James Pattinson is the younger brother of England bowler Darren Pattinson.  Darren played only once for England in 2008.  After being born in Grimsby his family moved to Victoria, Australia where his younger brother, Darren was born.

James looks likely to surpass older brother Darren’s international career as he began what looks likely to be a successful international career, as he helped Australia thrash New Zealand in the first test at The Gabba.  He took no less than 5 for 27 that reduced New Zealand to a mere 28 for 5.  James Pattinson’s debut included an amazing three wickets in his maiden international over.

New Zealand went on to make 150 all out, leaving Australia only 19 to win with a day to spare. Winning the match comfortably they now lead 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

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Fifty-two is no age. I’d been texted the sad news that guitarist Bert Jansch had passed away yesterday. When I got home I turned to the net to read more, and was aghast to read the news that ‘Picca’ had also gone.

I remember feeling old when Michael Atherton, three years younger than myself, retired. I had followed his career closely from university tyro to promising young Lancastrian to the future of English cricket, patching together an ever-changing cast of underachievers in those pre-central contract days.

Now, I find myself reading obituaries of a man only five years my senior, who I recall watching as a schoolboy on the BBC. A picture of youth; blonde locks and fresh faced with a run up of which a 1970’s West Indian would have been proud and, at his best, with pace to match. A Kent player to boot. As a schoolboy, born and bred in the county, I loved that Kent team with a passion not matched by a cricket side since.

He was the latest in the Kent production line feeding the English test side of the era; following from Cowdrey, there was England’s greatest ever wicket keeper/bowler partnership – Knott and Underwood, plus Luckhurst, Denness and Woolmer.

I’ve read the obituaries. His place in history is secure. He’ll be remembered for Lillee c. Willey b. Dilley and for that key role, the ‘fuselighter’ of Headingley ‘81; his 56 runs prompted Beefy’s shift of gears, not to mention the catch on the boundary.  I was astonished to read that in his 41 tests, he was only twice a winner. An incredible statistic that says more about the chaotic mess of selection and politics that surrounded the team at the time than his performance; a non-too-shabby 138 wickets at 29 each.

By all accounts, a genuinely nice guy and a great coach. Graham Roy Dilley, RIP.

Alastair Cook will lead the England team for the first time since taking on the full-time captaincy of the one-day side; and does so after a heavy defeat by Sri Lanka in the recent one-off Twenty20 match in Bristol.

Alastair Cook told BBC Radio 5 live: “We’ve always had the idea that if Bressie came through a few games he would come into the squad. He has been a stalwart in our bowling for the last couple of years.”

Bresnan last played for England in the World Cup after initially getting injured during a one-day international in Hobart in January.  But on his return to playing county cricket for Yorkshire and experiencing recurring pain from the injury he has been sidelined since mid-May.

At the weekend Bresnan returned for Yorkshire and played two Friends Life T20 matches. Against Worcestershire he took 1-47 in his four overs and made 25 not out from 17 balls.  He came through the weekend without any recurrence of pain or injury and this, along with his performances were enough to earn a recall to the England squad.

Alastair Cook didn’t play in the recent Twenty20 defeat but will be well aware of the 5-0 drubbing England received at the hands of Sri Lanka in a home one-day series five years ago.

England One-Day Squad
Alastair Cook (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes.

Sri Lanka One-Day Squad
Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain if fit), Thilina Kandamby, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv, Dimuth Karunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Kumar Sangakkara.

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Andrew Strauss said it was a difficult decision to stand down from being the England one-day captain but believes following the recent Cricket World Cup, the time is right.

He will be replaced by his Test match opening partner Alastair Cook. Strauss said he decided to relinquish the one day captaincy knowing that it was not a process he could see through to the next World Cup.  He believes it was in the best interests of the England cricket team to stand down and appoint Alastair Cook at the same time as Stuart Broad was announced as the new Twenty20 Captain, taking over duties from Paul Collingwood.

Alastair Cook admitted he was inexperienced as a captain but said he was “really excited about the challenge.”

Stuart Broad was also excited at the prospect even though there is not a lot of Twenty20 games planned before the next World Cup and said all the more to “make use of every opportunity”.

Andy Flowers will remain as England Coach and work with all three captains.

Strauss will now concentrate on the England Test captaincy while working alongside Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad on an overall cricket strategy to progress England’s chances of success in all three competitions in the future.

2011 Cricket World Cup

Sadly I missed the live coverage of the dream tie between India and Australia, but managed to catch most of the highlights on TV.

The Australian’s looked to be in decent enough form throughout the majority of the game, but India always looked to be in control of the match, barring a few slapstick moments with the bat when two or three of them seemed intent on getting run out.

