England bullying their way to T20 glory but must stop the rollickings

Jonathan Agnew
13 May 2010

The way England have played in the World Twenty20 is the closest they have ever come to resembling an Australian side in terms of character and this is a tournament they can undoubtedly win.

I have seen England win Ashes series but if you watch a successful Australian side, they are all over the opposition. They are busy, they bully, they don't let you go — and this England side have looked very similar to that.

It's the first time I've really seen England play that way. They're absolutely ruthless, they are full of confidence, they know they can win and they look a superb side. Everyone has been quite surprised by the way in which they have played so far but the best thing for their prospects was beating New Zealand without Kevin Pietersen. It was very important for the confidence of the side to show they can achieve victory without him.

The players now know they can win without him and he knows that, too, which can be quite a wake-up call for the star player in any team.

Just look at the way England have batted here in the West Indies. I am uncomfortable with the number of South Africa-raised players in the team but that is a different issue.

Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter have provided the sort of start that England have never had in one-day cricket — aggressive, intimidating, and taking the attack to the bowlers.

Pietersen has been outstanding and hopefully he will play in today's semi-final against Sri Lanka after rushing back to England for the birth of his son.

Eoin Morgan has shown that he is a very clever player. When you bat at No5 in Twenty20, the whole innings revolves around you. Sometimes you might come in with the score at 100 for three with 10 overs left and at others it might be 60 for three with 14 overs left.

He can play in different ways but still scores at a run a ball and has proved he is a very strong character. He has not shown a technique for Test cricket yet, but he has excellent mental strength, which is a vital attribute to be successful at that level.

I have no doubt that England can win the competition and a possible final against Australia in Barbados on Sunday would be absolutely brilliant but the semi-final will be very tough.

Sri Lanka don't have Muttiah Muralitharan and they have had to find ways of plugging that gap but the conditions here in St Lucia are far more like those in the sub-continent, and England would much rather have played them in Barbados. The same goes for Australia, who will not necessarily relish taking on Pakistan in St Lucia.

There are many danger men in the Sri Lanka side. Mahela Jayawardene has been the player of the tournament, proving that you can succeed in Twenty20 by playing proper shots. He has done none of those ugly swipes and slogs, but played gracefully and technically-perfectly — and scored more runs than anybody else in doing so.

Sanath Jayasuriya has done so much for one-day cricket, and I'd like to see him go out with a good performance — but with England winning, of course.

The only thing I do worry about is that England are setting such high demands of one another in the field, that they're giving out some nasty, aggressive rollickings to people who make the slightest slip. I don't think that engenders team spirit and captain Paul Collingwood has to stamp on it. Michael Vaughan, my colleague on the radio here, doesn't like it, either. If someone hasn't bowled well, or confidence is low, and they get a roasting from three or four people, it doesn't do much good.

Everyone makes mistakes and I'd much rather see people being geed up than getting the rollickings they're handing out for the slightest thing.

England v Sri Lanka, 4.30pm today, live on BBC 5Live Sports Extra and Radio 4LW