Flawed selection and flawed batting meant that England failed to qualify
for their own final for the second time since the NatWest Series began in
2000. It was a dismal effort by the hosts and, despite the clear supremacy
of New Zealand, who completed only their third tournament win, a poor
competition all round. Three of the nine group games were washed out and
the remaining six were won by the side batting second. Only a wonderful
match between England and West Indies at Lord's saved the event from
being a total dud.
That contest was illuminated by a blistering hundred from Andrew Flintoff,
which underlined how much England had come to rely on him. During his
absence they lost horribly to both West Indies and New Zealand inside three
days, when they were dismissed for a combined total of 248 runs. Initially
ruled out of the series because of a bone spur on his left ankle, Flintoff was
hastily recalled as a batsman only, with England denying that his early return
would compromise a full recovery.
A world-class all-rounder balances a side, and the selectors were unable
to conjure a plausible team even when they had
half of him. Their attempts - a combination of
Anthony McGrath, Ian Blackwell and Rikki Clarke
- created more holes than they filled. The spare
batsman, Robert Key, was a top-three rather than
a middle-order player, so the experiment of using
Geraint Jones at No. 3 was abandoned after two
innings to accommodate him. This brought further
criticism: if the wicket-keeper was to bat No. 7,
then why ditch Chris Read after his success in the Caribbean two months
earlier? The construction of the squad lacked foresight.
Problems also existed at the top of the order. A game did not pass without
the captain, Michael Vaughan, being asked whether he intended to continue
as an opener. He fell to a series of shots that were either ill-judged or badly
executed, and his highest score in five innings was 14. Meanwhile, Marcus
Trescothick, England's best one-day batsman, passed that only once. Flintoff
notwithstanding, the biggest success was Steve Harmison, whose emergence
in the shorter game astonished those who recalled his wayward bowling on
the 2002-03 Ashes tour.
England coach Duncan Fletcher pointed once again, with some validity,
to inexperience. It could not be coincidence that New Zealand included six
players with 100 or more one-day appearances, and England only one: Darren
Gough. During the tournament, Chris Gayle, the top run-scorer with 276,
became the fourth member of the West Indies squad to reach that landmark.
However, there were also good contributions from players such as Andrew Strauss, Hamish Marshall and Dwayne Bravo (the leading wicket-taker with
ten), who were in the early stages of their international careers.
New Zealand entered the tournament with heavy one-day series victories
against Pakistan and South Africa to their credit. By the end, they had won
13 of their last 15 completed one-day matches. The top three of Stephen
Fleming, Nathan Astle and Marshall scored 614 runs between them, and
Jacob Oram, after a disappointing Test series, proved a consistent threat with
the new ball. Their running between the wickets and fielding were rarely
less than exemplary, not least in the final.
On that occasion, West Indies were made to look shoddy. Overall, though,
Brian Lara could draw satisfaction at reaching a showpiece early in the tour,
in what were alien conditions to a number of his squad. Like England, West
Indies were forced to alter their batting order as Shivnarine Chanderpaul
and Dwayne Smith struggled to counter early movement and bounce. But
Ramnaresh Sarwan confirmed his reputation as one of the best middle-order
batsmen of his type in the world, and a young bowling attack showed
considerable promise in between occasional bouts of waywardness.