Pakistan v England (3)
England began their first series as world #1 against Pakistan in the UAE. England went into the series as the favourites but they were yet to learn the wonders of the sub-continent. Into the first test match, England found themselves scraping to a well below par 192. Pakistan replied with 338, before they bowled England out cheaply again, this time for 160, leaving just Pakistan with 15 to win. The key for Pakistan was the spin bowling from Saeed Ajmal & Abdur Rehman. They left England with no answers and with England playing the one spinner themselves, they found it very difficult to bowl Pakistan out.
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| England found no answer to Pakistan's spinners |
England added Panesar to help out Swann for the second test and it was a much improved performance from England. England managed to score 327 in reply to Pakistan's 257, before bowling them out again for 214, Panesar picking up 6-62. England needed 145 to win, seemed gettable, however they were undone by the brilliance of Rehman picking up an incredible 6-25 and England crumbling to 72 all out. That's pretty shambolic in my opinion.
It was on to the third test, where the series was won, but pride was still to play for. England began brilliantly, bowling Pakistan out for 99, but posted a weak 141 in reply. The game changed with a wonderful partnership from Azhar Ali & Younis Khan who put on 200+ runs and took the game away from England, who were bowled out 71 runs short of their target. England, the world #1 test team, were whitewashed. A quite marvellous performance from Pakistan who climbed above their rivals, India, in the test rankings. Pakistan 3-0 England
Sri Lanka v England (2)
England's sub-continental challenge continued with a 2 match test series in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka posted a good score of 318 in their first innings, guided by a brilliant 180 from Mahela Jayawardene. England, yet again, posted a weak reply of 193. Rangana Herath, the spinner, taking 6 wickets. SL posted 214, leaving England a massive 340 to win, which seemed likely when England needed 88 with 5 wickets in hand, thanks to a 112 from Trott, but sadly England crumbled and lost by 75 runs.
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| Pietersen's vital 151 earned England an excellent victory |
The second test was crucial for England as a loss would see them drop to #2 in the rankings. England began fairly well bowling SL out for 275. Now this was the test, England's batting. Tey finally delivered in the sub-continent posting a very good 460, guided by an epic 151 from Kevin Pietersen. SL were bowled for 278 in their second innings leaving England 94 to win. Strauss was out in the first over signalling alarm bells from the 72 all out. However, Cook & Pietersen batted positively and aggressively and guided England to their first test win as world #1. England retained their #1 spot. Sri Lanka 1-1 England
England v West Indies (3)
It was on to the first summer as England being world #1, hosting the West Indies to begin with. England went into the first test as strong favourites and so they proved why. Lord's was the host of the first test and West Indies were bowled out for 243, Stuart Broad finishing with figures of 7-72. England replied with 398, guided by an overdue century from Andrew Strauss. In the second Innings WI posted a very good 345, lead by a partnership between Chanderpaul (91) and Marlon Samuels (86) setting a target of 191 to win. England began shakily as they were 57-4 before Cook and Bell guided England to safety as they won by 5 wickets.
Trent Bridge and bright sunshine awaited the second test and Darren Sammy who scored his maiden test century and in a 204 run partnership with Samuels, helped WI along to 370. England replied with 428, laid out by a remarkable 141 from Strauss, consecutive centuries for the captain, before Tim Bresnan struck and along with Anderson, picked up 4 wickets to bowl WI out for 165. This left England needing 108 to win and they cruised to victory by 9 wickets. This was much better cricket from England after the poor showings in Asia.
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| Tino Best scores a record breaking 95 |
Sadly for all cricket fans, the first two days of the third test was washed out, but on the third day play began and WI found themselves 280-8 at stumps, again poorly placed. However, on the fourth day the sun cam out and so did Tino Best. This test will be remembered for his 95 batting at #11. Best's 95 is the highest score by a #11 in test cricket and along with Dinesh Ramdin, he helped WI along to a very good 426. England's reply did not go according to plan as they found themselves 221-5 before rain came and washed out the rest of the test. England my have escaped a defeat there. England 2-0 West Indies
England v South Africa (3)
Then came a main event of the summer, the decider to see who would be world #1. The oval hosted the first test and it belonged to South Africa as they posted a monstrous 637-2d in reply to England's 385 lead by a fantastic 311* by Hashim Amla. Then Dale Steyn did the damage as England were thrashed and humiliated by an innings and 12 runs.
The second test in Leeds was a much closer affair as SA were all out for 419, Alviro Petersen with 182 and England replied with 425, Kevin Pietersen with 149. The match ended as a draw as time got the better of the two sides.
The third was extremely crucial, especially to England. The test began in similar fashion to the previous with England gaining a lead of six. Then SA posted 351 to set a target of 345 to win for England, a very tough task. England began poorly losing the openers but the batting of Trott, Bairstow, Swann and especially Prior gave England hope, but unfortunately they could not score the runs in a valiant chase. England 0-2 South Africa
England lasted a year on top of the world and no doubt all the fans, the players and staff will say that England are disappointed in being kicked off the top. However, England did not play the cricket that is expected of the world #1 side. In the UAE they were undone by the spin of Ajmal & Rehman and 46/60 English wickets were LBW. England failed to pick up the turn of the ball, in particular Eoin Morgan who was later dropped. There was the odd good innings such as the 94 from Cook and the 70 from Prior, but in general England batted poorly. In Sri Lanka, England improved as they learnt, but still England's performances in Asia remained unconvincing. England did not coast past the West Indies as they expected and credit needs to be given largely to Marlon Samuels, but then South Africa came and destroyed England in the first test, sending alarming wake-up calls for England before they were kicked off the top.
It was a highly disappointing year for England as very little went their way, but I think that they choked a little under the pressure of being world #1. They went to the UAE with certain expectations of Pakistan that did not match. They were under prepared for the first test and were not the better team. In Sri Lanka they eventually learnt what to do and what not to do. Sweeping was a mistake and we saw less of it in Sri Lanka, which may have been a factor in their success in the second test, yet England's ability in the sub-continent still raised question marks. The West Indies series was seen as the minor series, but England would have disappointed with some of the partnership that the West Indies put on and would have like to have bowled better.
What Next for England?
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| Is his England career over? |
England's next test series is a very tough series away to India. It is yet another sub-continent tour so tension will be high in the England camp. The performances with the bat will be looked at carefully and England need to deliver. Personally, I would love to see Kevin Pietersen back and hope that the issues can be resolved as soon as possible, but realistically I think that his England future looks very bleak. The element of trust needs to be shown by Pietersen and it could take a long time to for the ECB to gain his trust back. Not only Pietersen, but I hope that Ravi Bopara plays in India as he is a fine batsmen and can really help strengthen England's batting. Samit Patel is also another name on the radar. He played fairly well in Sri Lanka, but his all rounder role in the side and the fact that he bowls spin need to be noted. In addition to the batting I hope that Monty Panesar gets a call up as he bowled very well in the UAE and Sri Lanka and deserves another outing in the side and can really assist Graeme Swann in India.
After the England series England face an away series and then a home series to New Zealand, in which I fully expect England to win. Then the main event for the summer is the Ashes as England look to win 3 Ashes series' in a row.
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| What's next for England's test future? |
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