Five Things We Learned From England Vs The Netherlands

1. Graeme Swann is by far our best bowler

Taking two wickets and going at a measly 3.5 runs an over after flying halfway around the world following the birth of your first child. All in a day (or so) work for England's premier spin bowler. We all knew he would be our best bowling option in this sub-continental World Cup but how much daylight there was between him and the rest was something of a surprise. Not only did he keep things quiet, he took the wickets of a set batsmen (Borren) and a dangerous one (Zuiderent) and should have cut short ten Doeschate's stay at the crease but for some calamitous fielding (more on which later). However, it must be remembered, we were playing the Netherlands.


2. England were due an off day

After the near faultless display of fielding in the Ashes series, where pretty much every chance offered was pouched, England were due an off day in the field, and boy what an off day. Anderson and Pietersen's hysterical-if-it-wasn't-so-tragic lack of communication, the numerous dropped catches and the pièce de résistance, having a wicket struck off as there were only three fielders inside the circle at the time of the ball being delivered, only for the same thing to happen again a few balls later. Let's hope that this was just an off day and not something more serious, not that the two Andys would allow such a drop in standards.


3. England's batsmen look in good shape

Every batsmen getting at least 30 should be cause for celebration as does capturing the third highest successful run chase in World Cup history. Strauss and Trott starred with some very impressive finishing work from Collingwood and Bopara, both of whom were in need of knocks. Hopefully these scores can be converted into 50s and 100s in the rest of the tournament although, it is worth repeating, we were playing the Netherlands.


4. England should have brought a second spinner of quality

Yes yes, we did bring Michael Yardy and James Tredwell but come on. Yardy, who is one of our most important players in T20, does not have the same wicket-taking and run-smothering impact in the 50-over game and Tredwell has very little experience at this level and spins the ball the same way as Swann. It couldn't have hurt to bring Monty Panesar or Adil Rashid along instead of Tredwell as other options, with Panesar's experience in the sub-continent and Rashid's batting ability both bringing something else to the table. Perhaps their fielding counted against them but they probably would have got the dolly Swann put down.


5. Losing the Associate Nations will be something of a travesty

The best World Cup memories this century have been of the Assoicate nations; Kenya reaching the semi-finals in 2003, Ireland beating Pakistan on St Patrick's Day and reaching the Super Eights in 2007. But the ICC has deemed these nations surplus to requirements from the next World Cup in 2015 which is a great shame. There are often some embarrassingly one-sided games, such as Kenya Vs New Zealand the other day, but there are some stormers such as England Vs the Netherlands. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh started out as Associate nations and became Test playing nations through the experiences of high-class 50-over games. With Associate nations only being allowed to play top-class 20-over games from now on, where is the incentive for growth into the other formats of the game, to diversify Test match cricket to new outposts.