Another day, another defeat to Australia: the Tri-Series final

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England have now lost thirteen of their last fourteen matches against Australia. Let’s face it, Australia won today because they’re a much stronger side. They bat better. They bowl better. They’re more professional. They’re better prepared. They’re more confident.

It’s easy to over-analyse these things. Today’s match demonstrated little more than Australia’s inherent superiority. Talk of England’s rebirth has been premature. The team are playing a little bit better than in Australia a year ago – the absence of Cook helps – but not by much. If they’ve progressed since Sri Lanka, it’s hard to discern the difference.

England had Australia 60-4 and ended up losing by 112 runs. Was it lack of ruthlessness, or skill, or both? Why did the bowlers lose their nerve – and their lengths – when James Faulkner turned the last ten overs into gold? Twice this series England surrendered their advantage during the final fifth of an innings. Perhaps they don’t believe they’re good enough to defend a strong position.

279 was a tough target but not an impregnable one. Again, no deep analysis is required. Mitchell Johnson was just too imposing, too fast, and too threatening. England’s top order weren’t up to it.

The ECB have had four years to prepare England for the World Cup. This time it would be different, they promised. They cleared the decks, distorted the test schedule, and – disastrously – shunted two Ashes series together, just for the sake of this tournament.

And for what? England go into the World Cup having lost fourteen of their last twenty ODIs, and still with no genuinely clear idea of their best eleven. Does it include Bopara? Tredwell? Ballance?

There are two weeks to go. And who do England face first, just to raise their confidence levels? Australia…

Thoughts?

42 comments

  • Fear not Maxie for we have the outstanding coach of his generation in charge! He’ll soon turn it all around!

    Ok, I need a lie down.

  • England are just not a very good side. So KP is unselectable and Lumb too old, but surely Stokes should have had a place in the squad in case Bopara failed to fire. Which…. And they are psychologically terrified of Australia, Johnson in particular. Broad’s body-language against Mitch was embarrassing; men against boys if ever there was.

    But the worst was Moores interview on Sky, looking for the positives as usual. Like scoring 300+ in two warm up games. Am I the only one who thinks there’s something “wrong” with him?

    • What wrong with him is that he is the England coach. It’s embarrassing; he’s totally out of his depth, hasn’t a clue and has no personality. Compare him with Darren Lehmann; don’t. It hurts. I’d rather eat slurry.

  • It’s easy to be negative. Sadly, England make it even easier to be negative.

    The only way we will get to the semis is if… no, we won’t get to the semis.

    2015 is gonna be a complete wirebrush-and-dettol year for us. If David Saker’s still in a job by Xmas you’ll know he’s got mucky photos of the top brass saved somewhere. Can’t see Mooresy lasting beyond the Ashes so I’ll wager this: Flower 2.0!!!

    (after a period of re-integration of course)

    • I wonder how a batting lineup of Carberry, Lumb, Wright, Pietersen, Stokes and Wessels wouldve done today? The Big Bash rejects XI! Just being facetious.

      • I’m genuinely beginning to wonder whether it’s worthwhile England even fielding a one day side. Despite having some great individual players, we’re just no good at it.

        Turm the whole thing over to the market; go the whole hog, and have international franchises. And see just how long a Downton or a Moores would survive in such a system.

        Retaining national teams for test matches only would do wonders for the prestige of the long form game. Of course the franchise system would mean that our best players would not be available for selection as often – but going back to an Ashes series being a rare event rather than something that happens every time you blink would be a good thing, IMO.

        Best of both worlds… ??

    • It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that our bowlers have had the Yorker coached out of them? Taking the positives? They should be having a long hard look at the bloody negatives!!!

  • “279 was a tough target but not an impregnable one”.

    England have never made 279 to beat Australia in Australia in an ODI. The highest is 253 (in 2007 – Colly made a century) and we have only ever made over 200 twice.

    TWICE!!

  • This is what happens when you don’t take ODI cricket seriously until two months before the tournament.

    It all depends on what the ECB do with ODI cricket AFTER the WC…

    • They will have their hands full with Cook’s test captaincy afterwards. The world cup is a nice distracion from the mess that is to come this summer.

        • I don’t think the train will crash, it won’t even leave the station with this crew aboard and the Fat Controller and his cohorts interfering in the background.
          Even without the chaos above I just think we are really not good enough.

      • A very good point – it’s easy to forget just what lies in England’s path in 2015 when it comes to test cricket. Three of the most difficult series imaginable.

