After two defeats in a row in one day internationals to Australia does this constitute a crisis for the England cricket team. Worryingly some may seriously be asking that question, but while the results have been disappointing there are positives from the performances as well as areas that can be improved upon, hopefully in time for the World Cup. Shane Watson's outstanding innings was the difference today as England posted a respectable score without any batsmen going on to score a century and Kevin Pietersen getting some needed runs.
    We still seem obsessed with opening with a wicketkeeper and while Steven Davies has been perfectly acceptable in that role he has not yet raised eyebrows in the way Craig Kieswetter did in the T20 World Cup last year. At the moment he is the current favourite but there has been quick rotation of keepers recently in all formats and I still wonder what Matt Prior has done wrong when the latest vogue is to keep as much of the test team together for the 50 over version of the game. He scores quickly enough for one dayers and is much improved behind the stumps, although his previous appearances were again as an opener and he would likely benefit from coming in further down the order.
   Aside from Davies the only other one day specialists who did not feature in the test series playing today were Eoin Morgan who was back up batsman and who will probably replace Collingwood in the test team, Ajmal Shahzad who similarly was in the test squad and playing while Anderson and Broad are absent and Michael Yardy who has carved out a steady niche role for himself in the team and the one genuine specialist. Missing both Anderson and Broad may have cost England today as there was a lack of experience amongst the remaining fast bowlers as we did not take enough early wickets to put pressure on their batsmen - even more so as Collingwood was dropped thereby losing another bowling option. It was a brave decision to drop Collingwood and not something recent England teams would have done, preferring instead to stick with the status quo no matter how out of form they were.


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   Nat Lofthouse retired from football long before I was born and comes from the era when my father was growing up but that does not mean that I am oblivious to his talents as a player. Aside from my father's history lessons I grew up catching glimpses of these mysterious legends that existed in black and white when everything seemed more innocent before we won the World Cup in that post war shadowland. The name of Nat Lofthouse rang out alongside those of Stanley Mathews, Tom Finney, Billy Wright and the Busby Babes as something special and some football show (often in the build up on FA Cup Final day) would occasionally provide a monochrome treat of these bygone times to educate the new generation. His passing at the age of 85 is a great loss to the game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12201099