When I read of Alastair Cook's one-match ban for orchestrating his side's slow over rate - again - I laughed. With seemingly every England fan begging him to stand down before the World Cup, he has been the archetypal immovable object insisting that his form will return. Soon. Honest!
The fact that England actually beat Sri Lanka seems to have been completely overlooked. Shouldn't we have congratulated him for leading the team to a well-earned victory? Was the slow over rate a brilliant ploy to frustrate Sanga, Mathews et al? And let's not forget his assured 42-ball innigs of 34 either. Or did the bowlers get together, tieing their bootlaces between each delivery in the sure knowledge that Cook's enforced lay-off would allow the selectors to test the post-Cook line-up earlier than expected?
Woakes and Finn bowled well, but it was Moeen Ali, Joe Root and Jos Buttler whose stroke-making intelligently reached the target eight balls early. With Alex Hales, in for Bell, contributing 27 and Bopara a single six, much of the new batting brigade looked in good nick.
On the down side, Ben Stokes' bowling was once more not up to the required standard, and Eoin Morgan's latest failure hardly makes him the ideal successor to Cook as ODI captain. I've always considered him over-rated. A Test average of 30 is mediocre and an ODI average of 37 is not exactly world-class, and remarkably similar to both Root's and Cook's, even if his strike rate is a very respectable 85 (to Cook's 77).
While Cook sits out his suspension, I'd hope the selectors bring in James Taylor, probably at three while Hales is promoted to form a potentially lively left-handed opening strike force. While I like Ian Bell, this must surely be the time to give Taylor a go. Winning this series is hardly a priority; developing a competitive World Cup outfit for 2015 and beyond most certainly is.
I still worry more about the bowling, which looks distinctly toothless without Anderson and Broad, and their physical condition makes them unlikely to be sustainable for long. Finn and Woakes have hardly been injury-free in recent years either, and in my view have lost a good three years' international experience. Nevertheless, get the batting right and, as India and Sri Lanka have shown before, success is always possible.
