Stuborness Proves Cook's Undoing

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Finally the axe falls

 

December 20^th 2014

 

Finally, Alistair Cook has been relieved of the ODI captaincy. After weeks of mixed signals, first seemly confirming him in his role, then saying that the axe might fall, repeating the cycle several times, true to form, Alistair Cook has had to be sacked to get him to leave the post. His successor is not the greatest surprise. Had it been Joe Root then the endless speculation about Alistair Cook losing the Test captaincy too would have started afresh. Had it been James Taylor, fans would have been stunned by a really adventurous move. Morgan is the steady move: he was the regular stand-in already and was captain for England’s only ODI series win for eighteen months. That said, the calls for Morgan himself to be dropped have got louder and louder over the last year so, unless the captaincy sparks a glorious revival in him, it may only be a short-term appointment.

Cook is no stranger to Australia-induced runs of poor form. He had a very poor run against Australia in 2009 that continued for the 1^st Test in South Africa that winter, before he roared back with three centuries and two fifties in his next five Tests. His current run though is unprecedented: 17 Tests, going back to New Zealand at Headingley in late May 2013 since he has made a Test century; the fact that he has made nine half centuries since then without once converting one speaks volumes. The question now is whether or not he can re-capture his Test form and appetite for run-scoring: not everyone is convinced that he can.

Alistair Cook seemed to predict his fate when saying at the end of the Sri Lanka series that he could have no complaints if he were sacked: it looks as if the strain had finally got to him after twelve months of being questioned constantly.

This though has been such an unnecessary crisis. If Alistair Cook had had the sense to give up the ODI captaincy after the Test series against India, he would have been hailed as a hero, the unquestioned captain of the side. Someone else would have taken the rap for the expected defeat in Sri Lanka and the anticipated debacle in the World Cup, with Cook coming back against the West Indies as the saviour in a Test series against a side that is increasingly unable to offer more than token resistance against serious opposition.

Eoin Morgan at least has a licence to go out and be his own man. With Scotland, Afghanistan and Bangladesh in England’s group, together with the Sri Lankans who have won just 38 of 133 ODIs in Australasia, it would take a disaster of unprecedented proportions for England not to make the Quarter Finals. With the two hardest matches being the first two group games, a win in either might just set the set team up for a run that could just surprise a few cynics.

Meanwhile, Australia are giving more signs that their current side is more fragile than it seemed. Having been whitewashed by Pakistan, they were expected to defeat India with great ease. However, despite being 2-0 up in the series, India could have won both Tests and Australia have looked distinctly ragged at times. India’s young side seem to be showing real spirit. Whether or not they can convert “real spirit” into a Test win in this series is an interesting question: if they were to win the 3^rd Test, it would not be hard to imagine them completing an amazing comeback in the series.

The Ghosts Of 2009

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Is he? Isn’t he?

 

December 14^th 2014

 

 

“England fans tend to be hyper-critical and unforgiving.” (November 23^rd)

“One wonders if Alistair Cook will survive as captain if England lose 7-0, or even 6-1, even if he starts to score some runs: how much patience do the selectors have with him? Possibly not much more.” (November 29^th)

“The question has been answered in the clearest possible way by the selectors. Alistair Cook is captain for the World Cup, so there is no point debating the issue more.” (December 8^th)

The series is gone now, with England 4-2 down with one match to play. Alistair Cook’s poor series continued with a pretty awful sixth match that suggested that his mind is frazzled.  Despite the fact that a month ago you would have got quite long odds on England keeping the series live into the sixth match and the denouement was expected long before it actually happened, the fans and experts are being as unforgiving as unusual. Five losses in the last six ODI series, including three in England, which has always been the place where even the best sides usually fail to win, is a dismal record. Calls for Alistair Cook to step down, or to be sacked if he refuses to, are now being joined by calls for Peter Moores to go. It could be that Peter Moores’s best chance of survival is to wield the axe, but there is almost more chance of him featuring in a repeat of 2009 and being the protagonist of a double change of captain and coach.

In 2009, Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen annihilated each other mutually is a blaze of heat and light, the lasting fallout of which may well have contributed to the latter’s recent exile. For England, despite an unpalatable defeat against the West Indies with a provisional management in the immediate aftermath of the conflagration, the end result of the change was the best period in their recent history, reaching #1 in the T20, Test and ODI rankings at different times, winning three consecutive Ashes series and England’s only ever global trophy.

The truth was that, although Peter Moores was forced to re-build in the face of mass retirements after the 2006/07 Ashes wipe-out, the England record during his reign was pretty awful and it was a surprise to many when he was re-appointed on Andy Flower’s resignation.

Peter Moores 2014, we were assured, was a more gentle and understanding coach who would work well with the players, but his start has not been a good one. The only bright point has been the comeback win against a totally disinterested India in the summer Test series. Apart from that, his record is almost exclusively one of defeats: Test defeat v Sri Lanka; ODI defeats home and away v Sri Lanka and at home v India; T20 defeat in the Caribbean and at home v Sri Lanka; only one win in the T20 World Cup and a defeat to The Netherlands to boot. The only series wins were in the Caribbean ODIs (having selected a team of T20 specialists), in a one-off ODI v Scotland (played effectively as a T20) and in a one-off T20 v India. The balance is poor and, with a tri series in Australia and the World Cup to come, plus Test series against Australia and South Africa, is likely to get even worse before it gets better. Right now, it is uncertain that anyone would offer odds on England to beat Australia next summer in any of the three formats and, despite England’s good record against South Africa since 2003, you would not bet much money on England winning there either.

