They say that the Premier League is no country for old men, that its dash and intensity are too much for the over-30s.

The year is still in its infancy, but already 2012 has proved the nay-sayers wrong. With the broad shouldered Phil Jones losing impulsive cult followers with every passing game, English football is turning to tried and tested players.

In its perpetual quest to destabilize the English national team, club football has sent a resounding message. The returns of Paul Scholes to Manchester United and Thierry Henry to Arsenal are reminders that the Premier League lacks faith in the youth game, and that its cynical commercialism trumps all. Fancy a Paul Scholes No. 22 shirt?

However, 2011/12 will never seduce the Premier League’s most recent retiree. Edwin van der Sar’s career ended in May, without an asterisk. But United fans remember him, with throbbing temples every time David De Gea leaps for a corner, or Anders Lindegaard’s complacent feet encourage an opposing striker to press high-up the pitch. The ghost of van der Sar still haunts the United penalty area, undermining its youthful commanders.

It’s unsurprising that De Gea and Lindegaard are struggling to emulate the man who Rio Ferdinand still calls “the best I’ve ever played with”. Van der Sar set incomparable standards, refining his on-field presence through years of experience and incessant success. United’s defensive struggles this season are a tribute not only to their former goalkeeper’s shot stopping ability, but also to his encouraging yet aggressive attitude; van der Sar was able to unite ever-changing back fours, and to ride calmly through the worst of injury crises.

His poise was admirable. He saved Nicolas Anelka’s weak penalty to win Manchester United the Champions League. Van der Sar, glistening in the Moscow rain, his arms raised high in the air is an iconic image; as famous as Ole Solskjaer sliding across the Camp Nou turf.

Van der Sar’s calm confidence facilitated his record-breaking run of clean sheets in December and January of 2008/2009. From Samir Nasri’s lash at the Emirates to Peter Lovenkrands’ prod at St. James’ (a total of 20 hours of football) the Dutchman didn’t concede a single goal. Against West Brom, he broke Petr Cech’s record run of clean sheets in the Premier League; a game later he toppled Steve Death’s British record. He smashed Danny Vanderlinen’s European total at home to Fulham*.

“His calming influence goes right through the team,” Giggs said after the West Brom game. “He is getting better with age. Yes, he has great players in front of him but, when he is called upon, he never makes a mistake.” From the beginning of his streak Van Der Sar maintained that numbers were not what mattered, that Manchester United’s quest for an 18th title was more important than any statistical milestones. Yet, 3-0 up and with just minutes left against Fulham, a Bobby Zamora shot bounced inches wide of the United goal, and van der Sar grinned – a slightly mischievous half smile. That was about as close as he ever came to self-indulgence.

Henry Winter lucidly described Manchester United’s frightening confidence during van der Sar’s record tilt. “These are memorable days and nights for Sir Alex Ferguson’s players,” he wrote. “From San Siro to St James’, they gleam with conviction… An aura of invincibility surrounds them.”

When Peter Lovenkrands slotted home after just eight minutes at St. James’ Park to end van der Sar’s record run of clean sheets, the Geordies behind the goal began chanting “dodgy keeper, dodgy keeper.” The humor, however, failed to ruffle van der Sar. His focus and composure over the last eighty minutes helped United to a 2-1 win.

Van der Sar’s run ended at 1311 minutes, but the resolve it instilled never left Manchester United that season. Even in Rome, where United’s Dutch No. 1 was denied a third career European Cup, fans left convinced of United’s potential.

“When we go 1-0 up, other teams think ‘Oh no, here we go, it’s going to be hard,’” van der Sar said that year, after one of his many clean sheets. “That’s what we want, we want to create fear in the opposition.”

Van der Sar placed his record-breaking ach

Whether he makes the England squad or not, he is under serious pressure from Adil Rashid, who’s performances in the World Twenty20 were impressive, as both fight out to be England’s second spinner. Panesar is no longer England’s premier spinner as Nottinghamshire’s Graeme Swann, has overtook him in the last six months.

Panesar’s form in this year’s county season has been awful. For Northamptonshire this year, he has taken just five wickets from six matches, with an average of over 90. His fielding is still a concern, while his batting is improving but not international standard.

His lack of variation is a concern, and compared to the leg spin of Rashid and his batting ability, the Yorkshire all rounder may be the selectors choice with the Ashes series only three weeks away…

England hopes of World Twenty20 success are on the line, but who would have felt that defending champions India are in a similiar state of mind. For both teams, this is a must win game.

