England on the right track in limited-overs cricket - Opinion - Part One
England is known as the ‘home of cricket’ as the game was invented there and it has always been one of the competitive forces in the sport since last one and a half centuries. The Poms however, went through a slump in international cricket during 1990s and
the initial half of 2000s.
Before the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 2010 in the Caribbean, England had never won any ICC global event, which goes to show that the British cricketers and the officials give more importance to the longer version of the sport.
The result in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 had not played out of his skin in the tournament, as he won a number of games single-handedly.
Since the last 41 years, the British have played 578 One Day International (ODI) matches and have won 280 out of them, with a win-percentage of 50.71. Considering England’s strength in international sport, this performance is not up to the mark because some
of the major teams like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 have much better percentages.
One of the main reasons behind England’s mediocre performances has been their bowlers’ inability to perform well in the sub-continent. In the previous years, most of the bowlers produced by county cricket have been effective only in bowling friendly conditions
and they were badly exposed on flat batting tracks in the Asian conditions, where a lot of limited-overs cricket is played.
England faced a massive blow last month when their premier batsman, Pietersen announced a sudden retirement from the shorter formats of the game. Since making his debut in 2004, the dashing right-hander has been England’s mainstay and has often proved to
be the difference between teams.
Ian Botham, the former Test all-rounder, admitted this month that the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 born cricketer has been a great servant for his adopted country over the years.
“I would rather look back at what KP has done for us. He's been magnificent. He says he has hit a mental barrier, a wall, and something has to give,” the former cricketer expressed.
Botham, however, feels that every player has to go one day and England must look to move forward and give chances to other players, so that they can showcase their talent at the ultimate level of the game.
He added, “It sits pretty well with me ... there's no point in saying you have to play, if his heart isn't in it. It will give an opportunity to someone else. KP has gone, so now is the chance for a new KP. Players like that don't come along every day. But
he feels the time is right - so be it.”
The former captain’s opinion has turned out to be the right one, at least in the on-going ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597, the prolific Test batsman, made a comeback in the 50-overs format and shined with a smashing hundred and a half-century at
Southampton and the Oval respectively.
Bell’s return to form in the shorter formats is surely a good sign for England for the coming years. On top of that, there are some other players who seem to have settled England’s worries in the batting department. The likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Eoin-Joseph-Gerard-Morgan-c56032
and Cook himself have looked in great shape in the recent times.
To be continued …
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