Too Much Quantity. Too Little Quality.

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Why have England’s players burnt out?

 

December 30^th 2013

 
 

A look at the statistics for 2013 offers some insight into why some of England’s players are struggling. The top two and three of the top five wicket-takers in Test cricket in 2013 are English. Why? Of front line bowlers, just seven have played ten or more Tests in 2013 (eight if you count Kane Williamson). It is no surprise then to find Stuart Broad, who has played all fourteen Tests for England in 2013, well ahead of his nearest rival, Jimmy Anderson, with 62 wickets to Anderson’s 52.

Just one bowler in the world has bowled more than 500 overs in Tests in 2013. No prizes for guessing whom: Jimmy Anderson’s 531 completed overs (38 per Test) put him more than fifty ahead of Stuart Broad. Peter Siddle, who has the persevering workhorse role in the Australian side is the only other bowler to have played in fourteen Tests in 2013 and the only other bowler to have passed 450 overs in the year, although with a far inferior strike rate to Broad or Anderson.

No prizes either for guessing who is the only other bowler to pass fifty wickets. Dale Steyn has played just nine Tests in the year and close to 200 overs fewer than Jimmy Anderson, but has quite stunning numbers: strike rate 42 (bettered only by Mitch Johnson and, more unexpectedly, Marlon Samuels, who has only bowled 40 overs all year, but has taken ten wickets); average 17.7; best figures, a stunning 6-8.

After Dale Steyn comes a name that few people would guess: Trent Boult has 46 wickets in 11 Tests at an average of 25.1 and strike rate of 56 – more than respectable numbers. Graeme Swann, with 43 wickets and a strike rate of 61 completes the top five, despite missing four Tests in 2013.

A little down the list, two names stand out. Ravi Ashwin is often regarded by Indian fans as a lower middle-order batsman who can bowl a little, but his 41 wickets in 7 Tests have come at an average of 22.5 and an amazing strike rate for a spinner of 52. Shane Shillingford though has played just six Tests in 2013 and looks unlikely to play in 2014. A look at his numbers shows what a crippling loss he will be for the West Indies: 36 wickets at 22.3, with a strike rate of 44 that is even better than Vernon Philander!

The list also shows the inequalities in the amount of cricket played by sides. While England and Australia have played 14 Tests, New Zealand 12, South Africa 9 and India 8, Sri Lanka have played just 3 Tests in 2013 and Bangladesh and Zimbabwe only 4. However, Robiul Islam’s 19 wickets at 22.1 for Bangladesh suggest that maybe, just maybe, they have found themselves the strike bowler that they need to start winning Tests against the medium-sized teams.

No prizes either for guessing the top run scorers in 2013. Michael Clarke’s late burst has pushed him past Ian Bell, the only two batsmen to pass 1000 runs in the year. The batsman of the year though surely is AP de Villiers with 933 runs at 77.8, with just 13 innings in 9 Tests.

A look at the top ten run scorers though shows the poor quality that the largest quantity of Test cricket has provided: Alistair Cook’s 916 runs (4^th in the list) scored at 33.9; Joe Root’s 862 (7^th) at 34.5; Shane Watson’s 810 (9^th) at 35.2. In contrast, Ross Taylor’s 866 runs have been made at 77.2 and Pujara, has an equally impressive 829 at 75.4. At the other end of the scale, Phil Hughes and Jonny Bairstow have an amazing 15 Tests between them in 2013 and both have more than 350 runs in the year at an average of just 27, while Jacques Kallis’s 309 runs have come at just 25.8 (the worst of all batsmen with at least 300 runs in Tests in 2013, apart from Stuart Broad), despite his century in his final innings before retirement.

Unconditional Surrender

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Without a fight

 

December 29^th 2013

 
 

At the start of the day there was a real chance that England could pull off a win. There were shadows around the ground of Dean Headley and Phil Tufnell and, why not? There were even thoughts of bustling Bob Willis charging in like a man possessed at Headingley. Australia’s top order has been shaky and you felt that one wicket could easily become three. Two edges went in quick succession to first slip and were floored and that was that. The first, you could argue, should have been attempted by Jonny Bairstow, but the captain went for it and got a hand to it. The second went straight in at a comfortable height and straight out. When that happened, you knew that the fight had gone. Jonny Bairstow did hold an edge soon after, but it was too little, too late. Shoulders had slumped. It was not going to happen.

Rivers of ink will be written about what happened and why. There are already calls for Andy Flower to go. The criticism last night of Alistair Cook’s occasionally bizarre decisions was manifest. Cook had two potential match-winners in the side: Stuart Broad and Monty Panesar, but seemed strangely reluctant to bowl either until it was too late. Joe Root got two short spells before Monty was even tried. To his credit, Joe Root did bowl one of the only four maidens of the innings, but the unwillingness to put on Monty early with a hard ball and just see what might happen was alarming. It is obvious that Alistair Cook has no faith in him and, if England play two spinners at Sydney, they will be Tredwell and Borthwick.

Andy Flower must take his share of blame for the dysfunctional squad. When you have three bowlers who you cannot risk playing, another who you do not want to play and two batsmen who you would prefer not to have to play in the team and *then* lose two vital players in mid-tour, you are in a mess.

