South Africa v England, 3rd Test, Day 5: Moeen Makes His Point

 

South Africa v England, 3^rd Test, Day 5: Moeen Makes His Point

July 31^st 2017

At the start of play the England target was to remove one or both overnight batsmen in the first hour. For South Africa, it was to see out the first hour and then build for Lunch.

For much of the time the atmosphere was one of inevitability such that the chat in the TMS box seemed almost peripheral to the cricket. This got to the point that Jon Agnew was able to pass a good fraction of one sleepy passage of play with an elaborate wind-up of Geoff Boycott. Boycott, bless him, fell for it completely. So clever and plausible was the story concocted and so complete the collaboration from the rest of the team, that hundreds of thousands of fans must genuinely have believed that Boycott’s famous hundredth hundred at Headingley on August 11^th 1977 was going to be struck from the record books. Sir Geoffrey’s reactions were tightly controlled (just as well), but witnesses could see that an explosion was building. Just as Sir Geoffrey launched into a brief denunciation of the plan on the lines of “that’s rooooobish that is!” (still, amazingly, without expletives), Jon Agnew responded calmly and matter-of-factly with “it’s also a complete wind-up”, before explaining how the team had collaborated to concoct a false press release from the ICC. Boycott’s reaction was a heartfelt “You MUPPET!!!” which left everyone helpless with laughter (including, one suspects, many listeners).

Why could the TMS team completely ignore the cricket in the middle? More than an act of God, it was an act of Roland-Jones. As the stand between Elgar and Bavuma prospered and passed a hundred, as the overs ticked by and nothing much seemed to be happening, the pitch not doing much, Joe Root must have started to wonder if he was going to suffer a new humiliation as captain, with South Africa wriggling out of what looked like a lost position. Showers were threatened later in the day. Surely Elgar and Bavuma couldn’t, could they?

The early thrust of Stokes and Broad was seen off and, as the advert goes, Joe Root decided to “make it Toblerone”. Two overs passed with little incident. Two overs of Moeen at the other end too passed with little of note. Not a lot going on. Pitch friendly. Ball soft. Weather kind. And then the unexpected.

The first ball of Tobias Skelton Roland-Jones’s third over was straight. Bavuma defended. Big shout. Turned down by Alem Dar.

And then something happened that, at Trent Bridge, would have needed divine intervention to come to pass: a sensible referral by England. Three reds. Marginally hit pad before bat. OUT!

In comes Vernon Philander. First ball nips back nicely. Philander pads up. Oh dear! It was a repeat of Faf du Plessis’s “Mike Gatting moment”. 150-4 and cruising becomes 150-6 and in deep trouble. It could so easily have been even worse as the hat-trick ball was edged and only just failed to carry to Ben Stokes.

Even then, Elgar and Morris seemed to be carrying South Africa to Lunch. Once again, a partnership started to build. Once again, South Africa could not make it count. What is more, it was the last ball before Lunch when Morris played a loose shot that he almost got away with because it rebounded off Bairstow’s leg, just within range of the diving Stokes.

It was a recurring theme as South Africa tried to save the match. It is why it all seemed so low-key and inevitable. Partnerships of 21, 27, 108, 45 & 47 all got going, but were cut off before they could become too worrying. Three batsmen made 20s or 30s, but could not push on to the 50s that Elgar needed to come at the other end if he were to save the match. Whenever there was a ray of hope for South Africa, you knew that they would be unable to make it stick.

Even then there was a final twist. After Lunch Elgar and Maharaj started one of those annoying partnerships that delays the inevitable. After two quiet overs, runs started to come in a flood: 12 off one Roland-Jones over, 12 off his next, 6 from Moeen who seemed rather innocuous.  Ben Stokes relieved Roland-Jones, presumably to provide three tight overs from one end before the new ball. There were ten dot balls broken by a single and, suddenly, Moeen produced one of those magic balls that he seems capable of when he relaxes.

Tossed-up. Into the footmarks. Grips. Elgar goes at it hard. Outside edge. Straight to Stokes.

Next ball. The only difference is that Elgar’s drive is replaced by Rabada’s push. The delivery, the edge and the catch are identical.

Would Stokes be a gentleman with Moeen hanging on a hat-trick, but six balls from Stokes to come? Maharaj is suddenly shotless, but keeps out the six. No great drama.

Morkel’s first ball is delivered in the middle of a fielders’ convention. Morkel misses. The ball slams into pad. Umpire Wilson waits and waits and finally shakes his head. And, with that shake, eleven fielders are jerked into making the T-sign simultaneously as if the umpire were pulling their strings.

“Going down leg”, say the commentators.

Then: “this might be close”.

Then: “I think that he might be out”.

Then: “it *IS* going to be out!”

It is not a No Ball. No edge. Pitching in line. Impact in line. Hitting full on leg stump. The review process ratchets-up the drama as the TV umpire Kumar Dhamasena goes through the checks one by one, like a Prosecuting Attorney presenting Exhibit A, Exhibit B, … and requesting a conviction. Three reds.

“You can give that out. You are on camera now.”

Cue screams of delight and wild celebrations.

Moeen has the first hat-trick in an Oval Test. It was the first by an England spinner since 1938 and only the third time that victory in a Test was sealed with a hat-trick (the last was in 1902).

