England cricket team

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England
As of 5 January 2007
File:ECB Logo.gif
The logo of the England Cricket Team which shows the three Lions of England below a five-pointed crown

The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The sport of cricket evolved in England, and England is a founding Test cricket, One-day International and Twenty20 nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 (against Australia in Melbourne) and also the first ever One-day International in 1971 (also against Australia in Melbourne).

Performances

England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. After Australia won The Ashes for the first time in 1881-82 England had to fight with them for primacy and one of the fiercest rivalries in sport dominated the cricket world for seventy years. In 1963 this duopoly of cricket dominance began to fall away with the emergence of a strong West Indies team.

England failed to win a series against the West Indies between 1969 and 2000. England similarly failed to compete with Australia for a long period and the The Ashes stayed in Australian hands between 1989 and 2005. England struggled against other nations over this period as well and after a series loss to New Zealand in 1999 they were ranked at the bottom of the ICC Test cricket ratings. From 2000, English cricket had a resurgence and England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and regained The Ashes in 2005. The team is currently ranked second behind Australia in the Test rankings, but One Day perfomances have been very poor with England falling to 8th place in the ICC rankings.

In the 2006/07 tour of Australia The Ashes were lost in a 0-5 "whitewash" (see 2006-07 Ashes series) but England did succeed in clinching victory in the Commonwealth bank ODI Tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. The loss of The Ashes prompted the announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board of an official review of English cricket amid much criticism from the media, former players and fans.

Eligibility of players

The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations[1], players can qualify to play for a country by nationality, place of birth or residence, so (as with any national sports team) some people are eligible to play for more than one team.

ECB regulations[2] state that to play for England, a player must be a British or Irish citizen, and have either been born in England or Wales, or have lived in England or Wales for the last four years. This has led to players of many other nationalities becoming eligible to play for England. England have been captained by a Scot, Mike Denness, and three South Africans, Tony Greig, Allan Lamb and Andrew Strauss. The South African cape coloured, Basil D'Oliveira, famously played for England during the apartheid era. In recent times Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe); Andrew Caddick (New Zealand); Geraint Jones (Australia via Papua New Guinea); and Kevin Pietersen (South Africa) have all played for England. Some players have played for another (non Test-playing) country as well as England, for example Gavin Hamilton who played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and later played one Test match for England, while Ed Joyce played for Ireland in the ICC Trophy before making his England ODI debut in June 2006 against his former team.

History of English international cricket

England played in the very first Test match in 1877. Since then, up to 20 August 2006 they have played 852 Test matches, winning 298, losing 245 and drawing 309. During these 852 matches, they have been captained by 77 different players.

1860 to 1900

See also: History of Test cricket (to 1883)

History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)
History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)
The team that toured Australia in 1861.
The 1873/4 team.

1877 saw the first Test match when England took on Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This rivalry took on a new turn in 1882, when England lost at home at the Oval. Upset at this turn of events, the Sporting Times printed an obituary to English cricket:

In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

When England toured Australia the following winter, and won 2-1, the England captain, the Hon. Ivo Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil. And so The Ashes series was born.

This period of English cricket was dominated by WG Grace. For thirty six years (1865 to 1900). He averaged 39.45 at first class level, an average undoubtedly dragged down by playing into his late fifties. At his peak in the 1870s his first-class season averages were regularly between 60 and 70, at a time where uncovered, poorly-prepared pitches meant that scores were far lower than the modern game. Grace scored over 1000 runs and took over 100 wickets in seven different seasons.

At fifty-three he scored nearly 1,300 runs in first-class cricket, made 100 runs and over on three different occasions and could claim an average of 42 runs. Moreover, his greatest triumphs were achieved when only the very best cricket grounds received serious attention; when, as some consider, bowling was maintained at a higher standard and when all hits had to be run out. He, with his two brothers, EM and GF, assisted by some fine amateurs, made Gloucestershire in one season a first-class county; and it was he who first enabled the amateurs of England to meet the paid players on equal terms and to beat them.