While most people were happy to see Finn and Rankin in the squad and expected them to make a big impact – the reasoning behind picking them was good – there was a lot of scepticism about Chris Tremlett, who could not even hold down a regular place last season in a desperately poor Surrey side. Maybe the idea was to take him as a loyalty bonus in a large squad, with no plan to play him but, instead, to monitor his rehabilitation: if it was, the fact that he suddenly became a contender for the Test squad despite having the poorest returns of the three in the warm-ups, simply on the basis of net bowling, was a real cause for concern. It is true that England discovered Steve Finn on the basis of a net spell in the UAE, when Finn could not even get into the Lions team, leaping straight from net bowler to the Lions to Test bowler against Bangladesh. It is also true that Geoff Boycott “discovered” Carl Rackemann in the nets in 1977/78 (fancy some free dentistry, Geoff cobber?) but if you are picking your Test bowlers on their net form rather than middle form, something is seriously wrong.

Right now almost every place in the squad is up for grabs. Patience has almost run out for Michael Carberry, who started the tour with such a bang, but whose strokeless effort in the second innings had a lot to do with the collapse that followed. With Alistair Cook hitting the ball so sublimely, Carberry just needed to push singles and twos into gaps to pile the pressure on Australia by upping the run rate.

Carberry’s stats make interesting reading. In his five Tests he has totaled no less than 40 and no more than 74 runs per Test. Total consistency, but with the frustration of getting in and getting out time and again:

30, 34, 40, 0, 60, 14, 43, 31, 38, 12

302 runs at 30.2.

Nick Compton’s sequence was

9, 37, 29, 30*, 57, 9*, 3, 34, 0, 117, 100, 13, 2, 16, 15, 1, 7

479 runs at 31.9, aided by two not outs and a curiously similar start.

Apart from Carberry, Alistair Cook desperately needs some runs. Joe Root’s amazing international start has hit the buffers. Many question KP’s willingness to go on, even if his increasingly damaged knee permits it. It is hard to see Trott or Prior lining up against Sri Lanka next Spring, barring some extraordinary early season form. Swann has gone. Jonny Bairstow (average under 29 and, despite getting into double figures in his last nine innings, just two scores in them over 37) may have just the final Test left to avoid being discarded for good. Despite good form in the UAE and India when he bowled in tandem with Graeme Swann, Monty has gone backwards since 2007 and it is hard to see him playing another Test unless he can re-discover his golden touch at Essex. A lot of pundits would not pick Jimmy Anderson for Sydney and might not for Sri Lanka.

And Tim Bresnan, who has done exactly the job that he was picked for, including the figures of 18-6-24-2 in the first innings that took wickets at the other end for his teammates, is usually the first name on the team list to be greeted with cries of despair from England fans, wondering what he is in the side for. For the record, only Joe Root has a better economy rate for England in the series whereas, although his wickets have been relatively expensive (although less so than Anderson’s, Swann’s, Monty’s and Stokes’s), only Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and, by a fraction, Ben Stokes have a better strike rate for England.

Most people are suggesting that England need to shuffle the batting order and add some pace to the attack. Finn has more wickets on the tour at a better strike rate than Rankin, but Rankin’s far superior economy may win out, although Finn would be the most dangerous bowler… albeit, most likely to both sides. He needs to be handled with care in a five-man attack and asked to bowl very short spells, flat out. Whether Finn for Anderson would revive the menace in England’s attack is open to doubt: Broad, Stokes and even Anderson have touched 90mph and Finn is not an express bowler.

Next summer there are plenty of options: Chris Jordan, Tymal Miils, Chris Woakes could all make the step up. Graeme Onions is around. Woakes’s nervous start recalled Ian Botham’s debut in 1977 when his inaccurate swingers were ruthlessly picked off by Greg Chappell and it would be foolish to discard him, particularly as he came back well later. Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, the Overtons and James Taylor are all waiting in the wings, not forgetting Scott Borthwick and Varun Chopra and, of course, Sam Robson, plus a chastened Simon Kerrigan who now knows how much he has to do to succeed at this level. It would only take one or two of these players to come through to transform the side completely.

A Comfortable England Win? (Spanish) April Fool!!!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Another bad day, but 3-1 is clearly in sight

 

December 28^th 2013

 
 

In Spain, December 28^th is “the Day of the Innocent Saints” – the children slaughtered by Herod – and has become the Spanish April Fools Day. The Spanish tend to get taken in rather easily by news stories in European media on April 1^st, never realising the tradition of trying to fool viewers, listeners and readers as plausibly as possible, but go to town themselves on December 28^th.

Yesterday, the joke was on England.

If you went to bed at lunch in the Test, as many surely do, despite a rather poor bowling effort that allowed the last pair to score far more than they should, you would have gone with England’s lead past 100, with Michael Carberry at his most obdurate and with Alistair Cook stroking the ball like the Cook of 2010/11. You would have believed in Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and a seemingly inevitable England victory.

Despite a horrible post-lunch collapse from 65-0 and 86-1 to 87-4, KP, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow seemed to be righting the ship. It was 173-5 and a lead of 300 seemed likely. Bairstow was counter-attacking, his short, but violent innings including four boundaries, two of them maximums (should that not be maxima, declining our Latin correctly???) KP was playing sublimely. It made what followed, with the lower middle order and tail making Nathan Lyon look like a combination of the best of Shane Warne. Muttiah Muralitharan and Jim Laker bowling on a minefield. Panic set in and players who know how to bat and can bat well, surrendered.

Australia need 231 to win. In a low-scoring match they have to significantly better their first innings performance. Even though they have knocked off 30 of them, they are not very much better placed than in the equivalent stage of the first innings.

