England's Top 25 Cricketers After New Zealand

Including less Ben Stokes than it should....

25 (22) – Samit Patel – After just two disappointing T20’s, Patel’s career is slipping away after his failure in India. In his defence New Zealand was never likely to offer him much but a strong start to the season is needed.

24 (12) – Graham Onions – This tour really was it for Onions, and in the only warm-up game, he was battered out of the England side. One (extremely) poor game doesn’t make him a bad bowler, but there are younger options who will get a chance in white ball cricket.

23 (21) – Jade Dernbach – Expensive as always, but really showed his value in the T20’s. Despite not bowling his best, he offers something that the other seamers really don’t with not only his variation but his confidence in trying it. Until a fast bowler comes along that offers something as varied, Dernbach will keep picking up caps.

22 (17) – James Tredwell – New Zealand was never likely to be favourable for Tredwell, and unsurprisingly he got battered in the T20’s. Drops down but can consider the winter a success overall.

21 (-) – James Harris – Ever since he burst onto the scene with 11 wickets in a match at just the age of seventeen, Harris has been marked for England. When he found out he’d be carrying drinks for the ODI series instead of playing for the Lions, he might have been a touch disappointed, but the Lions tour descended into a melee of poor discipline both on and off the field, and then the Test bowler he most resembles in Onions suffered an almost terminal tour. A move to Middlesex should give him a greater reputation and an opportunity should present itself this summer.

20 (25) – James Taylor – A good winter for the Lions in terms of runs and one of only two players (the other is Varun Chopra) to emerge from Australia with any credit. Bairstow’s failure in the last Test should push Taylor to back up batsman for the home New Zealand series.

19 (23) – Luke Wright – He remains T20 only, but produced an excellent series in New Zealand, bowling well and most importantly providing decent leadership throughout that section of the tour. After Pietersen and Morgan is England’s most important T20 player.

18 (20) – Alex Hales – A brilliant cameo in the Big Bash, and once again England highest scorer in the T20’s, Hales was unlucky not to get a shot on the ODI tour. Nottinghamshire’s decision to prevent him playing in the IPL will probably benefit his career too.

17 (15) – Jonny Bairstow – The final Test completed a fairly miserable winter for Bairstow, who had two opportunities and failed to take them, and watched Jos Buttler scoot past him as the white ball keeper. Batting does not look ready for a full-time Test role and isn’t getting the hours behind the stumps he needs to be Prior’s long term replacement.

16 (18) – Chris Woakes – Did a decent job in the ODIs, didn’t go on the Lions tour and thus avoided any reputational damage and by all accounts was a decent tourist. England definitely seem big fans of his batting which does he claims no harm whatsoever.

15 (14) – Monty Panesar – Another great escape completed, and whatever he achieves with the remainder of his career, will always be remembered as an England cult hero. Pitches offered him very little, neither did his captain (more on that later) and it was generally a struggle despite a couple of excellent spells of control. Might get another go in the home series but pitches will offer him little.

14 (16) – Jos Buttler – The ODI keeper for now, but the T20 keeper for a long time. He’s inventive and confident, and whatever he lacks as a keeper he makes up for with his batting. He is one player who could have benefited from going to the IPL.

13 (19) – Tim Bresnan – Sometimes not playing at all can do a lot for a player’s reputation, as Bresnan’s inactivity after his operation meant chances for other which they did not take. Woakes probably didn’t do enough to displace him long-term and England’s policy of resting players should mean plenty more caps this summer.

12 (11) – Eoin Morgan – He’s going to the IPL, which may well prove to be effectively a retirement from Test cricket. But he’s still a vital part of England’s white ball sides where he remains one of the best and most unique players in the world.

11 (13) – Nick Compton – There was a lot of bumgush spoken before the 1^st Test about Compton, beautifully answered by consecutive hundreds. This series was the polar opposite of India for Compton, with two big scores and three failures after a succession of middling scores in India. He has surely done enough to start the first Ashes Test but faces competition for his spot from not only Root but Chopra as well.

10 (10) – Joe Root – The ODI series was a real announcement from Root, particularly as England have struggled to find a four in ODI’s for a while, but the Test series may be more important in his development. He couldn’t possibly live up to the hype of the ODI series, and a struggle in the Tests, particularly in finding the right pace to score at, lowers expectations and relieves pressure.

9 (6) – Steven Finn – I will state straight off that I am no fan of his new run-up, because whilst it should stop him running into the stumps, I’d rather have a good bowler who kicks the stumps than a mediocre one who doesn’t. His 6-for flattered him and generally looked down on pace for the series, bowled too short and was worryingly erratic, although the improvements in his batting are as pleasing as they were unexpected.

8 (9) – Stuart Broad – Excellent in T20’s, where he deserves credit in particular for being prepared to pit himself against McCullum despite the need to perform to ensure his Test place. Suffered at McCullum’s hands in the ODI’s, but fronted up in the Tests. His batting however has gone backwards and that plays into Bresnan’s hands.

7 (8) – Ian Bell – Reasonable in both series, the next 12 months are crucial for Bell. He’s in a place where he’s secure in both sides, and he can start to think about his legacy. New Zealand don’t have a world class spinner, and neither do Australia (although Lyon is better than people think), which has always been his major weakness in the past. There are a lot of runs for him there to score, he’s protected from the new ball in the Tests, it’s a huge chance for his scores to live up to his technique.

6 (7) – Jonathan Trott – I don’t often agree with Bob Willis, but he did score too slowly in the ODIs and should be replaced by Pietersen come the summer ODIs, despite the incredible volume of runs in that format. When it came to the Tests, he looked in fantastic touch, and despite averaging over fifty would have been disappointed not to score bigger having reached at least 27 in all five innings.

5 (5) – Graeme Swann – Was somewhat of a plaything for McCullum during the ODI series, and if his elbow was going to fail, he couldn’t have picked a better time for it to happen. Panesar was never going to take enough wickets to push him out of the side, and he remains one of the world’s best spinners. His slip catching is also crucial to England.

4 (1) – Alistair Cook – I’ll start with his batting, where Cook played more loose shots than in the previous 24 months, but he got a ton when it really mattered, and there doesn’t appear to be a technical weakness at the moment for bowlers to work him on.

As for his captaincy, he was completely outshone but the inventive and energetic McCullum. The abiding memory of this series should be Cook, silent, shoulders shrugged at fine leg as Monty desperately looked to him for inspiration, before he turned to Prior. I have nothing against quiet captains, mainly because Steve Waugh, one of the finest captains of our era, barely said a word. But whereas Waugh always projected an image of defiant control, Cook’s body language was one of passive acceptance, particularly during Peter Fulton’s assault in the final Test.

Cook is a young captain, and has time to learn and improve. He’s been touring for six months, always as captain, but the sight of him passing every tactical decision through Prior was troubling for England and gold-dust for Australia, who having suffered a miserable tour of India, will have spotted a potential area of weakness in England.

3 (2) – James Anderson – Not his greatest series against a side he has always had great success against, but bowled so superbly in India that he’s got a huge amount of credit in bank. His skill in bowling reverse swing with the ball hidden in his left hand until right before delivery showed a bowler of the highest skill, although he would like to know the secrets of how Southee and Boult got the ball to hoop in the final Test where he could barely make it move.

2 (4) – Kevin Pietersen – Injured for the entire tour even when he played, and clearly struggling. But it was his absence from the ODI series that most hurt England, where the lack of a dominant player hurt England. The highlight of this summer may well be the first time him and James Pattinson face-off for the first time.

1 (3) – Matt Prior – In his autobiography, Justin Langer talks of the 1995 Australia tour of the West Indies, who hadn’t lost a series for 15 years. 1-0 up entering the 3^rd Test, the Aussies were reduced to 18-3 with Curtly Ambrose bowling fire on a pitch best described as jagged. Vice-captain Waugh came to the crease, and in an innings of sheer defiance, made an unbeaten 63 that got the Australians to 128. They lost the Test, but Waugh’s bravery in the face of Ambrose inspired the Australians to win the final Test, in which Waugh got 200, and with it the series. It marked the end of West Indian dominance and the start of Australia’s.

Langer said, from that innings onwards, despite the fact that Mark Taylor was captain for another three years, that Waugh was the leader. He was the example that was followed, the player the team looked to. I was reminded of that story twice in the final Test, where firstly Matt Prior led the riot act in the England team huddle before New Zealand’s 2^nd innings, and then when he scored a simply magnificent hundred to save the final Test. Whereas Cook’s reputation as a leader fell this series, Prior’s has soared after his performances, and it was noticeable the respect from his teammates for his efforts in the series.

Lions Squad Post Six Nations

Post Six Nations, and with the Lions tour coming up, here’s my 37 man squad.

