England head into the one-day series buoyed by the Ashes triumph and captain Andrew Strauss urged his players to use that success as inspiration as they look to build consistency into their one-day cricket. Consistency in One Day International cricket has not been a strong point for the England team and they will be looking to address the problem with a string of positive results.

Strauss has given his backing to Ravi Bopara who is drafted into the team following an injury to the Kent opening batsman Joe Denly during  a pre match football game amongst the England squad yesterday.

Bopara was dropped for the final Ashes test following some poor performances with the bat during the series where he struggled to average 15 runs over seven innings. The Essex batsman responded to being dropped for the Ashes match by returning to his county game with a splendid double hundred over Surrey.

Going into the ODI series Australia will need no more incentive than their own recent memories of the Ashes and will be led by Michael Clarke for the first three matches while regular captain Ricky Ponting takes a well earned break.

Fast bowler Brett Lee is fired up and set to return to the team after injury robbed him of a place in the Ashes team. Lee may not pose the threat he did a few years back but his hunger for victory and his very presence is intimidating enough for most opposition.

There is nothing quite like One Day International cricket, a mini test match with all the excitement contained within one day, where do or die is the order of the day, with both World rankings and national pride at stake.

The seven match series takes place at various grounds around the country and tickets for the One Day Internationals are currently on sale for all venues.

The One Day International Series Fixtures:

Friday 4th September, Day/Night, Kennington Oval, London

Sunday 6th September, Day, Lords, London

Wednesday 9th September, Day/Night, Rose Bowl, Southampton

Saturday 12th September, Day, Lords, London

Tuesday 15th September, Day/Night, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thursday 17th September, Day/Night, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Sunday 20th September, Day, Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

One Day Internationals Ticket Information
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England

Trott’s Warwickshire team mate Ian Bell, himself a late call up to replace injured Kevin Pietersen, will move up the order and bat at number three for England in the final Ashes test match of the series.

Trott has given credit to former Warwickshire cricketer Ashley Giles for his call up. Giles who featured in the England Ashes triumph four years ago is now one of the England selectors. He was previously director of cricket at the county club in 2007 and Trott recalls;

“We sat down when he was appointed as head coach and set out a plan for the future, compiled a list of my strong points and my weak points, and that gave me a direction of how to get back into the (England) team. I am not saying I am a different person now but I do approach the game a bit differently. It seems to be working because I have been pretty successful.”

Trott has scored 1046 first class this year with an average in excess of 80.

Australia have called up wicket keeper Tim Paine as cover for the reserve Graham Manou who injured his hand at Edgbaston while deputising for Brad Haddin. The Australians have made it clear that Paine’s call  is purely a precautionary measure and are expecting Haddin to be passed fit for the test match.

While he is unlikely to be selected, Brett Lee was back bowling against the England Lions at Canterbury at the weekend and ended up as the pick of the Aussie bowlers with 3 for 37.

An unusual event made for the highlight of the day in Kent when a seagull swooped on one of the bails, dislodged when Lee clean bowled Liam Plunkett. Lee gave chase after the bird but it escaped after doing a lap of the ground leaving the umpires to call for replacement bails.

But reading recent cricket news concerns have been raised as to the importance young and emerging cricketers may now place on playing Twenty20 style cricket, which lends itself to fast, furious, slogging over the more  sophisticated tactical awareness of defend and attack batting necessary for traditional Test Match cricket.

Twenty20 is exciting, fast-paced and for that alone is very popular, but more importantly easier to watch as a spectator or armchair fanatic as it has condensed the game of cricket into a few hours.  It has even spawned free Fantasy Cricket IPL games.

Until Twenty20 and the IPL, cricket had not changed and was very much steeped in tradition.  Apart from the late 1970’s when Kerry Packer attempted a similar league in Australia has the ECB (England Cricket Board) and others faced such a threat to the importance of test match cricket.  And there lies the issue.  Traditionalists and the ECB don’t want to lose control to a new version of the game of cricket.

Yesterday former Yorkshire and England cricket legend, Geoffrey Boycott firmly argued that players could not switch from Twenty20 to Test Match cricket without consequences.  He argued there was nothing wrong with cricketers playing both but the styles are so different for a batsman that there would be repercussions for the England cricket team.

But England’s Ravi Bopara, who has only just returned from playing for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL appears to be silencing such a view by making 118 not out after his century helped England to 289-7 on day one of the 1st Test Match against West Indies.

