England add prudence, adaptability to batting repertoire

Three times in the past year, England's one-day team have been bowled out cheaply within their 50 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first. At Lord's against South Africa last May they made 153, in the Champions Trophy in Cardiff a few weeks later, Pakistan bowled them out for 211 and then in Adelaide this winter, Australia dismissed England for 196. On each occasion, England lost the game.

But more than simply being disappointing defeats for them, those three games displayed a chink in England's batting armoury when conditions are in the bowlers' favour. The common factor? A failure to assess quickly enough what a good score was and then adjust their play to suit it. Guilty of trying to reach a score of 350 when 270 would have been competitive.

It cost them in last summer's Champions Trophy when they went too hard on a slowish, used pitch against Pakistan and were bundled out for 80 runs below par. In the lead-up to that tournament at Lord's against South Africa, England's top order kept flashing when Kasigo Rabada was swinging it round corners and they were reduced to 20 for six. It was even worse in similarly helpful bowling conditions in Adelaide when their first five wickets fell with just eight (8) runs on the board.

In all three of these games, conditions were tricky for batting early on and England failed to reign in the aggressive mindset which has so revolutionised their one-day cricket since the last World Cup. Particularly at Lord's and Adelaide Oval, the batsmen simply didn't play to the conditions.

It's a tricky balance to strike, of course. The aggression and positive intent of England's batting has been the principal reason for their rise to number one in the ODI rankings. It has propelled them to nine wins in their last ten bilateral series and allowed them to score, on average, at better than a run-a-ball for the last three years. It's vital that England don't change course now.

But at the same time, if they are truly to become a more rounded team, they need to be able to adjust their approach to conditions, particularly when batting first. Their record when they set a total over the past two years is markedly inferior to their record when chasing. Their win percentage is 72% when batting second compared to 56% when bowling second. In next year's World Cup, they will need to set scores and defend them.

So it will have pleased England's management to see the team