ONIONS IS THE KEY

At the risk of sounding like Ian Botham, England have lost the plot to such an extent during their current ODI series against Australia that one feels they would pose just as much threat to their opponents by not turning up. They look woefully inadequate in every department, and unlike most defeats there is not a single positive that can be taken from the six consecutive losses. Andrew Strauss is running out of things to say and last night resorted to;

“It wasn't good enough - it's as simple as that. I'm not going to make any excuses”

It is plain to see that Strauss is talking sense, but playing the honest fool will run thin with England supporters. There are only so many times you can watch Owais Shah run himself out, Stuart Broad serving up a half volley or Jimmy Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom try and take advantage of the batting power-play. England have historically been a poor one day side but their recent six performances are unbelievably poor, it is almost as if at the beginning of the summer Flower and Strauss sat down and discussed the Test series ad nausea, planning everything perfectly, and consequently they forgot the ODI series to follow. So where do England go from here? The obvious suggestion is the team needs to be changed, but it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that there aren’t many better alternatives waiting in the wings.

It is not just selection that needs to be reviewed. England’s tactics have been woeful, particularly the timing of the batting power-play. There is no point taking it with bowlers at the crease. Unsurprisingly Australia have showed England the way on this front, with them going on the offensive when they have batsmen set at the crease. It beggars belief that England can be on a par with Australia at Test Match level and yet when it comes to the ODI format they are light-years behind. The bowling is useless, persevering with line and length to the death of an innings and failing time and time again to get yorkers in. It is almost as if English bowlers are genetically unable to get the ball in the block hole, only Freddy Flintoff of the current crop can stake a claim as a good death bowler, and now he’s off to jet around the world.

Another issue appears to be England’s ability to hit over the top. Perhaps a reason for this is the teaching young cricketers receive in England, often focus is on keeping the ball on the ground and protecting one’s wicket. Only in the last few years with the induction of Twenty20 cricket have youngsters been encouraged to free their arms a bit, but critically many English players’ instinct is still to clear their front leg and cart it over Cow Corner, instead of hitting straight down the ground; something Aussie glove man Tim Paine demonstrated superbly last night off the bowling off Dimi Mascarenhas.

The pain will keep coming for England with the Champions’ Trophy just around the corner. They will come up against South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka and unless something miraculous happens the same 11 players will crash to three more comprehensive defeats. You could even be so bold as to write off the Champions’ Trophy as a failure before it starts, that being the case what do England do afterwards? What squad do they name for the ODIs in South Africa? Assuming Pietersen is available – which would be a massive boost to England’s chances – I’m of the belief that the 11 below would do a far better job than the current 11;

Strauss *
Prior +
Pietersen
Trott
Collingwood
Bopara
Wright
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

That team would include 5 changes from the one that performed so abjectly last night. Denly looks promising but isn’t quite there yet, Bresnan again is worth persevering with but he shouldn’t be picked on the strength of his lower order hitting. Graham Onions is definitely someone who deserves a spell in the side, his Ashes performances were superb and his wicket to wicket bowling would provide a constant wicket taking threat for an England attack devoid of cutting-edge. He has been called up in to the squad but is yet to make the final 11, strange thinking from the selectors. Trott as well would be a fine addition to the team, he’s on fire in all forms of the game and had a cracking start to his test career. Despite the shocking nature of England’s performances against Australia this series, bizarrely I feel we’re not far away from a competitive side; more yorkers, tighter fielding and more aggressive batting during the middle orders would go a long way to improving England’s performances. Essentially they need to get the basics sorted, and a good start would be picking batsmen on form – Jonathan Trott, and picking bowlers who can take wickets – Graham Onions. Hopefully Onions will get the nod in the 7th ODI so England can avoid the embarrassment of being the first side to lose a seven match series by seven games to none.