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.

India's Tailspin Towards A Crashdive

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

The Indian Tailspin

 

August 16^th 2014

 

457, 391-9d, 295, 342, 330, 178, 152, 161, 148, …

That is the series of Indian scores during this series. It is a steady downward progression and suggests that England may not need many more than 300 to win this match by an innings. India, who looked so imperious for two and a half Tests are, increasingly resembling the unconvinced masochist who can only whimper “please make it stop”. Their surrender in the second innings at the Ageas Bowl seems to have knocked all the fight out of them: since then things have only got worse.

Although England had good bowling conditions and a helpful pitch, India had the same later in the day and, while India were 62-6, England are 62-0 and batting with some assurance. If Robson and Cook can see out the first hour, big runs will be there for the taking. Sam Robson, in particular, has come in for some fearful stick since his century against Sri Lanka and, with Alex Hales making an ever-stronger case to play in all three formats for England, Robson desperately needs a century and will know that there is a strong likelihood that this will be his only innings in this Test in which to hang on to his place. Those who have followed County Cricket for years and, particularly Middlesex, know that as far back as 2011 those who knew him felt that he would be a fine Test player. Despite a century against Sri Lanka, his struggles have been obvious.

For the Caribbean series there is a strong probability that some players will be rested and others tried out. It would be no surprise to see both Hales and Robson competing there for the opening spot in the Ashes and Anderson and Broad rested, with Steve Finn asked to lead the attack along with Woakes, Jordan and Plunkett. Certainly, Jordan and Woakes have done a lot to answer their critics in this game; both are still learning their trade at this level and need the experience. I would be prepared to lay a small bet that Woakes will announce himself with a second innings 5-for in an innings win.

For India, it is hard to know where they can go from here with a series against Australia coming up. After encouraging series in South Africa and New Zealand, this has not been a great confidence-inducer. The batting looks terribly fragile, although lower-order runs have helped to massage the evidence a little – the 10^th wicket partnership brought some respectability to the Indian score here – and the bowling has looked less and less penetrative as the series has progressed. Worse still, when chances have been made, as often as not they have been missed and the lack of DRS has, undoubtedly, hurt India badly. India’s slip cordon has cost the side several hundred runs in dropped chances. As things have started to go wrong, heads have dropped. MS Dhoni has done his job with the bat and, early in the series, showed some inventive captaincy but, now, his unwillingness to move for chances that fly between the ‘keeper and first slip and his increasing immobility have hurt his side as much as Matt Prior’s did.

For England, the series is turning out to be sweet and sour. Players such as Jos Buttler and Liam Plunkett have bedded in as first choices. Ballance has been brilliant and Cook, Bell, Anderson and Broad recovered. Woakes and Jordan are bedding in, but India have been so poor in the last three Tests that it is hard to assess where England are really in their recovery process. However, you can only beat what is in front of you and winning this series 3-1 seemed a long way away after the Lords Test: in fact, after Lords, 3-0 to India looked the most likely result. Those who rubbish the England win will conveniently forget that India came into the series with some confidence, pointing to their last two away series and the betting was on a shared series with five draws. India certainly did not look so poor two months ago, but a rejuvenated England side is making them look very poor indeed.

Another Glass Half Full Day

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

The Test Veers Off Course Again

 

June 22^nd 2014

 

Just as on Day 1 it had seemed that Sri Lanka were in control for a large part of the afternoon before things suddenly took on a whole different complexion with a massive collapse, on Day 2 England’s two colonial lions were squeezing the life out of the Sri Lankan bowling until a late collapse evened things up. Make no mistake, with England 63 ahead after two days and four wickets still left, Sri Lanka are still on the ropes, but they are not facing a standing count with the referee checking the eyes with a look of concern.

At Tea you would have put good money on England having a 300 lead some time on Day 3 and Sri Lanka having to bat six or seven sessions to save the Test. Now, the first priority is to push the lead past 100 and, if possible, towards 150: it is not obvious that even the former is going to happen.

