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England and their 2nd innings bug |
Mathew Plant looks at the England Cricket
Squad and highlights some problems that always
seem to occur (June 22, 2006)
Seeing England fail today, is perhaps more
expected than any other time in their cricketing
history, they can never seem to step up when it
really matters, whether it being Tests or One
Day Internationals. But instead of just
complaining about it, perhaps we should have a
look and see why this happens. England’s recent
tour of India really did highlight some of the
areas that England really needs to improve on.
The main issue being the 2nd inning collapses.
In the second test at the Punjab C.A. Stadium in
Mohali, England were doing fine in the 1st
innings and managed a score of 300 but India
replied with 338 with some fine work from the
late middle order and the tailenders, England
shouldn’t have been too worried as the pitch
looked like it could withstand another 270-320
score without wearing away too much. However,
blame it on the weather, the different food, the
different cricket ball, England just did not
perform and by the end of day four England were
112/5 before scuttling out to 181 with only
Flintoff and Bell showing any signs of
resistance. It was just then a case of India
reaching 144 before the end of the day, this was
way too easy for the Indians as Sehwag and
Dravid polished off England’s chances of a
series win.
If we go back further into 2005, we can look at
England’s emphatic victory over Australia but
there was a problem with England’s second
innings again! Take a look over all those
scorecards again, from Lords to Trent Bridge,
every single Australia 2nd innings total by more
than England’s except for the Brit Oval when
Australia didn’t have a chance to make a second
innings total.
England have been plagued with this second
innings bug now for quite some time, obviously
Duncan and the boys still have some work to do,
but this virus has spread to England’s One Day
problems as well. England haven’t won an ODI
series now since Pakistan came to England in
2003. A bit of irony as Pakistan are here next,
I’m sure all England fans are hoping for a
repeat in history as there form must pick up in
time for the 2007 world cup.
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