England's Flaws Are The Same As Their Virtues

England closed on a disappointing 248-6 on the 1st day of the final Test against Pakistan and with the new ball due in three overs, they will be fortunate to reach 300. The batsmen have been criticised for getting out to attacking shots, especially the sweep. All this proves is that sportsmen are never as bad or as good as the sports writers claim.

At the Oval Test the game was in the balance at lunch on the final day with England 127-5; much depended on Kevin Pietersen who was lucky to survive Lee's onslaught just before the break. Legend has it that Vaughan urged Pietersen to play his natural game and not try to play the defensive innings the situation merited. The maxim for despondent adolescents: “just be yourself” is equally true for struggling batsmen and Pietersen scored an Ashes winning 158. The journalists knew an innings with half the runs in double the time would have been just as effective, but they could not be seen to criticise the hero, so they lauded him for his bravado.

Very few batsmen can adjust their game to the conditions of the match. Those that try are like the teenager who puts on an act in an attempt to please everybody; they end up failing as a shadow of themselves. Reporters routinely criticised Atherton and Boycott for being over defensive, lamenting that they should be more like Viv Richards or David Gower. However they would then criticise David Gower for being over attacking and suggest that he should have applied himself more and batted like Boycott.

We have to accept cricketers for what they are and recognise that the flaws the media criticises are exactly the same as the virtues that they praise. An argument could be made for altering the balance of the team and I would consider dropping Collingwood down the order to complement the stroke makers of Flintoff, Pietersen and Jones, but I would not attempt to change anything else.