England’s batting must be worrying them no end at the moment. The openers are taking too long to get going and as a result, the middle-order is left with too much to do. Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen are looking out of form while Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood have managed to get some runs under their belt. But it’s not convincing at all. They look ragged and without Flintoff in the side, very vulnerable.
If the batting is worrisome, the bowling isn’t exactly blowing opposition teams away either. England struggled to keep Canada in check and eventually picked up only seven wickets conceding 228 runs in the bargain. Hardly a performance befitting one of the big teams. Monty Panesar is the one man who continues to impress with his line, length and variation but the seamers simply don’t look the part.
Whatever disciplinary issues they may have need to be sorted immediately because they need Flintoff. And a loss to Kenya will only mean that the World Cup is poorer and English cricket has taken a big step backwards after their recent performances against Australia. Kenya has beaten Canada and need to beat England to make it through to the next round. And on current form, it’s possible.
On omitting Andrew Flintoff
"Freddie, I would have guessed, could have played today and done very well. That is Andrew Flintoff, he is an immense talent," Vaughan said."Unfortunately, incidents like this have taken one of the greats of the game out of today's game
On England finally winning
"With what's happened over the last 48 hours, the victory was the most important thing."
Canada captain, John Davison
On Canada's bowling
"We put them under a bit of pressure. The England attack struggled in the middle stages,"
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