West Indies v England, 2nd Test, Day 1: Batsmen Struggle on a Difficult Pitch

 

West Indies v England

2nd Test, Day 1: Batsmen Struggle on a Difficult Pitch

January 31^st 2019

 

When, in the first session of a Test match you see some balls explode from a good length and others scuttle through at ankle height, you know that you have a result pitch on your hands. Either England have an unexpected chance to level the series, or the West Indians feel so confident about what they have seen so far that they think that a 3-0 series whitewash is on.

There is always some edge to series between the West Indies and England. Back in the 1980s, to obtain what they called a series blackwash against England, the old colonial master, supporter of the South African Apartheid regime and the perceived centre of racial prejudice and injustice, was the greatest desire of any West Indian: it was the one series result that really mattered. The fact that before the last two tours there have been some rather tactless comments about the weakness of the West Indian team, has done nothing to assuage the desire to give England a good kicking. It has translated into the local batsmen showing the sort of guts and determination that must make past coaches wonder what they were doing wrong and the bowlers playing with a fire that evokes the attacks of yesteryear. The arrival of the England players on their shores has convinced players who were capable of flashes of brilliance, to get their heads down and play to the best of their ability for an entire match. For those of a certain age, used to see rampaging Barbadians, Antiguans, Jamaicans, Guyanans and their kin trampling all comers, it is an evocation of their youth and an age when you could only sit and watch in awe how England sides were mercilessly blown away.

The thought was that, with a better balanced side and the advantage of the 1^st Test to give players hard practice and a kick up the backside, the second Test would see reaction. Within half an hour of the start, Keaton Jennings must have been thinking that he had got the better part of the deal when Joe Denly was picked ahead of him (Jennings though can expect to play an important part as the hand injury to Ben Foakes means that he is in his specialist Short Leg position where he can change the match with a single reaction catch). The score advanced at a veritable crawl. After 10 overs, England were 17-2 and Joe Denly’s dismissal evoked fond memories of the solidity of Keaton Jennings against pace: Denly found a way to get the worst ball of the morning through to the keeper. While Denly’s form with Kent has often been brilliant in recent seasons, it has been in Division 2 and the doubts that surfaced in Sri Lanka, where his lack of form obliged England to change their plans, are continuing. Denly’s sequence in red-ball games for England this winter has been 25, 0, DNB, 12 & 6 and, with the ball, 1-48, 0-43 (from 5 overs!) and 1-26. Seven games with Sydney Sixers brought a single wicket in the five innings in which he bowled and scores of 13, 1, 14, 12, 11, 10 & 76*. In other words, he has not been in prime batting form and has been given reportedly just these two Tests to seal his place, playing out of position in the batting order. No one doubts his character and talent, but it has been a tough task to come in and turn things around. In particular, it has been suggested that he needs 200 runs in a maximum of four innings to ensure that he will play next summer against Ireland and Australia: that sort of form would have challenged even Sir Geoffrey in his prime on this type of surface. Denley’s Test debut lasted 23 painful balls but, by then, he had already seen Burns depart.

With the innings sinking and occasional balls doing alarming things, patience seemed not to be working. Burns, Denly, Root (who got a brute) and Buttler managed a grand total of 18 runs from 68 balls. Jonny Bairstow though decided that the best way to fight fire was slash and burn and, for a time, it worked. He has scored 52 of 78 on the board before the inevitable happened and he just missed a straight one. Finally, at 93-6, Moeen and Foakes, two players who feared for their places in this match, came together. Moeen looked about as secure as a cat on a hot tin roof, but kept missing the wicket-taking balls until, suddenly, the timing was back and he started to blaze away as if it were a Thursday afternoon at Worcester against a second-string Gloucestershire attack. Ben Foakes accumulated and the game started to look so much easier again. An hour more of this and you wondered if the West Indians might crack but, instead, when that elusive century was there for the taking, Moeen went tamely, an end was open and 178-6 became 187ao.

This was the sort of pitch on which an attack that used the surface well might expect to bowl a side out cheaply. It was not the sort of surface where Jimmy Anderson would be unplayable, but you could sniff a 6-20 sort of performance if Stuart Broad was up for it, which he was. Ball after ball passed the edge, thudded into the pad, produced a false shot. In a single over Broad had three deliveries that, on another day, would have produced wickets. Another over produced five false shots from Campbell but, critically, no wicket. The first eight overs saw Anderson with figures of 4-1-4-0 and Broad, 4-2-4-0. Somehow the openers survived the first thrust and, with the change bowlers on, batting became a little easier, if still a painful crawl. However, the West Indians were doing what they have failed to do so often in the last decade: fight their way through a difficult spell. This West Indian side has been a revelation.

At 30-0 after 21 overs, at the Close, the West Indians are on top, but you have to feel that one early wicket could become three or four. Stuart Broad will be back in the morning after a rest, feeling that figures thus far of 7-2-10-0 are a brutal injustice. He has a point to prove, particularly as the ball was passed from him to the youngster who usurped him in the side.

Day 2 will, most likely decide the series. The side that wins the day, will win the Test. If it is the West Indies, the series is over. If it is England, the game at Gros Islet will become a decider. But, hold! If it is 2-0 going into the 3^rd Test, England will be facing their first blackwash since the 1980s. That would be quite something.

