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It's less than a fortnight since Santa came down his chimney, but Frank Gregan has already penned another wishlist. This time, it's addressed to the England cricket team...


The mind plays strange tricks on you during the middle of the night as you sit cradling a glass of red wine whilst waiting for the weather Down Under to change. A glance at the Medoc bottle raises the question, "Where do genies really come from?" We have our share of lamps in our house but like most homes at this time of year, there are considerably more bottles - the majority empty!

EuroMillions and Cheryl Cole feature high on my wishlist before I get around to putting the sporting world to rights but cricket is at the forefront of the mind with England enjoying one of their best tours in living memory. So how can things get any better for the English cricket team? Here's three wishes that might just be attainable during 2011 without the help of a genie.


Win the Ashes Series

Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower are spot on when they say the job isn't done yet. The difference between winning the series and drawing is immense. An Australian win in the final Test would dilute the gloating, honours even and the Ashes only kept due to the retention rule. But how sweet it would be to win this series, which given that they are currently 1.28 seems to be the expected outcome. It would mean back to back Ashes successes and three wins out of four. That's a lot of bragging rights!


Win the World Cup

2010 was a great year for English cricket with the highlight arguably being their first ever World Cup victory when they lifted the Twenty20 Trophy in the Caribbean. There is still a stigma attached to the format and opinion is divided as to whether Twenty20 is 'real cricket.' There is a school of thought that England's performance thus far in the Ashes has been far more important than winning a slap, bang and wallop title. Winning the World Cup (which gets underway next month) would silence the critics, the 50 over game is the one day yardstick and with England at 6.8 to win, it would be one heck of an excuse for another massive party!


Keep Getting Better!

English cricket is in finer fettle than it has been for many a year but there's still room for improvement. There were many who scoffed (myself included) when Andrew Strauss was appointed captain but he could become one of England's greatest ever skippers.

The team spirit is superb but they're still capable of shooting themselves in the foot. Most self-inflicted injuries these days seem to revolve around Kevin Pietersen which is a pity as he is such a talented cricketer when his head is right. His claim last week that he was responsible for the upturn in the nation's fortunes because he caused the rift that led to Strauss being appointed was nonsensical. He seems to be in the 'I say what I think' mode. Somebody needs to advise him that it's starting to sound like sporting tourettes!

England are in a much better place than they were during those days under Pietersen and Peter Moores. It's more than possible that this year they could win the Ashes, win the World Cup and improve their World Test ranking. Previously that would have been unthinkable - unless of course you know a friendly genie!


By Frank Gregan

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