England cricket team

The England team is currently a better one than what we witnessed in the past few years and is capable of defeating quite a few teams that are considered to be the best in today’s world. But that’s not going to be proved to its fullest extent till the next ashes tests are held in Australia, so let’s see what backings can we provide to the above statement.

Last year, it was an unbelievable ashes series and the results were more or less good. The press coverage hailed the England cricket team as sporting heroes as they shed skin this time of being the laughing stock of world cricket. It’s because the traditional style of English batting collapsed under the demands of scoring runs and the emergence of a four-seamer attack undid the best batting line ups of the opponent teams. This also served for taking back the ashes from Australia, who held it for the best part of the last two decades.

But the defeats against Pakistan made us think whether it was the same team we were talking about a little while back. Exceptions are always there and this time, it was Simon Jones, but the situation was vastly different. The resilience and determination to win seemed to be lacking greatly. Some blamed it on the tabloids for making the players rise to the Hollywood level and we all know what Hollywood complex can do; with all the media attention, it’s a general tendency for a human to forget about his first and foremost professional identity. This is what that exactly happened, as the fan base claimed.

Regarding the win of the Aussies, it is no secret that England fought a very weak Australian team. Glen McGrath did not fire all his cylinders; some of their senior batsmen went short on runs - notably, it’s Matthew Hayden along with Gillespie and Kasprowicz who exhibited their worst forms, but still, the first match saw England stiff with some uncanny stage fright. But the England Cricket Team did beat Bangladesh and S. Africa (the international punching bags), prior to the Ashes Series.

So what would it take the England cricket team to claim back their crown? Maybe it is a chunk of personal philosophy, but the loss of Simon Jones rendered the team’s bowling attack far down below what we could term as dangerous. Now you may take that both ways.

Lawrence