England’s Nightmare Year Ends on a High

 

South Africa v England:

England’s Nightmare Year Ends on a High

 

December 31^st 2015

 

The year ends with England having played 14 Tests over five series: won 6, drawn 2, lost 6. On the face of it, it does not look like much of a record. One series won, two drawn, one lost and one still in progress.

Let’s put that record in some kind of context.

Back in March England supporters were looking with some trepidation at the year ahead. The World Cup had been a disaster and Test series loomed against the West Indies away, New Zealand and Australia at home and then Pakistan and South Africa, away. Even the most optimistic saw just one winnable series in that sequence and many fans predicted five straight losses, in some cases with a glee that revealed their own, personal agenda.

Most fans expected to lose 3-0 or 4-0 against Australia, 3-0 against Pakistan and feared cauliflower ears against South Africa and New Zealand. Not a few were expecting defeat in the Caribbean to add the icing to the cake of catastrophe.

However, the apocalypse has not happened. Just one series has been lost and that, one that was written-off as unwinnable and, even in that one, England were competitive and should have come out with a 1-1 result at worst, coming within minutes of winning one Test and saving another in extremis.

However, the year has also been marked with a sequence of “good Test/bad Test” performances that have been the despair of fans and the inspiration of the opposition. For each day of brilliant cricket – and there have been quite a few – there have been some desperate ones. It led to the usual calls from the Australian fans that their side was really the winner of the Ashes because they had the best batsmen, the best bowlers and the best performances.

Whereas, in the spring, we heard “I fear for England if Jimmy Anderson gets injured”, the reality has been that he has missed two Tests with injury and England have won both. Stuart Broad, written-off by many after the World Cup (when he was still feeling his way back from injury and surgery), has had an immense year, bowling with fire and venom and starting to show some of his old form with the bat. And Steve Finn has come back from injury, straight back into the Test team and, arguably, took the most important wicket of the match, just before the Close of Day 4.

Various players have been tried and discarded, temporarily or permanently (Lyth, Trott, Ballance, Buttler, Jordan, Adil Rashid), others have been recalled and done exceptionally (Finn, Compton, Taylor). There is enough competition for places that the management can say that it is not necessarily a foregone conclusion that a 100% fit Jimmy Anderson will return for the Capetown Test. Even among the “failures” there are some encouraging signs: Adil Rashid almost won one Test in the UAE with his legspin and then almost saved the second as a batsman. Chris Jordan won a T20 in the UAE with a brilliant super-over of Yorkers having struggled in the match itself and the howls of outrage at Liam Plunkett’s exclusion from the Test squad have shown what an impact he made in the limited overs games after the UAE Tests. So many players have made a case for inclusion in the World T20 squad that as many as half a dozen are going to feel desperately unlucky when the squad is picked.

However, good sides are consistent. Great sides win even from bad positions. Even there, there is some hope: from 49-3 on the first day, with the bowlers roaring in with conditions in their favour, England set up what proved to be a match-winning score. Nothing will show the team’s consistency like winning two or three consecutive Tests on this tour: we are, though, still some way from seeing that happen.

South Africa v England, Day 5: South Africa’s Tame Surrender

 

South Africa v England, Day 5:

South Africa’s Tame Surrender

 

December 30^th 2015

 

 “Sometime tomorrow, barring something miraculous, South Africa will take their winless streak to seven matches since the West Indies were overwhelmed in the New Year’s Test. Only the wicket of AB de Villiers stands between South Africa and another big defeat.”

 

“Moeen simply isn’t good enough”

 

The former was this Blog’s take on the match situation after Day 4. The latter was one fan’s take.

Having had AB de Villiers missed, albeit off a tough stumping chance yesterday, it took Moeen Ali just three balls to put matters right. In nineteen balls from Steve Finn and Moeen Ali, South Africa lost Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers and Bavuma and slid from a healthy 136-3 to a desperate 136-6 and Moeen had removed two of the three remaining recognised batsmen, including the one that all South Africans genuinely believed could bat through the last day and lead his side to a draw at worst, or even victory.