In the  morning, Cook and Robson bettered their effort at Lords, but were still not able to register a fifty partnership. Cook registered another failure. In the last year he has had 34 international innings. In 24 of them he has reached double figures, but has only gone past 30 on 12 occasions. He is getting in, but then getting out, showing that the mind-set is not right. Geoff Boycott feels that his foot movement has gone, making him vulnerable. In plain language, what it means is that at the moment Alistair Cook is no more set when he has reached 50 than when he has just got into double figures. He has 7x50 in the last year but, four of those fifties ended immediately on reaching the landmark (50, 51, 51, 56) as if any tiny relaxation on crossing the landmark led to his immediate downfall.

Alistair Cook is going through the same slump that in recent years we have seen hit Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss and, in the past, has paralysed even batsmen such as Graeme Gooch and Geoff Boycott. You just do not know where your next run is coming from. All came back as good, or better than ever. He will crack it too, but it may yet cost him the captaincy.

The better news was that after looking strokeless and paralysed with nerves at Lords, Sam Robson kept up his scoring sequence by following two failures with a century. Every time this season that he has failed twice in a match he has come back in the next and made the bowlers pay. This innings was not a classic, but was still pretty good and should keep his place safe for a couple of Tests (Nick Compton scored centuries in consecutive Tests in New Zealand and was dropped three Tests later). He solid. When he is in he is very hard to dislodge. And if he can conquer those problems around off stump the way Chris Rogers has, he will enjoy a very productive career [those around Middlesex who know Rogers well, thought that his early vulnerability around off stump could end up being meat and drink to new ball bowlers in Tests, especially if there was some movement to exploit – however, he has sorted it out and bowlers are regretting it]. England have had one-innings wonders before, but one hopes that Sam Robson will go on to make runs against India and then consolidate himself next summer against Australia.

Gary Ballance has shown again that the loss of Jonathon Trott has been repaired – he is still young and inexperienced and will take time to learn all that Trott learnt, but the runs will still come as he does it. England’s #3 problem is fixed. Ian Bell managed another classy 50. Sadly, neither could accompany Robson past the century. Root and Moeen fell quickly, leaving Prior and Jordan to effectuate recovery this morning.

England are still in the box seat, but a lot less than they should be. They need at least one fifty from the remaining batsmen to hammer home the advantage. At Lords, the tail scored runs in both innings. Here they are needed to perform again, first with the bat and then with the ball.

England's Voyage Of The Damned

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Win or be damned

 

June 20^th 2014

 

Whatever happens over the next five days will set the tone for the rest of the England summer. A win will win the series, break a winless sequence that is getting too long for comfort and allow England to feel that the side is on its way back. It will set the side up for the series against India and give the younger players a much-needed dose of confidence. A defeat would be catastrophic and a draw, frustrating: both would be held up as evidence that the new England cannot even beat a side such as Sri Lanka who are playing in unfamiliar conditions. Even if England win and win well, it will be dismissed patronisingly as being “only against Sri Lanka”, but at least England will have met with some minimum expectations of success.

England are playing the same side. Chris Woakes, who has come into some real form after a slow start to the season, will again be surplus to requirements unless someone steps on the ball in warm-up. He is yet to make a 50 this season, but scored 49 in his only innings against Northants this week and took 4-87 and 4-53, bowling with more pace than in previous seasons. However, it is unthinkable that Liam Plunkett will be dropped at what is now his home ground after hard labour on an unforgiving surface at Lords. Plunkett bowled a lot of overs with the old ball – 48 – at high pace, in a hard-working attack. Broad and Anderson bowled 50 overs each and Chris Jordan 45, so they would appreciate England winning the toss and getting some extra rest. The Sri Lankan bowlers, with the exception of the willing Herath, had a much lighter load and an extra day of rest at the end of the Test. With the matches being played back-to-back, it would be a significant advantage for Sri Lanka were they to win the toss and bat given that the England bowlers will inevitably still be recovering from that last day effort at Lords.

Alistair Cook and Sam Robson both need some runs. England have not registered a century opening partnership since Cook and Compton were opening together in New Zealand (Dunedin, March 2013) and the last 50 opening partnership was in the Melbourne Test. Cook’s authority is eroded by lack of runs and, to judge by his comments yesterday, it appears to be preying on his state of mind. Sam Robson is already under pressure – for heaven’s sake, after ONE Test, despite being a run machine for the Performance squad and the Lions last winter? – and England cannot afford to make yet another change at the top of the order. Cook and Robson need a vote of confidence, but they also need some runs and, just as important, to register a big opening stand.

