India Stumble Leaves Tournament Wide Open

Two more games, two distinctly differing performances but against all odds England have an outside chance of making it through to the semi-finals. Their opportunity comes at the expense of early favourites and defending champions India who England beat late last night.

In many ways it is difficult to analyse England's performances. Against both South Africa and India the batting looked patchy. There is a definite feeling that if Keven Pieterson doesn't come off then England will struggle to make a competitive total, as there is a noticeable lack of batsmen in the middle order who can come in and start hitting or clearing the boundary. The contrast between Yuvraj Singh (who cleared the boundary with his first ball) and the English middle order was clear for all to see and this may prove to be their downfall should they proceed to the business end of the tournament.

The two areas in which they can compete with the best is the bowling and the fielding. Although lacking in consistancy, they have several naturally gifted fielders, with pressure created in the ring by the athleticism of Collingwood and Bopara, and Jimmy Anderson and Luke Wright patrolling the square boundaries. James Foster is also starting to feel comfortable and produced the best piece of wicket keeping seen so far in the tournament to dismiss the dangerous Yuvraj. With the ball they have three seam bowlers more than capable of executing any plans devised in Broad, Anderson and Sidebottom who returned from exile to claim the Man of the Match award. Graeme Swann is capable both of tying down batsmen and taking key wickets and with these four almost guarenteed to provide most of if not all of their 16 over allowance, and a decent support act of Mascerenhas, Wright and Pieterson can pick up the rest of the overs during quieter moments.

There is an irony that, after 6 months of competition it comes down to a straight shootout between England and the West Indies for a place in the semi-finals. Both have shown they can beat anyone but are far from unbeatable so tonight's game is anyone's. One great performance by a player on either side could be the difference, and who would bet against either Pieterson or Gayle putting their hands up on the big stage. Expect fireworks, expect excitement, expect the unexpected. It promises to be an intriguing forty overs.