Strauss's England's Fanastic Summer Of Cricket - A Review

SportTrades Adam Dennehey Writing:

With the ICC Champions Trophy ending today, it brings an end to a fantastic summer of cricket for England. There have been ups and downs, some humiliating one day defeats but at the end of it, heroes emerged and the Ashes were regained in style at the Oval. As I am a massive cricket fan, I couldn't help but run through the summer.

That summer of cricket started way back in May when England under the full-time captaincy of Andrew Strauss beat a toothless West Indies team to retain the Wisden Trophy. Ravi Bopara at the time was England's man in form and he hit a century in each game to not only earn him plaudits but the team a 2-0 series win. It was just revenge for the hosts who bounced back from their disappointing defeat to the Windies in the Caribbean, where they lost the test series 1-0.

That series had it all, a laughable English batting collapse (51 all out) that gifted the Windies the win in Kingston. Other things of note were Strauss's 3 hundreds during the series, the match at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua being abandoned due to the dangerous outfield after a handful of over’s and the Windies saving 2 games due to England not declaring sooner than they should have. At the time the team looked disjointed, at least one bowler short and not exactly 'Ashes-Winning' material. However with the emergence of Bopara and Onions in those tests in May, the team looked fresh and was gaining backing in the press to regain the urn.

There were three 1-dayers next againgst the Windies which England won 2-0 with the first game being abandoned at Headingley without a ball being bowled. After those 1-dayers came the ICC World Twenty20 held in England in June. It was a thrilling competition to watch and must have been special as a player to take part in.

The competition was a success with high attendances at games and on television all over the world. Twenty20 cricket for purists of the game is seen as a threat and its no wonder when there's entertainment every over and a game lasts on average 2-3 hours. The winners of the tournament were Pakistan captained by Younus Khan and the spectacular all-rounder Shahid Afridi. England had a shaky start to the tournament losing to minnows the Netherlands in the first game. Stuart Broad could have won the game for England on his own in the final over of that match but somehow blew three run out attempts and dropped a catch of his own bowling. It was an embarrasing defeat but the team hit back to beat Pakistan to qualify for the next round. They slumped to a disappointing defeat to South Africa, but knocked MS Dhoni's India out in their second group game before falling to their old friends from the summer the West Indies on Duckworth-Lewis to go out of the tournament. The heroes for the Windies that day were Shiv Chanderpual and Ronny Sarwan who over the years have taken a liking to our bowlers, you just knew it had to be them to see the Islander's to a win.

Then in July came the Ashes. After much build up in the national press, the series everyone had been talking about finally got under way on the 8th of July. England scored 435 in their first innings, but Ponting's Australia scored 674/6 declared leaving England facing a tough task to draw the game. Going into the last day the hosts were still 219 runs behind with 8 wickets left and looked odds-on to lose the game at 102/5 at lunch. However gutsy batting from Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann kept Australia waiting to win the game. When Collingwood was finally dismissed for a heroic 74 off 245 balls (that lasted 17 minutes short of 6 hours) the game looked to be won for the Aussies. However determined batting from last pair Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar helped gain England the lead and saw out the overs left to claim a draw. It was jaw-dropping to watch, I will hold my hands up and say that i thought we had lost that game. It will be the only time Monty's batting helps save England a game!

After that the teams moved onto Lords for the second test. England deservedly won this game. The foundations were built by Strauss and Alastair Cook's 196 opening partnership for England. Cook fell 5 runs short of his century but Strauss kicked on and made 161. Good batting from the tail helped the hosts get to 425 all out. Australia were surprisingly bowled out in just over 60 overs with only Mike Hussey reaching 50. With the game there to be won, England batted positively in their second innings and after good contributions in the middle order, declared leaving Australia 522 to win with 2 days left in the test. Although vice captain Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin batted bravely in a partnership together the game was England's. Good bowling from Andrew Flintoff and Swann bowled the Aussies out, the margin of victory being 115 runs. Was great to see Flintoff get man of the match for his great spell of bowling having announced that he was retiring from test cricket before the game, how he has only 3 of 5-for's in test cricket only god knows!

The third test was hit by the weather, but England still put on a good performance bowling out Australia for 263 in their first innings. Good batting particularly from Flintoff who hit a quick 74 helped get England a lead, but the weather and good batting from Clarke and Marcus North helped save the game for the Aussies. Australia carried the momentum from saving the game at Edgbaston by annihilating England at Headingley. England's first innings was dreadful and at lunch on the first day they were 72-5, which very quickly became 102 all out. Knowing that they only needed a good first innings score, Australia batted sensibly and compiled a total of 445 all out with North hitting his second century of the series. Trailing by 343 runs, England ever looked like saving the game and slumped to 120-7 at one stage. Although Broad and Swann hit half centuries batting at 8 and 9 they were all out for 263 with Australia winning by an innings and eighty runs. It was a shambolic performance up at Leeds and the media were well within their right (for once) to have a go at the team, as we lost inside 3 days which in test cricket is rather unforgiveable.

