England aim for #1 in tests

[Tigerbait]

The English take second place when it comes to a delusional fan base. Next only to our neighbors to the West.

[Midfielder]

The English take second place when it comes to a delusional fan base. Next only to our neighbors to the West.

So true.

[Midfielder]

Its not all about the rankings you know. For example if england whitewashed SL and India this summer I would say thats a pretty big claim to being the number 1 test side. And before you all jump on me im not saying a whitewash will happen at all.

If wishes were horses than beggars would ride them.

[saneindian]

I have a funny feeling Lanka is going to beat England and gatecrash the " impending whitewash summer party". They drew the test series 1-1 last time and like India did in 2007 after a drawn series in 2002, may very well go onto win this. England have massively under estimated the Lankans and have written them off. Will play into Lanka's hands.

[rkt.india]

The upcoming test series will settle the #1 debate in the short term. Its important that we find a swing bowler to assist Zaheer. Last time Sree struggled against the lefties in England. Here's hoping RP Singh wil make a come back in time.

Sreeshanth was garbage last time. He even struggled to complete his run and was bowling spot fixing kind of no balls....

[saneindian]

Sreeshanth was garbage last time. He even struggled to complete his run and was bowling spot fixing kind of no balls....

Not entirely true. He was briiliant at Lord's and bowled beautifully at Oval on a road of a pitch. With some luck could have ended with 4-5 more wickets that he eventually ended the series with (3 tests, 9 wickets). Yes he struggled to control the swing at times, but when he got it right, the right handers were all at sea against him especially Vaughan and Collingwood. Used to bowl some dream deliveries without much luck. A few catches were dropped off his bowling as well. His real problem was in the 2nd test where he lost it mentally, bowled beamers, very stupid no balls. Expect a better performance from him on this tour. Hopefully he will leave behind most of his buffoonery in Kochi and will do justice to his talent through the series.

[Cricket Tragic]

Yeah, let's hope that his focus in on bowling. His behaviour and beamers last time were embarrassing.

[ravishingravi]

If Indian players are fit I don't see how ENgland can beat them given how India performed in last series against pretty much similar English side

[Guest Gunner]

I have a funny feeling Lanka is going to beat England and gatecrash the " impending whitewash summer party". They drew the test series 1-1 last time and like India did in 2007 after a drawn series in 2002, may very well go onto win this. England have massively under estimated the Lankans and have written them off. Will play into Lanka's hands.

Absolutely. If Sri Lanka kick their ass it is going to be uber funny and right now the way I see it this might very well occur. :cantstop::cantstop:

[BERGKAMP]

Let's not get too carried away, England is a very powerful team in England and I don't think SL have the firepower to constantly take 20 wickets. England should beat them comfortably, anyway this is just the starters before the main course.

[rkt.india]

Not entirely true. He was briiliant at Lord's and bowled beautifully at Oval on a road of a pitch. With some luck could have ended with 4-5 more wickets that he eventually ended the series with (3 tests, 9 wickets). Yes he struggled to control the swing at times, but when he got it right, the right handers were all at sea against him especially Vaughan and Collingwood. Used to bowl some dream deliveries without much luck. A few catches were dropped off his bowling as well. His real problem was in the 2nd test where he lost it mentally, bowled beamers, very stupid no balls. Expect a better performance from him on this tour. Hopefully he will leave behind most of his buffoonery in Kochi and will do justice to his talent through the series.

I think he was good only in patches and in one test was bowling long no balls. I was hoping him to be the best bowler on that tour but he disappointed. Any other bowler could have done better than him and he has always been like that since then. Bowls well in patches and those patches take a lot of time to come. He was so bad that I myself was embarrassed seen him bowling like that tour. He was rubbish than a club bowler. He was bowler who didn't know how to run in his run up. Bowling beamer, meter long no balls that was his specialty on that tour. He took wickets because he has those wicket taking deliveries which he can produce out of nowhere because of his good action and upright seam position. It was the last test where he could do better. There were talks of him sitting out for last test, but with no experienced back up, he was fortunate to play that test. His problem his he looses his run up and action very easily and also does not have stamina to bowl long spells where he can sustain his pace and line and length. We saw these problems even in Capetown test which we could have won but he was not even able to bowl over 125k and was not even bowling accurate at that pace.