Those around the Middlesex camp flagged Sam Robson as a potential England player several years back. He has tended to be a famine or feast player. Twice this season he has had two failures in a match; both times he followed up with a century in his next match. In particular, 11 & 1 v Sussex at Hove were followed by a murderous 163 and 41* against Nottinghamshire (earlier, 28 and 17 for the MCC against Champion County, Durham, were followed by 107 against Hampshire, albeit in a friendly). Do not bet against him making it three out of three with a big century at Headingley to follow his two failures at Lords.

The ideal situation for England would be to win the toss and bat and for both Cook and Robson to register fifties in a century opening partnership. Hopefully this idyllic scene will be not too far removed from reality because England need to resolve the opening partnership problem before it becomes a real crisis and leads to a new upheaval in the side.

It Is England's Match To Win

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Safety-first Cook May Have Killed the Game

 

June 16^th 2014

 

The facts: Sri Lanka have only once chased 350+ successfully in the 4^th innings of a Test. That was in 2006, at home against South Africa. In fact, only eight sides have ever chased down 350+ to win a Test. Sri Lanka have only ever chased 300+ successfully twice, both times at home: the 352-9 against South Africa and 326-5 against Zimbabwe in 1998.

Sri Lanka’s largest ever successful chase in an away Test was 220-8 against Pakistan in 2000, followed by 163-2 against Bangladesh in 2006.

There is nothing in Sri Lanka’s record to support the affirmation by some of their fans on CricInfo that they would have no problems in chasing down 360 in around 60 overs. Unless a target is clearly an easy one, or the risk of defeat is minimal, the approach is usually safety first; sides rarely make much effort to chase anything over 200 at 5-an-over (a rare exception being England’s near miss at The Oval last summer).

Only once has more than 300 been chased successfully at Lords and that was in 1984 when England went off for bad light in the evening, when on top and then batted on, briefly and disastrously next morning, handing over the initiative to the West Indies. A Greenidge 200 later, the West Indies had rushed to 344-1 and what should have been an impossible victory was achieved with some comfort (it was this result that ensured that the 5-0 Blackwash would happen).

Once England’s lead reached 330, the likelihood of Sri Lanka chasing successfully was minimal, especially as the ideal atmospheric conditions for batting of the first three days have been replaced by something more typically English. The situation was made for a short burst at the Sri Lankan batsmen before the Close, with Liam Plunkett being told to go flat out for 2 or 3 overs and try to unsettle the openers. At one point, with Broad and Ballance were hammering the ball to all parts, the lead was 370 and surely the declaration was coming with the England players crowding the balcony? Not a bit of it!

It may be that Alistair Cook decided that letting Gary Ballance get his century was worth losing the chance of a few overs with the new ball before the Close and that his bowlers would do better to get a rest overnight before making a final effort in the morning. If so, fair does to him. Possibly he had decided that if Ballance fell, he would declare – we may never know. However, it would have been nice to see an aggressive declaration as a statement of intent.

Certainly, batting has got more difficult. After the first 14 wickets in the match garnered 864 runs, the next 14 have put on just 335 and that it was that many, was only thanks to a big England recovery from the depths of 121-6. Sri Lanka’s last 6 wickets added just 68 runs from their high-water point of 385-4. Everything suggested that some aggressive captaincy would be rewarded.

England may yet force a win on the last day, especially as the overhead conditions are now a lot less friendly and the pitch is not as easy as it was. It may prove to have been a good move to give the new ball bowlers night’s rest before they come out and try to take 10 wickets in 90 overs (although, given the prevailing over rate, 85 may be more like it). However, the delayed declaration also means that the new ball will only become available shortly before the Close, when it may well be too late to help England’s cause.

Ballance’s century in only his second Test saved England from a possible defeat that seemed impossible in the morning. To reach it with a six was a pretty big statement on his part. And, after the top order had been blown away, he received solid support from Jordan and Broad, adding 78 with the former and 57 with the latter to set up a position from which only England can win. Tail-end runs often sap the resistance of the opposition: could the dashing of Sri Lanka’s hopes of an amazing turnaround turn out to be a killer blow? It would not be the first time that a side batting last sees itself collapse after watching the tail remove all hope of a victory that, a few hours earlier, was in touching distance.

