England v Sri Lanka, 1st and 2nd ODI: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

 

England v Sri Lanka

1^st and 2^nd ODI

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

 June 25^th  2016

In my last entry I suggested that Liam Plunkett should be on the radar for the Pakistan Test series, as should Adil Rashid. The pair of them have given England a taste of what they are missing.

Adil Rashid has contributed 10-0-36-0 in the first ODI – 20 runs fewer than any other England bowler – and 10-0-34-2 in the second, bowling with skill and threat (Moeen Ali contributed 19-0-110-1 between the two matches). Adil Rashid will always have the odd bad match, but he will have many more good ones. While his selection for India is taken for granted, fewer people seem to think that he would add something to the attack that the decline of Moeen’s threat has taken away. Maybe it is time to think seriously about giving him a game.

Liam Plunkett took some punishment with the ball in the 1^st ODI, but came in with the match slipping away from England. At 235-8, with 52 wanted from 26 balls, the situation was critical. Plunkett helped Chris Woakes to get England close but, with 10 wanted from the last 2 balls and 7 from the last, Sri Lanka should have wrapped-up the win. Plunkett reminded people that he has First Class centuries (plural) and Test and ODI 50s by hammering a ball only slightly off Yorker length into the stands for a tie. 22 from 11 balls in a crisis, with the Sri Lankans bowling tightly and well was a demonstration of his talent. In the 2^nd ODI he bowled with fire and venom to fire out two quick wickets when Sri Lanka had made a fast start, giving England a control that they never relinquished.

In the two matches England have swung from diabolically bad to supreme brilliance. Having kept Sri Lanka to a probably sub-par 286, there was no excuse for crashing to 82-6. It was awful. The top order batting suffers these collapses too often for it to be put down to occasional accidents. However, there is also a steel in the side that allows bad positions to be rescued. Jos Buttler is back and, together with Chris Woakes, who seems to grow in stature with every game, Between then they brought England back into the match and looked to be winning it before the departure of Buttler and Willey in quick succession should have killed off the recovery. Just as well that Chris Woakes is showing a confidence that he has never shown before and, in Liam Plunkett, found a solid ally in a crisis.

The second match was completely the opposite. Having made a quick start, Sri Lanka never really got out of first gear. There were two fifties, there was a forty, there were a series of partnerships but, whenever Sri Lanka were in a position to start to accelerate, they lost a wicket and often two. The match then turned into a race between Hales and Roy to the century. Lest we forget that Hales can give the ball some tap, from 93* he went to 120* in eight balls:

6 . 1 4 4 6 6 6

Hales’s sequence in ODIs and Tests since the end of the South African Test series is a stunning:

57, 99, 65, 50, 112, 86, 83, 11, 18, 94, 4 & 133*

There are still England fans who think that Hales is not good enough and should not start against Pakistan. One wonders what run of scores would satisfy them.

A ten wicket win was, to put it mildly, a restorant. The flip side of the week was the news that Nick Compton is adding his name to the list of cricketers taking an indefinite break from cricket. A fine cricketer, hampered by the family name and the situation that a section of the public will never forgive him for the fact that his grandfather emigrated to South Africa after retiring from the game. He has two Test centuries and can feel that he won the 1^st Test in South Africa with his batting, but the pressure on him to be more adventurous led to a collapse in form and confidence. Nick Compton should have three more seasons of prolific county run-getting in him but the odds seem to be that he will abandon the game, possibly for the media. Social media are putting new pressures on players that they never had to face in the past and Nick Compton is just the latest player to find that the pressures on him have got too much.

It seems to be taken as given that Scott Borthwick will line up against Pakistan, although two failures in the Championship this week has taken some wind out of his sails. Fortunately he will have another opportunity before he takes on the Pakistan attack.

England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test: Day 5 and Aftermath - Rain Has The Last Word

 

England v Sri Lanka

3^rd Test: Day 5 and Aftermath

Rain Has The Last Word

 

June 17^th  2016

The rain that set up a potentially wonderful finish, finally condemned the match. Taunting and teasing, it seemed as if play could start at any moment only for drizzle and rain to return. Even though Jimmy Anderson added his twenty-first wicket of the series soon after the start and England played five slips, Sri Lanka batted competently and sensibly to avoid any hint of a scare.