[Feed]

England's cricketers still have a long way to go to reach the summit More... England's cricketers still have a long way to go to reach the summit As prestigious a feat as winning the Ashes was, it was a false peak. Here are five areas England must work on to be No1 Can England become the best Test team in the world? Three months from now we will have a much clearer idea. As prestigious and prodigious a feat as winning the Ashes in Australia was, it was also something of a false peak. England have a long way to go before they reach the real summit. India have a firm hold on the title which England aspire to. They have never lost a Test series under MS Dhoni's captaincy, a run of 11 rubbers in three years that has seen them beat Australia, England and Sri Lanka at home. They have drawn three times with South Africa, whom they have an 11-point lead over in the ICC rankings. That is a wider margin than the one between South Africa in second and Australia in fifth. And for all the talk of their being over the hill, among the batsmen only Rahul Dravid's form shows any sign of souring with age. Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the cricketer of year by both Wisden and the ICC, due recognition for the 1,562 runs he scored in 2010 at an average of 78, more than anyone else in the game - more than he has scored in any other of his 22 years of Test cricket. VVS Laxman was scarcely less impressive, with 939 Test runs at 67, and Virender Sehwag scored 1,422 at a lick under 62. It is a mistake to think that Duncan Fletcher is going to have to spend his two years as coach ushering in the next generation. That task will most likely fall on whoever follows him. Fletcher's job will be to keep this team at the top. The hardest part is not going to be replacing Sachin, Sehwag and VVS, but getting the best out of Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth, or else finding another fast bowler or two to be a regular partner for Zaheer Khan. But that is all for later in the summer. Right now it is Sri Lanka who stand in England's way. Their 38-run win against the England Lions after being forced to follow-on should have stung enough to snap England and their fans out of the complacent notion that just because the tourists do not have Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan in their squad they will be easy meat. No team that contains three batsmen of the quality of Tilakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara will be easily beaten and while the young quicks Nuwan Pradeep and Thisara Perera may be unheralded, they could also be underestimated. Other than the sides in their way, what separates England from the No1 ranking? Five things that the Spin can think of. First among them is the split captaincy. This is not necessarily a hindrance, but could conceivably be one. Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower were both honest enough to admit that the move is a gamble. I asked Flower recently what he felt the potential dangers of the system were: "Look there are very obvious issues," Flower replied warily. "There is an overlap in contributions to selection meetings. There is the fact that players who are common to two or three of the sides have to adjust to new leaders. The maturity and integrity with which the three captains operate is going to be absolutely vital. They are going to have to trust each other completely and the players are going to have to feel that trust. And they are going to have to communicate, certainly with me a lot, but also with their fellow captains. And that means a slightly increased workload." Second is the contribution made by Kevin Pietersen, who averaged over 50 in all forms in his first two years in the England team but under 40 in his past three. He remains the one batsman in the team capable of becoming the best in the world. Flower has challenged him to do that, saying it will be a vital part of the team's progression. Since Pietersen lost the captaincy - and it is clear that was a watershed in his career - he has scored only two centuries in 90 innings for England, fewer than any other regular batsman. Even Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior have made more in that time. He is being picked on past performance and future potential. England could become the best team in the world without him, but it would be a lot easier with him. This summer he will have to play against a host of men who are ahead of him in the rankings. It will be intriguing to see how he measures up. The third is Eoin Morgan. As dismal as Collingwood's form was in the Ashes, it was not so long ago that he was the bulwark of the side. He was England's emergency service, the man they called on in a crisis. He added solidity and stability to the middle order. Morgan is naturally a more attacking player, but will his inclusion alter the dynamic of the batting unit? Will he be able to come good when the top order fails? Then there is the bowling. England's strength among their seamers has never been better, with at least seven men competing for three spots. Can Flower and David Saker continue to manage their rest and rotation as well as they did during the winter? If they can this could be the team's single greatest strength in their drive towards the top of the rankings. But they also need to identify their back-up for Graeme Swann. At the moment Swann is so important that they are an injury away from being half the team they are. With Monty Panesar and Adil Rashid waiting in the wings, the talent is there, but it would be good to see the selectors give one or the other of them a chance to challenge Swann in the same way that the likes of Shahzad and Finn have Broad and Anderson. These are some of the questions. We will start getting some answers on Thursday. It is going to be a fascinating summer.