Props - Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero, Cian Healy, Gethin Jenkins, Adam Jones, Mike Ross

The main question with the props is how many the Lions will take. If they decide to take five, then Paul James will really fancy his chances. I’m backing the Lions to take six, in which case at Loosehead, Healy and Jenkins are dead certainties. With two good players already in that position, Alex Corbisiero, if he can get some game time before the end of the season, is worth taking. At Tighthead, whatever passionate Welshmen say, Dan Cole is the current starter with Adam Jones backing him up. I’m not massively enthused about Mike Ross, but it’s him or part-timer Euan Murray and I’d rather have Ross in the midweek team.

Hookers - Rory Best, Dylan Hartley, Richard Hibbard

The main job for the hooker in a side which has so many back row options should be to secure decent lineout ball, which is why Best and Hartley are there. The third choice hooker could frankly be anyone, I’ve plumped for Hibbard on the basis that the coach is the Welsh coach and Matthew Rees is almost certainly going to be broken again.

Locks - Joe Launchbery, Alun Wyn Jones, Geoff Parling, Donnacha Ryan

Parling was the best lock in the championship by a mile, and will go. AWJ got a lot of press for a man who produced two good games, but he’s also secure in selection. Ryan has a petulant streak in his game which needs removing, but he’s also got the necessary talent to make the squad. The fourth lock hopefully the Lions will take the punt on Launchbery, leaving Mike McCarthy wondering how he’s at home and Hibbard isn’t.

Back Row - Kelly Brown, Toby Faletau, Jamie Heaslip, Ryan Jones, Chris Robshaw, Justin Tipuric, Sam Warburton, Tom Wood

The main area of contention, with a list of around 15 players who can make a case for going, yet a large number of those will not. To start with, given the strength in depth, I’m ignoring Steven Ferris and Ross Rennie due to their injury concerns, and Dan Lydiate due to both his injury concerns and the fact he is massively overrated, a problem which also rules out Tom Croft.

The fact is, Tipuric, Warburton, Robshaw and Wood should and will all go. So would Ben Morgan had he not got injured. Number eight is somewhat of a problem area not due to talent but form, with Faletau not exactly setting the world alight and Jamie Heaslip struggling with the weight of captaining a rapidly declining team. Jonnie Beattie is not real competition and Morgan’s injury however sends them on the tour. The two remaining spots go to two old timers, Kelly Brown and Ryan Jones. Both are unflashy players who do the right things, Brown helped by coming through a Saracens environment that demands the best from them. Jones does seem like a bit of a left field selection but he can also play in the second row. Sean O’Brien doesn’t go on the basis that if you doubled his IQ he’d still be an idiot and Chris Henry got injured at a bad time.

Scrum-Halfs - Conor Murray, Mike Phillips, Ben Youngs

Phillips and Youngs should both be fairly confident of selection, although I have a nasty feeling Gatland and Howley might fancy a bit of Danny Care. Murray, Laidlaw and Care are all at roughly the same level, but the Welsh philosophy seems to be with players of equal ability pick the biggest one and that’s why Murray will tour.

Fly-Halfs - Owen Farrell, James Hook, Jonny Sexton

Ireland were pretty good when Jonny Sexton played, and awful when he didn’t. Farrell will prove to be a solid back up but lacks the running game to challenge Sexton, unless Sexton’s injury rules him out of the tour. Due to the limits of squad size, the third fly-half will be James Hook. He’s playing well in France and can cover a multitude of positions, which given I’ve only got two full-backs I need.

Centres - Jonathan Davies, Luke Marshall, Brian O’Driscoll, Jamie Roberts

I typed Jamie Roberts name, thought for some time, typed Brian O’Driscoll’s name, and then thought for a hell of a long time. This is a position of surprising weakness, due to the fact that so many of the centres playing for the home nations are highly one dimentional. I think Jonathan Davies had a quietly awful tournament for Wales, where he did nothing particularly well and was covered by his inside partner, but he was excellent last year so he has cash in the bank. The final centre is a nightmare. Brad Barritt can tackle and organise, but offers nothing in attack. Manu Tuilagi divides opinion massively but even as a big fan I can admit he is a black hole in terms of passing the ball. Luke Marshall has had a good season for Ulster, has a reasonable eye for a break and was unlucky to get knocked unconscious twice. Max Scott looks a decent player but the tour has come maybe 12 months too early.

