Dernbach selection reflects forward thinking

From Matthew Davies, United Kingdom

It would be easy to downplay England’s achievements in this World Cup. For the victories against South Africa and West Indies, you could point to their defeats against Ireland and Bangladesh. It is equally easy to forget that England came into this World Cup perhaps the most fatigued of all the sides, and this may have affected their performances so far, as they can only raise their strength to beat the top teams. This fatigue may or may not have played a part in the number of injuries and loss of form that have hindered England during this tournament.

With Stuart Broad, Ajmal Shazhad and Kevin Pietersen all out of the World Cup, Eoin Morgan being absent from the start before his return, Graeme Swann and Andrew Strauss perhaps not being 100% fit due to niggles and illness and James Anderson, Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood suffering from a horrific loss of form, England could have easily crashed out of the World Cup with a whimper. England, however, have defied the circumstances and now find themselves in the quarter-finals, armed with the knowledge that they can beat anyone on their day.

What has been really impressive about England though is who has stepped up. Luke Wright, who often causes bafflement amongst supporters with his repeated selection, showed his worth against West Indies, as did James Tredwell, a man whose credentials as a possible international player have been doubted. Ravi Bopara has made some telling contributions with bat and ball, and Chris Tremlett, despite being hammered by Chris Gayle and Andre Russell, still took an excellent catch to dismiss Kemar Roach. These were not the names that opposition coaches would have studied for weeks beforehand, and perhaps this has contributed to their success, but there may be another reason.

Showing trust in these relatively unproven cricketers was a gamble, but one that has been rewarded with a place in the quarter-finals. England have now taken a gamble on another man. It would have been easy to call up Chris Woakes, who has already made his international debut and was relatively impressive given the horror show of the one-day series in Australia. Likewise, Steve Finn has taken international wickets and gave a decent showing in the subcontinent against Bangladesh, though he has maybe been deemed to be guilty of bowling too many four-balls. Yet England have gone with someone who has an economy rate of 6.33 per game, in a country where pitches are meant to assist the seam bowlers.

Granted, Jade Dernbach plays his cricket at the Oval for Surrey, where the flat pitches maybe a contributing factor, but he still goes for runs. At first, to anyone who has never seen him bowl or doesn’t look at his statistics closely, it seems like madness. His strike-rate in List A cricket however is exceptional, at 25.8, which means that for every ten overs he bowls he will pick up over two wickets on average. That’s an impressive record, especially because it is equal to that of Ajantha Mendis, who bamboozles many a cricketer at domestic level. He is also a skilled death bowler, and this is most likely the reason for his selection. He can bowl bouncers, yorkers, cutters and cleverly disguised slower balls, and picks up wickets by bowling straight. What England would have given for someone who could have landed a yorker to Shafiul Islam. Dernbach might not even play a game, should Andys Flower and Strauss put their faith back in Anderson or persevere with Tremlett, but to recognise a skilled wicket-taker shows that England want to win this World Cup, rather than just avoid embarrassment. They want to adopt the same aggressive approach as Australia: win, or die trying. There is no safe option.