England cricket team
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As of 5 January 2007 |
The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The sport of cricket evolved in England, and England is a founding Test cricket, One-day International and Twenty20 nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 (against Australia in Melbourne) and also the first ever One-day International in 1971 (also against Australia in Melbourne).
Performances
England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. After Australia won The Ashes for the first time in 1881-82 England had to fight with them for primacy and one of the fiercest rivalries in sport dominated the cricket world for seventy years. In 1963 this duopoly of cricket dominance began to fall away with the emergence of a strong West Indies team.
England failed to win a series against the West Indies between 1969 and 2000. England similarly failed to compete with Australia for a long period and the The Ashes stayed in Australian hands between 1989 and 2005. England struggled against other nations over this period as well and after a series loss to New Zealand in 1999 they were ranked at the bottom of the ICC Test cricket ratings. From 2000, English cricket had a resurgence and England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and regained The Ashes in 2005. The team is currently ranked second behind Australia in the Test rankings, but One Day perfomances have been very poor with England falling to 8th place in the ICC rankings.
In the 2006/07 tour of Australia England's performances in both Test and One Day cricket fell away and The Ashes were lost in a 0-5 "whitewash" (see 2006-07 Ashes series) and England similarly failed to compete successfully in the One Day tournament against Australia and New Zealand, though they defeated Austrailia in the 10th match of the series. The loss of The Ashes prompted the announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board of an official review of English cricket amid much criticism from the media, former players and fans.
Eligibility of players
The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations[1], players can qualify to play for a country by nationality, place of birth or residence, so (as with any national sports team) some people are eligible to play for more than one team.
ECB regulations[2] state that to play for England, a player must be a British or Irish citizen, and have either been born in England or Wales, or have lived in England or Wales for the last four years. This has led to players of many other nationalities becoming eligible to play for England. England have been captained by a Scot, Mike Denness, and three South Africans, Tony Greig, Allan Lamb and Andrew Strauss. The South African cape coloured, Basil D'Oliveira, famously played for England during the apartheid era. In recent times Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe); Andrew Caddick (New Zealand); Geraint Jones (Australia via Papua New Guinea); and Kevin Pietersen (South Africa) have all played for England. Some players have played for another (non Test-playing) country as well as England, for example Gavin Hamilton who played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and later played one Test match for England, while Ed Joyce played for Ireland in the ICC Trophy before making his England ODI debut in June 2006 against his former team.
Current Players & Coaches
Players who have been awarded a central contract for 2007 are in bold.
Opening Batsmen
- Michael Vaughan (right-hand bat)
- Andrew Strauss (vice-captain) (left-hand bat)
- Ed Joyce (left-hand bat)
- Alastair Cook (left-hand bat)
Middle Order Batsmen
- Kevin Pietersen (right-hand bat)
- Ian Bell (right-hand bat)
- Mal Loye (right-hand bat)
Wicket-keepers
- Paul Nixon (left-hand bat)
- Chris Read (right-hand bat)
All-rounders
- Andrew Flintoff (captain) (right-hand bat) (right-arm fast)
- Paul Collingwood (right-hand bat) (right-arm medium-fast)
- Jamie Dalrymple (right-hand bat) (off spin)
Fast bowlers
- Matthew Hoggard (right-arm fast-medium)
- James Anderson (right-arm fast)
- Sajid Mahmood (right-arm fast)
- Steve Harmison (right-arm fast)
- Jon Lewis (right-arm medium-fast)
- Liam Plunkett (right-arm fast-medium)
- Stuart Broad (right-arm fast-medium)
Spin bowlers
- Monty Panesar (left-arm spin)
- Ashley Giles (left-arm spin)
Coaches
- Team Manager: Phil Neale
- Head Coach: Duncan Fletcher
- Batting/Assistant Coach: Matthew Maynard
- Fast Bowling Coach: Kevin Shine
- Spin Bowling Coach: David Parsons
- Computer Analyst: Mark Garaway
- Team Doctor: Dr. Mark Peirce
- Team Psychologist: Dr. Steve Bull
- Test Match Physiotherapist: Kirk Russell
- One Day International Physiotherapist: Dean Conway
- Masseur: Mark Saxby
- Fitness Coach: Nigel Stockhill
History of English international cricket
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England played in the very first Test match in 1877. Since then, up to 20 August 2006 they have played 852 Test matches, winning 298, losing 245 and drawing 309. During these 852 matches, they have been captained by 77 different players.
