JR Hartley, the leg-spin bowler

In case you hadn't guessed by my lack of posts, I was away last week soaking up the sun in the Brecon Beacons (really - I was, thanks to the unseasonal weather). I randomly found Fly Fishingby JR Hartley in a second hand bookshop and thought I'd better buy it, given the book's notoriety thanks to playing a leading role in an old Yellow Pages ad.

You don't need to know about fly fishing to enjoy it and it's a quick and easy read so I'd recommend it. And early on he explains that he was a promising school boy leg break bowler, so he immediately endeared himself to me. Perhaps it's too much to suggest that all good people take an interest in cricket, but it certainly acts as a pretty good indication of character to me!

Trott can look back on a successful World Cup

Amazing (I think) that at this stage of the World Cup, Jonathan Trott is the leading run scorer. He continues to surprise people and there's no doubt he's been England's one success story in this World Cup. His strike rate is 80, but imagine what it could have been with better support from those around him, rather than having to hold most of England's innings together.

This piece by Duncan Fletcher sums things up for me - he compares Trott to Kallis, which in itself is a huge compliment to England's number 3, with Kallis being one of the all-time greats.

Bye bye !

What's more startling than what Boycott said about Yardy is that he actually can't see depression as an illness as opposed to just being a bit gloomy. With a bit of luck the broadcasters will treat him like Andy Gray and that other bloke. A World Cup that saw the end of having to listen to his ego-centric outbursts as well as not having to watch that dart player would be a really memorable and worthwhile World Cup

Rolling news

We're now used to what the media call rolling news but is just the same story repeated endlessly to fill up space and so it was amusing to see yesterday's morning papers saying Ricky Ponting is set to retire from International cricket and is looking for a county to captain and then see the evening papers saying the opposite.

The much more important news is that there will be a reduction from 16 to 10 in the number of group stage T20 games in 2012. Is it possible that the ECB is listening to the cricketing public? and does that mean that the ridiculous notion of having 8 teams (14 matches) in the First Division of The County Championship and 10 ( not sure how many matches but not the mathematically logical 18) in the Second will be dropped?

Interesting interview with Ian Bell

Always interesting when a particular hero gets put up as the interview candidate by 'Team England' and apart from all the stuff about hoping to stay in the tournament long enough to get back to England with his wedding fully organised and the only requirement on his shoulders being to turn up in the right time at the right place ( I suppose people have turned up at the wrong venue for their own weddings ?!) I was interested to hear that he hopes to pick up player of the match awards in the remaining fixtures.

The surprise is in that I'd always imagined the players put the m o m money into the pool and that, as they always say, the result is the most important part.

Perhaps he fancies getting back to England by motorbike via the Channel tunnel!

Graeme Smith's tactics

Interesting that Smith took Botha off when he was right on top of the batsmen. I definitely would have kept him going against Shakib, and would have had a short-leg, silly point and slip as he had bowled 4 overs, 1 for 11 before that. Even those figures were a little worse than they needed to be as Smith kept a long-off out throughout, allowing the Bangladesh batsman to occasionally nudge the ball down the ground without risk.

I see Smith as a similar type of captain to Strauss - pretty conservative - and I wonder if captaincy might be one of the factors that decides the winner of the World Cup on 2nd April. It made me smile when the commentators got all excited about Strauss keeping a short-leg in when Swann was bowling to Sarwan towards the end of the West Indies game, and the catch was taken there. Surely short-leg was a regulation position given that England had to take 10 wickets to win the match and they were running out of time?

46-5 off 19 as I type, and surely even in this topsy turvy World Cup, Bangladesh can't come back from here....

England on course

Great start for South Africa...England have one foot in the quarters. I don't feel I can relax completely until Shakib is out though....

Dernbach?

Not sure about calling up Dernbach (and anyway, England may not get the quarters still). Not the conventional call of Woakes or the unconventional (that I would have gone for) of Adil Rashid.

