England's one-day team face a monumental task against Australia as Ashley Giles' men audition for World Cup

England will be without their regular one-day opening pair of batsmen, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, and their regular opening pair of bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and their first choice-spinner Graeme Swann, and their regular captain. Eoin Morgan has led England, in place of Cook, only against his native Ireland.

No Cook, no Bell, no Anderson, no Broad, no Swann, and if and when Kevin Pietersen plays it will be on only one sound knee. England’s second-choice pace attack looks particularly thin, as Steve Finn is not yet back to his best and the rest are raw recruits. Australia, with their heavyweight opening pair of David Warner and Aaron Finch, could inflict record-breaking damage, just as they did in the first T20 international.

So it will be a surprise if Australia do not win by a bigger margin than England’s 3-0 in the Tests. Six of Australia’s players, including Michael Clarke, will be extra-motivated by their memories of losing the Test series – not to mention their Champions Trophy match in June, the first in this series of interminable fixtures between the two countries.

All of England’s selections were voluntary in that the key players are being rested, and were not dictated by injury. The dialogue in the selection meeting between Andy Flower, who has overall charge as well as being the Test coach, and Ashley Giles, England’s coach for 50-over and T20 cricket, might therefore have been one of those occasions that Giles referred to back in April.

“There could well be a situation down the line where Andy says you can’t have him (ie, a certain player), and I say well, I want him,” Giles said then. “But ultimately Andy is in charge, he’s team director, and we’ll have those discussions if we have to have them behind closed doors and come out in agreement. Ultimately it’s the good of English cricket: it’s a cliché but that’s what we’re here for.”

This situation has subsequently become more delicate. Straight after the Ashes series, Flower said nothing to confirm or reject reports that he was going to stand down as England’s team director after the return series this winter. He has never stated in public that he wants the job long-term, and now he has not even said that he wants the job short-term, beyond January.

A daringly planned and executed one-day series in the next fortnight against Australia – a 3-2 victory against all the odds – would put Giles in better than pole position to succeed Flower as the coach in charge of all formats, if the job arises in January. Following this one-day series, England play no more limited-overs matches until after the Ashes.

A 5-0 defeat in the next fortnight, on the other hand, will look like a serious blot on Giles’s CV to the independent selection panel — which is not composed solely of former players who will understand the circumstances – that the England and Wales Cricket Board usually constitutes to make the appointment of team director.

Amid these politics, and confronted by Clarke’s highly motivated side, any England reserve who does put his hand up can expect to be drafted into World Cup considerations. The next instalment, in Australia and New Zealand, is less than a year and a half away, and given England’s unrelenting schedule it is inconceivable that all three of Anderson, Pietersen and Swann will still be going by then.

England’s first-choice one-day team were not good enough to beat India in the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston, so several new faces will have to be introduced if they are going to challenge – without home advantage – India and the two host countries. And all the while these new faces have been growing up without ever playing 50-over county cricket, a brilliantly cunning plan to ensure that England never win their first global 50-over trophy.

An outbreak of common sense will occur next year when the ban on 50-over county cricket – in place since 2010 – is lifted. England’s cricketers will then be able to compete in this format without any hands tied behind their back.

Five England players hoping to make an impression ...

Michael Carberry: Brilliant strokeplayer underestimated by more than one county but not, at last, by England. Hit 146 off 132 balls for the Lions against Bangladesh A to gain promotion.

Chris Jordan: Now 24, has grown into his body and can sustain real pace. Can hit a long ball, too. Key challenge is to develop the variations and subtleties for limited-overs.

Jamie Overton: Tall, strong and quick for 19. Has a fine action, everything going in a straight line, with some outswing. Bowled well in Australia last winter for the Under-19s.

Boyd Rankin: The latest signing – or poaching – from Ireland has yet to play an ODI for England but at 6ft7in gets plenty of bounce to force the batsman back. Aged 29, he is, alas, no batsman.

Ben Stokes: Destined to be England’s No?6 in more than one format. Has speeded up as a bowler, gets more bounce than the injured Woakes, and has hit seven first-class centuries.

View the original article here

England may risk giving one-day debuts to four players in international against Ireland

Jamie Overton could become the youngest England player since Brian Close in 1949 if he is chosen in a side which will almost certainly feature batsmen Michael Carberry and Gary Ballance and Irish fast bowler Boyd Rankin for the first time in one-day cricket.

Rankin has played Twenty20 for England this summer and Carberry has one Test cap from a 2010 tour to Bangladesh but this will be their first serious test as they begin challenges for berths on this winter’s Ashes tour.

They will meet an Ireland side full of experience with eight survivors from that win in Bangalore in 2011 plus Tim Murtagh, of Middlesex, one of the most consistent bowlers in county cricket who qualified for Ireland last year through his grandparents.

