Yet Another Unexplicable Defeat

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Unbelievable!

 

January 26^th 2014

 

 

When you are chasing a small target and have six batsmen who get into double figures, with the target never more than one-a-ball, you really do expect to win. However, right through the chase the scores were very close, both in wickets and runs, with England just a fraction ahead most of the time until the end of the 47^th over.  In a tight chase, everything comes down to confidence and Australia feel that, even if they need 60 to win with the last pair together, they are going to win. England think back to the Sydney Test, or the 2^nd ODI and start to fret that it is going to slip away again and, in doing so, it does. In the end, it came down to fractions and the 30 runs that Australia scored from their last 4 overs ended up being the difference between the sides.

The key moment came after 33 overs when England had their maximum advantage of the entire match: 142-3 against 128-5, with Root and Morgan batting comfortably. The next seven overs brought just 18 runs and the wickets of both batsmen, as Australia strangled the chase. From then on it was a 50-50 game and, despite the depth of batting to come, it would come down to confidence and belief. Australia believe and their escape in the 2^nd ODI has just reinforced it, England felt confident, but filled with doubts again as they saw an unassailable position slip away slowly.

Another feature though has been a constant: the winning side tends to get the breaks. In the Test series there was so many moments when all the luck that was going went Australia’s way. Here, when Ravi Bopara was doing what he had to do and grit out the runs without doing anything flashy, laying a base for the strokeplayers at the other end, he suffered the diabolical luck that England have faced all tour: Wade misses the ball, it ricochets off him and hits the top of the bails. Bopara has lifted his foot a fraction… OUT!!!

A lot of fans – and some commentators – have laid the blame for the defeat at Bopara’s door for getting himself out, but it was symptomatic of the way that Australia have consistently had the rub of the green during the tour. It is also true that a side tends to make its own luck. Last summer, with England clearly superior, the one occasion that Australia had got into a winning position, England were saved by rain although, the way that Australia consistently had got into promising positions that they lost because the change bowling was so weak, I still would not rule out the possibility that England would have won. When the force is with a team, it only takes a tiny mistake or a piece of good fortune to let them back in.

A fine England bowling effort deserved better. Chris Jordan (described as fast-medium) again broke 90mph and was comfortably faster than Nathan Coulter-Nile (described as fast). Jordan’s pace ramped-up steadily in his last few overs and was rewarded with two wickets in two balls in his last over to close an economical spell. Stuart Broad tied the Australian top order in knots. James Tredwell bowled well, giving little away and Ben Stokes stifled the Australian revival, taking the sting out of their middle-order and reducing their options of a late charge.

After yet another agonising loss, does Stuart Broad, who takes over the captaincy for the T20s, have any way of raising the side?

Finally, At The Nineth Attempt...

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Tenth time lucky

 

January 24^th 2014

 

Australia’s curious policy of resting their best batsmen had the effect of giving England a consolation win and some self-respect, but it was the bowling unit that let Australia down. A attack with Mitch Johnson breaking the 90mph barrier and James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile both a whisker below 90mph, backed up by Faulkner, Maxwell and Christian is by no stretch of the imagination a second-string attack, yet England and particularly openers Cook and Bell went after them from the start and treated Johnson and, especially, Pattinson brutally.

In this series Australia have conceded the fourth and ninth highest totals that a visiting team has made in 397 ODIs played in Australia. 102-1 from 14 overs, England were well on course to beat the 343-5 that Sri Lanka managed at Sydney in 2002/03. More importantly though, they showed that they could handle Mitch Johnson’s high pace, if they wanted to. Had Johnson been subjected to such a barrage in the Test series Australia’s entire strategy would have fallen apart. Despite a miserly spell from Glenn Maxwell, playing a lone hand and, amazingly, not even bowling out his overs, 76 from the last eight overs pushed England well past 300.

For once Chris Jordan looked off-colour and did not take an early wicket and, with Stuart Broad also expensive, Australia were well ahead of England after six overs and seemingly cruising. The introduction of Tim Bresnan in the seventh over, followed shortly afterwards by James Tredwell changed the complexion of the match. Bresnan dismissed Marsh in his first over and Matt Wade came in and the scoring rate plummeted. From being 7 ahead after 6 overs, Australia were 30 behind England’s score after 15. Wade was horribly, embarrassingly able to find any fluency and, finally, provided Ravi Bopara, again excellent with the ball, a very rare mid-innings wicket maiden.

While Finch was causing merry mayhem at one end, Australia were getting close to parity and had the initiative despite the lack of any kind of support at the other end. When Finch perished at 189-5, having score 57% of his side’s runs at that point, it only needed calm bowling to close out the match.

In the end, Australia subsided rather meekly, missing the chance to bury England completely and condemn them to their worst ever sequence of international defeats. With a 5^th ODI and three T20s to come, it also leaves England with the chance to finish with some momentum: winning the final ODI and the T20 series would at least allow England to spin that the things had been turned around at the end of the tour. With a clearer head at the death in the 2^nd ODI, the series might even still have been live at Adelaide.

Apart from the fact that Jordan came back strongly and comfortably passed 90mph again and that Cook is starting to re-gain form and fluency with the bat, Buttler, Stokes and Bell all had good games and, although Ravi Bopara has not scored many runs, his bowling has been consistently excellent, with good economy and vital wickets through the series.

“All” there is left to do is to show that this was not just a flash in the pan win against weakened opposition, by winning a few more matches to end the tour.

Pietersen As ODI Captain?

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

A chance to stop the rot

 

January 23^rd 2014

 

Two dead rubbers remain and Australia wish to ensure that, should England confound the sceptics and finally win an international match on this tour, it will be a hollow victory against a team of reserves. However, given the way that Australia have performed, it is not impossible that they have decided that the best way to humiliate England even further is by putting out their 2^nd XI and have it beating England too.