There was hardly a record connected with the game which did not stand to his credit. Grace was one of the finest fieldsmen in England, in his earlier days generally taking long-leg and cover-point, in later times generally standing point (see Fielding positions in cricket). He was, at his best, a fine thrower, fast runner and safe catcher. As a bowler he was long in the first flight, originally bowling fast, but in later times adopting a slower and more tricky style, frequently very effective. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Test rankings, he was only out of the top 4 Test batsman ratings for two years in the period from 1880 and 1899.

1900-1914 The "Golden Age"

The first Test series of the new century took place in Australia 1901-1902 and was won by Australia who came from one down to take the series 4-1. The England side was a private venture of Archie MacLaren (although the matches were all offical Test matches). It was rather an attritional series of matches with only three centuries being scored and only one team innings over 400 (the first innings of England in the First test at the SCG.). Sydney Barnes made his debut for England and took 19 wickets in the first two Tests before being injured in the third and talking no further part in the series.

There was a home series against Australia in 1902 which was won by the Australians (2-1). In the drawn First Test at Edgbaston Australia were dismissed for 36 in their first innings (Wilfred Rhodes 7 for 17) but rain meant that the match was drawn. Sydney Barnes returned to the England team and had immediate success taking seven wickets in the 3rd Test at Sheffield. England’s batting throughout the series was modest with only one innings of over 300 and with only three centuries scored. The last of these was a match winning innings by Gilbert Jessop who went in at number seven with England 48-5 and then scored what was then the fastest century in Test cricket in 70 minutes setting up an improbable England win by one wicket. The last wicket pair of Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst who nervelessly acquired the fifteen runs need for victory.

England toured Australia in 1903-1904, the first time that the MCC had been responsible for an England tour overseas. England regained The Ashes with a 3-2 series win under the captaincy of Plum Warner. In the first test R.E.Foster made his Test debut and scored 287 in his first ever innings – the then highest ever Test score and a record that was to stand for a quarter of a century. Wilfred Rhodes took 15 wickets in England 2nd Test win at the MCG –a record that was to stand for thirty years. In the fifth Test England were dismissed for 61 in their first innings on a rain affected pitch.

In 1905 Australia toured England and were beaten 2-0 with three matches drawn. Notable batting performances in the series included centuries by A.C. MacLaren, F.S. Jackson (2), Jack Tyldesley (2) and C.B. Fry. B.J.T. Bosanquet, the inventor of the googly, took eight wickets in an Innings in the First Test.

In 1905-06 Plum Warner took an MCC team to South Africa for the first time and England were soundly beaten 4-1 in the series. England’s batting faltered throughout the series with only one team innings in excess of 200 (successive innings of 184,190,148,160,295,196,198,160,187 and 130) and just one individual century (by F.L.Fane in the 3rd test at the Wanderers). England’s only win came at Newlands where the left-arm slow bowler Colin Blythe took eleven wickets in the match.

In 1907 there was a home three match Test series against South Africa which England, captained by R.E.Foster, won 1-0. Highlights included another sparkling innings by Gilbert Jessop who scored 93 at Lord’s in a partnership of 145 for the sixth wicket with L.C.Braund who scored a century. There was another fine bowling performance by Colin Blythe who took 15 wickets at Headingley on a rain-affected match in a match that England won despite having been bowled out for 76 in their first innings.

In England’s Test series in Australia in 1907-08 Australia won the first Test but England hit back well with a narrow win at the MCG in the 2nd Test in which Jack Hobbs made his England debut scoring 83 and 28. England were outplayed by Australia in the next three Tests and lost the series and the Ashes 4-1. England’s batting was fragile throughout the series with only Gunn (2) and Hutchings scoring hundreds. The bowling relied on Fielder and Barnes who took 49 wickets between them.

