Good article. But the main question that needs to be answered is - Have England got enough in them to go all the way? Although they have started off the campaign incredibly - albeit against all odds - Do they have enough in them to finish it all off in style? They will have to be ruthless if they are dreaming of world dominance in one day cricket. Strauss' leadership has been excellent and the bits and blob players are somehow standing up to the pressures of international cricket. This side reminds me a lot of the NZ sides in the past during the Chris Cairns, Chris Harris & Dion Nash days - but with a better variety of bowling at their disposal. A better English side (atleast on paper) snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against a not so strong Windies side a couple of Champions Trophy ago. Does this side have the confidence to go a step further? Time will only tell!

Excellent. I love Andy's sense of humour. He is my favourite writer on Cricinfo.
I look forward to more of the same in the future.
Keep up the good work.

LoL, great article mate. I am impressed by the logic. I've not followed the Australia v England series more than just checking the margin of the drubbing so I didn't know Anderson just came off a rest period. I guess teh teams playing less cricket are the teams actually performing...barring South Africa. Pakistan has had very little cricket as well but we are enjoying what we have on show. Good work.

Add to the list:
Schedule a "nobody wants" 7 match ODI series against AUS before a major tournament.

on the subject of rest and quality, to bloomin right mate

Good article but after 3 days of magic now england are starting to play like england again.I dont think they can reach the final after they face teams like pak or aussies .Hope they suprise me

Yes i did Andy, and the proof is in the comments section of your last post, so send me an autographed copy of Zaltzman's Rantz first edition asap. God, if it wasn't for you, I would completely give up on 1-day cricket, its so tedious. And an England-Aussie final looms - thats so inviting for a sub-continental like me (dood, if we are 'sub,' what does it make England, that puny little island in the middle of nowhere?).

The formula is actually simpler - win the toss, win the match! Bat first at Centurion, bowl first at Wanderers.

Andy: The blue print you have mentioned is not new!!!! Paksitan is using the same blue print since 1992 world cup.

What's wrong with a full international calendar? Teams just need to accept the fact that players will not be able to play every match, and rotate them accordingly. This values having depth in the squad, and adds something to the manager/coach's role. They have to rotate their players while still maintaining the balance of the team. Also, this allows more players exposure to the international game.

"It will be interesting to see whether other teams have the courage to put this plan into practice with quite the same dedication as England."

New Zealand have, and it seems to be working well for them so far.

Yaaayyyy.... normal service has been resumed. A nice rearguard action (Jimmy A in action again, a la Cardiff) has saved us from total abject failure, but the signs are there - somewhere later today or at the end of the week there will be total humiliation. Again.

You wrote; "What a thoroughly odd team"

Want to compete with Team Pakistan?

England are indeed the masters of the bell curve - lots of lows followed by this dramatic rise but as if trying to maintain the form - drop just when you start having any expectation ala this game against the Kiwis.

Lol! why is it as soon as England win more than 1 game articles appear everywhere? Theyre in the middle of being smashed by New Zealand as we speak. Honestly let it go, they are NOT good.

Come on England. If ever there was a tactical game and a plan this must beat them all. Super England boys playing like school children against New Zealand. Is that to keep Sri Lanka away from the semi finals. May be not. Mind boggles

I totally agree with Peter Parker's comments. No test matches are scheduled for India from May 09 until atleast Aug 2010, for Sri Lanka from Sep 09 until atleast Aug 2010. I couldn't see beyond that and didn't for other countries. Not a fair indicator I agree but if all 3 formats were evenly spread out, specialists for formats wouldn't have much to complain. The rest should be properly managed and looked after.

The manager/coach could plan and build a great squad and field the best fit team taking injuries and rotation into consideration.

Good article for sure

For England' credit I think this is according to their plan to knock dangerous Sri Lanka out of Semi's so they have one less good team to worry about.

well england have shown that they can change from game to game...the ODI defeats against australia were payment for getting ricky ponting to accept defeat in tests...the sixes obviously make england a hugely different team...their bowling lineup also seems better and barring Ravi Bopara even Eoin morgan is catching things behind teh stumps...methinks that even swann thinks that he can keep wicket...obviously one cant expect morgan to dive too far...new zealands bowling today was much better even though the entire english team thought that new zealand might be easier opponents if they get to the final...new zealnad however have a jittery batting lineup although shane bond seems to have improved a lot over a few days and even grant elliot troubled the english batsmen..a good outing should be appreciated...

Aaah....against New Zealand today it looks as though number 3 comment was appropriate for the English...."a batting order that habitually crawls along nervously, ineffectively and unexplosively".....hahahha

come on andy. England are going to win this and prove all of you wrong. keep it up lads

Admit it, England are just emulating NZ. JoeS is right.

1. Ensure that you begin the tournament with your two most important players out injured.
- Ok so Shane Bond is miraculously intact, but Oram never saw daylight, Ryder lasted two games and Tuffey not even that.

2. Ensure that the remaining players are completely out of form, freshly demoralised after a massive drubbing.
- just been smashed twice in tests and twice in ODIs in Sri Lanka, not to mention a 5 wicket loss to Sth Africa in the first game. AND a capitulation to a Sth African state side in a warm up match.

