KEY POINTS:
The loss of batsman Kevin Pietersen will affect morale going in to the crucial encounter with New Zealand on Tuesday and increases the prospect of England leaving Australia without a single victory.
Ravi Bopara, the 21-year-old Essex allrounder, has been called into the squad from the England Academy base in Perth. Bopara is highly thought of on the county circuit and scored 806 runs at 38.38 in the championship last year, with a top score of 157, as well as taking 19 wickets at 47.47. He also played a major part in Essex's success in the Twenty20 competition and the NatWest Pro40 league.
However, the management skills of skipper Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher will be tested after Pietersen was forced to return home after being struck in the ribs by Glenn McGrath during an entertaining innings of 82.
England's leading batsman in Australia failed to prevent his team falling to an eight-wicket defeat to the hosts in the opening match of the Commonwealth Bank one-day series. Pietersen's injury, sustained when he came down the pitch to pull McGrath, ends his involvement in the Tri-series.
"I am absolutely distraught," Pietersen said. "I did not want to leave Australia without any victories. I wanted to draw a line under the Ashes and give my cricket a real good go over the next month. I wanted to play as well as I could for the team to assist it in taking home some victories.
"When it hit me, I knew it was serious - I couldn't breathe properly. It restricted my stroke play immediately which was frustrating because I wanted to get a hundred at the McG. The blow will not stop me playing the shot again."
The size of the defeat before a crowd of nearly 80,000 suggests this was another inept performance by England, yet there were some encouraging aspects other than Pietersen's innings.
England's total was never likely to be enough but it was heartening to see their batsmen apply themselves and set attainable goals. On far too many occasions, England have targeted fanciful totals when batting first and, in doing so, have failed to post a competitive score. Indeed, in four of their past five one-day games, their batting has been so over-ambitious, they have failed to see out the 50 overs.
Their new approach is undoubtedly deliberate and it is to be hoped they continue to bat like this until the World Cup. They would love to play a more adventurous one-day game but do not have the players to do so. Vaughan does not have a Sanath Jayasuriya, Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag or Adam Gilchrist to call on at the top of the order and, as a side, England need to learn how to score 250 regularly before looking at totals in excess of 280.
It takes time to get out of a trough like the one England are in and improvements will be gradual.
They even looked set for a score of 260-plus before Pietersen, on 73, was hit, just when he and Andrew Flintoff were about to cut loose.
However, it may be the bowling and fielding that hold fewer fears for New Zealand. Paul Nixon, making his one-day debut behind the stumps, should have stopped two sets of five wides but both went racing to the boundary. Those errors gave Gilchrist all the encouragement he needed and he quickly set about England's seamers. Australia reached 101 by the end of the 15th over and a comfortable victory was achieved with 28 balls to spare.
Pietersen said: "I don't think there are any teams in the world that are ahead of Australia in any department. They are a formidable side and the confidence they gained from the Ashes series is coming through. This England side contains fighters but it will take a real good team effort from us or New Zealand to beat them in the coming weeks."
- INDEPENDENT