In a home series against Australia in 1909 England lost 2-1 (two draws) and no combination of players (England used 25 in total in the series) seemed to work. England failed to make 200 in an innings five times and there was only one individual century (by J.Sharp in the 3rd Test). The remarkable Colin Blythe delivered England’s only victory by taking eleven wickets in the First test at Edgbaston, but thereafter Australia, whilst never dominating the England attack, always had the edge.

England returned to South Africa in 1909-10 for a five match Test series and fared little better than on their first visit in 1905-06. The series was lost 3-2 but this disguises South Africa’s superiority. The main highlight was Jack Hobbs first (of 15) test century in the final Test at Newlands. This was one of only two personal hundreds by England batsmen in the series. The bowling attack was weak – although the last of the great “lob” (underhand) bowlers George Simpson-Hayward had field days in the first three Test matches when he took a total of 21 wickets and Colin Blythe bowled England to a consolation win in the fifth Test with ten wickets in the match.

1910s

1920s

1930s

Bodyline

Main article: Bodyline

File:4th Test Fingleton.jpg
Bill Woodfull evades a Bodyline ball. Note the number of leg-side fielders.

Before the 1932-3 tour to Australia, England had become used to the prolific run-scoring of Don Bradman. The England captain, Surrey's Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body, and Jardine had two very fast accurate bowlers, Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to bowl them. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.

England won the series and the Ashes 4-1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the Marylebone Cricket Club in London:

Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England.

Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg were banned.

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970's

This decade saw mixed fortunes for England ranging fron great highs to some pretty dreadful defeats. This decade saw the emergence of the great West Indies teams, with their battery of fast bowlers, that tormented England for the next twenty years. During this period, the inaugural and second Cricket World Cups were held in England, with the team reaching the semi-finals in 1975 and the final in 1979, prior to losing to the West Indies.

1980s

The 1980s was a mixed decade in terms of The Ashes.

The series in 1981 saw England under Mike Brearley fight back from being 1-0 down after two Test matches to achieve exciting victories at Headingley, Edgbaston and Old Trafford. At Headingley, England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. The turnaround owed much to former captain Ian Botham, whose fine second innings forced Australia to bat again, and to and fast bowler Bob Willis who proceeded to bowl Australia out. Botham made the difference at Edgbaston too, this time with a match-winning bowling performance in Australia's second innings: chasing 150 to win they were dismissed for 121 (Botham 5/11). At Old Trafford, Botham scored a second innings century and took five wickets in the match.

England lost the Ashes in 1982-83 but recovered to win the next two series in 1985 and 1986-87. The latter victory was thought to be a surprise at the time, although the team had several established players such as Mike Gatting, the captain on that tour, David Gower and Ian Botham. In 1989, the Ashes were lost to a new and powerful Australian team that included the likes of Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor. England would not recover the Ashes for another 16 years.

Despite some reasonable performances in Ashes series against a generally below-par Australia, England's weaknesses were exposed as they endured humiliating home and away 5-0 series defeats to the all-powerful West Indies side of the time. These series have become known in history as the Blackwash.

The 1983 World Cup was held in England, for the third time. They lost in the semi-finals to India, who then won the final. The first World Cup to be held abroad (and also the first to be contested with 50 over games, not 60) in 1987 saw England lose to Australia by 7 runs, in a hugely exciting final.

On 1st August 1989, just as England was losing the third Test match against Australia at Old Trafford (and with this loss surrendering The Ashes after holding them for four years) a rebel tour of South Africa was announced. Because of apartheid, South Africa was banned from international cricket but various unsanctioned and unofficial tours had gone ahead. The planned 1990 tour shocked the cricket establishment in England not only because of its timing but because so many top players were involved. Writing in 2006 Michael Atherton (who was twelfth man at Old Trafford) said "…unbeknown to England captain David Gower and chairman of selectors Ted Dexter, a group of English cricketers negotiated terms, clandestinely, with Ali Bacher to join a rebel tour to South Africa. Atherton added that this left "… English cricket in a complete mess with offering succour to a loathsome regime. It was shameful." [3]. Many of the cricketers involved in this affair, who were immediately banned by the ICC from international cricket, were later restored to some prominence in the game, not least the player/manager David Graveney who became Chairman of the England selectors . The others involved were Mike Gatting, Bill Athey, Kim Barnett, Chris Broad, Chris Cowdrey, Graham Dilley, Richard Ellison, John Emburey, Neil Foster, Bruce French, Paul Jarvis, Matthew Maynard and Tim Robinson.