Spinners, and leg-spinners in particular seem to be doing well, and do England need to open with a spinner and perhaps play three? I'd be tempted. It doesn't seem that Swann is that up for opening and Rashid is used to opening the bowling after his Twenty20 experiences in Australia this winter....

Who would you have gone for?

Wrong England team?

I presume that the England management have weighed up the potentially galvanizing impact of changing a few players against playing an on-paper weaker team, and have decided the former is most important! Definitely not the team I would have picked, but if they win and go through it won't matter....

The rise of West Indies cricket

Out of The Ashes proved to be an interesting watch but was perhaps slighly over-hyped. But I've got high hopes for Fire In Babylon - the story of the rise of West Indies cricket that is being screened at a film festival in New York next week. You can see the trailer at the Fire In Babylon site.

Manou retires

Englishmen might remember Graham Manou as the wicket-keeper who played his only Test in the 2009 Ashes. He's recently announced his retirement from professional cricket at the age of 31. It's rumoured to be another great piece of man management by Jamie Cox to rank alongside the selectorial shambles that was the Aussie 2009 Ashes campaign.

Manou has played his whole career with a hole in his heart, so perhaps he was destined to retire early....it appears a little strange though. Manou's last game saw him top score in the first innings for South Australia but then lose a match they seemed destined to win as Tasmania chased down 373 in the 4th innings of a low scoring game.

Anderson and England make life difficult for themselves

Looking at the scorecard from England's match against Bangladesh I assumed that Strauss had done his usual and set defensive fields when England needed to take the final 2 wickets, and made a mistake in not letting Collingwood bowl out. It wasn't quite as bad as I feared, but it would be great if bowlers like Bresnan don't have to plead with their skipper to have a slip, as happened in the 48th over. Although there were no attacking fielders in the closing overs, Strauss was quite attacking by his standards as there was a slip in when Raqibal Hasan was bowled by Shahzad and again when Swann bowled Shakib. And taking Collingwood off, even when he was bowling economically, was the right move too. So still some way to go but a slight improvement I reckon.

But what is the skipper meant to do when players let him down with poor performances? Prior cost England several runs with missed attempts to take the ball behind the stumps and, with Prior's help, the bowlers racked up 23 wides. James Anderson's 7th over was one of the worst of all time, and swung the game in Bangladesh's favour....with Broad out England desperately need Anderson to find his range, but it's not looking hopeful. And to make matters worse, Shahzad dropped his caught and bowled and Trott missed a stop at 3rd man as things got tight....Strauss must have been tearing the hair he has left out.

Elsewhere in England's group Ireland felt the cost of dropping Kieron Pollard in the 20s and Asoka de Silva's inability to remember that the batsman can't be out LBW when they're playing a shot and are hit outside the line. England should still qualify if they beat West Indies, but the way they are playing, and with Pollard in form, I can't say I feel confident!

I'd love to see Bopara opening rather than Prior, and Strauss to attack (much) more but, more than anything, Anderson needs to bowl properly and byes, dropped catches and misfields need to be a thing of the past. Strauss had some good company today in going defensive - Dhoni suddenly lost his bottle at the end of India's game against South Africa and suffered the consequences. Harbajan had to bowl one of the last 2 overs with 17 needed and South Africa having 3 wickets in hand. But instead he turned to the expensive Nehra with 13 needed from the final over, and he went for 4,6,2,4 to allow South Africa to win the game with 2 balls to spare.

Will England make it through?

Sony and Hawkeye

Following yesterdays news that Sony have bought Hawkeye, I've been pondering what Sony will do to extend Hawkeye into something worth more than the purchase price (yes, I am that sad!). I remember talking to Cricinfo many years ago about what I thought was a brilliant revenue opportunity for them - they claimed to record every international delivery, so the company I worked for at the time thought this data would be fantastic for gaming companies. That data would allow computer game players, for example, to face the exact balls that a particular international bowler bowled - surely if you're an English kid (or adult as gaming seems to have seeped into adulthood too, although not for me!), you'd love to face Mitchell Johnson's spell from Perth in the recent Ashes?