The Moores-Cook combo is not producing results. Fans and pundits are getting increasingly restless and, just six days after apparently confirming that Alistair Cook will captain England in the World Cup, Peter Moores has come out and stated that his place in the final 15 for the tournament is not assured. This has created varied readings, although many experts are cautioning that Moores’s comments may not be all that they seem to be. With just the tri-series to come and with the stand-in captain Eoin Morgan’s place under some threat still, with just one significant score since returning from Australia, the chances of bedding in a new captain should the axe fall on Alistair Cook, are far from good. However, it is not as if there are no plausible candidates at all. Eoin Morgan can point still to the fact that the only real score that he has made since the Australian ODIs was as captain in Sri Lanka – would making him captain bring back his sparkling and devastating form? James Taylor has made a convincing case to play in the World Cup and is a successful captain at Nottinghamshire. And Joe Root is seen as a future England captain and is in sparkling form: starting him with the ODI captaincy would find out if he has what he needs to be England’s next Test captain in the same way that Michael Vaughan was initiated. However, asking a new captain to take up the job in a tough series in Australia that England are expected to lose badly is not the greatest way to build him up.

As Peter Moores has consistently backed Alistair Cook, changing captain now would also be a major admission of failure on his part and one that would only add to the calls for his short second period in charge to be terminated abruptly too. Something is going to give soon: either England start winning or the axe will fall and heads will roll. Invoking the ghost of 2009 may though be just what England need now.

Yet Again, Close But No Cigar...

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Close, but no cigar, again…

 

December 8^th 2014

 

“One wonders if Alistair Cook will survive as captain if England lose 7-0, or even 6-1, even if he starts to score some runs: how much patience do the selectors have with him? Possibly not much more.”

The question has been answered in the clearest possible way by the selectors. Alistair Cook is captain for the World Cup, so there is no point debating the issue more. Whatever your personal opinion, you have to get behind the team and the captain.

The Sri Lanka tour is, in one sense, going as expected. A Sri Lankan team who failed to put up more than token resistance against India – albeit in a series organised in a rush when the West Indies tour was abandoned – has proved far too strong for England. However, among the wreckage some very creditable performances are emerging. Moeen Ali is showing that he is a powerful option as an opener. England are getting fast starts when he comes off, which has been in three of the five innings on this tour: a century and two fifties more than offset his two failures. Although his bowling has been less effective than it was last summer, this is all part of the learning experience. Only Kumar Sangakarra has more runs in the series, but at a far inferior strike rate.

James Taylor got his chance as a replacement for Alistair Cook: fine irony there, as James Taylor would be a credible alternative as captain. A fine 90 scored at a rate 14 runs/100 balls faster than Alistair Cook in this series shows what England are missing. Unfortunately, Alex Hales has continued his disappointing start against India and is struggling to make a case to be in the starting XI at the World Cup. Two chances: the first a relatively rapid 27, the second a first-baller. Most England fans would like to see Moeen Ali and Hales open, but Hales really is not making it easy for the selectors to pick him.

While England are now getting quick starts, a familiar problem is still embarrassingly present. Despite an array of power hitters, the middle order is getting stuck. It has cost England probably two wins in the series. In fact, a more confident side would have won all four matches instead of losing three of the four by rather narrow margins.

More good news for England has come in the fine form of Chris Woakes, who has done an excellent job with the new ball. It is interesting to contrast his fortunes with Steve Finn. Few fans offered the choice between Finn and Woakes would go for Woakes, rather disparagingly dismissed by many as “a batsman who can bowl”. Although Steve Finn is clearly on his way back and is a far cry from the dispirited bowler of Australia, it is Woakes who is getting the new ball breakthroughs: 6 wickets against 2 at a slightly better economy rate. Chris Jordan is also rewarding the faith of the selectors. He was England’s best bowler in the 4^th ODI and has by far the best average and economy of any member of the England attack in the matches so far.

While Jordan and Finn are repaying the selectors, Ben Stokes’s form remains a major issue. In the three matches that he has played he has been entrusted with 2, 4 and 2 overs and gone for 85 runs. The decision to play Stokes instead of Tredwell in the 4^th ODI quite possibly cost England the match. Nine ODIs since returning from Australia have provided just 4 wickets, three of them in a single match. He is not providing the weight of runs as a finisher, or a sufficiently fast scoring rate to justify his place as a batsman and he is certainly not justifying being described as or selected as a front-line bowler, which is what he was meant to be. It is hard to see how he can be picked in the final 15 for the World Cup, let alone make the final XI. Stokes is an exciting talent, but something is not right with him right now.

Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, has had a major run transfusion. A fast 62, albeit in a losing cause, is a reminder of his talent yet, when he looks back on his scores of 1, 17, 1 & 62 he should not feel too proud of his contribution so far in the series.

One remains convinced that the elements for a successful World Cup campaign are there, but the mixture that the selectors are providing is not quite right.

With Broad, Anderson, Finn, Woakes and Jordan competing for a maximum of four bowling spots, Moeen Ali and Tredwell as spinners, Hales, Moeen Ali, Taylor, Bopara, Morgan & Buttler to supply batting power and the adaptable Joe Root, the side could yet surprise a few if the selectors play their card right.

From Bad To Worse For England

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

And the problems just get worse

 

November 29^th 2014

 

A week ago, I wrote:

“The 7-match series against Sri Lanka will be a good litmus test as Sri Lanka were absolutely awful as stand-in stuntmen for the West Indies in India. If England lose badly, it will be no good blaming the schedule, the lack of practice, team absences or the fact that Sri Lanka’s chefs cannot find the right ingredients for the England diet guide’s recipes.”

Two matches. Two defeats. No one has any illusions that it will not finish 7-0. Thanks to heroics from Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara, the first game was close. The second has been simply embarrassing. The mantra is to take the positives and there have been none, apart from another nice innings from Ravi Bopara as the batting fell apart. This time Moeen Ali could not cover for the deficiencies of others with a quick-fire innings at the top of the order.

The batting was poor, the captaincy was worse. With bowlers having most success by taking pace off the ball, the decision to give Ravi Bopara just four overs in the first ODI and none in the second was hard to fathom. The fact that Bopara was by far the most economical bowler in the 1^st ODI makes it even harder to understand.

