Have England Started To Turn The Corner?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Are we seeing things start to turn around?

 

July 13^th 2014

 

With England in free fall and Jimmy Anderson walking in late on Day 3, one particular, well-known correspondent stated that the one thing that could be guaranteed would not happen was a century 10^th wicket partnership for England. Said correspondent was startlingly silent two sessions later as Jimmy Anderson neared his century and his partnership with Joe Root closed in 200.

After the near miracle of Headingley, where the England tail almost saved a lost match, we have seen the miracle of Trent Bridge. Faced with the humiliation of a potential follow-on, chasing a modest follow-on target, on the flattest of pitches, the England tail, marshalled by Joe Root, saved the follow-on and ate into the potential Indian lead.

At the start of the day I had thought that maybe Jimmy Anderson could stay with Joe Root to his century and reduce the Indian lead to 70-ish. If that happened, there was just a chance that India would take a few too many risks trying to set up a declaration and give England a chance to knock them over for around 250 and set up an achievable run chase. What no one anticipated was that the not out batsmen would sail past the century partnership, set up the highest ever 10^th wicket partnership in Tests and that they would go to lunch still together.

Poor MS Dhoni. After 2 hours chasing leather, the last thing that he needed was to see lunch delayed for half an hour because nine wickets were down. The fact that they had been down since not long after Tea the previous day just added to the frustration. The extra half hour was used by England to close in on more records.

In the end, with Jimmy Anderson closing in on a century, it seemed that the lunch break made him nervous and realise what was within his grasp. He came out after lunch looking less sure of himself and, although he saw Joe Root to his 150, could not add to his lunch score. For a batsman who had never even reached a 50 in club cricket – he reports that once he carried his bat for 49 for Burnley – his batting was a revelation. With no one to whistle the ball past his ears at 90+ mph, he mixed some of the best shots of the entire England innings with some agricultural swipes. The end result was a first innings lead for England of 39, when a deficit close to 200 had looked likely only 24 hours earlier.

The headlines were for Jimmy Anderson, but Joe Root was just as worthy. When he came in he looked as if he would get out at any moment: he appeared not to have a clue yet, 400 minutes later, he was undefeated with 154* - the third time in four attempts that he has converted a Test century into a 150. Joe Root is tough in the Paul Collingwood mould. There are fans who speculate how anyone who is as poor a batsman as Paul Collingwood could ever get a Test double century against McGrath, Warne and co; he did it by battling and selling his wicket dearly – Joe Root is showing these qualities. When you have three test 150s, you are doing something right.

Although the Headingley Test was lost, it at least showed that England were capable of real defiance, even when the situation appeared lost. Here, although the match was not lost, the situation was extremely difficult and one felt that if England lost the Test the series was gone, almost before it started. Again, we have seen the tail, again helped by one of the front-line batsmen, to organise a major effort at putting a line in the sand and saying “here and no more!” It is what we had wanted to see in Australia. It is what we had wanted to see in the UAE in 2012. When Duncan Fletcher took over England in 1999 with the side at its lowest ebb, his first aim was to make the team hard to beat: to get it to hang on and hang on and hang on again, even when the situation seemed lost. It is too early to say for certain, but it may be that we are seeing Peter Moores start to get this culture back into the England side.

Step 1 is “stop losing”. Step 2 is “start to frustrate opponents and turn the tables”. If you do lose, do so with dignity, which at least England can say that they have done against Sri Lanka.

It is too early to say for certain, but there are tantalising hints that, even if some dark days remain and there may be some new lows in the future, we may just be seeing England turn the corner.

As for this game, there was always a chance that if a couple of wickets fell before India cleared the deficit, they could get nervous. It did not happen and, although India lost two wickets quickly late on, England were always a wicket or two behind where they needed to be. India though have batted so slowly that they are still in danger. Two wickets in the first hour and the match will remain very much alive. If the first hour passes without a wicket, England will almost certainly throw in the towel and we will see a lot of overs from Moeen, Root and, potentially even far more occasional bowlers such as Sam Robson to fill in the day.