Familiarity breeds competence
England have the first-mover advantage when it comes to the Twenty20 format, says Andrew Miller
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Some countries haven't quite shaken off the impression that Twenty20 cricket is a gimmick. Not so England, for whom the two-week midsummer jamboree has reinvigorated the domestic game and provided the first-class counties with a vital injection of popular support. Nowhere is the format more firmly established, or more seriously contested, and consequently England will be disappointed with anything less than a semi-final slot. That is, after all, what they managed in each of the first five World Cups, back in the days when they too played more 50- and 60-over cricket than any other nation.
As above. The squad are at ease with the concept, and in theory at least, have men for all occasions. A big-hitting top order, canny improvisers for the middle overs, out-and-out strike bowlers, asphyxiatingly slow spinners, and men who have five years' experience of batting and bowling at the death - which in this form of the game can be quicker and more painful than ever before. Plus, for the first time in a long time, England are entering a one-day tournament with a semblance of form, after their impressive performances in the NatWest Series against India.
England are a much improved limited-overs side and no aspect of their game symbolises this change better than their fielding
Ian Chappell |
There was a suspicion, when England's squad was announced, that the selectors were using the competition as a journeyman's day in the sun. The team's performance in the 50-over World Cup meant that changes were inevitable, but trading regular international performers such as Ian Bell and Monty Panesar for county pros such as Maddy and Chris Schofield, who have not seen international service since the early days of Duncan Fletcher, would be regarded as a risk in any form of the game.
Kevin Pietersen Pietersen has been quiet in Twenty20s to date, but he has never yet failed to front up when the stakes are at their highest. If he finds his most devastating range, this tournament could be his for the taking.
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Luke Wright Amid the medley of proven and unproven performers, there's one man in the squad who could turn out to be a name for the future. Sussex's 22-year-old Luke Wright is a genuine allrounder - a medium-quick in the mould of Jacques Kallis, and a blistering opening batsman whose finished as the season's top-scorer in the Twenty20 Cup with 346 runs, including a 44-ball century against the eventual champions, Kent.
England are a much improved limited-overs side and no aspect of their game symbolises this change better than their fielding. They have taken on the personality of their livewire captain Paul Collingwood, and they scamper and dive and generally save many more runs in the field than they did in the World Cup just five months ago.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo