England Cricketer’s are so tired it is unfair to think they should win the World Cup
Another rollercoaster of a game saw England keep their World Cup hopes alive by beating the West Indies by 18 runs in Chennai. England must now hope that South Africa beat Bangladesh and that the West Indies fail to overcome the hosts in the final game of the pool stages. One of these results going England’s way would see them through to the quarter finals. But by golly haven’t they done it the hard way. Winning games that should have been lost and somehow managing to find defeat against lesser teams with some, at times, extremely poor cricket.
Ex-captain, Michael Vaughan, today said that nobody in their right mind could write England off. ‘They’ve proved that in these tight games, all you need is to score one more than the opposition.’ We’ve seen glimpses of the Ashes winning heroics but we’re yet to see a complete performance from this talented bunch.
Can we really expect our boys to get all the way to final and win it? The big issue over the course of this World Cup has been the length of time these players have spent away from home. It’s bound to take its toll at some point and there’s an argument that is already has.
The players that are involved with both the Test and One Day International Squads have been away for all but a few days since October. They’ve spent Christmas and New Year away from their homes and their families; they went home for two days before jetting off to India for the beginning of the World Cup. A hard task for anyone, and it could be said to be even harder for professional sportsmen who are constantly playing under the severe pressure of the modern sporting world.
The inconsistency of this World Cup campaign has shown just how tired these players really are. Strauss’ 150 against India was nothing but sublime but it’s been few and far between for the England batsmen. All except the ever dependable Jonathan Trott, who has been the main stand-out batter and scored consistently throughout the winter. However we would be wrong to ignore the fact that the two leading runs scorers in the tournament are in fact Trott and Strauss.
Injuries have ravaged the England World Cup effort. The exit of talisman Pietersen and subsequent injury of Strike Bowler, Broad has put pressure on a talented squad and it’s shown. James Anderson has vastly underperformed in all except one match and there’s a case that tiredness has taken over, forcing England to drop their key pace man for Thursday’s game against the West Indies. Ian Bell had looked in fantastic form throughout the Ashes series but is yet to find that sort of form in this World Cup. He’s shown glimpses and we all know what he is capable of but he seems unable to kick on and prove us all right.
The fatigue has been most apparent in the bowling attack. Shazhad is out of the competition after pulling a hamstring during training. Illness has set in, striking down Swann for a few days in the build up to England’s all important clash with the West Indies. Discarded all-rounder, Paul Collingwood has also been suffering from the stomach bug that is so common in the sub-continent.
These injuries and illnesses could be behind the woeful inconsistency in England performances but it’s obvious that being away from home for so long has its effect on anyone (except maybe iron-man Trott) and it’s going to get even harder if England progress to the quarter finals. Tiredness and fatigue could be the reason behind England’s inability to resist injury and illness.
We would be wrong to suggest that we should win the world cup but without a definite standout team like the Australian teams of the past, we can certainly say that Strauss’ men have a chance.
The ECB should seriously reconsider the way in which they plan the International calendar. They have already made moves to try and improve the durability of England’s players by reducing the Australian One-Day International series to 5 games from the previous 7. But surely, if we want to give our boys the best chance of bringing the trophy home we must look to change the Ashes by a year, avoiding the build up to the World Cup. The tour down under is the longest of all England’s tours; spanning 5 Test’s and 7 ODI’s with two T20’s mixed in there too. This is a ridiculous amount of Cricket and is surely to blame for the inconsistent way the players have performed this World Cup.
Some will argue that it’s their job and they have to get on with it but you try spending 5 months in foreign countries whilst trying to perform in a high-intensity, pressurised environment. It’s not going to work. We must change the way our International fixture list pans out or we can never truly expect our players to challenge against well rested and well trained players.
