Ashes 2013
An Opportunity for England in the Gloom
September 11th
[10:00 CEST]
If the forecast is to be believed, today’s day-night game at Edgbaston may be no
luckier than the aborted game at Headingley. Rain is forecast to arrive
mid-afternoon and hang around all evening. Temperatures will be low and
conditions are expected to be cold, humid and dank: not ideal for cricket.
Assuming that England and Australia do get a game – which will require about
two and a half rainless hours for the minimum 20 over match – these are not
going to be ideal conditions for the stroke players. Similarly, the predicted
low, slow pitch, may not make for a high-scoring game. This may be the sort of
conditions in which England can neutralise the Australian advantages in this
series.
Rumours
surrounding the squad suggest that Chris Jordan could play for one of the
batsmen. If he does, this would complete a quite stunning journey for him.
Released by Surrey last year after several years of steadily decreasing
returns, Chris Jordan is the sixth highest wicket-taker in the country in First
Class cricket and third in Division 1, although well down the lists in the YB40
and T20. This conforms to England’s trend over the years to try out red ball
specialists first in ODIs. The move to Sussex has revitalised his cricket. What
is strange is that the West Indies have not moved to ensure his loyalty and, as
a result, he will now be lost to their side. Having played for the Lions, even
if not picked to make his international debut in this series, he would have to
re-qualify for the West Indies.
Today is a
big match for several England hopefuls. After having seemed to drop off the
radar during the Ashes series, mainly due to the fact that Steve Finn, who he
was intended to deputise for if required, became a bit player, Boyd Rankin has
an excellent chance in the remaining matches to nail down a spot in the Ashes
squad. Michael Carberry’s re-introduction to the England set-up has been
difficult. Apart from a 146 against Bangladesh A in the 2nd
unofficial ODI, his scores have been 20, 16, 10 and 4 for Lions and England, a
steadily decreasing sequence that he will want to reverse. His only other
significant score in his last 10 matches was a 45 against Scotland. For a
batsman who is now 32 and have come back from a career – and potentially
life-threatening – illness, time is running out to get himself established in
the international squad. Bopara and Morgan are established limited-overs
players for England who may yet hold out hopes of a return to the Test set-up,
although that looks increasingly unlikely in both cases. While Buttler and
Stokes are young players who hope one day to make it through all the way, but
who need to start to turn in big performances when given the opportunity to
perform.
Meanwhile,
around England the County Championship is entering its final rounds. Five of
the nine sides have just two games left. Mathematically, any of the top four
can still win, but Sussex know that they will almost certainly lose their very
slim mathematical chance in this round (basically they need Durham to lose all
three of their remaining games by large margins), while Middlesex need two big
wins and for Yorkshire and Durham, who are ahead and who both have a game in
hand, to stumble. At the bottom, any of the bottom four could be relegated,
with Nottinghamshire rapidly being swallowed up as the teams behind them start
to win games, while Nottinghamshire have not won one since May.
For the
County Championship, which has seen spectator numbers increase steadily over
the last ten or fifteen years to a level that many lower division football
clubs would be happy to have, the title is Durham’s to lose, while Surrey know
that they will probably have to win two of their last three games to be safe.
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