Many dead rubbers are essentially meaningless. This one is actually quite important for both sides. For England, there is a chance to regain some pride and start the re-building job with a win. As England lost the deciding ODI in September, a defeat tonight would extend the losing sequence against Australia to ten matches, equalling the sequences of international defeats in 1993 and 2001, something that Alistair Cook would be keen to avoid. For Australia, a win would consolidate them as the #1 side in ODI cricket, thanks to India’s consecutive defeats in New Zealand. If Australia lose, their reign as #1 side would end after a mere 24 hours.

In the absence of Boyd Rankin, Chris Woakes could come in, replacing James Tredwell. Michael Carberry’s chances of a return though look to be fading.

After the gut-wrenching defeat in the 2^nd ODI, the 3^rd showed just how much damage the loss had caused: there was almost no fight and just a tame acceptance that they would lose. For Alistair Cook the problem is to find a way to pick up spirits and persuade his side to stand and fight. If England win, it will be spun as a defeat against a team of reserves; if England lose, it will be thrown in his face as much as it was when, back in the ‘90s, the final of the end of series ODI competition was contested by Australia and Australia A, with England unable to inconvenience either even minimally in the qualifiers. A heavy defeat for a listless side would though add to the feeling that Alistair Cook is not the man to turn things around in any format.

Meanwhile the succession debate is underway. Right now, Alistair Cook is favourite to keep the Test captaincy for “there is no alternative” reasons, which are always unsatisfactory at best. As usual, debate centres around Kevin Pietersen and his role. Some people want him removed from the side completely, although there has been an attempt to defuse the situation with statements that there is no issue between Flower and Pietersen. Others suggest making him Vice Captain, or Senior Professional and getting him involved directly in tactics and in running the side.

There is even one left-field solution that suddenly becomes possible and that would be for Pietersen to take over as ODI captain, while Cook stays in charge of the Test side. However, as it was Pietersen’s captaincy in 2008/09 that led to explosion that left England without a coach or a captain before the 2009 tour of the Caribbean, a scarred administration may be reluctant to put Pietersen in charge of anything, although he would be working with another person from southern Africa – Flower is Zimbabwean – rather than Peter Moores. It would be a brave solution, but it might just work, with an engaged Keven Pietersen being brought into the system and judged on results.

Cook On The Brink

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Can Cook continue?

 

January 19^th 2014

 

 

As the 3^rd ODI raced towards its premature end, apoplectic England fans were condemning the perceived “250 is a par score” attitude. It reveals a rather depressing facet of England fans: the ones whose opinions get published often do not know a lot about the game; England were not aiming for 250 as a match-winning score – they were incapable of getting to the 300+ that might have won the match and knew it. After the game, Eoin Morgan recognised that even 280-290 probably would not have been enough to make it an even contest.

What makes it worse is that, this time, the openers gave England a solid, rapid start, with runs coming at better than 6-an-over for the first eight, as Faulkner and Pattinson were punished. However, from 49-0 after 8 overs, it took more than 17 overs for the cost of three wickets to double the score. Stokes came in and played an innings that would have been slow in Test cricket, let alone an ODI – what is he doing batting at 3? Although Eoin Morgan played another decent innings, even he could not get up to scoring at a run-a-ball. It was left to Tim Bresnan to push England past 240, as overs 42-46 produced just 23 runs.

The top six all got a start, but only Cook and Morgan reached 30. Even when a partnership got going – Bopara and Morgan put on 56 together and were just beginning to increase the scoring rate which, after 40 overs, had not reached four and a half, when both went in quick succession, ending any remote chance England might have had of a score of 270+. As it turned out, Australia scored so comfortably, that even 350 might not have been enough. Stokes again took a pounding and, this time, was removed from the attack after just 3 expensive overs – how much damage has his confidence taken from Cook’s handing in the last two matches? Broad, Bresnan and, albeit slightly less, Jordan were also expensive. Jordan got consecutive balls of his third over into the 90s mph (the fastest deliveries of the match) and was comfortably England’s fastest bowler, adding another wicket with the new ball, but even he did not look as good this time.

The calls for Cook’s resignation, which were just a whisper at the end of the Test series are now getting louder and louder. The position of Duncan Fletcher was totally undermined by the 2006/07 Ashes and the World Cup that followed and Andrew Flintoff lost the captaincy – this time though the calls for management’s blood have been quiet. However, the desperate attempts to blame Kevin Pietersen for the disaster (he is not even in Australia for the ODIs, so it is hard to see how they are his fault) seem to be working against Cook and Flower and the demands for change are getting louder by the game. It seems almost inconceivable that Cook can continue as ODI captain and it is no longer unthinkable to suggest that Andy Flower should be replaced. Cook’s position as Test captain is also coming under increasing threat and it is only the lack of an obvious replacement that has stopped the calls from becoming unstoppable.

After the match Cook the quotes have been taken as suggesting that his resignation as ODI captain is imminent but, he has quite clearly not limited himself to taking about the One-Day captaincy

“I think there will be some changes. We have kept losing games of cricket and I haven't been able to turn it around."

Those are not the words of a man who expects to lead out England next summer. Although his form has improved a little in this match, with a quick 35, he is not making consistent runs, as he has in the past: 13, 65, 3, 1, 72, 0, 27, 51, 7, 7, 4, 1, 22, 35 from the start of the Test series is not the sequence of a man leading from the front. Twice in that sequence, at Melbourne and in 2^nd ODI, England have got into winning positions and let them slip timidly away. The captaincy has been reactive and team selection too conservative; the will to make things happen, rather than sit back and see what happens, has been lost. Losing becomes a habit and, with each defeat, the tendency to avoid risks gets stronger; Cook is trapped in that cycle and cannot get out.

England are not a poor side, they are a decent one that has been, save for a couple of series, played well below their potential for two years now. Maybe it is all the fault of Kevin Pietersen, or maybe, just maybe, a change of management and tactics is required. The talent is there, but it is not being harnessed properly.

