Nelson's Column: England win series

So England have emphatically thumped New Zealand and all appears fine and dandy. Michael Vaughan's men lie third in the world with fourth-ranked South Africa to face.

But England aren't playing anything like the third best team in the world for long enough spells in Test matches. At Lord's they were unable to bowl out New Zealand twice in friendly conditions; at Old Trafford they were so so fortunate the Kiwis bottled it; and at Trent Bridge, a better side would not have allowed England to recover from 86 for five to 364 all out.

South Africa almost certainly would have won from the positions established by New Zealand in the final two Tests. Put simply, England cannot afford the horror sessions and nightmare days as seen in this short series.

Moores and the selectors have some thinking to do, particularly if Andrew Flintoff returns from injury. Simon Jones is taking bucket-loads of wickets and Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard also appear back on form. Can Stuart Broad - averaging around 40, but scoring runs - keep them out? Meanwhile, can Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood justify their places having scored just 77 runs between them in six innings?

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Comments

[Roger Cowell]

I agree almost totally with these comments. I wonder, too, if Daniel Flynn had been able to bat in NZ's second innings at Old Trafford, or if England had had to follow on, whether England would have won the Second Test. On such small things a lot can hang, especially when two moderate teams are playing, and let's be realistic, England is a moderate team. They were lucky to be playing, in the Kiwis, an even more moderate team, missing a lot of experienced players such as Fleming, Styris, Bond. It shows enormous incompetence on the part of the NZ Cricket Council and selectors to have allowed such vital talent to depart so prematurely. A small country like NZ can't afford to lose classy players in such numbers - the past 2 series show the results of such 'carelessness'.