So then, England’s tour of the UAE was a success after all

We did it! We won the T20 series 2-1, and won ‘the series of series’ by the same score line. Pakistan might have won the tests, but we won the ODIs and the T20s. Therefore England’s tour of the UAE must be considered a massive success.  We even secured an aggregate victory of 6-4 (although it helped that four of those victories came in the ODIs).

Now before you think ‘blimey, Morgs has been sniffing the pritt stick again’, I’d like to stress the fact that my tongue is pressed firmly against the inside of my cheek. Many observers are lauding England’s batsmen for learning from their mistakes, but I’m not so sure.

Yes, there’s added pressure in limited overs cricket to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but this doesn’t mean that England have earned an advanced diploma in playing spin just yet. The ODIs were encouraging, of course, but Saeed Ajmal was only allowed to bowl ten overs.

If bowlers were allowed to bowl unchanged from one end throughout an innings – as my colleague Maxie suggested yesterday, when he argued that ODIs might benefit from a laissez faire approach where captains can do as they please – would the result have been any different? You know what, I think it would.

England might do better if a second test series started today, but who’s to say that Ajmal wouldn’t tie us in knots all over again. Remember, much of our success in the limited overs games was down to the individual brilliance of Kevin Pietersen. The other batsmen (except Cook) still struggled.

Talking of struggles, Eoin Morgan’s innings yesterday encapsulated his whole tour. At times he looked about as coordinated as a drunken camel. Indeed, he might have got the hump when KP ran him out, but his dismissal was actually an act of mercy. He could and should have been out a number of times before KP’s penchant for sending batting partners up the Khyber finally did for him. Unfortunately Morgan’s confidence has been shot to pieces. And his technique looks worse than Monty Panesar’s.

We shouldn’t forget that Eoin Morgan is still a fantastic and unique talent, but he needs to spend some time in county cricket. He also needs to get rid of that hideous crouch he does as the bowler releases the ball. I simply cannot see how a batsman can be balanced and quick on his feet using such an obscure method:  his eye line is moving around too much and his knees are too bent. I’m amazed that coaches as savvy as Gooch and Flower haven’t eradicated this terrible habit. Perhaps they simply didn’t want to tinker with his technique too much in the middle of a tour?

Morgan paid for his poor tour this morning when the selectors left him out of the test squad for Sri Lanka. His place has gone, somewhat surprisingly but by no means irrationally, to Samit Patel. Although it’s not a like for like replacement, the other reserve batsmen are simply not up to the job. The likes of Bairstow, Stokes and Buttler have all got talent, but they’ve all got far too much to learn. Our batting reserves are as weak as they’ve been in twenty years – therefore, it makes sense to choose another all rounder; Patel was actually one of the more convincing batsmen in the ODIs anyway.

The real shock in the squad, however, was the selection of James Tredwell. I have mixed feelings about this. Although I don’t really rate him (he looks more like the portly amateur spinners you see in village cricket every week than an international athlete) I must concede that taking two off spinners is a must. We need cover for Swann, and Tredwell is the best of a bad pool of reserves. Furthermore, he’s a solid team man that won’t let anyone down.

I’m delighted that we’re taking four slow bowlers because we need to avoid picking two spinners of the same type in Sri Lanka. As we saw in the UAE, the DRS has emphasised the importance of bowling straight. LBWs are likely to be the most common form of dismissal, so we need a left armer to bowl at the right handers (stump to stump) and an offy to bowl to the lefties.

Remember, it’s no coincidence that Swann averages a brilliant 22 against left handers, but an uninspiring 36 against right handers. It’s very difficult for off spinners to get LBWs against right handers when they bowl a traditional attacking off-spinner’s line. If Swann gets injured, and Patel is our only reserve, picking Patel and Panesar in the same XI would be like the UAE’s performances in the group stages of the World Cup: pointless.

James Morgan