After AB de Villiers took a single off the fifth ball of Finn’s seventh over, between them Finn and Moeen produced 30 dot balls and three wickets – a total of 33 consecutive scoreless deliveries from the two bowlers seen as England’s most expensive; deliveries that ripped the heart out of South Africa. Four wickets fell for two runs in thirty-six balls. Any way you look at it, the South African capitulation was meek in the extreme.

Moeen’s spell was an astonishing 10-7-4-3, while Steve Finn at the other end was a willing and brutal henchman whose figures were only slightly less impressive.

It was all a far cry from the previous evening when South African fans were boasting that 280 to win on the last day was not going to be very many and that England would be sleeping nervously. As in the first innings, a single wicket led to the South African batting imploding in the most astonishing manner.

Since the New Year’s Test against West Indies, when South Africa made 421, their best completed innings has been 248 v Bangladesh. Seven times they have been dismissed for 185 or fewer and in the other two innings they reached the giddy heights of 214. There has not been a single century partnership and only two centuries: one of them against the hapless West Indians. Their average completed innings score in their last seven Tests has been 167.

In that sequence, South Africa have lost four and drawn three. It can at least be argued that rain saved South Africa from likely defeat in two of those draws (one against India and one against Bangladesh) and helped to massage some of the side’s deficiencies: the third match featured so little play that no conclusions whatsoever can be drawn about it.

Quite apart from the fact that there are rumours of open revolution around the South African team (there are suggestions that AB de Villiers has threatened to retire unless someone else keeps wicket, that Dale Steyn is close to retirement after a series of injury problems, that Hashim Amla may be sacked for the Third Test if he does not resign first), there is even a suggestion that Graeme Smith could be persuaded out of retirement, presumably as a replacement captain!

As many as six members of the side for the 1^st Test are likely to be either unavailable or are in danger of losing their place. And even the good news – for example, Dane Piedt’s admirable second innings bowling – comes with a substantial caveat, namely that he was by far the least economical bowler on either side (Ben Stokes, at 3.2 runs per over was the only other bowler with an economy of over 3 on either side) going at 4.2 an over, almost double Moeen’s 2.3. While Piedt had the consolation of six wickets, he conceded almost as many runs as Abbott and Morkel did combined in nearly twice the number of overs that he had bowled. In other words, his wickets have been bought at a price and he has not been able to seal up an end to help relieve the pressure on the weakened seam attack.

In contrast, Moeen, despite concerted attempts to hit him out of the attack, has 13 First Class wickets so far on the tour – one more than Steve Finn – at an average of 16.8 and an economy of 2.8. With the ground at Newlands expected to help spin, Moeen’s form looks set to give England a big advantage in the 2^nd Test.

Purists scratch their heads and wonder why he is playing, but Moeen has a Bothamesque ability to make things happen, even if he is bowling a consignment of liquorice allsorts.

While South Africa are wondering who to play, England seem likely to have to drop someone to make room for Jimmy Anderson. The betting is that it will be Chris Woakes who, although taking only a single wicket right at the end of the match, was tight, economical (only Stuart Broad on either side had better economy in the match) and bowled well. There could even be a case for saying “sorry Jimmy, there are no vacancies yet”, although a fully fit Jimmy Anderson would add potency to the new ball attack.

Whatever happens, England cannot afford an Ashes-like “one good match, one bad one”. South Africa are down right now and taking a count; they cannot be allowed back into the contest.

Day 5 to England

Key man of the day: Moeen Ali

South Africa v England, Day 4: South Africa’s Inexorable Slide Continues

 

South Africa v England, Day 4:

South Africa’s Inexorable Slide Continues

 

December 29^th 2015

 

Sometime tomorrow, barring something miraculous, South Africa will take their winless streak to seven matches since the West Indies were overwhelmed in the New Year’s Test. Only the wicket of AB de Villiers stands between South Africa and another big defeat.

For most of the morning it seemed that the only plan that South Africa had was, at various moments, to hurry or to delay the declaration. No attempt was made to win, or at least attack for wickets. The main South African tactic seemed to be to let the England batsmen commit suicide against Dane Piedt and occasional bowlers.