I wonder if Sony want to use the Hawkeye ball tracking technology for similar purposes?

How is the UDRS accuracy checked?

I love the fact that more decisions are being made correctly - I think it's all that professionals who dedicate much of their lives to improving their performance deserve. But I've got a question....

How does anyone REALLY know whether a decision was made correctly or not?

If there is a way of telling, can we use that for the UDRS please and then we'll get 100% accuracy on decisions?

BCCI looking for more money

Not surprisingly, World Sport Group, that purchased the rights to the IPL for 10 years in 2008 for $1.5b are a little concerned that the BCCI might be selling the rights again! I imagine someone at the BCCI has done the maths:

Greater sales price - legal fees = greater profit than the existing deal with WSG!

I look forward to them ploughing money into technology for the UDRS. Pigs might fly.

NZ score 14 an over for last 10

Pretty explosive stuff....I wonder if the Pakistan innings will follow the same pattern with the likes of Afridi and Razzaq down the order....

Well batted Ross Taylor....

Sony buy Hawkeye

It seems that the Winchester based company, Hawkeye Innovations, who provide the ball tracking part of the UDRS in some counties, have been bought by Sony.

What are the implications for cricket? I'd love to be able to tell you....I presume that with greater financial backing, Hawkeye Innovations will be able to afford to go further in demonstrating their technology for free during pitches. That was something of a stumbling block when dealing with FIFA in the past, as football's governing body wanted full demos paid for by pitching companies without any commitment to use the technology for goal line decisions even if the technology tested successfully. Hawkeye weren't willing to commit to a huge spend to do all the tests without any guarantee of business off the back of it.

I imagine that Sony will be able to utilise their greater international coverage too....it will be interesting to hear what they plan to do with Hawkeye know they've bought it.

Incidentally, this is an interesting piece I noticed having just gone to the Hawkeye site about issues with the Virtual Eye technology used in The Ashes. Worth a read if you're as sad as me....

South Africa try to shake off chokers tag

When India won the 2nd ODI in their series against South Africa by 1 run, a crucial wrong decision went against them (Johna Botha) as there was no UDRS in place. I would argue that decision changed the result although of course there's no way anyone can say for sure.

From there the collapse specialists / chokers tag was always going to come back - it's like speculation on the stock market...it becomes self-fulfilling given the extra pressure.

I wonder if this "marshmallow syndrome" that has been written about would have surfaced if the UDRS had been in place in the South Africa / India ODI series?

Door opens for Morgan and Hussey

I previously questioned why squads had to be limited in number and said it wasn't good for the World Cup that Eoin Morgan and Mike Hussey wouldn't be gracing the latter stages of the tournament. Well, it seems fate has conspired to allow them both their chance and Hussey describes it as "a dream come true".

Morgan is getting his chance following Pietersen's withdrawal due to a hernia. Pietersen isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think his withdrawal is a huge blow. His batting is good enough that in the latter stages of the tournament he would have had the capability to win the game single-handedly, as Adam Gilchrist did in the 2007 final. But on top of that, his bowling should always have been a key part of England's strategy in this World Cup and he's being replaced by a non-bowler. Pietersen's bowling was quality yesterday and he was extremely unlucky not to have wickets to add to his economy rate of 3.75 in 8 overs, particularly the missed stumping.

England's best team now is: Strauss, Bopara, Trott, Bell, Morgan, Prior, Collingwood, Bresnan, Swann, Broad, Anderson. And Bopara needs to bowl.

England tactics are worrying for the rest of the WC

I know, I know, England won. And it's not fashionable to criticise a winning team. But I'm afraid I can't help it.

Strauss seems to have a happy knack of turning to the right bowler at the right time, but for the most part I hate his defensive field placings. When South Africa were 7 down he allowed Van Wyk and Steyn to knock the ball around without pressure with a deep field. England had to take wickets - a ring field assumed the only way to get wickets was through a huge batting error, hitting the ball in the air, apart from bowled and LBW.