India’s win put an end to Australia’s incredible run in the World Cup competition which they have won on the last three occasions, they were also beaten finalists previous to that in 1996.

India now face one of  the nations who were originally going co-host the Cricket World Cup, Pakistan in what promises to be another thrilling game of one day cricket.

In today’s third quarter final tie South Africa collapsed dramatically from a comfortable 108 for 2 off 24 overs, to 172 all out.

Some inspired bowling from New Zealand oversaw the collapse with McCullum 24 for 3 and Oram 39 for 4, skittling the South African batsmen who could manage to add 64 runs between them during the final 20 overs.

New Zealand are the dark horses for me, they may not have the same ability in all levels as the remaining teams in the World Cup, but they have so far done everything they have set out to do in a business like manner.

They will now face the winners of the last quarter final to be played on Saturday between Sri Lanka and England.

Titmus made his first class cricket debut in 1949, the youngest ever Middlesex debutant at the time at just 16 years 213 days old. His final appearance for the club came as recently as 1982 when he was attending a match as a spectator and was called into action by captain Mike Brearley. He went on to take 3 for 43 and set up a victory for his beloved Middlesex.

Former Test umpire Dickie Bird said;

“I played against him in county cricket and umpired when he was playing for Middlesex and England. I found him very difficult to get away, his line and length was immaculate – and he still had it at 50. Fred was a fine cricketer, a fine off-spin bowler and a very useful batsman. In that era there were so many off-spinners around in the world and he was up there with the best of them. He was a tremendous character and he’d come out with some very funny stuff.”

2011 Cricket World Cup

In terms of sheer excitement the 2011 Cricket World Cup in South Asia has delivered by the bucket load over the last couple of weeks of group stage matches, some of the most recent highlights being another heroic comeback from England against the West Indies, when their backs were firmly up against the wall and facing elimination from the group.

Following that breathtaking match, Pakistan defied all odds and ended Australia’s World Cup dominance with a stunning victory by 4 wickets to upset the holders and on Sunday India crushed the West Indies spirits with a fantastic 80 run win.

There will be more thrills and spills to come during the knock out stages of the tournament over the next fortnight as the best eight teams in the world do battle for the ultimate One Day International prize, with India and Australia providing the battle of the giants on Thursday March 24th from Ahmedabad, the winners of this match will certainly be the favourites to win the 2011 World Cup.

England will face a tough test in their quarter final clash against 1996 champions Sri Lanka who were runners up in Group A, with the chance of a semi final encounter with the winners from New Zealand v South Africa at stake.

The full 2011 World Cup Quarter Final fixtures:

Wednesday March 23rd – Pakistan v West Indies, Mirpur, 08:30

Thursday March 24th – Australia v India, Ahmedabad, 09:00

Friday March 25th - New Zealand v South Africa, Mirpur, 08:30

Saturday March 26th – Sri Lanka v England, Colombo RPS, 09:00

The semi final games are scheduled for Tuesday March 29th and Wednesday March 30th, with the final to take place in Mumbai on Saturday April 2nd.

2011 Cricket World Cup

Since the wonderful comeback by England to snatch the Group B game last Sunday from the fingertips of the SouthAfrican’s , the news coming out of the England camp has not been quite so uplifting.

Injuries sustained during the match in Chennai on Sunday have resulted in the loss of key players Kevin Pietersen and now Stuart Broad from the England squad.

Pietersen has already returned to England after it was discovered that his hernia problem might be worse than he had originally thought, he had struggled in the field against South Africa although he did manage a few overs bowling during the game.

He has already been replaced by Eoin Morgan in the England camp, he of course had been ruled out of the World Cup himself after breaking a finger in the One Day International series in Australia.

Morgan has taken less time to recover than anticipated and the big hitting Dublin born left hander will slip into the team  as the perfect replacement for the hapless KP.

Perversely Morgan played for Ireland in the last Cricket World Cup before defecting to England and was a key member of the England team that won the ICC World Twenty20 last year. He has a batting average of a fraction over 38 from his 61 one day internationals, in which he has scored four centuries and ten 50’s.

Stuart Broad is said to be suffering from a ’significant side strain’ which occurred  during Sunday’s game against South Africa and will return to England for further assessment this week. He is definitely ruled out of any further part in the 2011 World Cup but is hoping to be fit again for the Test match at Lords on May 26th against Sri Lanka.

Broad’s replacement in the squad is likely to be Chris Tremlett who is in South Asia standing by, but this has yet to be confirmed by the England team.