England should still win from here. However, there is still that phantom in the wardrobe of Australia showing that this is actually a good batting pitch and sailing to their target by Tea tomorrow with only one or two wickets down.

Victory in a dead rubber seems to split opinion: some say that it would just convince England that everything is right after all (you can turn this around and say that winning 4-0 or 5-0 would convince Australians that all is right with their cricket when it is most clearly not and this series win may be simply a one-off); others feel that to turn things round and get to 3-1, or even a 3-2 result would be a major statement of intent. There are plenty who are joking that it is a ten-match series and delicately poised at 3-3, provoking serious sense of humour failure in at least one cricket writer who has taken these claims seriously and aimed a major social media outburst at it. Winning a dead rubber is like kissing your sister: it is a comfort, but nothing like as good as the real thing. I stick by that. It will make England feel better. It will show them that they can compete. However, it will not hide the fact that they have been seriously second best when the chips were down.

Michael Clarke, England's Man Of The Match??

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Bat first and win… however implausible?

 

December 27^th 2013

 
 

Many England supporters will have watched or listened to the collapse at the start of play that confirmed their worst nightmares and gone to bed, depressed. Those who stayed a while longer will have seen how Australia’s top order struggled before lunch and will have wondered if maybe, just maybe, 255 was a better score than it looked. What no one was prepared for was Australia to collapse in the evening like a card house, leaving England still 91 ahead, with just Nathan Lyon to accompany Brad Haddin, who continues to battle on.

Finally, through either trial and error, or just blind luck, England have found the ideal attack for a Test. The absence of Graeme Swann was irrelevant because a spinner was irrelevant: Monty Panesar bowled just 9 overs, albeit for only 18 runs. Anderson weaved his magic as he had at the start of last summer. Stuart Broad blasted out the tail with raw aggression. Tim Bresnan found reverse swing, took two vital wickets and conceded just 24 runs from 18 overs. And Ben Stokes continued to develop at a ridiculous rate, showing the sceptics such as me who doubted that he would be effective yet at this level, just how wrong we were.

The plan has been to bowl tightly and make the batsmen commit errors. Unfortunately, the Australians have not cooperated and the batsmen have not got the runs to pressurise them. England’s highest first innings score of the series looked far from enough but, as so often in this series, the experts have completely misread the pitch which, it has become obvious, is a very hard one to bat on unless the batsman has an incredible boredom threshold. The England attack kept to a plan and the Australians duly threw away their wickets. A relatively healthy 110-3 became a decidedly anemic 164-9.

While Brad Haddin is still there, Australia will hope to keep the deficit below 50. Stuart Broad though will have three balls at Nathan Lyon and will hope to end the innings with them, having taken two wickets in his last four balls.

Once again, the side that has batted first has dominated the Test (at least, so far). If England were to win, maybe Michael Clarke should be their man of the match for putting England in?

Batting Problems Continue

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

New England, old problem

 

December 26^th 2013

 

There are times when it is nice to be away from Internet coverage. A few days away, isolated from the world have helped to forget about the “tour from hell”. The fact that the 3^rd Test and with it the Ashes as a theoretically competitive series ended well before Christmas and then had a dead period until Boxing Day has helped. For the older England fans, brought up in an era when success of any kind was a collectors’ item, the epithet “tour from hell” was used so often that it began to lack all meaning: none of us have missed them and finding England in the middle of what was a recurring nightmare in the ‘80s and ‘90s has been an unpleasant surprise.
 

A fractious tour took on a new ratchet up of pressure with the retirement of Graeme Swann from all cricket before Christmas. Criticism has rained down on him. It was well known that he was not expected to get through to the 2015 Ashes but, to retire mid-tour was a shock. However, Swann is no one’s fool. As in 2010, the Australians have set out to attack him and neutralise him. Then though, the batsmen made enough runs that he always had a long rest between bowling efforts. Here, he has rarely had the luxury and, even his supposed rest, has usually seen him coming out to bat in a crisis against an angry attack. The elbow that has been operated on twice could not last him much longer anyway and he has a boy, Wilf, who he dotes on and, being away so much, is missing growing up. Undoubtedly Andy Flower has had a word in his ear and told him that he was not going to be picked for the last two Tests and Graeme Swann has seen that it was time to turn the page on his career.
 

Much has been made of the dearth of spinners to replace Swann. The Australians see Simon Kerrigan as a figure of fun in much the same way that a lot of people saw Shane Warne as a figure of fun after his first Test. That was a mistake and Simon Kerrigan may well make them pay in the way that Shane Warne did. There are also plenty of useful young spinners around. Maybe none is worth an England place right now, but how many people would have said that Graeme Swann would be a great spinner when he was 25? He had had one disastrous tour of South Africa that had convinced Duncan Fletcher that he was an immature crybaby who would not fit in England’s plans. In the meantime though, Monty Panesar has an unexpected chance to revive his England career. When Monty burst onto the scene in 2006 as a 25 year old with hardly any First Class experience it looked as if the sky was the limit for him. He was popular with the fans and front page news. Now, he knows that he has been lucky to get a chance. He also knows that he may not be an automatic choice for Sydney, even in the absence of Swann.

