English National Cricket Team
TV Schedules and Online Streams
|
England Fixtures and Results
England Cricket Videos
English Cricket Team News
Vettori could play second Test
Former New Zealand Test captain, Daniel Vettori, who was originally selected only for the one-day and Champions Trophy legs of the tour to England, could play an unexpected part in the second Test of the series against England at Headingley later this week. Read More...Broad leads England to thumping win
The first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's continued to ebb and flow early on the fourth day, as each side appeared to have gained the upper hand, before their opponents found a way to drag themselves back into the game. Read More...Taylor, Southee help New Zealand at Lord's
New Zealand continued to make a mockery of the current ICC Test match rankings, as they again had the better of a day's play against England. This time, the second day of the first Test at Lord's. Read More...Prior wins English cricketer of year award
The 31 year old Sussex wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, has been voted as the England Cricketer of the Year for 2012-13, and becomes the first gloveman to win the award. Read More...Graeme Swann returns to international cricket
England's leading spinner, Graeme Swann returns to the international side for next week's first Test match against New Zealand at Lord's, after missing the three match series against the same opposition during the winter through injury. Read More...Joe Root continues good form
The 22 year-old England Lions captain, Joe Root continued his outstanding form of the summer on the final day of the rain ruined tour match against New Zealand ahead of next week's first Test match, at Lord's. Read More...England to play an Ashes warmup game at Alice Springs
Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia is set to host an international cricket team for the first time in over a decade, during England's 2014 Ashes tour. Read More...Durham won't host India, Australia
Confirmation that the newer venues on the international calendar in England and Wales are struggling to make hosting international matches a financially viable concern, was given further evidence, as Durham withdrew their hosting right to matches against India and Australia during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Read More...Joe Root named captain of England Lions
After a winter in which he made astonishing, if unexpected strides onto the international stage, Joe Root finds himself named as the captain of the England Lions (effectively the 2nd XI) for the four day match against the touring New Zealand team, which is due to start at Leicester on May 9. Read More...Wisden calls Kevin Pietersen arrogant
The Editor's notes in the latest edition of Wisden have been less than complimentary about England batsman, Kevin Pietersen, who it describes as arrogant, self-pitying and isolated, for the part he played in the unsettling of the England team last summer, as they sought to retain their number one Test ranking against South Africa. Read More...England ICC World Cup 2011 Profile
England never won the world Cup, despite being three times in the finals.
Strength
Under the tutelage of Andy Flower, England seems to overcome a tumultuous period in their history between 2006/2007 and the start of 2009 and look to have forged a great alliance. The absence of the real big stars except Kevin Pietersen has definitely helped the side in gelling well and the performances have begun to show up. They did well in the Champions Trophy of 2009 before beating South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the ODI series played this year.
Weakness
England has often epitomised the ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ syndrome when it comes to World Cup. Finally, they managed to capture a World Cup – in the T20 version – in 2010, but the big question-mark is over their lack of temperament to survive in a tournament of this nature. As their previous record below suggests, the inability to win big tournaments could just be their biggest weakness.
Opportunity
The English team’s best opportunity in the tournament stems from the fact that in the list of favourites their name is probably fifth or sixth in the pecking order. And this, despite the fact that they possess a good line-up this time around with a lot of confidence going for them. If they can get through to the quarter-final of the tournament unnoticed, from there on, it will just be a matter of having three good days for a team that has shown the potential to do so.
Threat
It is the small matter of Ashes in their way. And in a funny way, what could work against England is if they go on to win the same. One has seen in the 2009 edition of the Ashes that England had won against many odds and gone on to lose the ODI series than followed 6-1. If they do manage to put it across Australia in the Ashes for the first time since 1987, the release of pressure could work against them, leading up to the World Cup.
Previous Record
England have never won a World Cup before despite being the finalists on three occasions. The last of these three finals came in 1992 – and since then, they haven’t even got to the semi-finals of the event. In 1996, they were blasted off by the eventual champions Sri Lanka, in 1999, they failed to move out of the first round of their home World Cup. 2003 was no better than 1999 while in 2007 they entered the Super Eight stage. Some of their better performances came in the 1979, 1987 and 1992, when they entered the finals but lost on each occasion – to West Indies, Australia and Pakistan respectively.
Expected Captain
Andrew Strauss has done enough to merit his place as the captain of the side and should continue leading the side.
Players to look out for
It is almost a shock as it is sign of the change in things in English cricket that the player to watch out for will be an off-spinner Graeme Swann. Swann is easily the best spinner in the world currently and will look to exploit the favourable sub-continental conditions to his advantage.