Sri Lanka v England, 3rd Test Day 4: Tea Kills Sri Lankan Hopes of a Miracle

 

Sri Lanka v England

3^rd Test Day 4: Tea Kills Sri Lankan Hopes of a Miracle

November 26^th 2018

 

There have only been 8 successful fourth innings chases at the SSC, while twelve times, including today, the chase has ended in defeat. The highest successful chases are:

·       326-5: Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, 1988

·       172-4: Sri Lanka v West Indies, 2005

·       142-5: Sri Lanka v England, 1993

·       131-5: Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 2000

·       74-6: England v Sri Lanka, 2001.

For a significant part of the afternoon session, Sri Lankan fans started to dream of pulling-off an incredible heist. Had Tea come half an hour later, it is possible that Sri Lanka would have won, given how Lakmal and Pushpakumara had added 58 in 12 overs and were grinding-down the bowling to helplessness with a mixture of solid defence and hard swinging.

The deficit at Tea was 43 and horrible thoughts were rising in the backs of the minds of the visiting fans, as the home fans started to wonder if they were going to see a historic turnaround. Numerous times though a significant Sri Lankan partnership has broken just after Tea, changing the momentum of a match: what Joe Root could not obtain with a bowling change, he invariably managed with a cup of Ceylon tea – rival to Darjeeling as the best cuppa in the world and, in this series, a lethal wicket-taker. While Pushpakumara was swinging merrily, they were distracted from the nerves that come with knowing that a target, previously out of reach, was almost within touching distance. A tenth wicket partnership can be gloriously uninhibited when it knows that victory is impossible. Had Tea come with fewer than 20 wanted to win, you can imagine that the nerves would have been transferred to the fielding side and that Sri Lanka would have been, perhaps, the favourites. As it was, the batsmen trooped back to the pavilion just before the fielding side reached a state of total disarray.

The result was almost inevitable. You felt that the first two overs after the interval would be the danger: if the batsmen got through them, they might yet knock off the runs; if they survived five overs after Tea, panic might set in to the fielding side, but that those first two overs might well be decisive.

Fourth ball after Tea, Lakmal got a ball that straightened just enough to hit the stumps. Before Tea, most likely he would have dealt with it. After Tea, the instincts and the concentration were dulled just enough for the ball to miss Lakmal’s prod. Jack Leach had the last wicket of the series, sealed the 0-3 win and, to boot, equalled Moeen Ali’s tally of wickets for the series and ensured that even though Ben Stokes topped the bowling averages for the series, he would pip Perera, Moeen and Sandakan to top the averages for spin bowlers.

England had made heavy weather of finishing off a spirited opposition. As predicted last night, the biorhythms were off in the morning, the nightwatchman did hang around and the momentum was lost, with a substantial sixth wicket partnership threatening to bring Sri Lanka back into the match. As though has been the Sri Lankan wont throughout the series, just when their batsmen were getting on top, they threw it away. The stand was at 102. Mendis was approaching a century. And a senseless runout stopped both Mendis and the partnership. There were 22, fifties in the series – 11 by England, 11 by Sri Lanka – yet the only four centuries were scored by Englishmen. No England batsman was dismissed between 64 and 107, but six Sri Lankan batsmen were. Adil Rashid bowled a googly. Roshen Silva pushed it away and set off for two. Leach fielded and threw, right-handed, with lethal precision at the non-striker’s end and an end was opened. A flat England side were re-invigorated and Moeen and Leach shared the last four wickets: the first two to catches to Keaton Jennings, who took six in the match, eight in the series and, surprisingly, was pipped to the title of leading catcher, not by either of the wicket-keepers, but by Ben Stokes, with 9[1]. Jennings only went to the Short Leg position after Rory Burns took a sickening blow there: you wonder how many catches he might have had in the series if he had fielded there for all three Tests.

Much has been made of the retirement of Herath for Sri Lanka, but this is largely a red herring as he has not for the last couple of years wanted to play even a full 3-match series. While he played both Tests at home against South Africa, he played just one in the shared series in the Caribbean. The overall impression was of two limited sides, with England always just a little too good for their opponents, particularly at the critical moments. Sri Lanka though are nowhere near as poor as some of the apologists have claimed: you do not beat South Africa 2-0 with a poor team and, in that series, all five Sri Lankan bowlers, all of whom also played against England too, averaged under 17.3 with the ball. Against bowlers who had been devastating against South Africa, England found a method that worked so well that the same bowlers took their wickets at triple the cost.

It is not a brilliant England side. There are too many manifest weaknesses for that, but it has the makings of a pretty good one if it can consolidate in the New Year in the Caribbean.  

 

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[1] 8 caught and 2 stumped for Ben Foakes. 7 caught and 1 stumped for Dickwella.

Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test Day 4: Farewell Rangana Herath, a Gentleman even in Defeat

 

Sri Lanka v England

1^st Test Day 4: Farewell Rangana Herath, a Gentleman even in Defeat

November 9^th 2018

 

England’s target was simple: if Sri Lanka lost more than one wicket per session today, England would win, sooner or later. The win might be hard work but, unless at least two batsmen made big hundreds and unless Sri Lanka went into the last day with at least seven wickets in hand, it would come eventually. As it was, despite passages of play when it seemed that nothing was happening, the game ended well before the end of the fourth day and ended with the slapstick of a batsman sprawling in the dust in a desperate and vain attempt to regain his crease.

