England Cricket - Beyond Hope

England lost the 4th ODI in Sri Lanka today with England posting a meager 265 from their 50 overs and the hosts comfortably reaching their target, although gave the crowd value for money by leaving it until the final over.

With a World Cup on the horizon in Australia and New Zealand this series is supposed to gearing Peter Moores' side up for that tournament. The problem is that England have absolutely no chance of winning it. I like Moores as a coach and a he comes across well as a person through the media, but his insistence at keeping Alastair Cook as captain and therefore in the side is pigheaded at best. Cook is a poor captain in all forms of the game but is a great Test match batsman, so why not just concentrate on Test cricket? He can even captain the Test match side if he likes, I don't care, but limited overs cricket is not his thing.

England under Moores are turning back to the the doldrum years of Ian Austin, Adam Hollioake and Matthew Fleming where being reasonable at both batting and bowling in county cricket seemed to guarantee a player an England cap. And yet James Taylor, the one bright spot of today's game with an eye-catching 90 before his lack of match fitness got the better of him, has onlt just got into the side.

England's bowling is also pretty ordinary and lacks discipline; if you aren't express pace or turn it 90 degrees then you need to land the thing exactly where you want it to give your captain a chance when setting a field. Moeen Ali is a decent cricketer but kept dragging the ball halfway down and Ben Stokes ought to be on the next plane home in the woeful form that he finds himself in (worth his place when playing well).

Post-match interviews seem to run along the lines of:

• We've let ourselves down.
• We'll work hard in practise/nets.
• We have some great players in the squad.
• We can still win the World Cup.

To be fair as these performances seem to happen in most games all of the above are delusional.

The Ashes Has Begun!

The media build up has made The Ashes seem the biggest cricketing event for decades. Some cricket commentators have suggested that England will win "10-nil". Why did the Australians waste the air fares?

In actual fact the series will be quite tight in my view. Both sides have decent bowling, although England's is a little more experienced and reliable and as the "experts" keep telling us, bowlers win you games which would suggest that England, coupled with home advantage, are favourites in a two-horse race.

The problem for both sides is that their batting is fragile. Australia's top order lacks experience and seemingly the ability to "bat long" in most cases. Michael Clarke is the exception and a class act, but there are large question marks over his fitness. England's batsmen have been in patchy form and seem to be pinning a lot of hope on Kevin Pietersen, who also seems to be made of digestives.

The captains are interesting to compare as well - Clarke is inventive and will outshine England's Alastair Cook who has a plan A and leaves the rest of the alphabet redundant. Australia, having already been written off, have nothing to lose.

The Ashes is a fearsome contest between two great rivals and pressure through expectation will prove a factor, but don't kid yourselves, these two teams are better matched than you may think. Since South Africa aren't playing they cricket on offer won't be of the highest quality, but do expect a close contest, not dominance of the home side over a former colony!

Cricket Has Been Busy!

England have just embarked on their tour of India, drawing their first game against a strong India A side who included Yuvraj Singh. Tons for Alastair Cook and Samit Patel, and half-centuries from Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott. The bowlers did pretty well too, although the loss of Steven Finn could be an issue on the unresponsive tracks out there. The cricket was almost secondary to the return of Kevin Pietersen after his texting indiscretions of the summer. Personally I wouldn't have allowed him to ever play for England again, despite him being a good player. He is a disruptive influence in the dressing, and I have never got over the fact that he is actually not English, but South Africans seem to feature in most test nations around the world nowadays.

England will lose the series in India, but the selection of the side will be interesting, with a partner for skipper Cook the main priority. Nick Compton could be the man, but was out cheaply in the warm-up game. The choice of Stuart Broad as vice-captain is shocking though, as the hot-headed all-rounder showed his lack of tactical nous during the T20 World Cup, and was only in the side because he was the skipper by the end.

Other things have been happening though as I read that Surrey have signed Graeme Smith as their captain for the next three years. This looks a great move for the county, but is there really no young English skipper in the ranks? Actually I have no real problem with the announcement as Surrey need a strong character in charge of them after recent events, but I fear for Chris Adams as if this doesn't work out pretty quickly he will almost certainly be relieved of his position. He has spent a lot of money bringing in big name players and must deliver results. Smith's relationship with Kevin Pietersen will be of interest too, as the two have history shall we say. It may not be so much of an issue now that Pietersen is back with England.

Sussex have made some good signings, the biggest of which being former Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown. The guy is potentially a superb signing as long as his mental state is sorted by April. The county have extended the contracts of leg spinner Will Beer and wicketkeeper Ben Brown. Brown is a good player and with the loss of Andrew Hodd to Yorkshire, his signature was a priority. Beer is an interesting one, as he looked to be out of the door when the county signed Michael Rippon, but the South African (another one!) with a Dutch passport has not taken the world by storm as coach Mark Robinson would have hoped. Ed Joyce has taken the captaincy from Michael Yardy who needs to concentrate on his batting, and Luke Wright has established himself as a genuinely world class T20 batsman. All-in-all things look good for Sussex!