England Head To ICC Champions Trophy
Do England Have Any Chance of Success in South Africa?
Sep 21, 2009
With The Ashes won cricket in England was on a high. That was until the two Twenty20 Internationals were postponed (the second in controversial fashion), and a huge 6-1 defeat was suffered in the Natwest One Day series. What chance, if any, do the same England players embarassed by Australia have in South Africa at the end of the month?
Natwest Series
The One Day series was seen by many as an anti-climax after victory in the five match Ashes series, but not to a wounded Australia side who turned on the style and demolished England 6-1. Captain Ricky Ponting had headed home and was set to miss the first three matches, but stand in skipper Michael Clarke ensured that the Aussies sought revenge for The Ashes defeat.
England on the other hand rested a few players throughout the series including Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Paul Collingwood whilst Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Tim Bresnan and Dimi Mascarenhas were all given some match practice ahead of the 15 match tournament.
Natwest Series Results
Match One - The Brit Oval, London
England: 256-8 (50.0 overs)
Australia: 260-5 (50.0 overs)
Australia beat England by 4 runs
Match Two - Lord's, London
England: 210 (46.1 overs)
Australia: 249-8 (50.0 overs)
Australia beat England by 39 runs
Match Three - The Rose Bowl, Southampton
England: 228-9 (50.0 overs)
Australia: 230-4 (48.3 overs)
Australia beat England by 6 wickets
Match Four - Lord's, London
England: 220 (46.3 overs)
Australia: 221-3 (43.4 overs)
Australia beat England by 7 wickets
Match Five - Trent Bridge, Nottingham
England: 299 (50.0 overs)
Australia: 302-6 (48.2 overs)
Australia beat England by 4 wickets
Match Six - Trent Bridge, Nottingham
England: 185 (41.0 overs)
Australia: 296-8 (50.0 overs)
Australia beat England by 111 runs
Match Seven - Chester-Le-Street, Durham
England: 177-6 (40.0 overs)
Australia: 176 (45.5 overs)
England beat Australia by 4 wickets
The ICC Champions Trophy
So whilst England would no doubt rather forget the series and never play 50 over cricket again, they must head to South Africa where alongside South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and The West Indies they will compete in The Champions Trophy. The tournament will consist of two groups of four teams with the top two sides in each group meeting in the semi finals. England have avoided Australia in the group stage but face hosts and former World number one side South Africa, as well as New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
If England are to challenge in this tournamnet then they must find their batting form which was way below par against The Aussies. The likes of Matt Prior, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood need to stand up and be counted, whilst the batting powerplays must be used more effectively than they were in the Natwest series when on more than one occasion bowlers James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom were left to try and up the run rate rather than the recognised batsmen such as Shah, Prior, Mascarenhas or Rashid.
It's going to be tough for England, but it all depends on how they respond to the morale sapping defeats in recent weeks.
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