It146;s all about youth 038; Freddie

England8217;s captain 8216;Fantastic Freddie8217; is back in Delhi to lead his youthful team in the opening match of the one-day series...

England8217;s captain 8216;Fantastic Freddie8217; is back in Delhi to lead his youthful team in the opening match of the one-day series against India on Tuesday. Seven matches in 19 days represents a daunting challenge, even for a man with such extraordinary abilities.

India cannot afford to breathe easy despite England8217;s unimpressive one-day record. If you discount Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, they have not won a bilateral series away from home for 14 years.

But such is Flintoff8217;s force of personality that few can count them out, especially against an Indian team that is probably still in the development stage. He could yet pull off something even bigger than his shirt, like he did after Nasser Hussain8217;s England drew the ODI series in Mumbai in 2001.

The 2007 World Cup begins in the West Indies in a year and time is running out for England to try out different permutations and combinations to strike the right balance. 8220;We have a very young and energetic squad. India are a massive challenge in the shorter version. It8217;s a great opportunity for us to gauze our strengths and weaknesses ahead of the World Cup,8221; said Flintoff.

The inspirational skipper wants his team to repeat the heroics of the Tests to rock the Indian bandwagon in one-day series. 8220;They youngsters came in an emergency situation and have performed, showed strength of character. They showed what English cricket is all about,8221; he said. 8220;We have to play to our strengths as individuals and perform well together.8221;

England8217;s trump card is their powerhouse middle order, in which Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have regularly performed starring roles. Paul Collingwood, uplifted by his efforts in the Test series, a resurgent Ian Blackwell and Bell make them a line-up that, on paper, can take on any side in the world.

In the absence of Marcus Trescothick, the hunt for an opening partner for Andrew Strauss is very much on. Matthew Prior on back of a neatly crafted half century in the warm up match makes a strong claim 8212; and one cannot discount his talent behind the wickets. Vikram Solanki has been around for a while, given his experience of the Indian conditions, England might not be willing to take the risk upfront.

Story continues below this ad

The bowling attack however remains suspect in the shorter version. Apart from Flintoff, there is no one experienced 8212; Hoggard despite his heroics in Tests is yet to early prove himself in one-dayers.

James Andersson is inexperienced but going by what we saw in Mumbai, he can create a lot of problems for the Indian batters who are always suspect against genuine pace. A fourth seamer8217;s spot is a toss-up between Liam Plunkett and Kabir Ali.