England vs India, 2007 ODI series, England player ratings

An efficient and clinical victory in the final ODI at Lord’s gave Paul Collingwood his first series victory as England captain. England deserved the win, and some questionable umpiring should not take away from the magnitude of their achievement: the Indian team’s experience – of one day cricket in particular – dwarfs that of the young England squad.

Paul Collingwood ****
In the first couple of games I was not entirely convinced by Colly’s captaincy, but he has improved and grown into the role as the series progressed. His field settings and bowling changes have been good, the latter often triggering wickets at key moments. Captaincy has not affected his abilities in other spheres: he scored 274 runs at an average of 68.50 and was probably only denied a century at Leeds by the weather, and took eight catches.

Alastair Cook **
Alastair Cook had a quiet series, and his role in the one-day side must now be in doubt after being dropped for the last match. Although his century in the first game helped set up victory there, he failed to get past 50 again and was twice out for a duck.

Matt Prior ***
England’s wicket-keeper can be fairly secure of his position for the time being, but he must show consistent improvement in the next few months if he is to be a long-term prospect. Averaging only just above 20, he never passed 50. With a batting line-up as strong as England’s is at the moment this does not a cause for too much concern, but Peter Moores will be keeping a close eye on him this winter. The lack of a central contract this winter is telling.

Ian Bell *****
This was the series in which Belly came of age, making the number 3 position his own. He has looked uncomfortable at the top of the order for a long time, and finally seemed able to balance the demands of scoring quickly and occupying the crease. Scoring 474 runs (a hundred more than his nearest rival, Sachin Tendulkar) at an average of 70.33, he hit an astonishing 46 fours and 4 sixes and was deservedly named Man of the Series. He is no slouch in the field either, and took 4 catches.

Kevin Pietersen ***
KP had a quiet series by his own standards, recording only two half-centuries at an average of 41.80. He often seemed to be in awe of India’s spinners, and it was only at Lord’s that he seemed to be scoring with the ease that we are familiar with. His place is in no doubt and in a way it is encouraging that England can win without relying on his talents, but he will be looking to make an impact at the Twenty20 cup and in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Owais Shah **
Shah’s series average of 49.66 flatters his performances. Almost three quarters of his runs came from his unbeaten 107 at The Oval, and he is yet to carve out a role for himself in the team. He is a classy player, but does not yet seem to be able to respond appropriately to situations in which he finds himself. He will be given more chances, and must capitalise on them if he is ever to escape his current purgatorial existence. My two star rating is perhaps a little ungenerous.

Andrew Flintoff ****
In the four matches his ankle allowed him to play, Freddie showed why England are so desperate for him to make a return to full fitness. His failure with the bat (in part mitigated because he had only two opportunities to strap his pads on) should not take away from his success with the ball – 10 wickets at an average of 14.40 and the second best economy of the series (both teams included).

Ravi Bopara ****
If Shah’s figures flatter him, then Bopara’s do not do him sufficient justice. Scoring only 81 runs from four innings, he showed his enormous potential in an epic match-winning performance with Stuart Broad. All commentators seem to agree that his most valuable attribute is his coolness under pressure, and that added to his skills with both bat and ball make him a likely contender for future greatness.

Luke Wright ***
A cameo performance from Luke Wright showed plenty of promise. Wright is not about to replace Flintoff as England’s all-rounder of choice, but his 39 ball 50 in his maiden ODI shows that he can be a destructive batsmen.

Stuart Broad ****
Broad showed himself to be a useful ODI bowler, although it is his batting at Old Trafford for which he will be remembered in this series. As a bowler he offered some vital control at the beginning of the innings, conceding runs at 5.17 an over, a figure that is more impressive when you remember that he did most of his bowling in the powerplays, and against bastsmen like Ganguly and Tendulkar. He is not the finished article yet, and we can only hope that he continues to mature.

Dimitri Mascarenhas ****
England’s most economical bowler, Mascarenhas also managed to take 6 wickets with what seems – to my untrained eye at least – to be an unremarkable medium-pace. He is a fantastic advert for the virtues of a solid county background, and his lower order batting doubles his worth as a player. I can’t see him making it into the Test side any time soon, but he could help England to further one-day success.

Chris Tremlett **
Only playing two matches, Tremlett did not have enough time to show his true worth as a bowler, but at an economy of 7.64 perhaps that was for the best. His raw pace will always be a challenge for batsmen, but without sufficient control he will not prosper in one-day cricket.

