England must dig in to avoid humiliation

13 April 2012

England are facing the real possibility of being humiliated on their own turf and in their own tournament.

Despite losing the Second Test to Pakistan in Manchester on Monday, they can still look forward to the start of next month's Ashes series with a sense of optimism.

But last night's 108-run hammering at Edgbaston extended their sequence of one-day international defeats to six and, with four key players out of contention due to injuries, it is difficult to see where a win is coming from.

There was not even the faintest sign of it yesterday as Pakistan trounced a team now cruelly robbed of Graham Thorpe's services as well as being without captain Nasser Hussain, Andrew Caddick and Craig White.

And, despite the fact that Australia have warmed up for this summer's triangular tournament by losing to Middlesex and only managing a tie with Northants, it will be a huge shock if the World Cup holders do not add to the misery of acting captain Alec Stewart at Bristol on Sunday.

A year ago, England started the 10-match NatWest Series badly when they were beaten by Zimbabwe.

But they recovered to wallop those same opponents in the final after making sure that West Indies did not even progress beyond the preliminary phase.

Reaching this season's Lord's showdown - never mind winning it - already looks a mighty tall order for an outfit that cannot approach the experience levels of either Pakistan or Australia - even when everyone is fit.

Hussain and No1 all-rounder White are not due to play any part in the tournament. Recovering, respectively, from a broken thumb and a dodgy back in time for the Ashes series are their priorities.

But neither seamer Caddick (back) nor senior batsman Thorpe (calf) will be ready to return before Tuesday's match against Pakistan at Lord's at the earliest. A stand-in for Thorpe will be added to the squad today and he could straight into Sunday's meeting with Australia.

However, finding a winning formula is going to be far harder than naming a temporary replacement.

After losing their last two one-dayers in Pakistan before Christmas and then being whitewashed 3-0 in Sri Lanka earlier this year, England pledged to revisit the drawing board.

The emphasis is still on would-be all-rounders, though, and right now the likes of Ben Hollioake, Paul Collingwood, Mark Ealham and Dominic Cork are unable to compete with their opposite numbers in the Pakistani and Australian teams.

Stewart admitted: "We had two huge setbacks in 24 hours. Losing Caddick and Thorpe meant we went out against Pakistan with a very inexperienced side."

Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq have both scored more than 8,000 one-day international runs - twice as many as even Stewart.

Yesterday, the pair put together a stand of 150, effectively winning the game for their side.

But there was still time for an important contribution of 38 from Azhar Mahmood.

Remarkably for someone who is not a household name anywhere in the world, Mahmood has played 103 one-day internationals.

Take away Stewart and Darren Gough and that is almost as many appearances as England's entire team. At least Nick Knight made a welcome return to the side with an undefeated innings of 59.