England Maintain Winning Habit

It is amazing the difference a bit of rain and cold can make to a couple of sides. If you cast your mind back just a couple of months to the sun soaked pitches of the Caribbean, England were battling against a buoyant West Indies, embodied by their talismanic leader Chris Gayle who seemed to have discovered a way to temper his natural aggression just enough to become hugely effective. They were energetic and lively. They were everything they haven't been in early English "summer" weather.

The ODI series has followed the same format as the Test series with England dominating from start to finish. Andrew Strauss's men have played some excellent cricket in both forms of the game but they have hardly broken sweat at any stage so far this summer. The only thing these games have offered them is a chance to hone a clinical style of victory, and it is a chance they have grasped with both hands.
The games themselves have been dictated by how England have bowled with the new ball. Whether bowling first or second they have been able to pick up the key wickets of Gayle and Sarwan relatively cheaply. Gayle's wicket in particular is of tremendous value, and it was great to see Strauss take a gamble by giving Swann the ball when it was just 9 overs old (and still in the powerplay). His first ball nearly went out of the ground but the second skidded off the big opener's thigh and clattered into the stumps. It was the sort of calculated gamble that quality captains take, and the sort of bowling that only those with unshakable self-belief can execute.

In many ways that single delivery was a metaphor for how England have been since their hard winter. The innovative risk taking has been seen in selecting Onions and putting Bopara at 3, both decisions which have paid off handsomly. Both are slightly enigmatic and will no doubt have days they frustrate, but they both have the class to change games in the favour of their side. For Bopara, it is his easy style which means he can accumulate runs quickly, accelerating England towards competitive totals. For Onions, his ability to swing the ball late at speed will pick give him wickets at all levels, although in less friendly conditions he will need to show more of the control of basic line and length.

The long break before the first Ashes Test is a frustration but should do little to effect the morale or momentum that the group has done well to discover over the last month or so. With so few of the Test squad involved in the T20 World Cup, any negative results should have little effect and a month or so away from the glare of international duty will give the players the chance to hopefully collect enough runs and wickets to ensure they are in peak form, condition and confidence come the first exchanges with Australia.