Worrying signs for England

These are meant to be golden days for English cricket. Fresh from
winning the World T20, they’ve also just defeated Australia in an ODI
series for the first time since the dawn of time. Give or take.

But, peer a little closer, and the stats aren’t so flattering. England
have now lost three of their last four ODIs. Their top order batting
appears brittle; their top-order bowling appears toothless and their
fielding has regressed since the excellent displays in the Caribbean.

Now it’s no disgrace to lose to Bangladesh. The visitors bowled very
well in Bristol and, on a pitch well suited to them, defended their
moderate total with admirable discipline. Besides, England were the
only major team they hadn’t yet beaten. This was bound to happen
sooner or later.

There are mitigating factors, too. England went into the game without
Swann and Pietersen, while Bell was unable to bat in any meaningful
sense of the word and Collingwood was dismissed by a terrible umpiring
decision.

But no-one should hide behind those issues. Because England also
benefited from some umpiring decisions (Collingwood should have been
given out, caught behind, first ball) and, by delivering 12 wides and
three no-balls, their bowlers proved generous to a fault.

Many of the top-order batsmen also played a large part in their own downfalls: Yardy’s shot, a hoick across the line, was especially ugly, but
Kieswetter’s loose drive, Morgan’s flick across the line and Strauss’
edged steer were also far from pretty.

Even more worryingly, their two senior bowlers – Broad and Anderson -
conceded 106 in 19 overs, while serious questions are starting to be
asked about the place of Luke Wright in this side. How on earth does
he keep a player as good as Bopara on the sidelines?

Andrew Strauss was not looking for excuses, however. Describing
England’s fielding as “poor” and their batting as “distinctly poor”,
he admitted they “only have ourselves to blame.”
“We were 10-14%, maybe even 20%, off where we should have been,” he
said. “But fair play to Bell and Trott, who have come into the side in
the last couple of games and shown the rest of us what to do. But we
can’t rely on one batsmen all the time.

“But I don’t want to show Bangladesh any disrespect,” he continued.
“They were outstanding. They played exceptionally well and they
deserved their victory.”
And what of Trott? Some will maintain he is one-paced and selfish. But
he now has three half-centuries in his last four ODI innings. And, in
a team where the top-order looks brittle, he could be just the man to
add steel to the batting.