2010 ASHES DEFENCE
The England cricket team have had some of the future mapped out for them, as the announcement of the fixtures for the defence of the Ashes has been announced. At the end of next year, they will head down under and try to do a little better than the last time they were Down Under, when they lost 5-0. This time the planning has been improved, with England spending more time there ahead of the important Test matches, and getting plenty of action in first class warm up games. That was something which did not happen last time around, but should not have been any excuse for being so dismal.
2010-11 Ashes Test series dates:
First Test Brisbane: 25-29 November
Second Test Adelaide: 3-7 December
Third Test Perth: 16-20 December
Fourth Test Melbourne: 26-30 December
Fifth Test Sydney: 3-7 January
WINTER TOUR
In the immediate future, England are about to embark on a winter tour in South Africa. After crashing out of the Champions Trophy in the semi’s, there is renewed hope that Kevin Pietersen will be making a return to action on the tour. He was suffering through the initial two Ashes games in the summer, and he missed the final three games, the ODI series, and the entire Champions Trophy. His batting prowess was sorely missed over the entire summer and it will be a welcome sight to see him padding up again. He has been named in both the test and ODI squads.
Possibly more good news is that Steve Harmison has been excluded from selection, instead in comes Liam Plunkett, who has proven to be more consistent over the course of the domestic season. Wicket-keeper Steve Davies, who was called up as cover for Matt Prior in the Champions Trophy gets a place, along with Ashes late arrival Jonathan Trott and the re-emergence of Ian Bell in the Test Squad. Luke Wright also gets a place in the Test Squad and the patiently waiting leg-spinner Adil Rashid continues his development with a place.
The One Day Squad for the South Africa tour, is pretty much the one that appeared in the Champions Trophy. The ODI team definitely needs a lot of improvement, and has a long way to go to catch up with Australia. England did beat South Africa during the Champions Trophy which will give them some heart, but the short formats of the game is where England need to improve significantly. They are presumably sticking with the same squad in order to build some team-spirit and cohesion, Sajid Mahmood is the newest face to re-appear, and there is no place for Ravi Bopara or Owais Shah in either Squad.
The Winter Tour is quite extensive, and the culmination of a long year of Cricket for the national team. The action begins with all of the Twenty20 and One Day Internationals.
Test squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graham Onions, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.
One-day squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Denly, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Matt Prior, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Sajid Mahmood, Graham Onions, Adil Rashid, Graeme Swann.
South Africa ODI and Twenty20 Tour Dates
Twenty20: November 13
Twenty20: November 15
ODI: November 20
ODI: November 22
ODI: November 27
ODI: November 29
ODI: December 04
TO WIN TWENTY20 SERIES
South Africa: 6/4 at Ladbrokes
Draw: 11/10 at Totesport
England: 4/1 at Ladbrokes
TO WIN ODI SERIES
South Africa: 2/5 at Totesport
England: 5/2 at Ladbrokes
TO WIN TEST SERIES
South Africa: 8/15 at Ladbrokes
Draw: 4/1 Boylesports
England: 9/2 at Stan James
CRICKET WORLD CUP
The draw has also been made for the 2011 Cricket World Cup which takes place in India. England have been drawn against the host nation in their group. There has been a significant change of format from the last World Cup, and sees the competition return to a two-group format, as opposed to the four group system which was employed in the Caribbean. The other main threat in Group B which contains England, will be South Africa. This competition is a long way off of course, and the two groups of seven was settled on to make the competition shorter than its predecessor. There are will be two less teams participating and it all just adds up to being two games fewer than the previous tournament.
Cricket World Cup groups:
Group A: Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe
Group B: Bangladesh,, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, West Indies
TO WIN WORLD CUP
India: 7/2 at Coral
Australia: 9/2 SkyBet
Sri Lanka: 6/1 Ladbrokes
South Africa: 13/2 Totesport
Pakistan: 7/1 Stan James
England: 10/1 at BetFred
