Following England – a mix of delight and despair

England’s performance in the World Twenty20 was a strange mix and in a way summed up this form of the game - completely unpredictable.

They were widely ridiculed when defeat to Holland in the tournament opener put them in danger of an embarrassingly early exit but just a few days later they claimed an emphatic win of eventual champions Pakistan. This was followed by a drubbing at the hands of South Africa, a thrilling win over India by the narrowest of margins before a rain-affected exit at the hands of the West Indies who really came alive again in this competition after a dismal performance in last month’s Test series.

However as disappointing as their exit was, given the tight finish and England’s recent dominance against the West Indies, did they deserve to be in the semi-finals ?  Probably not and it’s only down to the excellence of their bowlers that they got anywhere near. The trio of Anderson, Sidebottom and Broad were a revelation and give England plenty to build on in this form of the game in the future. They all possessed that deadly combination of accuracy, pace and variety and showed the sort of nous that English bowlers have lacked in limited overs cricket for all too long. Apart from against the West Indies, the bowling at the death was superb, particularly against India where it was no mean feat to hold off the might of Mahendra Dhoni and his big hitting compatriots.

Batting-wise England looked weak and very, very reliant on Kevin Pietersen who walked to the wicket in every game with the team’s success dependant on him. They never really gave themselves sufficient totals to defend apart from against Pakistan and the selectors seem too keen on chopping and changing rather than developing a settled side. It was all a bit chaotic really with players in and out of the side and shunted up and down the order. Some of the selections left quite big question marks, was it really necessary to play two spinners against South Africa and the West Indies especially in Twenty20?  The outcome suggested an extra batsman would have been more useful.

Ravi Bopara looked quite classy at the top of the order but was guilty of rash shots when well set but I’m unsure about Luke Wright who’s too hit and miss and was found out when it came to the Super 8s. England need to decide whether to persist with him as a sort of pinch hitter or find someone more adaptable. After all the pre-tournament hype about his improvisation skills it was disappointing to see Eoin Morgan only get one chance against the Netherlands particularly as England looked 1 specialist batsmen light most of the time. Hopefully he’ll be given a chance in the future maybe instead of Paul Collingwood who was the biggest disappointment. Collingwood who looked out-of-sorts as he’s done before when laden with the captaincy. England needed his composure at the death but too often he was long back in the pavilion.

Owais Shah and Dmitri Mascarenhas had ok tournaments but both were strangely dropped at times, Mascarenhas in particular should have been in the side against the West Indies. England could have done with his explosive hitting in the middle order as their momentum ground to a halt after a superb start. Shah produced some decent innings but seems to lack the strike-rate ability needed in Twenty20 scoring at just over a run a ball. At his age, will he be able to change that ?

James Foster was excellent behind the stumps and produced several razor-sharp stumpings and deserves to remain in the side for that reason alone but he’s more of a no 7 than a no 6. England definitely missed Andrew Flintoff who would have provided that extra balance to the side so Foster could have batted a place lower.

Overall compared to South Africa two years ago, there are a lot more encouraging signs for England. As they showed they have the ability to beat anyone but still a way to go to develop the consistency needed to win an event like this. The bowlers have developed a lot more of the tricks of the trade needed to succeed in this format and they put in a brilliant tactical display against India but as ever the batting seems too unbalanced. Apart from Pietersen no one stands out as a potential match-winner who can take the game away from the opposition.

By David Cox, Twenty20Blog.co.uk