The World T20: Never Mind India: Can Anyone Stop England Now?

 

The World T20

Never Mind India: Can Anyone Stop England Now?

 

March 30^th  2016

Having won the Toss in four straight matches, New Zealand finally lost one. It hardly mattered though: New Zealand wanted to bat and England wanted to chase. New Zealand had defended modest totals on several occasions and felt confident that the bowlers could do it again. England had chased-down 230 and fancied any reasonable total. New Zealand were slight favourites with the bookies, but England felt that they have their measure now, despite some appalling humiliations at New Zealand hands in the recent past.

At 55-1 after the PowerPlay and 89-1 at half way, there was every chance of a total around 200 and a very tough chase for England. Opponents of New Zealand have seen how they may start the chase well, but the New Zealand spinners have inevitably reined them in and hauled them back: to chase 200 would have been a tall order against a side that is consistently tough to beat in the shorter formats. Little were New Zealand to know that their total would prove woefully inadequate and that England would always be well ahead in the over comparison.

Where did it go wrong for New Zealand? Firstly, the innings simply ran out of steam. 89-1 after 10 overs, you would expect to score 120+ in the last 10 overs: New Zealand managed 64-7. England conceded just 20 runs in the last 4 overs and took five wickets. The pressure was already on in overs 11-14, in which only 22 were scored and the run rate plummeted. After the tenth over, one fan suggested that Eoin Morgan give up on his spinners because they were England’s weak link: Moeen Ali then came on and bowled two tight overs, removing Kane Williamson into the bargain and suddenly the momentum had slipped from New Zealand. Although Adil Rashid was relatively expensive (4-0-33-0) no one got after him either. The et tu, Brute? For New Zealand though was when Stokes and Jordan came on for the death overs and strangled the life out of the batsmen.

Jordan and Stokes? Two weeks ago, you would have been treated as almost certifiably insane to suggest that they were the ideal death over combination. Spectators in the Upper Tier of the Grandstand would start to worry about hard hats and life insurance when they came on to bowl. Chris Jordan was ridiculed every time that he took the ball. Hardly anyone remembered how Chris Jordan had bowled an extraordinary over in the super over in the UAE, limiting Pakistan to 3-1. As the tournament has progressed though, Chris Jordan has come on time and again at the death and, however much punishment he may have taken earlier, has been mean and tight. Ben Stokes has changed from being wild and loose to a handy foil. Between them, they produced the best ever spell of four death overs for England in a T20. People are not laughing at Chris Jordan now and Ben Stokes has come on by leaps and bounds.

Defending 153, New Zealand wanted a good start. What they received was a treatment similar to the one that South Africa had suffered. When, by the end of the third over, the back of the target has been more or less broken, you know that it is going to be tough to come back. Four boundaries for Jason Roy in the first over. A four and a six in the third. Another four and a six in the fourth. Two boundaries in the fifth. 60-0 after five overs and the target down to a fraction over a run-a-ball. Alex Hales – 15 from 10 balls – almost unnoticed as Jason Roy filleted the attack. When Hales fell the asking rate was 72 from 72 balls – plenty of room to re-trench, if necessary. England did when Roy and Morgan fell in consecutive balls in the 13^th over, but the bad news for New Zealand was that it left Joe Root and Jos Buttler together with plenty of time to play themselves in before the final assault. When the assault came – 32 from 9 balls – it was brutal and definitive. England won by a margin of seven wickets with seventeen balls to spare which, at this level, is almost an abyss.

No less important was the fact that, for the first time in the tournament, the spinners could not give New Zealand the type of stranglehold control that they had exercised up to now. For the first time, Santner and Sodhi came in for some heavy punishment: Sodhi’s two wickets were bought at a high price of 42 runs, double his previous economy in the tournament; while Santner went at just under 9 an over.

Now England await the winner of the second Semi-Final. And whoever plays them now knows that they will not be facing soft opposition. England have won chasing and defending a target and are showing some tremendous fighting powers. Underrate them at your peril.

Sadly, the England ladies will not join them in the Final. Chasing a modest 133 to win in the morning game on the same pitch, England were coasting at 89-1. 43 from 39 balls was the equation. Australia looked dead in the water, but England’s challenge just faded away and they finished 5 short. Both sides struggled in the death overs: Australia managed 22-3 and England, 31-4 but, the biggest singles factors were an inability of the England batswomen to makes ones into twos and pressure the fielders, plus the total lack of any contribution from the middle order in the entire tournament. Charlotte Edwards and Tammy Beaumont aggregated 340 runs in 10 innings; ten other batswomen managed just 256 runs between them in 49 innings. While the bowling has been magnificent – only Karen Brunt can say that she had a modest tournament and even she was by no means poor – there were only two scores higher than 20 from anyone other than Edwards and Beaumont, despite facing some very modest attacks in the group phase.

Part of the issue is that, outside the “Big Three”, although that standard has improved enormously, the depth is still poor. Lack of opportunity has reduced the development even of the top sides, let alone the Bangladeshes and Sri Lankas of the womens’ game. It has meant that a side like England can progress without ever playing well, because they are not being pushed and hardened, save when they play Australia or New Zealand and games against Australia and New Zealand are still far too few and far between. However, playing the mens’ and womens’ World Cups in parallel has at least raised the profile of the womens’ game, which is a start.

The West Indies have shown that there is still life in Caribbean cricket by reaching the Semi-Finals in both tournaments (along with England and New Zealand). In both contests they will start as the underdogs. They would do the game in their region a huge favour by reaching both Finals and would help to redress the balance of power in both the mens’ and the womens’ game. The balance of probability though is that they will be overpowered in both contests.
  

South Africa v England: ODIs - As You Were! England Back to Dominating Ways

 

South Africa v England: ODIs

As You Were! England Back to Dominating Ways

 

February 7^th  2016

 

Any way you look at it, England’s performance in the Test series was irregular. A few devastating sessions of play that won two Tests but, when they were ahead in the series, a tendency to relax and let South Africa take the initiative. While there was never a danger of losing the 2^nd Test, despite the last day collapse, the 4^th Test surrender was pusillanimous in the extreme.

In Tests, despite the way that a team performance would suddenly come together, few of the squad can look back at their personal performances with much satisfaction. When four of the top five have just one, or at the most, two decent scores in the series and poor starts are the rule, something is still seriously wrong. That takes nothing away from a South African attack that, while weakened by injuries (what side can consistently field its best attack these days? England certainly would argue that they did not field their best attack at any point) gave the searching examination of technique that everyone expected. Not everyone was up to it, but one has to think that Hales and Compton were facing constantly fresh bowlers with a new ball, in helpful conditions and in a crisis. For the first four innings of the series Alex Hales saw his captain fall early: not ideal for a player who had every right to feel nervous who needed the help of a calm head at the other end. In the 1^st Test, Nick Compton felt the opprobrium of press and fans for trying to give some solidity to the batting and was, progressively, turned into a nervous wreck who got out trying to force the scoring rather than do what he does best.

In Tests, England are very much a work in progress, not the completed article, although there are signs that there is much more to come.

In ODIs, the transformation after the World Cup has been extraordinary: eight times in sixteen innings England have passed 300. Six times their run-rate for an innings has been over 7. Only twice have England failed to pass a run-rate of 5 – both in matches lost. Of the seven times that England have reached 350 in 661 ODIs, five have been since the start of June 2015. Although the win-loss record is only 10-6 since the start of the 2015 summer, it is the way that the runs have been scored that has caught the attention.

Beating Pakistan in the UAE, particularly after losing the first ODI badly, was a real eye-opener, but playing South Africa at home was always going to be a benchmark. Over the last three years the South African record at home has been Won 12, lost 6. Just one of the last five home ODI series has been lost: a 2-1 loss to Pakistan in 2013. And South Africa have crossed 400 in an ODI no less than four times since the start of 2015: England are the only other side to have done it even once.

The first ODI ended in unsatisfactory manner with a massive storm ending the game when still finely poised. England’s 399-9 should have been enough to win, but it is also true that before Joe Root fell to the last ball of the 30^th over, England were 227-2 and 450 looked perfectly possible. The innings lost a little momentum and even 400 was denied by Reece Topley’s total inability to put bat to ball after Chris Jordan was out in the final over. Just twice in the history of ODIs has a side scored more than 380 and lost, so you would think that England were in pole position.

South Africa though, set about the chase in a way that shows why their fans genuinely believe that they can chase any target, however big.

At 20 overs South Africa were actually well ahead of England at the same stage: 154-3 against 138-2 although, at 25 overs, England had sneaked back ahead (191-2 against 188-3). With rain threatening, it was obvious that Duckworth-Lewis could well decide the result. Such situations generally favour the chasing side, which knows exactly what it has to do at any stage and can produce a sprint for the line. The danger for South Africa was that they had lost more wickets than England at the same stage and Duckworth-Lewis punishes this severely.

After 30 overs of the chase the equation was:

England 227-3, South Africa 223-4. D-L target: 256-4. England ahead by 33, down from the deficit of 42 after 20 overs, but not suggesting that the momentum was really with South Africa.

Over 31 was a big over. Deficit cut to 24, but Quinton de Kock playing a lone hand and cramping up badly. Four off the first ball of over 32, bowled by Chris Jordan.

Then, the disaster. The next eleven balls produced just five singles and the wicket of Roussow. Instead of decreasing, the deficit climbed back to 39. South Africa depended totally on de Kock and the rain started to fall.

AB de Villiers had more than one reason to be unhappy, but probably will regret his post-match words, suggesting that South Africa were well-placed to win because he sounded churlish: South Africa still had a mountain to climb and do have a history of messing up D-L chases. This was combined by some fans with the nature of his dismissal to suggest that South Africa had been cheated of a victory that was justly theirs.

Third ball of the 20^th over. Match about to go live with 20 overs completed. D-L par score 169-2. South Africa 18 behind, with four balls of the over left. ABdV hammers a Moeen delivery down the ground for a certain six. With Ben Stokes chasing at full pelt just inside the boundary line, the ball flew over him. That much is not being argued.

Rather than watch the ball fall for six, Stokes, still sprinting and watching the ball, reached out behind him and caught the it one-handed, managing to avoid touching the boundary line. Not only was the catch itself athletic, but staying in play was a remarkable effort.

So, apparently, an open and shut case. The batsman, like so many others, failed to treat Moeen with sufficient respect and paid the price trying to get South Africa ahead on D-L. Until fans started to point out that the boundary line had moved  a couple of metres in the strong wind and that Ben Stokes had been out of play when he took the catch. In other words, it should have been a six and not a wicket. The obvious answer is that a fielder can only play with the boundary as marked at the time and, if the ground staff fail to keep it in position, it is hardly the fielder’s fault if he is granted an advantage.

The sense of injustice that many South Africans feel that the better side lost the Test series was compounded by the impression that, once again, justice had not been done in the result of the match. England fans will say that the target was a tough 155 from 102 balls, with only five wickets left and a lame batsman at the crease on whom the chase depended. South African fans will say that they had kept well in touch with the run rate and that with de Kock 138* from 96 balls, anything was possible.

It is not beside the point though that England had made hay – 93 runs – against the combined South African fifth bowler while, by playing six specialist bowlers, England were not committed to ten overs from anyone and still had nine overs in the bag from their opening bowlers: one wicket would have left the tail chasing more than nine-an-over against the best opposition bowlers.

The South African fifth bowler was the problem in the second ODI too. On a pitch which was awkward and that made free-scoring almost impossible, South Africa should have been able to defend 262 with something to spare. The fact that they did not was down to the comparison between fourth and fifth bowlers: Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, both accustomed to rough treatment at the hands of their own fans, combined for 20-1-84-1. Tahir, Duminy and Behardien combined for 20-0-128-0.

England stayed right up with the South African score at the same stage and, from the end of the 43^rd over, just pulled away thanks to wickets and hand and the forcing batting of the middle and lower-middle order. If 48 from 28 balls was the sort of performance that one has grown to expect from Jos Buttler in this format, 21 from 15 balls from Moeen Ali was the et tu Brute. For South Africa, only Rabada could score at a rate of over 100.

Each side built their innings around one player: South Africa around AB de Villiers’s 73; England around Alex Hales’s 99. While Hales could anchor the chase until the finishing line was in sight thanks to Buttler, Moeen, Eoin Morgan and, more briefly, Jason Roy all scoring at better than a run-a-ball, South Africa lacked the forcing support that was needed. If South Africa can consider themselves a little unfortunate to have lost the first match, in this one they were comprehensively out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded.

Both Hale and Jordan can think about how capricious fortune can be. Hales is still opening against Abbott, Rabada and Morkel, but can point to a quick 57 and a match-winning 99 to his name. Against the same bowlers in the Tests he managed twenty runs fewer in eight innings. Chris Jordan may also offer a wry smile. 5.3 overs for 53 in the 1^st ODI having not bowled a ball in anger in the entire tour, he was the target of severe criticism from the fans and, had England lost, would probably not have played the second game. Although he only sent down 5 overs again and, bowling much better, went for 0-33, he produced two excellent catches, one of them arguably a match-winner that, of all the other members of the team, maybe only Ben Stokes would have taken. Cue the “playing as a specialist fielder” jibes, but Jordan continues to produce these match-winning flashes of brilliance, such as his super-over in the T20 in the UAE, that make one believe that he could break through at any time.

Some Good News... At Last

 

 

Ashes 2015

 

England’s Recent Bowling Blues

 

April 25^th 2015

  

There has been plenty of criticism of Chris Jordan overnight for not threatening to take Test wickets, but compare him with recent performances by his colleagues and you will see a different picture. Apart from Ben Stokes, who can't buy a wicket, they are pretty similar over their last seven innings, albeit covering different time periods. All have played the same mix of ODIs and Tests in these seven innings (3 ODIs, followed by 4 Test innings), so we are cheating a little, but not very much:

Jordan: 1-33, 2-59, 2-13, 1-46, 1-48, 2-65, 0-41 this year.

Stokes: 0-36, 0-28, 0-21, 0-64, 0-50, 1-66, 0-34 since November.

Broad: 0-67, 1-52, 1-18, 2-67, 1-61, 4-61, 1-23 since March.

Anderson: 0-48, 2-45, 1-18, 2-67, 2-72, 2-47, 1-27 since March

The lesson for Ben Stokes is that, if he wants to keep his place in the side, he badly needs some runs. In contrast, Chris Jordan has 19 wickets in 7 Tests at a mid-30s average: without ever seeming to perform. Jordan is taking regular wickets and is well ahead of a certain Andrew Flintoff at the same stage of his England career.

[Ps: Jordan now has 20 wickets at 36.2 at the conclusion of the Test, as well as averaging 21.9 with the bat. After 7 Tests, Andrew Flintoff had 6 wickets at 50.7 and averaged 17.3 with the bat.]

 

 

Jimmy Anderson Kick-starts the Series

 

April 28^th 2015

 

Before the start on the fifth morning you would have got long odds on an England win. There was even the sneaking suspicion that the West Indies might be safe by Tea, possibly somewhat earlier, declare and embarrass England severely in the final session. While a West Indies win looked impossible unless they were bowled out and then England collapsed chasing a modest target, most fans and pundits seemed resigned to a bore draw. Either way, if the West Indies – who have shown more grit in the series than anyone expected – got through the new ball, the match was dead.

However, Sir Geoffrey, who is nothing if not a wise old bird (despite staking his mortgage on an England win, chasing 140 against Pakistan in the UAE), suggested that there was still a Calypso Collapso in this West Indian side. Who was right? The cynics would say that it took a vintage performance from an old-stager against dire opponents to force the win and so was hardly a tea performance to boast about, but then how often do games turn out that way? Once Jimmy Anderson made the breakthrough Chris Jordan got rid of the saviour of Antigua – Jermaine Blackwood and Moeen Ali did what a good spinner is paid to do and mopped-up the tail with minimal fuss.

It was as awful collapse as it was unexpected, in which wickets came in bunches. 22 runs from the first six overs without alarm before the new ball did for Brathwaite. That though only brought in Chanderpaul, the Caribbean equivalent of Rahul “the Wall” Dravid – 26 balls, 14 runs, almost all from the other end, then Anderson to Chanderpaul and it was “thanks for catch, Captain!” Eleven dots balls and a single, Anderson to Samuels and the other batsman not out overnight was gone too.

However, in Antigua, England had been further along and then saw how Blackwood scored a century to snuff out their hopes. 28 balls of relative quiet, 18 runs added. Is Blackwood going to do it again? Jordan now on, so surely the pressure is being released. Loose shot. Anderson stretches (just as well that he’s a big lad). Wonderful catch. Thanks very much. Jordan has removed the biggest remaining threat. Surely the West Indies have nothing left?

Tension rising. 9 fairly uneventful balls. Push into the covers. Silly run. Anderson swoops. Oh! Mr Holder! The West Indian coach might have been on to the fourth umpire to check that that there was only one Jimmy Anderson on the field of play, as he would have been justified in suspecting that Anderson clones had sneakily substituted for the seemingly missing Stokes and Moeen Ali.

Dinesh Ramdin knows how to hold a bat. He has four Test centuries and two more in ODIs and, with Kemar Roach, again began to build a partnership. With an average of 9 in Tests (and FC average of 10), Roach is no great shakes with the bat, but seven overs went by, 22 precious runs and time being eaten up. Nervous fans were thinking “surely they can’t escape again?” Get through to lunch, then half an hour more after and the time-runs equation would start to become an issue.

On came Moeen in partnership with Joe Root. Moeen was so erratic in the first innings that the wisdom of picking him on the back of just 8 overs for Worcestershire looked more than open to doubt. Moeen though seems to infect opposing batsmen with madness. With probably only 7 balls to go to lunch, Roach slogged, Anderson caught and England were through. Bizarre!

Still the West Indians hung around. 25 runs, almost ten overs and Ramdin and Bishoo were beginning to make themselves a nuisance. England kept plugging away. Straight full toss from the Bearded Terminator, Ramdin misses and is exterminated, but not before making the sort of review that would  make Stuart Broad drool: middle stump, half way up – hard to get any deader. Two balls later another straight one and the Bearded Terminator had cleaned-up the tail.

An obvious question is how much this win is worth. After one England Test win in the recent past, one Internet forum poster just suggested sarcastically “OBEs all round”. There is no question that beating Australia will be a tad tougher than beating the West Indies, but you have to start somewhere. Only a few weeks ago, fans and some local pundits were licking their lips at the thought of England losing in the Caribbean, as they had in 2009. There have been plenty of comments that the West Indies are fired-up and looking forward to winning the series and ramming a few patronising comments down England throats.

However, having lost all five Tests in Australia and drawn all three in New Zealand the previous winter and the final Test in India, England have lost or drawn their last 10 away Tests (D5, L5) before Grenada. After a run like that, a win, any win is good news. The fact that it was hard-fought on a flat pitch where almost everyone expected a draw will do wonders for England morale. The aim is to get on a little bit of a run of form before playing Australia. The question is, can England kick on from this result? There are just three more Tests to get the formula right.

Another Near-Miss In Antigua

 

 

Ashes 2015

 

England’s Antigua Blank

 

April 18^th 2015

 

When you have a side 189-6 chasing a world record score, with the new ball due next over and 50 overs of play to go, you would normally bank on winning, especially when the side in front has a reputation for being fragile. However, Antigua is a bogey island for England. It has seen three of the greatest Test innings of all time and all for the West Indies. Nine Tests played by England in Antigua have a balance of six draws and three heavy defeats. They have also provided some wonderful games and this one was no exception, with another tense finish.

Both Tests at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium have been drawn now – most notoriously the 2009 match that was abandoned after just ten balls due to a dangerous pitch and now this match, in which three of the four innings passed 300 and the odd one out finished only just short.

England have also played 7 Tests at the Antigua Recreation Ground where, famously, the prisoners from the local jail used to prepare the pitch. Of those, three have been lost – all by huge margins… two innings defeats in 1990 and 1998 and a defeat by 240 runs in 1986 (Viv Richards 110* in 58 balls) – and four drawn. The last four matches between West Indies and England in Antigua have all been drawn. 

·         England went close in 2009 when Powell and Edwards held out for 10 overs at the end for a draw chasing an absurd 503 to win.

·         In 2004 England won the first three Tests before Brian Charles Lara ended the England career of Gareth Batty, who had eye-watering figures of 52-4-185-2 as Lara scored his 400.

·         In 1994 England had the West Indies 12-2 before Brian Lara scored 375. Big hundreds in reply by Mike Atherton and Robin Smith saw England bowled out for 593 at Tea on Day 5 (!!) to gain parity.

·         And, in 1981, a fighting century from Geoff Boycott saved England from an innings defeat. Boycott later recounted how one of the prisoner-groundsmen came up to him before the match and, to his astonishment said “Mr Boycott, I’m a big fan of yours. I’ll roll you a good, good pitch and next time you come back I’ll roll you a good one again. I’m in for life.” With typical aplomb Sir Geoffrey replied that he obviously was not in prison for an unpaid parking ticket!

In 2009 England were blamed for a delayed declaration and for dalliance before lunch on the 4^th day. Only 104 runs were scored in a fairly relaxed manner in the first session when almost everyone expected a slog and a declaration perhaps as much half an hour before lunch. What the media, centred on the arrest of Sir Allen Stanford the previous day, were unaware was the parlous state of the England attack. Andrew Flintoff was more seriously injured than people thought and would bowl just a small number of overs at reduced pace. Steve Harmison was too ill to take the new ball, but even then bowled more overs than  Stuart Broad and Andrew Strauss was left just three fit bowlers for four and a half sessions of bowling, so his reluctance to declare earlier was somewhat understandable. When Andrew Strauss needed fresh and fit bowlers to break the last wicket partnership, the attack was on its knees.

Here too you could doubt the wisdom of setting such a huge target as 438. Successful fourth innings chases of 380+ are so rare as to be collectors’ items and no one in their right mind could see the young West Indies side setting a new Test record chase, twenty more than they had chased in 128.5 overs in 2003, against Australia. Alistair Cook will remember Antigua 2009 as it was his cautious 50 at the top of the innings that helped set up the declaration. Yet so low are expectations that some (presumably) England supporters even predicted that the West Indies would waltz to the target with plenty to spare.

The fickleness of fans is illustrated by the fact that two Tests after setting the West Indies 503 to win and seeing them bat out almost 130 overs, Andrew Strauss was condemned for not setting them 180 to win in almost a full day in the final Test. That fickleness is just as present now. The England side has been widely condemned and half the players are in the firing line.

First, the good news. Having been played out of form and close to a slump by the selectors, Gary Ballance is back to his red ball form of last summer. With Joe Root and Ian Bell showing fine form, two decent innings from Ben Stokes in the match and a good second innings fifty from Jos Buttler, from #3 to #7 England look solid.

However, the bad news is that Jonathon Trott has added 0 and 4 to his 2 and 0 in the warm-ups with St. Kitts, looking totally out of place as an opener. Trott came into this tour in sublime form, having finished last season with 104 v Durham, followed by 6, 79*, 211*, 0 & 53 for the Lions in January, but the Caribbean has been less kind to him. A pre-season tour with Warwickshire and the England tour, against frequently friendly bowling, have brought scores of 12, 1, 72, 2, 0, 0 & 4.  With the New Zealand Tests and the Ashes looming and having seen England make two awful starts in this Test (34-3 and 52-3), the pressure to play Adam Lyth in the 2^nd Test is intense.

Lyth has been a victim of the pre-set plan to play Trott out of position as an opener, with a single innings of 23 on this tour. However, he scored 113 and 46* for Yorkshire v the MCC just three weeks ago, as well as a 54* against Middlesex in the warm-up for that game. Lyth is in the form of his life.

Jonathon Trott is a class act and there is a temptation to stick with him in the belief that he will come good. Unfortunately, his opening partner is also an issue. Alistair Cook is not in bad form as such – he has reached double figures in 9 of his last 12 innings – the problem is that in just one of them, against the friendliest possible bowling in St Kitts, has he passed 34. Scores of 3 & 5 v Yorkshire (while Lyth scored 113 & 46*) and then 11 & 13 in the Test have ratcheted up the pressure another notch. Cook feels that there is a section of the cricket establishment who wants him out and sees the loss of the ODI captaincy as part of the campaign. Unfortunately, his best course to quieten the whispering is to score runs and the runs are not coming.

Cook last scored a century against New Zealand at Leeds on May 26^th 2013, when Nick Compton (remember him?) was his opening partner and England last won an away Test on December 17^th 2012.

Since that Leeds century, Cook has reached 50 no less than nine times (more times than he has made single-figure scores – 8), passing the 70s just once. He is scoring runs consistently, but something is inhibiting him from going on to make big scores. It is hard to believe that it is not the captaincy.

At North Sound, Cook looked good, got into double figures in both innings… and got out: bowled by Roach off an inside edge in the first innings and edged to gulley from a wide delivery by Taylor in the second.

With the captain struggling, do you play a debutant in the 2^nd Test, however much you worry about Jonathon Trott? The answer will say much about how determined the management are to turn things around. Geoff Boycott thinks that they will take a conservative approach and play Jonathon Trott again. The risk is that another failure for Trott would give Lyth just one Test maximum to bed in before the summer Tests, if he has to take over. The suspicion is that the selectors have decided that Trott will open in the Ashes almost irrespective of what happens and are hoping against hope that he will come good. It is the sort of policy that will be lauded to the skies if it comes good, but will look incredibly stupid if it fails.

The other big decision that faces the selectors is the make-up of the bowling attack. There is no shortage of opprobrium from the fans. Moeen Ali is on his way to join the squad, but bowled just 11 wicketless overs in his County Championship try-out against Yorkshire: not enough surely to show that he is match fit to bowl 40+ overs in a Test.

If Moeen goes straight into the side, one option is a straight swap with James Tredwell. This could lead to Jos Buttler batting as low as 8. No one sees Tredwell as a match-winner in Tests: he played just 4 matches for Kent last season, taking a handful of expensive wickets after an even worse season in 2013. Such was his situation that he was loaned-out for one-day cricket last year.

After his first innings 4-47, a decision to drop him would have looked incredibly harsh but, with England pressing in the second innings and turn available, 40-14-93-1 showed plenty of economy, but insufficient threat. Only the lack of a viable alternative seems likely to ensure his place in the 2^nd Test.

Opinion is sharply divided. Some fans would play Adil Rashid despite the fact that he will deliver a four-ball most overs. Incredibly, this is his fourth England tour after South Africa in 2009/10, India in 2010 (when it was explicitly stated that he would not be considered), the 2011 World Cup and now the Caribbean, plus two Lions tours. Adil Rashid spins the ball the other way and is a more natural complement to an off-spinner and is a decent bat. Word though is, once again, that he has not impressed on this tour and many expected him to be released when Moeen was called-up. Just why he is not released to play for Yorkshire if he is not to play in the Tests is anyone’s guess.

Stuart Broad has come in for intense criticism. He averaged low-80s in both innings, with his speed dropping to high 70s for a significant part of the first innings. Despite a Test 150, he is now batting at 10 and there is an argument that Jimmy Anderson too should come in ahead of him now. At Test level Stuart Broad had a good 2014: of fast bowlers, only Mitch Johnson, Jimmy Anderson, Dale Steyn and, marginally, Tim Southee and Morne Morkel took as many wickets at a better average. However, poor limited-overs form has put him under severe pressure from unforgiving fans who have forgotten rapidly that he managed a match-winning 6-25 v India last summer. Again, the suspicion is that his body, ravaged with injury, is telling him that enough is enough: he can put in good spells, as he did in this Test, but he finds it hard to sustain the effort over five hard days.

Likewise, despite his amazing catch and first innings runs, Chris Jordan is being condemned by many fans as simply not good enough. In his favour he did bowl consecutive deliveries at over 90mph as England strove for a breakthrough after lunch and, in both innings, only James Tredwell was more economical of the front line bowlers, although there is a suspicion that he bowls within himself to attain control when, at times, you would like him to make the extra effort and bowl flat out.

Similarly, 0-64 and 0-50 has done nothing to convince that Ben Stokes can be considered a front-line bowler at this level. This is his fourth consecutive match for England without taking a wicket, a combined 0-199: his last international wicket was against India on September 5^th. He too is caught between the two stools of bowling flat out for wickets and keeping things tight, ultimately achieving neither.

The result was an England attack where Alistair Cook could change the bowlers, could change their ends, could change the fields, but could not change the bowling on a pitch where something different was needed.

An idea of what England were up against from the pitch is given by the last over from Jimmy Anderson. Two balls on a good length got up to half stump height. Two, back of a length, reached two-thirds of stump height. It is not that he was not making an effort, three of the balls were between 84 and 85mph and the other delivered at 89mph. The situation cried out for something different, but England’s fastest bowler was in the pavilion and looks unlikely to play any part in the Test series.

If Liam Plunkett is not to play, either Ben Stokes or Chris Jordan has to be told to slip the leash and step up their pace, even if it is at the cost of conceding more runs.

With the 2^nd Test being played at Grenada, there is a strong argument to bring in Lyth, Moeen and Plunkett. Seam is likely to dominate spin, so Moeen Ali’s load will most likely not be so great, while the extra pace of Plunkett would at least give an extra option.

With Alistair Cook a naturally conservative captain, having a conservative coach is not ideal. One of the few pieces of real imagination that Peter Moores has shown was to call up Ryan Sidebottom back in 2007. The feeling is that the side is unlikely to change for the 2^nd Test unless Moeen Ali comes in for James Tredwell, taking a calculated risk on his fitness to bowl long spells if necessary. If Moeen Ali shows up well in the nets expect him to play, otherwise the XI is likely to be unchanged.

Final England World Cup Thoughts And An Eye To The Future

 

 

Cricket World Cup 2015

 

Anatomy of Another Embarrassment II

And looking Forward

 

March 22^nd 2015

 

The sad part of England’s World Cup campaign is that so many of the criticisms are ultimately unfair. England took a good side, packed with talent to the World Cup. Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, James Taylor, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler are all batsmen who can dismantle an attack. They are not poor players, or defensive batsmen who are locked in the 1960s: they are world class players and have shown it. However, after a dreadful pounding in their first two games, the team went into its shell and could not find the way out. The campaign stumbled from bad to worse with players losing confidence even when faced with inferior opposition. The fact that the captain could not even buy a run did not help. In Sri Lanka in November England had been competitive, even though they lost. In the Tri-series, England had beaten India twice and ran Australia close in one of their three encounters: in the World Cup Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka annihilated England – the games were as one-sided as any in the tournament and players with shattered confidence just could not pull themselves together for the Bangladesh game.

The sense of crisis in the side has returned after briefly disappearing last summer. The selectors have three Tests in the West Indies to find a combination that works before first New Zealand and then Australia come baying for blood. A 7-0 overall result would not be unexpected unless rain saves England in one or more of the Tests.

The side for the Caribbean reflects the uncertainty. Sam Robson has joined Nick Compton, Joe Root and Michael Carberry as openers who England have tried and rejected. Root has the satisfaction of at least still being in the side, albeit in the middle order. For Robson, whose late summer nightmare continued on the Lions tour, the chances are that his opportunity has been and gone. Nick Compton has gone back to Lords in the hope of getting back in the frame and is evidently still somewhere in the thoughts because he is in the MCC side in Abu Dhabi, opening alongside Alistair Cook and as captain to boot (Nick Compton will be relieved that the headlines will be of Cook’s 6-ball 3, rather than his own first ball duck). The latest winner of the poisoned ticket of opening with Alistair Cook is Adam Lyth of Yorshire, although the selectors have recalled Jonathon Trott who could, potentially, open alongside Cook or even conceivably, instead of him if Cook’s travails continue.

Previously a tour of the Caribbean was where you experimented desperately, hoping to find someone capable of stopping the oncoming tide more effectively than King Canute had one thousand years previously. Now, it is where you play a few up-and-coming players to ease them gently into Test cricket.

The Caribbean Test squad is interesting for those who stay from the World Cup team and those who come back.

·         New: Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood.

The inclusion of Lyth was widely predicted. Many pundits expected a straight shootout with Sam Robson for the opening spot – it is obvious that Robson’s struggles on the Lions tour have altered those plans.

The inclusion of Adil Rashid was not expected. Rashid has toured several times with England without ever being seriously in contention. Once appearing to be the brightest talent in English cricket, he appeared to have lost his way completely before a good all-round season in 2014.

Mark Wood is possibly an even bigger surprise: he is yet another of the seemingly inexhaustible Durham factory of fast-medium seamers. Ominously though, Martin Emerson, the resident BBC commentator for Durham, says that he will do well “if he can keep himself fit”.

 

·         Recalled: Jonathon Trott, Ben Stokes, Jonathon Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and Alistair Cook

The recall of Trott is a risk. There is no doubt that the Australians will not be gentle with him. Will his health stand up to the rigours of an Ashes series? If he is up to it there is no doubt that his return will strengthen the England team and add some steel.

Ben Stokes will be thinking how things change. After a dreadful run in 2014 with scores of 0, 0, 0, 23, 2, 33*, 16, DNB, 6 and 11 wickets @40.8 there really were no grounds to select him, but runs and wickets in the Big Bash and with the Lions and the failures of others have made him look, once again, like a great all-rounder of mythical powers. Was his relative success in the 2012/13 Ashes just a flash in the pan, or is he the real deal? He needs to deliver more regularly.

Jonathon Bairstow is almost the forgotten man. No longer a regular, he remains in the side as the reserve ‘keeper and batsman. He has not played since the Sydney Test, getting in and getting out time and again against New Zealand and Australia in 2013 and 2014 and never quite breaking through.

Liam Plunkett only played four Tests last summer, but 18 wickets, a maiden Test 50 and some high pace suggest that, after a decent tour with the Lions, he probably should have gone to the World Cup because he would have added something different to the attack. His fans will hope that, like Steve Harmison in 2005, he will break through in the Caribbean after a similar roller-coaster career.

Time is running out for Alistair Cook. Having resuscitated last summer, playing on in the ODIs has tightened the noose again and a failure on his return in Abu Dhabi will not ease the pressure. A poor series in the Caribbean and the pressure to change captain for the summer will become overwhelming.

·         Retained: Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Chris Jordan & James Tredwell.

When your only specialist spinner played just 4 matches for his Division 2 county, taking 11 wickets @ 38.7 and finishing 9^th in his county bowling averages, you know that you have problems. He will not win you a Test, but he might tie up an end… you hope. Many fans will wonder why Simon Kerrigan was not given another chance.

After the World Cup almost all of the retained players have question marks against them. There are serious doubts about Broad and Anderson as a strike force. Ian Bell’s annus mirablis of 2012 looks far behind – his 3x50 in the World Cup have been heavily criticised as being runs when they did not matter while his returns against the big sides were poor. Gary Ballance burst on the scene last summer in the Tests, but struggled during the winter. Chris Jordan ranges from brilliant to mediocre according to the day and Joe Root was remarkably anonymous most of the time.

·         Miss out: Steve Finn, Sam Robson, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, …

Moeen and Chris Woakes were injured during the World Cup, although Moeen may yet play some part in the Test series.

It is hard to see Steve Finn playing for England again in the near future. The World Cup has shown that he was brought back far too soon and his confidence has taken another massive jolt. He needs possibly two seasons in county cricket to re-invent himself and decide whether he wants pace, or accuracy – in the World Cup he gave neither.

Similarly, Sam Robson knows that his chances of a return are slim at best. A strong Lions tour could have saved him. A century in a non-First Class match to start the tour was followed by 1, 41, 5 & 0. Thanks very much. Don’t call us, we’ll call you (but probably not).

England know that they have to win the series in the West Indies big. Anything less than 2-0 will leave England in crisis going into the toughest Test year that the side has had for many, many years. In contrast, convincing wins against the West Indies and New Zealand would put the side in much better heart to face Australia. For several of the side it may be a question of winning or seeing their England career end.

Yet Again, Close But No Cigar...

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Close, but no cigar, again…

 

December 8^th 2014

 

“One wonders if Alistair Cook will survive as captain if England lose 7-0, or even 6-1, even if he starts to score some runs: how much patience do the selectors have with him? Possibly not much more.”

The question has been answered in the clearest possible way by the selectors. Alistair Cook is captain for the World Cup, so there is no point debating the issue more. Whatever your personal opinion, you have to get behind the team and the captain.

The Sri Lanka tour is, in one sense, going as expected. A Sri Lankan team who failed to put up more than token resistance against India – albeit in a series organised in a rush when the West Indies tour was abandoned – has proved far too strong for England. However, among the wreckage some very creditable performances are emerging. Moeen Ali is showing that he is a powerful option as an opener. England are getting fast starts when he comes off, which has been in three of the five innings on this tour: a century and two fifties more than offset his two failures. Although his bowling has been less effective than it was last summer, this is all part of the learning experience. Only Kumar Sangakarra has more runs in the series, but at a far inferior strike rate.

James Taylor got his chance as a replacement for Alistair Cook: fine irony there, as James Taylor would be a credible alternative as captain. A fine 90 scored at a rate 14 runs/100 balls faster than Alistair Cook in this series shows what England are missing. Unfortunately, Alex Hales has continued his disappointing start against India and is struggling to make a case to be in the starting XI at the World Cup. Two chances: the first a relatively rapid 27, the second a first-baller. Most England fans would like to see Moeen Ali and Hales open, but Hales really is not making it easy for the selectors to pick him.

While England are now getting quick starts, a familiar problem is still embarrassingly present. Despite an array of power hitters, the middle order is getting stuck. It has cost England probably two wins in the series. In fact, a more confident side would have won all four matches instead of losing three of the four by rather narrow margins.

More good news for England has come in the fine form of Chris Woakes, who has done an excellent job with the new ball. It is interesting to contrast his fortunes with Steve Finn. Few fans offered the choice between Finn and Woakes would go for Woakes, rather disparagingly dismissed by many as “a batsman who can bowl”. Although Steve Finn is clearly on his way back and is a far cry from the dispirited bowler of Australia, it is Woakes who is getting the new ball breakthroughs: 6 wickets against 2 at a slightly better economy rate. Chris Jordan is also rewarding the faith of the selectors. He was England’s best bowler in the 4^th ODI and has by far the best average and economy of any member of the England attack in the matches so far.

While Jordan and Finn are repaying the selectors, Ben Stokes’s form remains a major issue. In the three matches that he has played he has been entrusted with 2, 4 and 2 overs and gone for 85 runs. The decision to play Stokes instead of Tredwell in the 4^th ODI quite possibly cost England the match. Nine ODIs since returning from Australia have provided just 4 wickets, three of them in a single match. He is not providing the weight of runs as a finisher, or a sufficiently fast scoring rate to justify his place as a batsman and he is certainly not justifying being described as or selected as a front-line bowler, which is what he was meant to be. It is hard to see how he can be picked in the final 15 for the World Cup, let alone make the final XI. Stokes is an exciting talent, but something is not right with him right now.

Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, has had a major run transfusion. A fast 62, albeit in a losing cause, is a reminder of his talent yet, when he looks back on his scores of 1, 17, 1 & 62 he should not feel too proud of his contribution so far in the series.

One remains convinced that the elements for a successful World Cup campaign are there, but the mixture that the selectors are providing is not quite right.

With Broad, Anderson, Finn, Woakes and Jordan competing for a maximum of four bowling spots, Moeen Ali and Tredwell as spinners, Hales, Moeen Ali, Taylor, Bopara, Morgan & Buttler to supply batting power and the adaptable Joe Root, the side could yet surprise a few if the selectors play their card right.

Alistair Cook Faces The Moment Of ODI Truth

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Alistair Cook Faces the Moment Of ODI Truth

 

November 23^rd 2014

 
After a full two months without cricket, England, without Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson are on the road again. The 7-match series against Sri Lanka will be a good litmus test as Sri Lanka were absolutely awful as stand-in stuntmen for the West Indies in India. If England lose badly, it will be no good blaming the schedule, the lack of practice team absences or the fact that Sri Lanka’s chefs cannot find the right ingredients for the England diet guide’s recipes.

The absence of Broad and Anderson allows Steve Finn to come back and lead the attack. In a low-key series, he will have far less pressure on him that if he were playing in England. Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and Harry Gurney all have their reasons to want to make a statement. England fans tend to be hyper-critical and unforgiving. Players are compared unfavourably with their equivalents in other sides and the idea of backing the XI that is picked is anathema to most: most fans are happy to see their side lose if it is a step in the right direction of getting their pet hate player dropped.

Right now, the knives are out for Cook, Bell and Jordan. The fact that all three have, in the not too distant past, done good, sometimes great things for their team is conveniently forgotten.

Cook probably has the most difficult task and one that has just been made even harder. There was a big outcry when Alex Hales was dropped for Moeen Ali for the first England warm-up game. The fact that Hales’ innings against India (40 from 63 balls, 42 from 55 balls, 6 from 7 balls & 4 from 9 balls) speak of an increasing paralysis as the Indians worked him out after a quick start in the first match, was ignored by most fans. The sad fact is that having scored 32 from his first 31 balls in ODIs, his next 103 balls produced just 60 runs and his total freeze after a decent start – just 8 runs from his last 32 balls – probably lost England that first match. What Cook was not betting on was that Moeen would continue his golden form, hitting a 50 from 21 balls and making a golden case to continue opening in ODIs. If Hales, who will surely play at least three of the ODIs as an opener, starts to work out how to work international bowling, with its greater accuracy and smaller margins for error, the pressure for a Hales-Moeen opening partnership will become intense. It doesn’t take a PhD in Astrophysics to work out that in that case, with hitters of the class of Bopara, Taylor, Morgan, Buttler and Root available, at least one of Cook and Bell and possibly both will be surplus to requirements when England work out their best side.

There is a feeling that Alistair Cook has earned a stay of execution as captain, but that his role in the ODI set-up will become untenable if England have a poor winter. Cook argues, not unreasonably, that the only time that England have reached #1 in the ICC ODI rankings was with him as captain, but he is smart enough to know that ODIs evolve rapidly and that England’s current set-up is outdated. There is also a feeling that an opportunity was missed by not giving the captaincy to Eoin Morgan or James Taylor for this series. Probably the natural captain of the ODI side post-World Cup is James Taylor: it will be interesting to see how many opportunities Alistair Cook is willing to give him to state a case to take over as ODI captain.

However, the hooks are also out for Chris Jordan. Memories are short. England fan memories are shorter still. During the nightmare tour of Australia, one of the few positive points was the fire that Chris Jordan showed with the new ball in the ODI series – despite modest seeming statistics, mainly caused by taking some punishment at the death, he was one of the few success stories of the winter and certainly should have been in the Test side ahead of Tremlett and Rankin. Last summer though he has been in and out of the side. He has lost form, rhythm and confidence as a result. And, to make things worse, players and analysts have got on his case, advising his to change his run-up, to change his action. Chris Jordan’s great asset has been his natural talent and ability. England history is littered with bowlers who were coached out of their natural actions and lost all form and confidence as a result (Bob Willis, Norman Cowans, James Anderson and Steve Finn have been just a few of the high-profile casualties).

In Australia, Chris Jordan ran in, let the ball go at 90+mph and just got on with it. He went for a few runs, but also put in some hostile spells, quickly establishing himself as the new ball bowler. Right now, Jordan is struggling. He is spraying the ball. He is expensive. He needs to get back to doing what he does well: just run in and let the ball go and knock over top-order batsmen. Nothing saves runs as well as getting the opposition 2 or 3 down inside the initial powerplay overs.

In the one warm-up game that England were able to play – albeit winning on D/L after a shortened Sri Lanka A innings – Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes (another who is turning to a pet hate of the fans) were superb, aggregating 17-1-49-3 between them. Chris Jordan went for 48 though, from just 5 overs. He is running out of time to turn things around and, just as important, to convince the fans.

Change In The Air?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Twist or Stick for England?

 

July 27^th 2014

  

There have been two, radically different points of view expressed about England’s team selection for the 3^rd Test. The captain has suggested that Stuart Broad is fit to play and that the side is in no situation to try rotation. Newspapers, who tend to have some idea what is going on in the selectors’ minds, suggest that the attack will be shaken up for a must-win Test.

With the ICC’s recognition that there was an incident between Jimmy Anderson and Ravi Jadeja, it now seems almost certain that Anderson will also be found guilty of an offense. England are, apparently resigned to a two-match ban, meaning that Jimmy Anderson will get a rest, whether he wants it or not, for the last two Tests. If so, he can be asked to make one last effort on a pitch that may have pace and bounce.

Chris Jordan has made a huge case to return to the attack. If Stuart Broad is not deemed fit enough for another 5-day Test, it could be for him. If not, Ben Stokes is looking vulnerable and is also a fitness doubt. Since scoring 70 in the 3^rd ODI v Australia in Perth, his run has been 0, 5, 5, 4, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0: 18 runs in 10 innings across 2 Tests, 4 ODIs and 3 T20s. So far, in three Test innings since his recall against India, Ben Stokes has not troubled the scorer. Despite some impressive spells at Lords, he has also failed to take a wicket in 5 of his last 8 games for England. Ben Stokes has enormous promise, but probably is not good enough to play purely as a bowler and needs runs as much as Cook or Bell do, to justify his place.

If England win the toss and bat well, they could get away playing a tired attack. Batting well though means batting for a full five sessions, allowing the bowlers extra rest before a short stint late on Day 2. They should not be tempted to bowl first because tired bowlers could let India get away, as happened at Lords.

High on the wish list is a century for the captain and a century opening partnership. There has not been even a 50 partnership for the 1^st wicket in the last 5 Tests. Too often have the #3 and #4 in the order come in against the new ball, with a rescue job to do. Last summer the team got away with it because Ian Bell and the tail rescued the situation time and again. In Australia the side actually got better starts than they have against Sri Lanka and India, but they came to naught because the tail was blown away. Now, if the side is to be infused with confidence, they need to see their top three making a really solid platform on which to build a winning position and then complete a victory.

Often just one win is needed to change a side’s fortunes. The problem is that it is India that have got it. The Indian side of 2011 had more stars, but India 2014 plays as a team and is strategically far more savvy, which makes them dangerous opponents.