England Cricket Success Is Easy

After the first victory for the English cricket team since last year just the other day, it became obvious how Mr Flower had masterminded the vast improvement on the previous lord knows how many performances. Remarkable how some of the greatest acts of genius are so simple really. 

This master stroke needed only to follow the English sporting tradition of dolling out nicknames ending in 'y'. This bodes well for a number of the young bucks on the fringes of the English squad - Kiesy, Johnny (Vaughny and Goughie showed the way here one imagines), Briggsy (or Danny - double 'y' suggests future greatness surely?) etc, and was entirely justified by the stand-out performances in the game.

Captain Cooky backed the theory of his coaches during the first innings, further improving his average since taking over the captaincy in scoring a masterful century. Ravi joined the party after KP (retaining his place in the side on a phonics technicality) and Trotty seemed a little confused by the inherently English selection system. Kiesy is obviously on-board with the new direction notwithstanding his J'berg links, however it didn't seem to come off for him as (for once) he failed to get if off the square. Broady can be relied upon by Flower to do pretty much whatever he's told and his boyish looks make him the perfect replacement as senior prefect for Belly who is unlucky to be excluded from the shorter formats given his remarkable batting ability AND box-ticking surname. Swanny and Sami (phonics again) showed the strength in depth of both the squad and the theory by keeping Jimmy and Finny from the crease as the innings came to a close. The performance of the latter with the ball in the second innings suggested a. that he was unlucky to draw the drinks carrier straw for the winter and b. that the England bowling unit has the greatest strength in depth to be found in world cricket.

Morgan is the fly in the ointment. The former Irishman has endured a harrowing winter tour and will likely by sidelined for the next test match back in Blighty. More worryingly for him, his nickname doesn't seem to be helping him change his fortunes any more than getting out of the whites into his beloved pyjamas. Moggie seems to be getting the round in at the last chance saloon based on an average of just 13.66 garnered from the test series. That said, only four of his colleagues managed to average ten more than that. This obviously talented chap seems to be one significant innings away from really taking off as a test player; will he avoids the cut long enough to play it? A big score in the first innings, or a Bevan-esque performance to steer the side home today may just break the shackles and give him the confidence to perform in the grown up version of this great game where silly names are not the be all and end all.