I doubt that Andy Flower was quite in the mood to start leading the England players in a rendition of this song, after their persisting batting troubles to get in, and stay in, continue. It was more Wokey Cokey than Hockey Cokey, as England only had one bright star to shine in the dark of the Gabba night.
The Sky Commentators were astute in their observations, when they made the point that it was Eoin Morgan who kick-started England’s resurgence in the ODI game. His unique skill set seems to have gone the way of so many well intentioned New Year’s Resolutions, which have now faded from many an optimistic mind. He seems to be suffering from his own prolonged version of Blue Monday. In the very country of the man who is recounted solely by the name ‘The Finisher’, England’s original bright star hasn’t quite shown the skills that had us all rabidly touting the second coming of such an invaluable type of player – only a version of our very own.
Of course, I’ve yet to renounce my faith in Morgan yet, because his batting is more symptomatic of the overall decay of England’s cricketing performances of late. Going Cold-Turkey from the highs of Ashes success, the England players are chasing their next hit of victory with all the panic and fervour of the most ardent binger.
I wrote previously about the worth of batting partnerships to a teams’ success in ODI cricket, and how Trott managed to drag the rest of the England team with him to victory in the last match. As is the nature of the beast though, Trott found himself this time indulging in more peripatetic pleasures - trudging back to the dressing room for a golden duck.
England’s ability to build an ODI innings, seems to have stalled to a halt as unexpectedly as the slow-ball bouncers that have plagued their batting efforts all series long. Regardless of the batters’ inability to play this ball, there are other more pertinent problems with how they are going about batting for 50 overs.
300 balls is a long time to bat in ODI cricket, and what has been most disappointing is the frame of mind in which the batsmen have approached their game. Right now, an England innings seems to have all the characteristics of a nonchalant net session. It’s more than just them throwing their wickets away – which isn’t said very often – it’s as if they don’t realise the consequences of their shot choices.
The little mind game that all but the most disciplined batsmen play when they are netting and get 95% of their bat on an aerial shot, are to convince themselves that the shot would have cleared the rope for six. Well out in the middle, that 5% difference is what makes the difference between runs and wickets. England seem to dreamily take those tricks of the mind out to the crease with them and seem genuinely perturbed when the reality of being caught out, dawns on them.
Australia aren’t perturbed, they can’t believe their luck that England seem to have difficultly learning a consequence that even Pavlov’s Dogs would have learned by now.
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