At the same time, Alistair Cook missed a trick: why he did not declare when Chris Woakes fell, at 315-8, with the lead past 400, one will never know. This would have sent the message to the South Africans “we set the agenda – you cannot bowl us out”.

At the same time, it is hard to criticise England, who have done just about everything right. Those who thought that Alistair Cook was playing Father Christmas by giving South Africa only 140 overs to survive.

Even in the great blockathlon in Delhi, South Africa only survived 143 overs. Eight times in the last three years South Africa have batted out 140 overs or more and seven of those innings have led to wins. If they bat out 140 overs this time, good luck to them – an extra five overs would make no difference to the result and they will have deserved to save the Test.

However, with Steve Finn striking in the last over of the day to end a stand of 48 between de Villiers and the almost scoreless Faf du Plessis that had threatened to give South Africa hope of a near-miraculous escape, England know that they are one strike away from breaking through.

Dale Steyn is a real doubt for the 2^nd Test and, some suggest maybe even the 3^rd, but was asked to come out to bat for the last three balls of the day. The most likely outcome is that England’s bowlers will gain a boost early in the morning and the loss of a competent tail-ender who could help to lead resistance if the remaining recognised batsmen can combine in a major stand. It was not exactly a vote of confidence in JP Duminy who should have come in next, but who has only reached 20 twice in his last 11 innings. The England bowlers will feel confident that they can remove Steyn and Duminy inside the first hour; if they do, South Africa will be in desperate straits.

England will want to strike early, but will also look to Moeen Ali to remove the tail although, in this Test, Steve Finn has been England’s wrecking ball, striking devastating blows when required.

England have dominated all four days so far, by differing margins: one more good day, possibly even just one more good session and they will go one up in the series and leave South Africa with a series of substantial headaches and just two days to resolve them.

Day 4 to England

Key man of the day: Steve Finn

Key man on Day 5: Moeen Ali.

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Africa v England, Day 3:

South Africa Start to Fall Apart at the Seams

 

December 28^th 2015

 

One of the major questions going into this series was just how serious the South African decline was. Since beating Sri Lanka away in July 2014, 1-0 in a 2-match series by dint of hanging on for a draw in extremis in the 2^nd Test, they have not beaten a major opponent: but then, they have not played many. Zimbabwe were seen off in a one-off Test in August 2014. The West Indies were beaten in South Africa 2-0 (3 Tests) over Near Year 2015. Rain meant that the series in Bangladesh in July-August ended in a soggy 0-0 draw, although Bangladesh, worryingly, took a big first innings lead in the 1^st Test. And only rain saved South Africa in India from a 4-0 whitewash, although 3-0 was bad enough.

South Africa were almost out of sight in the ICC Test Championship in mid-2014, but are in real danger of slipping as low as third or fourth after this series.

If Australia do not trip on the cadaver of Caribbean cricket and seal a 3-0 win and England win this series 1-0, South Africa will drop to third in the rankings. A 3-0 win for England would send South Africa down to fourth. And a 4-0 win which, two weeks ago, would have led to anyone predicting it being certified insane, will drop South Africa to fifth.

With the side looking divided, short of confidence, rumours surrounding the imminent retirement of two key players, the captain in an unprecedented slump, injuries to bowlers, misfiring batting and fielding and some perplexing selections, it will take a turnaround of Headingley ’81 proportions to save this series.

If Days 1 & 2 were fairly close, Day 3 has been utter rout.

It is 12 innings since South Africa passed 248 (a score made against Bangladesh). Take out the home Tests against the totally uncompetitive Zimbabwe and West Indian sides and the South African batting has been alarmingly fragile since the second innings of the 1^st Test v Sri Lanka in July 2014. England are effectively 261-3 and the pitch is beginning to misbehave and take sharp turn even for the occasional spin of Dean Elgar, who must now be worrying that he will also be asked to keep wicket and drive the team bus in the 2^nd Test, as well as scoring most of the runs and doing a significant amount of bowling.

