England have certainly had a one day series to forget, although the 6-1 margin was probably a little harsh. Beset by injuries and clearly desperate to get home at the end of a long tour they had the look of a side that was pretty much at the end of their tether by the time of the last game.
The question is how successfully they can re-group in the short time that is available to them. A brief stop at home should help to re-charge the batteries (although, surely, any sane scheduler would have allowed more time between the end of the Australian tour and the start of the World Cup) and the injuries to Swann and Broad may have been a blessing in disguise, since they are both key players and should both return refreshed. However, the injury to Eoin Morgan is a considerable blow. Ravi Bopara’s selection at least gives Andrew Strauss another bowling option, but the finishing skills and dazzling fielding of the Irishman will be sorely missed.
They also have headaches with regard to the batting order. Matt Prior has looked a fish out of water at the top of the order, a victim of the modern obsession with opening the batting with a keeper, and would be more effective lower down, but this leaves the question of who might open in his stead. The conditions may suit Ian Bell, but don’t be surprised to see the tactic of opening with Prior continued. The plus point with the batting, however, is the remarkable form of Jonathan Trott. He is currently on course to overhaul Viv Richards' record for reaching one thousand ODI runs in the fewest innings and has scored three hundreds in his first eighteen innings. To put that into some sort of context, Mike Gatting, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and Ian Bell have three ODI hundreds between them in 338 innings. If Trott can continue to average in the fifties then he could be the catalyst for a successful tournament for England.
To continue with the positive side, England have a good, balanced and penetrative bowling attack with a high quality spinner and, with Broad restored to the side, good batting depth. They are also a terrific fielding side, thanks mostly to Richard Halsall, who will put pressure on their opponents. It is difficult to see them winning the tournament but they are the best English one day side for a generation and if they can get some momentum and the batting can fire then they will be contenders.
Much depends on: Paul Collingwood. England most capped one day player is almost at the end of his career and has been in horrible form with the bat, but if he can rise to the occasion then his runs could compensate for the loss of Morgan, his cutters could be very valuable in the conditions and his fielding remains dazzling. If he has a good tournament then all in the England garden should be rosy, but if he fails then we could all be watching through our fingers (again).
The verdict: Semi-finals
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