Hope is a hardy plant -- it thrives on little sustenance, or none.
That has been the story of English cricket -- every fresh win is a 'resurgence'; every 'resurgence' is a signal for the 'Bring on the Aussies' battle cry, every Britisher believes the elusive Ashes is finally coming home.
Every Britisher, that is, barring Graham Gooch -- former captain, holder of the record for most Test runs by an Englishman and, interestingly, a member of the squad that won the Ashes, way back in 1985. "If I was a betting man," he says, "I would still bet on Australia."
"I think England have their best chance in ten-fifteen years," Gooch told rediff.com. "Having said that, Australia is still the number one side. They've beaten everyone consistently, home and away. England will have to be at their very best if they want to give themselves even a chance of beating Australia."
The former English captain, in Mumbai for a coaching programme with the World Cricket Academy along with former teammate John Emburey, said England would need to play out of its collective skin to win the series at home, later this year.
The WCA is a coaching programme for promising cricketers drawn from the English counties. The three-year-old Academy, which has the likes of Gooch and former Test spinner John Emburey as coaches, sponsors county cricketers on tours to India and South Africa to help familiarise them with different playing conditions. Each year, the WCA conducts an annual coaching camp at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai; this year Ed Smith, who played six Tests for England, is one of the attendees.
Gooch, whose position as coach for young hopefuls gives him insight into the national side's progress, believes that though the team is on an upswing, its results are still like the curate's egg -- good in parts. Thus, Michael Vaughan's men pulled off a historic Test series win in South Africa, England's first in 40 years -- and followed that up with a 4-1 defeat in the one-day series.
"England would be reasonably pleased to have come back from South Africa with a Test series win," Gooch said. "But I don't think they played as good cricket as they are capable of.
"They went to South Africa to build on their performances against New Zealand and West Indies; they wanted to win convincingly against South Africa -- but they didn't. They won, yes, but without playing their best cricket. And I don't think the level of cricket they played in South Africa will be good enough when they come up against Australia."
A problem area, Gooch believes, is the batting order. "They missed Flintoff in South Africa," he points out. "He is the glue between the batsmen and the bowlers, so the team needs him. Harmison didn't bowl up to the standards he's been bowling last twelve months and England missed that."
While not ecstatic about England's performance in South Africa, Gooch yet believes the team put together by captain Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher deserves second billing on the Test ladder.
"They have got a good, tight unit, and they have some good cricketers on the fringes as well -- people like [Graham] Bell and [James] Anderson, who's a good prospect. So it's not just the eleven players; they have a squad of fifteen or sixteen players who can all challenge for a place in the side. That keeps competition within the team high, keeps the standards high."
A name that is integral to the talk of English resurgence is Andrew Strauss, who, with five hundreds in twelve Test matches, has raised the bar for the rest of the batsmen in the side. The Middlesex batsman, just about a season old, is already being hyped as England's most consistent batsman ever, after Gooch himself.
"Strauss must think Test cricket is so easy," Gooch says. "He's come in and just can't stop scoring runs. But he needs to keep working hard and practice hard, because a slump is just round the corner."
Another name Gooch has time for is that of the hard-hitting South African immigrant, Kevin Pietersen; he predicts Pietersen should make his Test debut during the Ashes series.
While the 52-year-old is very quick to make a call on the outcome of the Ashes, he is not as willing to predict the outcome of the upcoming India-Pakistan series.
"Its difficult to say," Gooch says. "India has the home advantage, but Pakistan is a very good side. They have talented cricketers, match-winning cricketers, but they are a little inconsistent. They didn't play well against Australia and got heavily beaten. They have a chance if they can regain the confidence."
Like the rest of the cricketing world, Gooch is keeping his fingers crossed for Sachin Tendulkar's match-fitness.
"Not only is it good for Indian cricket but also for world cricket," Gooch says. "I think every cricket lover wants to see the best player, and Sachin Tendulkar is definitely the best. He entertains and excites a lot of cricket lovers around the world. If he plays, that will give India a little bit of an edge."
Photograph: Getty Images