1860 to 1900
See also: History of Test cricket (to 1883)
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1877 saw the first Test match when England took on Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This rivalry took on a new turn in 1882, when England lost at home at the Oval. Upset at this turn of events, the Sporting Times printed an obituary to English cricket:
- In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
When England toured Australia the following winter, and won 2-1, the England captain, the Hon. Ivo Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil. And so The Ashes series was born.
This period of English cricket was dominated by WG Grace. For thirty six years (1865 to 1900). He averaged 39.45 at first class level, an average undoubtedly dragged down by playing into his late fifties. At his peak in the 1870s his first-class season averages were regularly between 60 and 70, at a time where uncovered, poorly-prepared pitches meant that scores were far lower than the modern game. Grace scored over 1000 runs and took over 100 wickets in seven different seasons.
At fifty-three he scored nearly 1,300 runs in first-class cricket, made 100 runs and over on three different occasions and could claim an average of 42 runs. Moreover, his greatest triumphs were achieved when only the very best cricket grounds received serious attention; when, as some consider, bowling was maintained at a higher standard and when all hits had to be run out. He, with his two brothers, EM and GF, assisted by some fine amateurs, made Gloucestershire in one season a first-class county; and it was he who first enabled the amateurs of England to meet the paid players on equal terms and to beat them.
There was hardly a record connected with the game which did not stand to his credit. Grace was one of the finest fieldsmen in England, in his earlier days generally taking long-leg and cover-point, in later times generally standing point (see Fielding positions in cricket). He was, at his best, a fine thrower, fast runner and safe catcher. As a bowler he was long in the first flight, originally bowling fast, but in later times adopting a slower and more tricky style, frequently very effective. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Test rankings, he was only out of the top 4 Test batsman ratings for two years in the period from 1880 and 1899.
1900 to 1932
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Bodyline
Main article: Bodyline
Before the 1932-3 tour to Australia, England had become used to the prolific run-scoring of Don Bradman. The England captain, Surrey's Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body, and Jardine had two very fast accurate bowlers, Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to bowl them. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.
England won the series and the Ashes 4-1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the Marylebone Cricket Club in London:
- Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England.
Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg were banned.
1933 to 1981
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1980s
The 1980s was a mixed decade in terms of The Ashes.
The series in 1981 saw England under Mike Brearley fight back from being 1-0 down after two Test matches to achieve exciting victories at Headingley, Edgbaston and Old Trafford. At Headingley, England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. The turnaround owed much to former captain Ian Botham, whose fine second innings forced Australia to bat again, and to and fast bowler Bob Willis who proceeded to bowl Australia out. Botham made the difference at Edgbaston too, this time with a match-winning bowling performance in Australia's second innings: chasing 150 to win they were dismissed for 121 (Botham 5/11). At Old Trafford, Botham scored a second innings century and took five wickets in the match.
England lost the Ashes in 1982-83 but recovered to win the next two series in 1985 and 1986-87. The latter victory was thought to be a surprise at the time, although the team had several established players such as Mike Gatting, the captain on that tour, David Gower and Ian Botham. In 1989, the Ashes were lost to a new and powerful Australian team that included the likes of Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor. England would not recover the Ashes for another 16 years.
Despite some reasonable performances in Ashes series against a generally below-par Australia, England's weaknesses were exposed as they endured humiliating home and away 5-0 series defeats to the all-powerful West Indies side of the time. These series have become known in history as the Blackwash.
The 1983 World Cup was held in England, for the third time. They lost in the semi-finals to India, who then won the final. The first World Cup to be held abroad (and also the first to be contested with 50 over games, not 60) in 1987 saw England lose to Australia by 7 runs, in a hugely exciting final.
On 1st August 1989, just as England was losing the third Test match against Australia at Old Trafford (and with this loss surrendering The Ashes after holding them for four years) a rebel tour of South Africa was announced. Because of apartheid, South Africa was banned from international cricket but various unsanctioned and unofficial tours had gone ahead. The planned 1990 tour shocked the cricket establishment in England not only because of its timing but because so many top players were involved. Writing in 2006 Michael Atherton (who was twelfth man at Old Trafford) said "…unbeknown to England captain David Gower and chairman of selectors Ted Dexter, a group of English cricketers negotiated terms, clandestinely, with Ali Bacher to join a rebel tour to South Africa. Atherton added that this left "… English cricket in a complete mess with offering succour to a loathsome regime. It was shameful." [3]. Many of the cricketers involved in this affair, who were immediately banned by the ICC from international cricket, were later restored to some prominence in the game, not least the player/manager David Graveney who became Chairman of the England selectors . The others involved were Mike Gatting, Bill Athey, Kim Barnett, Chris Broad, Chris Cowdrey, Graham Dilley, Richard Ellison, John Emburey, Neil Foster, Bruce French, Paul Jarvis, Matthew Maynard and Tim Robinson.
