http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 – Opinion
England’s bazaar one-day series against India in India this fall has landed them in hot water as the team has fallen from the heavens in the skies to the deepest pits of h**l after losing five One Day Internationals (ODIs) on the trot.
Before this devastating series, the English were running high as they had humiliated India - the reigning champions in the 50-over game - this summer after defeating them in a five-match one-day series by 3-0. Earlier, that summer England had grabbed first
spot in Test cricket by slapping India with a 4-0 defeat who were the number one team in the longest version of the game before the English tour.
After this tour, India’s credibility in both formats was in jeopardy which made it important for them to avenge their loss.
On their return back from England, the Indian team faced severe criticism and there were calls for an immediate removal of Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 as he was blamed for India’s poor show in England.
However, Dhoni silenced everyone by grabbing the Man of the Series award in the ODI series this October as he exhibited some of the finest cricket from India. The skipper played a crucial role in India’s victories and proved once more that India could rely
on him when the chips are down.
While Dhoni is now receiving praise from all quarters, his counterpart, England captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 is feeling a bit shocked and down after his team gave an unimpressive performance in the fifth match of the series where the middle-order and the lower
batting line-up were completely annihilated by the hosts.
During the series, Cook had admitted that his side fielded poorly in the tournament, but in the final game the batsmen failed to show colour, which leads one to think where the fault line lies in the English camp.
England now have a lot to think, they need to look at the way their players field outside home grounds, and how their batsmen are humiliated while playing on pitches that support spin bowling.
Meanwhile, the English bowling which was beginning to be compared with the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 also seemed amateurish as they failed to intimidate the Indian batsmen throughout the series.
The English need to realize that if they want to stand with the mightiest bowling attacks in modern cricket, they need to have the ability to bowl exceptionally well on any track, they cannot expect to perform in home conditions and then get manhandled elsewhere.
This is certainly not what world-class bowling is about, to be at the top, the bowlers need to be competitive and lethal against any opposition at any venue.
Perhaps, the English coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Flower-c44362 now has to scrap old strategies and jot out new ones to induce match winning practices in the Poms.
According to Flower, he wants to see this English contingent lift the next Cricket World Cup, however, if Flower intends to beat the rest of the world, he needs to train his players to be prepared to give their all outside England.
For decades the main problem for England has been their sheer lack of interest while playing on foreign lands, this attitude needs to be buried once and for all and the current English squad has all the ingredients to become a team capable of playing on
any surface.
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