Having been discarded by many fans as not worth his place in the side after the Tests in India, Moeen Ali has 18 wickets at 14.7 in three Tests in 2017 at a strike rate of 26.7. Of all bowlers who have taken at least 10 wickets this year, the next best is Jimmy Anderson, with a strike rate of 43.5. Moeen cannot possibly keep up this rate of success but, since the end of the 2016 season, he has 39 wickets at 29.9 in 10 Tests, despite a dry spell in India where he took just 3 wickets in the last 3 Tests of the series.

Why do people keep questioning his place in the side?

So, since the end of the 2016 season, Moeen Ali’s contribution has been:

10 Tests

·       39 wickets at 29.9

·       636 runs at 33.5, with 2x100 & 3x50.

That is quite a contribution for a player regarded by many as a journeyman who is not good enough. Moeen has made his point. Quietly, but he has made it.

Now, we move on to Old Trafford and the 4^th Test. The hint is that the pitch will have a little more life. Trevor Bayliss has hinted that England will not need the extra batsman and suddenly, it seems, England have all manner of healthy problems.

1.     Who misses out?

Of the three debutants, Toby Roland-Jones took 8 wickets and made the vital breakthroughs in both innings. Tom Westley made 25 and 59 and looked calm and unfussed. It would be hard to drop either. Dawid Malan is the most vulnerable, with 1 & 10, getting two very good balls, although it has not passed unnoticed that both were in-swinging Yorkers that he failed to get bat on: there is a vulnerability there. However, Malan has earned his chance and showed in his T20 debut that he has the ability and the steel to make a success of an international career.

If Gary Ballance were fit, the most obvious player to make way would be Malan, with Ballance replacing him at #5, even if you feel that Malan would get another chance as soon as humanly possible. As it is, Ballance is not yet ready but, he has been assured that he is the man in possession when he is ready to come back.

2.     What about the balance of the side?

The pundits, without exception, liked the balance of the side, with 5 specialist bats, followed by 3 genuine all-rounders. With Bairstow at #7 and Moeen at #8 and Roland-Jones at #9, there was a formidable sting in the England tail. 183-5 became 316-8 in the first innings and 202-5 became 313-8 in the second innings.

However, Trevor Bayliss is hinting that he wants to play Liam Dawson at Old Trafford. If he does, Malan looks like being the player to make way, although you could suggest playing Dawson instead of a seamer. A much less plausible option, suggested by some pundits is to drop Jennings (who has been promised the four Tests) and ask Westley to open: this is the sort of fudge that has been universally condemned in the past.

Again, the balance of the side could depend on the weather forecast. The threat of rain and seam bowling conditions sealed Dawson’s fate at The Oval; a hot, dry spell may seal his place at Old Trafford.

3.     What about Woakes and Ball?

Chris Woakes will surely go to Australia. He will also be ready to play again come the 1^st Test v West Indies on August 17^th: who is rested to give him a game? If Jake Ball is going to go to Australia, does he get a Test, or will be played only in the ODIs and T20 that follow the West Indies series? With injured players coming back and looking for games, competition for places is going to be increasingly fierce.

4.     Can Alex Hales be re-commissioned?

Alex Hales is producing the sort of incredibly destructive form that got David Warner his first cap before he had even played a First Class match. Although Hales opens in limited overs and T20, he now bats in the middle order in First Class cricket. There are people who think that his form is now so exceptional that England cannot pass-up on his talent. Can he be fitted into the England middle-order at #5? With Tom Westley looking a good fit at #3 you can make a case for a middle order of Westley, Root, Hales, Stokes, Bairstow & Moeen that would give more than one side pause for thought.

However, right now England’s first problem is to close out the series.  Recently, far too many Test victories have been followed by a defeat in the next game. There has also been a pattern: England have won 14 of their last 17 home Tests batting first, but only 4 of 14 when batting second. The facile suggestion is to win the Toss and bat at Old Trafford, but a far more convincing demonstration would be to lose the Toss and win the match.

The keys to the England win at The Oval were:

·       Winning the Toss

·       Philander’s incomprehensible selection

·       Taking advantage and posting a solid first innings score

·       South Africa returning to the timid and fragile batting of the 1^st Test

And, almost more than anything else

·       Much better use of DRS.

Now, England have to show that it was the 2^nd Test horror show that was the anomaly in this series and South Africa have just 4 days to re-group. Which England and which South Africa will turn up in Manchester? England cannot rely on South Africa easing their way by making another dreadful selection mistake.

England v Bangladesh: The Fall and Rise and Fall of Alex Hales

 

England v Bangladesh

The Fall and Rise and Fall of Alex Hales

September 13^th  2016

If there is one player who has epitomised the violent swings of fortune of the England team over the last year, it is Alex Hales.

An up and down year for England took another couple of unexpected tangents. First, after going 4-0 in the ODI series and setting a world-record score to boot, the series came to a shambolic end with a heavy defeat in the final ODI, followed by being utterly trounced in the only T20 as they staggered, drunkenly from 56-0 after 39 balls and threatening to cross 200, to 135-7. Pakistan won with more than five overs to spare and, as in the Test series, finished on a high and with the momentum. Those last two games of the international summer showed how England who, two games earlier, had looked sublimely untroubled in scoring 444-3 in 50 overs, can swing from brilliant to mediocre. There was some justification in the ODI, with a raft of changes introduced to rest some players and give a chance to others. Less good news was that with Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali being rested, Liam Dawson registered the worst-ever figures for an England debutant in an ODI. 8-0-72-2 was fairly eye-watering, although it is as well to record that just below Liam Dawson in the “worst-ever debut” list come Andrew Flintoff and Steve Finn, who both turned out okay.