1990s
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English cricket went on a slide during the 1990s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. They were more often than not beaten badly during the Ashes series, as they were spellbound by Shane Warne and later Glenn McGrath. They were declared the unofficial worst side in the world after the 1999 home series loss to New Zealand.
Under their new captain Graham Gooch at the beginning of the decade, England missed out on a historic victory against the all-conquering West Indian cricket team, by losing their final two test matches having gone into them with a 1-0 lead. The elevation to the position of captain for Gooch led to him reaching new heights as a batsman during the summer of 1990. The new captain broke the record for most number of runs in a match against India at Lord's with scores of 333 and 123. New team members such as Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart and Angus Fraser aided the new captain to victories against India and New Zealand yet the team were unable to regain the Ashes during the following winter, losing 3-0.
The team returned during 1991 to more successful ways, by defeating Sri Lanka and New Zealand and holding the West Indies to a drawn series. Another excellent innings from Gooch against the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh at Headingley helped the side to their first victory against the team in England for over two decades. Although England were not the best Test match side in the world, they could lay claim to holding that position in the one-day game. The 1992 Cricket World Cup saw England performing better than everyone else, with victories over Australia, the West Indies and South Africa led them to the final against Pakistan, where a side led and inspired by Imran Khan defeated Gooch's side.
Around this time, players such as Ian Botham, Allan Lamb and David Gower all came to the end of their international careers and specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing these players. Batsmen like Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash, Chris Lewis and Phil Tufnell all promised and sometimes delivered a great deal, yet the side often performed badly and disappointed its fans. Following their victory in New Zealand before the Cricket World Cup, they did not win again for another two and a half years, when the side again defeated the same opponents. During this period defeats to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Australia culminated in Gooch stepping down in the summer of 1993 as captain, to be replaced by his partner at the top of the order, Michael Atherton.
The period of captaincy under Atherton was seen as one of disaster followed by more and more disappointment for England's fans. Selectoral differences between Atherton and Raymond Illingworth often meant that players such as Angus Fraser and Devon Malcolm would not get picked, against the captain's wishes. Teams would sometimes have too many batsmen, no spin bowler and the plethora of players who would come into the side and then quickly disappear, was symptomatic of a troubled side. The demands of county cricket often meant that injuries would deny Atherton key players and when compared with Australian cricket, it was seen as antiquated by many. Performances of great excellence would often crop up, amid the rubbish. These included two centuries in a test match at Port of Spain by Alec Stewart, nine wickets in an innings from Devon Malcolm against South Africa, seven wickets on debut by Dominic Cork against the West Indies and Michael Atherton and Jack Russell batting for ten hours to salvage a draw in Johannesburg. By 1997, calls for Atherton to step down were only put off by an exciting victory at The Oval against Australia, despite losing the series 3-2. On the following tour to the West Indies, a 3-1 defeat forced the beleaguered captain to step down, to be replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Alec Stewart.
Stewart's first test series against South Africa in the summer of 1998 resulted in the side's first success in a five match test series since their last victory against Australia in 1986/1987. Bowlers such as Dominic Cork, Angus Fraser and Darren Gough now led the bowling attack with Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash supporting Stewart and Atherton in the batting. Yet the deficiencies in the system remained and a 3-1 defeat on their next Ashes tour and a humiliating exit in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup which was hosted by England led to the exit of Stewart.
His replacement of Essex batsman, Nasser Hussain, was the unfortunate holder of the captaincy during the 1999 Test series against New Zealand when a 2-1 defeat resulted in the country which gave birth to the game, being officially ranked as the worst Test-playing nation in the world.
2000s
Hussain's side was unable to avoid defeat in South Africa, yet his first series victory, against Zimbabwe the following summer, saw the side winning their next three test series. This included the side's first victory against the West Indies in 32 years, impressive wins in Pakistan, where Thorpe and Hussain helped see the side to victory in the dark in Karachi and a 2-1 defeat of Sri Lanka, where England displayed a new-found confidence of playing against spin bowling, a move instigated by their new coach Duncan Fletcher. However, the ultimate test for the side against Australia showed that England were still found wanting against the very best, losing 4-1.
