Foreign imports paper over cracks in England's foundations

On the eve of yet another Test Series, this time against Bangladesh, there is the unfamiliar aroma of sweet, smelling roses wafting out of the England Cricket Team’s dressing room.

Because although plenty of question marks still surround the squad in all forms of the game, in terms of results, they are on a high.

Recapturing The Ashes; defeating South Africa on their own patch in the limited overs format; a drawn series against one of the world’s best test-playing nations; a draw with Twenty20 World Champions Pakistan and most recently a 3-0 whitewash over the ever-improving Bangladesh side.

Looking at those results more closing; yes, compared to previous Australian teams it wasn’t the strongest, but winning any Ashes series is rare as history tells us.

Leaving South Africa without losing is an achievement that shouldn’t be underestimated either.

The weather did play into our hands a little in the 50-over competition, and our determined tailenders did untwist the knickers of the so-called specialist batsman in the test matches, on more than one occasion.

However, if you’d asked the England Football Team to play Spain in a best-of-four on their home patch and they returned without suffering overall defeat, I reckon most fans would be pretty chuffed.

With regards to Bangladesh, winning on the sub-continent has never been England’s strong point so let’s at least allow them a pat on the back for that.

We haven’t lost to them yet, but The Tigers are on the up; exuberant, talented and young – a cocktail for success.

The batting line-up, which in previous years looked as threatening as the England Rugby Team’s backline, now appears to boast some match winners, especially in the One-Day team.

Craig Kieswetter has the sort of mentality and ability to fill Marcus Trescothick’s empty shoes and Eion Morgan is growing into a class middle order batsman with every shot in the book.

Kevin Pietersen’s form is a worry, nonetheless, when in full tilt, he is the most destructive batsman in world cricket and I have every faith in him returning to his imperious best.

Jonathan Trott didn’t have the best of times in South Africa, however, his entry on to the international scene was sublime; a hundred on debut in an Ashes decider – that is dreamland stuff.

Now if you notice there is a common denominator here, none of these players are a product of the English game.

I have no problem per say with this, although, it does worry me the introduction of so many foreign imports is masking the lack of quality coming through the county system.

When Ravi Bopara was on that wretched scoring run during the Ashes and eventually succumbed his place to Trott, it was a tossup between him and Mark Ramprakash, hardly an embarrassment of riches.

No offence to Ramps, it’s not exactly building for the future.

Moving on to Bangladesh, 29-year-old Michael Carberry now seems to be the next man in line.

Again, fair play to him, because at Hampshire he is rejuvenated. Shane Warne tells us he knew all along (when Warney says something, it is normally proved right).

Carberry aside, you don’t hear the Sky Sports pundits telling us about the long line of English batsman queuing up outside the selector’s door.

Michael Lumb, James Taylor, Andrew Gale and Peter Trego all made the recent Lions’ squad, but realistically are still very much on the international fringes.

It may sound like I’m harping on about the lack of true international standard batsman and ignoring the bowling attack; unfortunately this is the nature of the beast, the men with the willow in their hands always take more flak.

Also Ajmal Shahzad, Steven Finn and James Tredwell have all given a good account of themselves in recent weeks on the bowling front.

It is joked we are becoming the South African B Team, before long we could represent a World XI, which would be no bad thing.

Admittedly, calling on the likes of Morgan and Kieswetter is great, and judging on ability the slots are rightfully theirs, but just imagine the scenario if they had not participated, for whatever reason, in the last eight months of cricket.

One, we might not have won The Ashes; two, the South African experience would not have been such a successful one; three, our 100% record against Bangladesh would not stand.

Having players of this calibre to call on is great, nevertheless, in my opinion, they are masking problems closer to home – this country is currently severely lacking up and coming talent – especially in the batting department.

At last a worthwhile England friendly

When pondering my next post, inevitably thoughts turned to last night’s friendly at Wembley, England vs. Egypt.

I had the topic set in stone even before kick-off; something along the lines of what a waste of time this friendly was, and what did it tell us we didn’t already know?

In actual fact, it was one of the most worthwhile warm-up matches in recent memory.

Let’s get the John Terry saga out of the way first.

The anticipation of whether the lad got booed overshadowed the build-up to the game. It wasn’t a question of if he got shunned, more by how many.

But praise the Lord, the Wembley faithful came to their senses. Yes, there were sections of the crowd who jumped on the booing bandwagon, but as I say only sections.

And as the match wore on, the echoes of disapproving fans eventually disappeared like a fire’s embers going out.

Maybe the footballing nation has remembered John Terry, when on form, is one of the best centre backs in the world. I agree his performances have suffered of late, but is that surprising considering the circumstances?

Matthew Upson is a capable deputy; however, in terms of class he would be in the middle set while Terry is a top set A grade student.

Time to put the Terry tale to bed don’t you think (accidental pun)? Because the truth is, our chances of lifting the FIFA World Cup Trophy are greatly enhanced with him present.

The negatives from last night: Theo Walcott, on current form, isn’t good enough to don the Three Lions’ training top let alone the full jersey. His first touch, final ball, awareness and tracking back were a far cry from the night in Croatia when he turned from zero to hat-trick hero in the blink of an eye.

At the start of the match the Arsenal winger looked as though he was treading water, by the end of the first 45 the youngster had well and truly sunk.

Wes Brown is another who if lucky enough to get a plane ticket to South Africa, should sell it on eBay fast – the guy’s a liability.

The main objectives of a defender: put pressure on the ball and when man marking, stick to the attacker like a leech, in other words, if he goes to the toilet you follow (trying to put that as politely as possible).

Well the bit-part United defender does neither and the amount of times he gave the ball away was laughable. All I can say is hurry back Glen Johnson (didn’t think I’d ever write that).

Getting back to the positives, Capello must again take credit for his half time substitutions.

Ok, this was a friendly so there wasn’t the same pressure, but he could have sent the wrong people on. Since his reign began everything touched has turned to gold – long may that continue.

Peter ‘long legs’ Crouch must now be close to the starting XI, although whether that is near enough to remove Capello’s preferred option, Emile Heskey, remains to be seen. After last night he boasts an impressive goal tally of 20 goals in 37 games. Some argue about the standard of opposition many of his goals have come against; you can only play what’s in front of you.

With two excellent finishes, especially the well constructed first, he again demonstrated a classy underrated touch.

Shaun Wright-Phillips put his hat firmly in the ring following a second half introduction, threatening with pace and an end product. He has surely leap frogged Walcott now.

Debutant Leyton Baines was solid without sparkling. He will grow with confidence, unfortunately comparing him and the injured Ashley Cole is like comparing Britain’s Olympic medal haul in Vancouver to that of the Canadians – vast. A speedy recovery is in order Ashley.

Rob Green did everything asked of him. My only issue with the West Ham shot stopper is self-belief. Does he believe the number one jersey is rightfully his? I’m just not so sure.

And Michael Carrick at last showed the kind of form that sees him control the Manchester United midfield. Not a starter, but a certain sub in South Africa.

Moving on to Gareth Barry, do you think he is the only man in the Premier League’s history to never have had a bad game? Slightly over the top I know, nevertheless, he is invaluable to England. Not likely to set the world alight but, while others’ form fluctuates from first gear to fifth; the Manchester City man is in a constant fourth.

So, on thinking the match would be a complete waste of time – after the turmoil surrounding England’s recent World Cup preparations – it appears this friendly has at least got us back on the footballing track.