All Change!!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Something old and something new

 

January 18^th 2014

 

 

With Steve Finn back in blighty and protesting that his problems are nowhere near as deep as some have suggested, Chris Jordan moves up to the T20 squad and continues his rapid rise, with the aim now being the World T20 and then the June Test series against Sri Lanka, in which England will surely try out several new faces. This, in turn, leaves a hole in the Lions squad, occupied by Liam Plunkett, one of Duncan Fletcher’s gut calls, who started well before, like so many, losing his way in the 2006/07 trainwreck and its aftermath. Plunkett has bags of talent and one, probably final, opportunity to rebuild his international career – while Jordan, at 25, is a bet for the future, Plunkett, at 29, comes back into the reckoning now, or he never will.

Liam Plunkett played 9 Tests and no fewer than 27 ODIs between 2005 and 2007 and also played single matches in Bangladesh in 2010 and in Australia in 2011, to take his total of ODIs to 29. His debut came in 2005, when he was added to an England squad in Pakistan that was suffering from the loss of player after player. Figures of 3-51 in a high-scoring game that England won, playing as super-sub for none other than KP, was a respectable debut. Even better was his second match, this time in the starting XI.

It was a match that I remember with great affection because, having recorded a Sky at Night in Patrick Moore’s study the previous day, we sat down in the Music Room to watch the match together on Sky; this being the typical “Minder” duty for visitors to Selsey and a pleasure to carry out. A dreadful batting performance saw England reduced to 130-8, at which point Liam Plunkett, batting at 9, came together with super-sub Vikram Solanki, who replaced Jimmy Anderson (Vikram Solanki batting at 10???) and scored a magnificent 56. Together they put together 100 and lifted England to a reasonable total although, one bowler short after making the substitution in a desperate search for runs, 230 simply could not be defended. During that stand though, the constant grumbling in Patrick’s study at the miserable England batting effort, was turned to frank admiration.

Meanwhile. Chris Jordan’s career seems to be on the up and up. After playing for the Lions last summer against less than testing opposition in the shape of Bangladesh A, he has now played 3 ODIs, all against Australia, with a respectable 6 wickets @ 25.7, all of them England defeats, reaching 91.8mph on the speed gun at Southampton (for comparison, Mitch Johnson’s fastest ball was 92.7 mph). As others struggle, Chris Jordan seems to be looking better and better in comparison.

Graeme Thorpe says that, had Alistair Cook had a chance to replay the end of the 2^nd ODI, he would have done things differently. Translated, this means that it is recognised that Alistair Cook’s tactical nous in letting Ben Stokes go for 37 in his last three overs while Bopara and Bresnan were stopping the runs at the other end, was not particularly finely tuned. With Joe Root still struggling, although he bowled a superb spell and Stuart Broad coming back, there is every chance that England will play a specialist spinner tonight and go for a re-vamped side.

Just about everyone has given up this ODI series as another 5-0 defeat, at least England should try something different for a change.

Brilliant Faulkner. Dreadful Cook.

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

England snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

 

January 17^th 2014

 

 

For 97 overs today England had the match under control. However, despite 99% of fans seeing the mistake, Alistair Cook committed a scarcely believable error and insisted on bowling Ben Stokes, his most expensive bowler, who had already started to come in for some serious punishment, when he still had overs from Jordan (who put in another excellent new ball spell), Rankin (who had a much better game today, beginning to look more like the threatening bowler seen in the summer ODIs), Bresnan, Bopara and Root (England’s most economical bowler on the day). It was like watching a train racing to disaster when everyone except the driver is screaming for the brakes to be applied. Stokes is developing into a fine player and came out of the Tests with great credit, but came in for such fearful punishment that a target that appeared well out of Australia’s reach, became easy. James Faulkner was brilliant, but Alistair Cook made it far easier for him than it should have been.

It was a pity because, for once, England had done things right. A reasonable opening partnership at a respectable pace set the base for a massive late innings charge with Morgan, Bopara and Buttler hitting eight sixes between them and Morgan showing the sort of confidence and amazing innovation that makes fans wonder why he barely averages 30 in sixteen Tests, with a third of his Test runs coming in just two innings. At 244-9, with just 6 overs left, Australia needed 51 off 36 balls. It should have been a comfortable win for England. When Tim Bresnan went for just 3 in the 46^th over, the equation was 41 from 24 balls.

Stoke’s last 3 overs went for 13, 11 & 13. He could have been a hero because he did have Faulkner brilliantly caught by Joe Root on the run, but Root’s momentum carried him over the boundary: ironically, if Root had deliberately dropped the ball, he probably would have saved England four runs: it was symptomatic of England’s luck all tour.

After this sickening defeat, a whitewash in the ODIs now looks sadly inevitable too.

The End Of The Road For Steve Finn?

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Finn bites the dust

 

January 15^th 2014

 

The news that Steve Finn has been sent home as “presently unselectable” has produced three major reactions:

1. Sympathy for the player and a feeling that this step could have been taken earlier.
2. Puzzlement at how such a promising bowler could lose his way so badly, with anger directed at David Saker and the management team.
3. Hilarity, particularly from Australian fans, some of whom have been critical of the player for “giving up”.

Jon Agnew reports that, at the end of the Test series Steve Finn was reduced to bowling at gentle medium pace in an empty net. Since then, things have apparently got far worse and his confidence has gone completely. There are comments that he has been reduced to throwing the ball down from half way in an attempt to recover his action from first principals and that he has been infected with the yips.

What people have tended to forget is just how unnecessary this business has been. It all started with Graeme Smith complaining that the fall of the off bail at the bowler’s end, which happened occasionally when Steve Finn’s knee brushed the stumps, was distracting him. It was pure theatre and, without doubt, Graeme Smith would be the first to admit that it was just mind games. In the way that these stories grow in the Internet, many fans who have never seen Steve Finn bowl, genuinely believe that he was knocking the bails off four or five times every over, rather than once every four or five overs at most [this is not unique – there are also many fans who genuinely believe that Mike Gatting floored umpire Shakoor Rana with a sizzling punch and are outraged that he was allowed to get away with it].

