England's ascent from the dumps
Twelve years back, at The Oval, Nasser Hussain was booed by the fans after his side lost woefully to New Zealand and conceded the series
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Twelve years back, at The Oval, Nasser Hussain was booed by the fans after his side lost woefully to New Zealand and conceded the series. Returning to the same venue now, England's former captain, writing in the Daily Mail looks back at England's momentous journey since that low.
Back to 1999, and I can recall a lower order of Andrew Caddick, Alan Mullally, Phil Tufnell and Ed Giddins — one of the worst tails in the history of Test cricket. Now look at the guys who come in after Eoin Morgan: Matt Prior, Bresnan, Broad, Graeme Swann, even Jimmy Anderson. It’s the kind of depth and multi-skilled line-up that Fletcher used to dream about. And that’s what England have become: 11 guys with no weak link.
BBC's Sam Sheringham takes the opportunity to salute five unsung heroes who played their part in England's rise over the last decade.
Cooley, a Tasmanian who never played international cricket, was lured to England by his compatriot Rod Marsh and, after initially working with the ECB Academy, he soon became involved with the senior bowlers. In 2005, he helped mould Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones into a formidable unit, using a blend of raw pace, seam movement and reverse swing to repeatedly dismantle Australia's much-vaunted batting line-up.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo