England Bow Out With The Usual Problems

It seems that no matter how much innovation T20 spawns, there are some problems with England that refuse to go away. In truth if anything, the shorter the format the more evident they become. England's lack of top quality batting in both the 50 and 20 over format is there for all to see. They can't pray time and time again that their bowlers will be able to protect low scores as against India and it is this overall inability which will continue to be their downfall in the shorter forms.

The game itself was a frustrating watch. Luke Wright failed to come off once more (although in his defence the job he was asked to do will not result in success every time) and Kevin Pieterson was once more left to provide all the impetus. With Bopara he got England into a position where 180 should have been possible but as they both fell to poor shots for settled batsmen, England's middle order were all too easily shackled. Simply put, there are not enough batsmen capable of hitting boundaries. There seemed to be a lack of confidence from Shah and Collingwood in particular, both almost too conscious of getting out to a poor shot and unwilling to risk opening their shoulders, despite both having the ability to clear the rope regularly. In many ways it was simply a condensed version of an ODI, with England looking good while Pieterson is in and then failing to show any aggression once he has departed. If it wasn't for the 10 runs Stuart Broad smashed off the last two balls England's total would have been embarassing as opposed to poor.

In the 50 over format more of a balance is needed, but England had a squad full of players seemingly built for T20 but they refused to use them. Graeme Napier has sat on the bench for the entire tournament when England were crying out for someone who could finish a game by coming in at 5/6/7 and take bowlers apart. You can afford to take that risk when you only have 20 overs to play with. He would have added another option with the ball and it would have made it possible for James Foster to drop a bit further down the order.

Another possible error was made before the tournament even started. It is easy to say with hindsight but the captaincy would almost certainly have been better in the hands of Rob Key. Collingwood has no track record as either a captain or a T20 batsmen, whereas Key (despite a poor start to this season's domestic competition) has a proven track record in both. There has been a lot of rejigging so far but it seems a little odd that something resembling the following was never settled on.

Key (Captain)
Bopara
Pieterson
Wright
Mascarenhas
Napier
Broad
Foster
Swann
Sidebottom
Anderson

Obviously once the squad was announced there was never a question of Collingwood not being involved but consider the balance in this T20 side. Of the top seven there isn't a single batsmen who couldn't rattle along at a strike rate of over 100. There is strength from 4 to 7 which could take advantage of any foundation laid by the top 3 with Broad aboce Swann and Foster as he always should have been given his ability with the bat and to score at a decent rate. The bowling too is well rounded with 4 proven internation bowlers and Napier, Mascarenhas, Wright, Pieterson and Bopara providing a bit of variation to be used as the situation required. Although a bit of a case of after the horse has bolted this tournament has shown England where they need to change. The bowling and fielding are areas where they can compete but the batting is too easily strangled and anything other than a selection which shows a balance more akin to that above for the next Internation T20 match would show little more than England's ignorance of their own performance.

The only other issue to be raised last night was why the match itself was shortened. If there are floodlights up and running and a packed house who have paid a sizeable amount for their tickets then why shorted their spectacle unneccesarily? They could still have been playing at midnight on light alone and given those who remained their value for money. You would have thought the ECB would have done their homework given the unsatisfactory specator offering at the 2007 World Cup and this is the first time they have got it badly wrong, but at the end of the day they are masters to the punters and they need to be seen to give them more than they did last night.