The selections of Steve Finn and Jade Dernbach demonstrate that they are already planning for the 2015 World Cup
Matt Prior, one of the most successful wicketkeeper-batsmen that Test cricket has seen, has lost his one-day place to Craig Kieswetter for the one-day series against Sri Lanka. The Somerset keeper, who was man of the match in England's successful World Twenty20 final in Bridgetown a year ago, has been recalled and will open the batting with the new ODI captain, Alastair Cook.
In a 14-man squad announced by the national selector Geoff Miller, there is already a heavy accent on planning for the next World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand in 2015. There is no place for Chris Tremlett, the man of the recent Test series against Sri Lanka, who will be 33 by then, or for the winning World Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood who, at 34, makes neither squad. Instead, there is investment in two young pace bowlers, Steve Finn and Jade Dernbach. There is also a recall for Samit Patel now that he has met the minimum fitness level demanded by the England management. Miller, however, was at pains to stress that this is only the beginning for him.
While Prior has proved a formidable lower-order Test batsman, he has been unable to translate that into international one-day cricket, where his prolific scoring through the offside has been thwarted consistently by the simple expedience of bowling straight. When Test match defence has been superseded by a necessity to be aggressive to the straight ball, he has been found wanting no matter what position in the order he has batted.
The manner in which Steve Davies was dispensed with before the last World Cup suggested that a recall for him was unlikely. The spotlight fell on Kieswetter. In the World Twenty20 he played an integral part in the winning strategy with his ability to kick-start an innings by clearing the infield. For ODI cricket, though, it was felt that his lack of competence against the moving ball, and an inability to find the middle ground between block and bash to maintaining a high strike rate, restricted him.
Since then, however, he has done considerable productive work with the former England left-hander Graham Thorpe, and is said to be a more rounded batsman as a result. Sessions with the England wicketkeeping coach, Bruce French, have also helped improve that aspect of his game.
Finn, 22, is being given the opportunity to develop a game so that in four years' time he will be a relatively experienced ODI bowler. He has shown in his Tests that although there are technical faults that creep in to disrupt him at times he has a wicket-taking capacity, an aspect of the game, particularly with the new ball, in which England have lacked.
Dernbach has impressed with his pace, but in particular the skill and variety he can deliver slower balls which are essential to disrupting hitting. Along with Chris Woakes, who impressed during the one-day series in Australia earlier in the year, they have made both squads. Jimmy Anderson, on the other hand, makes only the ODI squad. His was the surprise omission from the World Twenty20 final side when the management opted, shrewdly, for the left arm of Ryan Sidebottom. But he will need to up his success rate with the new white ball as there is always the feeling that he can be hittable thereafter.
In Patel there is hope for any cricketer that the door is never completely shut. Andy Flower, in particular, was immensely frustrated by Patel's obvious lack of understanding or, indeed, disdain for the fitness demands of the England team. They wanted to see only a sign of commitment and some improvement. Instead he did the opposite. So this represents a leap of faith.
The lack of improvement before Christmas, despite his austere regime in Australia, meant that Flower was unable to include him in his World Cup squad, something that rankled and led to the selection of Michael Yardy who, illness notwithstanding, was out of his depth in ODIs. Now, though, Patel is showing a trend in the right direction and will have an important role to play in the winter series of ODIs and Twenty20s on the subcontinent, although perhaps not in the forthcoming series, which is likely to be dominated by seam.
Although Miller has attempted to offer encouraging words this clearly is the end of the line for Collingwood, the most capped of all England's limited-overs cricketers. He was disturbed by not being given the chance to defend the Twenty20 title, and had hoped that his Test match retirement would enable him to concentrate on the shorter format. England see it differently.
He scored only 83 runs in five Ashes Tests? and 114 in eight ODI appearances since ? before finally being dropped from by the time the World Cup effort hit the buffers in dramatic fashion in Colombo. Now England are moving on.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jun/21/prior-collingwood-england-one-day-squads
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