The Sri Lankan problem was the same as in the first innings. Batsmen who are increasingly attuned to T20 cricket simply did not have the patience to hang around for long enough to build a partnership that would at least seriously inconvenience the opposition. The top five Sri Lankan batsmen all passed twenty, yet only Mathews could reach fifty and even he got out soon afterwards, ending any chance of the match lasting into a fifth day and maybe, just maybe, salvation thanks to the miracle of intervention from Jupiter Pluvius. There was just one partnership that reached fifty – the 51 for the first wicket. After that, partnerships of 39 for the 3^rd wicket, 46 for the 4^th, 36 for the 6^th and 32 for the 8^th were all inconveniences, but each stand was broken before it could get threatening.

Some stands were ended by a rush of blood, some by a lapse in concentration. Having been reprieved the first ball of the last over before Lunch, launching a big swing at Stokes, the review showing that the ball had just missed the edge, de Silva poked at the next ball and ensured that this time the bowler was not to be denied. Instead of going to Lunch at 98-2, it was 98-3 and you felt that an end was open. Mendis fell, swinging wildly, just as it looked as if they might be able to get through to Tea with no further loss, exposing the hobbled Chandimal, who was unable to move his feet against Jack Leach and was snared rapidly. And then, suddenly the ball was starting to turn a lot again and, first ball after Tea, Moeen befuddled totally Dickwella: it was over, bar the shouting.

The plaudits have gone to Ben Foakes and Keaton Jennings. Foakes’ 107 in the first innings was the turning point of the match. His 37 from 34 balls in the second innings, the injection of pace needed before the declaration. Jennings’ 192 runs, for once out, were just a fraction less than the final margin of victory. Yet, the 4-66 and 4-71 of Moeen had a lot to do with the victory. Moeen is one of those unfortunate souls who a substantial minority of the fans will always criticise, whatever he does. One of the more brutal and unjustified comments was that he is both a mediocre batsman and bowler who cannot hold down a place in the side. However, 8-137 were his best match figures abroad and he almost always offered threat.

Moeen though, benefitted from having plenty of support. Jack Leach took 2-41 and 3-60 and, surely, has booked his place in the 2^nd Test and well as showing both himself and a lot of other people that he is going to take a lot of wickets at this level. Even Adil Rashid, who went through one of his awful patches in the morning where the Square Leg umpire and wicket-keeper were in more danger than the batsman, suddenly started to rip the ball past the bat after Lunch, sowing uncertainty in the minds of the batsmen. And Ben Stokes bowled a brutal spell at a time when nothing was happening, making a critical breakthrough.

Sri Lanka were, apart from the first session of the match, comprehensively outplayed. It is tempting to suggest that one mediocre side beat another mediocre side, but there is the temptation always to talk down any opponent who has been beaten, as being not very good. Sri Lanka were only as good as England let them be. England were not brilliant, but they were pretty good.

England have ended a run of two years and fourteen Tests over four series without an away win. And, in that time, there have been ten defeats (the sequence, since that last win in Bangladesh, is: WLDLLLLLLDLLDW). Maybe it is not the dawn of a new era but, at least, England will have an unexpected chance to seal the series at Kandy.

For that Test, it was expected that Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow would come back. Maybe England will decide that two spinners are sufficient, but it is hard to see how both players can be accommodated and there are extremely good arguments for playing an unchanged XI. Nothing sends a message like saying to two of the players who are usually first on the teamsheet that they have to win their places back because their replacements have made themselves undroppable. Probably the only way that both Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow can play is if Jimmy Anderson is rested and the pitch looks as if it will not suit Jack Leach. Changing a winning side though would be harsh.

Defeat was not the way that Rangana Herath planned to finish his Test career. He will go back to his bank job on Monday, warmed by the constant tributes, the affection of a crowd that ended up being largely English, the guards of honour and the respect of teammates and opponents. Herath is the living proof that a player can suddenly come good late in his career and become a reference for his side. He ends with figures that are more than respectable and knowing that he has been the rock of his side for the last few years. Certainly England know that their job will be easier without him in the 2^nd Test.

Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test Day 2: The Beard that is Feared Strikes Back

 

Sri Lanka v England

1^st Test Day 2: The Beard that is Feared Strikes Back

November 7^th 2018

After a remarkable second day of this Test, an England side that looked horribly underprepared, has bullied and outplayed Sri Lanka now for five consecutive sessions. It is not something that many fans were expecting. The script called for something different when England’s last two wickets fell quickly, but the dark mutterings that England had wasted winning the Toss, would find themselves chasing a significant first innings deficit and that a third innings collapse would bring the match to a swift end were found to be shameless scare-mongering, not to mention, utter drivel. There is still a lot of work to do to win this Test, but England have made a good start. Sri Lanka will need to dismiss England for no more than 130 to stay in this match and even that may be too many: based on what we have seen so far, anything over 250 will be a big chase.

However, there are storm clouds on the horizon… literally. The weather forecast for the next three days calls for thundery showers, with a rain interruption almost certain sometime around midday tomorrow. Friday’s forecast is not much better. However, with three days left to play and the lead 177, there should be enough time to force a result, even if rain does intervene.

