England Out, But It Is Not All Bad

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Out, but no need to be so down

March 30^th 2014

 

South Africa duly pulled off yet another narrow win – the largest margin in any of their 4 games so far has been 6 runs yet, to their credit, they have won three of the four – to eliminate England. This time there were no excuses: England won the toss and bowled, taking advantage of the better conditions earlier in the evening but, more dropped catches and ruinous death bowling allowed South Africa to post the sort of huge score that was never going to be easy to chase unless someone made a big score.

Overall, the campaign has turned on the match against New Zealand that was interrupted by the weather. Despite the doomsayers, England have competed in every game and were unfortunate that a defeat on the Duckworth-Lewis lottery has effectively eliminated them.

To England’s credit the side went close. Only South Africa’s own 196-5  has been a bigger score in the tournament than England’s 193-7 in reply. England were ahead in the chase until the end of the 18^th over, one that will be remembered for yet another Jade Dernbach calamity: 26 runs conceded, which were the difference between South Africa having just enough and what could even have been a fairly comfortable England win.

For the legion of fans frustrated that Jade Dernbach gets so many chances, the case for the prosecution is:

• Of all bowlers with at least 50 overs in T20s, he is the most expensive.
• He has had disaster after disaster in ODIs and T20s over the years, mixing beautiful overs with expensive dross but, to the frustration of many, still gets picked.

However, in contrast, the case for the defence that has justified his continued selection is:

• Of those bowlers to bowl 60+ overs, he has one of the best averages and one of the best strike rates.
• He bowls the powerplay and at the death which is when bowlers do get punished.

The truth is though that when a side is looking to accelerate, Jade Dernbach is getting targeted, as he was last night and has no answer. In the past he tried too many pace variations. Now his lengths seem to be all awry when, what you need, is to put the ball in the blockhole and a bunch of allsorts tend to be dispatched to the boundary with alacrity. Jade Dernbach has turned into an expensive luxury and the cynics would say that the best field for him at the death would include two men in the stands.

The issue for Jade Dernbach is that while he is taking wickets, particularly with the new ball, no one is going to worry so much about the runs. However, the wickets have ceased to come:

2014, 9 matches, 6 wickets @ 57.3

2013, 7 matches, 13 wickets @ 15

2012, 13 matches, 13 wickets @ 28.9

2011, 5 matches, 7 wickets @ 15

So far, 2014 has been a tale of lack of penetration with the new ball and lack of control at the death: a lethal combination after a successful 2013. This mirrors his struggles in ODIs last year, by far his worst year in ODIs:

2013, 6 ODIs, 6 wickets @ 65.7

2012, 5 ODIs, 9 wickets @ 28.3

2011, 13 ODIs, 16 wickets @ 41.6

(this year, Jade Dernbach has been surplus to requirements in the ODI team)

Jade Dernbach is going through a crisis of form and confidence. He is just a few days short of his 28^th birthday and thus probably at his peak as a bowler. With the rise of bowlers such as Chris Jordan he is going to struggle to stay in contention, especially if Steve Finn recovers his place. What Jade Dernbach needs is a summer in the Surrey ranks, taking plenty of wickets and reviving his form. Right now though not to many people will fancy his chances of playing for England again.

If England thought that their campaign was disappointing, Australia’s has been plain awful. They are one of only three sides (the others are The Netherlands and Bangladesh) who have not won a game yet – Australia and Bangladesh play off for the wooden spoon in Group A on Tuesday, a game in which Bangladesh must fancy their chances. Australia were well beaten by Pakistan, made to look foolish against the West Indies as the man who antagonised their opponents conceded consecutive sixes to end the match and humiliated by India. The margins of 16 runs, 6 wickets and 73 runs have been wide and the side looks totally unbalanced for the conditions.

The excuse was that the side was demoralised by its exit after Pakistan easily defeated Bangladesh, leaving he Australia-India game irrelevant. This ignores the fact that Australia had already lost their first two games and were playing the stand-out side of the tournament. A side can play for pride and Australia seemed to have very little and looked incapable of winning even if there had been something resting on the game.