3. Enter the competition with a batting order that habitually crawls along nervously, ineffectively and unexplosively.
- Our openers are ok and our tail is ok, but generally numbers 3 to 7 either behave as described, or go out.

Don does have a point.

See how top 4 teams are struggling to make it (or have already left) and bottom three, except WI, have easily made it?

Hence England's master plan is working!

Are there some cricketing ghosts in RSA, having some fun????

Brilliant as always Andy. Can't wait for your next installment.

Hi Andy,

Probably i am the only one person who thought England is going to do well. Infact i had mentioned this to my friend Raghu and we have a friendly bet on it too. This is was before England played their first match.

I still believe that England can do it..

-Satya

The kiwi game was a give away - who wants the appealing and annoying lankans in the finals ?
send them packing and hope the Indians will also go that way today - It is time England won a trophy for their cabinet.

Having decanted England's winning formula for a semi final berth, Andy Zaltzman says; "It will be interesting to see whether other teams have the courage to put this plan into practice with quite the same dedication as England." Um...(checks facts 1 through 5)... New Zealand are looking pretty dedicated...

we all keep on forgetting the most beautiful and basic thing about the beauty of cricket!!!!! Did some one ever say that cricket is at its peak with Assaults carried on by Sir Richards or Sachin, or at at the battings of dravids and laxmans, or at that ball of century of Warne,,,or for that matter, mony denying victory to aussies........

please enjoy cricket and forget those issues created and brought in fashion by commercial interests......

Amen.......

Oh Comeon, i did predict england could go , on to semifinal, they could even meet australia/pakistan and beet them as well and win the trophy as well. Pity u didnt publish my article last time around. Perhaps u didnt want anyone to contradict ur views. England arent the worst odi team , just have trouble crossing the final hurdle. ( perhaps they need to follow kirstens advice before the game).

I'd like to start off by apologizing for being off-topic, but I figure this is the best blog to be off-topic. Here is how I see it, Andy, may I call you Andy? England losing to NZ complicates matters for India. If Pak wins, they play Eng in the semis, if they lose, NZ, which would you choose? Eng pounded 320 against SA, and they have a good bowling attack and they aren't even missing Prior. NZ are the walking wounded, Bond is great, but honestly, with spin alone Pak can beat NZ. Now, the enmity toward Australia can't be underestimated, even with a new team; it is one thing keeping India out of the semis, it is even better to keep Australia out. I tell you this, if Wasim was captain, I guarantee Pak will lose today, with Younis there is a 20% chance that he will try to actually win. You see the Pakistanis have not forgotten about the ICL/IPL debacle, and the way the BCCI has bullied the PCB for the better part of 4 years. That could work against the Indians, on the other hand, it's OZ.

Very well written Andy. About your formula for success and teams trying it out, I think India did give it a go, but only overdid it. They left out not two but THREE of their key men (Sehwag, Yuvraj & Zaheer), came in with bowling attack that lacked penetration AND WILL, and a batting order that is best described as dominos inviting to be blown away let alone fall. Now I understand why India are in such a miserable position in the tournament. Thanx Andy for helping me solve this puzzle

I called it, On Mike Holmans blog about the pointlessness of the Champions Trophy. I said I fancied the chances of England becuase the ball was swinging so much. Go and have a look

"the more matches, series, travel and press conferences they can force-ram down the straining gullet of cricket, the tastier the end product will be. Sadly for them, cricketers are not French geese". Prime Zaltzman.

Anyone who has a passing interest in world affairs and the satire thereof, but with a distinct cricket flavour to it, I can highly recommend The Bugle, Andy's Times Online podcast with John Oliver.

Re waterbuffalo :
Well the PAK batsmen played like they didn't want to win and then the Ozzies came out to make sure the couldn't lose ,so it looked like it would be a dull quick victory but we actually ended up with a last ball thriller.
Which was fantastic . I was wondering whether Pakistan would do something like that - after all NZ have been hit by injuries - actually extending Andy's formula by another number : make sure that any in form players you do have get injured during the course of the series.

Who would you rather face - a sick NZ or a mercurial England - given that coming second will be at the Wanderers. I'm sure there must have been some of those thoughts going on.

replying to UriGagarin, the first man in space,I stopped watching the game after ponting got out, thought it was a done deal, the pitch was terrible but australia would still stroll in, then I read the next day that pak took it down to the last ball, now the problem is I would rather have faced India than Oz in the final. In 99, we beat them and lost horribly in the final, I fear the same thing will happen again. I hope England will beat the Aussies and it will be 19992 all over again. Come on England! But what are SA doing with their pitches? They should be embarrased, I mean, I love bowling, but 205? What is this, 1982? If SA can't be bothered to host the Champions Trophy it should be held in India every time. They can't even sell out when their own team plays. Stick to football and forget about cricket, SA. Don't waste our time.

I like the Champions Trophy. It seems like a good thing compared to 7 match ODI series and the World Cup, the biggest waste of space in cricket since the excellent 1992 one, with its pointless exercise of minnows getting thrashed by the big teams-sorry Ireland,you are the least of offenders.
The Champions Trophy is usually to the point and relevant.

surely making sure you dont play australia in a tournment would be your best and easiest bet