It took just two balls for Stuart Broad to end the South African fight-back of Day 2 and, at 137-5, it was just a matter of how big England’s lead would be. The one batsman to show any fight was Dean Elgar, helped by Dale Steyn to add 54 for the eighth wicket and keep the lead to a little under one hundred.

Since then, it has been one-way traffic, despite a little rush of excitement when Alistair Cook failed again. Alex Hales showed the discipline that suggests that when he finds the right mix of defence and attack he will do a fine job, before giving it away when the hard work had been done and a maiden fifty looked there for the taking.

Dale Steyn is injured. He has bowled 23 deliveries and that was enough for him to confuse generations of statisticians by twice starting an over and failing to complete it due to shoulder pain: once after two balls and once after three. The fact that a scan has been inconclusive and the injury is put down to “shoulder stiffness following a heavy bowling load in the first innings” will be music to Alistair Cook’s ears. South Africa now face a tricky decision as to whether or not to bowl him tomorrow and risk him breaking down completely with the first two Tests back-to-back or, effectively accept that this match is lost and try to get him ready for the 2^nd Test.

With Steyn unavailable, Morkel and Abbott are closing in on 40 overs each in the match, with a new ball due soon and the likelihood that there will be no one else to take it. South Africa know that they will have to bowl at least 25 more overs before any declaration and will face the dilemma as to whether to use occasional bowlers and risk the scoring rate sky-rocketing, or further tire Morkel and Abbott in an attempt to delay the declaration.

With plenty of time available, Nick Compton was at his sadistic best. Statistically, 49 from just under three hours does not look like much, but it caused over after over of frustration as the bowlers wasted their strength trying to shift him. His efforts have put England in an almost invulnerable position, with the luxury of knowing that there are power hitters with the ability to score quick runs against an increasingly exhausted attack.

Expect half an hour of consolidation in the morning, followed by around twenty overs of attack and a target of at least 380-400.

Day 3 to England

Key man so far: Nick Compton (although Stuart Broad is running him close)

Key man on Day 4: Moeen Ali, who may well be called upon to hit some quick runs and then to play on the South African difficulties when the balls turns.

1st Test, Days 1 & 2: Advantage England

 

South Africa v England:

Narrow Advantage to England Thanks to Nick Compton

 

December 27^th 2015

 

Two days into the series the danger of making snap judgements is already manifest. CricInfo’s feedback and TMS’s experts were filled with criticism of Nick Compton’s painstaking innings being far too slow and showing an inability to change gear. Without it, as the collapse from a solid 247-5 to a perilous 267-9 showed, it is quite possible that England would have folded for 130 after being put in, in ideal bowling conditions, on an awkward pitch.

For England, it was the perfect storm. Lost the toss on a day so inviting for bowlers that Jimmy Anderson would have bowled on crutches if they had let him. Cook fell quickly. Hales was convicted of dangerous driving. Root lasted a little longer, but was dismissed as the early horrors of 12-2 were just starting to recede and rain breaks kept the opening bowlers fresh for longer than England would have desired with Steyn’s match-fitness in doubt. At 49-3, with your two batting bankers gone, you had two recalled players who have to re-build, justify their call-up and try to haul the total up to something that the bowlers could work with later, with the best batting conditions expected on days 2 & 3. This was not what Alistair Cook's letter to Santa would have requested.

As so often for Middlesex, Nick Compton found himself like Horatius at the Bridge, this time with Lars Porsena Steyn threatening to overrun his position. With Compton blocking an end as effectively as an elephant in an alleyway, James Taylor could go for his shots… occasionally at least, when an opportunity presented itself. Hashim Amla resorted to occasional bowlers, reinforcing the suggestion that for all the bravura que South Africa has more strength in depth in their attack, on this occasion they are at least one bowler short. Even when James Taylor fell just before the Close, Amla’s decision to bowl was still at least one and probably two wickets short of justifying itself.

In truth, although Taylor’s dismissal took some gloss off it, it was still England’s day.

