England Cricket Thread 2011

[cheltenhamlion]

To win by that margin, after that start, is very impressive indeed.

[KevinGage]

The a decent barometer of the progress made is increasingly less usage of that well know phrase 'same old England.'

As I mentioned earlier, even notable wins in the past (and I'd probably include the Ashes series clincher at the Oval in 2009) depended on favourable conditions and the rub of the green. All sides need a bit of luck.  But winning in Australia was no fluke, nor was beating Sri Lanka and (thus far) India comprehensively.

[PaulWinch again]

England should go on to close out the series with at least a 2 game margin and thus claim the no.1 spot.  But India (and Sri Lanka for that matter) in their own back yard will be a different proposition altogether. 

I keep hearing this (mostly from India supporters at work!), but it goes both ways, India can't call themselves the best team in the World if they can't cope with pitches that aren't as flat as a witches tit.
England have now drawn in South Africa, beaten the Aussies comprehensively in their own backyard, stuffed Sri Lanka and are well on the way to a whitewash over the current No1 team, and I'd back our resilience and the fact we bat down to No11 to give it a really good go in India at the moment as well, especially as we now have the best spinner in Test Cricket.

I completely agree, we have proved ourselves whenever we have had the opportunity. We smashed Australia over there and now we've thumped India twice. We are a very good side and particularly in the bowling department we have great depth. What a choice between Bres and Tremlett now. We battered India in this game and our spinner didn't take a wicket. Also India weren't that weakened particularly in the batting, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman were all playing.

[avfcpg]

Sums it up for me when Warne says the Aussies are now looking at England as the benchmark. They've been really excellent and don't sit on laurels...Would back them to do well in India...

[Dave Cooper please]

They remind me of the Aussies when they were the best team, totally ruthless, never beaten until the final run or wicket. Spot a weakness, exploit it to the full, see the opposition just start to flag or relax? Hit 'em with everything.

I thought we were getting there in 2005, but we took our eye off the ball and became complacent, but rather than revert to "same old England" we learned the lessons and came back stronger.

I'm very proud of this England team, they are a pleasure to watch, and it's even sweeter when you are my sort of age and have endured the horror shows we had to watch in just about every year since the mid-eighties.

Just watching the highlights, lovely moment when Scott Ellstone took that catch for Bresnan's five-fer after just dropping one the over before, he might never play for England properly but he'll dine out on that for a while.

[Villan For Life]

There are some very bitter Indian fans on Cricinfo, blaming their board and the IPL.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-india-2011/content/current/story/525563.html?comments=all#ciHomeLogoholder

[PaulWinch again]

They remind me of the Aussies when they were the best team, totally ruthless, never beaten until the final run or wicket. Spot a weakness, exploit it to the full, see the opposition just start to flag or relax? Hit 'em with everything.

I thought we were getting there in 2005, but we took our eye off the ball and became complacent, but rather than revert to "same old England" we learned the lessons and came back stronger.

I'm very proud of this England team, they are a pleasure to watch, and it's even sweeter when you are my sort of age and have endured the horror shows we had to watch in just about every year since the mid-eighties.

Just watching the highlights, lovely moment when Scott Ellstone took that catch for Bresnan's five-fer after just dropping one the over before, he might never play for England properly but he'll dine out on that for a while.

My dad took me to the Saturday of the Oval test from 1994 to 2004 and I saw some great days there. But that's what they were, great days against a backdrop of continued failure. I now watch England against anyone and believe we'll win, which is such a turnaround. It's like on Friday in spite of our terrible start, I always thought we'd find a way to fight back. I never expected we'd win so emphatically, but I believe in this team. I don't just mean the 11 either, I believe we have a great pool of players who can come in.

[Dante Lavelli]

Without doubt they are a great team, but significantly I think our biggest strength is the quality of our squad. Having strength in depth suggests some sort of structural change rather than a couple of once in a generation type players carrying the team.