There is a strong suggestion that team selection is mainly made now on the grounds of the captain wishing to repel boarders. It is just about the only tenable conclusion when a player as talented and as successful in limited overs cricket last season as James Taylor cannot get a game. Alistair Cook knows that James Taylor would be a plausible alternative as ODI captain if he establishes a place in the side; he has most to lose if James Taylor plays and makes a success of it.

Similarly, with Moeen Ali making a success of opening, Alex Hales would, logically, only get a game at the expense of the captain.

Ah! The captain! Sixteen ODIs in 2014, but just one 50, falling in the 40s no less than four times. Only three times has he failed to reach double figures in an ODI in 2014, but the weight of runs is just not there and, all too often, when he gets past 20 and needs to move up a gear, he is getting out. His form is not dreadful, but if he is to have a place in the side he must either anchor the innings consistently at a decent pace for 30 overs and make some big scores, or learn to work the ball around to keep the score ticking through the powerplay overs so that the side gets fast starts. Watching him play out a maiden as Moeen Ali treated the bowling on its merits at the other end was a little painful to watch.

Eoin Morgan started the year with 282 runs in the 5 ODIs in Australia. Since then he has had 12 innings and reached 20 just four times, amassing 206 runs. Morgan’s place must be coming under severe threat, if only as a wake-up call to him. Scores of 1, 31, 3, 40, 12, 17, 28, 10, 32, 14, 1 & 17 are just not good enough. Nine times he has reached double figures, just four has he reached 20: he is getting starts and getting out.

Less culpable is Ian Bell. He has 4x50 in ODIs in 2014, although none since May. Since then, he has gone slightly, but distinctly off the boil. However, today was his 150^th ODI. He is just short of 5000 ODI runs and his 2014 numbers are very close to his career figures, which should save him from most criticism.

With talent of the class of Hales, Lumb, Taylor and Ballance unable to get a game and England losing and the World Cup getting closer, Alistair Cook cannot afford more defeats, or personal failures. A batting order starting Lumb, Hales, Moeen Ali, Bopara, Taylor, Root & Buttler might not win the World Cup, but would at least give England a chance of shocking a few sides. With Broad and Anderson to return, Finn on his comeback and Woakes showing signs that he is making good his talent, England would start to have the basis of a decent side that would bat very deep.

One wonders if Alistair Cook will survive as captain if England lose 7-0, or even 6-1, even if he starts to score some runs: how much patience do the selectors have with him? Possibly not much more.

Alistair Cook Faces The Moment Of ODI Truth

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Alistair Cook Faces the Moment Of ODI Truth

 

November 23^rd 2014

 
After a full two months without cricket, England, without Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson are on the road again. The 7-match series against Sri Lanka will be a good litmus test as Sri Lanka were absolutely awful as stand-in stuntmen for the West Indies in India. If England lose badly, it will be no good blaming the schedule, the lack of practice team absences or the fact that Sri Lanka’s chefs cannot find the right ingredients for the England diet guide’s recipes.

The absence of Broad and Anderson allows Steve Finn to come back and lead the attack. In a low-key series, he will have far less pressure on him that if he were playing in England. Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and Harry Gurney all have their reasons to want to make a statement. England fans tend to be hyper-critical and unforgiving. Players are compared unfavourably with their equivalents in other sides and the idea of backing the XI that is picked is anathema to most: most fans are happy to see their side lose if it is a step in the right direction of getting their pet hate player dropped.

Right now, the knives are out for Cook, Bell and Jordan. The fact that all three have, in the not too distant past, done good, sometimes great things for their team is conveniently forgotten.

Cook probably has the most difficult task and one that has just been made even harder. There was a big outcry when Alex Hales was dropped for Moeen Ali for the first England warm-up game. The fact that Hales’ innings against India (40 from 63 balls, 42 from 55 balls, 6 from 7 balls & 4 from 9 balls) speak of an increasing paralysis as the Indians worked him out after a quick start in the first match, was ignored by most fans. The sad fact is that having scored 32 from his first 31 balls in ODIs, his next 103 balls produced just 60 runs and his total freeze after a decent start – just 8 runs from his last 32 balls – probably lost England that first match. What Cook was not betting on was that Moeen would continue his golden form, hitting a 50 from 21 balls and making a golden case to continue opening in ODIs. If Hales, who will surely play at least three of the ODIs as an opener, starts to work out how to work international bowling, with its greater accuracy and smaller margins for error, the pressure for a Hales-Moeen opening partnership will become intense. It doesn’t take a PhD in Astrophysics to work out that in that case, with hitters of the class of Bopara, Taylor, Morgan, Buttler and Root available, at least one of Cook and Bell and possibly both will be surplus to requirements when England work out their best side.

There is a feeling that Alistair Cook has earned a stay of execution as captain, but that his role in the ODI set-up will become untenable if England have a poor winter. Cook argues, not unreasonably, that the only time that England have reached #1 in the ICC ODI rankings was with him as captain, but he is smart enough to know that ODIs evolve rapidly and that England’s current set-up is outdated. There is also a feeling that an opportunity was missed by not giving the captaincy to Eoin Morgan or James Taylor for this series. Probably the natural captain of the ODI side post-World Cup is James Taylor: it will be interesting to see how many opportunities Alistair Cook is willing to give him to state a case to take over as ODI captain.

However, the hooks are also out for Chris Jordan. Memories are short. England fan memories are shorter still. During the nightmare tour of Australia, one of the few positive points was the fire that Chris Jordan showed with the new ball in the ODI series – despite modest seeming statistics, mainly caused by taking some punishment at the death, he was one of the few success stories of the winter and certainly should have been in the Test side ahead of Tremlett and Rankin. Last summer though he has been in and out of the side. He has lost form, rhythm and confidence as a result. And, to make things worse, players and analysts have got on his case, advising his to change his run-up, to change his action. Chris Jordan’s great asset has been his natural talent and ability. England history is littered with bowlers who were coached out of their natural actions and lost all form and confidence as a result (Bob Willis, Norman Cowans, James Anderson and Steve Finn have been just a few of the high-profile casualties).