The laws were changed. Steve Finn was obliged to change his action to get further from the stumps at delivery and the problems started. In New Zealand there was an experiment with a shorter run-up. Then he went back to a longer run-up. By Trent Bridge his bowling was falling apart. With Australia seemingly out of contention, Finn came on and bowled two overs that Brad Haddin dispatched for 24 runs, including 4 byes from a ball that almost clean-bowled Haddin. Up to then, Finn had the respectable figures of 8-3-17-0 in the innings – since then Finn has not bowled in Test cricket, although he bowled in two of the ODIs at the end of the summer and was bowling comfortably faster than any of the Australian bowlers apart from Mitch Johnson (the only England bowler to get close to Mitch Johnson’s speed was, interestingly, Chris Jordan, who may well inherit Steve Finn’s place in the England squad). Since then, things have only gone downhill.

With Steve Finn struggling so badly it was only fair and humane to get him out of the glare of publicity and home, where he can work in peace without the constant insensitive comments, mainly from former Australian players, questioning in the press his treatment, his non-selection, his issues, etc. In the majority of cases they have not seen him bowl recently and have no idea why he is not playing (had they seen him bowl on this tour, they would know). However, if, as suggested, his bowling has degenerated to suffering the yips, he may struggle even to get regular 1^st XI cricket for Middlesex.

One person’s crisis is another’s opportunity. Ollie Rayner is another who has a sudden and unexpected opportunity… or may do. Simon Kerrigan’s travails have been well documented – a disastrous Test debut, being withdrawn from the English Performance Programme tour at the last minute for extra work and now, an inopportune back injury that threatens his participation in the Lions tour of Sri Lanka. Just a couple of weeks after Michael Vaughan tipped him for a Test debut, Ollie Rayner has been put on standby to go to Sri Lanka should Kerrigan fail his fitness test. From being unsure of his own Middlesex place last season, Ollie Rayner has seen how Swann, Monty and Tredwell have fallen by the wayside, while Kerrigan and Borthwick are reckoned not to be ready. It is no longer impossible that with a couple of good performances, either for the Lions, or for Middlesex in early season, he could line up, either against Sri Lanka or, later, against India.

A Win At Last

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Yes, a win!

 

January 14^th 2014

 

 

The game against the Prime Minister’s XI was a major landmark in England’s tour: a first win for two months – in fact, the first time that England have avoided defeat in five games. The fact that it was against a side that some would say would not have challenged some of the English county 2^nd XIs, puts the match into perspective, as does the fact that Cook and Root managed just two runs – but, to look on the bright side, no ducks – between them, puts a bit of a dampener on things. The calls for Alistair Cook to drop himself from the side are getting louder.

In fact, five of the Prime Minister’s XI side have had international experience (two of them though are long retired) and all but a couple of players have played the First Class game. The new ball attack and first change was reasonably challenging and compounded England’s top order crisis. When you are 12-2 after 5 overs there is no way that you can spin that as anything other than a bad start. When the two wickets are the Captain and (the former) Boy Wonder, two of the key elements of your international side, it looks plain awful. It is getting hard to see how Root can be selected for the 2^nd ODI, unless as a bowler and Cook’s position is getting weaker by the game. Stuart Broad’s return for the 3^rd ODI could well see Alistair Cook being “rested”.

In contrast, Michael Carberry had another Michael Carberry innings: 47 in quick time and no hanging around bothering the scorers with logging a fifty. It should be enough to earn him a place, probably at the expense of Joe Root.

England’s recovery had a lot to do with the middle order “B” formation of Ballance, Bopara, Buttler and Bresnan, rudely interrupted by Eoin Morgan, who should bat at four in the next match to allow four B’s in a row to take their rightful place. Runs from Ballance, Buttler and Bresnan complemented a brief but violent Bopara innings. It was Bopara’s day, as he then finished the Prime Minister’s XI innings with four wickets and a runout in 27 balls. Ravi Bopara comes in for a lot of ridicule from fans, but has shown in the last year what a vital and valuable player he for England is in the limited overs game, with power hitting and useful wickets.

Chris Jordan added to his growing reputation with another mature performance, with an early wicket and final figures of 5-0-13-1. Tredwell and Bresnan gave solid support and, if Boyd Rankin was a little expensive, 2-39 from 8 overs was not the disaster that he might have feared. Chris Jordan knows that a couple of good performances in the remaining matches and some solid early season form should see him walking out against Sri Lanka in May, possibly even to take the new ball. It is not impossible that Jos Buttler could join him in the side, with Matt Prior given a chance to recover his form and enthusiasm with Sussex before the India series.

Don't Blame The County Game

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Blame it on the counties?

 

January 13^th 2014

 

 

After the 2006/07 Ashes whitewash there was a lot of soul-searching and an investigation into the disaster, leading to a report on how it could be avoided in the future. Part of the investigation centred on how County cricket could be made a conveyor belt for new talent. The introduction of so many players straight from counties to make an immediate impact in the international game (Cook, Trott, Swann, Monty, Root, etc.) has been held up as evidence that the system works. The failure to find an immediate replacement for Graeme Swann and the inadequacies shown by players such as Jonny Bairstow, who have not made the step up, is now held as proof that the same system is broken.

One of the recommendations made was that the number of First Class counties was too large and that too much cricket was being played at too low an intensity. This is an old chestnut and regional cricket has been proposed often enough.

One argument is that, in Australia, there are just six First Class teams and that Australia has no problems producing talent (only four months ago people were arguing just the opposite but, whatever…) The population of Australia in the 2011 census was 21.5 million. For the United Kingdom, in the 2011 census, the population is 63.2 million. Scale the number of First Class teams to the population and, for the UK, you would get… 18 First Class teams (17.6 if you want to be exact). In other words, you can argue that the talent pool is exactly the same size per head of population. It is not valid to say that the “correct” figure is the English population, because Welsh, Scottish and even many Irish cricketers aspire to play Test cricket for England and it is only a historical accident that the Test side that represents the United Kingdom is called England.

