Yorked!!! – By Chetan Narula.

Onto the World Stage: England – The Outsiders.

If there were ever an English team capable of winning the World Cup of the sport they gave birth to, it was the team that won the Ashes in 2005. Sadly that team exists today only in bits and pieces and that too in shambles after a 5-0 thrashing down under. But that was the long version of the game, you must be wondering why I am talking about that. The point being that team stuck it up to the world’s best team not only in the tests but also the ODIs preceding that.

But does it really matter if they win this edition of the cup or not? As I recall many English dailies claimed in 2005 that they had not recovered a long coveted series but won the biggest prize world cricket had to offer. So I ask why bother about Windies 2007? Simply put, because they were put back in their places this Australian summer blanked all over the place in the tests. But again this is not about the longer version of the game. As they took some respite back home by winning the CB series, some English bookies had the audacity of making them 2nd favourites for the big tournament. What were they thinking?

Before we discuss their fortunes, past or future, any further, let’s take a look at the team they are sending to the Caribbean: Michael Vaughan (capt), Ed Joyce, Ian Bell, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Nixon (wk), Ravinder Bopara, Jamie Dalrymple, Monty Panesar, Jon Lewis, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood.

Quite a bit of change from the team who were a thorn in the Aussie backside, it’s really sad that somebody as good as Marcus Trescothick is not in the team. But then his breakdown will not be the last one we will see in the over-loaded world of cricket and so the selectors have been tied for long. But more than this it’s the injuries that cause the most concern. Michael Vaughan might not have scored an ODI ton yet, but if he is fit, he has to play because frankly speaking he is the best captain they had after probably Mike Gatting. Plus that also allows you to free up Freddie Flintoff’s mind and if free that mind can cause a lot of terror. So Vaughan’s fitness is the biggest issue for England. If he is fit, there’s no telling what this team can do, ala 2005.

But in his absence, they don’t have to stick with Flintoff as captain, do they? Andrew Strauss was being groomed too and after all wasn’t it under Freddie that they were blanked down under? Well here’s where the problem gets more complex, what do you do when Strauss loses form or confidence. He doesn’t have either right now and this meant trying out a plethora of opening combinations in the ODIs in Australia. And that is where the English selectors have failed yet again. Mal Loye who put both the Aussie and Kiwi attacks to the sword, would have been a good choice upfront but he is not even in the team. An unknown Ravi Bopara replaces him as he is in their words, more suited to the requirements. Oops I say.

As much as I am happy that another player of Indian origins makes it to the English team, I have to say untried players have atleast no place in the big tournament. If not more, he could have been the standby for Vaughan, a role Loye is playing. Plus the bowling in the West Indies has to be specialist to have any chance and not bits and pieces. Guess him being an “allrounder” and Loye just a pure batsman went against him. The bowling looks fine on paper, I mean good enough to be spanked all over, because that is what we will see most of the time. One addition could have been the mercurial Stephen Harmison, but his retirement from the short version is a deterrent. Sadly, a man of his talent wasn’t given more chances either by the selectors or by himself.

One player who could have made a difference would have been Vikram Solanki. No I don’t want to see an English team with as many Indian origin players possible. The point is that while the English team was hounded more or less everywhere they went this last season (home matches included), he was busy playing for Rajasthan in the Indian domestic league. And it doesn’t exactly take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the experience he gained there will help out in the Caribbean as the conditions will almost be similar.

Considering 2006-07, the high points for this team were of course winning the CB series and well, that’s about it. The lowest being when they were thrashed 5-0 at home by the rampaging Sri Lankans (read Sanath Jayasuriya). However all that can be changed at Saint Lucia where they will play all their group matches. The match against New Zealand on 16th March would go far to determine where they end up in this tournament. Win it, and they gain the momentum & more importantly, the confidence to reach the semis. Lose it and please book your early tickets to England.

My verdict: Book your early tickets home.