So Far, So Good

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

A Stuttering Start

 

June 13^th 2014

 

 
Despite the hype about this being an utterly unpredictable squad, the only surprise in the twelve was Woakes and it was no surprise whatsoever that he was made twelfth man. With an attack of Anderson, Broad, Plunkett and Jordan, the selectors are betting that the Sri Lankan batsmen will not enjoy being bombarded with short balls. It is though a decision that could just backfire of the pitch starts to spin seriously later. At 22-2, with England’s batsmen struggling to cope with a moving ball on a greenish pitch, you wondered what the England pace barrage might have done to the Sri Lankans. It was an awful start and one Sam Robson will want to forget.

From there on, things got steadily better. Bell and Ballance put on 52 together and looked to be righting the ship before Ballance went. Bell and Root added 46. Both times a bubble of the hope that this time things would be different, familiar to England fans in recent months, was forming. Both times it popped prematurely. However, the trend was clearly ascendant. Moeen Ali was not a unanimous pick by any stretch of the imagination on the part of the fans, but he seems to have the sort of enduring personality and sense of fun about him that made Monty Panesar such a popular cricketer in his early years. He also has confidence… you don’t slog sweep the spinner for six at Lords in your debut without it. There are plenty of players who have had a good debut Test and have never again been successful, but Moeen Ali looks as if he could turn into the real deal.

The day also showed just how much your fortunes can change if you get a little bit of luck. In Australia, what luck was going always fell on Australia’s side until England were too shattered to be able to take advantage. With England 209-5 at the fall of Moeen Ali, the fall of Matt Prior second ball would have been potentially terminal. He survived a review by millimetres on umpire’s call but, had the original decision been “out”, it would have stood too.

209-6 could well have heralded a total around 240ao: 344-5, with two well set batsmen suggests that 450 is there for the taking. It is a long, long time since England reached 450 in a first innings. With capable batsmen to come in Jordan, Broad and Plunkett (Plunkett has 2x50 this season and a top score of 86, so arguably should be batting above both his fast bowling colleagues), anything less than 450 would be disappointing and 500 should be reachable.

It was noticeable how the Sri Lankan bowlers slowed through the day, despite a funeral over rate. While Kulasekara started in the high 70s (mph) and maintained his pace, Pradeep and Eranga, who both started mid-to-high 80s, were low 80s by the end of the day and fading fast. Even with Herath bowling 22 overs, Sri Lanka were unable to complete their 90 overs by the cut-off time. We were used to sides struggling to bowl 13 overs an hour when the four West Indian quicks of the 1980s were all coming in off 30 and 40 metre run-ups – it did not stop them getting results, although it certainly helped keep the bowlers fresh – but 13 overs an hour from medium pacers and spinners is harder to stomach. If Prior and Root bat on today and threaten to amass a really big total, one suspects that we will look back on 13 overs per hour as having been fast-paced action from a Sri Lankan side who are probably thinking that a draw is the best result that they can hope for.

As the recent New Zealand v West Indies showed, judging the direction of a Test after one day is a fool’s errand. We will not know how much 344-5 is worth until Sri Lanka have batted. If they make 600 and put England under pressure on a turning pitch on the last day all the talk today of a revival of England fortunes will look terribly premature. If, in contrast, England make 500 and dismiss Sri Lanka twice for 200, you can guarantee that it will be dismissed as a meaningless win, even by the majority of England fans. After the last few months, fans are going to take some convincing that the good times are coming back.