This Cricinfo piece suggests that Strauss did a good job as captain but his fields drove me quietly insane! When Swann bowled his 10th over - one that England desperately needed a wicket in, there was just the slip and backward short-leg - where was the forward short-leg and silly point?

And when Broad bowled the match-changing 48th over of the South African innings, there wasn't a catcher in site - as Prior took the catch to win the game there was no lone slip next to him, let alone two - what if the edge had been a little thicker?

It seems only Dhoni and Sangakkara in world cricket are advocates of attacking captaincy and backing their bowlers....of course I want England to win the World Cup but assuming they don't, it would be nice to see an attacking captain win rather than one of the conservative camp, which Strauss, sadly for England, definitely falls into. He won't always get so lucky.

P.S. The best England team is still the one that hasn't been played yet, that I put forward at the start of the World Cup...hopefully England will get to it eventually.

Ireland - the home of cricket?

Grudgingly, I've got to admit I quite like Michael O'Leary's Ryanair advert declaring Ireland the home of cricket!

How come................

...............Ajit Agarkar has a Welsh accent?

World cup thoughts

Interesting to see that the Daily Mirror is so football-centric that it thinks that our men wear the same 'three lions on a shirt' that the players of the game for those with short attention spans wear.

Also nice to see that Sky has found a good use for that screen that Grey and that other bloke used.

Best bit is that Magners production should be back to normal.

Quality comments

These were in "The Spin" today from Kevin O'Brien:

"I am pretty heavy so I just get all my weight behind it."

and...

"The wicket was flat and the ground was small."

Very self-deprecating!

Dropped catches

I hadn't seen the catches that were dropped by England until I saw this video - what a nightmare! The easiest has to be Anderson's at long-on, but they were all very catchable and the only one that looks "droppable" by international standards is Anderson's first one....

Ireland's boundary-laden chase

Interesting to see just how the two sides varied in the way they made their runs in the England v Ireland game. Ireland had far more dot balls but a huge array of boundaries too!

Well played Ireland...

...and in particular Kevin O'Brien!

Irish hair

Looking forward to seeing the Irish team with either green hair or shaven entirely. Apparently it's to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society.

Cricket betting in India

Betting is of course illegal in India but if Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, gets his way then the sport governing body will receive a cut of betting revenues. I imagine that in that scenario the BCCI would be able to quickly change the Indian government's views on betting and it would soon be legalised...

UDRS in the spotlight again

The lesser version of the UDRS without hotspot is being used in the World Cup, but I doubt anyone knew there was a rule that if the batsman gets more than 2.5m forwards then the on-field umpire can ignore the technology. That seems strange as the accuracy of the technology, from what I understand, is more variable based on how far the ball travels between bounce and impact, rather than distance to travel after impact, but if that's the case, that's the case.

All that needed to happen was that the replays need to be shown in order - front foot from the bowler, did it hit him 2.5m or more away from the stumps, then the straight on replay (only when everyone is aware that it's likely to be irrelevant).

Not surprisingly, the additional layer on the UDRS annoyed MS Dhoni, and Andrew Strauss admitted he didn't know about it. Slightly worrying that no-one has thought to read the laws and match rules inside out as one misinterpretation can prove crucial - maybe the Bell incident will ensure that Strauss has the appropriate bed time reading.

Davies is gay makes front page news....really?

Who cares, who cares? If he wants to go public to tell the world he's gay that's totally up to him, but why is it being covered like it's huge news? One sentence somewhere would be more appropriate. We know the players won't have an issue with it after their naked modelling shoots together and James Anderson's comments when he modelled for a gay magazine.

Maybe it will be the 22nd century before sexual persuasion becomes an irrelevant issue.

England improving...

England couldn't finish the job having got themselves into a winning position but England supporters can take heart from the main part of the batting display which was perfectly paced. As an Englishman I'm used to match-changing collapses and the arrogant way that the likes of Botham, Hussain and, to a lesser extent, Atherton, assumed England would walk it - with Bell and Strauss batting well going into the final 10 overs - grated.