A lot of people talk about how Australia has grade cricket as a bridge to state level and that is true but, in England there are the leagues and those are fiercely competitive. In England the northern leagues have a tradition of attracting Test players. With international cricket a year-round business, you do not find the likes of Rodney Hogg and Alan Border plying their trade now, but the Leagues are still a place where young players come from abroad to round themselves and international stars can enjoy a final season or two after retirement, bringing on new talent as they do so. It may not be a case of “whistling down t’pit” when you want a new fast bowler, but Jimmy Anderson went almost straight from playing for his club side to England back in 2002, via just three limited overs matches for Lancashire.

Another common argument is that no one watches and no one cares about County cricket. It is an old saw. There are days, it is true, when the County Ground at Derby, or Wantage Road may hold only a handful of spectators. However, it is just as true that the County Championship is, by a distance, the most watched non-Test First Class competition in the world and that crowds have been growing steadily. Crowds of several thousand are not uncommon, particularly at weekends and there are counties who can claim to attract far more supporters to the ground, day after day, than Tests matches attract in some countries. One of the problems is that counties only record the number of spectators paying at the gate. Members get in free and, often, the members are a substantial fraction of the crowd.

As an exile, it is hard for me to judge the crowds. I did attend three games in 2011, two of them Second Division (one of the games has entered cricketing legend for its extraordinary scores – you can see the score at one point on the first day on the scoreboard in my background image – it was a quite remarkable game and made even better by being able to chat to the winning captain on the balcony afterwards). That game had a healthy, although not huge attendance for its first two days. A trip across London to the climax of another game saw me in what was a crowd certainly well over one thousand. A few weeks later I was at another Test ground and saw another very healthy crowd enjoy the first day of a game between two of the Division 1 big-hitters. Of the five days of play that I attended, just one conformed to the “one man and his dog” image and that was because play was only likely to last an hour or so anyway; even then there must have been a couple of hundred spectators in total, counting the members.

Another gauge of interest in the County game is the listening figures for county commentaries on the Internet. Radio London, who split their potential audience by broadcasting both Surrey and Middlesex games, have been amazed by the size of their listening figures. Again, the figures are skewed because they do not count listeners outside the M25 area, but they have had up to 20 000 unique listeners in a day for a single game. That is not a bad number when you consider that the commentary is only broadcast on the Internet and, latterly, also on digital radios.

I would thus argue that there is interest in the county game, perhaps not what it was in the 1930s, but still substantial. That is despite the international stars rarely turning out. While some Division 2 cricket can be desultory, particularly near the end of the season, more sides have more to play for, for a larger fraction of the season than was ever the case with one division. In Division 1 almost every game has something riding on it still in the run-in. Witness last season where, with two games to go, Warwickshire were simultaneously watching their back because they were being sucked into the relegation battle and pushing for top four prize money, in the end getting the latter. In Division 2, Gloucestershire finished 6^th but, until the last two games, still harboured some hopes of promotion, setting up increasingly suicidal chases in an attempt to muscle in on the promotion race.

Two Division cricket has undoubtedly concentrated the talent in the county game. Increasingly players are prepared to move county to get Division 1 cricket. I have heard it argued – by a fan of a promoted county – that his side would do fine in Division 1 because the level is actually higher in Division 2!! His side was relegated… rapidly. Division 1 cricket is harder, more intense. A typical Division 2 side has a decent new ball attack but, when the change bowlers come on, the pressure eases. There are usually one or two good class batsmen, but not the five or six that the better Division 1 outfits can boast. There is a perception, largely backed by recent precedent, that Division 2 runs and wickets are worth far less than Division 1 wickets and runs in Test selection: that is how it should be if the two division system is to make sense.

What makes no sense is that the players in the county game almost never come up against Test players. Alistair Cook or Stuart Broad rarely turn out for their county. Last season Graeme Swann played one match for Nottinghamshire and Stuart Broad, two. Jimmy Anderson played two games for Lancashire and Alistair Cook two for Essex. The link between the county game and the Test team has been broken. Even when there are no Tests and a player is not involved in ODIs, the Test players are “rested”. Players who are out of form used to be able to play a county match between Tests to get some confidence back: that practice has been abolished and Test players now only play early season games, before the Tests.

The aim should be that the England Test specialists should play a minimum of one third of the games in the county season and players should be encouraged to turn out for their county when not needed by England and not in clear need of rest. Fans would love to see Root, Ballance, Bairstow and Bresnan trying to score runs against Jimmy Anderson in a Roses match and Stuart Broad facing off against Woakes and Rankin in a Midlands derby, but these march-ups rarely, if ever occur. Increase the level by making the best play against the best as often as reasonably possible, while respecting the need of the players to rest. If that means playing only six Tests each season, or cutting an ODI series by a match or two, so be it.

New Game, Same Result: Time To Rest Cook

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Different game, same result

 

January 12^th 2014

 

The change to coloured pyjamas and a completely different team, with only five survivors from the Melbourne Test, has changed nothing. One of the very few pieces of good news for England is the way that Chris Jordan seized his chance and bowled with some pace and aggression.

Alistair Cook failed to see out the first over. England were two down for very little. The scoring was arthritic: Australia managed to score at double the rate of England for the first eleven overs of their innings and England were barely above three an over for the first twelve, leaving the middle order to sort out the mess, as usual. Add to this the way that, when a chance was offered by the batsmen, more often than not it was not taken and one such drop cost England more than one hundred runs, you can see that Tests and ODIs are not so different after all.

England had a good spell around overs 28-33 when runs were coming at 6-7 per over. The run rate was threatening to reach the dizzy heights of 5-an-over. There was the chance of the sort of total of around 300 that even a misfiring attack can defend. And then, the runrate dropped back again and did not reach the high of over 33 again until the end of the 42^nd over. Even 86 from the last ten overs was not sufficient to rescue things. And this was with Australia playing their reserve attack. What will happen when Mitch Johnson starts to roar in does not bear thinking of.

