Graeme Swann believes England must beat India at home and away if they are to fulfil their ambition to be one of the best ODI nations in the world.
Team director Andy Flower has targeted an improvement in the 50-over game - England are currently ranked fifth - after guiding his team to the top of the Test standings.
England are favourites to win the current series against a injury-depleted India, who are without most of the team that won the World Cup in April, as the hosts lead 1-0 heading into tomorrow's third game at The Oval.
While Swann is focused on securing the series success he believes any longer-term ambitions will only be realised if England also win in the return series on the sub-continent next month.
"Our official ranking is five and I don't think we can argue with that," he said in an interview shown on Sky Sports News.
"We have to beat teams like India, not just in this series, but when we go away to play them as well."
Swann believes one-day skipper Alastair Cook is silencing his doubters after his match-winning innings in the rain-shortened win at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday.
Cook's suitability for the shorter formats had been questioned when he was installed as skipper earlier this summer, but he responded with an unbeaten 80 off 63 balls in Southampton.
"He's just letting his bat do the talking," Swann added.
"It is very good for Cooky. He works very hard on his game, no-one works harder on his game although Kevin Pietersen might tell you differently.
"It is brilliant that it is paying off for him.
"He was written off - he's even hitting sixes these days. So you never know, hell might freeze over."
No comments:
Post a Comment