Sure enough two wickets in two balls saw England's set batsmen depart and the game started to slip away from England. The powerplay worked against the in-coming batsmen (not that it exactly helped the set ones), with Prior in particular drilling the ball straight at fielders inside the circle, and England couldn't have made more of a mess of the part of the game that's meant to work to their advantage. That's where they can make huge strides forwards in their future games. Losing 4 wickets in the powerplay was disasterous, especially when India had to return to their less experienced bowlers once it was over as Khan and Harbajan were bowled out.


The powerplay out of the way and with nothing to lose, Swann and Bresnan belted sixes off the Chawla over that England surely must have been waiting for and expecting big things from. But just as England were getting themselves into a good position Bresnan got bowled leaving 14 required off the final over. England managed to get 15 off the Chawla over but only scored off 4 balls. Shahzad displayed his cool with a straight six in the final over (hopefully England can learn from that - a low risk maximum rather than a swish across the line), and in the end England will feel they could have won given 2 needed off 1 ball. But with 29 needed with 2 wickets in hand and 11 balls to go, they'd have taken a tie every time.


Where does this put England? In a far better position than they were going into the match. Their bowling and fielding still has a long way to go, and I'm sure a level-head like Flower will be able to point out the shot selection issues as the pressure came on in the powerplay and at the end. That's good news - they aren't even playing that well and yet they tied with the tournament favourites.


It would be great if Strauss could show a little more flexibility in the field and to get the best side on the pitch he and Flower need to work out if they have confidence in Collingwood as a bowler. If you're going to give him just 3 overs rather than allow him to take the heat off Anderson given his off day then it is questionable whether they should pick Collingwood at all. On batting alone, Bopara is the more fluent so Collingwood should only be playing if they consider him an all-rounder and Strauss will give him the ball on days like today when one of his bowlers has an off-day. Only Strauss can answer what's going on in his mind in the field, but his batting has been fantastic and long may he remain top run scorer in the competition.


So take heart England supporters - loads of room for improvement and still tieing with India - it could be worse.

Sweat, sweat and more sweat

It's no surprise that the players are finding it hot work in the World Cup given the conditions. Chamara Silva has form for losing grip of his bat from last year, and the same happened again during Sri Lanka's game against Pakistan. What happened next? The clear winner in the world's sweatiest man competition, Shoaib Akhtar, picked the bat up and gave it back to him, ensuring the bat grip would be even wetter....

No wonder Silva couldn't take Sri Lanka to victory!

It was always in the bag....

From what I've read England couldn't have played any worse and still got a win. Could it be an omen? We started the world Twenty20 in terrible form and ended up winning that...!

The initial days of the World Cup

So far we've learnt:

- Sehwag is very dangerous when he comes off
- But not just to the opposition - his running is so poor it puts at risk his team mates and himself
- Kohli is a class player in the mould of Tendulkar so capable of playing that role if the little master is dismissed early
- Sangakarra and Jayawardene are superb and crucial to Sri Lanka's chances at this World Cup
- Lesser nations like Kenya are more prone to batting collapses
- Ray Price looks like a good opening bowling option for Zimbabwe - not surprising really as he is rated the 4th best ODI bowler in the world.

So, nothing learnt at all really as we knew all that already....

England's selection and batting order

I'm a little confused by some of the discussion about England's batting order - I thought the top 7 picked themselves in whatever order....Strauss, Pietersen, Trott, Bell, Bopara, Prior, Collingwood. But several observers seem to be missing Bopara from their potential team - Michael Vaughan seems to be expecting Bopara to miss out. And others don't seem to think Collingwood gets in.

When Bopara came in as a better 6th bowler than Trott, I thought it would mean that doubts about the selection of the top 7 would be banished, but apparently not. I can't quite work it out - the home sides all use all-rounders to fill the 5th bowling slot and many use up to 8 bowlers in a match. England can do the same using Pietersen, Trott and Bopara as necessary.