Monty Panesar ***
Frustratingly, Monty’s ODI performances continue to lag behind his Test achievements. He must present more of a threat to the batsmen and not just try to contain them. Unless Flintoff can stay fit England are in dire need of a wicket-taking bowler. Stats trivia: Monty was the only England player not to face a single ball during the series.

And last, but very definitely by no means least
Jimmy Anderson *****
Like Ian Bell, Anderson has in this series become the player that he has been promising to become for some time. He took fourteen wickets – twice as many as the leading Indian bowlers – at a very respectable average of 22.57, and often set England on the road to victory with his fiery opening spells. He proved himself to be a handy fielder too (the result of a long apprenticeship as twelfth man perhaps?), taking three catches and displaying an energetic approach unusual in a fast bowler. He must have been a strong contender for Man of the Series.

My apologies to Jon Lewis, whose one performance I did not see, and therefore who has no rating. I like him though, so I’ll give him *** just for being a nice bloke.

England vs India, Second ODI, County Ground Bristol

India levelled the 7 match series at Bristol yesterday in dramatic fashion, thrashing England’s fast bowlers and racking up 329 runs. Tremlett’s ten overs went for 73 runs and Dimitri Mascerenhas bowled four for 31. Tendulkar, hampered by an attack of cramp in his left hand, hit an agressive 99 before being caught behind to the bowling of Flintoff (TV analysis suggests that the ball may have hit his arm-guard rather than the glove).

England started well in reply and both Cook and Prior scored quickly, getting into the 30s before being dismissed off successive balls. Ian Bell hit a fluid 64 having been dropped on 1, but the wickets fell regularly throughout the innings, putting pressure on the batsmen. Flintoff managed to score 9 in four balls before slogging the fifth straight to Ramesh Powar on the boundary. England kept victory in sight until the very end as the run-rate crept up and up, and Mascarenas kept hope alive by smashing 52 off 45 balls, including 5 sixes. Broad chipped in, making 20 runs off the final over, and it was only in the last few balls that Dravid could be certain of victory.

The key issue for England fans must be the decision to drop Monty. India’s two spinners were their most economical bowlers and took key wickets, and without a full-time spinner England had no variation in their attack. Monty’s replacement, Chris Tremlett, was England’s most expensive bowler, and yet Collingwood continued to let him bowl towards the end of the innings when he had sufficient overs from Anderson, Broad and Flintoff to complete the innings.

There were problems for India too. Without Zaheer Khan their pace attack is considerably weakened, although they seem to have discovered a handy new leg spinner in Chawla. Their fielding was comical at times, and victory would have been considerably more comfortable without a litany of dropped catches and misfieldings.

England have important lessons to learn, and it is to be hoped that Collingwood can get to grips with captaincy sooner rather than later. There is the makings of a very strong side here.

England vs India, First ODI, Rose Bowl

The first one-day match of the England-India series saw one of the least expected results – not just an England victory, but an efficient, practically chanceless win.

Alastair Cook and Ian Bell both hit maiden centuries, Bell ending on 126 not out, and Jimmy Anderson bowled magnificently to take 4-23. India were comprehensively outplayed by England with both bat and ball, but another vital contribution to England’s victory was their superiority in what we might call the Minor Arts of cricket, namely fielding and running between the wickets.

I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the match, as I don’t have much time and there are dozens out there on the internets already. I will instead say ‘Nice one, fellas’ to the England team and highlight some areas where they could improve to help maintain this standard for the rest of the series:

1. Powerplays. Matt Prior is still struggling to be the aggressive opener that England needs. I think he would be better placed lower in the batting order and could well be able to score quickly in the last 5 or 10 overs of an innings.

2. Collingwood bowled 5 rather expensive overs yesterday. In the scheme of the game it didn’t matter at all, but why did he bowl so much when Broad and Flintoff both had overs remaining and Bopara hadn’t bowled at all?

That’s the closest I can get to criticism for the time being.

Stuart Broad’s bowling was very encouraging, he could have picked up a couple of wickets easily, and Anderson seems to be maturing into a first class international bowler. Together the two of them could form a world-beating partnership, let’s hope they can keep up the good work. I would love to see them open the bowling in a Test.

Ian Bell also showed his class again. He has had good and bad spells for the last two years, but today we caught a glimpse of the kind of player he could be – a stylish batsmen who, once set, seems to score at will. More please, Belly.