The rivalry between England and Australia only exists on-field now except for the pre-Ashes banter. But the rivalry between England and South Africa is heating up. They hate to see each other win. By wrapping up the one day series 2-1, England became only the third team to win a one day series in South Africa and only the second team to win a bilateral one day series in South Africa. India have climbed up to rank 1 in the ICC Test rankings. Oh for fuck's sake, they don't play better than all teams in Tests. They have only played 6 Tests this year, 3 at home, 3 in New Zealand.
Back to England vs South Africa, James Anderson took 5 wickets in the 4th ODI and then commented that he has bowled better for England. I couldn't agree more. I remember the Natwest series between England and India in 2007 in which he was superb. I also remember England tour of New Zealand and New Zealand tour of England in 2008, in which Sidebottom and Anderson took all the wickets and Broad was the supporting bowler. In his career, he has usually bowled well in South Africa, England and New Zealand but he hasn't had much success anywhere else. Figures won't show but he learned a lot during England tour of West Indies earlier this year. I havn't seen any series as unfair as that Test series.
England are playing very well now. I don't want any change in the squad. They are a good team in all formats now, probably after 1992. They have the potential to be the World No.1. Bresnan is the only one in the team who can be replaced but he can play when you have wicket takeres because he is economical. The matches between World XI and Australia show us that the best players don't win, the best team does. But considering the history of England cricket, changes are must. Freddie will be back, probably in the summer of 2010. Also, Collingwood, Jimmy, Strauss may not play in Bangladesh. Cook will captain England. It's hard to understand how ECB works, Cook captained England in their 2nd Twenty20 International but he didn't feature in any of the ODIs. He is good enough to play for England in Tests, ODIs but now we have Trott, Morgan so he should play in Tests only. This will sound bizarre but the place of the future England captain is in danger. He is trying hard to secure his place in the One Day and Twenty20 England squad. He should just concentrate on developing his batting for Tests. I heard James Anderson and Alastair Cook, both want to captain England. This is so funny for me. I never thought my top 2 crushes would be battling for captaincy. Jimmy said that being from the north and a fast bowler, he is unlikely to captain England. I would say he should just worry about his bowling, I doubt if captaincy will work for him. He has a lot to learn. He is more consistent now, he is naturally a better bowler but he has to find a way to take wickets when England aren't playing in South Africa, New Zealand or England.
Apart from the One Day series win, there is another good news, England have won the inaugural Cricket Legends of Barbados International Cup in the Caribbean. There are talks of a Test Championship, which I'm in favour of, given that West Indies or any other minnow don't play. Cheers.