Cricket: England can have world at their feet

He has trusted the talented, innovative Eoin Morgan at the pivotal No.5 spot to ensure England always have a competitive total. Morgan has responded with batting of such brio and verve that it is easy to forget how calculated he is. There is no wild swinging with the occasional connection, rather a surgical and clinical dismantling of a bowler. Put it in his spot and he punishes with a boundary but deliver a good one and he will manoeuvre, nudge and chip before scampering up and down the wicket at the speed of a greyhound. Without him, England would have been eliminated at the group stages.

And the return of the batsman formally known as Kevin Pietersen has been crucial. The limp and limping figure that toured South Africa was a hollow version of the Pietersen that used to bristle at bowlers and swat them contemptuously to the fence. He, thankfully for England, is now back with swaggering attitude and the feel-good factor of a resurrected career and a newborn son. His assault on Dale Steyn was one of the episodes of the tournament. He will need to do likewise to Dirk Nannes or Mitchell Johnson because the likelihood is one of Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter will be dismissed early.

This opening pair have given England reasonable rather than excellent starts rarely but their positive intent has been a marked change to England's previous tepid opening combinations.

It is not the batsman that have actually won the games though. It is the bowlers and with the mix of class in Graeme Swann, wisdom via Ryan Sidebottom and wily old canny professional in Michael Yardy, England have discovered a group that can adapt cleverly to conditions and opponents. Yardy has been a revelation. He is about as elegant as a tumbling rock but he is wonderfully effective and in short time has made himself a pivotal player in the side.

All will need to be at their best, though, as Australia just stubbornly refuse to lose matches. Pakistan had them and then Mike Hussey morphed into a mixture of Garfield Sobers, Don Bradman and Viv Richards. They just find a man for the moment, so even at 40-5 there is Cameron White, or Hussey, or Johnson plotting a score for the bowlers. And there is no finer fielding squad in the world than these buzzing wasps in yellow. Their speed to the ball, athleticism and swiftness of throw are extraordinary and worth at least ten runs in every match. Add in catching that often needs slow-motion replays to believe and it is easy to see why they are a joy to watch.

However, England are no slouches, have the best batsman in the world and a unity and belief that could just carry the day. If it does, expect cricket in England to change forever.

Finally, it is good to report that cricket's governing body, the ICC, has finally done something to earn praise. The 2007 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean was as soulless an event as is imaginable, with sponsors and "fun police" ensuring locals could neither afford nor had any inclination to turn up and watch. Rightly, the ICC were lambasted and they listened. This time, the event has been superb, ticket prices low enough for the locals and rather than instruments and drums being prohibited, they have been encouraged. This tournament has been about the cricket, not the sponsors nor money, and because of that it has delivered a global advert for the game.

BBC SNUB

BBC Scotland has opted not to televise next month's international between Scotland and England. The broadcaster, which was heavily criticised for snubbing cricket's first Auld Enemy clash two years ago, is understood to have ditched the game in favour of covering Scotland's rugby tour of Argentina. "We're disappointed," said Cricket Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith. "But they've chosen to follow other priorities."

A BBC spokesperson confirmed: "We are unable to provide live television coverage due to competing scheduling and budget demands."