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England's roll call of captains underscores their dominance | Vic Marks
For a team to have four captains in the space of a fortnight is usually a sign of dire instability, but with England it is quite the opposite. On 22 August at the Oval Andrew Strauss, after overseeing another English victory, did his best to hold high the International Cricket Council's mace, which is now awarded to the highest-ranked Test team in the world. In Dublin on 25 August Eoin Morgan led an experimental England side to a tricky, rain-hindered win over Ireland. On 31 August Stuart Broad will lead his Twenty20 team against India at Old Trafford and on 3 September Alastair Cook takes charge in Chester-le-Street for the first of five one-day internationals.Members of the England side not invited to lead the team may soon start feeling a tad rejected. Kevin Pietersen has had a go, but watch Graeme Swann go about his bowling and it is blatantly obvious that he has one of the sharpest cricket brains around. Preoccupation with the captaincy may reduce his Twitter output. Ian Bell has, briefly, led Warwickshire with success. Jimmy Anderson is no fool.But they must all wait their turn because the current batch of captains is doing rather well. It is early days but so far the reservations about split captaincies have yet to surface. Strauss patently retains his authority after his side have thrashed India 4-0 and will return refreshed when England take on Pakistan in the Middle East; the 50-over team rallied earlier in the summer to defeat Sri Lanka 3-2 with Cook playing an innings at Trent Bridge where he cracked 95 from 75 balls, which must have surprised and impressed even the harshest critics of his appointment.Broad has undergone a metamorphosis since the Indians arrived. Remember he was dropped for the last ODI against Sri Lanka. In the first half of the season he could not buy a run or wicket and led England to a desultory Twenty20 defeat in Bristol. But since the Lord's Test against India he has been unstoppable. Now he is a proud <a href="http://www.salehandbagsbags.com"><strong>dior handbags</strong></a> member of the ICC's World Test XI, announced on Friday.However, if any of the captains are under pressure it may be Broad, if only because Morgan not only batted well in Dublin, but also looked comfortable in charge of a fledgling team. Broad has the most difficult, yet least relevant, of the captaincy roles.Twenty20 internationals are scarce and quickly forgotten. So there is little scope for Broad to grow into the job. Then along comes the World Twenty20, which England hold, in Sri Lanka in 2012 and for a fleeting fortnight captaining the Twenty20 team becomes the centre of the cricketing universe.Moreover the shorter the game, the greater the urgency to make the right, rapid decision. Captaining a Twenty20 side in the field is as tricky as it gets.Nor is Broad's side as settled as the 50-over team. Craig Kieswetter, who is hardly a veteran, now has a new opening partner in Alex Hales. Kieswetter's colleague – and shadow – at Somerset, Jos Buttler, now joins him in the squad, to leave their county denuded of professional wicketkeepers. Ben Stokes is included even though he has not been able to bowl recently. So the selectors must think a lot of his batting.It is safe to assume that India will offer a greater threat to England playing with a white ball than they did with a red one. How could they not? They are the world champions, after all. And they have just won their first match of their tour, albeit against a makeshift Sus###### side at Hove.But Chester-le Street is a long way from Chennai. Four of India's World Cup-winning side will be absent: Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. There are fresh names in their squad such as Varun Aaron, a seam bowler, and Ajinkya Rahane, a batsman, neither of whom has played international cricket.There is also a surprising return to one-day colours for Rahul Dravid. His consternation at this decision seemed to match everyone else's. He has not played a one-day match for India since September 2009. Upon hearing the news of his recall, we learnt, almost immediately, that Dravid would be retiring from one-day cricket once the games against England were over. Perhaps, therefore, we should make a point of giving the admirable Dravid a standing ovation every time he makes his way to the crease in the ODIs. Ovations for Sachin Tendulkar, who has not announced his retirement from one-day cricket, are beginning to become rather routine on this tour.So England, for all their 50-over frailties, are favourites. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that several members of the Indian tour party are weary and would rather be somewhere else. Moreover conditions in England in September will be far removed from those in which India won the World Cup in April. As in the Test series, England will be hoping that groundsmen around the country will give plenty of encouragement to their pacemen.Limited-overs matches v India: Wed T20 international, Old Trafford, 6pm; Sat First ODI, Chester-le-Street, 10.15am; Tue 6 Sept Second ODI, <a href="http://www.salehandbagsbags.com"><strong>lv handbags</strong></a> Rose Bowl, 2pm; Fri 9 Sept Third ODI, The Oval, 2pm; Sun 11 Sept Fourth ODI, Lord's, 10.15am; Fri 16 Sept Fifth ODI, Cardiff, 2pm
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