While many regard Liam Dawson as the best young spinner in the country, it is interesting that, despite the lamentations to the contrary, the selectors have almost an embarrassment of choice of spinners for the two winter tours. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are assumed to be givens. Behind them, Ollie Rayner at Middlesex and Jack Leach at Somerset are causing mayhem from unexpected directions and both demand a call-up on the back of form, heavy wicket-taking and consistency. Ollie Rayner’s last three County Championship matches have produced 23 wickets (combined figures of 23-322). Middlesex fans have been frustrated for years knowing that he can attack and be lethal, but has all too often been used in a holding role to speed up the overrate and got overly defensive. If the selectors want to go for a form spinner, Ollie Rayner is currently the most destructive in the country.

If Ollie Rayner’s 23-322 since the summer break in the CC have put down a marker, what of Jack Leach’s 27 wickets in Somerset’s four matches since the break, including 2x6-for and 1x5-for? His wickets have been more expensive (27-529), but he has had to bowl long spells and put in hard grind in a much weaker attack than Ollie Rayner. With 56 First Class wickets, he is joint fifth in the wicket-taking list for 2016, somewhat ahead of Ollie Rayner, who is eleventh. Jack Leach was taking wickets in quantity even early in the season and has been consistent and threatening all summer.

Apart from Rayner and Leach, many fans have pointed to the golden summer that Gareth Batty is having with 41 wickets @ 32.3 and suggesting that he is the one outstanding candidate to head the attack in India. It is twelve years since he acted as unwilling stooge to Brian Lara’s 400* in Antigua: although picked twice more as cover for an injured Ashley Giles and briefly re-commissioned in ODIs in 2009, the 52-4-185-2 in that Antigua Test really finished him as an international bowler. However, fans will recall how Shaun Udal was plucked from pre-retirement obscurity in 2006 and won a Test in India and how both Pat Pockock and Peter Such were re-commissioned some years earlier with surprising success.

Many pundits will say that Liam Dawson (15 wickets @ 46.8) is the best young spinner in the country, while Simon Kerrigan has been disappointing this year (25 wickets @ 45.4), he has been a consistent performer over many years, while Zafar Ansari, who was picked as a spinner for last winter’s tours, is finally coming back to the sort of form that saw him selected, after injury saw him miss the start of the season (22 wickets @ 30.7, with 7-164 in his last two matches). Several other names are mentioned as promising spinners.

What though has really exercised the minds of pundits and fans is the latest extraordinary turn in the Alex Hales story. After a rather unhappy Test series in South Africa (to be fair, he was far from the only one to struggle with the bat), followed by a record-equalling ODI series against the same opponents, with his five consecutive 50s, crowned with a glorious century, he took a calculated risk and, when many fans thought that only heavy run-scoring in early season would save his place, decided to take off the first few games of the season. Obdurate performances to try to save games in a Nottinghamshire side that was unravelling fast, saved his Test place and a big fifty in each Test v Sri Lanka seemed to mark his breakthrough. The one thing that he failed to achieve was to get those last few runs to obtain a maiden Test century, but 5 half centuries is one more than Nick Compton (who reached 50 only 4 times in his 16 Tests), three more than Sam Robson (who reached 50 only twice in 7 Tests) and four more than Adam Lyth (who reached 50 just once in his 7 Tests): failure is relative here.

However, a poor series with the bat against Pakistan in the Tests led to many writing his obituary again, particularly after two failures in the first two ODIs, only to come back with the highest score by an Englishman in ODIs (and, unlike Robin Smith, whose record he broke, he is as English as you can get, born in Hillingdon in Middlesex). 743 runs @ 61.9 in 2016, with 4x50 and 3x100 is astonishing by any standards, more so even from a player who, only a few months before, was being written-off as a failure in ODIs.

However, with many questioning whether or not he had done enough to hang on to his Test place and the pundits saying, reluctantly, that he had probably done just enough, mainly due to the lack of obvious alternatives, Alex Hales has come up with a new surprise by withdrawing from the Bangladesh series on security grounds. It is only two Tests and, with the selectors having the habit of experimenting when England visit Bangladesh, it is quite possible that he would have been “rested” anyway. However, things have changed radically since the Pakistan Tests finished. Suddenly, it looks as if Alex Hales has ended his Test career.

There are several top-three batsmen who have made big runs this season. Tom Westley, with 1427 runs @ 62.0; Ben Duckett, with 1268 runs @ 57.6; Nick Browne, with 1196 runs @ 52.0; Nick Gubbins, with 1191 runs @ 59.6 and Chris Dent, with 1133 runs @ 45.3 have all shown some prolific form, not to mention a young sprog called Marcus Trescothick (1252 runs @ 52.2). While Westley is a #3 who could open, if necessary, the others are all genuine openers.

All but two of the above though have the not-inconsiderable issue of having made their runs against the much weaker, Division 2 attacks. Marcus Trescothick would no longer tour even if the selectors were to ask a 40-year-old to come back after ten years out of Tests. And Nick Gubbins, although he has his fans, has not been as eye-catching as some others, but will still be hoping that perhaps he gets the nod or, at very least, to be parked off-shore ready for a call-up on a Lions tour.

Two players have though really caught the eye.