The 2011 World Cup has thrown up some interesting results so far, with no one team completely dominating the competition. For anyone interested in cricket betting the favourites to win this tournament are still India and Australia.

It might be a good time to check out the odds on some of the other teams including England, Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa if you are hoping to bank some money from your bet!

2011 Cricket World Cup

There is never a dull moment for England fans following their team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup in South Asia, in their group matches so far they have beaten the Netherlands in a last minute nail biting display, been involved in the match of the series so far with their draw with co-hosts India and crumbled to an Ireland side that they should have beaten easily.

So, in the fourth Group B match against a South African team who are growing in stature as the competition progresses, what could be expected from the England team?

Winning the toss and choosing to bat first England immediately looked uncomfortable against the spin bowling of Peterson and promptly lost Strauss for nought followed by Pietersen for 2.

Trott steadied the ship for England but Bell was dispatched to the pavilion before he could get going, scoring five runs before falling to a catch from Tahir.

England appeared to be in serious danger of throwing the innings away at 15 for 3 and despite some decent hitting from Trott (52) and Bopara (60) the South African attack will have felt satisfied after a good days work in the field limiting England to a seemingly paltry 171 all out from 45.4 overs.

If England fans were frustrated at their teams efforts with the bat, the torture simply grew worse for the bowlers who were unable to control the free scoring of Smith and Amla as they piled on the runs for South Africa, without so much as a sniff of a wicket.

The omens did not look good but England stuck to the task and were rewarded when Smith was caught by Prior off Swann at 63 for 1.

Broad then bowled Amla and had Kallis caught by Prior in a good spell for England that left South Africa on 82 for 3.

A few overs on and against the odds the game suddenly came back to England, just as de Villiers appeared to be settling at the crease with 25 runs already to his name, Anderson struck and bowled the in form batsman and the innings started to collapse around the ears of the South African team.

In a crazy passage of play, South Africa would lose du Plessis (run out by Bell) and Duminy without adding to their score, followed quickly by the wicket of Peterson with the score at 127 for 7.

England were back in the hunt and could now smell the blood of their prey, Steyn managed to add 20 runs and van Wyk 13, before the final wicket of Morkel fell at 165 all out, off 47.4 overs.

Another edge of the seat thriller involving the England team, and a match brilliantly won by them in the end as they just edged the South Africans over the day.

Andrew Strauss said after the game;

“There are plenty of things we didn’t do well in this game but we got away with a win, sometimes a win is all you need to really kick-start things. We thought the wicket was going to deteriorate but we should have got 230. We’re delighted to win and we move on with high hopes of achieving things.

“We’re definitely doing our bit to advertise the 50-over format but we’d like games to be a little bit less close than they are. We had to respond well after the defeat to Ireland. I thought the guys in the field were outstanding and it puts us back on track in this World Cup and it couldn’t come a day too soon.”

England 171 (45.4 overs) bt South Africa 165 (47.4 overs) by six runs

Cricket World Cup 2011 – Group B – Chennai

Memories of their slender victory over the Netherlands had by that time been forgotten, but today their nearest overseas neighbours, Ireland, hardly renowned for their cricket, wiped the smiles off England’s red faces with a stunning  victory with five balls still to play.

This is the magic of limited over cricket, you get one chance each with bat and ball and on this occasion the Irish led by Kevin O’Brien caused an upset that was never really on the cards.

England had set a substantial 327 for 8 in their fifty overs at the crease, with their four opening batsmen making good scores, led by Jonathan Trott (92) and Ian Bell (81).

2011 Cricket World Cup

It seemed a mountain to climb for the minnows from Ireland but an inspirational innings from Kevin O’Brien (113) assisted by tail enders Cusack (47) and Mooney (39 no), helped in no small way by the whole Irish team, pulled off an unbelievable, even impossible, win.

Mooney’s well timed four off the first ball of the last over was enough to secure the match for Ireland who won the game with three wickets in hand.

Hero of the day Kevin O’Brien said after the win; “Knocking off the greatest run chase in World Cups – it’s pretty much the greatest day in our lives. We believed in ourselves even after losing the other night when we should have knocked off 200 against Bangladesh.”

A distraught Andrew Strauss said; “Things were looking pretty comfortable but we weren’t reckoning on an outstanding innings from Kevin O’Brien – it was pretty brutal and set us back. Our World Cup dream’s not over by any means, we are going to have to bounce back and learn from this but we have hemorrhaged runs in all our games so far. We put down three or four catches today and in the end that’s cost us the game.”

Ireland 329-7 (49.1 overs) bt England 327-8 (50 overs) by three wickets

World Cup  – Group B – Bangalore