England kickstarted their 2004 NatWest Series campaign with a huge win in Leeds and rightly should the champagne be spayed liberally round. But there are still a few big issues to face...

Duncan Fletcher - to keep an eye

After getting a kick in the teeth in the last two matches, England have at last administered the kicking. Their seven-wicket thrashing of the West Indies at Headingley will restore some much needed pride and came as a consequence of a few excellent performances.

First the efforts of Steve Harmison must be recognised. To describe his bowling in the last week would be to struggle with metaphors of speed trains, raging bulls, silver bullets and Saturn V rocket launchers. Quick, thunderous and jolly impressive.

Nathan Astle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have both been thumped in the face by deliveries just back of a length, and I would guess that their team mates are all examining their helmets with renewed interest. Harmison is a real threat to both their health and their wickets.

Darren Gough has bowled well against everyone, but lacked the luck to get wickets. James Anderson has not lacked that luck thus far in his short career, but on Thursday backed that up with an excellent line and enough swing to bring Manfred Mann back into fashion.

The rest (all 160 of it) was left to Marcus Trescothick to settle, which he did. However, it does prompt the more sober part of this article.

In calling back Andrew Flintoff half-fit, the selectors have admitted that there is not one specialist batsman in the whole of England pressing for a place. Rikki Clarke need not look as glum as we have become used to seeing him. There is no-one worthy to replace him apparently - despite a string of single-figure scores.

If you consider that Michael Vaughan continues to be remarkably unimpressive at the top of the order, that Andrew Strauss wants to hook everything that is not a yorker and Robert Key is yet to reproduce his county form on the international stage, it leaves England very dependent on Trescothick and Flintoff.

Granted there is in Thursday's team a tremendous depth of batsmen, but Anthony McGrath will have to make way for a better bowler at some stage (20 overs from McGrath and Trescothick is not something England will often be able to get away with). Collingwood and Geraint Jones are talented players, but neither has made any runs as yet.

Consequently, the England management should be very happy with the win, but need to pay close attention to the cracks that might otherwise be papered over.

By Jeff Friedlander