Shane Warne

 You’re eleven years old. Cricket is everything.

Australia have always been the ones. The winners. The dominators.

It’s an Ashes series, at home. You were too young too remember much of the last one at home, too young to stay up for the last one away.

You’ve barely had the chance to see Australia play tests before. It doesn’t matter, you know all the players, all their stats, all the lore.

You know who you most want to watch.

England are the best they’ve been in years, decades even, but he’s at the top of his game too. There’s a sparkle in his eyes when the ball is in his hand. He has them all on a string. He spins the ball further than you can imagine possible. But just as much as the turn, it’s the personality that bowls them out, too.

He’s captivating.

When he has the ball, something happens.

You can’t look away.

You weren’t born when he bowled the ball of the century to Gatting. He bowls another one to Strauss while you watch, open mouthed, asking how it’s possible.

That’s just one of 40 wickets he takes that summer. Of 195 he takes against England. Of 708 he takes overall.

Bowled, Shane.

World Cup takeaways #2: England v Pakistan

Wherever Pakistan go, they are followed by this cliche of them as an unpredictable team. Certainly England would have expected to win this match, having just beaten them 4-0 in the series before the World Cup and then watching their batting line up crumble in their opening match against the West Indies. It had been Pakistan's eleventh straight defeat in ODIs. So really, all the signs before the match pointed England's way. But I think the thing with Pakistan really is that they can often just be slow starters in tournaments. Certainly they're a team with a lot more talent than the eleven defeats would suggest, and that streak had to end at some point. Unfortunately for England, that day was today. Pakistan had been many people's tips for a semi-final place before the tournament began, predictions that were hastily revised after their first match but will probably be hastily revised now again.

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Where England's fielding was so excellent last Thursday, it wasn't so hot today. It's not to say they didn't have their moments - good catches did come in the deep from Woakes and Bairstow - but there were many more moments that seemed to stand out as opportunities for runs to be saved, a far cry from match one where it felt like nothing would get past them. There were overthrows, a dropped high skyer from Roy, and other moments where their ground fielding was lacking. Not many matches in this cup have yet been decided by fine margins - but this one was, and so these were moments England were made to rue.

England scored two centuries, by Root and Buttler, but still couldn't get over the line today. There aren't many times that will happen, so it's a big credit to Pakistan and their bowlers that they were able to contain them enough, and prevent that final acceleration that has so often taken England to their best scores. It was especially pleasing to see the bowling of Shadab Khan, returning to the side after missing the previous ODI series with illness and taking two wickets - and unluckily missing out on a third with a dropped catch/stumping chance. Two more men who missed that ODI series, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz (the latter returning from a two year absence), also shared five wickets between them - four crucially coming at the death.

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It was a time ripe for a lower order cameo or two. Four wickets fell in the first 22 overs, so something would likely be needed even with Root and Buttler making it to three figures. Chris Woakes did chip in, his 21 runs coming from 14 balls. It would have been a great opportunity though for Moeen Ali, once England's opener, now coming in at number seven, but whose form has lately been a concern. He hasn't really made many meaningful knocks for a while now, and the talk of the strength of England's lower order doesn't always feel so true. I'd love to see Moeen in the runs again, he's one of those wonderfully likeable players both in terms of character and in that effortless style he exudes when he's doing well. Even with his three wickets today though I worry that he might be one looking over his shoulder when the tournament ends.

So England were defeated, Pakistan deservedly victorious. In this long round robin format, it won't cause England too much concern - over nine matches you would still expect them to come first or second. They remain a brilliant batting side, coming close to pulling off a World Cup record chase - and the sort of chase we've seen them make before. But they can't chase it down every time, and need to tighten up again to not give themselves so much work to do.

England, match two: Pakistan win by 14 runs

World Cup takeaways #1: England v South Africa

So today is the day! The day it all begins! Four years ago England crashed out of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, after a string of performances best described as, well, dismal. And now here they are, favourites to win the thing this time round. To part of me it doesn't all seem quite real.

So here are some thoughts on their very first match, some takeaways from the day...

