India seal the tour
If there was any doubt whatsoever that England had been totally outclassed in the ODI series against India, then it was completely eradicated in the final match when India handed out a comprehensive drubbing to England. In spite of a series-best 288 from England, with some useful half-century contributions from Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones, it simply wasn’t enough, as India knocked them off just 3-down with balls to spare. The match itself was of little consquence, given that England had already lost it (inside the first 4 games), but what it does highlight is the inability of the England top-order to go on and score really big scores. Kevin Pietersen is a perfect example of this - he’ll take away a fairly impressive average of around 60 from this series having scored several half-centuries - but England still lost 5-1. Something is lacking - the consistency, the reliability, and the simple ability to stay in and just bat and get a match-winning score. How many reports did we read where an England batsman was out on the mid-wicket boundary attempting a slog-sweep?
KP (and other players) have consistently defended their aggressive style - saying it’s who they are and how they play. And there’s no denying that it’s why players like Freddie and KP raced to the limelight by all of a sudden making cricket exciting, thrilling and a real spectator sport. Youngsters wanted to play cricket, hit huge sixes and have silly coloured hair. I’ve got no problem with people getting excited about cricket - but when the side is losing, and losing heavily, questions have to be asked. Orders need to be barked. KP is still new to the England scene and the expectation is that he will do a Flintoff and naturally mature to the role and settle himself down. If he does that, he has the potential to be a world-class batsman. The danger, though, is that he gets ahead of himself - and thinks he’s the world-class batsman before he is. Nobody is invincible and if he continues the way he is, he might have a nasty shock in store. Collingwood needs to prove that he’s not just a batsman who scores run when the pressure is off - where were his runs in the first 4 matches?
One-day cricket is different to test cricket, of course it is, and you expect batsman to try and score faster. But there seems to be no diversity in the current England line-up - we have a team of hitters. Injuries aside, when have we seen an England batsman settle down and craft an innings?
This is not to take anything away from the Indians though - yes, England were shocking, throughout the series, but this was merely compounded by some stylish and all-round skillful play in virtually every area of the game by the Indian side, led by both the likes of the experienced Rahul Dravid or debutants Dhoni, Raina and Uthappa. All credit to India for dishing out to England a beating that they will surely (or perhaps I mean hopefully) take a lot away from.
Tags: England, India, lose, rubbishRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cricket
0 opinions for India seal the tour
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: