As the curtain falls on a enjoyable trip to Australia we move on to NZ

As the curtain falls on a enjoyable trip to Australia we move on to NZ

It seems a long time ago when I arrived in Brisbane with excitement to what should be a great series, but things do not always go to plan. There are numerous reasons why the Ashes was not what we were hoping for, in general the wickets were unusually slow by Australian standards. Then you start to analyse the teams …yes they had three quicks and a good spinner I would say not the best spinner in the world as some of the media suggest, apart from that there was not a lot of difference in the batting line ups, well on paper that is.

We did seem to bat with fear and by doing that you are likely to get out. We had to fight hard for every Australian wicket and played too many loose shots. I cannot remember an occasion where we went after one of their bowlers. I would really like to go behind the scenes and see what is talked about in meetings, what information is fed to the players on strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. As Geoffrey Boycott and Sir Ian Botham mentioned more than once during the Ashes – preparation is key – you won’t learn a lot playing President X1 sides you need to be playing state sides, and a couple of weeks longer out here playing more games was required.

We then moved on to the ODI’s starting In Melbourne where we finally played without fear – every individual had a role to play. Unlike the test team the One Day team carried it out to perfection. As I have said before we are getting better, in fact I think we are the best ODI team in world cricket. Recently Eoin Morgan has not come to the party with the bat but hopefully that will come, his captaincy is the best there is in the one day game, constantly coming up with different field placings etc. On the batting the top 5 or 6 players are very explosive and we can bat down to 10. We regularly went after their quicks –  Mitchell Starc’s bowling average after his 10 overs was just under 7…… fearless cricket.

We have just played two T20’s and have been hammered on both occasions, not scoring anywhere near the amount of runs to put the Aussies under pressure who’s side is loaded with players from the Big Bash. The first was woeful having posted 155, we did look like we would be close to 200 but fell away. In the second the game it was more or less done in the first four overs when we were 3 down, that result puts the Aussies in the Tri-Series final and England’s participation hangs in the balance. They know they have not played well but it’s not over yet! So now we head to New Zealand where England must play close to their potential if we are going to have any chance of meeting the Aussies at Eden Park in the final, after that I look forward to meeting all you guys who are coming for the ODI’s and two test matches.

I would just like to say from a personal view I have met a lot of lovely people from both tours in Oz. I have made a lot of new friends, and would like to thank each and every one of you for your participation during the tours which made it highly enjoyable and memorable experience for me and I hope you too. I would be delighted if you kept in touch.

All the Best
Gary

Our Sri Lanka program is ready to go but we are still waiting for ECB to confirm. We have a selection of probably 8 set tours or you can ask for a tailor made trip if what we have designed doesn’t suit your requirements.

Our 17 day 1 day game tour  will be from £3,499 pp and a 2 centre test match trip will be around the same.  As soon as we get the official release we will be emailing you. We are taking provisional bookings against draft itineraries so if you are keen to get booked then please contact Richard on reservations@ictours.co.uk or call on  0203 667 1615