First Test Verdict: Spin confirmed as England's Kryptonite

England Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 29 March 2012 / Leave a Comment

Rangana Herath enjoys himself as Sri Lanka take the first Test

"England have lost four Tests in a row now because they cannot defend spin. And the [3.3] that Sri Lanka make it five in Colombo looks a steal, particularly with Stuart Broad a doubt with an ankle injury."

It's now four losing Tests in a row for England and spin has destroyed them each and every time. It will surely be another defeat in Colombo next week, says Ed Hawkins

England have found out in Galle that they have no quick fix for psychological turmoil. Beaten by 75 runs, the batsmen will be queuing up to have a lie down on the coach, and not just because of the soaring mercury.

It was as alarming a defeat as each of the three to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Actually scrub that, it was far worse. At least in that series England could claim to be rusty after a long break and to have been bamboozled by the world class spin of Saeed Ajmal.

This time their preparation was good and we were told they had worked hard on ironing out the technical deficiencies which Ajmal had exposed. So why were England so vulnerable to the spin pair of Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv?

Herath is a wily campaigner but he has been compared to Raj Maru, the former Hampshire spinner, in stature and style. As for Randiv, he has an elegant action but he has only played six Tests.

A batting line-up as experienced as England's should not be struggling against such a pair. Between them they took 18 of their 20 wickets. All ten of the second-innings wickets fell to the twirling pair as England lost their last five wickets for just 12 runs. They are harrowing statistics which will haunt the tourists long into a humid Sri Lankan night.
There can be no doubt that they are mentally shot. As soon as a spinner skips into his run-up, an England batsman is a startled rabbit in the headlights, just waiting for the mortal blow.

This is a damning indictment on the work done by Graham Gooch, the batting coach, and Andy Flower, the team director. They are not psychologists but they are supposed to soothe the mind with technical remedies.

All Gooch has done is told them to sweep, it would appear. That is like treating a cancer with a herbal punch. Five England batsmen fell sweeping in the match. It is a shot which must be cut out.

"In truth we made too many mistakes to win the game," Andrew Strauss, the captain, said.

"We left ourselves too much to do, mainly with our batting in the first innings. In international cricket there's no room for mistakes.

"We had a great position in the first innings to go big but we all felt too softly. We probably didn't get the balance between attack and defence right."

If only it was as simple as that. England have lost four Tests in a row now because they cannot defend spin. And the [3.3] that Sri Lanka make it five in Colombo looks a steal, particularly with Stuart Broad a doubt with an ankle injury. For England, the torture may seem like it will never end. They may already be worrying about going to India at the end of the summer.

England are suffering from a crisis of confidence, says Ed Hawkins, as he considers the reasons for their batting collapse and weighs up their chances of a successful chase......

Ed Hawkins, the Betting Writer of the Year for the second year in succession, has all the stats and analysis ahead of the match, which starts on Monday...

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Euro 2012 Betting: The Hart of England's frailties

Euro 2012 / Romilly Evans / 06 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Broken Hart. The Manchester City keeper looks distraught after being at fault for both goals

"None embraced them more than the hapless Joe Hart, who should claim a hearty assist in the statistics for both Swiss goals. If the first was down to simple misjudgement of an aggressively average free-kick, the second was a schoolboy nadir, beaten at his near post by an effort which should’ve been easily turned away."

Romilly Evans looks back on another textbook comedy of errors by an English keeper and ponders if we should simply accept the national side's flair for disappointing.

In the final analysis, nothing much has changed after the weekend's games in Group G, England's qualifying pool for the Euro 2012. Wales were not in action - and so remain rooted to the bottom of the table like an out-of-favour Eurovision act on "nul points" - while the other four teams shared the honours with a pair of draws.

Accordingly, England remain firmly on track to book their place in next year's finals ([1.19] to back to top the group, and [1.1] to qualify), edging Montenegro as they do by a healthy goal difference on 11 points, with some welcome breathing space back to Bulgaria and Switzerland with their paltry five points apiece.

The latter side, of course, presented a few more problems than many had imagined at Wembley. Having taken a two-goal lead and enjoyed the lion's share of play in the first half, it was all England could do to peg them back - mostly through the excellent Ashley Young (bizarrely overlooked in the starting line-up) who provided a rare ray of light as the linkman between midfield and the attack.