A sequence of scores of 89, 57*, 114, 100*, 26, 17 & 56 by 19 year old Haseeb Hameed has led to a massive band-waggon calling for him to be picked for the Bangladesh tour. Having made his First Class debut at the end of the 2015 season, he has played just 18 matches, but his last eight have produced 4x100 and 5x50, boosting his average to 51.3. Bangladesh would be a great place to blood him before a far more politically charged tour to India where the pressures, on and off the field, will be far greater.

Another suitor for Alex Hale’s position is Keaton Jennings, another young player – this time 24 years old – whose record prior to this season was more likely to lead to calls for him to return to South Africa. However, he has committed his future to Durham, is now qualified for England and, despite Chester-le-Street’s  famously green pitches, is the run-away leading run-scorer in the country with 1565 runs @ 71.1 (almost 450 more than Haseeb Hameed, in three more innings) and has an impressive seven First Class centuries.

Quite possibly Alex Hales had not bet on a First Division opener who was already having a good season, scoring 201* on a famously tricky pitch, less than 48 hours after he had surrendered his opening position.

What will be interesting is to see if the selectors take both Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed to accompany Alistair Cook in Bangladesh, with one of them, or maybe even both if the other is given a chance with the tricky #3 slot, having the chance to seal his place in the starting XI in India. The selectors have said that there will be no reprisals for either Hales or Eoin Morgan for missing the tour but, were Hales’s replacement to make a century in one of the two Tests, it would inconceivable that we would see Hales re-gaining his place in India.

While it is certain that Alex Hales will return to the ODI set-up in India, the chances great are that he will not even be in the Test party unless whoever replaces him has a dire tour. With England needing a stable opening partner for Alistair Cook and Nick Compton who might just have been pushed up the order instead, out of the picture, yet another player will have a chance to make a claim to be Andrew Strauss’s definitive replacement.

Rumour has it that a decision had already been made to go with Haseem Hameed this winter instead of Alex Hales. Maybe Hales just felt that he knew which way the wind was blowing and decided to bow-out gracefully, rather than be dropped. Whatever way it blows, the announcement of the touring parties is going to be met with great interest.

England v Pakistan, ODIs: Arise Sir Donald Hales

 

England v Pakistan

ODIs

Arise Sir Donald Hales

August 31^st  2016

A summer that threatened to end as a damp squib from England’s point of view, has re-ignited after guttering and fading. Three years ago England took a 3-1 Ashes lead against Australia: they lost the Final Test, the ODI series that followed, the five Tests in Australia, all but one of the ODIs, the series to Sri Lanka and went down in the series against India before finally reviving. A sad, dispirited defeat in the Final Test to a suddenly revived Pakistan, led by a suddenly revived Yasir Shah, raised at least the spectre of that scenario. Yasir Shah, who had spent two and a half Tests looking totally inoffensive and seeming the least of England’s worries, thundered back with 5-71 and made England look clueless again. A drawn series was a tribute to Pakistan’s capacity to come back from the abyss and England’s incapacity to close out series. On the balance of play, it was deserved, with each side totally dominating two Tests. As a spectacle though, it was dispiriting.

At the end of the Test series most fans looked at the England side and called time on James Vince’s career. A large majority felt that Gary Ballance had not justified his recall – to be fair, his county form did not justify it. And an increasing number of fans thought that the faith that the selectors had shown in Alex Hales had not been justified.

Poor Alex Hales. Equalled the England record with five consecutive 50s in the ODIs in South Africa after being written-off. Came back with three scores in the 80s and 90s in the Tests against Sri Lanka without making those last few runs that would have silenced the doubters. And has had three consecutive low scores in his last three ODIs. One feed-backer put it succinctly: “he’s shown that he is not good enough in any format”.

Cricket fans are a fickle lot. Their memories are short. Their gratitude is parsimonious. And a player is only as good as his last match. In T20 Hales was ranked as the #1 batsman in the world for a time and has top scores of 94, 99 and 116* - the first English T20 century. A relatively lean run in T20 (no 50 since 2014) has seen his contributions forgotten.

Three low scores in his last three ODIs have seen calls for him to be dropped in all formats. The suggestion is utterly bizarre. You do not become a poor player overnight and Alex Hales had, in his eight ODIs of the year up to the end of June, scored 520 runs in 8 innings with 4x50 and 2x100.

The nature of limited-overs cricket is that you will sometimes have failures and runs of low scores. And sometimes you will just have a brainstorm and do something really stupid. To come back though from being pilloried, from looking totally out of sorts and make a murderous 171 in 122 balls at very least shows character.

Hales’s sequence in ODIs in 2016 is something that even Sir Donald Bradman would be proud of:

57, 99, 65, 50, 112, 4, 133*, 0, 7, 14, 171

That is a small matter of 712 runs in 10 completed innings at a strike rate of 101.7. If that is not good enough, long live mediocrity!

When a player such as Joe Root has to act as sheet anchor because he is only scoring at a run-a-ball you know that great things are possible. We wanted to know what England could do batting first and now we know. The highest score in an ODI and some fairly eye-watering bowling figures. Only the fact that the last two overs unaccountably brought just 15 runs when the previous five had gone for 77 saved Pakistan from being the first side to concede 450 and 460 was definitely on with two overs to go.

The headline figure was the10-0-110-0 of Wahab Riaz, but Pakistan’s combined fifth bowler (Yasir Shah, Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik) was actually more expensive (10-0-112-0).

Jos Buttler, who has looked short of match practice in the first two games, came good with the fastest 50 for England in ODIs and could have reached a century. What no one noticed is that Eoin Morgan was close to equalling the record: he was 42* from 20 balls and just two hits away from equalling Jos Buttler’s 22-ball 50. 33*, 68 & 57* is a big revival of fortunes for him.

If Pakistan had been sensible they could have at very least scared the target. Until the end of the 20^th over they had only once, very briefly at the start of the chase been behind and had been as much as 21 runs ahead of England at the same stage. The difference was that Pakistan panicked and, instead of accepting the odd over with only 3 or 4 runs scored, lost wickets regularly trying to force the scoring. At 106-3 after 15 overs they were 20 ahead of England at the same stage; within eight balls though that had become 108-5… game over!

England’s extraordinary ODI revival continues despite the ICC table saying that they are still only a mid-table team. The sceptics, who say that England have not yet beaten anyone of any quality must, at very least, be getting nervous. The suggestions that England are no different to the sad side of the last World Cup are getting harder and harder to justify. And, for Pakistan, the danger of having to qualify for the next World Cup is getting greater with every defeat.

England v Pakistan, 3rd Test, Tales of the Unexpected: Pakistan’s Bizarre Capitulation Sets up England’s Assault on Becoming #1

 

England v Pakistan

3^rd Test

Tales of the Unexpected: Pakistan’s Bizarre Capitulation Sets up England’s Assault on Becoming #1

August 9^th  2016

After the great Follow-On Cop-Out, we have had the Declaration Debacle. Both times the usual suspects accused Alistair Cook of everything from the most pusillanimous cowardice, to playing Father Christmas to Misbah’s team of happy warriors. Again, he was accused of throwing away the series by not knowing how to attack. And, again, events proved the critics completely wrong and Alistair Cook totally correct.

In fact, Alistair Cook is just one Test away from taking England to #1 in the ICC Test rankings: avoiding defeat may be enough to go top, winning guarantees it. Yet, despite results, it seems that Alistair Cook’s captaincy is fair game and vilified by (almost) everyone.

In contrast, the Pakistan team and their fans have been a happy bunch and, even as most people were reading the last rites, were convinced that their team could pull off an incredible win in both Tests that they have lost.

There is something very British about talking down your team, about being senselessly critical. We saw it before the 2012 Olympics too, where every story seemed to be a negative one, where the media gave acres of space to anyone who wanted to say that the Games would be an expensive disaster and that no one would turn up. Of course, although the Games had their faults (it is impossible to produce a perfect games), no one who was there can doubt that they were a great success perhaps, for a cricket fan, slightly tempered by the failure to include T20 cricket as a demonstration sport.

However, the vilification that has been poured on Alistair Cook’s handling of the side at times has gone past the reasonable. Like Andrew Strauss before him, he has received the labels “defensive” and “cautious” and nothing that he can do can change that. Even when proved to be absolutely correct in his decisions the pat answer is shot straight back “well he got lucky and did not deserve to get away with it”. When England almost pulled off an astonishing heist in the Oval Test of 2013, the plaudits were all for Michael Clarke for his attacking (read “totally mis-judged”) declaration, despite the fact that England scored more runs, far faster than Australia on that last day and it was not Alistair Cook who was time-wasting desperately at the end).

Alistair Cook belongs to the Clive Lloyd/Viv Richards school of captaincy. He knows that he has the weapons to win and backs his side to do it more often than not. Cook, like Clive Lloyd, does not take unnecessary risks. He likes to grind down his opponent, break his spirit. That much was shown by the way that in the 2^nd Test Pakistan were set a target that went far beyond anything reasonable. It was a West Indian trademark in the great years: even if the opposition was bowled out for 150 in the first innings, rarely enforce the Follow-On; bat again and toy with them – set them 450, 500, a target that they know that they have no hope of getting anywhere near.

Like those great West Indian teams, Alistair Cook was ruthless. He knew that the chances in the 2^nd Test of Pakistan surviving five sessions, or smashing the world record chase were just about zero. He backed his rested bowlers to do the job and they rewarded him by winning the match with a day to spare, despite a session being lost to rain.

At Edgbaston, in the 3^rd Test, the problem was a radically different one. For two days Pakistan had dominated totally on a surface so dead that it should have struggled to produce a result in six days, let alone five. Having been put in and batted at the one point in the match where there was significant help for the bowlers – and even then, it was not a great deal – and failed to get to 300, at the end of Day 2, England were on their backs and desperately trying to protect their collective throat from a mortal blow. At 257-2, with one ball of the day left, in reply to England’s 297, you could see a Pakistan lead of at least 150, probably 200, possibly even 250. England should have been batted out of the game and would have been likely to need to bat two days to save it. With Azhar Ali 139* and Younis settling-in nicely, it should have been curtains.

From that ball on though, just about everything went England’s way. Why did Azhar Ali guide an fairly inoffensive ball outside off straight to Alistair Cook from the last ball of the day? It confirmed the increasing suspicion that Chris Woakes has more than a touch of Ian Botham about him: things just happen around him, with no reasonable explanation. Those fans with longer memories will remember that Ian Botham’s introduction to Test cricket was fairly chastening: although he came back to take five wickets, his first spell was very roughly dealt with and his batting showed very little initially. Botham had the luck that the selectors stuck with him and repaid their faith once he started to believe in his own ability. In contrast, Chris Woakes has just had the odd Test over the last three years to make a case until finally given a run in the side: now it is hard to imagine the side without him.