Which begs the question, what have the ECB done to improve our chances? I do not following cricket close enough, especially at county level, to know, so I was hoping sone of you guys could provide your theories. Some factors I have thought about:

1 central contracts
2 more overseas players (although I'm not sure that's true - hick, caddick, lamb etc)
3 the rest of the world becoming obsessed with the shorter forms of cricket
4 simply lucky
5 sky getting the TV rights leading to more investment in the game

[Villan For Life]

Without doubt they are a great team, but significantly I think our biggest strength is the quality of our squad. Having strength in depth suggests some sort of structural change rather than a couple of once in a generation type players carrying the team.

Which begs the question, what have the ECB done to improve our chances? I do not following cricket close enough, especially at county level, to know, so I was hoping sone of you guys could provide your theories. Some factors I have thought about:

1 central contracts
2 more overseas players (although I'm not sure that's true - hick, caddick, lamb etc)
3 the rest of the world becoming obsessed with the shorter forms of cricket
4 simply lucky
5 sky getting the TV rights leading to more investment in the game

I think that Central Contracts have played a huge part. There is a professionalism about the England that was not there 10 years ago. Successive captains (Hussain, Vaughan, Strauss) have instilled a fantastic work ethic. The whole set up from the kit man to the support staff are geared up to getting it right where it matters, on the pitch. The Central Contracts have meant that the focus is on the England Squad and their receovery after games etc. In a way alot of sports have become more scientific over the the 10/15 years.

There are drawbacks to the contracts issue; if you use Pietersen as an example, he played about 4 times for Hampshire after he broke into the England squad. They do deprive county followers the chance to see the best players. Some are more comitted to their county. Ian Bell is a good example as he will turn out for the Bears whenever he can.

There are probably fewer overseas players in the county game now and certainly fewer Kolpak players. The county game is skint and only the counties that stages tests really generate any meaningful income. Central Contracts mean that England players rarely play a county game. The readmission of South Africa into mainstream sport after their ban means that fewer Saffers are plying their trade over here. There has also been a reduction in racial quotas which means they play in SA and not always over here.

There is an element of luck in what has happened. England's rise has coincided with both India and the Aussies coming to the end of golden periods in their respective histories. The Aussies have lost at least 6 world class players through retirement, India's stellar batting line up will soon begin to break up. A series like this current one will only hasten the break. Cricket, like football is cyclical.

I don't think that the Sky money has a lot to do with it. They've had sole TV rights for 6 years and yes there has been some investment at grass roots level. It's too soon to see any benefit fom this at the highest level.

All in all, it's a great time to be a England fan!

[Richard]

Very proud to see Trott and Bell in the current Top 5 ICC ranked batsmen !

[Dave Cooper please]

By 'more overseas players' do you mean foreign born players playing for England?
You may have a point, four of the XI at Trent Bridge were born in South Africa (Strauss, Prior, Trott and Pietersen), but I see it as a good thing that they preferred to play for England rather than SA who were certainly a better team than England when three out of the four began their test careers.

[Villan For Life]

Harbhajan is out of the Edgbaston test

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-india-2011/content/current/story/525791.html

[Dante Lavelli]

I did mean overseas players being selected for england rather than in the county games but it's largely not relevant. The reason for my question was to try and identify what the England cricket team was doing right (or other nations were doing wrong?) in order to identify the key thing we'd need to repeat in the future or apply to other sports.

[taylorsworkrate]

I did mean overseas players being selected for england rather than in the county games but it's largely not relevant. The reason for my question was to try and identify what the England cricket team was doing right (or other nations were doing wrong?) in order to identify the key thing we'd need to repeat in the future or apply to other sports.

I think aside from having a pool of high quality players to choose from, its a lot to do with the high attention to detail.  From allowing Strauss to play for another county in order to find form, to Cook being the only player allowed to shine the ball as he sweats the least.

[Villan For Life]

I did mean overseas players being selected for england rather than in the county games but it's largely not relevant. The reason for my question was to try and identify what the England cricket team was doing right (or other nations were doing wrong?) in order to identify the key thing we'd need to repeat in the future or apply to other sports.

I think aside from having a pool of high quality players to choose from, its a lot to do with the high attention to detail.  From allowing Strauss to play for another county in order to find form, to Cook being the only player allowed to shine the ball as he sweats the least.

I knew that Cook was the designated shiner, but I didn't know why until today when I read it in the Torygraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/8677394/Englands-cricket-secret.html

An interesting article and answers some of Dante's questions too.