GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
In the last 3 years or so we have seen English Test Cricket rise up and up, with famous away victories in the West Indies and South Africa, Seven home wins out of seven in 2004 and of course the historic 2005 Ashes win. We also recently secured a fantastic draw in India with half a team, this in a series everybody had written us off for following our first defeat in two years, away to a deservedly victorious Pakistan. basically recent times have been good and the future looks bright for test cricket in England.
Because of this, in an optimistic wave of euphoria on September 12th last year and onwards, those less in the know have said because of all this, England can be looking to winning the World Cup next year in the West Indies. Anyone who has watched this series in India, the last one in Pakistan, or indeed any away series in recent years, and most at home, knows, that this is complete nonsense and that unless something miraculous happens, we will fall short once again in the World Cup, probably at the Super Eight stage.
We made the final of the last Champions Trophy, and held our own against the Aussies, but let's be honest, watching our One day side has been disappointing for English fans, to put it mildly. Where we stand in One Day Cricket now isn't too far off where I was accustomed with us standing in Test Cricket growing up ie nowhere, not good enoguh to challenge the best except for the occasional one-off performance that gives everybody hope.
So why is this? Most people seem to rank us as #2 in the world in Tests, and I doubt the Aussies will ever be less optimistic going into a home Ashes series than they will be in November. Why can our Test side scale such heights while our One day team just falls away?
Listening to "experts" a common view seems to be that we tinker far too much to our One day team in comparison to our Test side. Players like Kabir Ali, Vikram Solanki, Gareth Batty etc simply aren't good enough IMO to compete at the top level. World Cups are only every four years, while I certainly don't think we'll win it, I'd love for us to have a good run - if players like these are in the side Kenya will be licking their lips!
Okay, I am getting carried away, but what does everybody think? What side should we play in One day cricket, and why does the side we currently pick fail so consistently?
Test Cricket is my priority but the thought of us getting hammered in the Champions Trophy, then hammered in the VB Series before topping it all off by getting hammered in the World Cup is very disheartening.
Because of this, in an optimistic wave of euphoria on September 12th last year and onwards, those less in the know have said because of all this, England can be looking to winning the World Cup next year in the West Indies. Anyone who has watched this series in India, the last one in Pakistan, or indeed any away series in recent years, and most at home, knows, that this is complete nonsense and that unless something miraculous happens, we will fall short once again in the World Cup, probably at the Super Eight stage.
We made the final of the last Champions Trophy, and held our own against the Aussies, but let's be honest, watching our One day side has been disappointing for English fans, to put it mildly. Where we stand in One Day Cricket now isn't too far off where I was accustomed with us standing in Test Cricket growing up ie nowhere, not good enoguh to challenge the best except for the occasional one-off performance that gives everybody hope.
So why is this? Most people seem to rank us as #2 in the world in Tests, and I doubt the Aussies will ever be less optimistic going into a home Ashes series than they will be in November. Why can our Test side scale such heights while our One day team just falls away?
Listening to "experts" a common view seems to be that we tinker far too much to our One day team in comparison to our Test side. Players like Kabir Ali, Vikram Solanki, Gareth Batty etc simply aren't good enough IMO to compete at the top level. World Cups are only every four years, while I certainly don't think we'll win it, I'd love for us to have a good run - if players like these are in the side Kenya will be licking their lips!
Okay, I am getting carried away, but what does everybody think? What side should we play in One day cricket, and why does the side we currently pick fail so consistently?
Test Cricket is my priority but the thought of us getting hammered in the Champions Trophy, then hammered in the VB Series before topping it all off by getting hammered in the World Cup is very disheartening.