"Without a doubt it is better to beat Australia 5-0 than 3-2 or 4-1," said Flower, whose England team go into Wednesday's NatWest Series match at the Oval with a 3-0 lead. "I think that the fact that we have won three games and that we can win another two, grows our self belief and can dent theirs."
The Germans managed 4-0 against the Aussies in the football World Cup but nobody beats them 5-0 at cricket, do they? Well, actually New Zealand did so at home in 2005. But Flower will not allow his team to entertain thoughts of emulating that until they have secured win number four.
"Australia are a fine side and have been a fine side for a long time and we pay them due respect," Flower said. "But it's important to play every game as well as you can when you are representing your country, so we're not looking at 5-0 just yet, we're looking at winning the next game."
So far England have looked like losing just once, during a crazy 20 minutes at Old Trafford where their middle-order collapsed. Otherwise, they have dominated with a swagger. Even so, while Flower reckons England would be ready if the World Cup began next week, he feels here is still room for improvement.
"The most obvious area to improve is on the batting front," he said. "We are putting Eoin Morgan under continual pressure in those middle overs and the top four must embrace the responsibility of staying in for longer and finding the balance between attacking and staying in. It's not an easy balancing act, but that's their challenge.
Morgan's rise as a finisher of zen-like calm has probably contributed to that pressure. With the Irishman ready to mop up behind them the early order have felt more confident to take more risks. You would think his presence might have liberated Kevin Pietersen from being England's main provider, but he has not looked any freer at the crease now his monopoly as top dog has been broken.
"It's a very healthy thing that the heat has been taken off KP," said Flower. "If it is the case that he thrives more on being the centre of attention then that is not a healthy thing. Cricket is a team game and while KP is a world-class player, he recognises the importance of his role within the team."
One other area attracting Flower's scrutiny is the new-ball bowling, so far the province of James Anderson and Tim Bresnan. To date, Australia's opening batsmen have posted opening stands in excess of fifty in every game. In the World Twenty20, Bresnan opened with Ryan Sidebottom, but as yet, the left-armer has been overlooked in this series in favour of Anderson.
"Part of our philosophy in 50-over cricket is to attack with the new ball, but we haven't been able to take the wickets upfront we'd have liked to yet," Flower said. "I wouldn't say it's an area of concern but it's an area of focus. You only really get one chance of the ball going sideways these days, and that's at the start, so we need to use it well."
In their three victories England have bowled first on every occasion, though without much evidence of swing. Today's match at the Oval, a floodlit game that starts at 1pm, is unlikely to buck that trend though Anderson does usually bowl well at the venue.
Save for their opening batsmen and bowlers, Australia need to improve in all departments if they are to stave off ignominy ahead of this autumn's Ashes. The addition of Shaun Tait has added telling pace to Doug Bollinger's nagging accuracy, but any pressure the pair create has not been sustained by the others.
"We definitely don't want a whitewash," said Shane Watson, Australia's most consistent batsmen in the series. "There's no doubt England are playing good cricket at the moment and that we need to step up as a group. We don't like to lose 5-0."
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment