Have England ever had a summer this good?

Test series against the (at the time) 1st and 4th ranked sides won
Won ODI series against both world cup finalist teams plus the win over Ireland
Won all ( ok just 2 so far) T20 games against good sides
On an unbeaten streak of 12 games (just one tie) across all formats (discounting the rained off one)

Unbelievable. Whlst the ODI series agaisnt India has been played by severly depleted teams (especially the Indians) the level of dominance this summer has been a suprise and a real turn around from previous years where success in one format is generaly followed by a flump in another.
Its hard to deny that England are a good side now.

Whlst its stll nowhere nearthe legendary Aus teams losing games is going to be hard to take now!

We just need to deliver at World Cups now, that will be the biggest test for us.

You know i think this summer has uncovered the biggest failing in English Cricket, and something the BBC has talked about, the complete failure to engage English Indians in English cricket.

You see a match involving India, even where they are losing every time, and the english Indians flood to the game. They're a cricket loving people

And yet you look at normal games in T20, pro 40 , county day in day out on Sky and they just aren't there at all. Why not when they love the game? Obviously they don't feel any attachment at all to England. Can that ever be changed? The Irish, French, Eastern Europens etc that have come here have found their children just being part of the place and involved with the teams (inc my family which are a mixture of that) within a generation or two.. is the cultural gap too massive for that to ever happen?

If they could be engaged it's a huge area that English cricket could tap into and a big source of income.

What's gone wrong?

Not for quite a few years, Peter.

Ahh sorry, misread the title. Thought it was ''Have Surrey ever had a summer this good?''

More seriously, I agree with your general point. Not only are ''England a good side now'' but we seem to have fine players in reserve and other talented youngsters starting to come through. Highly encouraging.

It would be great to have your input a bit more on threads relating to the county scene.

"Unbelievable. Whlst the ODI series agaisnt India has been played by severly depleted teams (especially the Indians) the level of dominance this summer has been a suprise and a real turn around from previous years where success in one format is generaly followed by a flump in another.
Its hard to deny that England are a good side now. "

Things may have gone well this summer. But the true acid test will come when a rejuvanated Australian team arrive in a couple of summers time for the ashes test series. I fear that we could serepeat e a of the 1989 ashes series where Australia arrived as heavy underdogs but somehow played out of their skins whilst England back then underperformed and fired too many blanks, particularly with the senior players at that time like Ian Botham, Graham Gooch,Allan Lamb,Mike Gatting and captain David Gower.

We won 7/7 tests in 2004.

This has been a very good summer but IMO India were ordinary and never looked up for a fight.
Sri-Lanka were not much better.

Stella wrote:We won 7/7 tests in 2004.

This has been a very good summer but IMO India were ordinary and never looked up for a fight.
Sri-Lanka were not much better.

Australia would probably have beaten this India side if they had played them in the test series in England this summer.

guildfordbat wrote:Not for quite a few years, Peter.

Ahh sorry, misread the title. Thought it was ''Have Surrey ever had a summer this good?''

More seriously, I agree with your general point. Not only are ''England a good side now'' but we seem to have fine players in reserve and other talented youngsters starting to come through. Highly encouraging.

It would be great to have your input a bit more on threads relating to the county scene.

Thanks. Ill be honest, I dont comment on the County secne any more because I dont do anything other than keep tabs on whats going on. I rarely watch non interntaional games anymore. Ive just run out of time/interest for it.

Stella wrote:We won 7/7 tests in 2004.

This has been a very good summer but IMO India were ordinary and never looked up for a fight.
Sri-Lanka were not much better.

Against weak sides. Say what you like about India and Sri lankas attitude but they are stikl tougher games than West Indies and New Zealand.
As I said though its not just about the performance n one format, but that they have don well in all formats. That summer they struggled in ODIs ( no T20's then) , ths summer they have dominated in all 3 formats. Thats what makes it special, its something I cant ever remeber England having done against good sides.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Stella wrote:We won 7/7 tests in 2004.

This has been a very good summer but IMO India were ordinary and never looked up for a fight.
Sri-Lanka were not much better.

Against weak sides. Say what you like about India and Sri lankas attitude but they are stikl tougher games than West Indies and New Zealand.
As I said though its not just about the performance n one format, but that they have don well in all formats. That summer they struggled in ODIs ( no T20's then) , ths summer they have dominated in all 3 formats. Thats what makes it special, its something I cant ever remeber England having done against good sides.