Push on to 300, 350, maybe even 400 if things really went England’s way. The collapse that followed was as predictable as it was painful. Perhaps stung by the criticisms – including the quite incredible suggestion from Graeme Swann that he was doing dreadful harm to his side by batting slowly – Nick Compton’s efforts to accelerate the scoring were predictably disastrous. The new ball was disappearing at just about a run a ball, Nick Compton had hit three fours in 21 balls after the new ball was taken, when he had managed just 5 in 214 balls up to it: such un-natural behaviour could only end badly. And so it did, with an horrific collapse of 20-4 in 30 balls that took with it hopes of 400, 350, 300, or even 280 and had the South African fans laughing at England’s so-called batting depth.

Not for the first time, Stuart Broad’s recovered batting confidence has rescued England. Instead of a sub-standard 270ao, some judicious hitting and a dose of obduracy from Steve Finn – the Watford Wall – allowed England to creep past 280 and, run by agonising run, past 300.

With South Africa short on bowling options, Dale Steyn was forced back for a seventh spell to end the innings. He has bowled 25 overs already. Morkel has bowled 26. There is a second innings to come and just two days rest between the Tests.  Bowling first here will allow the attack a little more rest, but there is no doubt that there is a real danger that the South African attack will go into the 2^nd Test tired and Steyn cannot be match-fit right now.

It is as well to remember that South Africa have not had a century partnership all year, that their opening batting issues make Cook and Moeen in the UAE seem like a time of riches, that Hashim Amla is in a dreadful slump and that they simply were not at the races in the series against India. Add to that that de Villiers has been obliged to take the gloves back and has to combine the role of major batsman with wicket-keeper and that the pitch is expected to break up on the fourth and fifth days and help Moeen’s spin and the South Africans could not have been pleased to see England recover from 12-2 and 49-3 to pass 300. When you put a side in and have them in desperate trouble, you want to be chasing no more than 220.

Having been 14-2 despite two missed chances, South Africa have recovered well to 137-4, but there is little batting to come and Stuart Broad has slept on 10-5-16-3 to add to his 32* from 33 balls. The pitch is already offering plenty of encouragement to Moeen Ali and there is little batting to come.

With the new ball due half an hour before Lunch, England will look for two wickets in the first hour from Finn, Stokes and Woakes and a lead of 70-80. If they can get it, South Africa will be in a very deep hole.

Day 1 to England

Day 2 to England

Key man so far: Nick Compton

Key man on Day 3: Stuart Broad. Will he ever get the credit that he deserves as a very fine bowling all-rounder?

A Battle Of Two Vulnerable Sides

 

South Africa v England: a battle of flawed sides

 

December 25^th 2015

 

 

Tomorrow a new Test series starts. It was hard to work up much enthusiasm for Pakistan v England and, despite some really superb cricket from both sides, the series was not a vintage one. On a dramatic final afternoon of the 1^st Test, Adil Rashid almost bowled England to victory, but the final wicket fell perhaps ten minutes too late for England to have realistic hopes of winning. With that near miss England’s chances in the series were gone. In the 2^nd Test Adil Rashid the batsman took England to just 39 balls from saving a match that should have finished in the hour after Lunch. And in the 3^rd Test England could not make a 72 run first innings lead count. In each Test, England had their moments, but fell just short: rather than a 2-0 win, which was in their reach had they taken their chances, England lost 2-0 and it was hard to argue that it was not a deserved result for a resilient Pakistan, who showed more magic in the critical moments of the series.

For South Africa, the personnel change again. The experiment of promoting Moeen Ali might have worked, but did not. Of the four opening combinations that England tried in 2015, Cook and Ali were the most productive, averaging 36.6 for the 1^st wicket, well ahead of the 30.9 of Cook and Lyth. The fact that Cook and Moeen are by far the best of the four combinations of the year just shows how bad the others have been. The fact that it is also better than all but one of the five second wicket combinations of the year (Cook and Bell averaged 44.6 for the 2^nd wicket) is also a statement of the problems that England have had at #3 in 2015.

Consequence: Ian Bell pays they price and yet another a new opener is being tried.