On one level it was disappointing. On another it was just reward for a Sri Lankan side that had improved out of all recognition over the tour. In seven innings over five matches on the tour, Sri Lanka had taken just 46 wickets, bowling the opposition out just twice in seven attempts (once to set up an innings defeat, the other, for over 400). However, from Day 3 of the 2^nd Test, the series ceased to be a procession and became a real contest. With more luck and better ground-fielding Sri Lanka could have pushed England much harder. Their young team will have learnt a lot from the experience, although there are already suggestions that England may not enjoy their next tour to Sri Lanka much as they might, because the scheduling may not be as friendly as it has been on past tours.

England can be satisfied with several aspects of the series, apart from the result [Sri Lanka deservedly won the series in 2013]. Highlights are:

·        Jimmy Anderson’s return to form and fitness.

·        Alex Hales tying-down the opener spot for the rest of the summer (despite not quite getting over the line for that first century in Tests).

·        Jonny Bairstow’s wonderful batting.

·        Alistair Cook getting the 10 000 run monkey off his back and finishing the series with two good scores.

·        Chris Woakes’s development as a genuine all-rounder. He was the fastest bowler on either side, took 8 wickets at 18.8 and a strike rate of 40, was more economical than any bowler on either side save Jimmy Anderson and the lightly-bowled Angelo Matthews and had two valuable innings in his limited opportunities, including a maiden Test 50.

·        Moeen Ali’s spectacular innings at Chester-le-Street.

·        Stuart Broad’s generally good form with the new ball.

However, not all was rosy. Some things definitely did not go as hoped. In no particular order:

·        Nick Compton’s downward spiral of form.

·        Jonny Bairstow’s errors with the gloves.

·        James Vince failing to make a real case that he is the answer at #5.

·        Moeen Ali struggling to make an impact with the ball.

·        Steve Finn’s lack of form (although there were signs that he was on the mend by the end of the series).

·        Joe Root’s struggles (80 of his 87 runs came in a single innings).

·        A top order prone to collapsing like a pack of cards.

·        A sameness to the attack when there is nothing in the pitch or the atmosphere for the bowlers.

While Alex Hales’s star has most definitely shone – there were some frankly ludicrous calls from fans at the end of the series that he should be dropped because his inability to convert 80s and 90s into centuries showed “that he was just not good enough at this level”, but a more rational view is that England would have been in a lot of bother without his runs: exactly 100 more than Compton, Root and Vince combined. 86, 83, 11, 18 & 94 was a pretty powerful statement. He has played five First Class matches this season and has passed 50 in four of his eight innings, with no single-figure scores – Nick Compton’s 51 runs at 12.8 looked like the struggles of a man batting with Geoff Boycott’s stick of rhubarb.

Nick Compton has amazing ability, but last reached 40 eleven innings ago, in the first match of the new season. Since his match-winning contribution in the 1^st Test in South Africa, he has produced 45, 15, 26, 0, 19, 6, 0, 44, 38, 1, 14*, 3, 0, 9, 22*, 1, & 19 and his Test average has declined to 28.7 after 16 Tests. His last 10 Test innings have produced a top score of just 26 and 117 runs.

Sometimes a player has a bad trot and battles through it. Alistair Cook could not buy a run for over a year before suddenly coming good again, albeit initially with ugly runs when it was getting to the stage where almost no one believed that he could get it back. Nick Compton though was always a marginal call for this series and has little credit in the bank. He does have, potentially, two games for Middlesex before the Pakistan series, but it is doubtful that even two good matches can save him. At 34, England are more likely to go for a younger player than give Nick Compton a long, slow death. With Scott Borthwick a specialist #3, the third highest runs-scorer in Division 1 this season and a leg-spinner to boot in his spare time (10 wickets at 37 so far this season apart from 598 runs at 74.8), it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it is Borthwick who will line up against Pakistan.

More worrying for England is Moeen Ali’s struggle with the ball. He did not get many opportunities but, when he did, Sri Lanka attacked him without mercy. After boasting figure of 5-4-1-1 after his first two spells of the series, he ended with 2-180 at the worst economy rate of any of England’s front-line bowlers. Sides no longer fear him and that is unbalancing the side. Would Adil Rashid (321 runs at 40.1 and 18 wickets at 34.6 for Yorkshire) do so much worse? It is already taken as read that Adil Rashid will go to India. Simon Kerrigan is being mentioned again, but what about Somerset’s Jack Leach, who is having a fine season so far and taking his wickets at 24.1, far superior to any of his rivals?

