Farewell to India

...for England at least. As I write, Australia and India are cooking up a potentially fascinating final match to what has been an otherwise rather dull group stage in the Champions Trophy. Only four matches (out of 17) have been worth watching: Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Australia v West Indies, India v West Indies and, of course, yesterday's England v West Indies. Hurrah for Brian Lara's side, then. At least they know how to create exciting matches.

The fireworks that exploded at the end of England's match yesterday were only marginally less meaningful than Kevin Pietersen's innings of 90 not out. Some might rejoice at Pietersen's return to form, but while all runs are welcome, it is his string of failures in live matches that is more concerning. Let's hope that when he gets the sniff of Australians in his nostrils, he becomes the belligerent force he was last summer again.

West Indies really should have made more runs than the 272 they managed, after entering the final ten overs with only one man down. Chris Gayle's run out was crucial but the West Indies bowling and fielding was ineffective and one got the impression that they were not up for the match.

Questions have been asked about whether Chris Read has played himself out of the Ashes after three poor games, with the gloves as well as the bat. It would be a shame if he had after three assured innings against Pakistan at the end of last summer. Geraint Jones, remember, was dropped after a lengthy drought that would have received an immediate hosepipe ban if it was rain rather than runs that had run dry. Nor did he do anything spectacular for Kent when he returned to the ranks. Read must still be viewed as the man in possession for Brisbane. If he gets dropped for his performance in India, then surely so should Stephen Harmison, who was fairly poor in the summer as well.

Plenty of things to mull over and as always I'd appreciate your comments by clicking on the button below. I'm off to Italy for the next few days, however, a heathen country with little interest in cricket but a fantastic line in food and wine. I'll be back in time for the final of the Champions Trophy next weekend.

Comments

[Ash]

England are so obsessed with their one-off Ashes victory that they may ask Michael Vaughn to play on a wheelchair in trying to retain the same side for the sake of it.

Knowing Mr. Fletcher, I am sure Read will be dropped. He is a coach of quantity, not quality. He will see that Jones scores 5 more runs per innings etc. but would see that the batsmen jones dropped cost them 100 more runs.

[Omar Haq]

Jones is in poor form now. I still think Read should be the main keeper. But I suppose both will go down under? I haven't read the team selection yet...

How is Italy?

[harrowdrive]

It's strange how quickly Read is being written off. He has clearly come on as a cricketer since his last stint as England gloveman, yet a couple of poor performances and their are calls for him to be dropped.

Is it a case of 'the best man is always the one not in the team'?

[Deepan]

Chris Read did OK with the bat against Pakistan but hardly inspired confidence that he is capable of scoring hundreds on the international stage. You're right though, it would be unfair to drop him for the ashes on the basis of a few one-day games.

Harmison is one of the few Englishmen who the aussies actually refer to in positive terms, I don't think his predicament is comparble to that of Chris Read especially as Read hasn't really done anything of significance thus far in his international careeer.

PS I like your column, its a shame that more people don't make comments on your pieces.