The thing that really bothers me about the current England Test Team is that even after defending The Ashes by beating Australia 3-1 in Australia and outclassing Sri Lanka to the point where Sri Lanka have looked slightly less than apalling, England still seems to lack self-belief and confidence in themselves as a Test side.
The worst innings that England has had in the current series is 335 for 7 declared. Making 335 is a reasonable score in the first place but this isn't even a proper close of innings, this was England declaring early so they could have a fighting chance at winnning a match; even then Ian Bell was scoring at a strike rate of more than 130 when the declaration came.
Jonathan Trott made 203 in the 1st test at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and took 1/5 in the 1st test at Lord's. There have also been centuries to Cook Bell and Prior in the series, whilst Sri Lanka have only deposed all of England's wickets in an innings once. Chris Tremlett's 6/48 in the 3rd test at The Rose Bowl is the only five wicket haul by bowler in the series but that's because wickets are being spread around rather than faulty bowling.
At least one batsman is performing per innings and the bowling is entirely adequate. Normally this should instill hope into a squad but remember, this is England we're talking about.
This is an England side which is obviously in a state of confusion. England hit the bottom in 2006/7 with a disastrous tour of Australia losing 5-0, and since then they've risen like the phoenix and have turned into a Test side which whilst it might not be full of any real stand-out stars in particular, it is a very good side which I don't think has quite figured that out for itself.
Especially over the last 20 years, England in just about every sport has been rubbish. When England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003, we didn't know what to do about it exactly and now that the England Cricket is looking competent and winning matches with alarming regularity, neither the team itself nor the fans quite know how to react to this.
Just to remind you again, this is England. England isn't supposed to win anything! England is the nation which invents and codifies sports, gives them to the world and then sits and mopes when everyone else in the world practices them and gets better than them. For the England Test Cricket side to start winning matches, cuts against the veyr principles of being English, namely standing about complaining about the weather and going in at teatime to knock off a plate of Jaffa Cakes.
Thankfully the scent of failure is just over the horizon.
I predict that India will start the tour by smashing county sides to pieces on relatively small grounds like Taunton, and that the England Test team will be looking at this and then have the wind taken out of their sails.
Players like Gambhir and Dravid will have scores which are over-inflated (150-190) and when they come to Lord's on 21st July, I'm worried that Finn and Broad will be scared into a state of... being the England Test Team that we've come to know over the last 20 years because of the dark shadows that those scores will cast.
Maybe England will select John Bull himself to play for them in the First Test against India but I think it more likely that when faced against India, England will just collapse like a flan in a cupboard and it will be just like old times again.
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