There will be not just a new look but a new approach from England’s ODI team in the series against New Zealand, according to their interim coach, Paul Farbrace.Farbrace has promised that, with bat and ball, England will play a far more aggressive style of cricket than they have demonstrated over the last few years.The talk has been heard before. Ahead of the World Cup there was talk that England would play a more aggressive brand of cricket but, under pressure, they struggled to turn the words into actions. England were the monochrome team in the age of high definition colour. Truly, you are never far from a new era in England cricket.But there is a freshness to this side. There is a sense, this time, that the talk is genuine and that the change is real. And, even if some of the names are not new, it seems likely that Ben Stokes, for example, will be given the freedom to bat in the top six and play his naturally aggressive game.What the players will not be expected to do is change. So the likes of Jason Roy and Alex Hales, young men who have made their name with explosive innings at county level, will be asked to relax and play in exactly the same manner for the national side.”The message will be, you’ve been selected because of the way you play at county level,” Farbrace said. “You have to go and do exactly the same at international level. The players who have the guts to do that will be the ones who make a success of it. I want them to go and enjoy playing international cricket and express their skills.
Farbrace on…
Trevor Bayliss
“We’ve chatted a lot. He’s had an influence in this one-day side. We chatted prior to selection and he’s had quite an input. He’s relayed some thoughts as to how he would like to see us working even though he will not be here. He’s watching and keeping a close eye. He knows a few of the players pretty well. He’s had an influence from afar.”
Defeat at Headingley
“The basics of the game we didn’t do well. We didn’t hold our line and lengths particularly well and we didn’t catch very well. You can’t afford to have to create 13 or 14 chances an innings to bowl a team out. We have to do the basics better.”
Senior players
“I couldn’t ask for any more from Broad and Anderson. There have been times when I’ve said, ‘we really need you to run in this session’ and they’ve done it. They have been excellent. And that’s what you need, your senior players giving you everything in the dressing room and supporting the young, less experienced players and making sure they are learning all the time.”
Slip catching
“Last summer, we missed a few chances in Leeds against Sri Lanka. So halfway through the India series, we put Ian Bell back in at second slip and started catching brilliantly. But we haven’t caught well in these games, so if we have to look at that – and the personnel involved – we will do so. I think it’s a confidence thing.”
Gary Ballance
“He has had a really good time at No. 3. Yes, he’s had a period where he hasn’t scored runs but he has played very well at No. 3 in the past so moving him down the order isn’t something we’ve discussed at the moment.”
“We need to move our one-day game forward. We need to look at other players. You only have to look at the last few months we’ve had in one-day cricket. There are people who need a really good go in this series. If you look at the way one-day cricket is evolving, we need powerful strikers right the way through the side and we need a left-arm seamer.”That left-arm seamer is David Willey. While Willey is not as quick as Harry Gurney, who seems to have been jettisoned for good, he does offer variation that England lacked at the World Cup and some powerful hitting in the middle-order.An obvious weakness of England’s World Cup campaign was the lack of potency with the ball. It was shown throughout the tournament that, if batting sides had wickets in hand going into the last 10 overs, they could cause havoc and add in excess of 100 runs. So Farbrace hopes that this squad will prove to have more bite and, in the absence of James Tredwell (injured) and Moeen Ali, who has been released to find red-ball form, has given another opportunity to legspinner Adil Rashid.”In one-day cricket we need to be taking wickets all the way through the opposition innings,” Farbrace said. “That’s why Adil Rashid is in there. We want wicket-taking bowlers to keep the opposition under pressure. If you don’t and teams have wickets in hand, then 100 to 150 is quite possible in the last 10 overs. And that takes games away from you.”While the batsmen in the squad are likely to be available for all five games, some of the bowlers – especially Mark Wood – might be rotated to ensure they are fresh for the Ashes.”We have to be careful with Woody,” Farbrace said. “He will probably play only two or three of the ODIs. We want him to be available for that first Test. We need to look after him. Liam Plunkett could easily play his role. We want some pace in there.”The basics of one-day cricket don’t change that much. But it is moving towards a power game. A strength game. And you have to have bowlers who can take wickets.”Reflecting on the Test series, Farbrace admitted England remained a developing team and that some patience would be required before results reflect any improvement.”We have a lot to do before we can be a consistent side that are winning games and series on a regular basis,” he said. “It takes a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of patience. But there’s no lack of hard work in this group. They give everything.”But you can’t just keep patting people on the back and say ‘keep going’ There are times when you have to say ‘that’s not quite good enough’ and look at ways to improve.”Meanwhile, the ECB have confirmed the availability of England players for the next few weeks of domestic action. Moeen, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth, Stuart Broad and Ian Bell are all available for the next couple of rounds of Championship cricket, while all players – with the exception of Anderson and Wood – will be available for domestic NatWest T20 Blast action this weekend.That means Joe Root and Jos Buttler will face each other in the Roses match, while Broad, Taylor and Hales will all be available for Nottinghamshire’s match against Leicestershire on Friday. Taylor and Hales have also given permission to play on Sunday before joining up with the England squad 24-hours later than their colleagues.Alastair Cook will play for Essex in their Championship fixture against Derbyshire starting on June 14, which means a chance for Mark Footitt, the left-arm fast bowler who continues to flourish in country cricket, to impress against him.
