It’s been a week since I arrived in the wonderful Southern African Cape winelands. I must admit, a few drops of the local grape juices were sipped to help the acclimatising process… it worked a treat!
We embarked on a road trip of over 1500 kilometres due north, travelling through diverse and spectacular scenery, mountainous views and passes, Karoo deserts and hills, agricultural plains and hinterlands. Our guide Dylan kept us entertained with interesting and illuminating historical facts. A vast and wonderful country, but my touring companions and I finally arrived at Bloemfontein for the main attraction on this trip: watching England take on our South African hosts in three ODI matches.
You would have to be living in some distant planetary system, or Australian, not to acknowledge that the England Mens cricket teams have been riding the crest of a big, rollicking wave for almost a year!
This ODIs series heralds the start of what could be a defining year in cricket’s ever evolving history - Josh Butler has a very good chance of going down in cricketing folklore as the first England captain to guide his team to become double White-Ball champions.
Josh will already know circa a dozen of his 15-man World Cup squad. I attempted a sneaky read of his notes to divulge the following names: Butler, Stokes, Ali, Rashid, Bairstow, Brook, Wood, Archer, Curran, Duckett, Livingstone, Woakes - bearing in mind that they are all fit, and particularly the matching winning allrounder reverses his ODI retirement decision!
This leaves a paltry three places up for grabs as the best of the rest battles it out in what are basically “players trials” over the 12 ODIs England have in months leading up to the World Cup tournament in October, starting here in Bloemfontein this weekend. Interestingly, those borderline players will know exactly what is on the line, which makes it all the more intriguing in that age long dichotomy of team versus individual performances, where you’ll be sitting across from a teammate wishing him well…. but not that well. In the end, form not sentiment, will win forth as the captain prepares his CWC squad for what will be a defining highlight in India later this year.
But what about the opposition - our South African hosts, already plagued with the bridesmaid tag at global tournaments, and having been soundly beaten on their recent tour in Australia, will be looking to resurrect their own status. And should they collar the galavanting England team, this will instil some lost pride and belief amongst the players and fiercely sporting public.
Alas, England is now even more so than ever the team to beat - so I and my travelling pals will be watching every ball whilst keeping well hydrated in the African heat!!
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