Injuries and retirements from the side over the next year allowed new players to come into the side. Out went Atherton, Hick, Ramprakash, Gough, Cork, Tufnell and Andrew Caddick and in came Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Stephen Harmison and Ashley Giles. Hussain looked to create a side which was harder to beat and would often rule with an uncompromising attitude. Changes which the game had long needed were made, with central contracts limiting how much county cricket the players could play and the establishment of an academy. Encouraging performances by players like Vaughan, Trescothick and Hoggard against India and Sri Lanka did give England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia, yet a 4-1 defeat against possibly the greatest team ever showed that they were still falling short. This and England's withdrawal from a 2003 Cricket World Cup match in Zimbabwe led to Hussain becoming disillusioned with the job.
After the first Test of the 5 Test series against South Africa was drawn, Nasser Hussain resigned the Test captaincy, with Michael Vaughan being appointed in his stead. Vaughan went on to draw the series 2-2, after an Oval Test match rated by most commentators as the greatest in England since the 1981 Headingley Test. By the time of the tour in early 2004 to the West Indies, Vaughan had settled into his position as captain and was seen as an inspirational leader, who was respected by his players. This newly found confidence in the team led the side to a 3-0 victory in the Caribbean, followed by whitewashes over New Zealand and the West Indies at home, with players such as Harmison and Flintoff becoming amongst the very best in the world.
On December 21 2004 England completed their eighth successive Test victory with a win in the opening Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, the best sequence of Test match wins by England and the team were able to complete their first away victory over their opponents since they were re-admitted to the game in 1991.
Coming into the 2005 Ashes series, England had moved up to second, having won 14 and drawn 3 of their 18 previous Test matches since March 2004, raising hopes that the series would be closely fought. The Ashes series had a long build up, with England and Australia playing a triangular ODI series with Bangladesh, with the final England-Australia match ending in a tie (not a draw), prior to a second one day series between England and Australia won 2-1 by Australia.
Australia won the first Test at Lord's comfortably, but England came back to win the second Test at Edgbaston with a two run victory, the narrowest win by runs in Ashes history. The third Test ended in a draw, with one day having been lost to rain and England one wicket away from victory. England then narrowly won the fourth Test in Nottingham by three wickets after forcing the Australians to follow on. In the fifth and final Test at the Oval in London England came in to the final day needing to avoid a defeat with a lead of 40 runs and one wicket down, and batted until well after the tea interval to ensure the game would end a draw and England would regain the Ashes 2-1.
In the first Test series (versus Pakistan) after The Ashes triumph (in November/December 2005) England came down to earth with a bump. In the first Test match in Multan England squandered a strong position (first innings lead of 144) to eventually lose the match by 22 runs. The second Test at Faisalabad was drawn with Pakistan pressing hard for victory. In the final Test at Lahore England collapsed again to lose by an innings and 100 runs (their first innings defeat for two years).
In the One-day International series in Pakistan in December 2005 England started well with a win in the first match of the 5 match series. However they were outplayed in the next three matches to lose the series, although they came back well in the final match to win and therefore the series finished in a 3-2 win for Pakistan.
They then played a test series against India in March 2006 with Andrew Flintoff as captain. After the first Test match was drawn due to bad light on the last day, India came back strongly to win the 2nd test. But, England showed true character to come back and win the third test (their first Test Match win in India for 21 years) without five key players, including skipper Michael Vaughan and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick to level the three-game series at 1-1 with one draw. Although Trescothick returned for the three Test series against Sri Lanka in England, Flintoff retained the captaincy in the absence of Vaughan. England went on to draw the first test match despite taking a commanding lead after the first innings, England won the second test match but lost the third to tie the series 1-1.
With Flintoff now also absent through injury, England had yet another new captain in Andrew Strauss for the subsequent one-day series with Sri Lanka. After narrowly losing the one-off Twenty20 international, England then lost all five of the One-day Internationals, not helped by wayward bowling and further injuries. However, Strauss remained captain for the start of the Test series with Pakistan which followed. After the first match was drawn, Strauss was given the captaincy for the rest of the series when Flintoff was ruled out for the rest of the season, and under Strauss the side went on to win back-to-back tests at Old Trafford and Headingley and take an unassailable lead in the four-match series. The final test at The Oval ended in farce when umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove awarded five runs to England after ruling that Pakistan had tampered with the ball. After tea on the fourth day, Pakistan refused to leave the pavilion, and the umpires removed the bails, signifying that Pakistan had forfeited the match. However, Pakistan later took to the field, only for the umpires to stay in the pavilion. An end was eventually called to the day's play, and after a night of heated discussions, it was eventually agree that the test match had been correctly awarded to England, giving them a 3-0 series win.
