So it's congratulations to Alastair Cook's men for a thumping win in the first ODI against Sri Lanka and a 'thumbs down' for Stuart Broad's team, swept aside so easily in the one-off Twenty20 game in Bristol last weekend. However, we shouldn't read too much into the merits of their respective captaincy credentials on the basis of one match. Nor, I would suggest, of a whole year's matches.
The Essex opening batsman deserves his chance in the 50-over line-up, captain or not. He is a world-class player at the peak of his powers. How much England's victory on Monday owed to Cook's leadership is anybody's guess. Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann would surely have taken their wickets, and Craig Kieswetter struck his runs under Strauss or Collingwood but it's the whole England set-up which needs to build confidence. That comes with success on the pitch, be it in 50-overs or five days, and Cook has done little wrong so far this summer.
Stuart Broad was a bold choice for the short-format position but I wonder how long he will continue. He's a fine bowler, of course, capable of hitting some late-order boundaries and a keen fielder. However, I wonder if he may step down in favour of Eoin Morgan before the next T20 World Cup, regardless of results. I've no problem with bowlers as captains but they tend to be more injury-prone and consequently liable to miss more matches.
Looking at England's T20 line-up makes me miss the brilliance of Marcus Trescothick even more. But for his illness, he'd be the regular one-day and T20 captain by now and with the bat he is surely worth twenty Michael Lumbs! Anyway, that's just fantasy land, although I cannot see Lumb remaining in the squad. Just because he might feel at home with the other South African accents doesn't mean he deserves his place.
Anyway, back to the ODIs, it will be interesting to see how Sri Lanka respond to their drubbing and whether England maintain their superiority over the tourists. It's bye-bye, Jayasuriya and welcome back, Dilshan, and I hope there'll be a good competitive sequence of games as we enter July. A series win will do Alastair Cook a world of good, too.
