England aiming to remain top dogs in 2012

By Iain Fletcher
Published on Sunday 15 January 2012 05:00

ENGLAND started this calendar year as the No.1 side in Test cricket, a title earned at the conclusion of their 4-0 thrashing of the previous best, India, last August. Since then, apart from a one-day jamboree, England have played no cricket.

The players have enjoyed an extended break with holidays, marriages and award ceremonies featuring extensively on their Twitter pages. They are rested and ready for a challenge.

That has been the message from captain Andrew Strauss. They want to stay the best for some time, to create a legacy as the West Indies and Australia have done in the past three decades. It will be some achievement if England can repeat that as those dynasties each lasted over a decade.

In the next 12 months England have a sequence of Test series that are obvious banana-skins. South Africa possess a fierce bowling attack and tour England this summer, while Australia are rediscovering their zest and ruthlessness with a new brood of youngsters. So, England did magnificently to get to be the best, but 2012 will decide how history judges this team.

The first problem to resolve is their inability to dominate on the sub-continent. This year they will play 15 Test matches. Dubai (acting as a proxy venue for Pakistan), Sri Lanka and India host nine of them. Asian teams are always much better at home as spin-friendly and low-bounce pitches suit their style. So, if England are to finish 2012 as they started it, they must achieve parity, if not supremacy in Asia.

The series starting on Tuesday in Dubai will reveal much. Three Tests against Pakistan whose then skipper Slamna Butt and two team-mates the last time they visited England, are currently guests of Her Majesty for match-fixing. Cricket needs this series to be without controversy or acrimony. The recent guilty plea by former Essex player Mervyn Westfield in a spot-fixing case, highlighted the danger of complacency towards corruption, even in domestic cricket. It also punctured the illusion in parts of the Caucasian cricketing world that match-fixing is a solely Asian issue.

Pakistan are currently also trying to rehabilitate themselves back into world cricket after the horrendous terrorist attack in 2009 that nearly ended with the death of some of the Sri Lankan touring team. Since then, Pakistan have not hosted a single international match. MCC officials are due to visit and report on any improvements in security. If that report is favourable, the wheels will start in motion to restore them to the status of international hosts.

But, instead of these matters, the cricketing world should be looking forward to debating the merits of Saeed Ajmal’s “mystery ball” that he has claimed will bamboozle England’s batters, and seeing if the England seamers can adapt to conditions where their natural pace and bounce are nullified.

Indeed, the series will be won or lost on that last point. Chris Tremlett, Graham Onions, Stephen Finn, Stuart Broad and James Anderson are the high-performance vehicles which could speed England to victory. They have performed well in two warm-up wins and filled the gap left by Tim Bresnan’s departure due to an elbow injury. Bresnan is a big loss. Not only is he a talisman as he has never lost in Test cricket but he bowls hard overs in the middle of innings when the ball is soft and the batsmen dominant, is excellent at reverse swing and is a wonderfully productive lower order batsman. Off the pitch he is a no-nonsense Yorkshireman with no time for cant or sophistry. Exactly what a dressing room needs on an arduous tour.

Apart from Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan, the batsmen are in form and much will depend on Alastair Cook and Strauss providing a good platform. England will need to make big first-innings totals to give the bowlers time to grind out Pakistan wickets. Bumpers and bouncers, the staples of roughing up Asian batters in England, will not work. Instead disciplined plans with pinpoint execution aided by electric fielding and catching will be required. That counts double when Graeme Swann is bowling – and Monty Panesar if two spinners are selected. Edges and nicks around the crease will need to be snaffled.

There is much to be excited about this year. England will be exposed to and tested by some superb cricketers and good teams. They will have to adapt to tough conditions which suit their opponents and deal with the pressure of being the hunted rather than the hunter. This is what they wanted, now they must deal with being at the top.

Dominant sides have remained so because of their bowling resources and England’s are the best they have ever been. Anderson, Broad, Bresnan, Tremlett, Onions, Finn, Swann and Panesar have a legacy in their grasp. How good are they? England have two complete Test attacks. That good.

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