        • I think we’re seeing the growing pains of an England team and set-up that has never taken ODI cricket seriously before take it seriously for the first time, and suddenly realise just how far they’ve fallen behind the rest of the world.

          Even if this WC is hopeless from an England perspective, we have a very good chance of winning it in 2019 on home soil if the selectors build a specialist ODI team (rather than just a bunch of Test players) and then allow that team to spend the FULL 4 YEARS preparing for it – including giving all the players permission to auction for the IPL, BBL and CPL.

          This would require a 180-degree shift of attitude from the ECB towards the limited-overs game. Unlikely, but possible.

  • At the break there was a discussion on TMS involving some of your favourite journalists who felt the team was fine and according to them if ever there was a problem it was a non bowling Bopara.

  • We are simply not good enough against a top class team.

    We so often drift after a good initial bowling attack then lose momentum. Do we have a problem as soon as Jimmy and Broad, (fit) come off?

    The bowlers flop out at the death. Is Woakes perhaps not the best choice. He does not seem able to execute a plan successfully. Would Ravi if he survives or Treadwell be better?

    The batsmen are not up to scratch. They don’t lack skill but they are inconsistent and poor against a fast short ball. Unless we have a Taylor/Buttler type partnership to dig us out of the usual mire we are done for.

    I know Morgan scored 100+ three games ago but that’s a rarity these days. He is under performing.

    As a captain Morgan speaks well and that is the only positive that I can see.

  • So to “move on” we need to get rid of the old and experienced and youth would take over.Who’s brilliant idea was that.It is clear that Eoin has been put “right in it” with no one to help him.Here I go again but if KP were there backing Morgan and he would, they are mates, Bell would be much more confident, perhaps Trotty should be back as should Luke Wright. They are solid.Anyone who watched BBL would have seen how KP although not captain gave out a confidence and a calmness which made so much difference.He also worked with Maxwell who was in a”dark place”, he and Faulkner and look what happened there.You can’t just take away the experience and expect the young ones to perform,.he

  • The domestic T20 SF involving Perth Scorchers was a sell-out at the ground a week ago. Today it looked about half-full.

    There is some food for thought there regarding both the future of the 50-over format and international cricket. As the likes of David Hopps have been arguing, a strong domestic T20 competition is going to be an absolute must.

  • It seems odd to be the one to try and offset the doom and gloom, considering that I’m a supporter of last night’s winning team…

    I thought England had a real chance, right up until their batsmen had a return to their old form. Because the English batting order actually had a decent game in Hobart. Remember this?

    http://www.espncricinfo.com/carlton-mid-triangular-series-2015/engine/match/754755.html

    Of course, Australia was still resting Mitch Johnson for that game, and the ground was set up for a T20 slogfest. Still, if England can still make 300+ runs in the ODI format, they aren’t completely useless. More like 90%.

  • It’s all very well blaming the England coaching set up, but the fact is that the English domestic game, where they hone their skills, is mediocre.

    The striking thing about the BBL is the quality of the bowling, because they have to execute their skills under immense pressure on good pitches – the English T20 (and one day cricket in general), by comparison, does not even come close. The step up for an Australian bowler to international level is minimal which is shown by the fact that the Aussie attack could be any of Johnson, Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Pattinson, Siddle, Bird, Coulter-Nile, Faulkner and probably a few others and still look stronger than any English attack.

    Whatever we think about the English coaching set up, and while I’m not the biggest fan, I certainly don’t think they’re as bad as some make out, the real problem is that the step up from domestic cricket to international is too great.

    On another point, does anybody else think Stuart Broad’s efforts with the bat in recent times have been fairly pathetic. Today he needed to bat with Ravi until at least 40 overs and then have a go. The match may have been lost, but at least we might have got closer. Instead he has a swing, connects with a few and gets out inside 4 overs which is utterly predictable.

    • Agree with you about Broad, he’s playing like Philip Defraitas at the moment and nobody wants that do they.

    • You make very good points. I think you are right. Agree about Broad and the bat. He has disappointed for a long time now. It’s like he is no longer bothered. He can be good but he seems to be making little effort now.

    • Thanks, Tom – how differently that reads in the harsh light of 2015. Interestingly, though, the Aus revival of 2013/14 owed much to the players who were integral to the years of decline. In the whitewash series we lost to the same players we’d beaten three times in a row – Haddin, Clarke and Johnson.

      Since then, though, Aus have genuinely moved on, by combining the contributions of the older guard with a new generation – Warner, Smith, and now Faulkner and Cummins.

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