In Australia, Chris Jordan ran in, let the ball go at 90+mph and just got on with it. He went for a few runs, but also put in some hostile spells, quickly establishing himself as the new ball bowler. Right now, Jordan is struggling. He is spraying the ball. He is expensive. He needs to get back to doing what he does well: just run in and let the ball go and knock over top-order batsmen. Nothing saves runs as well as getting the opposition 2 or 3 down inside the initial powerplay overs.

In the one warm-up game that England were able to play – albeit winning on D/L after a shortened Sri Lanka A innings – Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes (another who is turning to a pet hate of the fans) were superb, aggregating 17-1-49-3 between them. Chris Jordan went for 48 though, from just 5 overs. He is running out of time to turn things around and, just as important, to convince the fans.

Australia Show England How Bad They Were Last Winter

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Australia Put Things In Context

 

October 26^th 2014

 

So many things have happened since my last post a month and a half ago. The Domestic season ended,  with an Australian being the difference between Middlesex surviving and dropping into Division 2. Not too many fans could have complained if Middlesex had been relegated, having been consistently worse than dreadful since late May but, over the course of the season, Lancashire were just a bit worse. While the teams at the top of Division 2 and in Division 1 attract the top players, teams such as Leicestershire and Gloucestershire can only watch their players leave in droves for more attractive counties where international aspirations are more easily attended to. It is setting in stone the divisions between the have and the have-not teams, a situation that is being paralleled in Test cricket.

All has paled into insignificance though due to two events that have shaken world cricket and caused domestic cricket to be forgotten even faster than usual: a book and the forced end of a tour.

You do not have to be a cricket fan to know that Kevin Pietersen wrote a book – or, at least, a ghost-writer did and he signed it. The book has laid bare the soul of English cricket. Whatever you think of KP, he was a great player (“was” as he is unlikely to play anything other than the odd T20 game in the future) and his case has been ridiculously badly handled by the ECB management. He has put a lot of noses out of joint, but a lot of people are struggling to see what the explanation is for all that has happened and why, if he was such an awkward blighter, he was first made captain and then exiled and then brought back again and then exiled again? What is clear is that the England side that went to Australia was far more divided and in a far worse state than we imagined at the time. It was in no state to play cricket and some poor squad picks did not help. It was a great example of how to destroy a winning side. The storm surrounding KP’s book has just gone to show that the blood-letting and the instability will last for a while yet and, until unity and common-purpose is restored, the side will struggle. Not everyone has confidence that the ECB management is capable of making things work.

Test cricket  itself has split into the have and the have-nots. The storm surrounding the West Indian decision to end the recent series in India has made that clear, even for those who have tried to deny it. This was the result of a dispute that has bubbled on for years, occasionally causing the West Indies to field a second, or even a third eleven. The West Indies cricket board is strapped for cash and survives with lucrative tours such as those by England that fill islands, hotels and stadia with fans and those of India that earn generous TV revenues. The West Indies have already seen how they have passed from being “A” tourists of England, to being “B” tourists, getting the short, May tour. Gone are the 5-Test summer series (the last was in 2000) and being the principal attraction of the summer (the last time was the 4-Test series in 2004). The West Indian players, many of whom are genuinely talented, want to earn as much money as their colleagues abroad, but their Board simply does not have the money to make that possible. To put it kindly, the West Indies Cricket Board has not been exactly an example of great management, watching the dividend of the glory years slip away, showing no sign of having any coherent plan to harness the natural talent of the islands, or any capacity or intent to generate unity of purpose.

The BCCI, who are showing themselves to be as bullying as the English or Australians were in the post-war years, have cancelled all bilateral tours in a fit of pique and threaten to sue the West Indies Cricket Board for the $60 million that they calculate that the tour has cost them in lost revenues. Many neutrals fear that this could push West Indies cricket into bankruptcy.

India refuse to host, or even play, Pakistan and now, the West Indies. They do not host Bangladesh or Zimbabwe (not economically viable as tourists) and are less than enthusiastic about New Zealand. South Africa play few Tests against anyone right now. This leaves India depending on frequent tours by England, Australia (committed to tour every year) and Sri Lanka to provide the bulk of cricket for home fans. It’s a repetitive diet that will soon pale. Right now, only three sides in world cricket matter. The others and, particularly, the weakest in playing terms and the least powerful economically, survive on crumbs, mainly from the BCCI’s table but, in the case of Bangladesh and New Zealand, ever more on the ECB’s willingness to continue frequent bilateral series  that generate revenue and give exposure.

Meanwhile, Australia are playing Pakistan. Not too many Australians would have been very worried about this series. They do not tend to rate Pakistan too highly and a Pakistan without its most potent bowler and in a permanent state of anarchy is not regarded as much of a rival. A 5-0 win against England followed by a 2-1 win in a re-building South Africa persuaded the Australians that their side is a bit special. Pakistan are showing them that they are not. England were just so awful that they were no kind of test for the Australians and, in South Africa, the Mitch Johnson/Ryan Harris combo proved irresistible. Against Pakistan, the support for Mitch Johnson is much weaker and suddenly the Australian attack looks far less penetrative. From 7-2 on the first morning, Pakistan fought their way to a competitive total and reached 415-5 before collapsing. They then watched, probably as bemused as anyone, as Australia collapsed themselves from 128-0 and a position of great security to 267-8, from which some tail-end hitting helped scramble past 300.

There was a blizzard of criticism of the slow Pakistan batting and tactics on the first morning, comparing it to England’s display in Australia. There was though a critical difference: they saw off the storm in the morning and kept batting; Mitch Johnson was forced to come back for a third, a fourth and a fifth spell. As he did so, his pace dropped from a nasty 90+mph, to a much more friendly mid-80s. Even in the second innings his pace was down as tired legs had still not recovered – it is what England totally failed to do.

