 (runs) when chasing in ODIs compared to when they have batted first (31). You compare that to a team like Aus (42 when chasing), India (35), SA (41), its easy to see why England are so inconsistent

Openers – England have never really had a consistent pair of openers in both the test team and ODI team. Which is one of the main reasons whey their openers never contribute much to the games.

In the test team England have tried out Cook, Strauss, Vaughan, Bell.

In the ODI team England have tried out nearly their entire ‘performance squad’ and have still not found the right players.

Wrong selections – Split captaincy is one story, but different selections for the two teams is another matter. It literally pains my eyes to see Ian Bell on a team sheet for the ODI team. Its annoyign because there are players like Dimi, Luke Wright who should be in the ODI team but are not.

Injuries, depression and wides have been the problem for their bowlers.

I stand by my earlier call on England being a better test side than ODI.

That was why I was doing cartwheels when I heard the India tour will go ahead.

The on-again-off-again series could be a chance for England to turn around their fortunes.

No one thinks they wiil. Which is good. At least its less pressure on them.

In a curious way, I have noticed I always end up writing about how shit England are.

Actually its not really that odd cuz England are pretty shit at the moment.

So hopefully England proves us all wrong, at least we will all have something new to write about.

14 Comments

  1. Prior has been a concern for England….He hasn’t been good behind the stumps and with bat too..

    December 6, 2008
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  2. Pretty much spot on. I’d add the injuries to key bowlers after the Ashes 05, the vacillations over the captaincy and the demonising of Duncan Fletcher. Most of all though, the jury is out on Peter Moores. I’m not sure he has Pietersen’s respect, and whoever coaches England needs that.

    December 6, 2008
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  3. Ceci said:

    England are usually merrily mediocre Damith – we just have brief blossomings at most sports (cricket 2004/5, rugby 2003, footy 1966(!)) and get enormously excited and boastful ready to thump the rest of the world and then…. back to normal. Wouldn’t support anyone else though (apart from the Lankans when they’re not playing us – and of course absolutely anyone at all INCLUDING the Saffers in a contest v Australia). We lose a big player like Trescothick, and unlike most other national teams we just don’t have a replacement.

    December 7, 2008
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  4. damiths said:

    Sri> Good point. I missed out on their keepers, England have not had a decent keeper/batsmen for a while too

    December 7, 2008
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  5. damiths said:

    TOB>Agree on the bowlers, I made a brief reference to it in passing in the post too.

    Peter Moores is an interesting topic. I never liked him that much to begin with.

    Any change of him being replaced ?

    December 7, 2008
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  6. damiths said:

    Not being able to replace a big player is also an issue for the Lankans, Im not really sure where we are gonna go when Sanath goes.

    I wish England were better, cuz I have been a long time supporter, of the cricket and football. So I kinda know how you feel !

    Its pretty heartbreaking. I think England have the players to make a comeback. But doing it is a different matter entirely !

    December 7, 2008
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  7. damiths said:

    That shoukd have been for Ceci 🙂

    December 7, 2008
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  8. raj said:

    Actually, England have done exceptionally well in Tests in India except 1993. They almost drew in 2001, and beat the shit out of India in Mumbai in 2006 – with a rubbish spinner.

    You know Damith, that should put Splendid’s performance in perspective – Indians have been shit against spin(except Sehwag) in the last few years.
    Splendid is stil going to do exceptionally well in intl cricket but to me, the hype about “he got the GREAT indian batsmen, who devour spinners, in a tangle” does not add up. Rahul, Sachin, Lax and Saurav havent been that inspiring against spinners recently. Even Hogg dominated Saurav.

    I know that makes me satan in this site but had to mention it 🙂

    December 7, 2008
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  9. scorpicity said:

    It is all about selections and their selection policy is terribly outdated as their suits.

    December 9, 2008
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  10. damiths said:

    raj>i agree, thts why i think india might be surprised by england at home. they have a decent team.

    true, the indians have not been good against spin of late, but splendid exploited all their weaknesses and to do that against batsmen who have played more than 100 tests each was still brilliant.

    scorpi> selection policy in england is pretty ridiculous. im not sure what kind of criteria they use to be honest.

    monty in the ashes

    hoggard missing in india

    just plain weird.

    December 9, 2008
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  11. raj said:

    Damith, I dont really question Mendis’ quality. I am very glad that now we’ll have an Asian who hopefully will break Warne’s (and Murali’s) record – and the f**ing racists down under and in that self-absorbed island in Europe will have no excuse to deride him in comparison to Shane. I mean, Murali’s record will always be asterixed though we all know that he is as much a legend as Warne but let me see what they can bring against Splendid.

    Having said that, he is not great because he got this 100-test guys down – Murali has troubled them in their prime. I would wait for the day when the next generation of great Indian batsmen primes and Mendis troubles them. Until then, everything else would be child’s play for Mendis and while his 10-fers and 5-fers would be creditable, and he can only play the batsmen he is scheduled with, it will not be the same until he, say, screws Sehwag in his prime.

    December 10, 2008
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  12. damiths said:

    Raj> Of course, dont be fooled by the love I shower on Mendis, I know he has a long ways to go yet. But I cant think of a single bowler who could have done that to the Indians in their first series.

    The rest of the world will figure him out sooner or later and when they do, thats when the real fun begins for me and Mendis.

    I think hes got the head to get him across though. Just a brilliant find in these modern times.

    Cant wait to see him bowl to the Aussies, SA and Poms.

    December 10, 2008
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  13. raj said:

    righto. i just hope mendis is the real deal. He is very likeable and almost Australian in his self-belief. Which is a rare combo.
    I’d like to see Mendis spinning a web on Ponting. Not just take his wicket like the brainless Harbhjan does just because Ponting is so shit against spin. But weave a web around him and make him look like a floundering schoolboy. (Yeah, we do hate Ponting so, which I guess will get empathy from most normal people in the world).
    Again, even Krezja

    December 10, 2008
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  14. Maria Hrafn said:

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    January 29, 2010
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