England have called up Scott Borthwick and James Tredwell. Borthwick is an anomaly: a spinner and a leggie at that, who has flourished in Chester-le-Street’s green, seaming surfaces. His stats do not look great, but he has to contend with a pitch that is not exactly a spinners paradise for his home games. Tredwell had a miserable season with the captaincy at Kent proving to be an insuperable burden. However, his second half of the season showed a considerable upturn and, playing ODIs to rest Swann, he showed that he is a not inconsiderable bowler. Tredwell’s returns for England have been better than Swann’s in the last year or so. The selectors have decided to leave Kerrigan with the Lions to mature a bit and have ignored the talents of Danny Briggs: the pool is by no means as empty as some might say.

The final team showed no surprises: Broad was fit; Panesar replaced Swann (the brave move would have been to go with Borthwick, who has been playing Club cricket in Australia and would have offered something different with the ball, plus a lot more in the field and with the bat) and Jonny Bairstow took the gloves from Matt Prior. With Prior so down the move was inevitable, but it is asking a huge amount of Bairstow to come in like this – he has played very little and is very much a back-up ‘keeper.

In the Test we had a novelty act. Sadly, it ended in an all too familiar fashion. When Michael Clarke won the toss and put England in and then Cook and Carberry set a base without too much fuss and nothing much happened for the bowlers, Australia must have feared the worst. Rather than run through the top order with quick wickets, they reverted to English tactics: cut out the runs and just bowl dry. At 96-1 and 176-3, it could have happened for England. They were, once again, close to seizing the initiative, the strike bowlers tiring. However, we saw, once again, something that has been the bane of England’s batting in this series: the top seven all reached double figures, but only KP passed Michael Carberry’s 38. And Michael Carberry himself was the only other batsman to reach thirty. Carberry’s series of scores is getting seriously annoying. Yet another solid thirty. Yet another start, but only one fifty in nine Test innings. You now know how his innings will go: get to thirty, look as solid as a rock and then fall unexpectedly just when you think that he must go on to make a century. Unless he can break this sequence with a big score (and, even then, centuries in consecutive Tests did not save Nick Compton) the selectors will look elsewhere next summer.

Three wickets and a scoring rate in the last session that would have had old Ebenezer Scrooge  purring with joy and England are back in the pits again, faster than you can say “Nigel Mansell”. KP is hanging in there for 67 and Tim Bresnan, promoted above Stuart Broad, is showing himself to be as solid and brave as ever, but the fear is that 176-3 could well be 240ao very rapidly tomorrow morning. For England, nothing less than 300 is acceptable and 330 would be better, although probably unattainable from here.

England need KP to add to his centuries and to farm the strike and for Tim Bresnan to play with the skill and determination that gave him a Test batting average of over 40 in the early stages of his career. The first forty minutes will be vital: get through them and the ball will be starting to age a little and batting will get easier, which could just set up KP to let loose for a while; lose a wicket quickly and the tail will be exposed to a rested attack and a still relatively new ball.

If you are an optimist, you see KP racing past a century, backed by the tail, before Monty exploits the big turn that Nathan Lyon was finding even early on, to put Australia under some real pressure tomorrow. The fear though for most fans is that the alternative scenario is far more realistic: England may just fold quickly in the morning and see Australia in the lead with only two or three wickets down by the Close. Those first forty minutes of the morning will set the tone for the day: if England were to win them, we might just see the start of a revival.

Post-Test Reflections: Time To Change

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

England outfought

 

December 18^th 2013

 
 

If you want a weird Ashes statistic that sums up how the series has gone, England’s average 1^st innings score in the current Ashes series is 186; their average 2^nd innings score is 281. Australia’s average 1^st innings score so far is 417. Put runs on the board and strangle England to death in the first innings; even though England will do a lot better second time around, it is still nowhere near enough. Why though England should score around one hundred runs more in the second innings is anyone’s guess.

The wise old heads said back last June that there was very little that Darren Lehman could do in the summer series, but that he would be a more serious threat in the winter. What very few people imagined is that he would be so effective. Undoubtedly England have suffered from some overconfidence and have been caught cold, but Australia have had a plan and stuck to it. They have been helped by two particular pieces of luck: while Michael Clarke’s form was not such a shock, the reincarnation of Mitch Johnson as a devastating, accurate, fast bowler though, is. Mitch Johnson has been capable of devastating spells, or games, but has never sustained it through a series the way that he has here. Last summer England’s middle order and tail covered up for the loss of top-order wickets and the Australians had no one to blast out that tail and recover control. Here, the situation has been reversed. England’s tired bowlers have been unable to remove the Australian tail quickly, while the Australian attack has blown away the England tail time and again.

This is a decent Australian side but, by no means a great one. This series win may also be a one-off. Rogers, Haddin, Harris and even Clarke are right at the end of their careers: a single injury could finish any of them. It is likely than none will still be in the side in twelve months’ time. Johnson blows hot and cold and could, like Steve Harmison in 2004, just be going through a period of grace that he will never again manage. However, it is a side that is providing England with more problems than they can cope with.

Twitterer Fred Boycott, who some suspect to be David Lloyd, broke the habit of a lifetime by coming up with a suggested team for 4th Test that did not consist of twelve Yorkshiremen, most of whom are not even on tour. His suggested XI makes interesting reading: Cook, Carberry, Root, Bell, Ballance, Bairstow, Stokes, Bresnan, Finn, Tremlett, Panesar. If it is a joke, it is a particularly thought-provoking one, because it is not difficult to find arguments to support this particular XI. One argument against it is that the attack is not particularly penetrating, but then Anderson, Broad and Swann have not been particularly penetrating and, if Steve Finn proves expensive, there is a mix of containing and more attacking bowlers to support him. Finn could bowl short, attacking spells, flat out, just concentrating on intimidating and taking wickets. The series is lost, it is time to try something new and hope that Alistair Cook can also win the toss.