The only moment when you could just imagine things going wrong was during the sixth wicket stand of 62: once it was broken, Pakistan seemed broken too. Only an annoying last-wicket stand got the lead over 100, but it was evident that the momentum had shifted.

When England’s first wicket pair got England in the black without great scares, the unthinkable started to become thinkable: might there be time for England to get far enough ahead and declare?

What was good to see was the way that Geoff Boycott purred over Alex Hales’s innings. Hales was patient. He started slowly, he avoided mistakes and he accelerated, giving England just the start that they needed. Hales is another player who is coming in for unfair opprobrium from the fans, who forget that he has had golden form in Tests and ODIs over the last few months, marred only by the lack of a maiden Test century. His first fifty of the series will not have silenced the doubters, but it at least eases the pressure on him and on the selectors.

Misbah seemed to get it all wrong. When Cook and Hales fell in three balls, early in Day 4, he switched quickly to all-out defence to stop England scoring. Perhaps he reasoned that it was the way to provoke a collapse, but it seemed to be more a fear of letting England set a target and thus exposing Pakistan to defeat. However, with fears about the ability of Vince and Ballance to perform at this level, a period of all-out attack might have let some runs flow, but could have also led to three or four wickets falling quickly. A century partnership steadied nerves and allowed James Vince another opportunity to count past 42 (an opportunity that, of course, he spurned): 9, 35, 10, 0, 16, 42, 18, 39 & 42 – in six of his nine Test innings he has got in, got set, looked good… and got out. Time is running out for him and the calls for Adil Rashid to replace him at The Oval are only getting louder, with even the England management publicly considering this option.

However, with every one of the top five making a contribution and the bowlers tiring, Pakistan were left incredibly vulnerable to a counter-attack. Once Bairstow and Moeen Ali had played themselves in, the bowlers were ripe for taking. After a relatively sedate start of a 50 partnership off 69 balls, the next hundred runs took 101 balls. It was Operation Annihilation again and, again, Yasir Shah was left to take the heat. 43-4-172-2. Seventy overs in the match for a return of 3-236: he might have won Pakistan the 1^st Test, but the contest has got more and more uneven since: match figures of 10-141 in that match, have been followed by combined figures of 4-502 in the 2^nd and 3^rd Tests. He has bowled 70 overs more than any other bowler in the series, averaging 32 per innings and is looking less and less effective. As the strike and stock bowler in a 4-man attack, he has been bowled into the ground and, more than anything, that mis-handling has turned the series. From a Pakistan point of view, their hopes of levelling the series and becoming the ICC’s #1 Test side depend on whether or not he can recover from such mega-abuse in time for the Final Test. If England bat and Yasir Shah is sent straight back into the attack, his stamina will be sorely tried.

The ultimate humiliation was for Yasir Shah to be given the first over in the morning, with a declaration in the offing and Alistair Cook being condemned for batting on, only to see twenty runs come off it: singles for Moeen and Bairstow, followed by 6 6 4 2 for Moeen. It was tantamount to a Pakistani declaration of surrender. Instead of taking 40 minutes out of the game, batting on in the morning cost just four overs, plus two for the change of innings.

Even after England had pulverised the Pakistani bowlers and allowed themselves almost a full day to bowl, there was no excuse for what followed.

At Lunch, Pakistan needed 264 to win from 62 overs, with nine wickets in hand and the ball was doing absolutely nothing for the bowlers. It was most definitely on. There was plenty of good bowling (Stuart Broad finished his second spell with the remarkable figures of 10-5-9-1). Plenty of pressure. Just nothing to suggest that wickets would fall. Not even Chris Woakes was making things happen.

And your spinner, your main hope of taking wickets, is short on confidence and many fans – and even some pundits – are asking why he is even in the side.

Cue Moeen Ali. A magic ball. An edge to slip. Thanks skipper! And the floodgates opened. 79-1 becomes a barely credible 151-9.

Why? There is no reasonable explanation. Collective panic?

The fact that the Pakistani last-wicket pair could put on 50 together with some comfort and, briefly, raise hopes that Pakistan could save the match, should put some of their colleagues to shame. There was nothing wrong with the pitch.

From 257-2 with one ball left of Day 2, Pakistan somehow contrived to lose their next 17 wickets for 294 runs. After the hammering at Old Trafford, to pass from the point of dominating the Test, to a humiliating defeat must hit Pakistani morale hard.

From being reviled after two, poor dismissals in the 2^nd Test and an anaemic bowling display, Moeen Ali has picked up another Man of the Match award and averages 58.7 with the bat and has 9 wickets at 39.3 with the ball in this series, at a strike rate of 54: better than Stuart Broad and only marginally inferior to Jimmy Anderson. It almost makes you wonder of he is strategically ineffective for a time to make batsmen take him too lightly and surrender their wickets to him!

The scene now shifts to The Oval, with the #1 ranking in Tests up for grabs. There are so many scenarios that they would take up a couple of pages of A4 but, a summary is this:

·        If England win the Test, they are guaranteed to go top of the ICC Test table.

o   Unless India win their last two Tests in the Caribbean, or Australia win the 3^rd Test in Sri Lanka, England will top the table if they avoid defeat at The Oval.

o   If Pakistan win the Test, they go top unless India win their last two Tests in the Caribbean, or Australia win the 3^rd Test in Sri Lanka and England will stay fourth in the table.

