The England Diagnosis: Fielding, keeping and bowling

[feverpitch]

Wicket-keepingMatt Prior batted with gumption and no little skill in the series, making two excellent half-centuries. However, his keeping looks like it may never be good enough: he has now missed nine chances in 10 Tests, a success ratio of just 72%, around 10% worse than Geraint Jones. Add to this the problems caused by his positioning behind the stumps, leading the slips astray, and his failure to convince keeping to Monty Panesar and England have much to consider. They would have hoped for a 'keeper who could average close to 40 with the bat and keep to a competent level. Prior looks like he may be able to do the former but should probably be dropped for his keeping, as Simon Hughes has suggested. Who should replace him, if indeed he should be replaced? How long have have you got?

FieldingEngland's fielding in this series was worse than for some time, with two of the side's best fielders, in Bell and Collingwood, disappointing in the slips, and few bright spots elsewhere. The importance of a reliable cordon is easy to forget; but England have lost Messrs Trescothick, Flintoff, Strauss and Giles, four excellent close fielders, without replacing them. The solution is not easy to find but, clearly, must work must be done on the close fielding before the New Zealand tour.

Bowling
England only bowled Sri Lanka out once in the series although, considering the shoddy catching and unhelpful conditions, there were mitigating circumstances. The biggest concern was Monty Panesar, who was a huge disappointment for the second consecutive series and may not be an automatic selection for much longer if Graeme Swann continues to excel in the limited-overs game.

Of the seamers, it may now be time to dispense with the perennially frustrating Test version of Jimmy Anderson, while Stuart Broad may is not quite be ready yet. Ryan Sidebottom should be dropped based on his series average of 63, but he was supremely unfortunate yet again and should be effective in New Zealand. Meanwhile, Matthew Hoggard confirmed he is England's most resourceful seamer with his supreme spell on the series' opening day, while Steve Harmison cut out the extras, proved his desire, and will almost certainly start the next Test. The man who deserves a recall is surely Chris Tremlett; though unimpressive with the white ball, he claimed 13 wickets at 29 against India and possesses tremendous bounce and good consistency.

[greg]

Can't argue with any of that.The bowling if they are all fit for the first test in New Zealand will probably be the same as played in Galle and it will be interesting to see how they do.Hopefully Hoggard will be fully fit without any niggles as he is probably the most important player in the side now with Flintoff off the radar for the time being.

[pie_chucker]

As Greg said I couldnt really argue with that.

Although I did say before the sreies that Sidebottom wasnt good enough and that Broad was far from ready .

The biggest concern is the keeping position. Whilst Prior has done enough with the bat his keeping is almost a joke. Jones got more stick and never performed that badly. The problem is we need a keeper who can genuinely bat otherwise its a case of 5 out all out but we also need a keeper who is at least able to take straightworward chances.

[engssmoothcriminal]

In terms of the fielding all the problems basically stem from 3 first choice players Cook, Panesar and Vaughan dragging down the rest of the team. You can kind of forgive your 6ft+ fast bowlers labouring in the outfield (and to be fair messers Hoggard, Harmison e.t.c are not the worst) but it's bordering on the disgraceful that two players with Cook and Vaughan's reflexes and hand eye co-ordination are such liability's close in and carthorses in the outfield and Monty god bless him tries but he will always be the guy you want to hide down at fine leg, an area the field that England sadly would love to put most of the starting XI (including the keeper ).

The appointment of the new full-time fielding coach is a positive step but by god has he got his work cut out moulding a decent fielding unit out of a side that has just the three genuine athletes in Collingwood, Bell and KP and the solitary genuine slip fielder either Strauss or Shah one of whom simply must be included in the starting XI for NZ.

[pie_chucker]

Originally Posted by engssmoothcriminal

. ...You can kind of forgive your 6ft+ fast bowlers labouring in the outfield (and to be fair messers Hoggard, Harmison e.t.c are not the worst) ...

Its worse than that - they are two of our better fielders, whilst Hoggard isnt the quickest in the field both him and harmy can at least catch the ball and have good arms.

Its like everything else, we had a good fielding coach - Trevor Penney and we let him go, I believe to Sri Lanka initially....

What happens we field **** and they field brilliantly .

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by pie_chucker

I did say before the sreies that Sidebottom wasnt good enough

You should read the comments here: BBC SPORT | Test Match Special Blog

Sidebottom gets a LOT of support: lots of people saying he should have had 7/10, many commending his performances and stacks making him a definite for the NZ tour.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Well the job Penney did with Sri Lanka was outstanding not just the fielding side of things but his work with the batsmen should not be overlooked. Both Jayawardene and Sangakkara single out Penney's coaching as the main reason their batting moved up to the next level and for me he deserves as much credit as Moody for Sri Lanka's turn around in fortunes both in one day and the longer format. He was my first choice for Moores's assistant coach (though I had/still have absolutely no problem with Flower who's quality) and I was slightly annoyed his name wasn't even in the frame (ditto the Warwickshire job ).

In terms of his work with England it was a brief part time role so I wouldn't say he had that much impact in a few months on the Ashes fielding side which was a pretty good settled unit and unlike this one had an actual slip cordon. And when Sri Lanka came in with a better more prestigious job with more money there's not a lot the ECB could have done to keep him in that role.

[pie_chucker]

I just get annoyed when the ECB seem to lose or be unable to keep very good coaches on their staff: Cooley, AD and Penney...