Progressive England find their edge

It might not have caused a great shock to the system of a casual fan to learn that England succumbed rather feebly in today's final one-day game in Sri Lanka. But while the eye of the sporting world hovers over England's unbelievable run to the Rugby World Cup final, the cricket team have been almost imperceptibly staging their own act of defiance. Sri Lanka do not lose too often at home, nor England win away in one-day cricket. And, despite a rather disappointing codicil to a hard fought but low key series, there is a definite sense, for the first time in over a decade, that England are well on the road to becoming a successful one-day team.

There tends to come a point in all sport when a poor team finds out that even the seemingly bottomless pit has a limit. For England, surely that time was six months ago in the Caribbean when four years of chaotic preparation and moderate results produced a team which drowned in a mulch of turgid and ill-executed cricket. The Test team found itself in a similar position in 1999, when Nasser Hussain's first series in charge ended in defeat to unprepossessing New Zealand in a summer which had also included the now habitual World Cup failure. It was Hussain who, with sheer bloodymindedness and truculent man-management, dragged England from the pit of mediocrity which had been its resting place for a decade or more and pointed the way to future success. Michael Vaughan inherited Hussain's legacy, refining the rough edges which had been necessary in the first stage of recovery and guiding the team through a year of unmitigated success, culminating in a sweet Ashes victory in the summer of 2005. England are now seemingly entering that first phase of rebirth, and in Collingwood they have a man who is well equipped to exert the Hussain-like influence on the one-day team.

Since 1992, when England last produced the goods in one-day cricket, there have been four full time England captains who have doubled up in both forms of the game. Atherton, Stewart, Hussain and Vaughan were all fine Test players who all had some influence as leaders in the longer form. But none were especially comfortable in one-day cricket, as players and consequentially, captains. And prior to the CB series steal in February, England's last one-day triumph away from the green and pleasant land had been ten years previously, in Sharjah under the captaincy of one-day specialist Adam Hollioake. And you will still find many people who would contend that Hollioake should never have been stripped of the captaincy when he was, and that he should have played and captained over 100 ODIs. Some neat symmetry then, that it is under the stewardship of Collingwood, so long a resident in the one-day specialist pigeon-hole, that England have begun to look a competitive one-day team. And while team lacked direction under the likes of Hussain and Vaughan, this side glows with the Collingwood influence; busy, effective and bristling with controlled aggression.

It is the bowlers who have been the leading figures, and, slow and tricky pitches notwithstanding, they have done exceptionally well to restrict a Sri Lankan batting order of such pedigree. Ryan Sidebottom has shown why the management were so keen to get him into the team despite him missing most of the summer fixtures. One-day cricket brings out the dog in him, and his variation and accuracy are lethal when accompanied by the quicker pace he has shown himself capable of bowling this series. James Anderson was quieter, but he remains England's one-day spearhead, and he hung in well and was an excellent new-ball foil for Sidebottom. Stuart Broad, relegated to first change, nevertheless prospered and enjoyed a considerable amount of good fortune on the way to 11 wickets. Still, it was an impressive return after he was mauled by Yuvraj in the Twenty20, and every international for Broad is an investment by England in a bowler who fits in exactly with their template with his batting ability to boot.

However, despite the excellence of the seam trio, it was the performance of the resurgent Graeme Swann which captured headlines and bathed in what little limelight the media spared for the series. Eight years ago on his first, and what seemed for a long time sure to be his last, tour with England, Swann infamously scrawled his name in graffiti on the pages of Duncan Fletcher's bad book with his brash manner and disdain at the team bus as a method of transport. It is easy to look back now, but at the time Swann was exactly the sort of character Fletcher did not need in a new-look team for which discipline became an important theme. Times have changed, though, for both England and Swann, who was included in the squad seemingly as second spinner to Monty Panesar. Panesar had struggled in the one-day game, but it was still a surprise when he won selection for the first game. England lost that, but Swann gained his first international wicket, 8 years on from being outbowled by Graeme Hick, and the notice of the attending from his very first ball on return, which spun sharply out of the rough. He continued to prosper, notably in the third game at Dambulla, with 4 wickets, rare for an English spinner in ODIs, backed up by a matchwinning knock in the tense run-chase. A deep seated irony that his success should come in the manner so beloved of Fletcher, the primary function backed up by second-string talent.

The batting unit was less at ease, and had it been surer, England would have won by greater margin and with fewer nerves frayed. The opening partnership, a continual bugbear, was once again makeshift and temporary in form and substance; Alistair Cook proved his worth in the limited situation of the anchor in the chase which sealed the series at Colombo. Elsewhere he showed that he still lacks the adaptability and nous to be the complete opener in one-day cricket. Phil Mustard, who would not have wished for the jungly surrounds and pedestrian pitches of Dambulla for his international bow, showed his ability to score at a good rate but, like his predecessor in the role, Matt Prior, never looked like making a significant contribution. With his wicket-keeping also imperfect, it will be a delicate call as to whether he is retained for the next one-day series in New Zealand. Ian Bell is now settled as England's No.3, but an absence of luck and better judgement meant that the success he enjoyed against India in late summer eluded him. Kevin Pietersen, despite guiding England home in the fourth game, still seems in the mid-life crisis of his ODI career, while Paul Collingwood was patchy, likewise Owais Shah aside from one important contribution in the second game; his 82 was the highest total achieved by a batsman on either side, reflective of the bowler-friendly nature of the pitches. Ravi Bopara never really got going, which is not too surprising considering he was played almost as a specialist batsman at 7. There seems to be an essential imbalance in the team, not helped by the unavailability of Flintoff, who would fit in nicely in Bopara' s batting position. Bopara showed his bowling prowess with a tight spell today with Collingwood nursing a sore shoulder, but even with Flintoff's absence reducing bowling options, he was hardly given a chance to bowl, and his current role seems to benefit neither him nor the team.

As for Sri Lanka, who dazzled at the World Cup, there was a surprising lack of stomach and gumption in conditions familiar to them. Without Muralitharan, the bowling suffered, and the shackles imposed on the usually free-spirited openers Jayasuriya and Tharanga seemed to encompass the whole team, with the middle and lower order often having to bail out the wreck left by the top half. The fact that fringe players Maharoof and Silva were the stand-outs reflects the general underperformance of the team. Whether this is merely a blip or a precursor to leaner times in the aftermath of Tom Moody's successful tenure remains to be seen, but it was unexpected to see Sri Lanka get outlasted on their own pitches by a still vulnerable England team.

Maybe we should not be so surprised by England's success. There is youth and talent in this team, as well as the odd old-head with a few more in reserve. The victory against India was the establishment of a new regime after short-circuiting against West Indies, while this current triumph represents progress and a real feather in the cap of Collingwood and coach Peter Moores. It is still far too early to be getting complacent about the performance of the one-day side, but for once the attention can be turned to Tests with the issue of the one-dayers lain aside happily, rather than furtively swept under the carpet.