Things for England to ponder
It's no secret that England, despite their recent win, look a touch jaded in their ODI series against Australia
Sahil Dutta
25-Feb-2013
It's no secret that England, despite their recent win, look a touch jaded in their ODI series against Australia. While key players have been given time off or headed home with injury, one pivotal man has been present throughout. Mike Selvey, writing in the Guardian, thinks the ECB should take matters into their own hands and give Andy Flower a break.
This schedule is tough on the players, but for the man in charge, there is little respite.There have been not only two full English summers, including an Ashes series, each home Test effectively seven or even eight days from the team gathering to the end of the match, and full tours of up to three months to the West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh, the West Indies again for the World T20, and now Australia. In a week's time he and the team return to England for three nights, before they fly to Bangladesh for their preamble to the World Cup. If they progress to the final, they would be home towards the end of the first week in April.
Meanwhile Lawrence Booth, in the Wisden Cricketer blog, says Jonathan Trott's all-round showing at Adelaide has presented England's management with plenty to consider.
England have a problem, and I’m not talking about the fact they still need to win three in a row in Australia to avoid a first series defeat in any form of the game since September 2009. No, the problem is the oldest one in cricket – the one which says it would be a much simpler game if you could squeeze 12 into 11.
Two men are currently complicating England’s World Cup selection – and a solution isn’t immediately obvious. While Jonathan Trott has played himself into contention with successive knocks of 84 not out and 102, Paul Collingwood is living off scraps. This morning in Adelaide he batted at No.7, from where his run-a-ball 27 felt like an unexpected bonus. He is clinging on for dear life.
Sahil Dutta is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo