The learning curve

England 257-7. India 258-5 (47.3 overs)

If you include warm-up matches, England’s record under Ashley Giles currently reads as won one, lost five. That’s pretty dismal by anyone standards – especially for a side that includes world class players like Cook, Pietersen and Morgan. So should we be despondent? Should we simply shrug our shoulders and say “we never win the ODIs when they’re after the test matches anyway, so we don’t care”. Or should we look past the results and take a broader perspective.

Personally, I’m going with the latter option. There’s no point in getting depressed about it. England’s ODI side have lost to Ireland in recent times – we’re well used to humiliation.

As for pretending we don’t care, I’m getting a little tired of this approach. It just feels like an excuse. Besides, on this occasion the players went home for Christmas, so they should be relatively fresh and focused. Yes, it’s hard to motivate oneself after big goals have been achieved, but plenty of blokes in this team had something to prove – particularly the coach.

Has Giles been appointed because he knows how to ‘play the game’ (I’m referring to the political game of saying the right things and schmoozing up to the right people rather than the game of cricket), or is he actually a good coach? Time will tell. I certainly hope it’s the latter, or we’re all up the creek no matter how skilfully Ash avoids boat rocking.

That’s why I’m punting for the third option – the more philosophical approach. Let’s just treat these matches as glorified trials. They’re a learning experience – and they’re telling us what certain players, and perhaps the coach too, have got to offer.

So what have we learned this far? For starters, these matches have shown us that Joe Root has ‘it’ (which is apparently the new universally accepted term for that rare combination of talent and mental strength). I would say he’s taken to international cricket like a duck to water, but putting Root’s name in the same sentence as a duck seems rather inappropriate; therefore I’m going to use the word in association with Jade Dernbach instead: a lame duck.

There’s plenty to like about Dernbach. When he first came into the team I was impressed by his combative nature, his willingness to try something different under pressure, and his ability to bowl briskly. However, it looks like I was wrong. It does happen – as our regular readers will know!

Dernbach currently looks like a lost soul. His confidence looks shot and, most disturbingly of all, his radar has completely gone awry (if he ever had one). His first over yesterday was quite embarrassing. Four of his first five deliveries were rank long-hops. The sixth was short too, although it was thankfully a bit straighter.

England were still very much in the game before Dernbach came on to bowl. After his wayward spell, the game was up.

The other thing we’ve learned in this ODI series is that Craig Kieswetter’s international career could be over. In this observer’s opinion, it went on too long.

I don’t like criticising England players, as they’ve all got more talent in their little toes than I have in my whole body, but I just never took to Kieswetter. Maybe it’s because I like elegant orthodox cricketers like Root and Bell, so I’m naturally prejudiced against big hitting hackers, or maybe it’s simply because Kieswetter simply isn’t that good? I don’t know. Either way, England have several better options behind the stumps: Buttler, Bairstow, Prior and Steven Davies are all much better cricketers (and far better to watch).

What else have we learned? Well, I’m happy to report that Steve Finn is turning into a world class operator. There’s just one problem: he is still hitting the stumps with his knee at the non striker’s end. Yesterday it cost England a wicket at a crucial time. Finn had Raina caught behind but the umpire, Steve Davis, called dead ball.

Personally, I think Davis got this one wrong. The rules of cricket say a delivery can only be called dead if the batsman is unfairly distracted. The fact of the matter is that neither Raina (nor Dhoni for that matter) even noticed what Finn had done – so how could the batsman have been distracted?

However, this is probably beside the point. Finn has had this problem for a long time and he should have sorted it out by now. Imagine if this scenario repeats itself next summer and Michael Clarke gets a reprieve at a pivotal moment? It could, perhaps, cost England the Ashes.

Finally, we should get back to the coach. It’s far too soon to pass judgement on Giles. England have had a pitiful record in the subcontinent for years; so these defeats are clearly not Ash’s fault. Besides, we don’t know what’s going on in the dressing room. Maybe the players have taken to him; maybe they haven’t. We’ll just have to give him time.

It takes a coach a while to find his feet at international level; it’s not only the players who have to cope with big expectations and increased media scrutiny. Let’s not judge Giles too harshly. Remember, Duncan Fletcher’s reign as England coach didn’t exactly get off to a brilliant start either.

James Morgan