This year England cricket team has the best possibility to win the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010. Ahead of the shortest version of cricket game, England selectors named a strong 15-man squad where Andy Flower will stay as a coach. Here are the players:
England squad for T20 World Cup 2010: Paul Collingwood (captain), Kevin Pietersen, Michael Lumb, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Yardy, Ajmal Shahzad, Tim Bresnan, Luke Wright, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell.
This team has been put in Group D with West Indies and Ireland. England will start their campaign against Ireland on May 1, 2010 in group stage.
Since the birth of shorter and shortest version of cricket format, England cricket team has not won any cricket world cup. It is shocking because they invented cricket. They will try their best to get one world cup trophy and it can be possible in the third edition of the twenty20 world cup. England cricket team looks very strong compare to other cricket teams. England players’ performances in all forms of cricket game are good enough in recent times. They defeated mighty South Africa and then weak team Bangladesh. England also regained their Ashes trophy at home. Despite their good performance, they failed to hold any good position in any form of cricket ranking.
England hosted the second edition of Twenty20 world cup. Despite being the host team, England could not do well. They went up to the super eight round. It was their best performance in previous two t20 tournaments. It will be interesting to see if they can move further in the upcoming tournament.
Paul Collingwood was named captain of England cricket team. He is a good all rounder. He is an effective right handed middle order batsman and right arm medium pace bowler. It is expected that he will play an important role for his team. Now, millions of fans will eagerly wait to see if he can lead his team to get a world cup trophy for the first time in the history of England cricket.
Michael Lumb is the new inclusion of England squad. This 30-year-old right handed batsman is likely to make his debut in the shortest format of cricket game. He has averaged 34.08 in first class cricket and 32.32 in List A cricket. However, he is also an important player in one of the IPL franchises, Rajasthan Royals.
England has a strong batting line up. Kevin Pietersen is one of the most important batsmen in the squad. He has the experience to play for England in all forms of cricket game. No doubt, he is a big asset for his team. Now, fans will be watching if he can lead the national cricket team successfully.
Ravi Bopara and Michael Yardy have been re-called in the final squad. Their good performance in the county cricket forced the selectors to select them. It is a big challenge for these two players if they can secure their places in the national squad. Ravi Bopara last played against Australia in 2009. On the other hand, Michael Yardy last played against West Indies in 2007. Ravi Bopara is known as a hard hitter batsman. It is important for the shortest version of cricket game.
Craig Kieswetter is another player who has been included in the squad. However, he has already played 3 ODI matches. Now, he is perhaps going to make his T20 debut with this tournament. He has been included as the wicketkeeper ahead of the Matt Prior. The exclusion of Matt Prior shocked me. He is considered as an experienced and important wicketkeeper-batsman in modern times. There is no confusion that Craig Kieswetter will have to struggle a lot to show that his inclusion was not wrong decision. If Craig Kieswetter is injured, then Eoin Morgan will be keeping wicket.
I cannot see any good bowler in England cricket team. It seems that selectors did not give much importance about selecting quality bowlers. However, Graeme Swann is a good bowler in this squad. He is a leading wicket taker. This Offspinner will keep an important role in his team’s victory. Both Stuart Broad and James Anderson are good bowlers. They are the permanent members of England squad.
Let’s see if England cricket team can win this T20 World Cup. I don’t see any possibility for them to win this tournament.
ICC Champions Trophy 2009 starts from 22 September in South Africa. The eight-team tournament spans only 14 days. Top eight test playing teams in terms of their ODI performance have been qualified for the tournament. The participating teams are: defending champion Australia, India, Pakistan, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand. All the teams have announced their squad for the upcoming tournament which is the second most prestigious tournament after ICC World Cup.
England is definitely one of the favorites, but the English side will miss the service of two key players: Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff- who are currently injured out. Flintoff was initially included in the squad, but the player later on pulled off his name from the squad as he is going to undergo a surgery on his knee.
There are some experienced players in the squad including Captain Andrew Strauss, Collingwood, James Anderson, Ryan Sideb besides some of the young talented cricketers like Joe Denly, Bopara, Broad, Morgan, Adil Rashid, Wright and Swann. Overall, I think, the squad is pretty much balanced in the presence some quality batsmen and bowlers.
England Squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2009 :- Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Andrew Flintoff, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.
ECB will announce the replacement of Andrew Flintoff later on.
