How do England capitalise on their recent excellence?

With all if the negative press surrounding England after the Kevin Pietersen saga and a lackluster series performance in the West Indies, confidence was low and few held any hope of success this summer. With the outstanding Australian side laying in wait with ashes around the corner, England had one last chance to reignite some passion into its supporters. They certainly did that.

While there were positive signs in the test series draw with New Zealand, it was the limited overs team that made believers of England fans once again. Playing in a style which enthused excitement, led by young cricketers desperate to make their mark on the cricketing world, England overcame an exceptional New Zealand team (world number 2) in one of the highest quality series in living memory. Victorious in the one day series 3-2 and following this with triumph in the stand alone 20/20 game, England put the world on notice that they intend to maximise the potential of this side and climb back atop the rankings. To perform admirably in a solitary series is one thing, but in order to maintain such progress there are some key areas to pursue.

A youthful England team built around the experienced one day specialist Eoin Morgan celebrate an outstanding series victory

Attitude

England needs look no further than their recent opponents New Zealand for inspiration. In 2013 New Zealand adopted a new ethos and approach headed by the entertaining Brendon McCullum. in. They proceeded to play attacking cricket from the offset, believing in their own ability to win games while backing themselves regardless of opposition. In playing to their own strengths and believing in their attacking mentality, New Zealand were reminiscent of the Australian side from the 2000s that swept all before them with gusto and a relentless attacking mindset. England have now set out their stall to play in the same way. With a team full of pace, youth and exuberance paired with positive big hitting batsmen, England have all of the tools needed to compete at the highest echelons of the game. The test of their credentials will come when this approach inevitably at some point fails and creates a setback. How England react to this will determine just how far this team can go with perseverance in their style key to success; there is no place in the modern limited overs game for conservatism.

Adaptation

While imperative that England play their own expressive style of cricket, it is important that they are willing to adapt to the differing conditions found across the world. Players that have performed well in English conditions will quite rightly be retained in the squad and need support to maintain their confidence, however the selection for away series’ must always take into account a players suitability and ability to adapt to new pitch conditions. There are certain venues and pitches that will not suit swing bowling, some may not turn for the spinners and others may suit spin bowling above pace; selectors need not shy away from making changes to the team based around conditions. Players must learn that the team comes first and if you have not shown the ability to adapt and perform effectively on a certain surface, selection must reflect this. There is no place for keeping players in the team purely for the reason of team spirit, a team reaches the top by making the most of all of the talent at its disposal.

Young Superstars such as Joe Root (pictured) and Joss Buttler encapsulate the positive style in which England must move forward.

 

Acceptance

Together with the need to adapt the team to different conditions, it is also vital that there is an acceptance that not all good cricketers are suited to limited overs cricket. England themselves, captained in the test game by Alistair Cook, are a great example of this. There are certain players including Cook in the test team, who do not fit the profile of cricketer needed to succeed in an England side determined to play expansive limited overs cricket. For too long there has been a cross over between the test and limited overs teams. While not a problem for those players that suit both forms of the game, clearly the cross over has had a negative effect on England’s limited over’s performance due to persistence in selection of unsuitable players. Modern limited overs cricket is characterised by athleticism, creativity, pace and quick run scoring. England need not be afraid of picking specialist players for different formats of the game.

The addition of a Rashid, a natural spin bowler who can turn the ball both ways was a positive move by selctors.

Aggression

Limited overs cricket is not always going to be the run fest we saw in the recent world cup and ODI series between England and New Zealand, the pitches used in these series are suited to runs being scored at a fast pace whereas the sub continent may create lower scoring dustier pitches. It is however a fact that modern players are becoming more athletic, the equipment is improving and the game as a result is being tailored towards exciting high scoring and aggressive cricket. In modern sport, sex sells, and in this instance high scoring exciting cricket is improving popularity of the game worldwide. In order to keep up with the development of modern one day cricket in which a run a ball is becoming the minimum required, aggression and tenacity is key. Batsmen must work on innovation and scoring quickly while bowlers must improve their variety second guessing the batsmen in a game whereas now batsmen hold most of the key advantages.

With two years of development heading into the next world cup, England have identified the path and the young side that they hope will take them to glory. This process will not be perfect overnight and persistence in style but also in the personnel is key. England have a raw talented side with the potential to reach the very top in limited overs cricket, they must learn from past mistakes and not be left behind as the game continues to evolve at a rapid rate. The future looks bright and the nation will be hoping that the new-found confidence of the limited overs team translates to those in the test side in order to regain the ashes later this summer.