England v Sri Lanka, 1st and 2nd ODI: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

 

England v Sri Lanka

1^st and 2^nd ODI

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

 June 25^th  2016

In my last entry I suggested that Liam Plunkett should be on the radar for the Pakistan Test series, as should Adil Rashid. The pair of them have given England a taste of what they are missing.

Adil Rashid has contributed 10-0-36-0 in the first ODI – 20 runs fewer than any other England bowler – and 10-0-34-2 in the second, bowling with skill and threat (Moeen Ali contributed 19-0-110-1 between the two matches). Adil Rashid will always have the odd bad match, but he will have many more good ones. While his selection for India is taken for granted, fewer people seem to think that he would add something to the attack that the decline of Moeen’s threat has taken away. Maybe it is time to think seriously about giving him a game.

Liam Plunkett took some punishment with the ball in the 1^st ODI, but came in with the match slipping away from England. At 235-8, with 52 wanted from 26 balls, the situation was critical. Plunkett helped Chris Woakes to get England close but, with 10 wanted from the last 2 balls and 7 from the last, Sri Lanka should have wrapped-up the win. Plunkett reminded people that he has First Class centuries (plural) and Test and ODI 50s by hammering a ball only slightly off Yorker length into the stands for a tie. 22 from 11 balls in a crisis, with the Sri Lankans bowling tightly and well was a demonstration of his talent. In the 2^nd ODI he bowled with fire and venom to fire out two quick wickets when Sri Lanka had made a fast start, giving England a control that they never relinquished.

In the two matches England have swung from diabolically bad to supreme brilliance. Having kept Sri Lanka to a probably sub-par 286, there was no excuse for crashing to 82-6. It was awful. The top order batting suffers these collapses too often for it to be put down to occasional accidents. However, there is also a steel in the side that allows bad positions to be rescued. Jos Buttler is back and, together with Chris Woakes, who seems to grow in stature with every game, Between then they brought England back into the match and looked to be winning it before the departure of Buttler and Willey in quick succession should have killed off the recovery. Just as well that Chris Woakes is showing a confidence that he has never shown before and, in Liam Plunkett, found a solid ally in a crisis.

The second match was completely the opposite. Having made a quick start, Sri Lanka never really got out of first gear. There were two fifties, there was a forty, there were a series of partnerships but, whenever Sri Lanka were in a position to start to accelerate, they lost a wicket and often two. The match then turned into a race between Hales and Roy to the century. Lest we forget that Hales can give the ball some tap, from 93* he went to 120* in eight balls:

6 . 1 4 4 6 6 6

Hales’s sequence in ODIs and Tests since the end of the South African Test series is a stunning:

57, 99, 65, 50, 112, 86, 83, 11, 18, 94, 4 & 133*

There are still England fans who think that Hales is not good enough and should not start against Pakistan. One wonders what run of scores would satisfy them.

A ten wicket win was, to put it mildly, a restorant. The flip side of the week was the news that Nick Compton is adding his name to the list of cricketers taking an indefinite break from cricket. A fine cricketer, hampered by the family name and the situation that a section of the public will never forgive him for the fact that his grandfather emigrated to South Africa after retiring from the game. He has two Test centuries and can feel that he won the 1^st Test in South Africa with his batting, but the pressure on him to be more adventurous led to a collapse in form and confidence. Nick Compton should have three more seasons of prolific county run-getting in him but the odds seem to be that he will abandon the game, possibly for the media. Social media are putting new pressures on players that they never had to face in the past and Nick Compton is just the latest player to find that the pressures on him have got too much.

It seems to be taken as given that Scott Borthwick will line up against Pakistan, although two failures in the Championship this week has taken some wind out of his sails. Fortunately he will have another opportunity before he takes on the Pakistan attack.

England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test: Day 5 and Aftermath - Rain Has The Last Word

 

England v Sri Lanka

3^rd Test: Day 5 and Aftermath

Rain Has The Last Word

 

June 17^th  2016

The rain that set up a potentially wonderful finish, finally condemned the match. Taunting and teasing, it seemed as if play could start at any moment only for drizzle and rain to return. Even though Jimmy Anderson added his twenty-first wicket of the series soon after the start and England played five slips, Sri Lanka batted competently and sensibly to avoid any hint of a scare.

On one level it was disappointing. On another it was just reward for a Sri Lankan side that had improved out of all recognition over the tour. In seven innings over five matches on the tour, Sri Lanka had taken just 46 wickets, bowling the opposition out just twice in seven attempts (once to set up an innings defeat, the other, for over 400). However, from Day 3 of the 2^nd Test, the series ceased to be a procession and became a real contest. With more luck and better ground-fielding Sri Lanka could have pushed England much harder. Their young team will have learnt a lot from the experience, although there are already suggestions that England may not enjoy their next tour to Sri Lanka much as they might, because the scheduling may not be as friendly as it has been on past tours.

England can be satisfied with several aspects of the series, apart from the result [Sri Lanka deservedly won the series in 2013]. Highlights are:

·        Jimmy Anderson’s return to form and fitness.

·        Alex Hales tying-down the opener spot for the rest of the summer (despite not quite getting over the line for that first century in Tests).

·        Jonny Bairstow’s wonderful batting.

·        Alistair Cook getting the 10 000 run monkey off his back and finishing the series with two good scores.

·        Chris Woakes’s development as a genuine all-rounder. He was the fastest bowler on either side, took 8 wickets at 18.8 and a strike rate of 40, was more economical than any bowler on either side save Jimmy Anderson and the lightly-bowled Angelo Matthews and had two valuable innings in his limited opportunities, including a maiden Test 50.

