Spoilt for choice

In little more than a year, Andy Flower, the team director of England cricket, has worked wonders. Taking over just after the Moores/Pietersen debacle, Flower endured a challenging start as temporary head coach in the West Indies. Since then however, Flower and new captain Andrew Strauss have turned English cricket around in a way no-one thought possible. An home Ashes series win, a one day series win in South Africa, a drawn test series in South Africa, professionally accomplished series wins home and away against Bangladesh, and of course, winning the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Today's series clinching win against Bangladesh has capped a successful start to 2010 for the England side, but the key point to enforce is that England don't only have a good first eleven, they have a good squad. Competition for places is strong and healthy, and all of a sudden, English cricket is looking rosy again. Eoin Morgan, Steven Finn and Ajmal Shahzad have come into the side recently to potentially audition for the trip to Australia in November, and having performed pretty well - Finn stands out after winning man of the match at Lords and man of the series (both v Bangladesh) - mean English cricket is looking as strong as ever. The England selectors are, dare I say it, spoilt for choice!

It is always difficult to judge how a good a team is against a team like Bangladesh, with all due respect, and Pakistan later this summer will provide a much sterner test. But at the same time, you can only beat what is put in front of you, and this England side, with the likes of Broad and Collingwood to come back in, looks like it is continuing to head in the right direction. What will take the focus now, is whether England can continue their limited overs form against the Aussies in a couple of weeks time.