The softness of the county cricket scene and Asian attitude takes its toll on burgeoning England talent

England have made four main omissions from their Test and one-day touring parties to South Africa. One is Steve Harmison who, at 30, has passed his physical prime as a fast bowler. The other three are Ravi Bopara, Monty Panesar and Owais Shah, who are – or should be – in their prime.

Is it a coincidence that all three have an Asian background? Most cricketers, in any country, fall by the wayside as they approach the top. But such is the talent of Bopara, and of Panesar, and of Shah although he has an idiosyncratic technique, that the question needs to be asked – not least because two more players of Asian origin, Adil Rashid and Sajid Mahmood, have been included in the touring parties.

The culture of English cricket has led to many talents being fulfilled only at county level. Bopara to date has been treated like Mark Ramprakash, Graeme Hick and Mike Gatting when young. Old sweats in the England side hang on to the plum berths of No 4 and 5. Young middle-order batsmen have to bat either too high or too low, so their induction is far more difficult than it should be.

A lack of continuity, and sometimes of wisdom, in England’s coaches and selectors is also to blame. Bopara, in England’s last World Cup match of 2007 and Duncan Fletcher’s last game as coach, was promoted to No 3 and, albeit on a belter of a Bridgetown pitch, looked the part.

Then Peter Moores took over, and dropped Bopara from the one-day side, then reinstated him at No 7. Andy Flower went to the other extreme and promoted Bopara to open Read more…

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Andrew Strauss The only batsman who has regularly looked like scoring runs but as culpable as everybody else for getting out when set. Has managed to remain phlegmatic despite the burgeoning cares of captaincy. 5/10

Joe Denly In patches has looked the part – flamboyant, fearless – but playing your own game is different from judging your own game. But there is something there. Would be good if the selectors have got this one right. 4

Ravi Bopara The most important part of promise and potential is that they are realised. Bopara, bubbly and bold, is almost 50 matches in to his ODI career and has four fifties to show. Still getting out carelessly. 0

Matt Prior Not good enough by half, because he is too good a batsman to have produced the figures he has, and it is unreasonable to keep claiming he is the best keeper-batsman when he has two fifties in 47 matches. 1

Paul Collingwood A tired cricketer on the slide. The fact that he is available for Delhi Daredevils in the Champions League which follows the Champions Trophy and precedes the tour of South Africa is folly for him and England. 2

Owais Shah By now he should be one of England’s most popular cricketers, with a sparkling array of big shots. But he is in a mess, accident-prone and fretful at the crease and it doesn’t look like getting better. 0

Eoin Morgan Morgan, picked earlier in the summer, had been in woeful form for Middlesex and asking him to climb out of it against Australia was misguided. He has coped Read more…

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The Oval - I know it is a sweeping generalisation but from my experience South Africans are not known for being the shy and retiring type.

Which is why I was pretty confident Cape Town-born Jonathan Trott would not look like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights when he stepped out at The Oval for his England Test match debut. And so it proved.

He has made a hugely impressive debut by scoring a maiden Test century - becoming the 18th England player to do so and only the third at The Oval behind Frank Hayes and WG Grace.

And we must not forget his great catch in the first innings when he snaffled Australia dangerman Michael Clarke at short extra cover to augment England’s chances of regaining the Ashes urn….

It seems foolish now to wind back a week to when the media was full of speculation that Mark Ramprakash, Rob Key and even the retired Marcus Trescothick could come back for the do-or-die fifth Ashes Test against the Aussies, with Ravi Bopara looking like a broken man after scoring just 105 runs in seven innings at an average of 15.

But the England selectors should be praised for sticking to their guns by employing their next-man-in policy - and that happened to be Trott.

After being named in the Headingley squad but subsequently not used, they finally Read more…

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LET’s be frank about this … if England win this Ashes series it will be a dark moment in Australia’s cricket history.

The further this series has stretched the less respect we have had for this modest England team.

If this series has confirmed anything is is how cricketers can gain an inflated reputation on the back of performances against rubbish teams.

Ravi Bopara, a superstar when he was playing the West Indies, has been exposed as being technically flawed.

Ian Bell, who has eeked out a beuatiful living just being Mr Average in England’s middle order, has again showed he lacks the class to match it with the best.

His lack of passion and personality grates on English fans and rivals.

Paul Collingwood is a solid scrapper but he’s no champion.

Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cooke are useful openers but please don’t mention them in the same breath as John Edrich or Geoff Bocyott or Michael Vaughan.

England have such little depth they considered recalling Mark Ramprakash who is 39 Read more…

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In the course of my travels over the last couple of days, I’ve watched Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook get out for one and four respectively at Lord’s, seen Kent skipper Rob Key score an assured 90 only to miss out on a ton when he was lbw to a straight one at Northampton, and called in at The Oval to sit in on an interview with Mark Ramprakash, to hear him say he’d definitely play for England again, if asked.

What a week this is turning into for speculation, counter-speculation and player watching.

Once Bopara and Cook were dismissed at Lord’s, England selector James Whitaker sat in the media centre, glued to the television, awaiting news of Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott from Trent Bridge.

The skies were leaden and it wasn’t a good day for batting. Who’d be an England selector?