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England didn't go into this tournament changing their plans at the last minute. Sure, Archer came in late on, and there was the switch between Dawson and Denly, but it's not felt like a sign of panic - more an extra opportunity to improve. In the past it's often felt more of a question of 'well who do we pick?' rather than 'who do we leave out?'. In 2015 England brought Gary Ballance into the team for the first match, for some reason moving James Taylor down the order after he'd looked a good man for the role. They chopped and changed when things got a bit desperate, and were at no stage convincing. This time around, it's only really injury that will change that top six/seven, with maybe the odd switch around according to the match situation. With the bowlers, there's a chance for rotation and rest, and a bit of positive competition for places.

In the past, an opener getting a golden duck to only the second ball of the tournament may have been cause for panic. Today Roy and Root just got on with the job. It might not have been quite as explosive as we've seen recently for England, but it was what they needed to do. Roy, Root, Morgan, and Stokes all went past fifty, Stokes topping the lot with 89 from 79. The pundits kept saying how England should have got more, and sure, maybe they should. But it was a measure of England's recent success that a score of 311 felt that way.

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Then it was Archer. The latecomer to the squad, the man whose detractors seemed to think would disrupt the team (he hardly seems the type, does he?). I think those worries will have gone now. He was bowling fast, picking up two wickets in the first ten and also delivering a nasty bouncer into the helmet of Amla (he was later cleared to resume his innings). He grabbed a third, of van der Dussen after a fifty, at a point when the slide had begun for South Africa, triggered by Plunkett's dismissal of de Kock. Archer might only have played four matches now for England, but he's already become the guy that you turn to for a breakthrough.

Ben Stokes took a catch. If you look at the scorecard, that's all you'll see, just a c Stokes b Rashid. No further comment. Oh, but what a catch. To make a comment means having to find the words. It was going over his head, he was diving towards the boundary, one handed in the air. It was going for six, wasn't it? What an absolute freak of nature, being able to take a catch like that. It's not even the first blinder he's taken for England. It was the highlight of an excellent fielding display, with Jason Roy a man nothing was getting past either.

Stokes then took two wickets in two balls to finish off the match, because who else would it be today. If we go back to 2015 one last time, Stokes had a shocker in the months before and didn't even make the squad - probably making him a rare England player to come back with some credit. So this was his entry to World Cup cricket. His presence has already been felt.

England, match one: England win by 104 runs

The wait is over

The last time England won a test overseas, they were in Bangladesh. It was a thriller. Neither side had managed to finish the job before darkness had fallen the night before, so there I was, putting on the match in the early hours of the morning, waiting for those last couple of wickets or those last few runs, waiting for a resolution before going back to sleep. I didn't think I'd be waiting for two years for their next win away from home. It didn't really occur to me. They'd win a match somewhere, of course they would.

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They were playing Bangladesh, a team they'd never lost to, so I thought there was a good chance the win would come in that next game. Instead they conspired to lose ten wickets in a session, crashing from 100/0 to 164 all out. For Bangladesh, it was a famous and well earned win, but for England it felt like a low point. They headed to India for a five match series. What happened next wasn't really a surprise. I might not have thought I'd be waiting two years for England to win a test overseas, but then again, I didn't think I'd see them win one on that tour.

England had a new captain, and, even allowing for a couple of stumbles, won both series during the home summer. And off they went to defend the Ashes. Australia were the favourites, with home advantage, Steve Smith, and one of the best bowling attacks in the world, but England would get a win at some point over the five matches, right? And there were moments that brought us hope too, some good individual performances, but nothing to carry them through a whole match. They had some good times, but most of the time Steve Smith was batting. By the end of the tour, it was 4-0. The solace was that, well at least it wasn't as bad as the last time they went to Australia...

Then it was New Zealand, and series with New Zealand are always well-matched, fun, and competitive, so surely here they'd win a match - maybe even a series if things went well? That hope went away after 20 overs when England were all out for 58. Double figures. Of all the lows, and by this point, there had been many, this had to be the lowest. The match was lost after one session, and for all their efforts in the second test, England couldn't get over the line. For England, the stats were damning. A winter had passed and they hadn't once taken all twenty wickets in a test. They'd only managed it once in five tests in India, too. For me, a supporter, it was frustration taken over by a resigned acceptance that really, England just weren't very good at test cricket.

