Conscious of over-celebrating and then pronouncing themselves the next big thing, as was the case in 2005, the England cricket side of 2009 are deliberately positioning themselves as the underdogs for their tour of South Africa.
Where the side of 2005 were set to rule the cricketing waves following their enthralling Ashes triumph, only to sink in a morass of their own hype, this year's team have used the post-2009 Ashes period to reflect on where they are and where they want to go.
"This tour of South Africa is an opportunity for us to make some steps forward in terms of becoming more consistent and more able to deal with the best sides in the world on a consistent basis," skipper Andrew Strauss said in Bloemfontein on Monday, when his side dusted themselves off and began their preparations for next week's two T20 Internationals against South Africa. Following that, the two sides will engage in a five-match one-day series.
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"We are all aware at this stage of our development we are not the finished product by any means," the England captain explained.
| England deliberately chose to locate themselves away from the bright lights |
"Anyone who thinks that we are going easy at ourselves at the moment is way off the mark. This challenge comes at a good time for us. Having just won the Ashes, we've got some confidence there. This is a tough tour and if we can go on and win the series here, it will be a huge achievement."
England deliberately chose to locate themselves away from the bright lights of the major metropoles and will conduct daily net and fitness sessions ahead of three limited overs warm-up games, two in Bloemfontein and one Kimberley.
Missing from the touring group at the moment is Kevin Pietersen, who is still undergoing rehab work in England following surgery on his achilles tendon. Pietersen is expected in the country in time for the 50-over match against South Africa A in Potchefstroom on November 17.
The challenge of playing a South Africa side currently topping the ICC Test rankings was not lost on Strauss.
"The No.1 side at home, that is as hard as it can get. We are not going to get carried away with ourselves at this stage. There's a lot of hard work to be done if we want to get there beat South Africa.
| England are some distance behind South Africa in the rankings |
"In some ways, if we want to achieve that goal, we will have to play better than we played, certainly in my time as an England player. That's a bit of a step up for us."
Strauss was the leading run-scorer the previous time the two sides played a Test series in South Africa. In that five-match contest in 2004/05, Strauss finished with an aggregate of 656 runs, including three centuries.
While the Test series - comprising just four matches this time - will be the highlight of the tour, before then the two sides will be looking to ignite their flagging fortunes in the one-day format.
"We've got some ideas how we might continue our development in one-day cricket," said Strauss.
South Africa are in a similar boat, having made some dramatic changes to their one-day squad with an eye on the next World Cup.
Though England are some distance behind South Africa in the rankings - fifth, while the South Africans are top - they have beaten Graeme Smith's team in five of the last six ODIs the two sides have played, including the debilitating 22-run defeat in the recent ICC Champions Trophy.
South Africa are set to test some of their new ODI theories - including Jacques Kallis as an opening batsman - in the two-match series against Zimbabwe that will start at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday. The second match will be in Centurion on Tuesday.
- This article was originally published on page 15 of The Star on November 03, 2009
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