England back in business
After the travails of a very difficult winter, England exorcised any lingering Ashes demons with a comprehensive defeat of an admittedly poor West indies side. Despite the lack of real quality in the opposition, there is much to be optimistic about in Peter Moores' revitalised England team.
The batting looks as strong as it has for many years and there is an excellent blend of the dependable (Cook, Collingwood & Bell) interspersed with the dynamic (Pietersen & Prior). The real jewel in the crown could be the return of Michael Vaughan at his best, remembering that it was only 4 years ago that he was rightfully ranked the No.1 batsman in the world. Perhaps due to injury and technical glitches in his game, Vaughan's star waned after his sensational 2002/3 performances but there were indications during the West Indies series that he may be approaching a second coming as one of the top batsmen around, rather than the very good one he has been for the past 4 years. If this did happen, England's middle order of Vaughan and Pietersen would present formidable problems for test opposition around the world.
Andrew Strauss has seen a dip in his form, something that happens to all test cricketers. He is a class batsman playing below his best and he will be the better for having experienced this low point in his career.
Matthew Prior's selection has added welcome solidity to England's batting line-up and although the West Indies bowling can't be described as the best attack around, his confidence and self-belief in tough situations echoes that of his superstar team mate Pietersen. His glovework should improve with time making Prior an excellent selection by Moores and England can now say they have a player of real class coming in at No.7 - a very healthy situation.
England's bowling attack has not had the same smooth ride as the batting. There were times during the last month when the seam bowling resembled one of those belt fed mini-guns Arnold Schwarzenegger blitzed away with in Teminator 2, with projectiles flying all over the place but generally doing very little damage.
From a coaching perspective, I think far too much emphasis has been put on the biomechanics of the bowling actions and not enough on the end product. Roughly speaking, biomechanics deals with the movement patterns of the body and in bowling, the idea is to get all your energy going towards the batsman. Though important in helping bowlers to improve their basic action, biomechanics isn't everything and there were times during the recent series when Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison looked all at sea, confused by a plethora of over-analysis and self-doubt. Thankfully, Plunkett was left out of the last test and now has a chance to hone his skills in the less demanding environment of county cricket whilst Harmison was back to something near his best in the last innings of the 4th test. If Alan Donald has helped to effect this change then he is worth every penny the ECB are paying him as England's consultant bowling coach.
His knowledge of the mental demands of bowling fast in international cricket is second to none and one gets the impression he keeps things nice and simple, focussing on building a bowler's confidence by developing rhythm - by far the most important factor in seam bowling.
Ryan Sidebottom's selection was met with puzzled looks throughout the country but it has proved a masterstroke. Years of plying his trade for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in the county championship have helped him become a very good bowler who can be relied upon to bowl the ball where it should be bowled. He is, in short, a high class, dependable swing bowler who should have a long England career ahead of him.
Last but not least there is Monty Panesar, the effervescent left arm spin bowler who has become a cult figure in the English game. This cult status began in part due to Monty's well-intentioned but nonetheless hopeless fielding at the start of his test career. Now, through a combination of desire and an amazing work ethic, he has become England's most effective slow bowler since Derek Underwood and a competent fielder to boot. He is England's matchwinner, deadly on any wicket with turn and bounce and a vital part of the team's make-up in that due to his ability to bowl long spells, England can field a four man attack, much the same as Australia did when Shane Warne was playing. Amazing as it may seem, were Muttiah Muralitharan to become injured or stop playing for some reason, would there be a better spinner in test cricket than Monty? The answer is undoubtedly no. Monty is an absolute gem of a bowler and his duels with the Indian batsmen later this summer will be a delight to behold.
Next up for England is the one day stuff and a chance to put our limited overs cricket back on track. Watch this space..
Wello
