Andy Pakes looks at the emergence of Australia's James Pattinson and compares him to his England-capped brother Darren.
Sam Holloway looks at why test match cricket is not going to become extinct just yet
Manraj Bahra looks at the subtle differences between the forms of cricket and how teams shouldn't look to pick the same players in all forms.
Sports Editor James Tompkinson looks at the continuing problem of corruption within cricket as the cases of three Pakistani cricketers accused of spot fixing comes to an end
They will be far from favourites but victory in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament last year at least gave the England team a taste of winning on the biggest stages away from test match cricket and if they can make it to the semi-finals then knockout mode will take effect and from there anything can happen. For me, however, there are certain issues that England need to address ahead of the World Cup if they are to have any chance of winning.
The first of these issues is creating a settled side. It doesn’t matter what sport you are talking about, the significance of creating a settled team is monumental going into any big tournament. Continuity breeds success and not chopping and changing the team all the time means that the same players get to work with each other on a regular basis and play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
This approach has worked wonders for England in the longer form of the game and the recent Ashes series as a prime example of that. England only made two changes to their team over the five Ashes test matches and they kept their top seven the same throughout the series, despite Paul Collingwood being woefully out of form in all five games. This shows the value that Strauss and Flower place on keeping a settled team. My opinion is that England now have to bring this model into the one-day format and, although injuries to key players have forced them to make changes in the series against Australia, going into the World Cup I think it is essential that England decide on their best team and stick with it for as long as possible.
Leading on from this, the second problem England face is deciding who to pick. Injury has meant that key batsman Eoin Morgan is now ruled out for the tournament and his replacement in the squad, Ravi Bopara, should be given a go in my opinion. For all his problems in international cricket, Bopara is a player I rate very highly and I think that the problem with his international career so for is that England haven’t used him in the right way. Bopara is one of the best finishers in the England game, second only to Morgan perhaps, and his stroke making is of the highest quality. He needs to bat at either five or six and be out in the middle to close the innings. That is the best way to use him.
One player that I would omit from the team however is Luke Wright. His job is to provide fireworks with the bat and support the bowlers but he has been around the England set up for a good couple of years now and hasn’t managed to deliver consistent quality performances. England can’t afford to go into a World Cup carrying anyone within their team, and for me, Wright should be ousted in favour of another specialist bowler.
England have proved this winter that they have what it takes to beat the best teams in test matches and by winning the Twenty20 World Cup last year they have shown that they are more than capable of being the best in the shortest form of the game too. To win a World Cup on the subcontinent will be very difficult, especially given the ODI credentials of the likes of South Africa and host nation India, but it is doable. If England believe they can win, and sort out one or two problems with their team, they stand a good chance of making the last twelve months the best that any England team has ever had.
My England Xl to start in England’s first World Cup game vs Holland on 22nd Feb: Strauss (c), Bell, Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bopara, Prior (wk), Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson.
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