Cricket: Shaky England given much food for thought

No-one in Alastair Cook’s team will be suckered into concluding they have done themselves justice after all over the past month, just because Matt Prior got them out of jail at Eden Park.

After a series in which only Prior – and arguably Nick Compton – enhanced their status, there is much more for captain Cook and coach Andy Flower to worry about than there is to celebrate. That, of course, is not to say all is lost going into a summer which starts with a two-Test rematch against the Kiwis and, as anyone with the slightest interest in this sport knows, builds up, via a home Champions Trophy, to the first of two back-to-back Ashes series.

A team full of world-class players have left themselves with significant room for improvement after their sub-standard performances here against opponents more than capable of pushing England hard again at Lord’s and Headingley in May. By then, the optimists in the England back room are claiming – publicly at least – that Kevin Pietersen will have recovered from the knee injury which sent him home early, before the dramatic final Test. That seems debatable, but is a judgment no-one can make at present unless privy to the specific medical information.

Encouraging noises are also being made about Graeme Swann’s progress after the elbow surgery which ruled him out of this entire series.

Tim Bresnan is more advanced in his rehabilitation after a similar procedure. Of the three, a fit-again Bresnan – with the snap back in his action – will be an asset as a back-up seamer. But England will find it a lot harder to get by without their No 1 spinner and middle-order match-winner, on the evidence provided in New Zealand by those asked to deputise.

Cook will never waver from level-headed assessment – in triumph, or otherwise – and so it was as he reflected on England’s great escape in Auckland that he described an encouraging first winter in charge, overall.

“I think it’s been a good winter,” he said. “To win in India was obviously an outstanding achievement. We won the one-dayers and T20s as well here. So overall, as an England side, I think we can be very happy.”

He will not get too down either about England’s unimpressive route, between the rain days which ruled out results in the first two Tests, to 0-0 here after so many predictions – from outside, not within – that they would comfortably win all three matches. “Clearly, we’re disappointed in this series that we haven’t played as well as we can,” he said. “But we haven’t been beaten. That’s an important thing for a side, to have that toughness and fight and make yourself a very difficult team to beat. We’ve got to give a lot of credit to New Zealand. They put us under a lot of pressure as well. It’s a combination of them playing well and us not playing as well as we know we can.”

That is one bottom line; an alternative is, as batting coach Graham Gooch conceded two days ago, that England have been largely outplayed. Cook too knows there have been warning signs which cannot be ignored before England reconvene – with a vulnerable Australia on the horizon, and the stakes as high as they come in cricket over the next ten months.

“Bowled out for 160 in the first innings in Dunedin, and then here (in Auckland) getting 200 on that wicket, is not good enough,” he said. “That’s why we find ourselves struggling in some games at the moment. It’s been a little bit of a trend in this series.

“Now it’s finished, we need to refresh and get back ready for New Zealand on May 16.”

That, of course, is merely base camp for the challenge awaiting a team yet to demonstrate with any conviction whether they are ready or not.