England's chance to address faultlines
Despite the Ashes win in 2009, there are faultlines in the England Test line-up that were evident during the defeat in South Africa, writes James Lawton in the Independent
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Despite the Ashes win in 2009, there are faultlines in the England Test line-up that were evident during the defeat in South Africa, writes James Lawton in the Independent. The series against Pakistan is a chance to address them ahead of the Ashes later in the year he says.
Now, there is a new invitation to prove that English cricket has grown strong again at some extremely broken places. The Pakistanis have new leadership, new talent and apparently a fresh appetite for returning to the mainstream of Test cricket after the ravaging impact of last year's terrorism. It offers the perfect challenge for a team who enjoy plenty of reasons to believe that they will triumph here before going back to Australia to consign to history the memory of an England team that simply fell apart four years ago.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo