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Andrew Strauss confident England will be competitive in World Cup

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England's World Cup dream hinges on Kevin Pietersen gamble More... England's World Cup dream hinges on Kevin Pietersen gamble A repeat of the World Twenty20 triumph is unlikely if England's new opening partnership fails or their bowlers are not fully fit Kevin-Pietersen-England-W-007.jpgKevin Pietersen, for all his desperate lack of runs in the one-day game over the past two years, remains one of the most potentially destructive match‑winning batsmen at the Cricket World Cup. Interminable the recent one-day series in Australia may have been, and draining on a group of players most of whom had been on the road since the end of October. Yet there is another aspect, for without it England would have gone into the World Cup not having played any 50-over cricket for five months, and a lot can happen in that time. Certainly they would not wish to have selected a squad on the basis of what happened back then. Here at least was an opportunity for Andy Flower to look at options and test the water. In this he was hamstrung only in that he was forced to declare his hand after one game only, and thus would be obliged, had injuries not intervened, to run with what he would be taking to the subcontinent. Mainly, the series in which England were beaten heavily was not so much designed to confirm choices and positions, as act as a final eliminator of ideas. The first casualty was Steve Davies, who had there not been these games would almost certainly have kept a place. Very early on the decision was taken to reintroduce to the mix Matt Prior, who had been playing for Victoria in the Big Bash Twenty20 competition. In the search for a power-hitter at the top of the order, he was given the opportunity and failed. One suspects that this may have been what the management thought would happen, felt they had to get it out of the way, and that on the slower, flatter pitches of the subcontinent it was always in their mind to use either Ian Bell or, as it has transpired, Kevin Pietersen to partner Andrew Strauss. So from the mayhem in Australia has emerged something of significance, which ought to make England a more competitive side than many believe to be the case. In giving Pietersen the challenge of getting the innings off to a flyer, Flower is paying some lip service to his ego. In the absence of Eoin Morgan through injury, Pietersen, for all his desperate lack of runs in this form of the game over the past two years since he lost the captaincy and sustained an achilles tendon injury, remains one of the most potentially destructive match‑winning batsmen in the game. Lack of form is one thing but his fundamental ability has not deserted him. He thrives on the glamour of the big occasions, in front of large crowds, and loves to be the man. He will find little lateral movement with which to contend, and will have the space beyond the infield to exploit. His destruction of Dale Steyn in the World Twenty20, in which he scored 23 from the eight deliveries bowled to him by the world's leading fast bowler, shows his appetite for pace. Unless a side has the imagination to come at him early with slow bowling (as New Zealand did to flummox their opponents in the 1992 competition) he could be long since up and running by the time the restrictions come in. England are by no means in the sort of mess that might be indicated by the results in Australia. Providing the players prove fit for purpose, the injuries to key bowlers in Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, as well as Paul Collingwood's back strain, will prove a blessing in disguise, giving them rest where there would otherwise have been little. Collingwood in particular will surely have benefited from what effectively has been a line drawn under a torrid winter for him. The ineffectiveness of Luke Wright as a credible fill-in bowler has served to emphasise Collingwood's value on slow pitches, where his cutters and change of pace can be so effective. Rarely in a career that has involved more games than any other England player has he bowled out his full complement of overs, but expect him to contribute substantially over the next few weeks. The bowling in fact is in good order, as decent as any to be found if lacking in the sort of depth that is possessed by, say, India. It is to the batting, though, that England will have to look, for this promises to be a batsmen's tournament, with bowlers subservient. The scoring is likely to be high, particularly in India, where England play five of their six group matches. In Nagpur, for example, where they face the Netherlands, two matches in the past 10 years have involved an average run rate of 6.1 per over. In Bangalore, where they play India and Ireland, it is dead on a run a ball over seven matches, while for six games in Chennai, where they take on South Africa and West Indies, it is 5.7. For their single group match outside India, against Bangladesh in Chittagong, the average rate drops to 4.4, although that is a reflection of the quality of the home side as much as the slowness of the surface. Wherever they play it will be crucial that England take full advantage of the power plays, with the timing of the batting power play, a facet that England have yet to master, an aspect that may well swing games. Immediately after the ball-change at 34 overs would seem logical. The nature of the tournament, so protective of the welfare of the marquee names after the upsets of the 2007 tournament in the Caribbean, means that England would need to play inordinately badly – their most likely trouble coming at the hands of Tamim Iqbal and the Bangladeshi tweakers on their own pitch – not to progress to a quarter-final in which, depending on their position in the league table of group matches, they would play in Dhaka, Colombo or Ahmedabad. If the batsmen have fired by then, and England have gathered momentum as they did in the World Twenty20 tournament last May, then they can progress beyond that, and should not be discounted as potential winners. If the batting flops, then it will be home.

