A Bit of 'Dutch Courage'

The clouds over Lords this evening did their best to dampen the mood, but the men from Holland clearly had other ideas. 

The first match of the World Twenty20 competition had been previewed by many to be a bit of a farce in one way or another. The general feeling was that the opening match should have been played against Pakistan, not a fledgling team like Holland. Could people have been more wrong......?

England have been in such mighty form recently that the dutch shouldn't have had a hope of getting any where near a win. It is true to say that the English batting did slow down as wickets started to fall, and no one can fault the Wright/Bopara combination at the top of the order, but 162 did seem enough.

With the fire in their bellies echoed by the colour on their shirts, the Dutchmen set about dismantling the English attack, seen as one of the best in he tournament. Tom de Grooth played an outstanding innings, and helped by  some lack luster fielding and at times shoddy bowling, Holland won on the last ball of the innings, with four wickets in hand.

We English are all worrying about the threat the Aussies carry, and true to say this is a different form of the game, but the fact of the matter is England have been utterly humiliated by a side who wore their heart on their sleeve and got the victory they so justly deserved.

The Season so Far

The English weather has so far been kind to us in terms of providing a steady amount of sunshine and the like. Although the weather proved a little to cold for the West Indies tour party, for the rest of us it was good to be able to watch cricket without worrying too much about the weather. It is true that the odd game has been 'washed out', but on the whole the cricketing schedule has been adhered to. 

We have seen some inspiring and in some cases unexpected performances so far this season,and none more so than from Ravi Bopara. He burst onto the international stage with three consecutive hundreds against the West Indies, demonstrating that England might indeed have found a steady No.3 whom they can rely on to perform in the Ashes. Furthermore his ODI form demonstrated his versatility between the different forms of the game, and slightly more recently he has made scores in the Twenty20 competition for Essex. The fact that he is not playing in the World Twenty20 competition give him a chance to hone his skills so as to be ready for the onslaught that Brett Lee and co. will only be to happy to provide.

The first Englishman to take a hat-trick in ODI's seems like he has returned to his old (or should i say young) ways. When James Anderson made his international debut in 2002 against Australia he was 'hot stuff'. His form continued in England, the highlight being his hat-trick against Pakistan at the Oval in 2003, shortly after being handed his Test Match debut against Zimbabwe. Despite this initial success, Anderson faded away somewhat, and although he appeared fairly consistently for the one day, his Test match caps where limited. He played only two matches between august 2004 and November 2006. Swiftly moving past the failed Ashes campaign in Australia 06/07, Anderson has returned now as  a far superior bowler to what he was before. His ability to swing the ball both ways with a minimal change in his action is remarkable, and he has proved that he is able to lead the England attack, whether or not Flintoff is around. 

Another stand out performer in the England team so far this summer has been Graeme Swann. He made his debut last year against India, and so far in only 7 Test matches, has taken 34 wickets at an average of just over 26. Furthermore in the first Test against the Windies at Lords he hit career best 63* that showed he is handy with the bat as well. The 90* scored for Nottinghamshire in a Twenty20 in May, justifies this claim.  One cannot forget Graham Onions, who's 7-43 on debut at Lord's has set him in good stead for an Ashes place in July. Tim Bresnan was not given the opportunity to showcase his talent to any length in the Test series and I expect an obvious exchange between him and Flintoff providing the latter is fit in time for July. Finally, Alasdair Cook again showed us why he opens the batting for England with a long awaited century, his ninth in Test matches, coming in the form of 160 at Chester-le-street.

Moving away  from the International arena, the county game still brings its fair share of early season excitement. New players are emerging onto the scene, and in the competitions that have started (all except Pro40), the teams are putting themselves into contention for silverware with scintillating displays across the country. Joe Gatting, the Sussex youngster, has made an amazing transition from football at Brighton and Hove, to cricket with Sussex. He scored a century in his debut First-class match, having already hit a hundred in Abu-Dhabi against Surrey. Eoin Morgan has also impressed early in the season, with his 161 against Kent being the justification for a call up to the England one day squad. 

However it was another Middlesex man that stole early season headlines. Much controversy surrounded the arrival of Phil Hughes, the young Australian batsman, fresh from his utter domination of the South African attack in his debut Test match. The english argued that the trip would allow him to become accustomed to the conditions here, but why the fear. Its our country so surely we know it better than anyone else, especially a 21 year old Aussie. Despite the resistance, Hughes made it to England, and was not far from making it to 1,000 runs in all competitions by the time he left. His 832 runs in just 14 innings shocked players and spectators alike, giving us a taste of the talent that couldbecome England's worst enemy.

So thats it on the stuff i deem most significant at this point in the season. Other trivia might include the fact that Scott Newman (Surrey) has hit the most sixes so far and Somerset where bowled out for just 69 by Durham. This blog might carry on or i may just forget about it....who knows!