Cricket 2014
Win or be damned
June 20th 2014
Whatever
happens over the next five days will set the tone for the rest of the England
summer. A win will win the series, break a winless sequence that is getting too
long for comfort and allow England to feel that the side is on its way back. It
will set the side up for the series against India and give the younger players
a much-needed dose of confidence. A defeat would be catastrophic and a draw,
frustrating: both would be held up as evidence that the new England cannot even beat a
side such as Sri Lanka who are playing in unfamiliar conditions. Even if
England win and win well, it will be dismissed patronisingly as being “only
against Sri Lanka”, but at least England will have met with some minimum
expectations of success.
England
are playing the same side. Chris Woakes, who has come into some real form after
a slow start to the season, will again be surplus to requirements unless
someone steps on the ball in warm-up. He is yet to make a 50 this season, but
scored 49 in his only innings against Northants this week and took 4-87 and
4-53, bowling with more pace than in previous seasons. However, it is
unthinkable that Liam Plunkett will be dropped at what is now his home ground
after hard labour on an unforgiving surface at Lords. Plunkett bowled a lot of
overs with the old ball – 48 – at high pace, in a hard-working attack. Broad
and Anderson bowled 50 overs each and Chris Jordan 45, so they would appreciate
England winning the toss and getting some extra rest. The Sri Lankan bowlers,
with the exception of the willing Herath, had a much lighter load and an extra
day of rest at the end of the Test. With the matches being played back-to-back,
it would be a significant advantage for Sri Lanka were they to win the toss and
bat given that the England bowlers will inevitably still be recovering from
that last day effort at Lords.
Alistair
Cook and Sam Robson both need some runs. England have not registered a century
opening partnership since Cook and Compton were opening together in New Zealand
(Dunedin, March 2013) and the last 50 opening partnership was in the Melbourne
Test. Cook’s authority is eroded by lack of runs and, to judge by his comments
yesterday, it appears to be preying on his state of mind. Sam Robson is already
under pressure – for heaven’s sake, after ONE Test, despite being a run machine
for the Performance squad and the Lions last winter? – and England cannot
afford to make yet another change at the top of the order. Cook and Robson need
a vote of confidence, but they also need some runs and, just as important, to register
a big opening stand.
Those
around the Middlesex camp flagged Sam Robson as a potential England player
several years back. He has tended to be a famine or feast player. Twice this
season he has had two failures in a match; both times he followed up with a
century in his next match. In particular, 11 & 1 v Sussex at Hove were
followed by a murderous 163 and 41* against Nottinghamshire (earlier, 28 and 17
for the MCC against Champion County, Durham, were followed by 107 against Hampshire,
albeit in a friendly). Do not bet against him making it three out of three with
a big century at Headingley to follow his two failures at Lords.
The ideal
situation for England would be to win the toss and bat and for both Cook and
Robson to register fifties in a century opening partnership. Hopefully this
idyllic scene will be not too far removed from reality because England need to resolve
the opening partnership problem before it becomes a real crisis and leads to a
new upheaval in the side.
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