This past week has seen what appears to be Bethany stringing words together to form sentences with the most pronounced phrase being "I don't want to". 21 months old and already showing defiance with her first utterances but the pride in hearing her say that far outweighed the frustration at trying to get her into the bath at the time. It was her reply to me as she ran around the spare room in her nappy when I asked if she wanted to go in the bath only for her to indicate that she preferred to climb over the futon.
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Good as it is that England have won the One Day series against India with one game to go it should not lead to assumptions that we are now a force in this form of the game as we may have beaten the World Champions but they are a depleted, demoralized and unlucky version of the team that won on the sub continent in Spring. Whilst England chose to rest Pietersen and have since lost Morgan and Broad through injury India are without Tendulkar, Sehwag and Zaheer Khan and after a long tour where they were outplayed in the test series. The last ODI highlighted the close nature of the contest with Duckworth Lewis determining a rain affected match to be a tie with only 7 balls left and England requiring 10 with their last effective wicket. This is not to suggest that England have not played well but there have been times when after getting good starts they have relaxed and let India get back into the game which a more experienced and streetwise team may not have done.
As things stand India have still to win an international match on English soil this year and for such a highly ranked team this is more a reflection on their failings than on England's brilliance. Certainly England are a good Test team but it is far too early for some of the superlatives being bandied around and tough matches away from home may give a truer picture of their quality.
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Good as it is that England have won the One Day series against India with one game to go it should not lead to assumptions that we are now a force in this form of the game as we may have beaten the World Champions but they are a depleted, demoralized and unlucky version of the team that won on the sub continent in Spring. Whilst England chose to rest Pietersen and have since lost Morgan and Broad through injury India are without Tendulkar, Sehwag and Zaheer Khan and after a long tour where they were outplayed in the test series. The last ODI highlighted the close nature of the contest with Duckworth Lewis determining a rain affected match to be a tie with only 7 balls left and England requiring 10 with their last effective wicket. This is not to suggest that England have not played well but there have been times when after getting good starts they have relaxed and let India get back into the game which a more experienced and streetwise team may not have done.
As things stand India have still to win an international match on English soil this year and for such a highly ranked team this is more a reflection on their failings than on England's brilliance. Certainly England are a good Test team but it is far too early for some of the superlatives being bandied around and tough matches away from home may give a truer picture of their quality.
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