Anybody fancy playing Bangladesh again?

Didn’t think so. Jimmy Anderson doesn’t look too keen either. Perhaps that’s why Kevin Pietersen has got injured again? Maybe his thigh strain is actually a dislocated jaw – from yawning so much. The England squad must be bored senseless at the prospect of yet another pointless series against the whipping boys of international cricket. But who are we to question the wisdom of the ECB? Compared to the Football Association they’re absolute geniuses.

Whereas the FA effectively extended the contract of the national coach before a major tournament (making it financially impossible to sack the bloke afterwards), the ECB merely appointed expensive head-hunters to hire a coach that was right under their noses the whole time. That’s relative success for a national sporting body. Maybe we should count our blessings.

Of course, this scheduling madness is actually disguising something we don’t want to talk about – the last two matches of the one-day series against Australia. Punter’s men bounced back rather well in the end. They basically told Mr Strauss to shove that talk of a whitewash up his Members’ End. Make sure you learn your lesson Andrew.

The Australian bowlers have showed us that there are still a few cracks in this England line-up. They learned how to bowl at Craig Kieswetter (i.e. don’t give him any room outside off-stump), Kevin Pietersen had another disappointing series (runs against Bangladesh don’t count), and Luke Wright only played one innings of substance. Meanwhile, the sight of Michael Yardy trying to play Shaun Tait was a little embarrassing to say the least.

How many Englishmen had a good series? Not many. Overall progress has been made, but we’ve still got some way to go. Our series win actually hinged on that one wicket win at Old Trafford … in which England collapsed alarmingly and almost threw it away. We may have won the series, but the pre-Ashes  sparring probably finished all square. Let us know what you think …

James Morgan