1990s

The Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground

English cricket went on a slide during the 1990s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. They were more often than not beaten badly during the Ashes series, as they were spellbound by Shane Warne and later Glenn McGrath. They were declared the unofficial worst side in the world after the 1999 home series loss to New Zealand.

Under their new captain Graham Gooch at the beginning of the decade, England missed out on a historic victory against the all-conquering West Indian cricket team, by losing their final two test matches having gone into them with a 1-0 lead. The elevation to the position of captain for Gooch led to him reaching new heights as a batsman during the summer of 1990. The new captain broke the record for most number of runs in a match against India at Lord's with scores of 333 and 123. New team members such as Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart and Angus Fraser aided the new captain to victories against India and New Zealand yet the team were unable to regain the Ashes during the following winter, losing 3-0.

The team returned during 1991 to more successful ways, by defeating Sri Lanka and New Zealand and holding the West Indies to a drawn series. Another excellent innings from Gooch against the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh at Headingley helped the side to their first victory against the team in England for over two decades. Although England were not the best Test match side in the world, they could lay claim to holding that position in the one-day game. The 1992 Cricket World Cup saw England performing better than everyone else, with victories over Australia, the West Indies and South Africa led them to the final against Pakistan, where a side led and inspired by Imran Khan defeated Gooch's side.

Around this time, players such as Ian Botham, Allan Lamb and David Gower all came to the end of their international careers and specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing these players. Batsmen like Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash, Chris Lewis and Phil Tufnell all promised and sometimes delivered a great deal, yet the side often performed badly and disappointed its fans. Following their victory in New Zealand before the Cricket World Cup, they did not win again for another two and a half years, when the side again defeated the same opponents. During this period defeats to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Australia culminated in Gooch stepping down in the summer of 1993 as captain, to be replaced by his partner at the top of the order, Michael Atherton.

The period of captaincy under Atherton was seen as one of disaster followed by more and more disappointment for England's fans. Selectoral differences between Atherton and Raymond Illingworth often meant that players such as Angus Fraser and Devon Malcolm would not get picked, against the captain's wishes. Teams would sometimes have too many batsmen, no spin bowler and the plethora of players who would come into the side and then quickly disappear, was symptomatic of a troubled side. The demands of county cricket often meant that injuries would deny Atherton key players and when compared with Australian cricket, it was seen as antiquated by many. Performances of great excellence would often crop up, amid the rubbish. These included two centuries in a test match at Port of Spain by Alec Stewart, nine wickets in an innings from Devon Malcolm against South Africa, seven wickets on debut by Dominic Cork against the West Indies and Michael Atherton and Jack Russell batting for ten hours to salvage a draw in Johannesburg. By 1997, calls for Atherton to step down were only put off by an exciting victory at The Oval against Australia, despite losing the series 3-2. On the following tour to the West Indies, a 3-1 defeat forced the beleaguered captain to step down, to be replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Alec Stewart.

Stewart's first test series against South Africa in the summer of 1998 resulted in the side's first success in a five match test series since their last victory against Australia in 1986/1987. Bowlers such as Dominic Cork, Angus Fraser and Darren Gough now led the bowling attack with Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash supporting Stewart and Atherton in the batting. Yet the deficiencies in the system remained and a 3-1 defeat on their next Ashes tour and a humiliating exit in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup which was hosted by England led to the exit of Stewart.

His replacement of Essex batsman, Nasser Hussain, was the unfortunate holder of the captaincy during the 1999 Test series against New Zealand when a 2-1 defeat resulted in the country which gave birth to the game, being officially ranked as the worst Test-playing nation in the world.

