Fulfilment at last

After spending 35 years in pursuit of a world title, England found fulfilment in Barbados. And Paul Collingwood's men did it with a vitality of style not always associated with English sides of the past, dominating Australia in the final of the World Twenty20 and winning their maiden global limited-overs tournament. England's triumph was a testament to the benefits of brave, forceful cricket. Consider that seven members of England's victorious team appeared in last year's World Twenty20 in which the side played with the safety-first attitude so characteristic of it in major tournaments, and you get a sense of the remarkable transformation coach Andy Flower has wrought. The result of hundreds of hours of smart, directed training behind the scenes was a cohesive squad that had balance and variety in batting and bowling and a previously unattained level of athleticism in fielding. As Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said during the Super Eights, England was not only a deeper and more powerful batting unit but also a well-rounded bowling attack with no obvious weakness. Collingwood led with uncommon assurance and the team responded to its captain's attacking instincts by playing without the fear of failure — such an important part of courting success on the big stage.

What will the triumph mean for English cricket? Former England captain Michael Vaughan's suggestion that this was better than the Ashes victory of 2009 drew ridicule from other experts. Michael Atherton, another former England captain, responded with the observation that the victory, while significant, wouldn't go down in English folklore: widespread recognition that Twenty20 is not the pinnacle of the game and awareness that Collingwood's team is not representative of the health of the English game in general — Michael Lumb, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan, and Kevin Pietersen learnt their cricket elsewhere — would ensure as much. Yet there is a lot about England's campaign that offers hope. The Australians, as they showed again in the semifinal against Pakistan, are fearsome in big games; the resistance has to be beaten out of them. England found the resolve required for this endeavour. Off-spinner Graeme Swann confirmed his command of his craft in all forms of the game, Kevin Pietersen rediscovered the touch that saw him heralded as the Next Big Thing, and Eoin Morgan proved he had the intelligence and innovation to orchestrate the middle order. But most of all, England looked like it belonged at the top table where, often in the past, in major tournaments it appeared content to slink away after putting in a token appearance.