I haven’t posted much recently, especially about anything Cricket related. That is because, to be honest, I haven’t had anything nice to say about England. I watched, in parts, their performance versus Sri Lanka and although the batting was decent in the 1st Innings and there was some good(ish) bowling in the Sri Lankans 1st Innings, the rest of it was pants.
9 dropped catches in Sri Lankas 2nd Innings. There was poor body language from the team. Only 27 overs bowled by the spinner (Pasenar) in two innings. The tactics from Flintoff were unimaginative and the bowling, at times, was pedestrian and without guile, bite or venom.
The game should have been won but yet again we conspire to let a team off the hook. It is becoming a worrying trend.
We should have won the 1st Test in the winter versus Pakistan. If we had, I suspect we would have won the series. We should have won the test match versus India at Nagpur as well, had we been a little bit more adventurous. That would have also meant a series win. We should have won the Lords Test Match.
The difference between England and Australia is that when the Australians have a team on the rack is they don’t ease up; they apply the words “never give a sucker an even break”. The England side just doesn’t yet have that same mentality.
I realise England have a long injury list but its not getting any better. Simon Jones may make some of the Pakistan Test Matches. No one knows when or if Vaughan will be back. Giles may come back into the side during the Pakistan series. Harmison will hopefully be back for the 3rd Sri Lankan Test Match. So we need to make sure that the back-up plans for these guys is firmly in place now, ready for Australia in November.
Flintoff looked like he was trundling in to me throughout the Sri Lankan match. He certainly wasn’t the bowler of the winter or last summer. I think Strauss needs to take over the captaincy for now and Flintoff should concentrate on what he does best. Batting and bowling with all his heart and mind.