That said, Day 2 could not have gone much better. Ben Foakes reached his century, albeit in partnership with Jimmy Anderson and then the same combination got an early breakthrough. The bonus was that Sam Curran also added an early wicket as the New Ball did swing a little. However, the question of his ability to bowl a long, holding spell never arose because, after six overs with the New Ball, broken by a change of ends when Jack Leach came on, he retired to the outfield as soon as the ball ceased to swing and did not return. However, 6-1-16-1 was just the opening spell that England needed. Nothing profligate. No easy runs and, when the spinners came on, with Sri Lanka 30-2 and, as the batsmen tried to break the shackles, first Jack Leach and the Moeen Ali rammed home the advantage. We then had the one phase of play when it seemed that Sri Lanka might grab back the advantage: Chandimal and Matthews played sensibly, milked the bowling and accumulated without risk. Had they been able to bat for another hour, England might well have wilted, but the bowlers kept plugging away. Adil Rashid almost removed Chandimal as soon as he came on, but the edge that he induced dropped just short of Ben Stokes. He was not to be denied for long though and Ben Foakes showed what a specialist ‘keeper brings to a side by making a smart stumping as Chandimal was lured out of his ground by the leggie.

Rashid’s reward was to be whipped straight out of the attack. England seem to have decided over the last few tests that, rather than bowling him into the ground, Adil Rashid is to be used as a shock weapon to come on and make breakthroughs, rather than take the heat of bowling thirty straight overs. It seems like a strange way to treat your premier strike bowler, but it seems to be working.

Broken the Chandimal-Matthews stand, Sri Lanka kept losing wickets each time that a stand started to form. Matthews fell after he and Dickwella seemed to be getting the innings back on an even keel, while the highest stand of the innings apart that fourth wicket effort, was just 35. It all pointed to a chronic lack of patience. Conditions were probably easier than on the first day, because the ball was spinning less, even if the England bowlers did produce the occasional jaffa. All three spinners played their part but, in the end, the plaudits went to Moeen Ali, with 4-66, even if he deserved a 5-for. Gone is the defeated Moeen of a year ago. The Beard that is Feared is back. He bowled more overs than all three seamers together and combined well with Leach and Adil Rashid, but more than anything, bowled with intelligence, variation and confidence. The three England spinners kept their discipline and hunted as a pack, taking eight wickets between them and the batsmen really had no answer to it. Whereas England had gone from 164-6 at the fall of Buttler, to 342ao, batting another 53 overs, Sri Lanka subsided from 171-6 to 203ao in 8 overs, as the tail was brushed away.

Sri Lanka needed a devastating response when England batted again. Instead, Jennings and Burns batted solidly through to the Close. It is far too early to hail this as the new opening partnership that England have been longing for, but the openers have the chance to turn the knife in the morning and cement their places for the foreseeable future… that is, at least until the end of this series, if they can bat on for an hour or so in the morning. Do that and they will have the kudos of setting-up an England victory charge.

England need 123 more to set 300 for Sri Lanka to win. That equates to 161ao. Pass 161 and it will be hard to see any way that Sri Lanka will be able to avoid a crushing defeat, giving England their first ever win at Galle. If they do so, it will be the marginal choices – Foakes, Curran and, to a lesser degree, Leach, who set the standard with a mean first spell and early wicket – who will have set it up.

That though, is something that still needs to be worked for. There is still plenty of cricket left in this game and England need a good first session to make sure that the advantage is not squandered.  

New Zealand v England: 1st Test, Day 5 - Defeat, in a Match that Could and Should Have Been Saved

 

New Zealand v England: 1^st Test, Day 5

Defeat, in a Match that Could and Should Have Been Saved

March 28^th 2018

When you are 300-6 with about 30 overs left and have two, well-set batsmen, one on 66*, the other, 38*, the partnership nearing 100, the ball is no longer new and there is significant batting still to come, you would normally believe that the batting side has a very good chance of saving the match. Once again the culprit was a silly shot on the stroke of a break. Once Stokes gave his wicket away, the end was mercifully quick and 300-6 became 320ao. Yet again, there was a feeling of what might have been.

However, all the familiar failings were there. Four batsmen scored fifties, but three of them fell immediately on reaching fifty (scores of 55, 51 and 52) and the fourth fell for 66: no one could go on to on to a big score. Two of the batsmen who made a fifty fell to the last ball before an interval. Apart from Cook, no one earlier than 9 in the batting order fell for fewer than 23 – so everyone got a start – but no one went on to make the sort of score that would have saved the match. It was a matter of systematically getting in, making a start and getting out before making it count. Symptomatic of this was Jonny Bairstow, who provided Todd Astle with his first Test wicket for six years with a wild shot to a long-hop, just a few deliveries after having been missed horribly by Trent Boult slogging wildly at another long hop: what Geoff Boycott must have been saying while watching, does not bear thinking about.

Other traditions were observed too. After some encouraging performances in the ODIs that one hoped would kick-start his winter, Moeen Ali could offer neither runs with the bat, nor control with the ball. And, after England’s bowlers had bowled manfully, but with little threat for 141 overs, the pitch looked different when New Zealand bowled on it (how familiar this was from the Ashes Tests!) This has, possibly, been the most disappointing aspect of the winter so far (“so far”, because it may yet get worse): England were expected to use the conditions extremely well in both day-night Tests but, both at Adelaide and at Auckland, have been comprehensively out-bowled.

While the primary responsibility for defeat rests in that first innings of 58ao, it is not beyond the point that they bowlers did not exactly shine, themselves. Only when Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad – the latter, mostly unheralded, but went at just over 2-an-over for 34 overs and took three wickets – were bowling did Joe Root have any sort of control. Overton, Woakes and Moeen Ali had combined figures of 75-17-236-1. In contrast, in the second innings, the New Zealand support bowlers had 72.1-26-156-6: the difference in the threat posed was massive and meant that, while Anderson and Broad had to pound out 63 overs, Boult and Southee bowled just 53 in that second innings – an important difference when playing back to back Tests.

