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| England's World T20 squad makes them contenders |
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| Category: Squads |
| Written by Luke Tagg |
| Monday, 01 March 2010 23:46 |
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England named their 30-man provisional squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies on Monday and when you break it down there's a pretty tough squad of form players who could well be contenders. Craig Kieswetter is the latest South African making it big in Blighty and his inclusion in the squad was a mere formality. Other noobs include Peter Trego and Michael Lumb, both of whom did well on the recent England Lions tour in the UAE, as well as a few county blokes I've never heard of. The big, scandalous omission was Alastair Cook, which sent an instant nervous frisson of excitement around England cricketing circles. I have no idea why - there's a reason the man isn't top of the IPL shopping list and it's not just because he looks a bit weird. The only wonder is that Joe Denly was included - I'm all for Joe in Test cricket, but c'mon. The guy's batting strike rate in limited overs cricket makes Gary Kirsten's the work of the original slogger from hell. Which he was, by the way. You just never knew it. This is the 30-man provisional squad: Paul Collingwood (c) James Anderson Ian Bell Ravi Bopara Tim Bresnan Stuart Broad Steven Davies Joe Denly Steven Finn Craig Kieswetter Michael Lumb Sajid Mahmood Dimitri Mascarenhas Eoin Morgan Graham Onions Kevin Pietersen Liam Plunkett Matt Prior Adil Rashid Owais Shah Ajmal Shahzad Ryan Sidebottom Graeme Swann James Tredwell Peter Trego Jonathan Trott David Wainwright Chris Woakes Luke Wright Michael Yardy As with the South African squad, I'm not sure why 30 players are selected, but I imagine it has to do with getting a look at everyone and providing stiff competition in the nets and practice matches. There's plenty of good players there and I think England can take a pretty strong 15-man squad to the World Twenty20. This is the 15-man squad I would select: Paul Collingwood (c) James Anderson Ian Bell Stuart Broad Craig Kieswetter Eoin Morgan James Tredwell Kevin Pietersen Matt Prior Graeme Swann Luke Wright Ryan Sidebottom Dimitri Mascarenhas Peter Trego Liam Plunkett There are some power-hitters in that lineup, make no mistake. Kieswetter is the man of the moment - the KP of his time - whilst KP himself is still the KP of his current, past and future time. It's complicated with KP. Always. Eoin Morgan is one of the most dangerous hitters in T20 cricket - I fear that guy almost as much as I fear my own mother. Maybe it's just past indignities I've had to suffer at his beefy hands, but whatever the case - I wish him nothing but slow death. There's also plenty of hitting in the form of lower-order batters like Stuart Broad, Luke Wright, Dimmy Mascarenhas, Matt Prior and Peter Trego, who opened recently for the Lions against Pakistan A. I've seen that oke smack a long ball or three. Then there's Paul Collingwood himself, possibly one of the most underrated T20 players. He's only averaging 22-odd in T20Is, but his strike rate is around 140. That's some going. When these guys fire they are capable of big scores - their problem has been firing consistently, and as a unit. I think they're better when posting scores - it gives the likes of Morgan and KP the chance to express themselves in cruel and unusual ways. The bowling could be a problem - notice I included James Tredwell in my 15-man squad, simply because I'm convinced good spin bowling is the key to T20 success, especially on the subcontinent and similarly dry places, eg. the West Indies. Jimmy Anderson is eminently spankable when he gets it wrong - a right old traveller, he is. The other quicks might also struggle, but slow bowlers like Colly and Dimmy could be very dangerous. The Rajasthan Royals used Mascarenhas as their opening bowler in the first IPL and it was brilliant - he was almost impossible to hit. Straight, slowish bowling is the next best thing to good spin. It forces batsmen to create their own speed off the bat, which brings the YHIM (You Hit I Miss) option into play. The true hero of the piece, however, will be Graeme Swann, if there's going to be one for England. His series against South Africa (the T20, the ODIs and the Test series) was no fluke - since then he's been equally as brilliant. He's definitely found a new gear, to go with spin and a troublesome line and length. I think teams will struggle against him. He'll get the occasional spank but will also pick up wickets on those slow, turning tracks. I think England are definitely a contender this year, particularly if Swann, Kieswetter and Morgan light the place up. There's enough quality to fill in the blanks around them. See Also: South Africa's 30-man squad 
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