For as long as I can remember people have been moaning about the choice of England wicket-keeper. Superior ‘keeper, or better batsman? Downton, French, Richards, Stewart, Read, Jones, Ambrose, Kieswetter, Buttler, Bairstow (Sr and Jr) among others, have all felt the opprobrium of the fans at different moments. Right now people agree that Jonny Bairstow is not the best ‘keeper and misses important chances, but cannot agree who should replace him. Bairstow is competent standing back but, in India, will be ‘keeping to at least two and possibly even three spinners, standing up a lot: will his runs compensate the chances that he misses? If not, who should take the gloves? The answer might just be “John Simpson” (John Who???) of Middlesex: an excellent gloveman and much improved bat (356 runs at 59.3, with a century and more sixes than any of Middlesex’s renowned hitters, although only 13 dismissals off the somewhat miss-firing Middlesex attack).

James Vince should expect to get the full summer to consolidate, but his position is being exposed by being time and again a wicket in a top-order collapse. He may need runs in the first two Tests to ensure that he sees out the series.

Steve Finn is short on pace and rhythm. His 90mph+ days seem to be a distant memory. Better form as the series wore on, helped, but Chris Woakes was faster and more threatening. If only one can play with the return of Ben Stokes, Steve Finn should check the Middlesex fixture list because he may be chasing the Middlesex squad after being released by England on match day. Finn’s ups and downs are surprising for such a talented bowler. His mind seems a little fragile and can be played around with too easily (remember how the South Africans managed to neutralise him completely with the fuss about knocking off the bails? It was pure gamesmanship and Steve Finn shrank to nothing instead of taking it as a provocation and an incentive to bowl even better.

Throughout the series there were moments when the ball did little and England’s attack looked all too similar: different faces, same bowling. Although Liam Plunkett’s bowling has been a little disappointing this season, his extra pace can shake-up batsmen at Test level. England need someone capable of firing the ball down consistently at 90+mph and have no one in that role right now. A burst of wickets might well see Liam Plunkett in the XIII for the 1^st Test v Pakistan.

However, all in all, it was a satisfying series after the win in South Africa and shows that the England side are progressing nicely. The second summer series will though be tougher and the winter series in India, tougher still. Win both and England will be closing in on the #1 position in the ICC Test table.

England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test: Day 4 - The Chance of an Epic Finish

 

England v Sri Lanka

3^rd Test: Day 4

The Chance of an Epic Finish

 

June 12^th  2016

Rain has played its part in setting-up what could be a classic last day. With 98 overs to play – rain permitting – Sri Lanka need 330 runs to win, England need 10 wickets and this is a case where, quite genuinely, all four results are possible.

The day will be chiefly remembered for Alex Hales beating his best Test score, but still failing to get that maiden Test century that he deserves and for a high-profile umpiring error that gave him the chance to make a century.

Many umpires are now reluctant to call front foot no balls. It makes it even more ironic that Rod Tucker called no ball when the excellent Pradeep clean-bowled Hales on 58. Unfortunately it was, if only marginally, a legal delivery. We tend to forget just how often in the not so distant past batsmen were given out to balls that should have been called and how upset people have got about the number of uncalled no balls and how many runs batting side have been cheated out of. There is also, frequently, some frustration that experienced, professional bowlers push the limits of the line so much and are thus, asking for trouble. The Sri Lankans though were frustrated… and very unhappy and the familiar conspiracy theories have come out. The fact that one umpire is Indian and the other is Australian is hardly evidence of a conspiracy to stop Sri Lanka winning at all costs.

[Added later: And the 3^rd Umpire, asked to rule on DRS calls, is a Pakistani. Even if you claim that the two on-field umpires are from “Big Three” countries and thus naturally prejudiced in favour of their Big Three partner, Alim Dar, who has to give the toughest calls of all, is not.]

Despite the fact that Hales has 292 runs at 58.4 in the series and has passed 80 in three of his five innings, the missing six runs today and a career average under 33 led to the fan feedback to go into overdrive with suggestions that he had proved once again that he was not good enough and should make way for someone else. The fact that Compton, Root and Vince have aggregated just 191 between them seems lost on people!

Apart from that, the day will be remembered for three remarkable events: Alistair Cook hitting a six and playing several Dilscoops was astonishing enough; making an attacking declaration was getting into Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy territory (“if you’ve done six impossible things before breakfast, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?”)

Facing twelve overs and playing and missing constantly, Sri Lanka could be forgiven for finishing two or even three down at the Close. They are though 32-0 and have a fighting chance of pulling off possibly the finest chase of their history.

The ball is still quite new. There is turn in the pitch. Conditions are likely to favour the bowlers. And one wicket could bring 3 or 4, but we may just be in like for an epic finish.