But even then Boycott and BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew suggested there were lapses of concentration from Bopara towards the end of the day which they agreed was possibly due to the different mentality of Twenty20 and Test Match cricket batting styles.

Back home though, the series could have much wider implications on the English game. In the initial touring squad, England named three players of Asian descent. Monty Panesar and Owais Shah took their places on the tour along with Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid. When Andrew Flintoff sustained his hip injury in Antigua, Ravi Bopara and the uncapped Amjad Khan were added to the squad as cover.

The emergence of Nasser Hussain, Mark Ramprakash and Ronnie Irani in the 1990s is now being followed up by a new wave of talented Asian cricketers who have pledged their allegiance to the Three Lions.

Shah, born in Karachi, Pakistan, has made five Test appearances for England, spread over a three year period. Prashant Patel, of Shah’s first club, Wycombe House, says that the Middlesex batsmen’s inclusion at international level gives great hope to minority groups.

“Within the local community I would say that the Asian population see him as a great role model as, in some circumstances, they feel that their opportunities to play at the highest level or in fact succeed in any aspect of life are limited because of their background. Owais is an example that times are changing.”

The club, based in Isleworth , hosts a vast mix of cultures, and Patel explains that cricket has become one of the best tools to promote an integrated community: “Cricket is very useful in uniting people,” he explains.

“Some of our members belong to cultures who would not interact with specific ethnic groups in their regular lives due to conflicts of religious beliefs, but when they play together on the cricket pitch and they socialise, they seem to overcome their original beliefs. The changes cricket makes can be very significant indeed.”

One of the most significant could be a potential shift in support among British Asians. In 2006, Sajid Mahmood was taunted and called a ‘traitor’ by Asian sections of the Headlingley crowd as he played for England against Pakistan, the country of his grandfather’s birth. The treatment of the Lancashire-born fast bowler highlighted the divide between English fans and British Asians, who follow the country of their family’s roots.

However, Patel says that the prominence of the likes of Shah, Panesar and Bopara in and around the England set-up could lead to a change amongst a younger generation.

“Most of the ethnic minority groups within our local boroughs would solely support their home nation,” he explains. “But we find our youth team players support either only England, or England and their ethnic home nation. Their parents are also beginning to support both teams and this is directly because of Owais’ success and the fact that he grew up locally.”

Despite the great success of previous and current Asian players on the international scene, the most significant contribution of all could be made by a player yet to be capped by his country – Yorkshire’s Rashid.

Whereas the likes of Hussain, Ramprakash and Panesar all grew up and developed their cricketing talents in the home counties, 21 year-old leg spinner Rashid was born and bred in Bradford, the scene of some of the U.K’s most notorious race riots.

Rashid’s County Championship debut in 2006 was hailed by a local Muslim MP as the player that will “put to rest” the racist issues that lingered around Yorkshire.

At a time when positives seem few and far between for the national team, this is certainly a cause for optimism, although the true impact of Shah, Panesar and Rashid may only be felt in ten or fifteen years time, when a new generation of Asians, inspired by the current crop, come to wear the Three Lions in the Test arena.

After only recording 7 in the first innings – where Essex made a positive 404 – Ravi Bopara starred with the ball during Derbyshire’s response. Bowling his medium pace deliveries, he picked up four wickets in nine balls as Derbyshire were dismissed for 271. Derbyshire were originally going well at 260-5, but then Ravi Bopara was introduced to turn the game on its head.

That wasn’t the end of the fun for the England man though. After securing a first innings lead of 133, Essex finished on 59-3 after an explosive innings from Ravi Bopara. It really was his day. He finished up unbeaten on 32 after facing just 25 deliveries.

While we are talking about Ravi Bopara, let’s have a quick word on his international career to date. In all honesty, it hasn’t been as productive as he may have liked. He has played three test matches and averages a rather unflattering 8.40. In the shorter form of the game – where he has had more experience – he averages 27.00 from 26 matches, with his highest score of 58 coming in the recent series against New Zealand.

So what does the future hold for Ravi Bopara’s England career? Well, if I was to bet on England cricket, I would put a lot of money on Ravi Bopara being a significant part of England’s futures. In my eyes, he has that something special about him and although he hasn’t had the desired impact for England – his best days are still to come. He must be patient in waiting for his test place and start scoring big runs in the one-day game, much like he does for his county.

For now though, Ravi Bopara will be looking to continue his fine form for Essex as they look to build a substantial lead on day three of their County Championship game against Derbyshire.