A Strange Series Reaches Its Climax

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Does an odd series have new twists?

 

August 13^th 2014

 

 

When, on July 21^st, India went 1-0 up in the Test series, you would not have wanted to bet against the final result being 3-0, or even 4-0. The list of England problems seemed endless:

·         Their strategy was awful.

·         The bowling was insipid and could not remove India’s tail, even if the top-order was more obliging.

·         The batting was struggling.

·         There had not been a 50 opening partnership for six Tests.

·         The Indian seamers were rampant

·         The senior players were not performing.

·         The side was resigned to losing Jimmy Anderson.

·         Stuart Broad looked far from fit.

·         Matt Prior was both unfit and desperately out of form.

·         There was no spinning bowling option worth the name.

·         The captain could not score a run and was being heavily criticised for lack of tactic nous.

Fast forward about seven playing days and, suddenly, all has changed.

·         India’s totals in their last four innings have been 330, 178, 152 & 161, while England have responded with 569-7d, 205-4d and 367. Even the one innings where England were bowled out,  it was batting one short and losing wickets chasing quick runs.

·         Moeen Ali – the Beard that is Feared – has 12 wickets at 14.0 in 3 innings since.

·         Anderson and Broad have 21 wickets in the last two Tests and have often looked unstoppable.

·         Ian Bell has scored 167, 23 & 58, ending any worries about his form.

·         Jos Buttler has come into the side and scored 85 & 70 in his only two innings and, if truth be told, looked more comfortable with the gloves than Matt Prior did.

·         England have won both games at a canter and Alistair Cook scored two fifties in the process.

·         India have looked a totally defeated side, devoid of any fight. To lose 20 wickets in under 90 overs on a good batting wicket at Old Trafford was as bad as anything England produced in Australia.

It is really hard to work out just what has happened to provoke the complete change in fortunes. Evidently, England have had some substantial doses of luck. At the Ageas Bowl Cook, Bell and Buttler should all have been dismissed early in their innings due to dropped catches or questionable decisions not falling India’s way, although Gary Ballance got a bad decision in both innings. At Old Trafford, MS Dhoni made the incredible decision to bat in bowling decisions and see his side 8-4 in quick time. However, it seems to be as much down to a combination of small, “1% factors” as anything. Moeen Ali has changed his bowling fractionally, slightly increasing his speed and tightening his line and India have started to play him like lemmings facing hand grenades; some fans replicated that his 6 wickets at the Ageas were mostly tail-enders but seven of his twelve wickets in the two Tests have been top-six batsmen from a team that is reckoned to be the greatest experts in the world at playing spin bowling. Alistair Cook bowled Chris Woakes with the new ball before Stuart Broad at the Ageas and a riled Broad responded with 6-25 in the 4^th Test. A couple of stunning catches have stuck. India have seemed to have scored an own goal by raising a level three charge at Jimmy Anderson: England have bonded together and come out fighting, while India have seemed distracted.

There has been no big change that can be identified but, overall, the whole dynamic of the series has changed. India have shuffled the balance of their side, changed the attack, changed the batting and seemed to have just unsettled themselves by doing it: the attack now looks toothless and the top order batting is as stable as a blancmange. At Old Trafford, Ravi Ashwin produced some stiff resistance from #8 with 40 and 46*, but was brought in mainly to add some spin threat, which he failed completely to do, scarcely bowling more overs than the much-ridiculed Binny. In three Tests, Binny and Ashwin have 34-1-111-0 between them: the only front-line bowlers on either side without a wicket in the series. All through the series we have been asking why Ravi Ashwin was not playing. We are little closer to understanding.

Do not think though that all things are rosy for England. Cook and Robson have managed just a single 50 partnership in the whole series and that was only 55. Robson’s place is under severe scrutiny. Cook followed up his twin fifties with a failure at Old Trafford and one cannot help the feeling that he has bought himself some time but that a new failure at The Oval would re-open the debate about how the captaincy is affecting him. Moeen Ali is suffering severe problems with short bowling. The England support bowling has been criticised all series: Chris Jordan is not reproducing the fire and accuracy that he found for the ODIs and, for Sussex. Many fans have questioned Chris Woakes’ right to play Test cricket and Liam Plunkett has been injured.

Woakes is an interesting case. He has been the leading all-rounder in the country for several seasons and is still young. He has added some pace in the last year and has bowled good lines, giving little away, but taken just two wickets in three Tests, without ever suggesting that he will threaten to take many more. He has had little chance to show what he can do with the bat, having been left no out in three of his four Test innings, although with a highest score of just 26* and has generally been asked to do a holding job with the old ball. One is reminded of a certain IT Botham who, despite his eye-catching 5-74 in his first innings in Test cricket, admitted that he felt unsure that he was good enough to play at the top level until he made his breakthrough century in New Zealand. The rest, as they say, is history.

If truth be told, Botham’s first three Tests produced 14 wickets for just 242 runs, very different to Woakes’ 2 wickets for 259 but, one wonders if Chris Woakes, like Moeen Ali, just needs one performance to break through in Tests. A player who averages 3.4 wickets per match in First Class cricket with a strike rate under 50 and a bowling average just over 25 is obviously a decent bowler and eight First Class centuries with an average of nearly 39 say that he can bat too.

While many things are coming together for England, there is plenty to play for at The Oval. Cook, Robson and Moeen Ali need runs. Woakes and Jordan need wickets – it is not impossible that Steve Finn may be brought back to replace one or other – and England need the series win, with 3-1 being preferable to show that the side really is on an upswing.

However, there must be a suspicion that India cannot possibly play so badly again. If they do reproduce the spirit of Lords, the series may have a final twist and, England, a nasty surprise. This is no time to relax.