[Cricket Tragic]

England's cricketers still have a long way to go to reach the summit

Can England become the best Test team in the world? Three months from now we will have a much clearer idea. As prestigious and prodigious a feat as winning the Ashes in Australia was, it was also something of a false peak. England have a long way to go before they reach the real summit. India have a firm hold on the title which England aspire to. They have never lost a Test series under MS Dhoni's captaincy, a run of 11 rubbers in three years that has seen them beat Australia, England and Sri Lanka at home. They have drawn three times with South Africa, whom they have an 11-point lead over in the ICC rankings. That is a wider margin than the one between South Africa in second and Australia in fifth. And for all the talk of their being over the hill, among the batsmen only Rahul Dravid's form shows any sign of souring with age. Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the cricketer of year by both Wisden and the ICC, due recognition for the 1,562 runs he scored in 2010 at an average of 78, more than anyone else in the game - more than he has scored in any other of his 22 years of Test cricket. VVS Laxman was scarcely less impressive, with 939 Test runs at 67, and Virender Sehwag scored 1,422 at a lick under 62. It is a mistake to think that Duncan Fletcher is going to have to spend his two years as coach ushering in the next generation. That task will most likely fall on whoever follows him. Fletcher's job will be to keep this team at the top. The hardest part is not going to be replacing Sachin, Sehwag and VVS, but getting the best out of Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth, or else finding another fast bowler or two to be a regular partner for Zaheer Khan. But that is all for later in the summer. Right now it is Sri Lanka who stand in England's way. Their 38-run win against the England Lions after being forced to follow-on should have stung enough to snap England and their fans out of the complacent notion that just because the tourists do not have Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan in their squad they will be easy meat. No team that contains three batsmen of the quality of Tilakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara will be easily beaten and while the young quicks Nuwan Pradeep and Thisara Perera may be unheralded, they could also be underestimated. Other than the sides in their way, what separates England from the No1 ranking? Five things that the Spin can think of. First among them is the split captaincy. This is not necessarily a hindrance, but could conceivably be one. Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower were both honest enough to admit that the move is a gamble. I asked Flower recently what he felt the potential dangers of the system were: "Look there are very obvious issues," Flower replied warily. "There is an overlap in contributions to selection meetings. There is the fact that players who are common to two or three of the sides have to adjust to new leaders. The maturity and integrity with which the three captains operate is going to be absolutely vital. They are going to have to trust each other completely and the players are going to have to feel that trust. And they are going to have to communicate, certainly with me a lot, but also with their fellow captains. And that means a slightly increased workload." Second is the contribution made by Kevin Pietersen, who averaged over 50 in all forms in his first two years in the England team but under 40 in his past three. He remains the one batsman in the team capable of becoming the best in the world. Flower has challenged him to do that, saying it will be a vital part of the team's progression. Since Pietersen lost the captaincy - and it is clear that was a watershed in his career - he has scored only two centuries in 90 innings for England, fewer than any other regular batsman. Even Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior have made more in that time. He is being picked on past performance and future potential. England could become the best team in the world without him, but it would be a lot easier with him. This summer he will have to play against a host of men who are ahead of him in the rankings. It will be intriguing to see how he measures up. The third is Eoin Morgan. As dismal as Collingwood's form was in the Ashes, it was not so long ago that he was the bulwark of the side. He was England's emergency service, the man they called on in a crisis. He added solidity and stability to the middle order. Morgan is naturally a more attacking player, but will his inclusion alter the dynamic of the batting unit? Will he be able to come good when the top order fails? Then there is the bowling. England's strength among their seamers has never been better, with at least seven men competing for three spots. Can Flower and David Saker continue to manage their rest and rotation as well as they did during the winter? If they can this could be the team's single greatest strength in their drive towards the top of the rankings. But they also need to identify their back-up for Graeme Swann. At the moment Swann is so important that they are an injury away from being half the team they are. With Monty Panesar and Adil Rashid waiting in the wings, the talent is there, but it would be good to see the selectors give one or the other of them a chance to challenge Swann in the same way that the likes of Shahzad and Finn have Broad and Anderson. These are some of the questions. We will start getting some answers on Thursday. It is going to be a fascinating summer http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/24/the-spin-england-cricketers

[Cricket Tragic]

A pretty balanced article.

