England Cricket / Andrew Hughes / 20 September 2010 /

England have enjoyed a limited overs revival under Andy Flower, the crowning achievement of which was the World Twenty20 win. But with a World Cup looming, just how good are they at the fifty over game? Andrew Hughes investigates.

Monday's defeat at Lord's may have taken some of the gloss off England's limited overs record this summer, but if they can fight back with a win at the Rose Bowl, it will be their fifth limited overs series win in a row, a run that comes on top of a creditable semi-final place at the Champions Trophy. Much credit goes to Andy Flower for setting about changing England's one day approach after a demoralising 6-1 drubbing by Australia last September.

Their rapid improvement is leading to raised expectations amongst England fans and understandably they will be hoping for a decent World Cup performance, something that is long overdue. Indeed, England have not made an impact in the premier fifty over competition since they reached the final in 1992. They are [8.6] to win the competition; fifth favourites; which is probably a fair reflection of their current status in the international pecking order.

But whilst they have made a great deal of progress over the last few months, if they are to continue their rise through the rankings and make a serious challenge for the World Cup, there are areas where they need to improve. A year on from starting his job of refitting the limited overs outfit, it is time for Andy Flower to carry out some fine tuning and address England's fifty over deficiencies.

The most notable weakness is the lack of firepower in the middle order. The problem is exacerbated by Paul Collingwood's lack of form, but, even assuming he is back to something like his best by the time the World Cup starts, the lower middle order options of Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright do not inspire much confidence. Yardy and Bresnan in particularly simply do not look to have the class or the firepower to bat as high as 6 or 7 in international cricket.

The second major problem is in the bowling department. Graeme Swann is England's strike bowler and should enjoy himself in the subcontinent, but the front line seamers look a little predictable. Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Bresnan bowl a uniform pace and none of them have yet shown themselves adept at utilising reverse swing. They were hammered by Abdul Razzaq at Lord's and it is easy to see them being cannon fodder on Indian and Sri Lankan wickets.

The final issue is over the best batting line-up. Injury and lack of form have complicated the matter, but it still isn't clear whether Steven Davies is going to be Andrew Strauss's permanent opening partner, and which of Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Trott and Paul Collingwood are going to be first choices. It could be argued that England have a lot of options, but unsettled sides sides rarely win major competitions and they need to finalise their best batting line-up sooner rather than later.

But these areas of weakness should be seen in the context of a team that is moving in the right direction. Perhaps England's greatest asset is their coach. We can be confident that Andy Flower is continuing to plot improvements in his team's game and that he will not be allowing anyone to get complacent. His innovative approach has already improved both performance and confidence in the England squad and for that reason, we can look forward to next year's World Cup with some optimism. And when was the last time we were able to say that?

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