Wingers - Alex Cuthbert, Craig Gilroy, Sean Maitland, George North

Tommy Bowe’s injury casts a big shadow here, because he was an absolutely certain starter and the only winger with previous Lions experience. North would have to lose form quite spectacularly to not start, but after that it’s a fairly open race. Cuthbert is a deadly finisher but he creates tries at both ends of the field, and whoever starts right wing has to deal with Digby Ioane. That said, Cuthbert is favourite to start ahead of the exciting Gilroy, and the solid Maitland. Chris Ashton will not go, due to both form and personality and Tim Visser is another player whose one-dimensional game will count against him.

Full-backs - Leigh Halfpenny, Stuart Hogg

This could be a closer battle for the shirt than people think, and would be closer if Halfpenny wasn’t such a fantastic goal kicker. Halfpenny is defensively superb but people tend to overlook his weakness is joining the line and broken field running. That is not a problem for Stuart Hogg, who not only is a good player but made sure he had good games when people were watching and a bad one when no-one cared (he was rubbish in Paris). Halfpenny will start the first Test but if Cuthbert struggles early on the tour don’t be surprised if the Lions try Halfpenny on the wing with Hogg at full-back.

Team for 1^st Test and Captain

Cian Healy, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Alun Wyn Jones, Geoff Parling, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Toby Faletau, Mike Phillips, Jonny Sexton, George North, Jamie Roberts, Brian O’Driscoll (c), Alex Cuthbert, Leigh Halfpenny

Some of these selections will be obvious from the comments above, but I’ll explain some. At hooker, I think if Gatland and Hartley can get over their previous bad blood, they will find that Gatland is the perfect coach for Hartley and that will push him ahead of Best. In the back-row, Robshaw and Wood will be extremely unfortunate to miss out but Warburton and Tipuric worked so spectacularly well for Wales against England that it would appear to be the best combination at this point in time, particularly as Wood struggled with the technical aspects of number eight throughout the tournament (Wood struck me as an outstanding blindside trying to play eight throughout the tournament)

The backs are fairly clean cut, but the selection of O’Driscoll as captain is based on the view that Gatland will want to avoid picking a polairising choice as captain. If he chooses Warburton or Robshaw, that is going to annoy one nation of players either way, and given that supposedly some of the Englishmen are already a bit uncertain about Gatland he doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot. O’Driscoll has been on good tours and bad tours, and will understand the importance of all nations pulling together.

Selection Leaves Australia Spinning

Since Michael Clarke took over as Australian captain, Australia have played 23 Tests, and in that time picked 28 players, of which 13 have been bowlers and a further 4 all-rounders* (list at the bottom if you want to try and guess them all). Even more concerning for the Australians is that a further 14 bowlers and another all-rounder have been used in white ball cricket**. That's a quite remarkable 32 bowling options in 26 months.

The Australian rotation policy has led to lots of criticism from their own press, a large chunk of it justified and a large chunk of it not. They have been beset by injuries during this period, although you have to ask yourself the question that when you have ten bowlers out injured for an ODI, is that bad luck or is it just poor conditioning.

But one of the oddities about this is, T20s aside where the Aussies have been pretty horrid, most of the bowlers have performed well enough to justify further inclusion. They do seem to be going through a period where they are producing a lot of talented quick bowlers, but this however, does not justify picking every single one of them.

The confusion with Australian bowling begins with the Test spinner Nathan Lyon. Lyon is not the greatest bowler I have ever seen, but he is a decent Test bowler capable of a doing a job. Despite an encouraging start of his career, even before the current tour of India where he's been dropped, Australia seem very reluctant to back him, shown by his non-selection in white ball cricket and the fast tracked passport of Shali Ahmad.

The reluctance over Lyon and his exact role within the team then affects the balance of the quicks they select. Unable to decide whether Lyon is there to take wickets or keep thinks tight, the Aussies keep alternating between two wicket takers and one stock bowler and the reverse, which in turn causes confusion between the three quicks as to who should be bowling in what role. The biggest victim of this is Ben Hilfenhaus, who despite an excellent record over the period, is out of the side as he falls between the camps. Causing more trouble is the refusal of the Australians to make a decision as to whether they back Mitchell Johnson as an international bowler or that he's a busted flush and they should move on, and the rolling list of injuries suffered by the best prospects in Starc, Cummins and Pattinson, and you end up with a system that leaves Glenn Maxwell playing as a front-line Test bowler.

