False Dawn 1?

England cricket teams and false dawns. The two seem to go hand in hand. In the run up to an Ashes series in England, a wave of optimism is hardly news, but now England have had a couple of comprehensive wins against a poor West indies side plus a couple of limited overs thrashes, it now appears we are even capable of winning the World Twenty20 as well!

Some of the positivity in the England camp will certainly be stemming from the new group of Australian Ashes tourists. No Hayden, Warne, McGrath, Langer, or Gilchrist – a group of experienced winners. A noticeable lack of a front-line spinner. No Andrew Symonds. All major plusses which England will have appreciated.

On the down side, Mitchell Johnson and Phil Hughes have both been in fine form and a fit again Brett Lee is a proposition no England batsman will look forward to with much relish. Ricky Ponting's options are now far more limited, but he is too canny a captain to make the same mistakes twice, and desperately wants a series win in England.

There is an argument to say that the ECB have done themselves no favours allowing players such as the prodigious batsman Hughes to spend time acclimatising at Middlesex; but this is certainly a double edged sword as county bowlers (and the England analysts) will have had a chance to get a good look at his technique in English conditions when the ball swings.

With Ravi Bopara now seemingly as important to England as Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson the new Darren Gough alongside Stuart Broad in the bowling attack, it certainly seems England have gamebreakers where once they had plodders.

It certainly looks like an interesting summer for England, there seems very little chance we’ll win the Twenty20 tournament (look for South Africa or India) as we don’t innovate enough, but if the above mentioned players are backed up by Alastair Cook playing his immovable best, and a few wickets from Graeme Swann on turning pitches (prepared for no Aussie spinner), there is a good chance we can get something out of the Ashes. With the now usual one test appearance from Flintoff, surely the sky's the limit?