Game, Set And Ashes To Australia

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

And that, gentlemen, is the Ashes decided…

 

December 17^th 2013

 
 

A telling moment about England’s changed fortunes was the announcement of the voting for the BBC’s annual Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday night. Cricket was represented in the ten nominees by Ian Bell who, at the end of the summer, might have felt that he had a real chance of winning. When the votes were counted and the voting announced, Ian Bell was tenth and last, with half the votes of the ninth-placed candidate. A true measure of how far the stock of the England cricket team has dropped though is that the winner, Andy Murray, received seventy times more votes than Ian Bell and that there was palpable embarrassment when cricket was mentioned in the review of the sporting year.

The last rights were duly done today, but not before England, confounding those who expected the match to end in four days, took the match well into the afternoon session. There was even a point where a bubble of hope was rising after lunch, with Stokes and Bresnan batting solidly.

Once again though it was a case of hope rising and being snatched away just when you thought that if another hour passed without a wicket, Australia might start to get really rattled. Stokes and Prior started well. Eighty minutes passed and the score mounted from 251-5 to 296-5. Stokes had got past Joe Root’s 87 at Adelaide and was inching towards the century that might just turn the tide. The first hour brought just 29 runs. Australia took the new ball. Drinks came. Still nothing rash. Wide ball from Johnson. Prior slashes wildly. Edge through to Haddin. Thanks very much.

There are some in the press box who think that that shot may cost Matt Prior his place in the side for the 4^th Test. There is a strong argument to drop Matt Prior for Melbourne, play Jonny Bairstow at #6 and move Ben Stokes to #7 which, hopefully, he can make his own and which offers him the best chance of long-term batting success.

Fourteen minutes after Matt Prior’s dismissal, Ben Stokes finally showed that there is an English batsman who can count to 100. The eighth century of the series and, finally, an English contribution to the list.

Now some aggression started and, at lunch, 332-6, with Stokes and Bresnan having put on 36. Could they stay together for an hour after lunch and make the Australians a little nervous? Sadly, not. Ten minutes after lunch Ben Stokes finally fell for 120 and that was that. Not a terribly distinguished shot to end, but he had shown more guts and gumption than any other batsman. He is still far too high in the order at #6 (even though he has nine First Class centuries, he averages under 36), but he has shown that he can hack it at this level.

The end was swift and merciful. The last three wickets fell in 19 balls and just why Stuart Broad came out to bat is open to question although, maybe, with Tim Bresnan batting well, someone in the England management thought that pigs might yet fly. Broad was even able to jog a few painful singles when, possibly, he would have been better served resting the injury rather than trying to bat in a totally lost cause.

However, I am now feeling more confident that this series is more 2002/03 than 2006/07 and that we will win at least one of the two remaining Tests. Starting from a very low base, the side is beginning to compete better, although still badly let down by sloppy fielding. In 2006/07 once the side lost in Adelaide you knew that it would only get worse – and it did – here you can see a slow upward trend. If England finally win a toss, then with eight consecutive Ashes Tests dominated by the side winning the toss, now it is possible to imagine things going differently.
Going back to 2002/03, an England side set out for Australia with higher hopes than for some time. Results were improving. The side was looking more competitive. Surely it would make the Australians fight a little harder? A day into the Brisbane Test reality hit home. A disastrous insertion by Nasser Hussain. Simon Jones badly injured fielding. Andrew Flintoff in the tour party, but still barely able to walk after his summer operation, with no hope whatsoever of bowling at any time on the tour. Total chaos. And, to boot, a certain young, fast bowler bowled 8 wides in an over in one of the early tour matches but, such was the injury crisis by the 4th Test, that he had to play anyway - there was no one else left - and he and an old warhorse at the end of his career almost brought off a sensational win defending just 107 on the last day. England then went on to win the 5th Test and start the climb to Ashes success in 2005. Oh yes! And with no one left standing, England called up an unknown 20 year old who immediately went into the ODI side and bowled brilliantly, going straight into the Test side next summer.

Their names: Steve Harmison, Andy Caddick and Jimmy Anderson!

Oh Dear! Faint Hopes Sprout Unwisely Again!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Going! Going! But not quite gone

 

December 16^th 2013

 

 

Barring a small number of romantics who think that some miracle will save England, the Ashes will be formally lost, probably before lunch tomorrow. Three years ago, England managed just 310 in two innings as they were blown away. If you want a positive, you will see a total of 502 between England’s two innings, with five wickets left and feel that this is an advance over 2010 and might be right, but then, in 2010, England were not chasing 504 to win (at Perth, in 2010, Ricky Ponting set England a mere 390 and still won by 267 runs).

However, with Matt Prior in such dire form that, despite his current red-inker, if you take out his 69 at Adelaide, his other five innings in the series have garnered just 19 and Stuart Broad only planning to bat in an emergency *AND* the new ball due in thirteen overs, it will take divine intervention to push the match past lunch on Day 5.

So far in this series, Alistair Cook, Ian Bell, Joe Root and now Ben Stokes have reached 72. Only Joe Root though has pushed past 72 and then, only to 87. For their own self-esteem, England desperately need Ben Stokes to continue his gusty batting and push well past a century tomorrow morning. Even if the match is lost and the Ashes with them, England really need someone to score a big hundred to show the rest that it can be done.

