Cricket World Cup 2011: crazy schedule starts to take its toll on England

All a blur: Ian Bell says England are desperate to turn their one-day fortunes around in their next five matches Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Simon Briggs, in Sydney9:11PM GMT 22 Jan 2011

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People claim practice makes perfect but what if that practice involves a debilitating seven-match series at the end of an Ashes tour?
Especially when the players will have only three days three days! at home before setting off to Bangladesh. Thats not even long enough to do your laundry.
The worry must be that a tough series here could send Andrew Strausss men into the World Cup in a frayed state of mind. There will of course be aches and strains when so many flights are being packed into a short space of time.
(Englands four best bowlers are all unavailable at present after Tim Bresnan picked up a calf injury in Hobart). But it is the players psychological health that Strauss and Andy Flower must watch most closely, as the emotional fatigue of an Ashes-winning tour sets in.
In the circumstances, England need to remember that whatever happens in the Commonwealth Bank Series and their opening two defeats were a little on the clumsy side these games will be forgotten swiftly if they make it to the final in Mumbai on April 2.

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