The choice of Alex Hales to open and Nick Compton at #3 does obey a logic, although many people would open with Compton and put Hales at 3. Nick Compton managed 2x100 and 1x50 in his spell as an opener and his opening partnerships with Alistair Cook have been by far the best that England have had since the retirement of Andrew Strauss. Many think that he was hard done by and that his fighting qualities that have seen him pile on the runs again in 2015 will come in more than useful. Nick Compton will also be playing in the country of his birth, giving him the advantage of familiarity with the conditions, although he is from an English emigre family that has a great pedigree for Middlesex and England.

Alex Hales has been the prince in waiting now for two years since his remarkable century in the 2013 World T20. After a prodigious start to the 2015 county season, where he was in with a real chance of 1000 runs by the end of May, he went through a barren patch mid-season, before ending it with a flood of runs and winning his place on the winter tours on the back of a stack of runs and some destructive ODI innings. In theory, Alex Hales has the profile to play the Marcus Trescothick role that England have been lacking for ten years. We tend to forget that Marcus Trescothick’s First Class record was remarkably modest until his spectacular Test debut on a Duncan Fletcher hunch. If Alex Hales can play his natural game, Test attacks around may have to learn to fear England’s openers in the next few years.

However, it is the fears that Alex Hales is not ready – is he capable of playing quality, high pace? How will he manage against any but the most mediocre spin? – that make the selection of an obdurate #3 essential. Ian Bell has struggled for two years to match his heroics of 2013. Rather than a good-looking 30 in an hour, England look to someone who is capable of blocking up an end for two sessions, even a whole day, even if runs are scored at a crawl: blunt and tire bowlers so that the power-hitters in the middle order can make hay later. If one or both openers fall, England want someone willing to bat 4 hours for a 50, if necessary and say “here and no further” to the opposition attack. Nick Compton has that Boycott-like ability.

With no Jimmy Anderson, Chris Woakes comes back. The reasoning is that a bowler is needed to bottle up an end while Stuart Broad and Steve Finn attack from the other end. Steve Finn has been gloriously re-born and looks in great form. Stuart Broad is bowling better and better. And the wild card of the side – sometimes all too literally for his own good – Ben Stokes – has both wickets and runs in the warm-ups. Even more pleasing, England’s win against a strong South Africa A side, was set up by centuries for Cook and Root and fifties for Hales and Stokes, but finished by a devastating spell of bowling by Moeen, who showed that South Africa’s second string are also helpless against decent spin. Moeen’s figures of 6-77 are far less impressive than the reality was, as some late hitting took his figures from 11-4-32-4 to 14.5-4-77-6 (4-32 from his first 66 balls, 2-45 from his last 23), albeit with the consolation of taking the last two wickets.

Moeen is still viewed condescendingly by many fans as a moderate batsman who can bowl a bit, but his record deserves far more respect. he averages 2.8 wickets per Test, for heaven's sake! That is a really respectable figure - compare it with Phil Edmonds, 2.5; John Emburey, 2.3, Ashley Giles, 2.6; even Monty Panesar, with 3.3, is not far ahead. And Moeen’s wickets have come at a remarkable strike rate. Moeen Ali has the best Strike Rate of any post-war England spinner (58.6), ahead of Swann (60.1) and Laker (62.3) – extraordinary company after 33 Test innings, for someone not viewed as a specialist spinner.  

On paper, #1 v #6 in the ICC Test Championship should be a very one-sided contest. In practice, recent series have been very close, both home and away, with only the somewhat flattering 2-0 win in 2012 standing out. A drawn series should be no surprise. An England win against a side that most people agree is in decline, would be seen as being as inevitable in retrospect as a South African win in the series will be if that is the result. Can England hit the South African fault lines and fracture them? Will South Africa’s new ball attack punish England’s vulnerable top order? Having won just 1 of their last 4 series, England desperately need a win here. A look at the recent record of both sides is revealing: between them, their combined record is W1, D3, L6 in their last 10 Tests. While South Africa have made great play of the strength in depth of their attack, the fact that a very good A side, containing several recent members of the Test side, was beaten in well under three days by an innings and plenty tells its own story.