The mood was so downbeat in the TMS commentary box that, even late in the evening session, most of the team really expected the extra half hour to be taken and for the match to end today. After Australia scored 134 runs in 102 balls in the morning, including 28 off the final over of the innings from Jimmy Anderson and 22 off Swann’s last over before the new ball was taken and Alistair Cook went first ball, the end could have been mercifully swift. Many England fans will regret that it was not because it means that, once again, they will go to bed tonight with that tiny fragment of hope that will swiftly and painfully be atomised when they check the score in the morning.

One small piece of good news for England is the way that Tim Bresnan has knuckled down, despite being far from match fit. He is the only bowler, apart from Joe Root, who the Australians did not get after and even though his match figures of 3-134 are not stunning, he did the job that he was picked for by bowling plenty of overs and keeping the scoring rate down, as well as managing a run out into the bargin (he conceded just a fraction more than 3.5 an over, far superior to Jimmy Anderson, Ben Stokes, or Stuart Broad).

Once again, batsmen got starts. Michael Carberry added another start to his growing list (his scores in his four Tests are annoyingly consistent: 30, 34, 40, 0, 60, 14, 43, 31 – eight innings, seven starts), without going on to make a major score. He has shown enough that you believe that a century has to come soon, but he just cannot make that breakthrough, can he?

KP had the TMS team after his blood by playing sensibly, getting to 45, starting to break loose and then falling to an obvious trap. The situation was made for him. Lost cause. Chance to make some runs without pressure. A KP special century and suddenly, with Ian Bell digging in, England could be pressing for an unlikely draw. Now, even staid comentators such as Jonathon Agnew and Geoff Boycott are suggesting that his place in the side should be questioned on the grounds that he did not play for the team.

Afterwards we were treated to perhaps the best period of play of the series for England. Ben Stokes and Ian Bell launched a glorious counter-attack and 99 runs came in 20 overs. At 220-4, with only seven overs to go in the day you could start to dream: if they see it through to the Close and if they get back in tomorrow morning… Ian Bell was a tad unlucky, because he almost got away with the ball that dismissed him. There was no question that he knew that he had feathered it, but the umpire said no, HotSpot showed nothing and the TV images seemed not to indicate an edge. Joe Root knows that lack of evidence of an edge is not enough to save you from being fired-out caught but, last summer, Bell would undoubtedly have been reprieved. Sadly, for him, RealTime Snicko showed a small signal, which the TV umpire was prepared to accept as good enough grounds to overturn the on-field decision, just when it seemed that the decision would stand. Unlike for Joe Root, justice was seen to be done and any faint hopes of a miracle were snuffed out. This time DRS got it right, but the application of DRS by the TV umpire remains sadly inconsistent and that is its biggest flaw.

Although 31 came off the final six overs of the day, it is only the most temporary of reprieves. Stokes and Prior would have to bat past Tea tomorrow for England to have a real chance of the draw and that is not going to happen. Stuart Broad’s toe is not broken, but he is sore and on crutches and will not have the benefit of a runner due to the rather idiotic rule change that forbids them. Even if the tail were to hang around for a long time, England are, effectively, a batsman short anyway.

Yet Another "Worst Day Of The Tour So Far"

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Yet another low

 

December 15^th 2013

 

 

“For once this series, England have a chance to set the agenda on the third morning, rather than simply try to delay the inevitable.”

So much for yesterday’s optimism! It took six overs to lose both overnight batsmen for the addition of just eighteen runs and expose the tail to the new ball. All England’s plans depended on getting through to lunch (30 overs) with no more than five wickets down but, by the time that the new ball was taken, twelve overs into the day, England were 221-7 and Bresnan and Broad were left to save what they could from the wreckage: eight balls after the new ball was taken, 229-8. That only Cook and Carberry scored more in the innings than the 21 from Tim Bresnan and the 19 from Graeme Swann gives an idea of the scale of the failure.

England are playing an all-rounder at six who should be batting at eight. The new opener, who many have mocked as not being good enough for Tests is the highest run-scorer for England in the series (157 runs at 31.4) and only Joe Root has so far past 72 in the series; for Australia, Clarke and Haddin have passed 300 runs and David Warner is closing in on 500 . The batting is proving to be horribly inadequate – Australia have scored almost as many centuries (6) as England have managed 50s (7). Australia have three bowlers with ten or more wickets who are averaging under 20, England have one bowler with ten or more wickets and no one averaging under 25. Although Brad Haddin has just one more dismissal than Matt Prior (11 against 10), Haddin has a century and two fifties so far in the series, while 69 of Matt Prior’s 81 runs have come in a single innings.

There was already a case for playing Bairstow for Prior in this Test. If, as seems certain, the Ashes are lost at the end of this match, that case will surely become unarguable.

Things though, have got worse. It looks possible that the Mitch Johnson yorker than dismissed Stuart Broad has broken a bone in his foot. Broad is on crutches. The x-ray has shown something, but it will be analysed in the UK (!!) [does no one trust Australian doctors??] If it is a break, it means that England’s one penetrative bowler will miss the rest of the series. Even if it is not a break, his participation in the 4^th Test must be in doubt.

If Stuart Broad goes home, someone will undoubtedly be called up. There will be plenty of calls for that to be Graeme Onions, although, with re-building needed, the temptation must be to go for one of the players in the EPP squad – possibly the fast-rising Chris Jordan, on the grounds that Tymal Mills is just not ready yet to be thrown into the deepest of deep ends.

Serious questions though will have to be asked: why is it that England have picked three tall, fast bowlers, none of whom are selectable? Why has Steve Finn gone backwards so badly in the last eighteen months? Why is there such a dearth of obvious alternatives? Why are the batsmen struggling so badly? Cook, KP, Prior and Root are not suddenly bad batsmen – is it exhaustion from the non-stop grind of cricket (this is England’s fourth Test series of the year)? Or is it something that has been allowed to slip in the set-up, allowing attitudes to become casual?

At Least, Some Fight From England

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

A better day for England

 

December 14^th 2013

 
 

For the first time in this series, Day 3 of a Test dawns with England still right in the hunt. Of course, there are a couple of provisos. At 180-4, the follow-on has not been saved yet but, with only six more wanted, surely England cannot lose 6 wickets for 5 runs… can they? With the new ball due in 12 overs and two relatively new batsmen at the crease, it is imperative that England get to lunch with no more than one more wicket lost. Ben Stokes has a chance to mark himself as a hero if he can bat on.

This was, by a long way, England’s best second day of the series. The two overnight batsmen fell relatively quickly, without causing more damage and, even if the tail hung around, finishing Australia off for 385 was better than was feared last night. England even got a decent start to their innings with Carberry and Cook adding 80, with Carberry again looking solid, without going on to make a major score. A series of 40, 0, 60, 14 & 43 suggests that he has the ability to succeed at this level and just needs one big score to break though. However, as Nick Compton has found, even centuries in consecutive Tests does not guarantee your Test future as an opener, so his average of just under thirty will need to increase soon.

Joe Root did not have the consolation of making a start. He became the first victim of daft use of DRS in the series. Shane Watson passed his bat with a good delivery and Marais Erasmus gave him out to a half-hearted appeal. Root, who did not believe that he had hit it, reviewed. No mark on HotSpot. No sound. Nothing on RealTime Snicko. No obvious edge on the TV images. Not out? Not a bit of it! The third umpire did not see enough evidence to overturn the decision. Joe Root was not happy.

England have lost wickets in pairs: 85-1, 90-2; 136-3, 146-4. Bell and Stokes have added 34 so far, looking increasingly confident. They need to at least double that in the morning for England to think that they are right back in the match. If England can get to lunch with no more than one more wicket down, they will be approaching parity in the match. However, Bell, Stokes, Prior and the tail need to dig in hard and England need fifties from at least two of them, as well as smaller, but significant contributions from others. For once this series, England have a chance to set the agenda on the third morning, rather than simply try to delay the inevitable.

Groundhog Day (again)

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Same old story

 

December 13^th 2013

 

 

When Alistair Cook lost the toss for the fourth consecutive time you knew what was coming. In seven Ashes Tests this year, the side that won the toss has gone on to dominate and, all but twice (in rain affected games), to win. After the first day it would be a brave man who would vote against eight out of eight.

We are seeing the exact reverse of the summer. Last summer England would lose early wickets, fight back and Australia would be unable to finish off the job because of lack of depth in the bowling. Now it is that Australia win the toss and bat, losing early wickets before a middle order recovery knocks the stuffing out of England because England lack the depth to finish the job with the ball.

As suggested yesterday, England went for the least bad of the options making a straight swap of Bresnan for Monty. Before the tour a lot of fans were worried about the selectors painting themselves into a corner by selecting three tall, fast bowlers, giving themselves few real options. While there were good reasons for worrying about Chris Tremlett, who looked a shadow of his former self last summer, Finn and, above all, Rankin, looked like safe bets to enjoy the extra bounce. The reality though has been that since his 5 wicket burst early in the tour, Finn has gone backwards and Rankin has never threatened to challenge for a place.

Jon Agnew came up with the lovely phrase that, rather than fighting fire with fire, picking Finn would have been like fighting fire with petrol. So, instead, England supported Broad and Anderson with the returning Bresnan, who was always likely to be feeling his way back and the apprentice, Stokes, who is not a wicket-taking bowler (yet) at this level.

I felt that England needed to knock over Australia for 220 to stay in the match. At 143-5, it looked on. Australia could even have rolled over for under 200. At 326-6 at the Close, with Smith past his century and Mitch Johnson closing in on another 50, the cause looks lost and, with it, the Ashes. It is frustrating, because England are a lot better than this and the gap between the teams is nowhere near as large as it has appeared to be.

Win The Toss. Win The Match!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Which way will England jump?

 

December 12^th 2013

 

One thing that seems to have passed unnoticed is that Alistair Cook only needs to do one thing to bring England right back into this Ashes series: win the toss! So far, of the seven Ashes Tests this year, five have been won by the side winning the toss; the two exceptions were seriously rain-affected and also dominated by the side batting first. With the Perth match almost certain to produce a result, the chances that the sequence will extend to six wins from eight tosses won are very high.

England’s shadow side, the EPP, chased down 348 to win in a maximum of 77 overs against Western Australia 2^nd XI. Key to the win was Jonny Bairstow’s 123, opening the batting. What was more interesting was that, if Gary Ballance is really intended to make his debut tonight, what he was doing batting down the order in a frantic run chase is open to question. It was Ballance though who saw England home with two overs to spare in company of Varun Chopra.