Recent Form and Future Prospects
Since the historic Ashes win, the team has suffered from a serious and ongoing spate of injuries to key players. Ashley Giles, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones all suffered serious injuries that required surgery and it is still not clear when Vaughan and Jones will play again. Some have also claimed that they seemed to suffer from a lack of focus and 'killer instinct'. This can be seen in their 22-run loss to Pakistan at Multan in November 2005 (a match which they had dominated before the last day), and their failure to wrap up victory against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May 2006 after securing a first-innings lead of 359 and enforcing the follow-on. However, especially in the recent series victory against Pakistan in July-August 2006, several new players have emerged who have performed well and promise much for the future, leading to suggestions that even when the injured players recover, they may struggle to get back into the team. Most notable has been the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England. He has impressed with the excellence of his bowling (including match figures of 8-93 in the innings victory over Pakistan at Old Trafford in July 2006) and has also become a crowd favourite. He was one of the favourites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Other new players of note include left-handed batsman Alastair Cook and fast bowler Sajid Mahmood. The injury crisis has also allowed previously marginal players Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their places. The outstanding recent performances of the team, albeit against a Pakistan side which was also weakened by injuries, mean that the 2006/07 ashes series was one of the most keenly anticipated of recent years, and was expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005 series. This did not eventuate however with England crushed 5-0 by Australia, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.
The team's form in One-day Internationals has been much less promising however; they are currently ranked 7th the world. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having the play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and were humiliatingly defeated 5-0 by Sri Lanka in June-July 2006. The line-up has undergone many changes, both forced and unforced, in recent months, and performances, particularly by the bowlers, have been poor. Steve Harmison now holds the unwanted record of the worst bowling figures for England in ODI history (0-97 in the match at Headingley). There was some improvement in the latest one-day series against Pakistan in England, when England won the last two matches to record a 2-2 draw. However, it is still fair to say that unless the team improves dramatically over the next six months, their prospects for the big prize in ODI cricket, the World Cup, due to take place in the Caribbean in March-April 2007, do not look good. Their tour of Australia began badly with a one day defeat but, prospects for the Ashes itself looked good as England played well in the two three day tour games, with Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Alistair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff all looking in decent touch with the bat. The Ashes themselves started badly, with defeats in the first two matches - the second test witnessing an England second-innings collapse in which only 60 runs were put on for the last nine wickets - and particularly poor bowling from Harmison and Giles. Panesar was not selected for either test.
The defeat in the second Test at Adelaide saw England become only the second team to have a 300-run partnership and still lose in Test match history, with the other occasion being Pakistan's defeat by England in the 3rd Test earlier in the season. Paul Collingwood became only the third Englishman to score a double century in Australia in this match, it was seen as particularly ironic that England lost despite of the heroic efforts of Collingwood (206), Pietersen (158) and Hoggard (7-109 in the first innings).
In 9/1/07 England went against the Australian's again in a twenty20 international. Again, England played poorly as Australia posted the highest score in Twenty20 international history with a score of 221. England lost by 77 runs..