I have faith that Andy Flower will get this right, but we'll have to see!

KP as an opener?

That's not something I saw coming - using Pietersen as an opener. It didn't really work today with Pietersen making a start and not converting (no change there then), but it will be interesting to hear from England after he match whether this is the plan for the World Cup when it starts.

Stuart Broad played in the end, despite not being well, although why England felt they needed to ask the ICC for dispensation to play Tremlett (who's not in the squad) in a warm up game confuses me. It's up to them what they do isn't it - other sides have even fielded 12 or 13 players!

Disappointed that Bopara isn't in the side, as I imagine King Cricket might be given their Bopara piece yesterday - I thought the top 7 picked themselves and it was just a matter of working out what order to bat them in....

Out of The Ashes review

I don't know if anyone else has seen Out of The Ashes but my pre-Ashes deal to get Sky in return for my wife getting a dog meant that I have watched it now. It was eagerly anticipated by John Wright and by most cricket enthusiasts I imagine.

Overall view? It was ok. I know - hardly a sweeping judgement one way or the other, but perhaps it didn't live up to the hype? Maybe I was expecting too much, like knowing the score when you were watching the clips of matches, without which you only had the audio to guide you on the match situation and that happened all too rarely.

But there was one massive highlight for me. After a Shane Watson/Jonathan Trott style running mix up, two players were left at the same end. As the batsman that was out came off the pitch he shouted something which was translated below in English: "He's a bi-sexual. Why did you make me bat with a bi-sexual?"

That's what international cricket is all about....

The reason Australia lost the Ashes...

...has been revealed to be a lack of alcohol!

Butt takes commentary role after ban

How anyone can offer someone guilty of corruption a job in a related field, is difficult to fathom, but this seems to be what Channel 5 in Pakistan have done as they've offered Salman Butt a role on their commentary team. It says a lot that they must think that this will increase viewing figures, when logically it should mean a mass switch off.

Who know's if he'll be any good as a commentator? It remains to be seen if Butt will talk out of his arse....

Mosquitoe repellant required for Wolrd Cup

It seems that Bangladesh are very keen to ensure that the opening ceremony in Dhaka isn't marred by everyone involved getting eaten alive by mozzies according to the BBC. They're "deploying special teams" to wipe out mosquitoes apparently....if it was that easy then why can't these teams be deployed to The Isle of Skye and other places like that where you can't leave your house without losing a large proportion of your blood?

Cricketers facial hair iPhone app!?!

I know, I know....what on earth? King Cricket report that you can now get an iphone app that allows you to place cricketer's facial hair on any image of yourself or any friend, colleague or team mate.

If that's your kind of thing, then go for it!

England 1st team for the World Cup

Assuming the walking wounded make it for the 1st match of the World Cup I'd be going with:

Strauss, Trott, Bell, Pietersen, Bopara, Prior, Collingwood, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson.

If Collingwood finds batting form I'd bring him higher in the order because otherwise you've got four loose flashy players in a row. Yardy can consider himself unlucky and could come in for any of the bowlers on spin-friendly wickets, which some will be.

It's difficult to get concerned about the World Cup at this stage - if England make it to the knockout stage I'll take an interest then! Believe it or not, that's not until 23rd March! Three thoughts for you coming into the World Cup:

Limited squad numbers

I assume there's a very good reason for having a set number of players in a squad but off the top of my head I can't think of one. If the national board can pay for accomodation and flights, wouldn't it be easier to allow them as many as they need or want? That way the likes of Mike Hussey could grace the later stages of the competition....with it being 6 weeks in total, there is the prospect of some of the world's great players watching the final stages from home, fully fit. That seems daft, given that everyone - spectators, players and sponsors alike - want to see the best players available contesting the World Cup.

Warm up matches

Warm up matches need to be against local first class sides - warm up matches between international sides are just World Cup matches without anything riding on them. Completely pointless!

