Cricket Bytes

Pity poor England – Ashes winners one minute, grist to the mill the next. “Not ideal,” is how Paul Collingwood summarised the team’s requirement this week, as they prepared to cleanse their minds of all lingering traces of glory, and get back to the drawing-board in preparation for two Twenty20s and seven ODIs against the all-too-recently vanquished Australians. First-up, however, there is a stop-over in Belfast that might, in days gone by, have represented a convivial way to unwind in a green and pleasant land renowned for its appreciation of a party.

But not in this unstinting professional era. The Irish are the pace-setters of cricket‘s second tier – streets ahead of their traditional rivals, Scotland (who take on the Aussies in Edinburgh on Friday) and itching to put one over the English, for a variety of reasons that extend beyond mere sporting instincts. For starters, there is the likely presence in England’s line-up of Eoin Morgan – a member of the Irish side that captured the imagination at the 2007 World Cup, but now a targeted man after switching his allegiance to further his career. And then there’s the large Australian influence in the squad, all of whom are gunning for vengeance for their mother country, not least the former captain, Trent Johnston.

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