Overton is a physically strong 19-year-old quick bowler who looks like a rugby player in whites. Overton is also part of the squad to play Australia and when picked he will be the first teenager to play for England since Ben Hollioake in 1997.

“I wouldn’t ever take Ireland for granted and say a weakened side would make it any more level,” said Eoin Morgan, who will captain England for the rest of the summer.

“I think we’ve brought a strong side, a young and very talented side that given opportunities hopefully will show they are world beaters.

“It’s very exciting for us to come across here and give these guys opportunities to hopefully flourish, particularly in a game like this. But we’re certainly not taking Ireland for granted.”

The defeat in the World Cup, when Kevin O’Brien scored 113, reaching three figures off only 50 balls, changed the course of Irish cricket and they are now credible opponents. Ireland tied a match with Pakistan in Dublin in May and narrowly lost the second by two wickets.

“I think all teams in world cricket know that when they play us they are going to get a very tough game so gone are the days when teams turn up in Dublin or Belfast and are here for a jolly,” O’Brien said.

Life has changed for O’Brien, who 10 days ago was playing for Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in the Caribbean Premier League Twenty20.

“On the field life has changed a lot but it [World Cup innings] was a long time ago now, it was 2½ years ago and I can’t really be living off it for the rest of my life, so I need to keep improving. If I can get another innings that is as half as good tomorrow then it will be very special.”

England (possible): M A Carberry, J W A Taylor, E J G Morgan (capt), G S Ballance, R S Bopara, B A Stokes, J C Buttler, J Overton, J C Tredwell, S T Finn, W B Rankin.

Ireland (possible): W T S Porterfield (capt), P R Stirling, E C Joyce, N? J ?O’Brien, G C Wilson, K??J O’Brien, A R White, M C Sorensen, D T Johnston, T J Murtagh, G H Dockrell.

View the original article here

England's Ashes winners rested for one-day series against Australia as five uncapped players named in squad

Before his back problems, Jordan looked as if he might become the next Andrew Flintoff – his bowling being both quick and aggressive and his batting delightfully uncomplicated.

If that ambition has been tempered he certainly has it in him to be the next Tim Bresnan, if not a cricketer of his own design.

He qualifies for England through a grandmother and for West Indies through birth.

Indeed, West Indies had been interested in securing his services but perhaps forgot to make another approach once it became likely that his back problem would not compromise him.

Given the same choice back in the early 1970s, Gordon Greenidge chose (wisely as it happened) to play for West Indies and became one of the greats.

But if Jordan delivers on his early promise it will be a coup for England.

Jordan is one of 10 players in England’s one-day squad who represented England Lions against Bangladesh recently, registering two wins and a loss.

With the selectors deciding to rest Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad (though he will captain England’s T20 side this week), Graeme Swann and James Anderson after the Ashes, it always made sense to blood talented youngsters in the hope they might be fully formed by the next World Cup in 2015.

That learning process is why Kevin Pietersen has been retained and not rested alongside his Ashes team mates despite having a sore knee.

As he showed on the final day at the Kia Oval, few can match his batting versatility when the mood takes him and tyros such as Ben Stokes will assimilate a lot about one-day batting just by watching him and Eoin Morgan, England’s acting captain in Cook’s absence.

Pietersen is rested from the T20s and the squad to play Ireland, for which his place has been taken by Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance.

“Following a very intense period of cricket this summer we have decided to rest a number of senior players,” Geoff Miller, the national selector, said.

“This creates an excellent opportunity for players who have impressed in county cricket and for England Lions recently to test themselves at international level as we continue to build a squad ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup, which is less than 18 months away.”

After his surprise selection in the final Test, the absence of Chris Woakes from the one-day squad seems something of a puzzle, as does, given the experimental nature of the squad, the absence of Jonny Bairstow.

According to Miller, both have been given ample opportunity in England’s one-day sides before and the pair have been returned to their counties, Woakes to rediscover his swing and Bairstow to do some wicketkeeping.

“Players just don’t get given caps, they have to earn the opportunity through good performances with their counties,” Miller said.

“Once they have done that they will be considered for the next step, which is to introduce them to the international environment to see how they fare.”

One player eager to prove himself after a small taste of Test cricket three years ago is Michael Carberry.

Picked for a Test tour of Bangladesh, on the back of being an organised opening batsman, Carberry has revealed his inner animal for Hampshire this season to gain selection to both England’s T20 and one-day squads.

Like Jordan, he has endured a period out of the game, following complications from blood clots, but seems at the peak of his form now, ready to target Australia and the World Cup there in 18 months’ time.

England ODI squad v Ireland: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), G Ballance (Yorkshire), R Bopara (Essex), D Briggs (Hampshire), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), B Rankin (Warwickshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), J Tredwell (Kent), L Wright (Sussex).

