AFTER going around in circles for two years, England appear to have settled on the opening partnership that will take them into the World Cup. The successful Test combination of Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss has been staring at the selectors all along, and now it would seem to be back in one-day focus.
“We have a pretty good understanding, so there seems little point in changing it around,” Strauss said after rain washed out the first match of the NatWest Series at Cardiff on Wednesday night. The pair will resume at the top of the order at Lord’s tomorrow, while Ian Bell will enjoy a run of games at No 3.
There is no hard-and-fast rule on whether to open with a specialist or improvise with a pinch-hitter. It comes down to the personnel available. Neither Matthew Prior nor Geraint Jones managed to establish themselves alongside Trescothick, and the feeling is that time may have run out for Ed Joyce or Mal Loye.
Strauss is not an obvious dasher, but his strike-rate of 77.38 runs per hundred balls is substantially better than that of Simon Katich (70.52), who has been opening for Australia in 50-overs matches. It is also better than those of Bell (72.52) and Michael Vaughan (68.46), potential alternatives among orthodox batsmen.
Although Strauss has stated, loyally, that his role has been the same wherever he has batted in the top four, he averages more as an opener (37.21) than elsewhere. He is also well equipped to take advantage of fielding restrictions because his best shots are the cut and the pull.
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“The World Cup is not far away and we do not want to be experimenting close to it,” Strauss said. “At one stage we were looking for attacking openers, we tried a couple of people and it did not quite work out. Maybe now we have gone back to trying to get a little more of a measured start.”
Andrew Flintoff is expected to return for the Champions Trophy next month and he, like Kevin Pietersen, is capable of making up ground in the second half of the innings. Pitches and conditions can vary but, as England have found to their cost, it is better to fall slightly behind the run-rate than to lose early wickets and play catch-up.