But as bad as this muddle seems, as mentioned previously a lot of those bowlers have performed well. Australia are failing to make the most of their bowling options, but their attack is still able to compete. The batting line-up however is suffering from the opposite problem - a lack of talent and overly consistent selection.

In the same period, only three Aussie batters have averaged over 40 in Tests (Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey and Dave Warner). Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes and Shane Watson, numbers 1,3 and 4 in the current series, average 32, 27 and 26 respectively. Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja produced similar averages in their spells in the team, and this is completely ignoring the ongoing Wade/Haddin/Hartley debate as to who Australia should use to keep wicket.

The key to sorting out Australia's batting line-up comes down to making a big decision over Shane Watson. Watson is a fantastically talented cricketer, but his form in Tests shows that if he doesn't bowl he isn't worth his spot in the side, certainly not at four. Watson is saved only by his fantastic white ball form with the bat and his potential to bowl again, but Australia cannot afford to bat him higher than six and need to be prepared to drop him if he doesn't do the job they need.

The other selection issue relates to two players not in the team - Shaun Marsh and George Bailey. The Australian batting line-up lacks grit and Cowan doesn't seem to be able to push on from his starts, putting his place under threat from the quickly improving Alex Doolan. Marsh and Bailey could potentially replace the technically inept Phil Hughes, allowing the struggling Cowan to be replaced by Doolan, or possibly a return to his favoured position for Watson. 

Both Marsh and Bailey have their own problems. Marsh has twice been in trouble for drinking related activity in the past six months and his own horror series against India is still fresh in the minds of the selectors. Bailey's problems are not entirely of his own making. He is a proud Tasmania captain, in a country where Tasmania are seen very much as the sickly child of Australian cricket. He is happy to be outspoken, taking on media mogul Steve McNamara during the summer in a war of words over selection. Bailey does have limited strokeplay and is used to being his own captain, but would provided much needed leadership.

Whatever they do, the selection problems are becoming cyclical. The poor batting forces the selection of Wade as keeper, whose poor keeping in particular lets Lyon down. That leads to questions over Lyon's role and the fast bowling merry go round gets into full swing. If the Australians don't solve this by the summer, it could be a very good time to be an English cricket fan.

*Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Ryan Harris, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Trent Copeland, Michael Beer, Xavier Doherty, John Hastings, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques and Steve Smith.

**Brett Lee, Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger, Shaun Tait, James Faulkner, Jason Krejza, Ben Cutting, Nathan Hauritz, Kane Richardson, Brad Hogg, Steven O'Keefe, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Josh Hazelwood, Ben Laughlin and Dan Christian.

Better the Devil You Know?

When I first started watching Test cricket, it was drilled into me by commentators and players need time to settle when making their debut, particularly batsmen. It was best summarised by an ex-player (I cannot remember who) who said that when you play elite club cricket, there will be a bad ball every couple of overs. When stepping up into county cricket, there would be a bad ball every four overs. But in Test matches, there would be no bad balls. Instead, as a batsman, you had to change your perspective on what was actually a bad ball.

This meant that even if a player struggled on debut, that they shouldn't be judged for it. Players did often struggle. But a quick look at the debuts of the current England test squad shows that a different dynamic is developing:-

Alistair Cook - 60 & 104*
Jonny Bairstow - 16 & 0*
Ian Bell - 70
Nick Compton - 9 & 37
Kevin Pietersen - 57 & 64*
Matt Prior - 126* & 21
Joe Root - 73 & 20*
Jonathan Trott - 41 & 119

As a group, they average 81.70 on debut compared to 47.74 for their overall Test career. Mid-summer, with Strauss in the team (who scored nearly 200 runs on debut), that figure was even higher. What has caused this success on debut for so many of the England batsmen (for the bowlers, it is a similar story, although not quite as pronounced. It is also easier for bowlers to debut - a nervous opening spell is not the end of their game whilst a nervous shot from a batsman could well be)

There are many factors at play. Half of the above players (Bairstow, Pietersen, Prior and Trott) had made their international debuts in other formats, and with the exception of Trott had at least had some success. The England Lions programme is immensely successful (even if the Australian A team is thumping them currently), and most of the players had experience of that. England now select better players, with more weight since Duncan Fletcher's appointment given to personality and less to pure runs. But for me the biggest factor is a lot of international coaches favourite weapon - video analysis.