Wholesale changes aren’t needed for the Oval. Yes, England had a horrendous time at Headingley, batted and bowled abysmally, but you don’t become a terrible side overnight (or even in two-and-a-half days as the case may be). Read more…

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The dilemma over whether Mark Ramprakash should be recalled to the England XI for the final Ashes Test next week comes down to whether you believe that people can change and grow and become better over time. Those who do not think he should come back watched him try and fail too often in the 1990s. They saw a temperament problem that overshadowed his undoubted talent. After 52 Tests and a feeble record, their argument goes that he has had his chances, lots of them, and it would be a waste of a batting place to try him again.

Yet the fact that his last Test was more than seven years ago stands in his favour. It allows his supporters to claim that he has reformed. No one can say for certain that this is the same Ramprakash who failed before. It has simply been too long since his last chance.

His county form - averaging 91 over the past four years - is not just good, it is awesome. Yes, he is scoring runs against weaker attacks than the Australia XI, but he is not just scoring runs, he is scoring heaps and heaps of runs. Every other century is 150+ and a fifth of his past 30 hundreds have been more than 200. To reject him is to say that county form means nothing. If a former England bowler - Matthew Hoggard, say - was taking 100 wickets every season for four years, there would be a huge clamour to get him back in the side. Read more…

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I must ask Justin Langer whether I can get his race tips.

The furore over his criticism of the England side in his not-so-secret dossier has masked one crucial fact - he was spot on.

Almost every observation he made hit the money.

Short balls unsettled Graeme Swann. Ravi Bopara is a strutter. Andrew Strauss is conservative under pressure. Matt Prior can be a victim of his own ego.

A few hours before the Times newspaper carrying the obseratvions went to print Alastair Cooke was out edging behind not moving his front foot into position.

This was the precise flaw Langer had spotlighted.

But his best observation was a collective one.

English sides play too much cricket and are permanently tired and can be ground Read more…

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Despite such an emphatic defeat, England should not panic. All they need is a result pitch, a returning hero, and a miracle

There was fun and frolics to be had on the final morning at Headingley Carnegie, but the last laugh belonged to Australia. This was a crushing victory and the final flourish provided by Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann had no more effect on the punishment dished out than the student who flicks a “V” at the headmaster once his back is turned.

This was the stuff of men against boys. The fresh-faced, almost angelic-looking Broad and the cheeky chappie Swann throwing the blade with abandon and grinning cheerfully, as Australia became ever more ragged, provided some amusement, even solace for a short time.

But when Graham Onions was bowled to give Australia their victory by an innings and 80 runs, the realisation dawned quickly that England had been so utterly outplayed, that the momentum shift was so complete, that hopes of a revival at the Brit Oval are nothing more than mere fancy.

If, before the series began, England had been offered a level scoreline before the final Test, they might well have taken it. But that hypothetical fails to take into consideration Read more…

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The talented but inconsistent batsman could finally be ready to step out of Kevin Pietersen’s shadow and make his mark in an Ashes series

Providence, in the form of Kevin Pietersen’s achilles tendon operation, has given Ian Bell an opportunity to re-establish his place in the England batting order. Bell has been missing from the side since his aberration in Jamaica precipitated a collapse of calamitous proportions (and with significant consequences) but, as expected, he was named for this week’s third Test at Edgbaston, in a 13-man squad that also includes Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar. No standby batsman is included although the national selector Geoff Miller insists they have “options”, whatever that means.

In going back to Bell so soon after patience ran out with him (he has missed only eight Tests and has been included anyway in squads this season) Miller and his associates are effectively saying that the substrata of batting in this country is not deemed to be of international quality. Unquestionably Bell has massive talent, and at times, when batting down the order, he has played impressive innings. None of his eight centuries have come during his most recent period where he was viewed as the natural first wicket down. He has been seen as someone who lacks the presence of top players.

This, though, might prove the making of him. His 10 previous Ashes matches have been something of a torment (although he was part of the winning side four years ago), but those who so ruthlessly exposed his mental frailties – Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and, for Read more…

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Cursed him. Within moments of writing my “will they, won’t they” piece on Pietersen and his injury, the ECB announces that the Hampshire batsman has had surgery this morning on the troublesome Achilles tendon and will be out for the rest of the series.

The squad for the third Test will be announced on Sunday and one would assume that Ian Bell, having been in the squad for the first two games, will slot straight in as Pietersen’s replacement. Yes, Aussies, the “Shermanator” is back. And he was out for 7 today against Hampshire.

It would be tempting to play Bell at No 3 and drop Ravi Bopara down the order a place or two to enable him to regain his confidence against the older ball. Bell is averaging 54 this season and must be in prime position although Owais Shah, who did not shine against the Windies over the winter, is averaging 55. Trouble is, Shah has played only four games to Bell’s 11. His bench-warming stint in the IPL could still count against him.

Who else? Well, Rob Key has picked the right moment to find some form. He made 270 for Kent last week against Glamorgan, which almost doubled his tally for the season. Yes, but, it was only Glamorgan. I’m not sure he has done enough, even though he now has a first-class wicket to his name as this photo shows. Jonathan Trott, Bell’s Warwickshire team-mate, is on 70-odd as I type today, which is on par with his season’s average. Read more…

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