[Serani]

A pretty balanced article.

Hence the reason nobody has commented bashing the shameless english media.

[Midfielder]

Hence the reason nobody has commented bashing the shameless english media.

It is an OK article. If India does not have a slow start you have no prayer. Beat you like a drum.

[Feed]

We’ll be world number 1: Swann More... We’ll be world number Swann GRAEME SWANN - Cricket columnist Published: Today IT'S great to have the Test team back together for the first time since that historic day in January when we won the Ashes. But, behind the mickey-taking and swapping of stories, lies a serious intent. We want to become the No 1 Test team in the world. If we play well against Sri Lanka and India in the coming weeks and a few other results go our way, we could achieve our goal this summer. The final Test against India at The Oval ends on August 22 and wouldn't it be fantastic if that date signalled our rise to the summit? It was a couple of years ago that all the players and management sat down and made it our avowed intention to become the world's top-rated team. Our stats man - one of the few people intelligent enough to understand the rankings system! - worked out the permutations that could take us to the top. One certain requirement was that we needed to win most if not all of our own series. And that has happened. We have won six and drawn one of our last seven series so things have worked out perfectly so far. We are currently No 3 in Test cricket and definitely moving in the right direction. We fancy our chances against any opposition in our home conditions. Our Ashes win- the first by an England team in Australia for 24 years - was 4½ months ago but the memories will last for ever. We have been like a bunch of kids in the changing room in Cardiff this week, like the first day back at school after a long holiday. To have the Test team back together feels very special. Some people have said a Test match in Cardiff is not the most glamorous homecoming for the Ashes players. But we don't regard it as a homecoming - after all, so much has happened since then. Anyway, the only previous Test in Cardiff was the thriller back in 2009 when James Anderson and Monty Panesar clung on for a draw against Australia. That was the first Test in the series and set us up for another memorable Ashes win. England's most recent match was against Sri Lanka in the World Cup quarter-final in late March and we were beaten by 10 wickets. But one-day cricket and Test cricket are almost like different sports. Especially when one game is in 40-degree heat and 90 per cent humidity of Colombo and the other is in the fresh early-season surroundings of the SWALEC Stadium. I've also heard it's going to be a bit breezy. That will be a novelty for the Sri Lankans trying to bowl in 50mph gusts. We wouldn't look forward to strong winds so the Sri Lankans will probably feel like going home. Of course, we're not taking Sri Lanka lightly. They were annihilated for the first couple of days against England Lions but came back to win after following-on. That showed a lot of fighting qualities and we are only too aware that Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are two of the top half-dozen batsmen in the world. But our quick bowlers in particular were brilliant at home against Bangladesh and Pakistan last summer and, if they produce something similar this time, we should do well. Personally, I feel very refreshed after a good break following the World Cup. I've played a couple of county games for Notts. The ball came out nicely against Sussex at Hove although I picked up a groin niggle which took a week or two to shake off. I bowled only a handful of overs against Warwickshire because the conditions favoured the seamers. So I'm a little underdone in terms of match practice but I'm feeling great in the nets and I hope to hit the ground running at the start of the international season like I have in the last couple of years.

[saneindian]

Basically what Swann is expecting that India gets whitewashed in WI and then Engand whitewash Sri Lanka and India as well. Wishful thinking at best.

[Gotham Cronie]

Swann:

"We want to become the No 1 Test team in the world. If we play well against Sri Lanka and India in the coming weeks and a few other results go our way, we could achieve our goal this summer."

Headline: "We’ll be world number : Swann"

[Ramzz]

Hehe, waiting for another pasting of Swann at the hands of the little master.