New Zealand 359-3 (50 overs). England 273 all out (44.1 overs)
He sat there on the balcony making notes. Every time a wicket fell, or a boundary was conceded (probably from a Dernbach longhop), a further entry was made into the notebook.
We can’t tell exactly what Ashley Giles was thinking because his expression was masked by his shades – which seem to be compulsory for England coaches these days (maybe it’s something to do with maintaining a poker face?)
However, he doesn’t need to be a genius, or own a notebook, to work out why England lost the ODI series against New Zealand at the Rose Bowl on Sunday: the majority of our batsmen made starts but gave their wickets away, and our ‘support’ bowling (if you can call it that) isn’t supportive at all; it’s crap.
Most England fans I know think Jade Dernbach is, errr … how can I put this politely … rather fortunate to be in the side (you can probably guess the exact words they used). I’ve stuck up for Dernbach in the past, arguing that he’s young, has attitude, bowls with a bit of pace, and remains a good prospect. However, I can’t defend his performances any longer …
There’s no point bowling in the high 80s if you’ve got less control than a thirteen year old girl at a One Direction gig. Dernbach gets overexcited on big occasions and goes to pieces. What’s the point in bowling all those variations if you can’t master line and length?
Dernbach is now the most expensive bowler in the history of ODIs (amongst players who have played more than twenty games) – and yes, that includes Bangladeshi and Zimbabwean bowlers too. He must be dropped. Full stop.
The other weak link in the attack is Chris Woakes. Sometimes a young cricketer emerges with a big reputation. We’ll read how ‘coaches love him’ and how ‘the word on the county scene’ is that this particular fella has something special.
The fanfare that greeted Woakes’ emergence as a regular in the Warwickshire side was one such example. I couldn’t wait to see him bowl. Was he quick? Was he aggressive? Was he metronomically accurate? Did he swing the ball around corners, or move it off the seam like Glenn McGrath? I soon discovered that the answer was no – and I’m still waiting to find out exactly what it is that he does (other than playing for Warwickshire and having a close relationship with Ashley Giles of course).
It could be that Woakes is a fine young bowler with a big international future. It could be just coincidence that he bowls terribly when I’m watching – and maybe he tears up trees when I’m looking the other way. All we can offer, as fans, are opinions based on what we’ve seen – and at this point I don’t see what the fuss is about.
If you’re going to bowl a little more than medium pace in international cricket, you’ve either got to be incredibly accurate and / or make the ball talk. At this moment in time Woakes doesn’t look capable of doing that. Either there is some kind of favouritism going on in selection, or Ashley Giles is a poor judge of a player. Is Woakes really as good as Graham Onions?
England’s batsmen are also copping a lot of stick after yesterday’s debacle – even Jonathan Trott (which is a little odd considering he made a run-a-ball century). With a record of won two and lost five in his seven ODIs in charge, some might criticise Giles for his input. However, there is nothing a coach can do when experienced batsmen are underperforming. We just have to trust the old mantra that form is temporarily and class is permanent. Cook, Bell and Morgan have won games for England in the past, and they surely will do again in the future.
At the end of the day, chasing 360 aint like dusting crops, boy. The damage was done in the first half of the game, when Martin Guptill proved once again what an excellent one-day player he is – and how woefully inadequate England’s change bowlers are. England need Broad and Finn fit and firing, or we will won’t qualify from our group in the Champions Trophy. That’s the bottom line.
James Morgan
I was at the Rose Bowl yesterday – good atmosphere despite England getting a shellacking. Think you’re being a bit too harsh on the batsmen, they all gave it a go and had no time to build an innings because of the huge target they had to chase. Words fail me to describe how bad Dernbach was though. Although I’m obviously a bit biased I can’t understand why they won’t pick Onions for the one-day side: he bowls a tight stump to stump line and rarely goes round the park.
Like Harmy I was there and there was a good atmosphere. The Kiwi’s played better than England in all areas.
They paced their innings well (once Ronchi had show why he’d not played too many for Australia). Guptil worked the ball around, playing good cricket shots and really only upped it late on. Around him Taylor, Williamson and McCullum batted aggressively taking measured risks.
England were so clueless at one point, I did wonder if they had actually come up with a cunning plan. I can hear Baldrick, Giles and Cook now: “Lets set a field for full and straight bowling, and then bowl long hop – they’ll be so confused they get out. That’ll show Mr Flower that we know what we are going”. NZ on the other hand set their fields and bowled to them. I can’t bring myself to mention Dernbach…
The other noticeable thing was the number of 2s the Kiwi’s ran compared to England. Cook set his deep men deep, and they pretty much ran two each time the infielders were beaten. McCullum spotted this and posted his men 10m off the boundary frustrating England.
As for the batting… apart from Anderson’s cameo, on Trott played it right. He had clearly watched the paces of Guptil’s innings (he contributed 77 of their 118 run partnership in 8.2 overs). The others looked like they want to score the runs in 20 overs – on in the case of some that they had just picked up a cricket bat.
Ian Bell was the most culpable in my mind. He could have scored a Daddy 100 but yet again something appears to be wrong in his mind. He can dominated bowlers when he is coming at them can hit almost anything down the ground, but yet again, he tried to do it once too often – there was no need. As one of the three senior batsmen, he should take more responsibility.
Take three of your top players (KP, Finn and Broad) out of most ODI teams and they would look weaker, but the lack of discipline and schoolboy cricket nous was the real difference between the sides at the Rose Bowl yesterday. England have some carefully thinking to do. One wonders if Ashely’s note book really has the answers, or whether he is starting to sketch out his next job application…
All through the 5 recent tests with NZ, Cook was given a lesson in captaincy by McCullum. Imagine what McCullum could do with the talent resources at Cook’s disposal. Heading into the Ashes Cook’s captaincy remains a worry. His lack of captaincy experience and lack of instincts might not matter in the end (see the career of Ricky Ponting!), but he needs to show more imagination AND simple common sense eg when Ross Taylor was batting in the 2nd inns at Headingley, and eng were pressing for victory, Cook had just one slip at times. Incredible really. Being clean cut, appearing presentable to the media, and being a good batsman doesn’t necessarily make one a good captain. He needs to up his game big time.