England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test: Day 3 - Sri Lanka’s Revival Hits the Buffers

 

England v Sri Lanka

3^rd Test: Day 3

Sri Lanka’s Revival Hits the Buffers

 

June 11^th  2016

This morning, everything was set up for Sri Lanka. The side was building on its second innings at Chester-le-Street. England have a record of relaxing and losing the final Tests of series. And two batsmen were accumulating with an old ball and the England attack looking toothless and out of ideas. You can imagine their idea was to get through to Lunch and then start looking to build the sort of lead that would allow them to put real pressure on, with men around the bat to Herath.

Far from going into the Saturday evening press conference grinning broadly and talking about taking a match-winning position into Day 4, Angelo Matthews is looking down the barrel and being asked if Sri Lanka can possibly save the game.

It look 7 balls of the morning session to shake the plan and 44 to wreck it completely. Two quick wickets for Woakes and one for Broad and Sri Lanka were in 169-4 and, suddenly, the Follow-On target of 217 was coming into play. At 205-6 it was still in play, given the length of the tail and the speed of the turnaround.

The Sri Lankans have to take a long, hard look at themselves. The ball was old. Conditions were in favour of the bat. The pitch looked designed to be a draw full of runs. And England seemed clean out of ideas as to how to take a wicket. Yet they suffered a horrible collapse, recovered briefly with a 71-run 7^th wicket partnership and then collapsed horribly again, as last four wickets fell for 12.

If England do finally make it 3-0 – which sounds so much better than 2-1 – Chris Woakes will have had a lot to do with it. He has taken a lot of stick from England fans, but for several years has been the most consistent all-rounder in the County game. In this series he has scored 105 runs in 2 innings (James Vince has 54 in 4), both times scoring vital runs when England were in danger of squandering a good position. And has 8 wickets at 17.9. His career batting average is now 29.3 and his bowling average has dropped to 40.8: everything suggests that the two will cross over far sooner in his career than Andrew Fintoff’s did. Not just did Woakes confirm the good impression that he has made, but Steve Finn bowled better than he has done since South Africa. And Jimmy Anderson did not take a wicket until the 8^th and 9^th of the innings, so no one can say that England were him and no one else.

Starting with a lead of 128, England used their tenth opening partnership since Andrew Strauss retired. The good news: this one has the second best record of the ten. The bad news: it was still nothing to shout about. With Alistair Cook being checked-out in hospital for a severely bruised knee (how often does the captain go under the lid at Silly Point when balls are flying like grenades??) Nick Compton came out for what most expected to be his last innings in England colours alongside Alex Hales, knowing that a century might embarrass the selectors, but probably not save him. By far the most successful pairing of the ten has been Compton and Cook, who averaged 57.9 together, with Moeen Ali and Alistair Cook the next most successful before today (that will surprise a few fans):

Partners	Span	Inns	NO	Runs	High	Ave
NRD Compton, AN Cook	2012-2013	17	1	927	231	57.93
NRD Compton, AD Hales	2016-2016	1	0	45	45	45.00
MM Ali, AN Cook	2015-2015	5	0	183	116	36.60
AN Cook, SD Robson	2014-2014	11	0	355	66	32.27
AN Cook, A Lyth	2015-2015	13	0	402	177	30.92
AN Cook, AD Hales	2015-2016	12	0	365	64	30.41
AN Cook, JE Root	2013-2013	10	0	266	68	26.60
AN Cook, IJL Trott	2015-2015	6	0	154	125	25.66
MA Carberry, AN Cook	2013-2014	10	0	250	85	25.00
MM Ali, JC Buttler	2015-2015	1	0	13	13	13.00

At 45-0, 173 ahead and Compton looking as if the knowledge of his execution had released the fantastic talent that he has, Sri Lanka were in a terrible mess. Nine balls later it was 50-3 and the spectre of being bowled out cheaply and setting a gettable target was all too real.

Not for the first time in the series Alex Hales has kept calm when things were going to pieces around him. Why some people question is position in the side still is beyond reason: he has more runs in the series by some distance than anyone other than Jonny Bairstow and 47 more than Compton, Root and Vince combined.

239 ahead, England will want at least 100 more to feel safe, with Alistair Cook likely to come in at the fall of nightwatchman, Steve Finn. Hales knows that a century, if he can get one, will seal his place, barring a catastrophic loss of form later in the summer and, almost certainly win the Test: it is a real incentive.

This series though is showing some bizarre twists. Another twist in the tail would not be so unexpected.