The Good, The Bad and The Mediocre of the Summer

September 5, 2008 · Filed Under England One Day Cricket, England Test Cricket

Well England have played their last game of the summer (well it was supposed to be summer), so we might as well have a quick look back on some of the things which happened - ones that I can remember anyway!

The Good

KP’s performance as the new England captain - came in with no captaincy experience and managed to get players performing and you can’t ask for more. A little bit worried he might just pick his mates even when times are tough, but I could be proved wrong.
The return of Freddie - Rejoice! Flintoff back into the side is a HUGE boost, he adds something with bat, ball and character and we’ve missed him big style. Fingers crossed for no more injuries.
England’s ODI performance against SA - 4-0 is a fantastic result for us, as things clicked in most areas for a change. We’ll not get too over the top but it was a pleasing sight after recent efforts on the ODI front. Maybe good things will happen at the Stanford Twenty20 competition!
Stuart Broad - Not an outstanding test series summer, but he did very well in the ODI’s, and proved enough about him to see that is a real one to look forward to watching in the years to come.
Getting Harmy back in the side - We all want Harmison in the side if his head is in the right place and he is bowling well. He was doing just that for Durham so he was brought back in and didn’t let us down. Please let it continue!
KP’s Switch Hit - Brilliant, genius shot!

The Bad

Not performing well against SA in the test series - we may have scored over 600 at Lords, and won the final test, but the fact of the matter is we lost the series and didn’t play consistently good cricket - we failed to even compete in stages.
The Furore at the Oval ODI against NZ - with Grant Elliot being run out whilst lying on the floor this wasn’t a pretty occasion (despite my feelings that not that much was wrong with it). It died down pretty quickly, but for a while there cricket didn’t have a great ‘rep’.
Tim Ambrose - Sorry Tim, but shut the door on your way out. No runs with the bat, dropped catches and not enough about you as a keeper, your time is up my friend.
Playing NZ away, then home - It bored the crap out of me seeing the same opposition for what seemed likes months on end - shocking planning.
The ODI against NZ at Edgbaston - I was there and I loved the day (and the nights before and afterwards..), but it was crap weather, I was in shorts and t-shirt fancy dress and the match was abandoned a few balls short of being an official match - what a waste of everyone’s time!

The Mediocre

Strauss, Bell, Collingwood with the bat - individually at small stages they did well (Bell’s 199 in particular), but looking at the whole series they did it when they looked about to be for the chop which is really depressing. We know they can do it, so its frustrating when they wait for last chance salon to perform.
Sideshow Ryan - After being the best and most consistent England bowler for a year, this summer wasn’t a great one for Ryan. Whether it was caused by injuries or not, he didn’t look threatening or worthy of a spot in the team towards the end of the year. A real shame after a great year previous but there are others pushing for this spot and he’ll have to put in some work.
The Summer - Just generally, if you had to put a tag on the summer of cricket ‘mediocre’ would be it. We beat NZ like you would expect, but not in a convincing fashion, and then lost to SA before winning the ODI series. Up and down like normal for England then!

I’ve probably missed some bits out - so let me know what you thought of the summer in the comments!