England’s youth and fringe to the forefront

This week England battled back from an early deficit to defeat a decent Denmark side in their own backyard. A great deal of resilience was demonstrated by a seemingly thread-bare England side in the wake of the rather standard international week drop-outs.

Notable absentees were captain Rio Ferdinand, vice-captain Stephen Gerrard, Adam Johnson, Jermain Defoe and 35 million pound-man Andy Carroll. It was perhaps these absences that provided the much needed spark and motivation that was evident in England’s approach to the match.

Start of something special?

It was as is often the case in international friendly matches, a chance for the youth and fringe players to impress, and that they did. Manger Fabio Capello handed Arsenal talent Jack Wilshere his full-debut and duly praised the youngster’s contributions in his post-match addresses. Though Wilshere was rather disappointingly withdrawn at half-time his replacement Scott Parker came on and impressed.

Parker has been omitted all too often given his consistency in club colours

Parker was referred to as one of the “unluckiest England players” of the current generation by ex-England international Paul Merson on Sky Sports’ punditry based coverage of the match. I for one also find it hard to believe that a player of Parker’s character and technical ability has only made four caps for his country. He is a player I admire greatly and I think he is more than deserving of a run in the side. His performance of great commitment and control against Denmark will surely have earned him further opportunities in the role of England’s midfield linchpin.

Other fringe players and young talent also impressed having been given a run-out. None more so than Ashley Young who at half time replaced the seemingly still out-of-sorts Wayne Rooney. Young filled the void in behind Villa team-mate Darren Bent with great aplomb and  real attacking verve. His marauding runs caused the opposition serious problems all half and he was fittingly rewarded by scoring the winning goal, his first in international football.

So, was this encouraging display in a friendly the dawning of yet another era of failed promise or was it in fact the start of something a little special? We all hope that the latter  is true but the jury is certainly still out in force.

One thing certainly transpiring from the game is that England do indeed have strength-in-depth, England’s so-called ‘dead-certs’ in the line-up should no longer be considered to be so. We have young and hungry players coming through the production line in addition to more experienced and match-ready options like Scott Parker and Darren Bent, and it seems they are ready to take the step-up whenever called upon.

In summary, it was a good match, a strong performance and their was certainly some indication of a new and more committed era in English football. Let’s all cross our fingers now in unison.

My England XI: (4-2-3-1)

Joe Hart

Glen Johnson

Rio Ferdinand

John Terry

Ashley Cole

Parker

Gerrard

Walcott

Wilshere

Johnson

Rooney

Squad:

Foster, Robinson, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Bentley, Lampard, Milner, Young, Carroll, Defoe, Bent

England’s World Cup hopes fading as fatigue kicks in?

England have today slumped to a 6-1 ODI series defeat at the hands of the old enemy Australia. This in itself is of great concern to English hopes in the build-up to the World Cup starting later this month, but perhaps of more concern is the injury list.

Strike bowler Stuart Broad hasn’t featured since the second Ashes test, and other key players Tim Bresnan, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan and Graeme Swann have all had to return home for injury treatment in the hope they will regain near full fitness in time for the World Cup. It may not seem like too sorrier situation given the praise Andy Flower has received for having assembled squads containing strength in depth in all formats of the international game. However, even England’s range of backup options have succumb to injury, the likes of Ajmal Shazhad, Chris Woakes and Ashes hero Chris Tremlett are all currently unavailable for selection.

England will be praying upon the return to fitness of these four

The lack of any real one-day form on show from England throughout the series against Australia is perhaps attributable to the injury situation and the fatigue caused by the high-pressure Ashes series that has preceded it. Captain Andrew Strauss certainly seems to think so, and to that effect has demanded a restructuring of future international tours. Strauss believes that the one-day series’ in the future should be played in build-up to the test-matches, partly as a means of preparation and then to build excitement and anticipation in the lead-up to the test-series’. I for one would tend to agree with this.

The nature of the injuries picked up by the England players throughout this series supports the pleas of Strauss. They seem to have all been stress-related injuries that have been worsened through fatigue and through the pressure that has been put upon the players to play through the pain-barrier. It is certainly arguable that these one-day series’ should be shortened in the future, particularly in light of the importance of forthcoming dates on the international calendar.

On the face of it England are once again going in to a major tournament with seemingly little hope of success. However, all faith should not yet be shot to pieces. After all, we are the side that have most recently won a major international tournament in a shorter format of the game. Yes this was the Twenty20 World Cup and not in the 50 over game but the foundations in place throughout that tournament are still present if our major injury concerns return to fitness in time.

The ICC Cricket World Cup.. Will England get their hands on the coveted trophy

In Andrew Strauss we have a natural leader and fantastic opening batsmen. He will be accompanied at the top of the order my Matt Prior, arguably one of the most improved players in world cricket over the past couple of years. In at three it seems likely that Jonathan Trott will get the nod having proved to be England’s form batsmen of the series down-under. Our middle order is packed full of experienced  and world-class batsmen in the form of Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell. All-rounders are a key part of the one-day game and we also have them in abundance; Paul Collingwood and Michael Yardy are certainly befitting of the role, and Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad are also very handy with the bat. Finally, Broad and Swan are accompanied by James Anderson in the role of wicket-taking strike bowlers. All three are that good and should form the basis of a potent bowling attack.

All being well the afore mentioned players will have all returned to match-fitness by the time things kick-off on the sub-continent. If that’s the case then England’s dismal form in the recent series shouldn’t count for too much and we can expect a fair crack at rounding off what could yet prove to be the best year in English cricketing history.