We still have little idea what the England strategy will be bar the rather open “there will be changes”. As there was really no chance that England would play two spinners at Perth, that one is pretty obvious. As it is also assumed that Tim Bresnan will play, one option is the straight swap of Bresnan for Panesar. This has some advantages: it would beef-up the tail and give England four seamers, while leaving Graeme Swann in the side for variation and as a specialist slip fielder. The worry here is that, with Stokes at 6, Prior at 7 and Broad at 8, the reliable batting would end with Ian Bell. Can England make enough runs for even five bowlers to defend?

Other options? Ballance for Stokes at 6. With temperatures forecast to reach as much as 40°C, going in with only three seamers is a huge risk, especially if England lose the toss again and the Australians continue to target Graeme Swann. Finn for Monty? Possible. Finn has to be bowled in short, sharp spells and bowl fast and aggressive. However, England badly want to have Tim Bresnan in the side to have a control bowler for long spells.

Quite possibly England will leave the top seven unchanged and make the straight Bresnan for Panesar swap. It may well be the least bad option, although I would love to see Steve Finn thundering in with the new ball tonight.

We will know in a few hours…

England Looking For Bal(l)ance?

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Watching the tealeaves

 

December 11^th 2013

 
 

For those looking at the tealeaves for hints of what England plan to do at Perth, one sizeable hint has passed under the radar. Gary Ballance was shipped off to Perth early to play for the EPP side against Western Australia 2^nd XI. With Chris Jordan and James Harris both impressing with three wickets in oppressive heat on the first day at Perth (albeit Jordan’s 3-83 was fairly expensive compared to Harris’s 3-58), the EPP XI has had a chance to make a point to their seniors, chasing the Western Australia 2^nd XI’s 319-8d on Day 1.

Ballance batted with enormous determination in stifling heat to score 89, but was still overshadowed by Sam Robson’s 108* in England’s 220-2d last night (European time), declaring when Ballance fell.  With Western Australian 2^nd XI collapsing to 32-5 just, 131 ahead, with Tymal Mills having an opening spell of 3-6 and Chris Jordan also taking a wicket with the new ball, it looked as if a swift end might come tonight. However, the middle order has staged a big recovery and, at 167-6 and a lead of 266 at the Close, the EPP are going to face a substantial fourth innings chase. This will allow Gary Ballance a further chance to push his case.

With a lot of pundits expecting Gary Ballance to bat at 6 in the Test, if he is picked to make his debut, he will have just one day to recover before walking out again. The fact though that Ballance could not quite finish the job and reach his century (like several of the England players at Adelaide), even against a very modest attack, does make one wonder if he is the solution to England’s lack of runs in the Tests. However, as these matches are almost not being reported, it is hard to find out what happened and just how meaningful any performance – usually reported through social media – is. The EPP matches are not ranked as First Class, which gives a strong indication of the quality of the opposition.

In contrast, after a modest second half of the English season, Sam Robson is going from strength to strength and is becoming well-nigh undismissible playing for the EPP. He is available for Tests next May, in time for the Sri Lanka series and, with England’s top 3 in a state of flux, there is a real chance that he may go straight into the side. Very few people see Michael Carberry as more than a short-term solution as an opener, Joe Root seems not to be ready to move up and there is increasing speculation that Alistair Cook may want to move away from the new ball in the future unless his form comes back. With two centuries for the EPP side, albeit against modest opposition, he has been the undoubted star of the team.

With Chris Jordan being picked for the ODIs to follow the Tests, England seem to be wanting to bring on players for a further regeneration of the side although, Australian claims notwithstanding, the England side is actually significantly younger than the Australian Ashes side. Chris Jordan’s ODI selection seems to be at the expense of Jade Dernbach who has finally – and many fans would say, not before time – exhausted he patience of the selectors, although still in the T20 squad. Jordan is very much at the crossroads In his career. He is now 25 and, after starting as an all-rounder of enormous potential for Surrey, lost his way as so many young players have done recently at that county. However, his performances for Sussex, particularly in the first half of the season and then for the Lions, in his ODI debut and now for the EPP have been encouraging but, if he does not break through in the next season, he may have missed his chance. Jordan though has declared for his adopted England ahead of his native Barbados (although also qualified for England through his grandmother), showing that he is prepared to burn his bridges in an effort to get into the tougher England set-up. If he decides to re-qualify for the West Indies in the future, he will be past 30 and unlikely to get a chance to play Test cricket, so this is very much an all-or-nothing shot at success.

With the EPP side already playing in Perth, there are people calling for Tymal Mills to be added to the England squad for the 3^rd Test, on the grounds that England need someone fast to counter the menace of Mitch Johnson. It is an interesting theory, but Mills is very raw and, like his teammate, Reece Topley, before him, who has only in 2013 played his first full season, is being only very lightly used by Essex in Division 2 of the county Championship. Mills played just 6 matches in 2013, taking 11 wickets, which hardly qualifies him for a Test debut and would make his elevation almost a desperation move.

Whatever combination England try, it is a fairly safe bet that Tymal Mills will not be in the XII! Australia though are trying to confuse things though by indicating that Nathan Lyon may well be in their XI and in suggesting that the Perth pitch will not just suit seam. It seems likely though that England, who must win, will go with four seamers and try to use the life in the pitch. Monty, Swann and Stokes will be nervous for their places, with Bresnan, Ballance and Finn all hovering, hoping for Andy Flower to wander up and give them some good news.