England ODI squad v Australia: E Morgan (Middlesex, capt), R Bopara (Essex), J Buttler (Somerset), M Carberry (Hampshire), S Finn (Middlesex), C Jordan (Sussex), J Overton (Somerset), K Pietersen (Surrey), B Rankin (Warwickshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Tredwell (Kent), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex).

View the original article here

Michael Carberry set to be called up by England for one-day series against Australia

Carberry has not played for England since his solitary Test against Bangladesh in 2010. Since then ill health has set back his career but this season he has been in good form for Hampshire and the England Lions.

Carberry, who has suffered a blood clot on his lung since his one England appearance, has been enjoying a prolific season in limited-overs cricket. He made 146 for the Lions against Bangladesh A last week and topped 500 runs in the Friends Life Twenty20 competition at a strike rate of 142.

The pinnacle of his T20 season came with a hundred in the quarter-final against Lancashire helping to earn him a place in the England Twenty20 squad, which was announced earlier this month.

England play two Twenty20s against Australia starting at the Rose Bowl on Thursday and Durham on Saturday.

It is likely that Alastair Cook, who does not play in the T20 side, will be rested from the 50-over side, leaving Eoin Morgan to captain the 50-over team. Stuart Broad will lead the Twenty20 side but is likely to miss some, if not all, of the 50-over series.

Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson and Graeme Swann are also set to be rested although they could be added to the squad at a later stage. The five-match one-day series begins on Sept 6, three days after a one-off game against Ireland in Dublin.

Morgan has struck form just at the right time, hitting a season’s-best 90 to inspire his Middlesex side to a four-wicket Yorkshire Bank 40 win over Leicestershire at Lord’s on Monday.

National selector Geoff Miller was there to see Morgan hit eight fours and four sixes in a match-defining innings as Middlesex reached their target with 10 balls to spare.

Morgan reached a 43-ball fifty – his first in all forms of cricket in a hugely disappointing domestic season – by chipping six into the Tavern Stand against Josh Cobb. He was just 10 short of his century when a mistimed slog sweep against Shiv Thakor flew to Greg Smith at long on.

View the original article here

England women clinch a commanding five-wicket victory over Australia in the second one-day international

Excellent half-centuries from Heather Knight (69) and Sarah Taylor (64) ensured England chased down Australia’s 203 for four with 16 balls to spare.

Victory was secured when Ellyse Perry bowled a wide down the leg-side allowing England to go six points to four ahead going into the three Twenty20 internationals.

England must win two of those matches to regain the Ashes from Australia.

The home side showed early ­attacking intent as they plundered eight off the first over, but captain Charlotte Edwards was dismissed with the first ball of the third.

However, Knight and Taylor soon put England in command as they brought up a century partnership for the second wicket.

Knight brought up her 53-ball half-century in the 18th over and then smashed 11 runs from the 19th as her partner at the crease also brought up her fifty.

Taylor’s fifty came in 48 balls and, while both fell in quick succession, Natalie Sciver’s unbeaten 18 took them over the line.

The game was delayed by three hours, but when it was decided that a 36-over contest could get under way at 2pm, Australia won the toss and decided to bat.

England got off to a flying start as Alyssa Healy fell for a duck with Dani Hazell claiming a catch off the bowling of Anya Shrubsole with the score on just three.

But the tourists soon steadied the ship and Meg Lanning (64) and Jess Cameron (28) put fifty on for the second wicket and Perry finished the innings off with four fours and a six in her 45.

View the original article here

England women clinch a commanding five-wicket victory over Australia in the second one-day international

Excellent half-centuries from Heather Knight (69) and Sarah Taylor (64) ensured England chased down Australia’s 203 for four with 16 balls to spare.

Victory was secured when Ellyse Perry bowled a wide down the leg-side allowing England to go six points to four ahead going into the three Twenty20 internationals.

England must win two of those matches to regain the Ashes from Australia.

The home side showed early ­attacking intent as they plundered eight off the first over, but captain Charlotte Edwards was dismissed with the first ball of the third.

However, Knight and Taylor soon put England in command as they brought up a century partnership for the second wicket.

Knight brought up her 53-ball half-century in the 18th over and then smashed 11 runs from the 19th as her partner at the crease also brought up her fifty.

Taylor’s fifty came in 48 balls and, while both fell in quick succession, Natalie Sciver’s unbeaten 18 took them over the line.

The game was delayed by three hours, but when it was decided that a 36-over contest could get under way at 2pm, Australia won the toss and decided to bat.

England got off to a flying start as Alyssa Healy fell for a duck with Dani Hazell claiming a catch off the bowling of Anya Shrubsole with the score on just three.

But the tourists soon steadied the ship and Meg Lanning (64) and Jess Cameron (28) put fifty on for the second wicket and Perry finished the innings off with four fours and a six in her 45.

View the original article here