For the 2^nd Test, England evidently are going to make two changes, possibly three. Things will depend to a degree on the fitness of Ben Stokes. If he is fit to bowl his share of overs, there will be room for an extra batsman. If he is not, England will have their options more limited by the need for an extra bowler that would lengthen the tail.

That Jack Leach will come in for Moeen Ali is taken as almost certain. Leach took 18 wickets in the three unofficial Tests v West Indies A. Leach is a genuine tail-ender, although he batted as high as #8 for the Lions, albeit in a line-up with a very long tail, and is beginning to show some notions of knowing which end of the bat is which (he batted for 98 minutes, mostly in company with Mason Crane as the Lions tried to avoid an innings defeat in the 2^nd Unofficial Test). England have to take the plunge with Leach at some time and there are still many who think that, despite the issues over his action, he should have been in India last winter and, definitely, should have been in Australia.

That Mark Wood will replace, probably, Craig Overton, is another more than likely change. He averages nearly 41 with the ball from his ten Tests, but adds something of an X-Factor that has been sadly missing for England by being around 10km/h faster than anyone else in the attack. At Auckland, England had four right-arm, medium pace seamers, all bowling in the low-80s (MPH) and an unthreatening spinner: as was said of one particular England attack in the early ‘80s, “the captain could change the faces and change the ends, but not change the bowling”. There is a line of reasoning that Chris Woakes could make way instead but, his superior batting is likely to save him, given that the tail will, inevitably, be lengthened by dropping him. Mark Wood has a similar level of capability with the bat to Overton, so the change would not weaken significantly the tail.

If Stokes cannot bowl, the attack would be Anderson and Broad with the new ball, Wood as first change and, probably, Woakes relegated to fourth seamer, with Leach as spinner. The tail would long, with Woakes, Wood, Leach, Broad and Anderson from 7 to 11. In this case, Joe Root would stay at #3, with a top order of Cook, Stoneman, Root, Malan, Stokes & Bairstow.

In contrast, if Stokes can bowl, there is a real possibility that an even more radical change could be made, with Liam Livingstone coming in at #3, Joe Root dropping down to his favoured place at #4 and, most likely, Woakes missing out. This would allow England to play the extra specialist batsman to compensate for the lengthened tail and Malan to go back to his favoured place at #6. In this case, the XI would be: Cook, Stoneman, Livingstone, Root, Stokes, Malan, Bairstow, Wood, Leach, Broad & Anderson. England would play two debutants and recall a player who has be absent for nearly two years, as well as making two positional changes. That would certainly be enough for the pundits and the fans who are calling for radical changes.

Either way, England would field a better-balanced attack and will look at least two players who can provide new options, both for the summer and, looking ahead to next winter when two and maybe three spinners will be needed in the XI. The preferred way to go would undoubtedly be the option with Stokes taking a full part in the attack, if only as fifth bowler. Stokes’ back problems towards the end of his innings appear to have been only due to muscles complaining over unaccustomed effort after months of reduced activity. Asking him to bowl would be a calculated risk, especially with Wood’s long history of injury but, with Root, Malan and Livingstone all competent emergency spin options, England may feel that they have enough bowling cover available.

Either way, England cannot afford another defeat.

 

Meanwhile, in another galaxy, far, far away, Smith and Warner have received a one-year ban and Cameron Bancroft, nine months. Smith will not be considered again for the captaincy for two years and Warner, never again. As more details come out, the suspicion is that David Warner has been the worst offender: he will never again be considered for the captaincy and, one suspects, may have a hard job to win his place back in the side.

However, there is one item that I find unacceptable and that the apologists should too and that is the systematic lying of Bancroft. Even when he “confessed” he lied, when he would have received far more sympathy had he come out straight and said, “yes, it was a piece of sandpaper”. First he claimed it was a black cloth. Then yellow tape that he had covered with dirt. At no point has he admitted to what it really was… sandpaper! The attempt to cheat was clumsy and stupid. The cover-up was even clumsier and more stupid. And the systematic lies take the biscuit.

If Somerset do not revoke Bancroft’s contract, the sledging and abuse that he will receive from players and fans will be epic; it will be a massive on and off-field distraction to Somerset and will reinforce the suspicion – remember the raking of the Taunton pitch before the Middlesex match – that Somerset are willing to push the definition of fair play a little too far towards the limits.

As any proud Bristolian does, even though I was born on the Gloucestershire side of the river (by a couple of hundred metres), I claim Somerset as well and take pride in their successes, although Gloucestershire has been my county as long as I have followed cricket. I want to see Somerset win the Championship in 2018 as a retirement present for Marcus Trescothick, but I want to see them win it clean, without suggestions of sharp practice.

Ashes 2017/18: 4th and 5th ODIs, A Strange End to a Strange ODI Series

 

Ashes 2017/18: 4^th and 5^th ODIs

A Strange End to a Strange ODI Series

January 28^th 2017

The last two ODIs have featured a side that has relaxed and gone off the boil, against another that has lost all confidence that it can win, however favourable the position. The result has been first a game in which Australia staggered drunkenly over the line despite having had England 8-5 after 6.2 overs – a position from which there should have been no return – and then a match in which Australia seemed to be cruising to an inadequate target, needing 71 from 97 balls, with 6 wickets in hand and yet somehow contrived to lose.