If India lose this game, then they are out. Simple as that. Not even net run rate will help the champions as the winner of the England v West Indies game will join South Africa.

England, on the other hand, the case is not the same. A loss would not mean the hosts being knocked out but it seriously dents their hopes. Net run rate will decide the fate if England manage to beat West Indies and South Africa beat India. Now, this is going to be a close one.

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Focusing on just the game now, India will be strong favourites. Of course they would, as England are on the back of a humbling against the mighty South Africans. But, after they’re embarrassing loss against the Netherlands, they recovered fantastically well as they demolished a unbalanced Pakistan side.

India looked good before they were well beaten by the West Indies but remember the two wins were against minnows Banglandesh and Ireland.

How is the game going to go? Who’s going to shine on the day? Either Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright and Kevin Pietersen will have to have a really good innings as the trio are key to England’s performance with the bat.

Meanwhile, India will always look to big hitter Yuvraj Singh to come up with the goods, and their spinners will always be a threat as the likes of Harbajhan Singh and Pragyan Ojha are always economical and are frequent wicket takers.

England: Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood (c), Dimitri Mascarenhas,  James Foster (wk), Graeme Swann, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson,

India: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha

How can a team that has suffered a mauling against England earlier this year, beat, no, thrash Australia before coming back from a tough position to beat defending champions India with 8 balls to spare.

Chris Gayle is no doubt the threat at the top of the Windies order, but Dwayne Bravo with both bat and ball can single handedly win games, just like he did yesterday. He took 4-38 with the ball, before clubbing 66 off 36 balls. Shiv Chanderpaul hit some good shots yesterday, while Ramnaresh Sarwan is always handy with the bat.

Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor are good bowlers too, and with the team work and unity they showed against the Indians they can beat the South Africans. Expect more upsets, thrills and spills from this team as the dark horses make a charge for the World Twenty20 cup…

When David Lloyd was on the cricket field, he was able to do everything well. Bat or bowl, he managed to succeed. Now as one of official World Twenty20 commentators he can do that as good as anyone.

Enthusiasm is what you need as a commentator and Lloyd has got it. Last year in England’s domestic Twenty20 cup he even sang a little song when a Middlesex player hit a huge six.

It doesn’t have an impact of what’s going on on the pitch, but it sure does liven the game up a bit for those watching at home. Shame you can’t say the same about Pakistan legend Wasim Akram’s commentating…

This was the real England. The scoreboard may have read England won by 48 runs but England’s was much more convincing than that.

Pakistan bowled poorly, Kevin Pietersen getting an easy 50, and was not once troubled by the Pakistani bowlers, until one really good ball by Saeed Ajmal found an edge.

The batting was truly awful. After about 12 overs, around 100 short of the total they bought on big hitter Shahid Afridi. Now he was awful. He just tried to slog it out of the park. He failed. 5 off 12 balls. Then with five overs to go, 80 or so required, it seemed that they just packed their bags.

You’ve read the Pakistani story. Now the England. The unity and belief that was on display as soon as wicket one, it was almost like the Netherlands game didn’t even happen. Younis Khan and Salman Butt did decent with the bat but wickets fell at a regular pace. Anderson, Broad and Luke Wright enjoyed successful spells, with Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid forming an formidable spin partnership which was nothing short of economical.

The win was wrapped up quite comprehensively. Now the Super Eights. Can England take it all the way? If they play like this, then sure…

England came into the tournament as dark horses but that could all change today as a loss against Pakistan will mean the hosts will crash out of the tournament.

Surely, the scripts weren’t written this way. Who would have thought that the minnows that is Netherlands would beat England in the competition opener? Now, as England prepare for a crucial, must win game against Pakistan they could be without Kevin Pietersen.

In the opening game, the performance was poor. They didn’t up and were deservedly beaten. In they play like they did on Friday, then England can say goodbye to the Twenty20 trophy.

Today, they take on a team that’s Twenty20 record is pretty impressive, this was the team that ended up runners up in the inaugural tournament in 2007.

They have the Twenty20 top wicket-takers in Umar Gul and Shaid Afridi, and although their batting is rather hit and miss, the likes of Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq are dangerous.

But Pakistan have only played two games in seven months in this format, and the conditions will favour England. The conditions will also be more suited to England, what with the swing, so this could James Anderson’s game. Another question is who will England play in this crucial game? Below, we think this is the team that England will put out in the Oval.