ODIs in general

Although he was quick to deny it, it's been claimed that Kevin Pietersen was considering retiring from ODIs after the World Cup. If he isn't, he isn't, but some will do eventually if the ICC don't take the decision to end ODIs and go back to two forms of international cricket. Twenty20 is where the money is and Test cricket is where the real skill and quality cricket is. Difficult though it is, the ICC and member countries need to take the decision to bring ODIs to an end.

Who will win? I'm going for Sri Lanka given that they're on home turf (until the final anyway). But there's any number of teams that can win it and with the final just the one match it's impossible for anyone to predict with any accuracy.

What a shame for Bopara

Much as he'll be excited by his elevation to take Eoin Morgan's place I find that I've now lost about 50% of my already dwindling interest in this tournament as a consequence and I bet there's plenty like me.

All going smoothly for the World Cup

Well perhaps not....one stadium not ready and a wall falling down in Chennai now. 6 hurt, but no fatalities. All bodes will then...

Simon Jones keeps on trying

You might have thought that Simon Jones had given up any international aspirations given his injuries, but he still thinks he may have a role to play in ODIs and Twenty20s sometime in the future....you have to admire his attitude.

American thoughts on cricket

You might like the "culture clash" cartoon I came across....

England shaping up poorly for the World Cup

Before The Ashes some people were worried that England's preparation was too smooth and of course they went on to dominate the series. Quite the opposite has happened in the run up to the World Cup. The side that is playing these matches has only one or two of the likely bowlers for the World Cup. Both sides are playing on wickets where even slower ball bouncers are in danger of being given as wides for getting too high, where as the wickets for the World Cup will be slow and almost certainly low. So the only advantage to be taken is one of positive morale and England have lost the huge positivity that came from The Ashes win...imagine if they'd had a good break before the two World Cup warm up matches and gone there with fresh players, many of whom were recent Ashes winners and/or World Twenty20 winners?

Instead, England will go to the World Cup jaded and low on confidence after a drubbing from Australia. So are there any positives to come from the incredibly drawn out series of ODIs in Australia? Possibly two.

First, Jonathan Trott is batting sensationally and has proven that he can bowl three or four overs without being a liability. But that's only possibly a positive because it remains to be seen if the confidence he will have going into the World Cup will translate into runs given that the wickets will be almost exact opposites of the Australian wickets he's been successful on.

And second, England may have realised they can play Collingwood as a bowler batting at seven who can be relied upon to bowl his 10 overs just as much as any of the other bowlers. He was England's most economical bowler in the 4th and 5th ODIs and, although that stat doesn't always hold up these days with some bowlers bowling nearly all their overs in powerplays and others not bowling any powerplay overs, he's certainly bowled well. As long as England play on grounds with normal size boundaries, England should have confidence in Collingwood as a bowler, knowing they can get a few overs out of Trott and Pietersen if necessary (and understanding that those guys are just as likely to be needed to fill in for one of the "bowlers" as Collingwood).

Do those possible positives outweigh the negatives? Not at all. If England really had to play 7 ODIs (not to mention two Twenty20s) then they needed to play them over a far shorter period of time and get home for a rest before heading to the World Cup. Winning or losing, 3 days was never a sensible amount of time to return to the UK for.

And what of Australia? They have the positive morale from winning of course, but they also have a couple of other positives - Hastings has found his feet and Michael Clarke has come good. But they also have the problem that form on Aussie wickets may not translate to form on slow sub-continent wickets, and one of their key bowlers - Nathan Hauritz - is now a major injury worry. So there will be positive noises of course, but Australia could have also benefited from a shorter or non-existent ODI series.

I wonder if there are odds on England playing a seven match ODI series the next time they visit Australia?

Cricketing photoshoot

The black and white photo of me that accompanies some of my posts is one that was taken for my work at Propellernet. We're now updating the website so we've all had another photo taken, but this time properly with professional cameraman, lighting etc. Everyone had to have a prop so mine was a bat and ball....a very surreal experience as I was told to "look natural" while playing a cricket shot with my head in front of the bat!

You'll see some of the offending photos on Cricket Burble at some point....!