Some Good News... At Last

 

 

Ashes 2015

 

England’s Recent Bowling Blues

 

April 25^th 2015

  

There has been plenty of criticism of Chris Jordan overnight for not threatening to take Test wickets, but compare him with recent performances by his colleagues and you will see a different picture. Apart from Ben Stokes, who can't buy a wicket, they are pretty similar over their last seven innings, albeit covering different time periods. All have played the same mix of ODIs and Tests in these seven innings (3 ODIs, followed by 4 Test innings), so we are cheating a little, but not very much:

Jordan: 1-33, 2-59, 2-13, 1-46, 1-48, 2-65, 0-41 this year.

Stokes: 0-36, 0-28, 0-21, 0-64, 0-50, 1-66, 0-34 since November.

Broad: 0-67, 1-52, 1-18, 2-67, 1-61, 4-61, 1-23 since March.

Anderson: 0-48, 2-45, 1-18, 2-67, 2-72, 2-47, 1-27 since March

The lesson for Ben Stokes is that, if he wants to keep his place in the side, he badly needs some runs. In contrast, Chris Jordan has 19 wickets in 7 Tests at a mid-30s average: without ever seeming to perform. Jordan is taking regular wickets and is well ahead of a certain Andrew Flintoff at the same stage of his England career.

[Ps: Jordan now has 20 wickets at 36.2 at the conclusion of the Test, as well as averaging 21.9 with the bat. After 7 Tests, Andrew Flintoff had 6 wickets at 50.7 and averaged 17.3 with the bat.]

 

 

Jimmy Anderson Kick-starts the Series

 

April 28^th 2015

 

Before the start on the fifth morning you would have got long odds on an England win. There was even the sneaking suspicion that the West Indies might be safe by Tea, possibly somewhat earlier, declare and embarrass England severely in the final session. While a West Indies win looked impossible unless they were bowled out and then England collapsed chasing a modest target, most fans and pundits seemed resigned to a bore draw. Either way, if the West Indies – who have shown more grit in the series than anyone expected – got through the new ball, the match was dead.

However, Sir Geoffrey, who is nothing if not a wise old bird (despite staking his mortgage on an England win, chasing 140 against Pakistan in the UAE), suggested that there was still a Calypso Collapso in this West Indian side. Who was right? The cynics would say that it took a vintage performance from an old-stager against dire opponents to force the win and so was hardly a tea performance to boast about, but then how often do games turn out that way? Once Jimmy Anderson made the breakthrough Chris Jordan got rid of the saviour of Antigua – Jermaine Blackwood and Moeen Ali did what a good spinner is paid to do and mopped-up the tail with minimal fuss.

It was as awful collapse as it was unexpected, in which wickets came in bunches. 22 runs from the first six overs without alarm before the new ball did for Brathwaite. That though only brought in Chanderpaul, the Caribbean equivalent of Rahul “the Wall” Dravid – 26 balls, 14 runs, almost all from the other end, then Anderson to Chanderpaul and it was “thanks for catch, Captain!” Eleven dots balls and a single, Anderson to Samuels and the other batsman not out overnight was gone too.

However, in Antigua, England had been further along and then saw how Blackwood scored a century to snuff out their hopes. 28 balls of relative quiet, 18 runs added. Is Blackwood going to do it again? Jordan now on, so surely the pressure is being released. Loose shot. Anderson stretches (just as well that he’s a big lad). Wonderful catch. Thanks very much. Jordan has removed the biggest remaining threat. Surely the West Indies have nothing left?

Tension rising. 9 fairly uneventful balls. Push into the covers. Silly run. Anderson swoops. Oh! Mr Holder! The West Indian coach might have been on to the fourth umpire to check that that there was only one Jimmy Anderson on the field of play, as he would have been justified in suspecting that Anderson clones had sneakily substituted for the seemingly missing Stokes and Moeen Ali.

Dinesh Ramdin knows how to hold a bat. He has four Test centuries and two more in ODIs and, with Kemar Roach, again began to build a partnership. With an average of 9 in Tests (and FC average of 10), Roach is no great shakes with the bat, but seven overs went by, 22 precious runs and time being eaten up. Nervous fans were thinking “surely they can’t escape again?” Get through to lunch, then half an hour more after and the time-runs equation would start to become an issue.

On came Moeen in partnership with Joe Root. Moeen was so erratic in the first innings that the wisdom of picking him on the back of just 8 overs for Worcestershire looked more than open to doubt. Moeen though seems to infect opposing batsmen with madness. With probably only 7 balls to go to lunch, Roach slogged, Anderson caught and England were through. Bizarre!

Still the West Indians hung around. 25 runs, almost ten overs and Ramdin and Bishoo were beginning to make themselves a nuisance. England kept plugging away. Straight full toss from the Bearded Terminator, Ramdin misses and is exterminated, but not before making the sort of review that would  make Stuart Broad drool: middle stump, half way up – hard to get any deader. Two balls later another straight one and the Bearded Terminator had cleaned-up the tail.

An obvious question is how much this win is worth. After one England Test win in the recent past, one Internet forum poster just suggested sarcastically “OBEs all round”. There is no question that beating Australia will be a tad tougher than beating the West Indies, but you have to start somewhere. Only a few weeks ago, fans and some local pundits were licking their lips at the thought of England losing in the Caribbean, as they had in 2009. There have been plenty of comments that the West Indies are fired-up and looking forward to winning the series and ramming a few patronising comments down England throats.

However, having lost all five Tests in Australia and drawn all three in New Zealand the previous winter and the final Test in India, England have lost or drawn their last 10 away Tests (D5, L5) before Grenada. After a run like that, a win, any win is good news. The fact that it was hard-fought on a flat pitch where almost everyone expected a draw will do wonders for England morale. The aim is to get on a little bit of a run of form before playing Australia. The question is, can England kick on from this result? There are just three more Tests to get the formula right.