Australia can point to the fact that it had a winning position in four of the five games and that the final margin of 4-1 does not reflect the true distance between the sides. It does reflect though their problems: they cannot pace a chase, they struggle to set adequate targets and cannot finish-off games: today’s slow, painful innings by Tim Paine was symbolic of how Australia could not close out a position. Their ODI cricket seems anchored in the past and their confidence close to zero. Australia show all the problems that England did in the last World Cup in the sense of thinking that 260-270 is a perfectly adequate total to set, trying to milk singles from the middle overs and thinking that if Plan A does not work, they should try Plan A… until it does finally work in a game.

England, on the other hand, just lack the ruthlessness that separates the good from the very good. Yes, they won today’s match and pushed Australia to the limit in the fourth match, but against a better side they would have lost the series.

Ultimately the hero today was Tom Curran, who also gave a favourable impression in the Tests in his limited opportunities, but a big hand has to go to Jake Ball for getting up off the floor after collapsing and avoiding the need for Joe Root to have to bowl two of the last four overs with only a small number of runs to protect. Even though Ball took some stick from a couple of balls, he avoided disaster and Tom Curran did the rest, cleaning up Zampa and Paine in successive overs.

The biggest single problem that Australia had all through the series came from the unlikeliest of sources. Australia simply had the holy terrors in the middle overs every time that Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali bowled. Although Moeen’s batting struggles have continued, he has looked a different man with the ball and has squeezed the run-scoring, allowing Adil Rashid to attack at the other end. Adil Rashid has been more expensive than anyone other than Liam Plunkett, but has been the highest wicket-taker in the series and the only bowler on either side to bowl all fifty overs. Moeen has taken fewer wickets, but has produced pressure by drying-up the runs. Between them they have taken fifteen wickets and posed problems that the Australian middle order simply could not solve. So many of Adil Rashid’s wickets have come from batsmen attacking him, thinking foolishly that buffet was served, not realising that this is his main threat: producing rushes of blood and injudicious swipes. While Adil Rashid was expensive on paper, his appearance so often led to precious wickets falling that halted any momentum that the runs off him had created.

This is one of the features of the new England: Eoin Morgan is happy to see Adil Rashid taking 3-55, or even 3-60 from 10 overs, when previous captains would have preferred to see 0-45. As happened in the Tests last winter, until some poor captaincy ended up draining their confidence, Moeen and Adil Rashid bowl well together and complement each other. Eoin Morgan has the happy knack of getting the best from them in ODIs, which makes one wonder if they should be given another chance to bowl together in Tests sooner rather than later.

For England, the pieces that did not quite work in the Tests came right here. Chris Woakes scored plenty of runs in limited opportunities and also took wickets. Joe Root’s 226 runs more than trumped Steve Smith’s 102 – Smith struggled against Adil Rashid and seemed to lose confidence progressively, scoring increasingly slowly. It is possible that the effort of carrying his side’s batting through the Test series has just drained Steve Smith so totally that he simply needs a rest, while Joe Root has been refreshed by being able to hand over the captaincy and the spotlight to someone else. Jason Roy produced two fine innings and someone always produced critical runs: Roy in one innings, Buttler in another, Root in another and Woakes every time him came out to bat. Woakes, Roy and Buttler all scored at comfortably in excess of a run-a-ball and worked around Joe Root’s efforts to anchor innings. Apart from the success of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid as spin-twins, the addition of some real pace and threat from Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood made a real difference, along with the revival of Chris Woakes as a threat with the ball.

In contrast, Australia chopped and changed their side – they used 16 players to England’s 14 – but only Marcus Stoinis offered enough runs, fast enough to be a real threat, even if his bowling was more of a liability to his side than an advantage. Aaron Finch was massive in the three games that he played: 2x100 and 1x50, but had too little support and seemed to slow, not accelerate, as his innings progressed.

England cannot rest on their laurels, but this series is a massive change from the equivalent one in 2013/14 that they lost 4-1. Australia though have some serious thinking to do with the World Cup coming closer. It is also further evidence that Australia’s superiority in the Tests had more to do with the fortune to be able to bowl their first-choice attack all through the series (with one exception) than it did with their strength in depth. While Australia’s best XI is formidably strong, the next layer of players underneath are not in the same class and Australia are not the same force away from their hostile home conditions.

 

Ps: Odd fact from the ODI series – in every match, Australia started as strong favourites with the bookmakers. There was an opportunity there for someone to make money. Or did the bookies know something that we did not?

Ashes 2017/18: 1st and 2nd ODIs - Cricket Through The Looking Glass

 

Ashes 2017/18: 1^st and 2^nd ODIs

Cricket Through The Looking Glass

January 19^th 2017

It has been an odd week.

The Crown Prosecution Service decides to prosecute Ben Stokes for Affray. This is a serious offence that can be tried in a Magistrates Court (3 magistrates instead of a jury) with a maximum sentence of six months in prison, or it can be sent for trial to a Crown Court for trial by jury with a sentence of up to three years. Stokes’s case has been sent to Bristol Magistrates Court so, with the possibility that the case might take a year or more to be heard, the ECB decided to re-commission Stokes when many fans and pundits thought that maybe he would not play again for England.

Significantly, Stokes will not go to Australia for the end of the ODI series and the T20s that follow; he will go for the follow-up tour of New Zealand where the press and the public are less hostile and the media tend to be far thinner on the ground anyway.