But even Young missed a good chance to win it late on - and on a day when some fresh faces stepped in, the familiar frailties were still there for all to see. None embraced them more than the hapless Joe Hart, who should claim a hearty assist in the statistics for both Swiss goals. If the first was down to simple misjudgement of an aggressively average free-kick, the second was a schoolboy nadir, beaten at his near post by an effort which should've been easily turned away.

Goalkeepers, of course, have the unfortunate lot in life to be defined by the mistakes rather than the saves they make. And England has a long line of recent pantomime villains whose role Hart reprised: Rob Green's defeat by a slow-motion US pot-shot, Scott Carson's failure to acknowledge that a ball can bounce against Croatia, Paul Robinson's air-hoof to a timid back-pass, David Calamity James must've done something wrong to earn his soubriquet, while David Seaman got the blooper reel rolling with his brief bouts of disorientation against Brazil and Macedonia. You get the idea.

The trend is all the more disturbing when you consider that each of these "cats" had been showing the sort of feline poise and balance at club level to fully endorse their selection. Hart certainly had a fine season for Man City, probably their best player behind Carlos Tevez. Tending the bars at international level, however, made him look like he was tending bar at pub level. Maybe Joe had helped himself to a few while the manager wasn't looking? Or perhaps the spectre of England goalkeepers past hangs like the sword of Damocles over all who dare to don the No.1 shirt?

Either way, Hart is too good to be readily cast aside on flights of superstition or conjecture. And in truth, he made a couple of early stops in the match which ensured the ground conceded to the Swiss was at least recoverable. That said, those saves should've bolstered his confidence, not scuppered it upon the rocks of self-doubt. It was an all-too-familiar story, indicative of the wider cautionary tale that is following England as a fan and punter. They're [9.6] to win the thing next summer, incidentally.

Yes, nothing much has changed after the weekend's games in Group G. Especially when it comes to the Three Lions.

Fabio Capello's men once again disappoint but Montenegro fail to capitalise...

Switzerland's striker shortage should see England keep a third successive Euro 2012 qualifying clean sheet, says Michael Cox, as Fabio Capello has another opportunity to hone his new 4-3-3 formation. It seems like a long time since England's last Euro...

Republic of Ireland will be looking for a repeat of their March victory over the same opponents when they travel to play Macedonia in Skopje on Saturday night, writes James Eastham....

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Midweek Internationals Results: Villa pair save England's Danish bacon

Internationals / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 09 February 2011 / Leave a Comment

Villa trio. Ashley Young and Darren Bent celebrate as Stewart Downing looks on.

"In truth it was a match with few chances and a few big names missing but beating the five-time World Champions is always a big scalp and those who backed Les Bleus to do so at a high of 3.7 will have enjoyed the French victory."

England secured a good win away to Denmark whilst France beat Brazil and Lionel Messi once again got the better of Cristiano Ronaldo.

England secured a decent win against a Denmark side who have made themselves pretty hard to beat these days. All three goalscorers were Premier League-based players, Liverpool's Daniel Agger opening the scoring before Aston Villa's Darren Bent equalised; Bent's Villa team-mate Ashley Young scored the winner in England's 2-1 win.

England were matched at [4.9] In-Play when going 1-0 down and at [11.0] to win by 2-1. Former Sunderland man Bent was matched at [4.9] to score at anytime.

In one of the three most glamorous games of the evening France hosted and beat Brazil, who had a man sent off just before half-time. In truth it was a match with few chances and a few big names missing but beating the five-time World Champions is always a big scalp and those who backed Les Bleus to do so at a high of [3.7] will have enjoyed the French victory.

Another mouth-watering match was Portugal against Argentina, or Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo as it was described in some places, so it was fitting that both players scored. The Real Madrid striker was matched at a high of [4.0] to score at anytime whilst Lionel Messi scored from the spot with virtually the last kick of the game. Ronaldo's Real team-mate Angel Di Maria scored Argentina's other goal. The final 2-1 scoreline was backed at [11.0].

Elsewhere Germany and Italy also drew one apiece and the Netherlands got the better of Austria.

In the Carling Cup Of Nations Scotland got off to the best possible start by beating Northern Ireland 3-0.

England secured a good win away to Denmark whilst France beat Brazil and Lionel Messi once again got the better of Cristiano Ronaldo....

There will be the inevitable questions being asked ahead of this match such as "why bother playing friendlies" but that's not for us to worry about. In his usual heartless, emotion-free, value-means-everything approach, Jamie Pacheco searches for the best bets....

Scotland take on Northern Ireland in the second of the Carling Nations Cup fixtures at the Aviva Stadium. Jaymes Monte reports......

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