Away wins might be like gold dust at the moment, but England had been particularly bad. Next up, it was a trip to Sri Lanka, a hard place for any team to tour, let alone one famously bad at playing spin bowling. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I checked the score when I woke up on Tuesday morning. At five down for just a fraction over 100, I wasn't all that surprised. Same old England, right? Going on the attack before getting themselves in, losing early wickets, forgetting they have five days to play the match? Yet things got better. Ben Foakes, a wicketkeeper on his debut, showed the patience those before him had lacked, making a hundred as the lower order proved England's strength again. Anderson and Curran removed the openers before England's triple spin attack got to work, sharing eight wickets between them, four of those for Moeen Ali. There was also a stumping for Foakes on his debut, in the action again.

Then Jennings, a man under so much scrutiny after his lack of runs in English summers, made a well deserved century. The runs have been sparse since that century on debut, and chances are he might not have made the cut if England weren't in Asia, but he proved again his ability to play spin. England had put themselves in a strong position, created their chance, and capitalised upon it. There had been good points in the last two years, but never lasting more than a handful of sessions. But now England were in the driving seat, that first session only an aberration, setting Sri Lanka a mammoth 462 runs to chase down with two days left.

The spinners did their job again - another four for Moeen Ali, one for Rashid, three for Leach in a successful return to the team. All twenty wickets were taken, and a test overseas, in Asia, was won. Their first win ever at the stadium in Galle. After two years and fourteen matches, the wait was over. The drought had ended.

Highlights of 2017

The title of this post is rather misleading. Really, there was only ever going to be one highlight. I was lucky enough to see England win a World Cup this year, lucky enough to be there at Lord's, to roar with every wicket, every run, and with 26,000 other people there for a game of women's cricket. When it came to choosing highlights for the year, there was never any contest.

But to get to that moment, there were other highlights. Sarah Taylor's century, a moment to bring happy tears to many eyes. Nat Sciver playing the 'Natmeg' as she made centuries of her own. Tammy Beaumont leading the way with the bat, the tournament's leading run scorer. Victory over Australia, and Alex Hartley dismissing Meg Lanning along the way. That semi-final against South Africa, one of the most tense games of cricket I've watched. Jenny Gunn's cool head under pressure, Anya Shrubsole coming out and hitting the boundary that sent England to the final. And those were just the moments with England, not even mentioning all the other brilliant performances throughout the tournament - centuries by Chamari Atapattu and Harmanpreet Kaur being ones that really stick in my memory.

Yet it was that one day, the 23rd July 2017, that still has to be the highlight. Queuing round the block just to get into Lord's, the tribute to Rachael Heyhoe-Flint before the start of play, Eileen Ash ringing the five-minute bell, Enid Bakewell presenting the trophy at the end. From the start it felt like a celebration, not just of the tournament, but of women's cricket and women's sport as a whole.

I won't do a full play-by-play of the match here, just those final moments. England had scored 228/7 - a total that would need India to pull off the highest-ever run chase in a World Cup final, yet one that looked well within reach in a high scoring tournament. India were well on their way, and though England's players might not have given up, victory certainly seemed a long way off. And then came Shrubsole, then Hartley in the next over, then Shrubsole again and again and again. A run out, of course with Shrubsole behind it. She was unstoppable, a force of nature. Out of almost nowhere, from the jaws of defeat, England were going to win.

But there was a stumping, that wasn't. A dropped catch, a roar swiftly silenced. Even as the match had swung dramatically in England's favour, India were still there, close to that total, close to their first World Cup title. The Indian fans were out in force, just as loud if not louder than the English support, willing their team past the line. But none of it mattered when Shrubsole had the ball in her hand. A dropped catch the ball before? No problem, she'd hit the stumps instead. Shrubsole had done it, England had done it. England had won the World Cup.

For me, no question, the highlight of 2017. The highlight, really, of all my cricket watching. Being there, being in the stadium when England won the World Cup. 23rd July, 2017. A day I'll remember forever.

Backyard Heroes

I haven't had the urge to write much lately, so this blog has fallen by the wayside a bit this year. Instead here's a change of pace - something I wrote a while ago and thought I may as well share, a story about growing up and falling in love with the game.

The month is May. The days are getting warmer, the showers of April are in the past (mostly – we do live in England, after all), and the evenings are stretching out. The first test of the summer will soon be upon us. But, maybe more importantly, the cricket season has begun in our tiny back garden.