The biggest difference though is the nature of the Australian support bowling. In England, Australia had Ryan Harris bowling almost unsupported. In Australia, Harris and Johnson together posed a sustained and massive threat that cowed the opposition and terrified the tail; with Peter Siddle in his correct role as a support, rather than a strike bowler, the side was unstoppable. In Pakistan, Johnson is almost unsupported and even when he takes a few wickets, the support bowling cannot maintain any kind of pressure. Nathan Lyon is bowling with the batsmen on top and comfortable and finding that it is a whole different story to coming on when the top-order batsmen have been blown away and the middle-order and tail are trembling.

Of course, Pakistan have not yet won the series. However, as a measure of just how much Australia rate their opponents, there are only two Tests in this series and Australia cannot now win it. They have been so much second best since the first hour of the match that it is not easy to see how they can come back in Abu Dhabi and square the series. Pakistan, in contrast, must be thinking that they can ambush and whitewash another side in their adopted home.

What we are seeing puts England’s performance last winter in sharp context. England were awful. Australia were good, but they are far from a great side: they are a decent one, but still have many of the problems revealed in summer 2013. Australia are giving England an unpleasant reminder that they were not beaten by one of the finest sides of the last 50 years, as the 2006/07 tourists were, instead they were beaten out of sight by a side than is not much more than a decent upper-mid table team. That is the measure of how bad England were. The England side has, despite the win against a totally disinterested India, not restored itself to anything even approaching its former level. The reality check should do the ECB good.

Indian Hubris

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Tales of the Unexpected

 

September 7^th 2014

 

Just when you thought that things could not possibly get any worse, England have come up with a new trick to disconcert their fans: they have won back-to-back games! The 5^th and final ODI could be regarded as an aberration: India had won the series with three smashing victories and had demonstrated that they were ridiculously superior in the format. They could be forgiven for relaxing a little, even in front of their adoring fans and letting Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes – making a welcome return to form with the bat – set a target that even the Indian batsmen could not chase, despite a desperate and spectacular late thrash from Ravi Jadeja as the innings disintegrated around him. You can almost believe that MS Dhoni was manifesting his wish to see his side challenged by allowing England to accelerate in their last 15 overs from what was looking likely to be a mediocre total to one that would require a real effort to chase.

Despite India being well ahead on runs at 30 overs and even at 35 overs, the England bowlers were able to create increasing pressure to take critical wickets and suffocate the scoring. Forty runs in nine overs for the loss of three wickets saw the Indian chase go off the rails in spectacular fashion. From 132-4 and cruising, the score staggered to 209-9 and imminent defeat.

How much we should read into England batting far better at the death than India is open to debate. England lost early wickets and appeared to be losing their way as thoroughly as they had in the previous three matches before the final assault, orquestrated by Joe Root. After a good start in his first two matches, Alex Hales has lost his way a little with two low scores and seems uncertain whether to block or blast. Alistair Cook still cannot make a big score: 46 from 64 balls will not convince his critics, although the win has relieved the pressure a little.

The temptation will be not to make drastic changes after this win, dead rubber against a relaxed side or not. Peter Moores though has very carefully not given clear backing to Alistair Cook and the latter has appeared to suggest that a change in captain is possible for the winter campaign.

Even if India were not switched-on for the final ODI, surely they would be for the T20? IPL stars versus the cricketing equivalent of Orphan Annie? India’s #1 ranking in the format at stake.

What we saw was a repeat of the 5^th ODI: England struggling in the middle overs to put up any kind of score, 99-4 after 15 overs, the partisan crowd asking if England should continue to play T20. This time it was Eoin Morgan, who broke his dismal streak with some brutal hitting, followed up by Ravi Bopara – 81 from the last 5 overs and, suddenly, India were again facing a decent total. A fast start that seemed to be setting up an easy win. 130-2 after 14 overs, 34 runs ahead of England at the same stage and two fewer wickets lost. How could India lose?

Incredibly, the IPL stars, the self-confessed experts in the format, panicked. Only 47 runs and 3 wickets from the last 6 overs and MS Dhoni turning down singles in the final over because he thought that he could win the match himself. Dhoni panicked. Chris Woakes did not. Thanks very much! Two precious dot balls where Dhoni refused easy singles and England won by three runs.

Hubris indeed.

You could not have made it up.

Two days running England’s attack strangled India when the match seemed lost. Two days running India panicked under pressure. If there was a suggestion in the ODI that Ravi Jadeja’s assault led to some loss of idea how to bowl at him, there was not too much that could be faulted in the efforts of Tredwell, Gurney, Finn and Woakes in the last six overs today, even when MS Dhoni made his final effort. It has not converted England into a good limited overs side, but it has at least shown that the elements for a successful side are there, if they are properly harnessed.

Are The Summer Series Showing Us A Glimpse Of The Future Of Cricket?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Putting the Summer in Perspective

 

September 3^rd 2014

 

Sadly, the Test win, completed less than three weeks ago, on August 17^th, is being out into perspective by the One-Day series. England beat a side totally disinterested in the format that was barely going through the motions by the end of the series. Why India agreed to a five Test series is one of life’s little mysteries at a time when the new generation of players prefers to find fame and fortune playing IPL and do not have the patience for the longer form of the game that does not provide either the riches or the exposure that a televised T20 match does. India’s heart is not in Test cricket and that suggests that the format may not last much longer, at not least as we know it.