England: Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood (c), Dimitri Mascarenhas,  James Foster (wk), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom.

Prediction: The swinging conditions could prove vital in this game. Both Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara are in top form while Pakistan stumbled in both their warm up games. I think England could just sneak it.

(Group A, Trent Bridge:)
India 180-5 beat Bangladesh 155-8 by 25 runs

You don’t need Twenty20 vision to see the difference between Chris Gayle and others, and the same could be said about Yuvraj Singh as both helped thier respective teams to what was some rather comprehensive victory.

David Warner hit a well constucted innings of 63 to help Australia put 170 on the board, after they were 15-3 at one point, but the target was not a daunting one, especially for Chris Gayle. In the Windies reply, Gayle hit the first and third ball for four as some poor Australian bowling was punished, as both Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were far too expensive.

Gayle hit a match winning 88 of 50 balls, and was well backed up by opening partner Andre Fletcher (53 off 32). Gayle smashed six fours and six sixes including one blow hich went back 105 metres. West Indies won the game with more than four overs to spare.

Yuvraj hit a rapid 41 off 18 to give India a comfortble win as his bludgeoning innings included three fours and four sixes. Guatam Gambhir hit a watchful, but important 50 as India posted 180 in their 20 overs.

Bangladesh’s reply was tame as they finished 25 runs short, only Junaid Siddique offering some resistance with a quickfire 41 of 22 balls.

At the end of the day, it was the innings of both Gayle and Yuvraj Singh which almost certainly won the game for both teams.

No shock this time. Scotland could not do what Netherlands did, but hyey did give it one hell of a go, didn’t they? Hitting 89 off just seven overs was some achievement.

New Zealand were in trouble at one point, but Ross Taylor (22 0f 10) put them on course and they ended up chasing the total with an over to spare. Jan Stander went for 22 runs off the deciding over,

Australia will play West Indies at the Oval, which has gotten underway, then India and Bangladesh have a evening game at Trent Bridge.

The way they bowled in the last nine overs, allowing England only 62 runs with five wickets falling, before coming out to bat knowing they had nothing to lose. In fact, they batted superbly, slamming four sixes in total in their innings. Compare that to England, who didn’t even manage to go over the rope.

It was also the running between the wickets, that Paul Collingwood admitted that the Dutch did better, that helped win the game. In fact, two of the England bowlers did not even managed a dot ball in their 24 balls.

The game was delayed by 20 minutes, due to rain, which also meant that the opening ceremony had to be abandoned. England’s day did not start well, with the news that Kevin Pietersen will miss out and now they will be sweating over his fitness for Sunday.

Bopara and Luke Wright started the game – and the tournament, in some fashion both hitting quick fire boundaries as the pair wasted no time getting into their stride. Both hit some classy shots, and soon England found themselves on 100 without loss after 11. But the duo failed to hit any sixes, Luke Wright in particular showing the most intent but due to some slower balls from Netherlands, it helped restrict what could have been more.

It was the slower ball which brought about the first wicket, Bopara skying one into the air awarding an easy catch for the Dutch. From then on, England could not manage too many boundaries, but Luke Wright hit a superb 71 as the hosts still looked likely for a score around 170 or 180.

Rob Key, making his Twenty20 debut, was poor, as he showed little intent for the ropes and his running between the wickets was not satisfactory. A few wickets fell and England finished on 162-5. It wasn’t a great score but surely enough to defend against the minnows.

In reply, Netherlands made a bad start. They were 2-1 in the first over,but opener Darron Reekers hit a rapid 20, including one big six to give them some hopes of snatching an unlikely victory. Batsmen De Groot hit 49, and England suddenly sensed that victory was not certain. Run out oppurtunity missed, a difficult drop catch at the boundary and some good running meant that the team in orange needed just seven off six.

Stuart Broad bowled tight deliveries, but in the over he has missed two run out chances and dropped a catch. Last ball, Netherlands required two off one.  When Edgar Schiferli hit the ball back to Broad, he and Ryan ten Doeschate (22), Broad suddenly had a chance at the stumps which missed, and went for overthrows.  Netherlands already ran the single, ran again as England could not retrieve the ball in time.

Netherlands recorded a major blow, winning by four wickets, a result no one would have though possible and this may have been the worst ever day for English cricket.

England will have to beat Pakistan on Sunday, and if they fail, then will be crashing out in the group stages. Netherlands defied the scripts, and all credit to them, but England, in front of their own fans, may say goodbye come Sunday night.