Put yourself in Fletcher's shoes before the 4th test in India when Joe Root made his debut. Fletcher, and his bowlers, decide to come up with new plans for England's batsman. They start with Kevin Pietersen. I can say with almost pure certainty that every single innings KP has played at international level will have been shown on some form of live television. Watch him play any Test bowler he has faced, on any Test ground he has played at. Want to watch him play the sweep one hundred times? The drive? The pull? A request to the analysts section of the team support and it should be done.

But whilst coverage of international cricket has increased, coverage of domestic cricket has almost ceased to exist. If India want footage of Joe Root in that situation, particularly in red-ball cricket, then they will have to search long and hard to find it. The absence of footage makes a player harder to plan for, harder to analyse strengths and weaknesses. With the added benefit of the better preparation mentioned above, there has never been a better time to make your debut in Test cricket.

This could well have a significant impact on the Ashes. England have the benefit of home conditions, the more settled side and less injury concerns. A lot has been made of how few of the potential touring party, particularly batsmen, have played in England before. But this may benefit Australia, with the likes of Cowan, Warner, Maxwell, Wade, Cummins, Pattinson and Starc all partially hidden from England. 

There may of course be the perfect storm for England. Enough footage to plan and the Aussies inexperienced enough to deal with English conditions. But if the Australians adapt quicker then the retirements of Katich, Ponting and Hussey may not seem the brilliant news it was in the winter.

The Curious Case of Craig Kieswetter

For the upcoming tour of New Zealand, England have once again changed their white ball wicket-keeper. For long time England fans this isn't anything new, since the 2001 tour of India when Alec Stewart chose not to go due to safety concerns, England have seemingly changed their ODI wicket-keeper with free abandon. In that time, England have been through Alec Stewart, Chris Read, James Foster, Geraint Jones, Phil Nixon, Matt Prior, Tim Ambrose, Phil Mustard, Steven Davies, Craig Kieswetter and now Jos Buttler. This list doesn't even include the brief experiments with Marcus Trescothick and Eoin Morgan. 

Kieswetter is the latest player to have been tried, deemed to have failed, and sent back to county cricket to re-learn his trade. I am happy to admit that I am no fan of Kieswetter, and was a firm advocate of dropping him for Buttler, but a closer look at Kieswetter's career shows just how hard it is going to be for Buttler (or Jonny Bairstow) to nail down this position.

With the gloves, Kieswetter averages just short of 29 at a strike rate of 90. Those don't sound amazing figures, but of the ten keepers mentioned above (ignoring Buttler) that's good enough for 3rd for both average and strike rate (behind Stewart and Davies, and Davies and Mustard). Whilst his keeping is often maligned, his bye/dismissal ratio is a match for anyone on this list.

So why has he been dropped? Well, firstly it's no surprise. Forced out of the T20 side by Buttler in October, many felt that Kieswetter was merely keeping the gloves warm. The only debate was whether to replace him with Buttler, or bring back Matt Prior. Yet whilst Kieswetter both keeps and bats ahead of Buttler when they play together for Somerset, Prior averages significantly less than Kieswetter and scores his runs significantly slower. 

England's and Kieswetter's problems may simply be that the standard for an international white ball keeper has been set too high. Over the last decade, firstly Adam Gilchrist re-defined what it meant to be a wicket-keeper/batsman, and in ODI cricket, MS Dhoni has taken that even further. Dhoni is not just the keeper, he is the key wicket to beat India. Every ODI against India this winter the message has been clear - "Got to get Dhoni early"

Now, it seems the model for every side is either to try and find a Gilchrist, or a Dhoni. So many keepers can be used as evidence, but one of the best examples is the use of 20-year-old Quinton de Kock in the ODI series between South Africa and New Zealand. Bought in for his debut, de Kock was not given a chance to learn at seven. He was expected to open.

My last thought on this - Mark Boucher is rightly regarded as one of the finest wicket-keepers in international history, and has 295 ODI caps to his credit. His stats? An average of 28 at a strike rate of 85. Matthew Wade, the new Australian wicket-keeping hope who most feel has started his career promisingly? He's averaging 22 at a rate of 67.

I'm not saying Kieswetter is better than Boucher, but simply showing that the standard for an international keeper has reached dizzying heights. Good luck Jos, you're going to need it.

England's Top 25 Cricketers after India

25 – James Taylor – Seems a long time ago that he played those two Test matches, but Lions captaincy and dropping of Morgan and Patel means he’s still in the picture.