The grass has barely grown back to cover the brown patches left from the previous summer - where two marks formed at either end of the garden, showing where we stood to bat or ran in to bowl. The slope is greater than Lord's, the surface as uneven as they come – rather more so, in fact. The length of the pitch is barely 10 yards, and brings a lot of tennis ball bounce. That is to say, tennis balls are what we have to use. A daunting environment for a batsman, perhaps, but an arena where heroes could be made.

And it's not to say the bowler has it easy, anyway. The boundaries are tiny, and a shot hit square of the wicket would easily be worth four. The ball easily bounces off the bat, so it doesn't take too much of a hit. If you miss the ball, and if it doesn't go on to hit the stumps, with no keeper there byes are for the taking. Playing your shots though always comes with a risk – not necessarily from being caught, but of the ball going into the neighbours' gardens. When that started to happen a bit too much, it was time we graduated from that small patch at the back.

The weather didn't have to stop the fun; the games could still carry on inside. There was indoor cricket, best played when parents were out the room, or the table top cricket game. Hours could be spent on that game, a little plastic ball and little plastic figures, with teams invented with gloriously named players such as 'B.A. Slogger' and 'I.M.A. Bowler'. Perhaps it was even a precursor of the inventive batsmen of today, the most unusual angles being needed to score a six.

The game was packed up and taken on holidays, filling many evenings and rainy days. The backyard game would travel with us too; moving to our grandparents' gardens, or to the beach. Cricket on the beach came with new challenges – a pitch crumbling in on itself from sand and the tides; a ball that could return from the boundary soaked from the sea; extra-competitive family members making you chase the ball further and further. But it came with its own glory, too. The satisfaction of dismissing one of the grown ups, or making them have to chase the ball when you found the sweet spot of the bat.

We might have left the backyard now, but the spirit still lives on. It's the place I learnt to bat and bowl, and you might even say that it's where I learnt my love of the game as well.

Can England win the Champions Trophy?

So that's the question: can England win the Champions Trophy? Well the simple answer to that is yes, they can, so I guess we go to the next question: will they? Now that one is harder to answer.

The series against South Africa served at first to raise expectations, and then to dampen them. They won a series against the top ranked team, starting with a strong opening victory, coming through at the death in match two, before then collapsing in a heap at Lord's. Even allowing for the way they inevitably dip in dead rubbers, England crumbling to 20/6 in the first five overs of the game made the pantheon of great collapses. Despite all that, they are among the favourites for a reason, having drastically improved in the format over the past couple of years and benefiting from home advantage. With a relatively settled side and a batting line up that - despite Monday's debacle - packs a punch, there's no reason why they shouldn't go all the way.

What England might lack is a winning pedigree. Less heralded England teams have come close before when the tournament has been at home, but both 2004 and 2013 saw them fail to seal the deal from positions of strength in the final. England's ODI cricket was defined by failure, by hapless performances at international tournaments, by missed moments along the way, by conservatism that held them back while other teams strode forward. This is their chance to show none of that matters any more, and to start that pedigree themselves. A chance to learn from the mistakes of before, and to make a clean break from them. And even more, with a home world cup in two years' time, it's a chance to lay down a marker for the future as well.

For once, England find themselves with a settled team, breaking a tradition of making changes on the eve of a tournament that has only served to hinder them in the past. This time round they know their strongest team, they know their top order, and they know the bowling attack they want when all are fit. What could stop them?

Of course, there are a couple of problems, because it could never go that smoothly. For one, collapsing to 20/6 on the eve of a tournament isn't a move to often instil confidence, even if it is more of a one-off than a consistent problem. An injury to Ben Stokes, limiting the amount he will bowl, isn't ideal either for the balance of the side. And for all the talk of having a settled team, this could be the one time when making a last minute change might be a good thing. Whilst Jason Roy has struggled for form at the top of the order, with four single figure scores in his last five innings, Jonny Bairstow has flourished and played the way that makes it difficult to leave him out. I will freely admit that I'm hopelessly biased, but it feels like a missed opportunity to me. Of course, Jason Roy could go out tomorrow, get a century, and close that door.

All in all, this surely has to be one of England's best chances yet to win a global ODI tournament. Whether they will or not is a different question, but we know they have the ability to do so. The same is true of several other teams though, with Australia and India two I have my eye on in particular. I feel this is the best prepared I've seen England going into a tournament, it's just a matter of delivering on the day and with the pressure of knock out matches. We'll see.