New Zealand V England 3rd One Dayer 15th Feb 2008

Morale boosting seems to be the BBC headlines as England finally get off the mark in the 50 over series with Collingwood, Pieterson and Bell amongst the runs and an excellent concerted bowling performance from all the English bowlers.
England now need to move on from this, on paper they have the better individuals but the Kiwis are no mugs and In Vettori have a very capable and canny cricketer, I think the rest of their team is made up of bits and pieces players who on their day can be unbeatable, Scott Styris is also a very underrated player who can turn a game with his batting and bowling.
England now need to focus for the last two games and victory is not an impossibility.

New Zealand v England 2nd One Dayer 12th Feb 2008

Here we go again, another torrid England batting display and England’s 4th 10 wicket defeat in one dayers. Once again England’s middle orders were found wanting, all England’s batsmen without exception need a few runs under their belt. Boparas initial burst onto the cricketing scene seems to have fallen well and truly flat now whereas Pieterson really needs a big total to remind people of how good he is. Mustard is surely not an international opener. 3 dropped catches in the field scuppered any hope England had of salvaging anything from this game. Move on now, can things get any worse.

New Zealand v England 1st One dayer 9th Feb 2008

Whew, what just happened there, England were literally insipid in their batting performance and seemed totally bamboozled by the slow pitch.
No excuses for this display, the bowlers bowled ok but had absolutely nothing to bowl at.
Let’s mark this one down as a bad day at the office and move on.

New Zealand V England 2nd 20/20 7th February 2008

Another comfortable victory for England, this time by 50 runs, an inexperienced New Zealand side were never in the hunt really although Collingwood and Shah had to inject some class into the proceeding after a mini collapse. England’s bowling was once again first rate and hopefully bodes well for the rest of the tour.

New Zealand V England 1st 20/20 Feb 5th 2008

Auckland hosted the first 20/20 match of the New Zealand tour and England emerged comfortable winners.

Put into bat against a fairly in-experienced Kiwi eleven, England made a respectable 184 for 8, Kevin Pieterson looking every inch the quality player he is (he could do with a good tour though),

Dimitri Mascarenhas, proved his worth once again as a very good one day player both with the bat and the ball, in fact England never looked like losing and bowled very well.

I still think there is the nucleous of a very good one day side here and England are carrying few passengers (which has not always been the case).

ENGLAND V SRI LANKA 3RD TEST DEC 18TH TO DEC 22ND

I know its a bit of a cliche but the cricket almost becomes secondary to the occasion in the 3rd test at Galle which is staging its first match since the devastation of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

The England team have quite rightly made no complaints about the state of the pitch and the stadium facilities which may not quite be ready in time for the first days play and are just concentrating on the bigger picture.Day 1, England (making one change, Matthew Hoggard in for Broad) elect to bowl first, a brave decision or a crazy one, only time will tell, honours slightly more to England as Sri Lanka finish 147 for 4.

Day 2 England's chances of levelling the series seem pretty slim as the Sri Lankans finish the day 384 -6 in a frustrating and fruitless day, catches are dropped and more time is lost, only a monumental effort from here will snatch a victory.

Day 3 The less said about England's performance today the better. All out for 81 and the follow on enforced, it will take pretty much a miracle to save the game now

Day 4 And the miracle might happen (or at least the weather will) as England finish 102 for 1 in their second knock looking to avoid an innings defeat as the heavy rain puts paid to a full days play.

Day 5 A draw is achieved through more heavy rain and a little bit of help from Alistair Cooks resolute knock.

Summing up the series, England were second best but I don`t think they were totally outplayed, there were a number of important sessions which didn't quite go their way and they failed to capitalise on missed opportunities.

Bowling and batting England were slightly below par, Kevin Pietersen failed to have any knock of significance and although other batsmen made some runs, none of them went on to a big score, even Cook failed to carry on (when it was really needed) in his brave century in the last test.

The bowling seemed muted, Panesar was hardly a threat and the honeymoon period is maybe over for him.

I still believe England have the nucleus of a very good squad, Sri Lanka is a very difficult place to tour and a lot of these players were playing for the first time there, the England management must persist with young players if they think they are good enough and not chop and change like the old days.

ENGLAND V SRI LANKA 2ND TEST 9TH DEC TO 13TH DEC 2007

On to Colombo (wasn't he a scruffy detective) and the second test, England make a couple of changes, Harmison in (surely this guy owes England a good match) and Broad (no argument there, although it sounds like hes been brought in to strength the tail rather than for his bowling prowess).
Day One ends fairly evenly although Sri Lanka are possibly the happier team, Vaughan and Cook couldn't really capitalise on good beginnings. Pietersen was unlucky but he did edge it, he needs a big innings soon, Bopara didn't have a chance with his dismissal and its left to Collingwood and Prior to steady the ship.


Day 2 Once again, fairly even, England make 351, could have been better, could have been worse, Two quick Sri Lankan wickets and England's tails are up but Michael Vandort and Jayawardene dig in as Sri Lanka finish 105 for 2, quick wickets needed tomorrow.


Day 3 A pretty rough day for England on a fairly placid pitch. If there is going to be a winner in this game, the Sri Lankans are firm favourites. A lot depends on how many they score tomorrow and how long England have to bat for.

Jayawardene also became the top Sri Lankan tests run scorer. Hats off to him.



Day 4 England nearly get a sniff of victory as they get quick wickets but a determined 9th wicket stand ends all that nonsense and England are basically left to bat a full day out to avoid defeat.

Day 5 A Draw is comfortably secured and England still have a chance to tie the series, a few plus points for England with two opening century stands although both batsmen could have gone on to get more, England's bowlers also stuck to their task on a very flat wicket. It needs to be remembered that this is still a fairly young and inexperienced England side, if they can be kept together for a few more years without too much chopping and changing then there is the nucleus of a very good side.