Hussain said that this Indian team were the worst touring team that he's seen for a long time. I would agree. On paper they looked great but they played very poor Cricket.
Anyway, this summer has been super for us English fans

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Thanks. Ill be honest, I dont comment on the County secne any more because I dont do anything other than keep tabs on whats going on. I rarely watch non interntaional games anymore. Ive just run out of time/interest for it.

Peter - that's fair enough. Each to their own. I'm actually pretty opposite to you these days. I used to follow the international scene quite closely for many years (feel free in particular to ever ask me about the Aussies and Windies of the '70s and '80s!). I still keep an eye out for England performances but have become rather disillusioned with the ''celebrity'' status awarded to so many test players. That's why I tend to now stick with the county scene.

"We won 7/7 tests in 2004."

But we didn't have to play against any outstanding teams this summer which contained great fast bowlers, such as the 1991 West Indies team which had Curtley Ambrose in his bowling prime, with someone like Bumper Patterson still proving that he was still a fast bowling menace to opposition batsmen, as a certain England debutant in that 1991 test series V West Indies found out by the name of Graeme Hick who struggled badly to cope with the nasty short balls which his arch nemesis Curtley Ambrose kept dishing out to him every time he came out to bat.

guildfordbat wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Thanks. Ill be honest, I dont comment on the County secne any more because I dont do anything other than keep tabs on whats going on. I rarely watch non interntaional games anymore. Ive just run out of time/interest for it.

Peter - that's fair enough. Each to their own. I'm actually pretty opposite to you these days. I used to follow the international scene quite closely for many years (feel free in particular to ever ask me about the Aussies and Windies of the '70s and '80s!). I still keep an eye out for England performances but have become rather disillusioned with the ''celebrity'' status awarded to so many test players. That's why I tend to now stick with the county scene.

I used to be equally interested in both and am still strongly interested in the county scene. I think my interest in internationals has declined somewhat in the light of the great overkill of fixtures especially ODIs, and meaningless one-off matches and the like. I still get a buzz from a major test series fought by two teams trying their max. But enjoyment is hobbled where as in recent series with India one side is woefully under prepared (same has happened to England in the past). But I do give great credit to the current England set up, their single minded preparation, the stability in selection, the availability of prepared replacements etc.

Good points as ever, Corporal.

''Less is more'' comes to mind ....

This was an excellent summer as we performed very well and they nearly all the players attained a level achievement they would be very pleased about.

However the test series were unequal affairs, without the weather intervention it was all too likely that the scoreline would have been 7 - 0

I'd expect this winter that we will face more organised and determined opposition than in the last 2 series. :-?


In my archive a time to compare was the summer 1977 with an array of exciting players playing and 2 series wins over the old enemy Australia

"
In my archive a time to compare was the summer 1977 with an array of exciting players playing and 2 series wins over the old enemy Australia "

1977, what a summer that was! Not only did England still have the services of all-rounder Tony Greig, but England could call on the services of a certain young Somerset all-rounder by the name of Ian Botham. As well as having 2 excellent all-rounders in the same England test team to face Australia, England could at last call on the services of the great opener Geoff Boycott.

guildfordbat wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Thanks. Ill be honest, I dont comment on the County secne any more because I dont do anything other than keep tabs on whats going on. I rarely watch non interntaional games anymore. Ive just run out of time/interest for it.

Peter - that's fair enough. Each to their own. I'm actually pretty opposite to you these days. I used to follow the international scene quite closely for many years (feel free in particular to ever ask me about the Aussies and Windies of the '70s and '80s!). I still keep an eye out for England performances but have become rather disillusioned with the ''celebrity'' status awarded to so many test players. That's why I tend to now stick with the county scene.

Fair play to you, if there were more people like you county/club cricket in this country would be in a healthier state.

One innings away from an unbeaten summer, what a bunch of gooses

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:One innings away from an unbeaten summer, what a bunch of gooses

England may have had a good summer in terms of results. But they are still like the old England of the 1990's in terms of the batting being fallible to falling and collapsing like a pack of cards if they are put under pressure.

we cant let that t20 game ruin whats been an absolutely fantastic summer for england and english cricket, what a summer congrats to the boys