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Andrew Strauss confident England will be competitive in World Cup More... Andrew Strauss confident England will be competitive in World Cup Michelle Beckett England captain Andrew Strauss claims that the confidence of winning matches has returned to his side, after success in the country’s warm-up matches against Pakistan and Canada. The Poms had a terrific 2010. They started the year by winning the Twenty20 World Cup, and then ended the year on a high as well, after retaining the Ashes against the Kangaroos in Australia for the first time in 24 years. However, the start to 2011 wasn’t good for the Englishmen. They lost a seven-match One Day International (ODI) series against Australia 6-1 and their confidence was badly bruised. The team also lost one of their best ODI batsmen, Eoin Morgan who fractured his finger ahead of the mega event, and things were looking grim for them. However, Strauss claimed, “It is all about confidence. We gained quite a lot of confidence out of that Pakistan game, purely because it was going back to a formula that has worked for us quite well in the past.†Strauss further added that his team would have the perfect opportunity to continue their winning formula in the group matches of the World Cup and that would also give the team a lot of practice. Even though the England captain was missing star middle-order batsman Morgan, he said that the available players would have to be consistent. England have tried to shuffle their batting order somewhat and that has seemed to work for them. They will be looking forward to some of the senior members in the team to do well and win matches for them. The return of Stuart Broad has also been terrific for England as the young all-rounder has grabbed 10 wickets in his two warm-up matches.

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Kevin Pietersen out of the World Cup

Cricket World Cup 2011: England batsman Kevin Pietersen to return home early due to a hernia injury Kevin Pietersen is to return home early from England’s World Cup campaign due to a hernia injury. Telegraph Sport can disclose that Pietersen could leave the tournament as early as Monday when the rest of the squad fly from India to Chittagong in Bangladesh for their next World Cup match on Friday. The news will be a blow to England’s hopes and leave them searching for a new partner to open the batting with Andrew Strauss. Pietersen appeared sluggish running in the field against South Africa but managed to defy the pain to bowl eight overs of spin. However, he complained of soreness after the game and the England management decided to act quickly. The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Saturday that Pietersen had been scheduled to have surgery on the injury at the end of the World Cup, a move that would rule him out of the Indian Premier League season. Pietersen admitted in a statement that the hernia would “no doubt impact my preparation” for the rest of the World Cup and England have decided they cannot afford to gamble on carrying an injured player.

kp_1841841c.jpgLeaving early: Kevin Pietersen to return home early from the Cricket World Cup due to a hernia injury Photo: GETTY IMAGES

England care expected to apply to the ICC’s technical committee over the next 48 hours to replace Pietersen in their squad with a return for Eoin Morgan a possibility. Morgan was originally ruled out of the tournament with a broken finger but has responded well to treatment and is now netting with Middlesex. England’s win over South Africa has eased their passage into the next round, they need one win from their final two matches to be sure of progression, meaning that if Morgan was called up but not deemed fit enough for Friday’s match against Bangladesh, his absence would not be crucial and the management could wait for him to be ready for the quarter-final stage. Another player under consideration will be Craig Kieswetter, who was successful opening the batting in a one-day series in Bangladesh last year and is in form playing for the England Lions in the Caribbean. For Pietersen this blow leaves his international career at a crossroads. He has repeatedly denied reports that he will retire from 50 over cricket at the end of this tournament but it has been an open secret around the team that he has struggled with the international schedule. He has not looked happy in 50 over cricket since he lost the England captaincy two years ago and his dismissal for a duck yesterday was the latest in a run of low scores. It is now 27 matches since his last hundred in this form of the game, a spell that stretches back to 2008 during which he averages only 23. England had hoped the World Cup stage would reignite his passion for the game in the same way the World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies last year brought the best out of him. They even decided to press him into the opener’s role handing him the opportunity to cash in on the easiest period to bat in India. He has showed flashes of form but has managed to get out in bizarre circumstances falling to freakish caught and bowled against India before playing a tentative reverse sweep against Ireland. At the weekend the ECB estimated his recuperation from surgery at six weeks. If he is operated on this week, Pietersen could be fit by the end of April meaning he could still fulfil part of a $600,000 contract with the IPL side the Deccan Chargers. England though will want him to conserve his energy for a busy summer of Test cricket against Sri Lanka and India. Sunday’s tumble of early wickets was the first time the Pietersen-Strauss opening partnership had not posted a first wicket score of at least 68. If England do not replace Pietersen with another opener, they could promote Ian Bell up the order. They will be reluctant to move Ravi Bopara from number five where he scored 60 yesterday on his return to the side to earn the man of the match award. Paul Collingwood’s career looked to be over yesterday when he was dropped for Bopara but injury to Pietersen may mean a reprieve particularly as England will be looking to replace the former captain’s part-time spin, which was a useful option for Strauss yesterday. http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/current/story/504484.html

After AUS calls for Hussey, looks like England is doing the same for Morgan.

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