England have no aces up their sleeve

If only someone like Andrew Flintoff could spark with the bat, a lot of problems would be solved. But he’s only done it twice in his one-day career. And that doesn’t give anyone a lot of confidence.

England have made the World Cup final thrice. That’s more than most other teams, and matched only by West Indies and Australia. But they have never been able to make it beyond that. Now, the reason why England will never win the World Cup is that they always prefer hard work to flair. The trouble is also that most of England’s ’flair’ players have been really awkward customers, prone to self-destruction.

Like Australia, which is the oldest side in this World Cup with an average age of almost 30, England is also an ageing side. Our average age is around 29. This is an oft-discussed topic, and one that has a lot of basis in truth. A professional game means a salary, which ends when a player stops playing. This is true for all sports. Now, unfortunately, a well-paid second career eludes most, which is why a lot of England cricketers cling on as long as they can in international cricket.

And, while on the topic of age, I don’t agree that 39-year-old Alec Stewart is indispensable to the side. Stewart is a good timer of the ball when batting. That’s fine, when the pitches are friendly, and the bowling is not too good. He is therefore rarely able to adjust his game to tougher conditions. As a result of that, he has never won us matches against the better one-day sides.

But England’s experiment with the specialist one-day side that played in Sharjah, led by Adam Holliaoke, also wasn’t persisted with after they got thrashed by a very ordinary West Indian side. That’s where that experiment ended.

(As told to Shamya Dasgupta)