A captain and a coach can only work with what they have, but you have to get the best out of the players that you have got. Steve Finn, one of the most lethal ODI bowlers in the world, is now no longer even considered good enough to pick and Cook and Root at the top of the order look so short of form and confidence that England are effectively giving Australia a two wicket start and batting with at least five fewer overs than the opposition. Root’s painful stay of 23 balls for 3 runs is symptomatic. Twelve months ago Joe Root was brim-full of confidence and runs; now he really looks to be benefiting more the opposition: one wonders why Clint McKay was not given a huge bollocking by his captain for removing him.

If that was not sufficient, after an expensive start with the ball, Boyd Rankin cramped up again and could not come back for a second spell, even when a tiny window was opened by two quick wickets.

For the second ODI, England need to consider seriously dropping Cook, Root and Rankin, Finn should come in, whatever, as should Tredwell and Eoin Morgan should take over the captaincy, with Michael Carberry opening.

A Chance For Players To Stake Their Claims

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

A lot to play for in the ODIs

 

January 11^th 2014

 

 

Tonight the ODI series starts, with England possibly having only four survivors from the side that lost the 5^th Test. For players such as Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler these games take on a whole new significance, with middle order places available in the Test side. Chris Jordan will be hoping for a chance to push his name forward for a Test place in the Sri Lanka series, although Chris Woakes will hope to get the nod instead.

In the last three Ashes series the winner has always gone on to lose the ODIs but, now, with both sides so different to the Test teams, previous form in the Tests has little or nothing to do with this series. It is not even easy to guess what England’s starting XI will be. One of the biggest issues for England will be the question of whether or not Alistair Cook can settle his addled mind and out-think Michael Clarke. If, as in the Test series, it is Michael Clarke who makes all the correct tactical calls, this could be a further dose of pain for Alistair Cook and ratchet up the pressure on his captaincy still further.

Another Case Of England Mutual Assured Destruction?

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Let the blame game start

 

January 9^th 2014

 

The series is finished. The whitewash is complete. The mental disintegration has been accomplished: Graeme Swann has gone; Jonathon Trott is out for the foreseeable future; Monty Panesar’s international future is in grave doubt, as is Steve Finn’s; Joe Root and Matt Prior have been dropped; and Jonny Bairstow simply has not made the grade. However, all the talk is about Kevin Pietersen, supposed dressing room malcontent and gadfly in the Flower power regime. Whatever happened in 2012, it is obvious that it is not forgiven and even less is it forgotten. Being the top runscorer in the series (albeit with fewer than 300 runs at an average under 30) is not enough to compensate the fact that the face does not fit and that if he refuses to use his degenerative knee injury as an excuse to retire, he may be pushed anyway, accused of not playing for the team.

Andy Flower is playing for his professional life. From a peak in 2011 when it seemed that he could do no wrong and the fear that he might decide to go after this tour was real, things have gone horribly downhill:

• 3-0 whitewash in the UAE v Pakistan
• 1-1 in Sri Lanka where a win in the second Test broke a series of four consecutive defeats.
• Win 2-0 v West Indies in England
• 2-0 v South Africa in England (England could have won the 2^nd & 3^rd Tests but did not and was comprehensively outplayed overall)
• Win 2-1 v India (after the 1^st Test, England’s 2012 record stood at 7 defeats in 12 Tests)
• 0-0 v New Zealand with England lucky to save the series
• Win 2-0 v New Zealand in the return series
• Win 3-0 v Australia at home
• 5-0 whitewash in Australia

Nine series, 4 won, 3 lost (10 of the 11 Tests were lost in those series defeats), 2 drawn.

A record of P 30, W 10, D 8, L 12, with ten of the twelve defeats coming in just three series.

It is not impressive. Something has gone seriously wrong. What is more, when England lose, they are losing very badly indeed.

Against Sri Lanka and against India, England managed to turn around series that had started with a defeat. However, the turnaround against India came in that same Test where, in the second innings, Cook and Prior were probably just an hour away from saving the game on the final morning, after an epic partnership. Although eventually England lost by 9 wickets soon after lunch, the Indian bowling was being ground down, it can be argued that India would have been unlikely to risk a chase of a target of 180 in 45 or so overs. Similarly, against Sri Lanka, a first innings deficit was turned into a rather more nail-biting win than Sri Lanka could have imagined as, first, only 87 runs for the last two wickets allowed Sri Lanka to set a challenging target and then Trott and Prior threatened to reach it. In both cases, England started the fightback in the third innings of the match.

What made the Australian series predictable was the meek surrender in the 1^st Test, where the fightback never came. When the 2^nd Test started the same way, a 5-0 result looked inevitable. England-watchers know that, if the fightback does not come quickly, it will not come at all.

There will always be comparisons with 2006/07, but a closer parallel is probably 1958/59, when England also went to Australia as holders of the Ashes after three consecutive wins, with an apparently strong side, but lost 4-0. In 1958/59, the batting failed and the bowling was too one-dimensional: sound familiar? In contrast, after three days of the 2006 Adelaide Test it looked as if England were going to be fiercesome rivals to Australia. After two days of the Test there were even suggestions that England were burying the career of Glenn McGrath (0-107) and Shane Warne (1-167), who had come in for some terrible punishment as England ran up a massive total of 551-6d. However meekly England surrendered after that catastrophic fifth day collapse, no one can say that they had not shown themselves capable of competing for four glorious days. In this series there has been no such consolation.

Fans, even cricket writers, are split. Fine, knowledgeable pundits such as George Dobell argue that Andy Flower should take the blame and that his methods are no longer working. The huge defeats against Pakistan, South Africa and Australia suggest that when Plan A fails, there is no Plan B. However much you say that it is the players who have failed in the middle, not the coach, such an obvious flaw in the preparation as the lack of a Plan B has to be blamed on the management. No one argues that Andy Flower has been even better than Duncan Fletcher at his best in taking England to the top but, like Duncan Fletcher, when things have started to go wrong he has failed to adapt and to keep England there. There are plenty of suggestions that the very high degree of control and discipline of the Flower regime are beginning to grate on some of the players, who are beginning to feel the need for some breathing space.

Australia, famously, had a discipline and homework regime and that ended in tears. More than one of the players attribute the turnaround in Australian fortunes to the relaxed and fun atmosphere that Darren Lehmann has installed in place of Mickey Arthur’s more aesthetic methods.

