Much to ponder as South Africans head home

A false dawn bred frustration bred despair bred a new (false?) dawn. That about sums up England’s summer exploits against South Africa.

Dominant in the 1st Test, England were outplayed by South Africa in the next two matches but were able to restore pride in the final match to get a new captain off to a winning start. The convincing 4-0 win in the one-day series that followed helped to cement a feel-good factor that has encouraged the nation to dream again of Ashes heroics next summer.

So, by way of review, I present a selection of five lessons to be learned from the summer and five reasons to be positive.

Five Lessons to be learned

  1. Test match batting order. Aside from the 1st innings of the 1st Test, England’s batting was not a success. Whilst the excellence of the South African pace attack in the tests cannot be denied, it was clear that something is not right at the top of the order. Too often, batsmen played themselves in only to give their wickets away with poor shots. Strauss and Ambrose had poor series, and Vaughan resigned the captaincy, and may well have made his last test appearance, after making just 40 runs in 5 innings. Those on the fringe, such as Shah, Bopara and Patel, and likely Matt Prior in place of Ambrose, deserve a chance to show what they can do.
  2. Team selection. The selectors were rightly criticised for being too loyal to underachieving players and creating a comfort zone of complacency. Rarely has a boat been so severely rocked than when the unfortunate Darren Pattinsons’ selection for the 2nd test so upset dressing room harmony. That the established players reacted so badly to the addition of one unfamiliar face is an indictment of both the mentality within the squad and of the selection policy. In future the selectors owe it to the team to be quicker to make changes when players are under-performing, whilst avoiding a return to the knee-jerk days of the nineties.
  3. Darren Pattinson. The outcry over the selection of Darren Pattinson in the media, and the fallout between coach, selectors and (ex) captain is difficult to analyse. Here we had a player who was (and still is) performing well in the county championship and who was expected to be well suited to the conditions for the 2nd test. His performance in that test was not disastrous, yet suddenly he seemed to be the sole reason for a resounding defeat, as if his arrival was responsible for a very poor batting display. The fact that the players, including the captain, were not happy with his selection was neither his fault nor his problem. No team will forever be a closed shop, and the players ought to have been professional enough to get on with the job regardless.
  4. Don’t get carried away. As a rule, the South Africans scored their runs at a slower pace than England, and were successful in wearing down their opponents. Of the centuries scored in the series, South Africa had five at a strike rate of less than 60 runs per 100 balls compared to England’s one, and one compared to three at over 60 per 100 balls. They showed that you don’t need to bat like a typhoon to be successful – the winning team was the one whos’ players valued their wickets the most and who better adapted their approach as conditions and circumstances required.
  5. Don’t dwell on the past. Michael Vaughans’ time was up, and the team had been carrying his batting for some time. This, added to his increasingly fractious captaincy, showed clearly that here was a man who had given all that he had to give. He was man enough to admit as much when announcing his resignation of the captaincy. It would be an injustice if Vaughan is remembered for the final months of his tenure rather than for putting the spring back into English crickets’ step. If Vaughan never plays for England again, we will lament the passing of a truly majestic, world class batting talent, but it is time to move on and embrace the reign of Kevin Pietersen.

Five reasons to be positive

  1. Freddie is back. The reappearance of a fit and firing Andrew Flintoff was probably the major factor in England’s rejuvenation at the end of the summer. That he lead the team in both runs scored and wickets taken in the NatWest series tells only part of the story. As important was the affect his return had on seemingly disheartened and humbled team mates. Almost immediately a certain swagger returned to the side, no doubt assisted by…
  2. The Pietersen affect. Kevin Pietersen can do no wrong – it’s official. Faced with little competition for the captaincy, Pietersen has quickly set about rectifying the bad atmosphere that seemed to be emanating from the dressing room. On the field he has demonstrated that he can get the best out of players, although the challenge remains to maintain this over time.  However, the early signs are almost all positive.
  3. Limited overs balance. England have suddenly, somehow, from somewhere, discovered a balance to their one-day side that hasn’t been witnessed since the closing scene in The Italian Job. With Luke Wright and Stuart Broad at eight and nine, the batting has strength in depth, and the bowling attack boasts four front line pace bowlers. Luke Wright played in all five matches, but was hardly used, and then there was the emergence of…
  4. Samit Patel. Batting at seven and bowling slow left arm in the middle of the innings, Samit Patel has shown considerable promise in his appearances so far. Selected more for his batting, it was with the ball that Patel made the most striking impact – his 5-41 in the 3rd ODI finished the South Africans off in the match and the series. A first class average of 46 hints at consistency and his spin bowling will be a useful asset in India this winter.
  5. Harmison. The return of Steve Harmison for the final test brought some much needed teeth to the bowling attack. This was the Harmison of 2003/4 rather than that of 2006/7 and all credit to the man for fighting his way back after being unceremoniously dropped from the team in New Zealand. Harmison has always been more comfortable on home soil, but has now committed to touring overseas in both test and limited overs teams.

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