2000s

Hussain's side was unable to avoid defeat in South Africa, yet his first series victory, against Zimbabwe the following summer, saw the side winning their next three test series. This included the side's first victory against the West Indies in 32 years, impressive wins in Pakistan, where Thorpe and Hussain helped see the side to victory in the dark in Karachi and a 2-1 defeat of Sri Lanka, where England displayed a new-found confidence of playing against spin bowling, a move instigated by their new coach Duncan Fletcher. However, the ultimate test for the side against Australia showed that England were still found wanting against the very best, losing 4-1.

Injuries and retirements from the side over the next year allowed new players to come into the side. Out went Atherton, Hick, Ramprakash, Gough, Cork, Tufnell and Andrew Caddick and in came Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Stephen Harmison and Ashley Giles. Hussain looked to create a side which was harder to beat and would often rule with an uncompromising attitude. Changes which the game had long needed were made, with central contracts limiting how much county cricket the players could play and the establishment of an academy. Encouraging performances by players like Vaughan, Trescothick and Hoggard against India and Sri Lanka did give England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia, yet a 4-1 defeat against possibly the greatest team ever showed that they were still falling short. This and England's withdrawal from a 2003 Cricket World Cup match in Zimbabwe led to Hussain becoming disillusioned with the job.

After the first Test of the 5 Test series against South Africa was drawn, Nasser Hussain resigned the Test captaincy, with Michael Vaughan being appointed in his stead. Vaughan went on to draw the series 2-2, after an Oval Test match rated by most commentators as the greatest in England since the 1981 Headingley Test. By the time of the tour in early 2004 to the West Indies, Vaughan had settled into his position as captain and was seen as an inspirational leader, who was respected by his players. This newly found confidence in the team led the side to a 3-0 victory in the Caribbean, followed by whitewashes over New Zealand and the West Indies at home, with players such as Harmison and Flintoff becoming amongst the very best in the world.

On December 21 2004 England completed their eighth successive Test victory with a win in the opening Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, the best sequence of Test match wins by England and the team were able to complete their first away victory over their opponents since they were re-admitted to the game in 1991.

Coming into the 2005 Ashes series, England had moved up to second, having won 14 and drawn 3 of their 18 previous Test matches since March 2004, raising hopes that the series would be closely fought. The Ashes series had a long build up, with England and Australia playing a triangular ODI series with Bangladesh, with the final England-Australia match ending in a tie (not a draw), prior to a second one day series between England and Australia won 2-1 by Australia.

Australia won the first Test at Lord's comfortably, but England came back to win the second Test at Edgbaston with a two run victory, the narrowest win by runs in Ashes history. The third Test ended in a draw, with one day having been lost to rain and England one wicket away from victory. England then narrowly won the fourth Test in Nottingham by three wickets after forcing the Australians to follow on. In the fifth and final Test at the Oval in London England came in to the final day needing to avoid a defeat with a lead of 40 runs and one wicket down, and batted until well after the tea interval to ensure the game would end a draw and England would regain the Ashes 2-1.

In the first Test series (versus Pakistan) after The Ashes triumph (in November/December 2005) England came down to earth with a bump. In the first Test match in Multan England squandered a strong position (first innings lead of 144) to eventually lose the match by 22 runs. The second Test at Faisalabad was drawn with Pakistan pressing hard for victory. In the final Test at Lahore England collapsed again to lose by an innings and 100 runs (their first innings defeat for two years).

In the One-day International series in Pakistan in December 2005 England started well with a win in the first match of the 5 match series. However they were outplayed in the next three matches to lose the series, although they came back well in the final match to win and therefore the series finished in a 3-2 win for Pakistan.

They then played a test series against India in March 2006 with Andrew Flintoff as captain. After the first Test match was drawn due to bad light on the last day, India came back strongly to win the 2nd test. But, England showed true character to come back and win the third test (their first Test Match win in India for 21 years) without five key players, including skipper Michael Vaughan and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick to level the three-game series at 1-1 with one draw. Although Trescothick returned for the three Test series against Sri Lanka in England, Flintoff retained the captaincy in the absence of Vaughan. England went on to draw the first test match despite taking a commanding lead after the first innings, England won the second test match but lost the third to tie the series 1-1.

