"England Learn Nothing New"

[Henners]

I found this page on the BBC website. It is an article by Simon Mann. There are some interesting points which I agree with and some points I disagree with. I would like to know your opinion on these points.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2006/...hing_new.shtml

Personally, I believe that the statement about England's "Reliance on Pieterson, Flintoff and Trescothick" is false. He does not mention Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell, who are both on Good form, particulary Strauss, 2 consecutive 50's.

Also, he says that Jon Lewis lacks the ability to bowl well on these pitches. If I recall, he was the most economic of bowlers. Lewis relays on accuracy, rather than pace. Although I do not recall him getting much swing.

Finally, He does say something I agree on, Sajid Mahmood's consistant bad bowls. He did bowl well in some spells, but most of the time he was off line. He is a talented bowler though, he needs to sort his line out and work very hard over the next couple of seasons so that he does become a highly rated bowler. In addition, Sajid Mahmood is a good batter at number 9 in my opinion, he has stayed in at the end for 2 innings which have helped England win the game. This was against Pakistan last month and of course yesterday against West Indies.

We do know Enlgand need to improve, but I think he touches on points which don't quite make them a "Priority" on Englands things to improve. What do you think?

[SixandOut]

I also disagree with some of his points. He doesn't mention Collingwood, who has a proven history of being a stalwart in the batting for England. I think we do rely on Trescothick a bit, but recent performances against India and Pakistan have shown that we do have some serious depth to our batting.

I don't think we yet rely on Pietersen - he's far too inconsistent. Sure, we recognise his immense potential and talent, but he hasn't yet hit his peak. I would say the only person we rely(ied) on is Flintoff, which due to his injuries has meant he's had a lesser impact in recent months.

I'm not worried about England's performance in the ICC CT, we knew we were rubbish in the one day game before it started so to not progress came as no great surprise.

Fletcher/Graveney have been saying that there is not a greater focus on the Test series and I'm bored of it. I don't think such a focus would be a bad thign at all - and I wish someone would just come out and say that at the moment the single biggest ambition of the side is to beat Australia in Australia in the Ashes. If we win the Test series and get stuffed in the one dayers I couldn't care less.

Yes, we want to win the World Cup next year, but I would personally rather see England retain the Ashes.