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Flem's English Crusade

My theory on the reason for England's One-Day woes
Stephen Fleming - 28 June 2001

The crusade marches on with our third championship win of the season, convincingly beating Warwickshire by 150 runs.

Warwickshire were in second place with a game in hand so it was vital we left Birmingham with maximum points.

Warwickshire was the county that Roger Twose played for and had success winning several trophies, particularly in the One-Day leagues. It was also where Roger introduced himself to Brian Lara, their overseas pro at the time, by hanging a sign on Brian's locker welcoming the second best left-hander to the county. The best left hander was obviously himself.

I had personal success this game aggregating 159 runs for the match. No century, being caught on the boundary from a top edge sweep shot for 92. Disappointing, but nice to be back in the runs after a lean couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the team's form in the four-dayers hasn't been matched in the One-Day competition. On Wednesday we lost our third game on the bounce and may now struggle to get promotion come the end of the year.

My one day league woes continued, so far I've only flirted with double figures averaging 10 from my three games. Yesterday I had more problems, dislocating my little finger when fielding on the boundary. It's pretty unnerving when you see one of your digits pointing 90 degrees the wrong way!

X-rays this morning show no break which is of great relief as there are some important matches coming up, including the One-Day series in Sri Lanka. A lot of ice and a bit of luck should see me fit for Friday which is our next championship match.

With England's poor performance in the recent triangular tournament, there has been a lot of comment made in the papers over the last few days concerned with the future of One-Day cricket in this country. I have a theory on the English One-Day game, and it is not having a crack at their players - I'll leave that to the tabloids, but more a moan about the quality of pitches that are served up for Sunday league (45 overs) cricket.

In the championship, pitches must be of the highest quality otherwise counties are fined and points are deducted. There is a panel of turf experts that travel the country inspecting each wicket before it's played on. This is a good system allowing positive conditions and stopping teams doctoring wickets to suit their side.

They have nothing like this in place for One-Day wickets, in fact, it works the other way and teams can get away with murder. So far this year we haven't played a 45-over match on a fresh pitch.

All the wickets have been used for previous games so, in most cases, you are playing on wickets that are into their fifth day.

Now you think in a test match, batting last on a worn wicket is never easy, try scoring five an over on it!

What happens on pitches like these is that mediocre bowlers who don't usually bowl, all of a sudden become world- beaters. The slower you bowl, and the more accurate you are, the better.

These bowlers that are having success week in week out now get looked at for higher honors, but everyone knows that once on a good wicket against international batters, it will be a different story.

The other problem for the selectors is finding batters who are consistent in these conditions. There aren't many, so the One-Day side seems to be selected from performances in the championship.

If you play on a better standard of wicket you will get a clear idea of what players can do. It gives players confidence and is a far better spectacle.

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