Andy Flower has said that he wants to lead England back to success and is planting the blame for the problems firmly at the door of one or two troublemakers for upsetting the dressing room atmosphere, with rumours that he is trying the “either he goes, or I go” tactic that led to the Mutual Assured Destruction of Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen. The solution, apparently, is not a liberalisation of the regime, but the need for even greater control. There are already rumours that this is evolving into a power struggle with Paul Downton, a player who remembers the bad years of the ‘80s all too well. Maybe Hugh Morris knew what he was doing when he decided to get out now.

Not even Andy Flower can lay the blame with Kevin Pietersen for the squad taken to Australia having too many passengers and too many players who seemed like a good idea at the time: the blame for that lies firmly with the management. Neither was it the fault of Kevin Pietersen that the schedule that England agreed to was hardly ideal, with only a single two day game against what was little better than a School XI in an out of the way country outpost after the 1^st Test. And Kevin Pietersen is not to blame for the fact that Australia agreed to play strengthened squads in the warm-ups and then withdrew players and were allowed to do it, possibly because there was more than a suspicion that the ECB were not overkeen themselves to encourage counties to select credible sides against the Australian tourists in the summer and so were in no position to protest.

A strong manager would say “we screwed up – X, Y and Z seemed like a good idea at the time, but I got it wrong”. Admission of guilt and a promise to do better next time. That though is not exactly the line that is being taken. What is happening is a lot of infighting that will only weaken the team still further. The beneficiaries may be a Sri Lankan side who are proving difficult opponents for Pakistan and whose skilful seamers could just prove a handful when they arrive in June. Asian fans are already joking that it will be a major shock result if England manage to win that series.

Yes, Things Could Get Even Worse

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

And worse still

 

January 5^th 2014

 
 

Rarely in my memory, save perhaps some 1990s tours of India, have England been so utterly outplayed and uncompetitive. Part of the problem was the quality of the Australian attack. Never has it been so well demonstrated that one player can change a side. Last summer Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle laboured hard, but with little support and this stopped Australia from exploiting breakthroughs; in this series they were supported by an unrecognisable Mitch Johnson. The fact that he sustained his hostility for five Tests was the difference between the two sides.

However, other major differences were Brad Haddin and the captaincy. Michael Clarke never let things slip. England had, I believe, just one century partnership in the whole series because Michael Clarke never let things get out of hand. With Alistair Cook, you got the feeling that he would try Plan A; if that didn’t work, he would try Plan A; and if *that* didn’t work, revert to headless chicken mode.

A lot of people wondered about the defensive fields and bowling two spells of Joe Root at Melbourne before giving Monty Panesar, however out of sorts, a try. Yesterday though, with the match already long gone, he bowled Kevin Pietersen, who has spent the series isolated in the outfield, before trying Scott Borthwick. At that stage, with the seamers going for plenty of runs and showing no threat at all, you wondered why he did not try bowling Pietersen and Borthwick together for a few overs, just to try something different. When Borthwick finally came on, he bowled some absolute jaffas as well as some utter dross, but almost immediately got rid of both Haddin and Rogers.

The late wicket of Harris allowed Scott Borthwick to top the England Test bowling averages. He will bowl better and get figures a lot worse than 3-33, but the Australian pledge to end his career after one Test was spectacularly unfulfilled: so much so that Michael Vaughan was suggesting that Root and Borthwick share the spin duties in the summer, with Root helping to protect Borthwick during his apprenticeship. Mind you, Michael Vaughan also suggested that Middlesex’s Ollie Rayner might well be worth considering in the summer, which suggests that a spot of sunstroke might have been coming on.

Alistair Cook seems to struggle to conjure something up in the way that Nasser Hussein, or Michael Vaughan or Andrew Strauss could when things are going wrong and has difficulty to think out of the box and try something different.

When Andrew Strauss got the captaincy, it was by default because there was no one else. However, if he had received it in 2006, England would never has been whitewashed in the 2007/07 Ashes: they would have lost, yes, but with more dignity and Strauss would never have lost that Adelaide Test. Right now, were Alistair Cook to resign, the only conceivable replacements are Ian Bell and Stuart Broad. Broad has had the T20 captaincy and is one of the few definites for the summer. Some people would protest that he is too stroppy, but the young Nasser Hussein was every bit as much a bad boy (probably even more so), but the captaincy matured him in a way that few could have imagined. My worry would be that the load of bowling all-rounder and captain would be too much for Stuart Broad. Whether Ian Bell has any captaincy experience or the nous to make a success of it, I have no idea. Whatever way you look at it, Cook’s batting form has gone and, unlike Mike Brearley, his captaincy is not good enough for him to be picked for that alone.

For what it is worth, Alistair Cook finished sixth in the England batting averages, with 24.6, not very far ahead of Stuart Broad.

You Think That It Cannot Get Worse...

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

And it gets worse

 

January 4^th 2014

 
 

Little over half an hour into the morning session an innings defeat inside two days looked an odds-on bet. A pitch that looked totally innocuous for the England attack, looked unplayable for the Australians. A total well under 100 looked likely and with it, a humiliating follow-on when the follow on target was just 127. In the end, some slogging from Broad and Rankin against the change bowlers saved the follow on. It was hard to avoid thinking that Michael Clarke wanted to avoid the need to take a decision. As soon as the stand became annoying, back came Mitch Johnson and immediately brought an end to proceedings.

What have England learnt? There are various things:

·         The inadequacies of the side can no longer be ignored. Neither the batting nor the bowling are competitive.

·         Boyd Rankin looks like a fourth seamer at  best, with neither the pace nor the accuracy nor, for that matter, the guile to defeat the best.

·         A genuinely fast, 90mph+, bowler is a must.

·         Jonny Bairstow is not good enough either as a wicket-keeper or as a batsman.

·         Alistair Cook seems to struggle for ideas when under pressure.