England is in real danger of becoming totally isolated in world cricket. In England, the First Class game – the County Championship – is still regarded as the premier format of the game. Even ardent fans of a side are hard-pressed to recall when it won the One-Day cup in its various guises, or its side’s fortunes in the T20, but will know exactly when the County Championship was last conquered. In a world where First Class cricket outside Test matches is fast becoming an irrelevance, scarcely followed and with no viewing public to speak of, the English county game is thriving. Attendances have climbed year on year for some time now. Every game is broadcast live, ball-by-ball. Attendances of several thousand are commonplace (English cricket, of course, complicates this because it only calculates the members of the public who pay at the gate, not the members who, effectively, have a season ticket to games, so attendances can often only be guessed). As an exile, I do not get to many games but, the last one that I attended, on a cold, blustery day in May, must have seen at least a couple of thousand in the ground, as was spectacularly demonstrated at the lunch break as the shops and walkways around the ground suddenly filled with punters who poured out of the stands in torrents. There is an image of county cricket being attended by “one man and his dog”, but that has scarcely been true for at least twenty years – there are sparsely attended days with just a couple of hundred spectators, but there are many more with attendances that would make lower division football clubs envious. Out grounds like Cheltenham, with their smaller capacity, talk proudly of filling, even for Division 2 games. The purported cricket fans who say that no one goes to county games and no one cares are simply parroting an image from thirty years back (yes, I did attend a game back in the 1980s where, one afternoon, my entry substantially improved the gate, at least percentually).

Contrast that with India or Pakistan, where there is scarce interest in the First Class game. Even in Australia, the Sheffield Shield is no longer the focus of attention. Australian cricket followers will tell you who is winning, but few ever make the effort to attend a game. If you want to get an Indian to be passionate, ask him (or her) about the fortunes of the Mumbai Indians or the Chennai Super Kings, not about Hyderabad or Tamil Nadu’s performances in the Ranji Trophy.

First Class cricket exists as a feeder for Test cricket and as a regional form of the game where those one step below Test standard ply their trade. If Test cricket disappears, the reasons to have a First Class structure largely disappear too. Much of the Test history of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been played out without a domestic First Class competition, with club and schools cricket acting as a feeder. The West Indies and New Zealand have, in recent years, expanded their First Class programmes from a very precarious base – First Class cricket in the West Indies was, for a time, very much an endangered species with barely a handful of games played. The West Indian domestic finalists will now play as many as eight games and in New Zealand all side play ten when, at one time, the majority of the domestic First Class season was played over the Christmas holiday so that players would not need to take time off work. In India, Karnataka played as many as twelve First Class matches (not so different to the modern English domestic season of sixteen First Class fixtures), but most sides in the Ranji Trophy play eight.

However, scratch a little deeper and things are not so healthy, even in England. There is constant pressure to cut the First Class programme to accommodate other forms of cricket. There are persistent cries that there are too many First Class counties: Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan are frequently mentioned as counties that no one would miss, often followed by Northamptonshire. Might not Surrey and Middlesex amalgamate so that there is just one London team? Why not make Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and maybe even Worcestershire form one supercounty to compete where the individual sides cannot?  There was even a rather unhealthy desire to see Darwinian selection take over in the form of a few counties failing to bankruptcy, without the need to wield the axe. Rumour has it that the recommendations on the future of the First Class game in England favoured a reduction to 12 or, at most, 14 games per side and a significant reduction in the number of counties.

One result is a strange, fragmented, First Class programme. The season starts earlier than ever and is half-completed by early June, it then has a substantial break until a frenetic climax in  late August and September. Four of the nine Division One teams had completed 10 of their 16 games by June 25^th and were into the final run-in. This mirrors the Sheffield Shield, which has a two month break from early December to early February and the Plunkett Shield in New Zealand with its odd format of a round of (non-simultaneous) games in late October, followed by two in mid-December and then games from February until April. In prestige, the First Class tournament may be the one to win, but it has to take its proper place, squeezed around the more financially attractive cricket with its TV income and larger gates (even so, one-day attendances in England have dropped year by year and now, not even the Final is a sell-out). It is a wonder that the County Championship survives and hard to see that there is not an element of reducing the appetite for the County game involved that would make it easier to cut back the fixtures in the future.

Indian fans are already asking why India bother to play Tests. They are kings in the short format and do not need Test cricket, particularly if they are to receive repeated hammerings. Series with Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and New Zealand are unattractive in many senses. The FTP has been tacitly forgotten (how many tours of India have Bangladesh made? When was the last England-Zimbabwe or India-Pakistan series?) Where India lead, others follow because they need a slice of the IPL and Champions League pie.

It is not hard to imagine a future, possibly not far away, where all cricket is played as a long-format (40 or 50 overs) and a short format (T20) only. There may even be a move to an even shorter format, with sides playing two games in an evening as in baseball. Maybe a few marquee series such as England v Australia v South Africa may continue to be played, perhaps as occasional one-off games. In such a world, would there be any place for a First Class programme at all? Probably not? Would traditional counties and State sides make any sense in such a world? Of course not! There would be a rapid change to franchise-based sides.

In such a future, England would be likely to continue with its traditional county game, probably in glorious isolation. One-day fever burnt out in England years ago. There are signs that T20 fever is burning out too: England invented T20, as they did the one-day format, but it is the traditional game that retains its popularity and importance. Even in Australia though, the shift to a game based around the short formats seems inexorable, with a powerful Grade structure as likely to supply the stars of the future as the Sheffield Shield. Other countries would probably shed their First Class programmes with some relief and throw everything into the limited-overs formats.

England Slide Back Into An Avoidable Crisis

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Back to Square One

 

September 1^st 2014

 

Alistair Cook must be wondering why he did not sit out this series as many people hoped that he would. Having ended the Test series with scores of 95, 70*, 17 and 79 in three victories, his position was impregnable as a captain and his batting form was returning. He had nothing to gain and a lot to lose by playing in the ODIs. Maybe he thought that, by playing and winning he would consolidate his position and consolidate his batting form, eliminating the calls for Eoin Morgan to take over. Instead, England are right back in crisis. Cook is being questioned again and his batting form is looking increasingly shaky once more. It is such an unnecessary crisis.

Alistair Cook has had 25 international innings for England this year. Just five times has he failed to reach double figures – and three of those were his first three innings of the year – but he has passed 50 just four times. That is 16 times in 25 innings that he has reached double figures, but failed to get past his bogey score of 44, at which he has now fallen three times this year. This is a symptom of the batsman’s mind not being right, either through exhaustion, or because it is not completely centred on the job.

