England’s weaknesses exposed by ruthless India

At 129 without loss, England seemed on course to chase down India’s total of 272 and end the one-day series with a much needed victory.

India had completely dominated England in the previous four matches but looked set to miss out on the 5-0 series whitewash they were aiming for.

But instead England’s batsmen completely collapsed and embarrassed themselves.
Alastair Cook’s side went from 129-0 to 176 all out in the space of 17 overs.

All ten wickets fell for just 47 runs.

That is a pathetic effort for a team that still boasts many of the players, like Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan, who have helped England rise to the top of the test rankings.

Those players should not escape blame, but it is those that are thought of as ‘one-day specialists' who have particularly let the side down.

Jade Dernbach took just one wicket in three games and went at a rate of over 6.5 runs per over before being dropped. Jonny Bairstow and Craig Kieswetter promise much (excluding Kieswetter’s comedy wicket-keeping) but averaged just 12 and 27 respectively with the bat over the five-match series.

England coach Andy Flower yesterday admitted that an in-depth review of the team is needed and that surely has to begin with the ending of Ravi Bopara’s international career.

For the past five years, players and writers have spoken of Bopara’s ‘natural ability’ with the bat but his chances are now surely up after another dismal series, summed up by his dismissal in the final ODI as he was clean bowled by part-time off spinner Suresh Raina.

Bopara averaged just 16 with the bat during the five-match series and averages under 30 during the 69 one-day internationals he has played for England. Furthermore, the Essex batsmen has reached fifty on just six occasions in that time and has never scored an ODI hundred.

Bopara has had his chance and it is now surely time for others, such as James Hildreth at Somerset, to be given a chance to prove themselves on the international stage.

The performances of Samit Patel and Steven Finn were just about the only positives to come from the tour of India, and they should both be rewarded with a prolonged run in the one-day side. As mentioned before, the inexperienced Jonny Bairstow struggled for runs but has shown sufficient potential to be retained.

England’s batting order also needs to be seriously looked at, as with Trott and Cook batting in the top three, England have two players that simply do not score quickly enough and as a result put pressure on the likes of Kevin Pietersen to raise the team’s run rate almost single handedly.

The 45 dot balls in Jonathan Trott’s innings of 98 in the third one-day international says everything about his inability to score quickly and rotate the strike, yet it’s arguably a fair point to say that without Trott’s consistent runs (he averaged over 50 in the series) where would England be?

It should not, however, be all doom and gloom for England’s one-day side as they have the right coach to improve matters in the build up to the next World Cup.

Andy Flower has taken England from the lower echelons of the test rankings to the very top in just a few years, and so should be trusted to do whatever is necessary to change the fortunes of the beleaguered one-day side, who have lost their last two away series 5-0 and 6-1 to India and Australia respectively.

In Flower, England must trust. In Bopara, England must not.

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