It is fair to say that not everyone favoured the decision and the ECB committee was deeply split. However, restraint of trade and maintaining a presumption of innocence were powerful arguments. Stokes has already been punished severely by missing a significant part of the ODI series against West Indies and the whole tour of Australia and stopping him playing while maintaining the image that he has not been convicted without trial, could be hard to justify in the courts.

Could it possibly be coincidence that the day after Ben Stokes’s date of return – February 20^th – was announced, it was announced that this same date he would be required to present himself in court in Bristol?

It is possible that Stokes could manage to negotiate a change in date. He is going to contest the charge. It is also quite possible that the magistrates will refuse to accommodate him, media personality or not. It is also possible that he may enter the court on foot and leave it in a prison van, thus halting his return to the England side at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.

Watch this space. This one may run and run.

So, have England been further distracted? After all, in 2013/14 they lost all five Tests, lost the ODIs 4-1 and the T20s 3-0. Two of the ODIs were very, very close, but, of thirteen international matches on the tour, England won but one. They then went to the Caribbean for a T20 series… and lost that too. In other words, losing became a habit and the Australians were in no mood to let up even when the Ashes were won. It was thus not surprising that the book-makers had Australia firm favourites for the first two ODIs.

Yes, we expected a one-sided ODI series. And boy have we got it. A whitewash looks a pretty good bet. The novelty is that it is England who look to have a pretty good chance of imposing it. Yes, this is a mirror image of the Test series. Both games have looked closer on paper than they were on the pitch. England chased a ground record 305 to win at Melbourne and got them with some comfort. And, at Brisbane, despite a late wobble, a wholly inadequate 270-9 by Australia was chased down with more than five overs to spare. Australia look to need to set 330-340 to test England and are getting nowhere near that.

Even the Australian successes are a mark of their failure. Aaron Finch has scored 107 and 106 and both matches have been lost. Both innings though have been at under a run-a-ball: he just has not been able to accelerate and get away from England. In fact, today, until a late thrash from Carey, no one had come close to scoring at a run-a-ball and even Carey’s innings was 27 from 24. To have set an adequate target, someone had to score at 150 and get the scoreboard accelerating but, in a batting-heavy line-up, no one could. In the first game, Australia were 196-3 with 15 overs to go: a platform for 330+? Australia simply do not have that kind of vision. Only Stoinis, with 60 from 40 balls, threatened to play the sort of match-changing innings that we have associated with Australia and even he could not see it through. The last three overs produced 19 runs and three wickets. Today, seeing the way the wind was blowing, the CricInfo commentator almost begged for 50 from the last 4 overs to make a game of it: he got 20. Today, Bairstow, Hales, Buttler and Woakes all made significant contributions and all scored faster than Finch. It did not matter than Root’s innings was relatively slow: he anchored as runs came in a flood at the other end.

Part of the difference is the taming, at least thus far of Sir Donald Smith. Caught behind off Adil Rashid in the first game and LBW to Root today, he has made two starts, but not been allowed to get away either time. An important part though has been England’s spin pairing. Adil Rashid has been expensive but taken match-changing wickets. Eoin Morgan has been prepared to see him go for some runs in return for vital breakthroughs and so far his wickets have been Smith, Mitch Marsh (twice) and Stoinis. Today, a handy 209-3 with 10 overs to go, became 216-6 as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid turned the match on its head. And there hangs a tail: Moeen Ali, 17-0-70-2 – of the bowlers who have bowled at least ten overs in the two games, comfortably the most economical on either side, with his nearest challenger Joe Root, who has only bowled today.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are forming a middle over stranglehold with the ball. And so effective has Adil Rashid been that he was even entrusted with the ball in the final overs in the first game. Moeen looks a totally different player to the sad, lonely figure of the Tests. Add to it that the wicket-taking menace of Mitch Starc is being countered by the menace of Liam Plunkett and suddenly it looks like a different pair of sides. Starc has more wickets at a better average and strike rate, but Plunkett has better economy.

Steve Smith has admitted that Australia are well off the pace and lacking answers and will not have felt in any way relieved by Eoin Morgan stating that England have been well short of their best. And, truth be told, they have not batted anywhere near as well as they can, mainly due to their minimal preparation. With the third game back-to-back with the second, England should start to get into their stride. If they do, you would not bet against 5-0. As it is, Australia have to win the third match to keep the series alive. And you do not know how good it is to say that.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Day 5 - 5-0 Coming

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Day 5

5-0 Coming

December 19^th 2017

So, despite a lot of help from the rain, England were a full session from saving the Test and keeping the series alive. Two Tests still to go and the inquests are starting. And, Nathan Lyon’s comment about ending careers is looking to be increasingly self-fulfilling: Broad, Cook, Moeen and Anderson’s futures are all under the microscope, with it being a 50-50 bet, no more, that all four will see out the series in the side. All four have had their career ups and downs, with Cook and Moeen’s careers looking like roller-coaster rides. What is undisputable is that with four young and/or inexperienced players in the side in Stoneman, Vince, Malan and Overton, England can scarcely afford to see so little return from Cook, Moeen and Broad, while the contributions of Root and Anderson have been reasonable, but not match-winning.

