Basic Errors Cost England

England went back to school on Sunday. After Friday's math's class Sunday was all about P.E.. This time it was England making junior school errors, rather than Mr Dyson as they crumbled to a 21 run defeat. Be under no illusions either, whilst the numbers may suggest a fairly close game, in truth England were seldom in this match.
Let's start with the pluses. England's stand out performers were Collingwood, Mascarenhas and Anderson. Anderson in particular looked dangerous, and the support bowlers were rewarded for tight control of line and length by being thrown the ball at key times. Collingwood also once again fielded superbly at all times, although his quality boundary catch will naturally take the focus, and Mascarenhas slugged admirably at the end. I still wonder how many other international sides he would get into, but he whilst he will forever frustrate with his batting, for the moment he adds some solidarity in all departments that England badly needs.
For me, Andrew Strauss provided the ugly between the good and bad. A century in international cricket is always worthy of praise, but it concerns me that the numbers will cement his place in the team as ODI captain while the manner of the innings will be ignored. He was sluggish at key points against a bowling attack without comparison to the top ODI sides in the world and although he had to stabilise England's rocky start this excuse does not convince me that this was the innings of a quality ODI opener.
The disappointments however, far outweigh the positives, simply because of the basic nature of a lot of them. Shah seemed devoid of his usual gap-finding inspirations in a sluggish 22, whilst Gareth Batty's inclusion seems another selection brought about through the lack of form of others and limited squad depth. But even more concerning than these were the performances of three key players at vital moments. Bopara and Pieterson have taken on the responsibility of key positions in this England batting line up, and both played lazy shots to chop on at times when their team needed them to build a foundation to push on from. Pieterson's stock may not have fallen much as a result of this, but with every innings Bopara looks more and more out of his depth at the top of the order. Stuart Broad also had a day to forget, but with his limited experience you would expect them more often than he has done and his more experienced team mates should be able to support him during these rare weak moments, although more often it has been him carrying them.
That said, the most disappointing performance by a distance was that of Matt Prior. Any cricketer knows that "catches win matches" and his drop of Chanderpaul (only a quarter of the way through his century) was an awful error. Even beyond that his glove-work has looked messy throughout the tour and if he isn't pitching in with the runs this aspect of his game needs to secure. Every player in the international setup must have two strings to their bow, so they can justify their place if one isn't firing. It was Collingwood's fielding and bowling that impressed whilst his batting letting him, and as such he could contribute effectively. Prior looks to me to be in the classic mould of recent English keepers, a one string cricketer who isn't consistent enough with the gloves. I wish the selectors had persevered with Mustard as an aggressive opener last winter, but once more this slot looks open to applications.
England need to learn their lessons quickly as they are lucky to not be 2-0 down in this series. Strauss has said he believes that the pitches in Barbados will be more to their tastes but, in truth, unless they eliminate these basic errors it won't matter.