Flower: Batting must improve
England cricket coach Andy Flower says the batsmen in the side must do better ahead of the final Test match against Pakistan.
England currently lead the four match series by two matches to one. However, two poor batting displays in the last Test match cost England the game despite a 13th Test century for Alastair Cook.
England are very good bowling in their own conditions but too many members of the current batting line-up have not scored enough runs during the current series. England have been very fortunate that Pakistan have not cashed in more frequently.
There are many areas that the England batsmen can improve on. It is imperative they do so as the next Ashes series is now only months away and Australia will not let England off the hook as Pakistan have done.
Areas to improve
More batsmen in the England side need to convert starts into big hundreds. Cook was under real pressure during the last game and scored nearly half of the team's runs in the second innings of the third test.
The likes of Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood have not scored a Test match century for a long time. The England set-up have said that no one is ever safe and these players have to produce in the last Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and the Ashes.
England need to do more of the ugly things well. This means taking singles and doing the basic things to make sure the score keeps ticking over if Pakistan's bowlers are building up the pressure.
Flower said: "On the batting side, I thought we underperformed without a doubt. On a good Oval pitch, scores of 230 and 220 weren't good enough to win a Test match. I think the first two pitches we played on at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston were very tricky surfaces. So they would have undoubtedly have contributed to collapses."
The Ashes
Pakistan captain Salman Butt has already said that he thinks England will struggle in Australia because there is not enough versatility across the team. England have to find some form very quickly because it's important the key players go into the Ashes with confidence and momentum.
If England turn up at Brisbane in November with a lot of players not scoring runs then Australia will press for an advantage and pile on the pressure straight away. The England batting has to stay very strong and be able to pile on the runs in order to create a strong counter attack.
Flower added: "As a batting team we need to produce better results, simple as that. Lord's should provide us with a very good opportunity to put things right and it is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that happens. There is a different style of batting in international cricket these days."
Betting advice
Pakistan would have surprised a lot of people with the way they played during the last Test match. England will be the slight favourites heading into the final test but the batsmen will have to improve if they do not want the series to be levelled by Pakistan.
Wait just a little longer before you start making your bets for the Ashes. England are the slight favourites at this stage but if Pakistan win the last test match then the odds may change and England's odds for beating the Aussies will increase.
The best option is to proceed with caution and take every match as it comes. There will be obvious candidates to score the most runs and take the most wickets in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 but very few England batsmen look in form at the moment.
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