24 – Stuart Meaker – Good red ball part of the India followed by a poor white ball part, but offers England something different.

23 – Luke Wright – T20 only, but hugely important to England going forward both with the runs he scores and his global knowledge of T20 players.

22 – Samit Patel – Had his chance in India, and failed to take it. Remains a part of the white ball set-up, but the emergence of Root means he’s under pressure.

21 – Jade Dernbach – Out of sorts in India, and expensive even when bowling well. In his defence he is another bowler offering something different but needs a good run this summer.

20 – Alex Hales – England’s highest T20 run scorer in 2012, 2013 is an opportunity to push on and pressure players in the ODI team.

19 – Tim Bresnan – Dropping fast, England have kindly offered his elbow as an excuse but there is perhaps a feeling that opposition batsmen have worked him out. Performance in last ODI gives him something to run with though.

18 – Chris Woakes – Going to New Zealand against expectations having lost a lot of his pace over the past 18 months. However, can bat better than any of England’s over bowlers and if he can get back up to 85mph he’ll take Bresnan’s white ball place without much resistance.

17 – James Tredwell – Full credit to Tredwell, he always looks an uninspiring choice but he has done the job every time in an England shirt. The likes of Kerrigan and Briggs will have to wait.

16 – Jos Buttler – Keiswetter’s dropping means the pressure is now on Buttler, no longer the young man in the side learning the game but now expected to produce. He has the ability to do so.

15 – Jonny Bairstow – Rough tour for Bairstow, who played only one Test, was passed by Root and then headed home due to a family illness. Still a part of all three set-ups, needs to show he’s the man to keep wicket and not Buttler.

14 – Monty Panesar – Excellent in India but remains behind Swann in the Test pecking order, and his white ball international career is over. Could force England to play two spinners in the Ashes next summer on the right pitch.

13 – Nick Compton – Quietly impressive in India, but unlikely to break into the white ball sides and the feeling is he is merely keeping the opening spot warm for Root. Runs in New Zealand might dispel that until the Ashes.

12 – Graham Onions – Extremely unlucky not to be selected for the final Test in India, but New Zealand is the big moment for Onions. Bowl well and he can take Broad’s place, but bowl poorly and that might be it. More likely the former than the latter.

11 – Eoin Morgan – Test career looks in tatters, but is crucial to both England white ball teams. Decision over the IPL this year will give a strong indicator of whether he feels he can get back in the Test team.

10 – Joe Root – Debuts in all three formats, an impressive batsman, an impressive tourist and looks to have a massive future. Off-spin and fielding are both extremely handy.

9 – Stuart Broad – Probably the worst tour of his England career, but he’s still T20 captain and still our best quick bowler with the white ball. Would like to out-perform Onions in New Zealand to re-affirm test hierarchy.

8 – Ian Bell – Fair to describe India as an up and down tour for Bell, although test performances can be excused for obvious reasons. Would be higher but England have a fair amount of top-order batting currently.

7 – Jonathan Trott – Talking of top order batting, Trott remains integral to the Test side and is probably the most natural number 3 I’ve seen for England. Expect a tussle with Bell for the opening spot in the ODI side this summer.

6 – Steven Finn – If he can have 12 months of fitness and lose this habit of kicking the stumps or make it so the umpires don’t single him out, then he might well end the tour of Australia as England’s best bowler.

5 – Graeme Swann – Hugely important to all three sides, although performances of Panesar and Tredwell highlight he is not as irreplaceable as others above him. Elbow remains an injury concern and if England want him at the 2015 World Cup something has got to give.

4 – Kevin Pietersen – Fully re-integrated and remains England’s only batsman who you would fear across all formats. Has to be given time to make big innings in both white ball formats and that means staying at 3 in the ODI side and opening with Hales in the T20.

3 – Matt Prior – White ball career is over, but Prior is the best wicket-keeper batsman in the world and when Broad was injured was the vice-captain to all intensive purposes. Anyone doubting his performance needs to think about who would replace him if he got injured.

2 – James Anderson – Outstanding in the Tests in India, and missed in the ODI series. England right to keep him fit for the Ashes as the Australians remain highly suspect against high quality swing bowling.

1 – Alistair Cook – His batting was truly brilliant in India, and his relentless discipline an outstanding example to his younger teammates and some of the others as well. Must keep his ODI scoring rate above 80 this year to alleviate the pressure on KP but there are no Australians looking forward to bowling at him.