After that came the final test at the Oval. Ravi Bopara was dropped in favour of Warwickshire's Jonathan Trott who came in for his test match debut and delivered. It was a case of the selectors being spot-on in their decision to play Trott, who in the run up to the game wasn't even getting a mention in the media who were calling for Rob Key or Mark Ramprakash (at 39 years old) to be selected instead. Batting at 5 Trott scored 160 runs in the match, with a fine century in the second innings putting England in charge of the game. Strauss and Ian Bell's half centuries helped get England up to 332 in their first innings on an Oval pitch that wasn't easy to bat on. With Flintoff playing his final test, before the game there was much talk who was to be his successor as the all-rounder in the side - in this match we got our answer.

Freddie's successor looks to be Stuart Broad who bowled an inspired spell to help bowl out Australia for 160 in just over 50 overs. Although England got reduced to 39/3 early on in their innings, Strauss hit 75 to get England in control. Then Trott took over becoming the 18th England player on test debut to get a 100. Supporting England's new hero down the order were Flintoff in his final test innings, Broad and Swann as Strauss declared with England 373/9. That as we know left Ponting's side a mammoth record breaking 546 to not only win the test but keep the Ashes with over 2 days play left.

Though Australia's openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich hit 80 to start the innings, they fell quickly leaving Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey at the crease. The pair batted brilliantly on a wearing wicket adding 127 in just short of 40 overs before Flintoff ran Australia's skipper out with a direct throw onto the stumps. It was to prove to be Flintoff's last defining moment in a test match and no-one was more surprised with the run out than the man himself. Australia were all out almost 40 overs later with Swann and Steve Harmison getting in amongst the wickets as the Aussies lost by 197 runs as the Ashes were regained. It was a magical moment and even though i was sitting in my main room, i felt like i was at the ground it was a marvelous spine-tingling moment. After the horrors of Headingley i did not expect us to turn it around in the final game - but they did thankfully!

Australia and Ponting were to get their revenge over the forthcoming 7 ODI matches in the Natwest Series as they romped to a 6-1 victory. With Flintoff taking a break from the game due to surgery, England's bowlers struggled in containing the Aussie batsman. Cameron White, Callum Ferguson and Cameron White all shone with the bat whilst returning Brett Lee was too much for England's batsman to handle. England's only win in the series came at Durham in the final match of the series when they chased down 177 to win with 4 wickets left. It was a blow to end the summer on abit of a low for England, why seven matches were needed after the tests was a strange decision to be honest. Credit to the Aussies who did all they had to do though.

Barley a fortnight after that heavy series lost, England headed off to the ICC Champions Trophy. In a group that contained Sri Lanka, the hosts South Africa and New Zealand - England were not expected to qualify to the semi-final stages of the tournament, but they did!. Sri Lanka were beaten by 6 wickets, James Anderson and Graham Onions doing the damage with the ball as the Kumar Sangakarra’s team were bowled out for 214. Although Strauss and Joe Denly departed early on the middle order of Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan clicked seeing England home by 6 wickets. Two days later England beat South Africa by 22 runs at Centurion. Batting first England reached 323-8 with 12 sixes being hit. Shah hit a simply stunning 98, Collingwood 82 and Morgan a brisk 67. Although the Proteas’ captain Graeme Smith hit a fine 141 he received little support from his team mates as a fine fielding performance saw England win the game. It was a classic ODI game and one without England's best batsman Kevin Pietersen whose wound on his leg was still healing after surgery.

With the team already through to the next round, there was no pressure on the team for their final group game against New Zealand. The Kiwi’s needed to win the game to stay in the tournament and on a poor pitch at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg they bowled out England inside the 50 overs and got the 147 needed to win the game. Fate declared that England’s opponents in the semi’s would be Australia and this time on a good pitch at Centurion, England’s top order failed. Only through good batting from Collingwood and Luke Wright and big hitting fromTim Bresnan were Australia set a competitive score to chase down. Although Onions struck early for England, Ponting and Watson hit unbeaten centuries as the Aussie’s won by 9 wickets. Today Australia have gone on to claim the tournament beating New Zealand in the final, Watson hitting another unbeaten century.

So at the end of a fantastic summer of cricket it’s Australia who have ended with the glory but the important thing this summer was for England to regain the Ashes. Heroes such as Flintoff and Steve Harmison look to be on their way out for England. But new ones such as Trott, Swann, Anderson and Broad have emerged and Adil Rashid is improving all the time. The future looks bright for England who will need to continue their good performances because in around 13 months time they will be heading to Australia where they will attempt to retain the Ashes – which will be a tough task. Roll on the winter tour to South Africa and whatever 2010 brings for the team!