I don't like Cricket

Champions Trophy – The Collective get serious…

This is, after all, an Ashes countdown blog so I thought that it was time for a bit of serious posting about our preparations for the Ashes with some Champions Trophy chat.

It’s just the Champions Trophy I can hear you saying.. but I think it’s about time our boys put down a marker of our intentions for the winter.

I believe that our performances against the Aussies in the one-dayers and especially in the 20-20 before the Ashes played a fundamental role in creating some doubt in Aussie minds that the Ashes 2005 would be just another walkover. It was good and bad for the confidence of individual players too.

I particularly remember the 1st match in last summer's seemingly never-ending one-day series before the Ashes started, on the day after they had lost to Bangladesh, we beat the Aussies at Bristol with KP in particular smashing the ball everywhere for 90 odd not out in a game that we would have lost in previous years (about 150-160 for 6 chasing 250 I think). I also seem to remember Gillespie and Watson in particular getting smacked around at the end - in Gillespie's case, possibly with a lasting impact for the rest of the summer.

Also, as noted on this blog previously, the Aussies have really been bigging up Shane Watson to be their Freddie equivalent and also probably to take some of the bowling load off McGrath so that he doesn't break down so often during the Ashes. Some possible psychological points to be scored during the Trophy if he gets no runs and goes for plenty.

So I think the Champions Trophy presents a real opportunity for us. We don’t even have to win or beat the Aussies – we have plenty of injuries that will allow us to make excuses. But if Flintoff makes a few more runs or Harmison takes a handful the Aussies will know that we are going to mean business in two months time. Frankly, as well as the prospects of Flintoff and Harmison finding some form, it will just be good to see them playing - regardless of the results, three games will be very useful for them in getting match fit for the Ashes.

(Freddie won't bowl this weekend but here he is looking fighting fit earlier this week....)





Also, people like Anderson and Mahmood might be involved in the Ashes tests - Anderson hasn't played for ages (so the same fitness points could apply) and a good performance from Mahmood might give him a bit more confidence. And even though people like Dalrymple and Yardy aren't in the Ashes squad, they are in the standby squad who will be based in Perth and so a few games won't do them any harm if they get called up later.

Let’s also remember the last Champions Trophy. We beat the Aussies in the semis and I remember Strauss – who had never played them before at that point – getting a 50. Again it was an opportunity to set down a marker about what he intended to do the following summer.

It was a superb innings from Vaughan that really won us that game. His 86 flowing runs followed a wretched run of form in one-day cricket. I repeat - this is a great forum in which players can find a bit of form. Without the pressure that will be there come December.

And after beating the Aussies in the semis I know we lost in poor fashion to the Windies but my point? We could actually win the trophy or feature prominently if a few key players play out of their skins.

So yes, we only thrashed a Rajasthan XI mid week but our performance showed that we could find a few runs this weekend against India and then go on from there. So come on boys. The Ashes trail starts here….

posted by Victoria Mills @ 5:24 pm