England survives early scare
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2011, Thursday
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A JOLTED England will need to shed its jaded look if it is to achieve skipper Andrew Strauss' twin targets of playing smart cricket and spoiling host India's party on Sunday.
The country which gave the sport to the world has not been able to lay hands on the one-day game's big prize despite reaching three World Cup finals and Strauss has been harping on the need to play "smart" to give them a chance to fix that.
Instead, what they dished out against the Dutch upstarts in Nagpur on Tuesday was as far from smart cricket as could be.
Ryan ten Doeschate scored a dazzling century to lead the unfavored Dutch to 292-6 but Strauss gave his team a platform with 88 from 83 balls, equalling the highest score by an England captain at a World Cup.
Jonathan Trott hit 62 at almost a run a ball but England still cut it fine, with Ravi Bopara hitting the winning runs with just eight balls remaining to take England to 296-4.
England pacers were wayward, the spin attack looked inadequate and the crisis was compounded by their butter-fingered fielders.
"We got a lot of things wrong with our bowling ... It was a very poor first 50 overs," Strauss admitted.
"We have to learn pretty quickly because we can't do it too often."
Neither James Anderson nor Stuart Broad could really trouble the Dutch batsmen, least of all centurion Ten Doeschate, who were quite at ease against them.
They also looked one spinner short and relied only on Graeme Swann, who was the pick of the English bowlers claiming two wickets in his tidy 10 overs.
Unlike some other teams, England does not have enough part-time spinners and it hastily withdrew Kevin Pietersen from the attack after his two overs had cost the side 19 runs.
It was, however, its sloppy fielding that will give Strauss sleepless nights. "I'm really disappointed with the fielding," he said.
Matt Prior, Pietersen and Swann dropped catches, while Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan's ground fielding was poor and it all helped the Netherlands to post the highest total by an associate team against a test playing nation.
For England fans used to slick fielding and brilliant catching from their team, the display in the field against the Dutch was shocking.
Strauss, however, remains hopeful of a quick solution before his team takes on India in Bangalore tomorrow.
"I'm absolutely excited about the match. It's going to be an amazing atmosphere and a great occasion. Hopefully we can spoil India's party," he said.
The country which gave the sport to the world has not been able to lay hands on the one-day game's big prize despite reaching three World Cup finals and Strauss has been harping on the need to play "smart" to give them a chance to fix that.
Instead, what they dished out against the Dutch upstarts in Nagpur on Tuesday was as far from smart cricket as could be.
Ryan ten Doeschate scored a dazzling century to lead the unfavored Dutch to 292-6 but Strauss gave his team a platform with 88 from 83 balls, equalling the highest score by an England captain at a World Cup.
Jonathan Trott hit 62 at almost a run a ball but England still cut it fine, with Ravi Bopara hitting the winning runs with just eight balls remaining to take England to 296-4.
England pacers were wayward, the spin attack looked inadequate and the crisis was compounded by their butter-fingered fielders.
"We got a lot of things wrong with our bowling ... It was a very poor first 50 overs," Strauss admitted.
"We have to learn pretty quickly because we can't do it too often."
Neither James Anderson nor Stuart Broad could really trouble the Dutch batsmen, least of all centurion Ten Doeschate, who were quite at ease against them.
They also looked one spinner short and relied only on Graeme Swann, who was the pick of the English bowlers claiming two wickets in his tidy 10 overs.
Unlike some other teams, England does not have enough part-time spinners and it hastily withdrew Kevin Pietersen from the attack after his two overs had cost the side 19 runs.
It was, however, its sloppy fielding that will give Strauss sleepless nights. "I'm really disappointed with the fielding," he said.
Matt Prior, Pietersen and Swann dropped catches, while Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan's ground fielding was poor and it all helped the Netherlands to post the highest total by an associate team against a test playing nation.
For England fans used to slick fielding and brilliant catching from their team, the display in the field against the Dutch was shocking.
Strauss, however, remains hopeful of a quick solution before his team takes on India in Bangalore tomorrow.
"I'm absolutely excited about the match. It's going to be an amazing atmosphere and a great occasion. Hopefully we can spoil India's party," he said.
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