England are looking totally clueless in this series, which is just what many fans feared would happen.

However, the problem is not just Alistair Cook. Ian Bell is also being questioned. He has had 27 international innings this year, averaging 34.5. Bell has not had such a bad summer, with 3x50 and a big century and a total of 7x50 and that century in his 27 innings since the New Year. However, a run of three low scores in the context of a losing side, has started speculation going again, particularly about his ODI role, due to concerns that he has not got a change of gear to accelerate the scoring. In an ideal side you need one steady batsman who the strokemakers can build around, a role that Jonathon Trott played with great success, but two accumulators in the top three is too many.

Ben Stokes was one of the successes of the Australian winter, but has just one score above 5 in his last 11 international innings. If he were taking wickets, you would forgive it – bat him at 9 and move on – but his last 10 innings for England (twice he was not even called on to bowl) have also produced just 8 wickets, five of them in the Lords Test.

At the same time, people are beginning to look at Eoin Morgan again. Before the season started there was a case for him getting the ODI captaincy and, possibly, even the Test captaincy, leading to some speculation that there could be a natural evolution in the side in the same way that Michael Vaughan’s ODI success ended Nasser Hussain’s Test captaincy. It could be that Alistair Cook has not been keen to rest from this series to avoid the risk of Morgan winning it and putting him under pressure but, despite a good summer for Middlesex, certainly his best for some years, Eoin Morgan is having a desperately poor summer for England.

Eoin Morgan started the year brilliantly in the ODIs against Australia, with 50, 106, 54, 33, 39 but, more to the point, despite that amazing run of scores, in 25 matches this year he has just 602 runs (average 25.1). Since the ODI series in Australia ended, he has done almost nothing of note, with just one fifty and, in fact, just that one score over 40, averaging 14.1 in the 20 matches since the ODI series in Australia ended.

Eoin Morgan has definitely not made a case for himself as far as taking over as England ODI captain is concerned. It could just be that the pressure of being England’s go-to batsman in the side for so long, the person who had to rescue situations time and again, is telling on him. Right now his place in the side is starting to look in danger, although it seems inconceivable that England could go to the World Cup without him.

In this series the main question is whether or not England can save anything from the wreckage. Cook and Hales have given England two solid starts, with partnerships of 54 and 82. The problem has been the collapse when the batsmen should normally be accelerating against the change bowlers. In both games, Hales has shaped well and then got tied down and got himself out trying to relieve the pressure. Today England were 82-0 after 17.5 overs and looking really good. The next 17.5 overs produced 67 runs and 6 wickets. One wicket is producing three or four, as the middle order struggles to work the bowling around. Some rather modest Indian spinners are being allowed to tie down batsmen who are scared to come out and attack them as they would in a Test. However, if Alex Hales can work out how to keep the scoreboard moving in overs 10-20 and get through his sticky patch, a murderous century looks to be there for the taking.

Although Steve Finn did not have a nightmare today, his pace was well down and he was comfortably the most expensive of the bowlers apart from Joe Root. The temptation would be to bring in Gurney and Ali for Finn and Stokes to give more variation in the bowling. There is a real case for bringing in Ballance for Bell.

Longer term, I might make James Taylor ODI captain and give him the rest of the winter and the World Cup. It probably will not happen, because a 4-0 defeat would just entrench Alistair Cook deeper in his bunker, but it would be a huge statement of intent for the future.

Alistair Cook Under Pressure Again

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

India’s Chance to Re-open the England Crisis

 

August 30^th 2014

 

After the Lords Test it was hard to see where England could go. Things are strikingly similar here. The series is 1-0 after an indecisive first match and a crushing Indian win in conditions that should have suited England in the second. The captain is again under pressure and the angry reaction to Graeme Swann’s comments is so similar to the Alistair Cook of Lords, earlier in the summer. Alistair Cook us not a happy bunny and, as it is rabbit-hunting season in Spain, he would be well-advised to avoid a trip to the Costa del Sol: with his luck a hunter would be liable to add Cook to his bag.

In the captain’s last 14 innings over 10 games an alarming pattern has been established. He has 4x50, but eight times has reached double figures but not passed 28. Despite the heroics at Southampton, the mind and the batting are not quite right. Alistair Cook is getting himself in, but then getting out when the hard work has been largely completed.

There is still time for a change of tack with the ODI side, but now that England have showed their hand and stated clearly that Alistair Cook will continue as ODI captain – it would have been so easy to “rest” him for this series after a tough summer and completely defensible. Unfortunately, Middlesex’s miserable limited-overs and, after a promising start, even in the County Championship, has done nothing for Eoin Morgan’s ambitions – if he cannot turn Middlesex’s season around, he is hardly likely to be England’s saviour.

There is pressure for change today. Chris Jordan, despite a fine tour of Australia, needs to be sent back to Sussex for the Championship run-in. Ben Stokes is not making good on his promise and also needs more middle time getting back the bite that he showed in Australia. For England, Steve Finn and Harry Gurney coming in would be obvious changes. Playing Finn though would be a risk: his two games for the Lions against New Zealand A and Sri Lanka A brought him five wickets but both games he went for at least 65 runs in doing it. England’s nightmare scenario is that Steve Finn comes back and gets so roughly treated that he goes back to square one in his recovery. However, maybe it is time to bite the bullet in some relatively low-key games.

For India, things look more rosy. Their batsmen showed the spirit in pyjamas that they rarely showed in whites and gritted through some difficult overs in the morning to set a healthy total that was well beyond anything that they had set in the last five innings of the Test series. More of the same at Trent Bridge and the worst result that they will get from the series is to share it however, if England go 2-0 down, it is hard to imagine that it will not finish 4-0 to India.

England Threaten To Go Back To Square One

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Same Old Failings

 

August 28^th 2014

 

If you are an England fan, you will have come down to earth with a bump. If an Indian, maybe you think that things are not so bad after all. The match followed a strikingly similar pattern to the Indian warm-up match against Middlesex at Lords. India put in to bat in bowler-friendly conditions, looked completely at sea initially. The Test Match Special commentators were licking their lips at the prospect of an early finish in the same way that India’s early struggles in the warm-up at Lords made the decision to play eleven specialist batsmen look eminently sensible.