With Flintoff now also absent through injury, England had yet another new captain in Andrew Strauss for the subsequent one-day series with Sri Lanka. After narrowly losing the one-off Twenty20 international, England then lost all five of the One-day Internationals, not helped by wayward bowling and further injuries. However, Strauss remained captain for the start of the Test series with Pakistan which followed. After the first match was drawn, Strauss was given the captaincy for the rest of the series when Flintoff was ruled out for the rest of the season, and under Strauss the side went on to win back-to-back tests at Old Trafford and Headingley and take an unassailable lead in the four-match series. The final test at The Oval ended in farce when umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove awarded five runs to England after ruling that Pakistan had tampered with the ball. After tea on the fourth day, Pakistan refused to leave the pavilion, and the umpires removed the bails, signifying that Pakistan had forfeited the match. However, Pakistan later took to the field, only for the umpires to stay in the pavilion. An end was eventually called to the day's play, and after a night of heated discussions, it was eventually agree that the test match had been correctly awarded to England, giving them a 3-0 series win.

Recent Form and Future Prospects

Since the historic Ashes win, the team has suffered from a serious and ongoing spate of injuries to key players. Ashley Giles, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones all suffered serious injuries that required surgery and it is still not clear when Vaughan and Jones will play again. Some have also claimed that they seemed to suffer from a lack of focus and 'killer instinct'. This can be seen in their 22-run loss to Pakistan at Multan in November 2005 (a match which they had dominated before the last day), and their failure to wrap up victory against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May 2006 after securing a first-innings lead of 359 and enforcing the follow-on. However, especially in the recent series victory against Pakistan in July-August 2006, several new players have emerged who have performed well and promise much for the future, leading to suggestions that even when the injured players recover, they may struggle to get back into the team. Most notable has been the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England. He has impressed with the excellence of his bowling (including match figures of 8-93 in the innings victory over Pakistan at Old Trafford in July 2006) and has also become a crowd favourite. He was one of the favourites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but did not receive the award. Other new players of note include left-handed batsman Alastair Cook and fast bowler Sajid Mahmood. The injury crisis has also allowed previously marginal players Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their places. The outstanding recent performances of the team, albeit against a Pakistan side which was also weakened by injuries, mean that the 2006/07 ashes series was one of the most keenly anticipated of recent years, and was expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005 series.

Their tour of Australia began badly with a one day defeat but, prospects for the Ashes itself looked good as England played well in the two three day tour games, with Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Alistair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff all looking in decent touch with the bat. However, England went on to lose all five Tests, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.

The team's form in One-day Internationals had been much less promising however; they are currently ranked 7th the world. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having the play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and were humiliatingly defeated 5-0 by Sri Lanka in June-July 2006. The line-up has undergone many changes, both forced and unforced, in recent months, and performances, particularly by the bowlers, have been poor. Steve Harmison now holds the unwanted record of the worst bowling figures for England in ODI history (0-97 in the match at Headingley). There was some improvement in the latest one-day series against Pakistan in England, when England won the last two matches to record a 2-2 draw. A similar story unveiled in the one-day triangular in Australia, where England lost Kevin Pietersen to injury, and had won one and lost five of their first six games. Then, England won their next four games, scraping into the finals series before winning both finals and their first ODI tournament overseas since 1997.

In their first 13-man per team warm-up game against Bermuda, England scored 286/8 in 50 overs thanks to a quick 76 by Jamie Dalrymple & cameo innings of 46 by Bell and 43 by Pietersen. The Bermuda innings came to a close after just 22.2 overs with England claiming all 10 wickets with just 45 runs on the scorecard, with the highest runner getting 11. Jon Lewis claimed 3 wickets and gave just 7 runs in his 4 overs , with James Anderson taking 2/8 in 5 overs, Andrew Flintoff taking 2/3 in his 2.2 overs and Liam Plunkett managing 1/13 in 5 overs. Also, Monty Panesar took 1/1 in 2 overs and Sajid Mahmood finished with figures of 1/10 in his 4 overs.

