The Ashes of English One-Day Cricket

Less than a year after the high of their Ashes win, England cricket has hit a low, a deep low. England's ODI side has never quite been up to the standard of their test squad in recent times, but today's series loss to Sri Lanka (who were without their star Muttiah Muralitharan today) can only described as a new low.

In a must-win match today after two increasingly grim defeats in the first two matches of the series, an injury-ravaged England side batted decently (though Murali's absence was surely one factor which helped them to a respectable total) - with a 50 partnership by the openers, 77 runs from the much-maligned Ian Bell, and a battling 33 rearguard by rookie Jamie Dalrymple. But the the bowlers didn't even come close to defending the target of 262.

It seems they have totally failed to learn from their mistakes of the previous matches. They seemed to bowl a lot of balls just where the Sri Lankan batsmen wanted them - short and wide. They did find a way to cut down on the extras, though, which was to bat first and lose quickly. I can't say acting captain Andrew Strauss is to blame. Maybe he could have yelled at some people, but I'm not sure if that's productive, and he didn't have a lot to work with. The selectors are the main culprits in my mind. Sajid Mahmoud was a disaster in the previous match, and they brought him in to dish out more punishment to England fans. John Lewis would have been a superior choice. And star Kevin Pieterson was injured but they sent him in to play anyway. The result is that now he's more injured, and he contributed only six runs and was a useless as a fielder.

I've spent hundreds of pounds booking accommodations to see this one-day team in action against Pakistan in Cardiff, and now I wonder what kind of massacre I will witness. Perhaps by then a lot of injured players will return to the line-up.

Here's the injury status for England's squad:

Michael Vaughan - Almost recovered, and then not. I don'expect to see him play again in 2006.

Andrew Flintoff - I do expect to see him play again soon. I hope he's getting the rest he needs because if he's not there in Cardiff I'll be in for a long day.

Kevin Pieterson - I don't expect to see him play the remaining matches against Sri Lanka. I hope he's back in time for Cardiff.

Simon Jones - Maybe next year

Matthew Hoggard - Resting. He should be okay.

James Anderson - Stress fracture in the back - see ya in 2007.

Ed Joyce - Damaged ankle ligaments

Cricket brings together Soccer fans

Interesting BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5081230.stm

Vaughan's Book

Being bedridden with a nasty cold allowed me to read Michael Vaughan's autobiographical "Calling the Shots". It was given to me as a gift.

It's an odd sort of autobiography, in that it only covers a period of less than 3 years - from 2003 to 2005. The focus is his story as England captain, especially the 2005 Ashes.

As someone who followed the England team fairly closely during that period (I even attended the first 2 days of the first test match which he won as captain), there wasn't a large amount of new information there, but it is interesting to see his perspective on events. He does contrast his management style with that of his predecessers Hussain and Atherton. His chief innovation (besides hiring a team masseuse) is empowering players as a means of keeping their heads in the game. It seems a lot of captains just yell out orders, but Vaughan is more of a delegator.

Apart from a couple of journalists, the only personal conflict Vaughan illustrates in the book is between him and South African captain Graeme Smith. The portrait of Smith is not too flattering. Great batsman, not such a great guy. In particular he accuses Smith of childish sledging and acting as a witness against him in a silly issue which cost him a match fee.

The book has a lot of nice color photos and gives a nice account of the England tam's greatest hits of recent years. It also provides some insight into what it's like to be England captain and into some of the key decisions that helped bring about the 2005 Ashes victory.