We always knew that it would be tough at Perth but, as the match degenerated from England’s initial position of total ascendancy, three players fought, all marginal choices, with just twenty Tests between them. First, despite the pain of a cracked rib, Craig Overton got through 24 overs. He did not threaten but, at very least, he eased the pressure on Anderson, Broad and Woakes, none of whom none the less bowled fewer than 35 overs in the innings. Then, as Cook, Stoneman and Root all walked back, leaving England 60-3, Vince and Malan stood firm. Malan, with a big hundred and a fifty in the Test knows that his place is safe for the foreseeable future. Vince, whose returns had fallen since his initial 83, managed another skilful half century. With the two together, you could hope. Vince though continues to frustrate and show why he looks like being a temporary incumbent: he got to a fighting 50 and was out soon out, even if it took a special delivery to defeat him. After ten Tests and seventeen innings, Vince has just 2x50 and a Test average of 23. He has reached double figures in eleven of his seventeen innings and passed 30 on six occasions, but has reached fifty just twice and on neither occasion converted. In contrast, Malan is growing into the #5 position in a way that Middlesex supporters could never have imagined. Scores of 56, 4, 19, 29, 140 & 54 have shown his appetite for this game, added to 1x100 and 2x50 in the warm-ups.

A three hour rain delay and two set batsmen at the crease in Malan and Bairstow set England up nicely for the great escape. First session lost. See out the first hour and, by then, the 259 that England needed to eat-up time would be coming ever-closer: 10 minutes, or 2 overs lost to the change of innings and then whatever token chase would eat-up some more overs. That was the plan. What happened was just the reverse. Four balls. A single. Bairstow gets a straight one that keeps rather low and that, ladies and gentlemen, was that.

Moeen started the series well, but his confidence looks completely shot now and he is reading Nathan Lyon as well as I read Linear-B. Not the man you want striding out for the sixth ball of the day when you desperately need a hundred partnership. Moeen is such a wonderful counter-attacking batsmen when he feels confident. Here though, injury and the resulting lack of rhythm and confidence have sapped him and his bowling difficulties have just made things worse. When Moeen gets an early wicket he grows visibly. In Australia though the side injury reduced his bowling to minimal before the Tests and that contributed to the soft skin that saw him ripping open his spinning finger early in the match at Brisbane. When it has started to heal it has broken-open again and that has stopped him bowling and hardening the finger. The whole matter has snowballed and the consequence is that Moeen is a shadow of the player who started last winter in such fine form before unsympathetic handling totally neutered him by the end of the Indian series.

Rather than the long partnership that England so desperately needed, the innings just became a procession and the match and the series were over by Tea.

Telling is the statistic that six batsmen apart from Vince and Malan got into double figures, but Woakes’s 22 when last out was the highest score among them: had each of those six doubled his score, England would most likely have saved the match.

Now, England have two dead rubbers to play, with cauliflower ears the most likely result, even if this series does not match the desperation of 2013/14. Then, it was hard to find any positive. Here, Stoneman, Vince, Malan, Bairstow and Overton have all shown that they are up for it.

Overton wants to play at Melbourne but the reports that he could have punctured his lung by insisting on bowling will probably see Mark Wood elevated, subject to fitness. Two failures for Cook at Melbourne could see him rested for the final Test, while Tom Curran for Stuart Broad is a tempting change to add variety to the attack. As England re-commission Haseeb Hameed in the Lions and continue to invest in Keaton Jennings – again named Lions captain – Cook may be looking uncomfortably over his shoulder. Again, it may be tempting to play Jennings in the 5^th Test and see if his form and confidence are back to the level of his early Test innings.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Preview - Checkmate in Three Days?

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Preview

Checkmate in Three Days?

December 13^th 2017

“Same side. Better play”, would have legendary Essex captain Tonker Taylor’s reaction to the 2^nd Test defeat. Having got within an hour of inducing genuine panic in the Australian side, England threw away a potentially winning position in half an hour of reduced intensity.

There were plenty of panic remedies: with Liam Plunkett still struggling with a hamstring problem, Mark Wood looked like making an incredible comeback. Yes, he impressed in patches in Perth, but showed too that he was nowhere ready for Test cricket. It is not pace, it is quality pace that is needed: that was a lesson of the great West Indian sides. In fact, of the reserves and Lions who supplemented Moeen Ali in the England XI, only Keaton Jennings and Sam Curran really impressed. With Alistair Cook’s place in the side starting to look in danger again, Keaton Jennings showed the application that got him into the Test side in the first place and also demonstrated that his form and confidence are returning. And Sam Curran impressed enough with his left arm seam to make one wonder if having a left-armer among so many right armers might not be a bad thing. Worse, Jack Leach and Mason Crane took such fearful punishment that England could even have lost the two-day game: both have shown that they will not be pressing Moeen for his place – in fact, Leach has probably bowled himself out of any chance of a Test debut on this tour by going at more than ten-an-over (Crane managed a more respectable eight).

So, eliminating an out and out quick bowler and eliminating a second spinner and thinking that Sam Curran is probably neither quick enough, nor quite ready, the only England change is the one that was called for, of all people, by the Australians: Jonny Bairstow moves up to #6 and Moeen Ali drops to #7. “Moeen, you’re batting a place too high” sledged the Australian fielders at Adelaide. Despite making a better fist of batting than many around him, Moeen just replied “actually, probably two places too high”. Self-deprecating, situation de-fused. With the loss of Ben Stokes, Moeen needed the series of his life to compensate. Unfortunately the spinning finger that he split open early in the Brisbane Test has still not healed and even started to split open again. England face him being severely hampered at Perth too, adding to the advantage that Nathan Lyon is giving Australia.

At Perth, the same batsmen have to bat for at least four sessions and Joe Root needs to win the Toss. Otherwise, this match is going to end Saturday or, at latest, early Sunday and the Ashes will go with it.