In their first World Cup Group C match, England lost to New Zealand but won the second match against Canada.

Tournament History

World Cup

ICC Champions Trophy

(known as the "ICC Knockout" in 1998 and 2000)

  • 1998: Quarter-Finals
  • 2000: Quarter-Finals
  • 2002: Second in Group Pool 2
  • 2004: Runners up
  • 2006: Main Round

Records - Tests

Team records

Individual records

Batting

Bowling

Fielding

Records - One-day Internationals

Team records

Individual records

  • Most matches: 170 - Alec Stewart
    • England is one of only two Test-playing nations (the other being Bangladesh) to have no players over the 200-cap milestone in ODIs
  • Longest Serving Captain: 56 matches - Nasser Hussain

Batting

Bowling

Fielding

See also: List of England Test cricket records | List of England One-day International cricket records

Current Players & Coaches

Current Squad

The following is a list of players that have been selected for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup

Name Batting Style Bowling Style Domestic team
Captain
Michael Vaughan RHB Right Arm Offbreak Yorkshire
Vice Captain
Paul Collingwood RHB Right-Arm Medium Durham
Opening batsmen
Ian Bell RHB Right-Arm Medium Warwickshire
Ed Joyce LHB Right-Arm Medium Middlesex
Andrew Strauss LHB Left-Arm Medium Middlesex
Middle-Order Batsmen
Kevin Pietersen RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Hampshire
All-Rounders
Ravinder Bopara RHB Right-Arm Medium Essex
Jamie Dalrymple RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Middlesex
Andrew Flintoff RHB Right-Arm Fast Lancashire
Pace Bowlers
James Anderson LHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Lancashire
Jon Lewis RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Gloucestershire
Sajid Mahmood RHB Right-Arm Fast Lancashire
Liam Plunkett RHB Right-Arm Fast Durham
Spin Bowlers
Monty Panesar LHB Slow Left-Arm Orthodox Northamptonshire
Wicket-keepers
Paul Nixon LHB - Leicestershire

Other Players

The following is a list of players that have represented England, or have been in the squad, since the tour of India in 2006.

Name Batting Style Bowling Style Domestic team
Opening batsmen
Mal Loye RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Lancashire
Marcus Trescothick LHB Right-Arm Medium Somerset
Middle-Order Batsmen
Alastair Cook lHB Right-Arm Slow Essex
Owais Shah RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Middlesex
Vikram Solanki RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Worcestershire
All-Rounders
Gareth Batty RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Worcestershire
Ian Blackwell LHB Slow Left-Arm Orthodox Somerset
Tim Bresnan RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Yorkshire
Rikki Clarke RHB Right-Arm Fast-Medium Surrey
Alex Loudon RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Warwickshire
Michael Yardy LHB Left-Arm Slow Sussex
Pace Bowlers
Kabir Ali RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Worcestershire
Stuart Broad LHB Right-Arm Fast-Medium Leicestershire
Glen Chapple RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Lancashire
Darren Gough RHB Right-Arm Fast-Medium Yorkshire
Steve Harmison RHB Right-Arm Fast Durham
Matthew Hoggard RHB Right-Arm Fast-Medium Yorkshire
Simon Jones LHB Right-Arm Fast-Medium Glamorgan
Graham Onions RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Durham
Chris Tremlett RHB Right-Arm Medium-Fast Hampshire
Spin Bowlers
Ashley Giles RHB Slow Left-Arm Orthodox Warwickshire
Shaun Udal RHB Right-Arm Offbreak Hampshire
Wicket-keepers
Geraint Jones RHB - Kent
Matt Prior RHB - Sussex
Chris Read RHB - Nottinghamshire

Coaches


See also

External links

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