Mo Farah- The Scapegoat

Mo Farah has found himself in recent weeks fighting to maintain his reputation after the British media used his association with coach Salazar to manipulate attention, and in doing so Drag Farah into the scandal.

Alberto Salazar, USA distance hero from the 1980s has been in charge of the Nike Oregon program since its inception. In 2010 the addition to the team of Mo Farah, who arrived as an athlete full of potential and now finds himself as a global superstar, has elevated this training group as one of the top stables in world athletics. The allegations levelled at Salazar predate Farah’s arrival and are based upon his methods training a young Galen Rupp in 2002 (16 years old at the time). These claims were heightened in the media after an investigatory BBC program discussed the fears, based purely around the account of a single written training log.  It is thought that the supplement log insinuates that Rupp was using the anabolic steroid testosterone as a supplement; Testosterone in this form is a banned performance enhancing substance and to give it to someone of such a young age is also thought highly dangerous. Salazar strongly denies giving the substance to Rupp; he does claim that Rupp was on a natural testosterone booster used to combat his Asthma and Hashimotos disease, a natural testosterone booster which is legal.

The USA lacks any real interest in track and field in current times, due mainly to a series of their athletes having shamed the nation, being found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. While those in question, Salazar and Rupp, are from the USA it is the British media that are the main interested party. With such a high-profile British athlete in Mo Farah belonging to this training stable his reputation is being brought into disrepute purely by association. Farah has in no way been accused by any of these investigations nor is their any evidence of him being involved in any illegal activity. Unfortunately with such little evidence there is no real story without the association of global superstar Farah, therefore he is being dragged into the scandal by the media to add British interest and used as a scapegoat.

Farah has been understandably shaken by the allegations while all of the media interest has visibly disrupted his focus, illustrated by his withdrawal from the British Diamond league event at late notice. When an athlete is being accused or associated to a scandal it is the norm that past stories have a tendency to reemerge in the media. New allegations, used to support the malicious attack on Farah, have been used in accordance to missing of random drug tests. There is a clear difference between missing a random drug test, and failing a test of any sort. It is legal in the IAAF regulations to miss up to 3 random drugs tests in a 12-month period, performed at a pre chosen set hour in the athletes residence. These can occur at any time in the year with no warning and it is not uncommon for athletes to miss the occasional test. In fact more than 35 missed tests have occurred by British athletes in each of the last 5 years (UK anti-doping).

Due to his impressive performances Farah is one of the most tested athletes in the world, be that at competition meets, or random out of competition drug tests; there really is no story in the fact he missed two random tests back in 2010- 2011. He has not broken any rules and has no case to answer.

“Over the course of my career I have taken hundreds of drugs tests and every single one has been negative,” said Farah in a statement on his Facebook page. 

Farah is being targeted around his credibility as an athlete. In some quarters people are now saying he is a cheat. The casual newsreader and those uneducated in the sport of athletics will have had their opinions of Mo Farah affected by the recent media coverage. Rather than see Farah as one of Britain’s most successful and decorated athletes of all time, some will choose to hold lingering doubts over his coach and any part Farah could have in drug allegations. Even though the British athlete has performed no wrongdoing his reputation will be forever tainted after the media witch hunt, and could affect future sponsorship just as importantly his training. Merely by mentioning Mo Farah’s name in association with the allegations, a snowball effect has occurred to drag him into the row.

No positive can possibly come out of this whole ordeal and whether Salazar is proven guilty or not, Farah has as he remarked, “had his name unfairly dragged through the mud”. His trust in Salazar may be recovered to a certain degree after the coach produced a 12000 word report allegedly explaining any actions taken, however a seed of doubt will now always be left in Farah’s mind. Damage in trust in what has been such a successful partnership can only damage Farah’s training. While Nike have conducted their own internal enquiry and is satisfied there has been no wrongdoing; The fact that the Oregon project is sponsored by Nike and Farah has been made their athletics poster boy, means any future doubt can only pressure this partnership and any future deals.

Time will tell whether as seems likely, the allegations are unfounded and an unnecessary negativity has been attributed to Mo Farah and the Nike Oregon Project. Illegal performance enhancing drug allegations are always going to create waves in the media due to a recent past littered with shame and guilty athletes, however there needs to be some restrain made when victimizing athletes who may not be guilty. By creating negativity around “clean” athletes performing at the top of the sport, fans will lose trust and respect in athletics to an even larger degree than already exists.