·        Moeen Ali’s spectacular innings at Chester-le-Street.

·        Stuart Broad’s generally good form with the new ball.

However, not all was rosy. Some things definitely did not go as hoped. In no particular order:

·        Nick Compton’s downward spiral of form.

·        Jonny Bairstow’s errors with the gloves.

·        James Vince failing to make a real case that he is the answer at #5.

·        Moeen Ali struggling to make an impact with the ball.

·        Steve Finn’s lack of form (although there were signs that he was on the mend by the end of the series).

·        Joe Root’s struggles (80 of his 87 runs came in a single innings).

·        A top order prone to collapsing like a pack of cards.

·        A sameness to the attack when there is nothing in the pitch or the atmosphere for the bowlers.

While Alex Hales’s star has most definitely shone – there were some frankly ludicrous calls from fans at the end of the series that he should be dropped because his inability to convert 80s and 90s into centuries showed “that he was just not good enough at this level”, but a more rational view is that England would have been in a lot of bother without his runs: exactly 100 more than Compton, Root and Vince combined. 86, 83, 11, 18 & 94 was a pretty powerful statement. He has played five First Class matches this season and has passed 50 in four of his eight innings, with no single-figure scores – Nick Compton’s 51 runs at 12.8 looked like the struggles of a man batting with Geoff Boycott’s stick of rhubarb.

Nick Compton has amazing ability, but last reached 40 eleven innings ago, in the first match of the new season. Since his match-winning contribution in the 1^st Test in South Africa, he has produced 45, 15, 26, 0, 19, 6, 0, 44, 38, 1, 14*, 3, 0, 9, 22*, 1, & 19 and his Test average has declined to 28.7 after 16 Tests. His last 10 Test innings have produced a top score of just 26 and 117 runs.

Sometimes a player has a bad trot and battles through it. Alistair Cook could not buy a run for over a year before suddenly coming good again, albeit initially with ugly runs when it was getting to the stage where almost no one believed that he could get it back. Nick Compton though was always a marginal call for this series and has little credit in the bank. He does have, potentially, two games for Middlesex before the Pakistan series, but it is doubtful that even two good matches can save him. At 34, England are more likely to go for a younger player than give Nick Compton a long, slow death. With Scott Borthwick a specialist #3, the third highest runs-scorer in Division 1 this season and a leg-spinner to boot in his spare time (10 wickets at 37 so far this season apart from 598 runs at 74.8), it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it is Borthwick who will line up against Pakistan.

More worrying for England is Moeen Ali’s struggle with the ball. He did not get many opportunities but, when he did, Sri Lanka attacked him without mercy. After boasting figure of 5-4-1-1 after his first two spells of the series, he ended with 2-180 at the worst economy rate of any of England’s front-line bowlers. Sides no longer fear him and that is unbalancing the side. Would Adil Rashid (321 runs at 40.1 and 18 wickets at 34.6 for Yorkshire) do so much worse? It is already taken as read that Adil Rashid will go to India. Simon Kerrigan is being mentioned again, but what about Somerset’s Jack Leach, who is having a fine season so far and taking his wickets at 24.1, far superior to any of his rivals?

For as long as I can remember people have been moaning about the choice of England wicket-keeper. Superior ‘keeper, or better batsman? Downton, French, Richards, Stewart, Read, Jones, Ambrose, Kieswetter, Buttler, Bairstow (Sr and Jr) among others, have all felt the opprobrium of the fans at different moments. Right now people agree that Jonny Bairstow is not the best ‘keeper and misses important chances, but cannot agree who should replace him. Bairstow is competent standing back but, in India, will be ‘keeping to at least two and possibly even three spinners, standing up a lot: will his runs compensate the chances that he misses? If not, who should take the gloves? The answer might just be “John Simpson” (John Who???) of Middlesex: an excellent gloveman and much improved bat (356 runs at 59.3, with a century and more sixes than any of Middlesex’s renowned hitters, although only 13 dismissals off the somewhat miss-firing Middlesex attack).

James Vince should expect to get the full summer to consolidate, but his position is being exposed by being time and again a wicket in a top-order collapse. He may need runs in the first two Tests to ensure that he sees out the series.

Steve Finn is short on pace and rhythm. His 90mph+ days seem to be a distant memory. Better form as the series wore on, helped, but Chris Woakes was faster and more threatening. If only one can play with the return of Ben Stokes, Steve Finn should check the Middlesex fixture list because he may be chasing the Middlesex squad after being released by England on match day. Finn’s ups and downs are surprising for such a talented bowler. His mind seems a little fragile and can be played around with too easily (remember how the South Africans managed to neutralise him completely with the fuss about knocking off the bails? It was pure gamesmanship and Steve Finn shrank to nothing instead of taking it as a provocation and an incentive to bowl even better.

Throughout the series there were moments when the ball did little and England’s attack looked all too similar: different faces, same bowling. Although Liam Plunkett’s bowling has been a little disappointing this season, his extra pace can shake-up batsmen at Test level. England need someone capable of firing the ball down consistently at 90+mph and have no one in that role right now. A burst of wickets might well see Liam Plunkett in the XIII for the 1^st Test v Pakistan.

However, all in all, it was a satisfying series after the win in South Africa and shows that the England side are progressing nicely. The second summer series will though be tougher and the winter series in India, tougher still. Win both and England will be closing in on the #1 position in the ICC Test table.