The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : England has the power to tackle Australia

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Thursday, Jun 16, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

England has the power to tackle Australia

Ted Corbett

LONDON: After nine matches in 17 days England and Australia will meet in the final of the NatWest one-day triangular series at Lord's on July 2; an outcome as certain as night following day or the autumn migration of swallows.

Bangladesh is the third team in the tournament. Ask any bookmaker what his odds are for them reaching the final and he will answer with his profession's oldest joke: "What odds would you like?"

Nevertheless, the two senior sides must answer vital questions ahead of the Ashes Test series not least in the brain games department. A brilliant display on Monday night saw England go one up by winning the Twenty20 match by an extraordinary margin of 100 runs. But it was not just the size of the victory that mattered; the equivalent of winning a Test by an innings and 250 runs, I suggest.

The dilemma

For once the Australians were forced into an about face. At the beginning of the match they were taking it seriously, so their admirers and their spokesmen said. By the close this match had been a bit of knock-about farce. This verdict has rubbed off on some English commentators who forget the oldest rule in cricket. If you treat a game lightly, it will treat you badly. Unless the Aussies regain their focus quickly they may find they have made a serious mistake.

There is no doubt now that England has the power to tackle Australia head on. One of the fascinating moments will come when Kevin Pietersen, England's hard-hitting middle order batsman, and Andrew Flintoff, their established all-rounder, are at the crease together. Pietersen scored England's fastest one-day hundred against South Africa in East London last winter; Flintoff holds the record for their fastest one-day fifty. They did not bat together on Monday because Flintoff got out early and he was back home in England having, a highly successful, operation on his ankle while Pietersen was hitting three hundreds off the South Africans.

That partnership, if it ever materialises, will test any bowling line-up unless the pair indulge in a competition between themselves. They are two remarkable cricketers. Flintoff still gives off the air of devil-may-care for all he has turned his life around, lost weight, gained fitness and begun to pay attention. Pietersen's mop of two-tone hair offends the conservative figures in the game so much that they cannot take him seriously. We still do not know the answer to the key question about the Australians; are they all growing old together? Glenn McGrath, their leading quick bowler for more years than he wants to count, replaced confrontation with inaudible mutter in Southampton and anyone who watched Shane Warne bowl in the tsunami charity game at Lord's this week might come to the conclusion that his days were done. The squads:

England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Kabir Ali, Gareth Batty, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, Geraint Jones, Simon Jones, Jon Lewis, Kevin Pietersen, Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Michael Kasprowicz, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Bangladesh: Habibul Basher (captain), Aftab Ahmed, Anwar Hossain, Javed Omar, Khaled Mahmud, Khaled Mashud, Manjural Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Rafique, Nafis Iqbal, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Tapash Baisya, Tushar Imran.

The schedule: June 16: England vs Bangladesh, Oval. June 18: Australia vs Bangladesh, Sofia Gardens. June 19: England vs Australia, Bristol. June 21: England vs Bangladesh, Trent Bridge (D\N). June 23: England vs Australia, Riverside (D\N). June 25: Australia vs Bangladesh, Old Trafford. June 26: England vs Bangladesh, Headingley. June 28: England vs Australia, Edgbaston (D\N). June 30: Australia vs Bangladesh, Canterbury. July 2: Final: Lord's.