Acid test for England

The doubts of the English teams pedigree in the Test arena that lingered after the Ashes triumph were indelibly put to rest with a surgical dissection of the top ranked Indians. A performance of such class and ruthlessness, that it left all cricket fans in awe of England’s present class, and talking of its future potential.

That was the reality in the Test arena, but in the ODI style of the game, the questions still remain over England as a Team of real might. The Selectors seems to have viewed the Teams failings in the shorter form of the game, and duly have selected a very charismatic Squad. Full of young players, that have that youthful grasp of the needs of the shorter form of the game. So lets look at the relative merits of the Squad by firstly looking at the batting.Batting

The biggest issue for England in this series is to find balance in their batting, so as to facilitate future ODI success.

On this premise, if you take India and its World Cup win as a blue print for success. Their batting was fuelled through having a few class players that were surrounded by hitters and innovators.

When you run the rule over the English batting. It is characterised by it’s embrace and adherence to the games basics through their traditional styles. All of Alistair Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are poster children of this, and duly have dominated in Test cricket.

Keeping this in mind, this Tour is likely to see these three batsmen incorporate more innovation into their batting or it is unlikely that they will all be in the Team together. Even a batsman that should be a natural for ODI’s in Kevin Pietersen needs to show something in this series or else he might be confined to the Test arena.

A God sent for England to improve them from an ODI batting sense might be seen in Johhny Bairstow. Who all he has done in his short time in the International arena has left us gobsmacked by the purity of his hitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vFRfznrbUbY

The biggest question over Bairstow is how to utilise him. Whether in a role in the top 4 or as a dangerous finisher saved for the latter overs. Where batsmen that can maul and innovate are like gold, and a player that England has craved for.

Other young players like Alex Hales and Jos Butler need to be put in the team in this series to assess their capabilities in what will be a cauldron setting. In particular Hales is a very talented stroke player, that has a real explosiveness about him. Making him perfectly suited for the ODI game as seen in this tribute

“Alex Hales is one a tall guy, 6′ 4” – 6′ 5”, and strikes the ball hard,” Broad said. “He has an extremely high strike-rate [139.89] in the Twenty20 format and he’s done really well in red-ball and white-ball cricket. He’s an exciting talent.The BowlingI heard on the net the other day, a lad on a cricket forum comparing the English bowling to the great West Indies bowling of the 1970′s and 80′s. Though the comparison wasn’t made in any regard to the pace or the frightening nature of the Windies quicks. It rung true in terms of the exceptional depth of the English bowling.

The epitome of this depth is Steve Finn, a young bowler of real pace and skill, that would be a walk up starter for any other Test Team in the World, but is on the periphery for England. He has it all, and the fact that he was overlooked recently by England means that he will have real desire to make a mark here. In this series I would have three pacemen, with Finn, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker be the attacking bowlers of the Team. On most occasions because of the batting paradise nature of Indian ODI pitches rotating one of the three through the team Look for all three to make a few Indian batsmen hop like cats on hot tin roof by getting the ball past their eyeballs at 150 kms. The rest of the pace battery should be made from smart all rounder types. Firstly Tim Bresnan should be a walk up for any England ODI side, for he is not only a very smart bowler with an abundance of skill, but a very skilled and savvy lower order batsman. Then Chris Woakes……….. Mmmmmmm talented all rounder, who has a real presence about him as if nothing worries him. That needs to be at 7 or 8 for the England Team. His bowling is very similar to Glenn Mcgrath in its unnerving nagging line and length coupled with a nice bit of heady seam and occasional swing. The spin role Graeme Swann has a mortgage on, due to not only his very refined bowling, but his very dangerous lower order hitting. So if you when you decide two spinners to play, the choice will be between either the part time left arm spin of Samit Patel coupled with his batting prowess or the leg spin of Scott Borthwick. It is logical that Patel will be preferred in this form of the game due to his batting, but it is hoped that Borthwick gets a few games to see how his leg spin stands up against the masters maulers of spin bowling. If he can show a threat and pedigree against the Indian batsmen. Then it is likely that his talents will take him to the Test arena.