·         Even the younger players like Joe Root are getting burnt out. Root has gone from being the young revelation of the side, to being a nervous wreck whose feet are encased in concrete. The high-intensity regime, where every aspect of the players’ lives is controlled is taking its toll.

There has been a “don’t blame the bowlers” attitude through this tour, but this match has shown more clearly than any other that the bowling, Stuart Broad apart, has been insipid. On a pitch that the Australians, even the friendly-paced Peter Siddle, made look impossible, the England bowlers rarely looked dangerous. Ben Stokes has had a good match, but he was somewhat flattered by his figures and averages a modest 35 with the bat and 33 with the ball in the series. That this makes him England’s outstanding performer shows how poorly the rest have played. KP is the only other batman to average over 30 and Stuart Broad is the only bowler to average under 30.

Australia have won in the same way that England did last summer. Even when their top order has failed – and it has in almost every Test – the last five wickets have rescued the situation. England have not had an enforcer to clean up the tail whereas, last summer, the situation was reversed: England scored bucketloads of runs with the tail, while Australia’s usually folded. In this series, the England tail has barely scored a run and, if someone has started to prove a nuisance, Johnson or Harris has been summoned to restore order quickly.

Once again, in the second innings, the top four fell cheaply: at 91-4 England just had an opening to restore some dignity, but that door has been slammed shut… again. The end will almost certainly come today and, if it does not, it will only be because Michael Clarke has batted on into the afternoon until the lead has surpassed all reason.

Yet Another Manic Day

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Frenetic

 

January 3^rd 2014

 

 

You can just imagine an England supporter in the crowd watching the action last night and, summarising what he saw with a dry “cricket’s a funny old game”. Undoubtedly, an Australian fan overhearing would launch into thirty seconds of abuse, finishing with “well it ain’t ******* well meant to be!”

For the first time since Nagpur Test that opened the 2006 series in India (a winter that saw England lose no fewer than six players to injury), England have three debutants. That side, which had Cook, Blackwell and Monty making their debut, fell just short of victory, aided by 60 & 104* from Cook and famously drew the series in extremis with victory in the 3^rd Test. For this game the changes were not unlike those for the Oval Test: two new bowlers, one of them a spinner, both players who would scarcely have imagined two weeks before that they would be in the Test side. After an awful start to the tour, Gary Ballance, in contrast, was extremely close to making his debut at Perth until England re-thought the balance of their side the previous day. There were plenty of pundits who would have played Ballance at the Oval.

As expected, Monty Panesar was dropped. And to compound it, a statement was released soon after play started that made clear that he was fit and available. Many people now speculate that his international career is over, which has been a tragic waste. While Essex have given him a chance to re-build his career next season there is also the possibility that he will go down the Sajid Mahmood (another Essex signing) route. Monty compensated for his lack of athleticism with fun, hard work and sharp bowling skills; with the first two gone and the third having waned a lot in the last year, he is a luxury in the side and, when you are 4-0 down, you cannot afford them. While many people were unhappy with Scott Borthwick as his replacement, he is young, undoubtedly skilled and is developing into a fine bat, so his bowling is a bonus in this Test.

Many expected Tim Bresnan to be dropped, despite his efforts at Melbourne. He will play a fair amount for Yorkshire early season and no one will be surprised if he is back in the side next summer, bowling with renewed vigour. Someone had to move over for big Boyd Rankin and Tim Bresnan is nothing if not a gentleman.

Gary Ballance’s debut came, to the surprise of many, at the expense of Joe Root and not of Michael Carberry. Root has been struggling since he was moved up the order when Nick Compton was dropped, as many predicted he would. Ballance and Root are flatmates and have gone through the Yorkshire system together, so this must have been tough for both to swallow, but Root needs a break to work on his game a little and get his feet moving again to allow him to play with freedom. As Carberry had more runs in the first four Tests than anyone other than KP and more than the captain, it would have been a gift to the critics for him to be dropped, but there is a feeling that this is his last chance to make a major score.

After that, the report card sounds pretty familiar. The Australian top order struggled again and were 97-5 just after lunch (Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander must be licking their lips in anticipation). George Bailey failed again. And Brad Haddin was waiting…

Once again Haddin rescued Australia – he is expected to retire after this Test, so Australia will almost certainly go to South Africa without the security of his rescue acts – in company of Steve Smith, who looked all at sea initially, but gritted it out. When Boyd Rankin pulled up with a hamstring problem after only eight overs in which he had added some menace to the attack and Scott Borthwick was duly attacked violently, things looked grim, especially as Smith and Haddin then went after Ben Stokes too.

Not everything was gloomy for the debutant. Despite some nerves that saw his length suffer and some rough treatment, Scott Borthwick also bowled some very fine deliveries and kept his nerve, earning his first Test wicket when Mitch Johnson launched one haymaker too many. This did not look like Simon Kerrigan Mk II, or even Bruce McGain – Borthwick looks like he will make an impact, if he is treated correctly. That means getting some protection, having plenty of sympathetic treatment and persisting with him even if his first match is disappointing. While his bowling effort can by no stretch of the imagination be described as good, it was not the disaster that many had predicted and some England fans had even hoped… there is some steel there and we may just see it in the next few days.

Borthwick is being treated with the same sort of scepticism that has greeted Ben Stokes in this series. After a century and now figures of 6-99, Ben Stokes though has announced himself in a big way and looks a certain starter next summer. He is still too high at six in the order, but without him England would not be able to play a five-bowler attack. In this Test they would have been in desperate straits without the extra seamer as, bizzarely, Boyd Rankin came back for one delivery and pulled up again but, apparently, he will be fit to bowl in the second innings so, whatever it is that ails him, it is not serious. Ideally, England would like to be able to play a wicket keeper at six, Stokes at seven and Borthwick at eight, with Broad at nine. This would allow some flexibility to pick the number ten and jack to suit the situation and give a potentially very potent lower middle order.

Knocking over Australia for 326 is not a disaster, but England need to find some fire in their bellies with the bat and need to be positive, but not reckless. Push the singles, rotate the strike, mess with the bowlers’ lines and keep the scoreboard ticking over.