It is always harder to play away from home but England have to lose their short-sighted vision of playing on green wickets in this country. Look at results this year. Away from home we have lost 6-1 to Australia, been beaten by Bangladesh and Ireland during the World Cup and now lost 5-0 in India. Our overall result against Sri Lanka and India in the summer was 6-2, but the scores only tell a certain story.

Last summer we played Sri Lanka on the greenest Oval pitch I have ever seen and won comfortably. England then played at Headingley on a flat wicket that took a bit of spin and lost. They were not happy and went berserk at the groundsman. What happened next? At Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka were rolled over on an absolute classic English green top. Result? England won by 10 wickets. They perhaps wanted Alastair Cook to win a few games as a young captain but I am sorry, if you want to be the best team in one-day cricket then you have to play on slow, turning pitches consistently.