6 Cricketers to Watch in 2013

Six players you might not have heard of who could break through in 2013

Azeem Rafiq

For a young man of 21, Rafiq has worryingly twice made the headlines for the wrong reasons, firstly when Yorkshire selected him for their T20 side without realising he was ineligable, and then three years later when a twitter outburst when he was dropped from the England U19 side (Twitter - English cricket's best friend). However, Rafiq is a highly talented off-spinner who can both bat and field to a better than average standard.

Where Rafiq might make progress is through both personality and opportunity. He was England U19 captain, he has captained Yorkshire last season and is seen to have long term leadershi potential. The opportunity may come as there are growing concerns about Graeme Swann's elbow, and with the next T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, and the next 50 over World Cup not until 2015, England may look to blood a young spinner, particularly one who could function as an international number seven.

Quinton de Kock

When you lose one of the finest wicketkeepers to have played Test cricket to a sudden career ending injury, and the domestic replacements seem uninspiring and you feel forced to load one of your best batters and vice-captain with keeping in all three formats, you would probably be quite excited if a young 20 year old genuine wicketkeeper batsman suddenly burst through.

South Africa are excited and on the minimal evidence so far, they have good reason to be. First Class runs have come easy, as did runs in the under-19 World Cup, before de Kock announced himself with mature and impressive performances in the T20 Champions League. He played all three T20's against New Zealand and with South Africa having to manage AB de Villiers workload, more caps could come, and he could force his way into the Test team.

Meg Lanning

Lanning's problem is not one of making her way into the Australia side - at the age of 20 she is already regarded as their best batter. Her problem is one of notoriety, with the Aussie women's cricket side remaining unknown in their own country. This could change this year with both a women's World Cup, and a women's Ashes series. Lanning will open for Australia in all three forms of the game and be the key wicket for England to get.

As for 2012, Lanning was an integral part of the Aussie side that won the World T20 (3rd highest run scorer in the competition). In the last two months she's broken the record for the highest score in Aussie domestic cricket, before in four games against New Zealand she scored 300 runs off 209 balls, including the fastest ever hundred by a woman in an ODI and the third fastest by someone of either gender.

Anamul Haque

Bangladesh have been playing Test cricket for a decade now, and whilst sides should be given a long settling period, now is the time that they should be producing youngsters that can consistently produce on the international stage. They will be hoping that Anamul Haque will be one of the first.

He comes with a big reputation. He has a reputation for scoring big runs, and was way ahead of all other batters at the Under-19 World Cup. The hype, particularly in a country starved of success with a highly excitable fanbase, built quickly. He made his ODI debut against West Indies, and scored a match winning 100 in the second game, a series Bangladesh ended up winning. For Haque, who will certainly play all three formats, he must score runs, he must learn quickly and he must help Bangladesh to win games.

Lahiru Madushanka

This is very, very speculative and based entirely on promising performances at the under-19 World Cup, but sometimes it's the player with the greater opportunity than the player with greater talent that makes waves.

Sri Lankan cricket is struggling at the minute, with financial issues at board level and a major loss of talent either having happened with Muralitharan and Malinga, or about the happen with the pending retirement of Jaywardene, with Sangakarra and Dilshan not far behind. In particular, Sri Lanka are without any notorious fast bowlers (with the exception of white ball specialist Malinga). Maybe this will be the year they take a risk and go with the 20 year old Nondescripts bowler.

Ajinkya Rahane

If ever a player summed the confused state of the Indian selectors then Ajinkya "Jinx" Rahane is the problem in a nutshell. Whilst Gambhir and Sehwag have muddled their way through the past three years, Rahane has scored run after run for Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. Blessed with a calm temperament, nigh on perfect technique, and a habit of scoring big, Rahane is Dravid-incarnate.

Rahane has been given chances in ODI's and T20's, with limited success, but it is widely acknowledged that red ball cricket is his best format yet a test debut has not yet come. With the defeat to England, surely Rahane will now finally, finally get his chance. Seen by Indian fans as the kind of player who will instantly change the fortunes of the side, he will be under pressure, but expect him to rise to it. A truly outstanding player certain to make an impact.

Other players worth a look - Pat Cummins, Junaid Khan, Akila Dananjaya, Ben Foakes, Merchant de Lange, Georgia Elwiss, Shiv Thakor