Wednesday 29 April 2009

2009, it’s the new 2007


With a new coach and untried attack today’s squad feels like a new era for English cricket. But haven't we said that before?

Should they opt for a quartet of quick’s alongside Graeme Swann, the bowlers would have just 55 caps between them. This would be their most inexperienced attack since Anderson was joined at by Sidebottom and Tremlett at Lords two years ago to skittle India out for 201.

Back then England had a new coach in Peter Moores and an attack with pace, swing and bounce that felt capable of challenging Australia. Finally, it seemed, England had left 2005 behind. Two years, one coach and two captains later it seems the new dawn of 2007 was not quite what many imagined.

But Flower is not Moores and it shows in the way both Bell and Harmison, despite thier good form, were resisted. While both may feature at some point this summer, they need to prove their hunger in the shires for a while longer. Bopara at three offers confidence that exeeds his perfomances at international level, but perhaps that is just what the position demands.

1 comment:

Pete said...

Yo Sahil. It's impossible for me to say whether Onions and/or Bresnan are good picks. But it's really striking that they've had to resort to them after so many bowlers have come, burned brightly for a while, and then gone over the last couple of years.

Plunkett, Tremlett, Sidebottom, Mahmood - at various points each of these looked like really high-class world-beaters in the making.

The loss, the pathos....

Compared to our perenially toothless fast bowling issue, having a diffident opener, an untried number 3, and keeper who can bat but not catch seem like minor problems.