Against Middlesex, India were 35-2 after 8 overs and 55-3 after 15 and looking far from capable of coping with the conditions, or of setting a good total. A stand of 104 in 16.3 overs turned the match on its head. Middlesex eventually subsided against the spinners to 135.

Yesterday, after 10 overs, India were 26-2. Chris Woakes was on figures of 5-1-8-2. Would India reach 100? 150?

Jimmy Anderson’s 6^th over went for 10 runs and suddenly India were away. That one over released the suffocating pressure that had built up. 38 runs came from the next 5 overs and India were up and away and sailing out of sight.

After 34 overs, India were 148-4 and looking at a score around 250 before the bowlers lost the plot completely. 57 came off one horrific 4-over spell from Woakes, Jordan and Anderon. Game over. India saw their chance, took it and destroyed England.

England were actually well ahead in the chase up to the end of the 14^th over (63-3 against 52-2), but an inability to apply the acceleration that India had led to the regular loss of wickets and to the power-hitters in the middle order having to take outrageous chances in a futile attempt to break the shackles. The key time though was overs 15-18. Whereas India scored 29 runs in 4 overs, without losing a wicket and kick-starting their innings, England scored just 7. India’s innings never looked back, England’s was becalmed.

There was just one point at which England threatened to chase. From overs 26-30 England added 29 runs, accumulating steadily but then., critically, lost Morgan. When he went there was never a chance of a sting in the tail.

For England, the question is, where do they go from here? Compared to the first ODI in Australia there have been six changes: gone are Ballance, Bopara, Bresnan and Rankin. Bell has moved down from opening to #3 and Root from #3 to #4. Of course, no one could have predicted after the disastrous defeat at Lords in the 2^nd Test that England would come back and win the next three matches by steadily increasing margins. Something similar may happen here, but you would bet against it. Were England to suffer another heavy defeat at Trent Bridge on Saturday, the suspicion is that all the positives of the Tests will be forgotten and that Alistair Cook will again be with his back to the wall and fending off the critics who are calling for his head. He has already reacted angrily to Graeme Swann’s suggestions that he should not be playing ODIs for England. Despite better form of late, his last 10 matches for England (3 ODIs and 7 Tests) have still produced a sequence of 1, 56, 17, 28, 17. 16, 5, 10, 22, 95, 70*, 17, 79 and 19. Just two single figure scores in 14 innings but, tellingly, he has fallen eight times between 10 and 28. Those are not the numbers of a man happy with his game: he is getting in and then getting out. And the angry reaction to Graeme Swann similarly suggests that his mind is nowhere near right: someone who is in a happier place would have come out yesterday and scored a century and ended the debate with the force of big runs off the bat without the need to make an angry rebuttal.

New Format, Different Story?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

New Format, Different Ending?

 

August 25^th 2014

 
 

A few days of rest. A little blood-letting. A very desultory warm-up game at Lords. And into the pyjamas again.

The Indian press and establishment (and, to be honest, just about anyone else with an opinion) has vented its anger. Most have laid the blame squarely on Duncan Fletcher and/or MS Dhoni. The news that Ravi Shastri, who performed for India with great credit in the 1980s has arrived to oversee the ODIs and T20s has been taken as a shot over Duncan Fletcher’s bows. Given the byzantine way that Indian cricket operates at times, anything is possible. Certainly, many people thought that Duncan Fletcher’s highly determinist style would not be a great success in India and have been surprised that he has survived for so long. Fletcher’s biggest problem is to have been in charge as a side of legends became old, knowing that, in India, one does not drop legends however much it is in the long-term interests of the side. Right now, many people speculate that MS Dhoni may survive simply because he is the last legend in the side and so, will be able to pick his own moment and own terms to go.

Duncan Fletcher has re-built the Indian team. Young guns such as Ravi Ashwin, Pujara, Jadeja and Rahane have been introduced with some success and the side is now no longer overloaded with spin, offering some decent pace options to address the Achilles heel of the side outside the sub-continent. What Duncan Fletcher cannot control is the fact that young cricketers entering the game are increasingly adapting themselves to the needs of T20 cricket, with its promise of riches and no longer have the patience to play a Dravidian innings that lasts for 120 overs to save a game.

The best that can be said for the warm-up against Middlesex is that the large and very partisan crowd saw their side win comfortably, albeit against a team that has struggled in all three formats since June and who have hardly looked like winning a game against any opposition in the limited-overs formats. India played all 11 batsmen – MS Dhoni did not get a bat – and, at times, looked desperately short of confidence and any form themselves. After a shaky start, India built a decent position only to collapse horribly. However, Middlesex’s own batting form in the limited overs game is so horrible that their own collapse was worse still. Indian fans went home happy, but one wonders what, if anything, the management will have learnt from the game.

Traditionally, the side that wins the Test series loses the ODIs that follow. However, India’s ODI record in England is so poor that there is just a chance that this sequence may be broken. It leaves England the serious option of moving right up the ODI rankings to #2 or, if results fall their way, maybe even #1. Given the general impression that the England ODI team is in the doldrums – which it is – that would be a remarkable achievement.

However, with poor weather forecast and no floodlights, there is a real chance that the game will not happen. For Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, that would be it would be a real tragedy. I was a regular at the ground in the 1970s. Now, it has changed out of all recognition, with a great deal of investment put in to ensure that it is up to standard for international cricket. One of the largest outfields in the country, the boundaries come in to accommodate the temporary stands and there is more of a feel of a stadium to the ground, with it being much less open than for county matches.

The Gloucestershire staff have puts in enormous efforts to prepare the ground to welcome the players and fans. Bristol has a huge immigrant community and there is no question that with this being a public holiday, many thousands are eager to see their heroes perform.