The following Commonwealth bank ODI Tri-series between England, Australia and New Zealand was England's last chance to get any kind of form back before the 2007 World cup. They began promisingly by making a respectable 242/8 with Kevin Pietersen top scoring with 82, but the Australian batsmen cruised home by 8 wickets with Ricky Ponting finishing on 82*. England were hurt by this loss, but even further hurt by the fact that during his innings, Pietersen took a blow to the ribs from McGrath, causing a fracture and ruling him out of the entire series. In the match against New Zealand, England finally recorded a victory, chasing down 206-7 with one ball to spare and Andrew Flintoff finishing 72*. After this possible turnaround however, England were back to normal and were bowled out by Australia for just 155 runs. The bowlers however gave England some hope, the first 4 Australian wickets falling at 26-1, 30-2, 35-3 and 48-4 but Michael Hussey saw Australia home with an unbeaten 46. England then came up against New Zealand again, and bowled them out for 210, Flintoff taking 21-4. New Zealand however, bowled england out for a miserable 120, only Ed Joyce putting up any fight and making 47. England's complete misery continued when they were bowled out for 110 the next game and were beaten by 9 wickets by Australia. Just when it seems England couldn't be any worse, New Zealand stack up an immense 318-7 and England capitulate to 184-7 off 40.4 overs, Paul Nixon started smashing boundaries and supported well by Liam Plunkett, who finished on 25*, managed to get to 49 but was caught out on the last ball of the innings having got England up to 260-8. After a string of losses Everyone assumed it to be New Zealand and Australia in the finals, England needing to beat Australia and New Zealand in successive games to have a chance. England, having taken a lot of hard blows, finally performed and thanks to Ed Joyce making his maiden ODI century managed to get all the way up to 292-7. The very first ball of the Australian innings Liam Plunkett bowled a magnificent in-swinging yorker to Adam Gilchrist which was quite simply unplayable and from then on Australia never recovered and found themselves 200 all out, conceding a bonus point and more importantly a much needed England victory. Spurred by their victory over Australia, England Batted first and made 270 with Paul Collingwood making 106 and Andrew Strauss making a quick 55. New Zealand raced off the mark though, going at near 10 per over and were only halted 13 overs in when Monty Panesar got Lou Vincent out caught by Flintoff in the deep. Stephen Fleming batted on though, batting with a number of partners and making a return to form with 106, the last man to be out with New Zealand on 232-8. James Franklin and Shane Bond managed to get through the overs keeping their wickets, but they couldn't match the run-rate and New Zealand fell 14 runs short. England were going to the finals. England won 2-0 against Australia at the second match at the SCG on 11th Feb, 2007. Someone who knows more about Cricket should fill in the details of this embarrasing loss for Australia.
Tournament History
World Cup
- 1975: Semi-Finals
- 1979: Runners up
- 1983: Semi-Finals
- 1987: Runners up
- 1992: Runners up
- 1996: Quarter-Finals
- 1999: First round
- 2003: First round
ICC Champions Trophy
(known as the "ICC Knockout" in 1998 and 2000)
- 1998: Quarter-Finals
- 2000: Quarter-Finals
- 2002: Second in Group Pool 2
- 2004: Runners up
- 2006: Main Round
Records - Tests
Team records
- Highest team total: 903-7.dec v Australia at The Oval in 1938
- Lowest team total: 45 v Australia at Sydney in 1886/87
Individual records
- Most matches: 133 - Alec Stewart
- Longest Serving Captain: 54 tests - Michael Atherton
Batting
- Most runs: 8900 - Graham Gooch
- Best average: 60.73 - Herbert Sutcliffe
- Highest individual score: 364 - Len Hutton v Australia at The Oval in 1938
- Record partnership: 411 - Colin Cowdrey and Peter May v West Indies at Birmingham in 1957
- Most centuries: 22 - Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott
Bowling
- Most wickets: 383 - Ian Botham
- Best average: 10.75 - George Lohmann
- Best innings bowling: 10/53 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
- Best match bowling: 19/90 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
- Best strike rate: 34.1 - George Lohmann
- Best economy rate: 1.31 - William Attewell
Fielding
- Most dismissals: 277 - Alec Stewart
- Most dismissals in an innings: 7 - Bob Taylor v India at Bombay in 1979/80
- Most dismissals in a match: 11 - Jack Russell v South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995/96
Records - One-day Internationals
Team records
- Highest team total: 391-4 (50 overs) v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
- Lowest team total: 86-10 (32.4 overs) v Australia at Manchester in 2001
Individual records
- Most matches: 170 - Alec Stewart
- England is one of only two Test-playing nations (the other being Bangladesh) to have no players over the 200-cap milestone in ODIs
- Longest Serving Captain: 56 matches - Nasser Hussain
Batting
- Most runs: 4677 - Alec Stewart
- Best average: 60.15 - Kevin Pietersen (as of 13 January 2007)
- Highest individual score: 167* - Robin Smith v Australia at Birmingham in 1993
- Record partnership: 226 - Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss v West Indies at Lord's in 2004
- Most centuries: 12 - Marcus Trescothick
Bowling
- Most wickets: 234 - Darren Gough
- Best average: 19.45 - Mike Hendrick
- Best bowling: 6/31 - Paul Collingwood v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
- Best strike rate: 32.2 - James Anderson
- Best economy rate: 3.27 - Mike Hendrick
Fielding
- Most dismissals: 174 - Alec Stewart
- Most dismissals in a match: 6 - Alec Stewart v Zimbabwe at Manchester in 2000
See also: List of England Test cricket records | List of England One-day International cricket records
See also
External links
- England and Wales Cricket Board
- Women's Cricket Association tour of Australia, 1934-1935 images digitised and held by the National Library of Australia