England gaining momentum

It's great to see England starting to win tight games batting second, with the likes of Bopara, Swann and Broad all contributing to unlikely wins. It's those sort of games that only the likes of Australia won and it's all part of getting the winning culture going. It would be great if the top 5 scored the runs, but a win is a win.

What's been interesting to see is Graeme Swann's perfomances - you can read Cricinfo's view in their article written after the 2nd ODI. Readers of Cricket Burble might remember more than one post from yours truly saying that Panesar should be picked for all ODIs, and I considered a rant along those lines when Swann was picked for the first ODI, but something stopped me. It was a combination of Panesar not being in great form, and the thought that Swann could actually play well - thankfully he has done that. The key is that he is taking wickets - England have been guilty of being too defensive in the middle overs and that mindset was characterised by leaving out Panesar (a wicket-taking bowler) a couple of times last summer. But Swann seems to be getting wickets, and his superior batting then makes him a good choice ahead of Panesar.

Panesar is still our number 1 spinner and a dead cert for the Tests, but it's great that Swann is putting pressure on him and may even be edging ahead of him in the ODI pecking order. It's only 3 games and things can quickly change, but so far Swann has put in 3 excellent performances. Long may it continue.