Logic suggests that Alistair Cook will wait as late as possible before the start of play to declare, just to keep the Sri Lankan openers guessing, hoping that he will be daft enough bat on, before unleashing Broad and Anderson at them. Sri Lanka should save the Test but, knowing that victory is out of the question, there is just a chance that they could lose a few wickets and start to get nervous. Liam Plunkett needs to keep the ball pitched up, unleashing his 95mph thunderbolts and using the short ball sparingly. If he does it successfully, he could be the key man, taking wickets both for himself and for the bowler at the other end.

Whatever happens, we have seen enough from Ballance, Moeen, Jordan and Plunkett to feel optimistic about the future. The one of the new boys to miss out has been Sam Robson. Given the lack of patience that England have shown recently with Compton, Root and Carberry as openers, Sam Robson will have been disappointed to have got in and got out today – one hopes that he will be given the full summer to bed in, but two failures in the 2^nd Test would heap the pressure on him and lead to calls for yet another change. It is one crisis that England would prefer to avoid.

It is not beside the point that none other than Geoff Boycott is already suggesting that Sam Robson’s place is in jeopardy and that the fans are asking why he was selected in the first place. We tend to forget that, less than a year ago, Australia changed its qualification rules in the hope of attracting Sam Robson back to the Australian fold and not a few people suggested that Australia had picked the wrong MIddlesex opener last summer. People are talking about Robson’s vulnerability outside off stump; in fact, exactly the same criticism that was made initially of Chris Rogers, who ended up coming good after a slowish start (16, 52, 15, 6 last summer).

Sri Lankan's Sense of Injustice Will Make Them Dangerous

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

A New Era Begins

 

June 12^th 2014

 

 

There is something depressingly appropriate about the start of England’s Test summer being overshadowed by another game, later in the day, which will hold at least hundreds of millions of spectators in thrall. After an at times fractious ODI series, with some serious bad feeling arising on both sides, any thought that England will breeze through another early season series against overmatched opponents should be forgotten. Sri Lanka sense a weakened England are vulnerable and are using the “in your face” tactics that other sides have employed successfully.

After a lot of talk of the Senanayake action, including some pretty damning looking pictures getting wide diffusion, it was inevitable that an umpire would report him. It is not even the first time that he has been reported – it happened in 2011 and he underwent remedial work. However, under the weird and wonderful rules that now apply on throwing, he was allowed to continue bowling, which he did with great success. Strangely though, Sri Lanka had not included him as part of the Test squad which, given England’s problems with his bowling, was probably missing a trick.

Wherever you went in the ODI series, Senanayake was in the eye of a hurricane. Action vilified in the press, with one well-known ex-player being particularly critical, his response was the Mankading of Jos Buttler the day after being reported. It was a robust response and one that suggests that Sri Lanka are trying to feed off the sense of injustice that sides from the sub-continent have often fed successfully into an iron resolve to get revenge on the pitch. Senanayake gave at least one warning and then, with Jos Buttler either in denial or in a dream world somewhere, proceeded to complete the dismissal. Buttler can have no complaints and should feel a prize idiot.

However, there is an undercurrent of something rather nasty swilling around. Angelo Matthews has suggested that Senanayake was targeted by England because they could not play him and that the aim of the report was to get him out of the Sri Lankan team. The fact that the report has to be made by the umpiring team including, for the Lords match, Marais Erasmus (South African) and match referee Jeff Crowe (New Zealand) does not suggest an English plot. This umpiring team was in place all series, with an Englishman, a South African and two New Zealanders in each game. What is more, the rules would always allow Senanayake to play thay the final match of the series and he would not be involved in the Tests so, as a plot to get rid of him, it was totally pointless.

The absence of Senanayake in the ceremony – the only player not to appear post-match at Lords – and the challenging comments made in his defence, suggest a current of ill-feeling, which was a sad end to a rather bizarre ODI series, with two very one-sided wins for each side and a fourth game that went down to the wire.

The ODIs and the T20 (also a narrow win for Sri Lanka) were the aperitif for the Test series. After so much talk about this being the most unpredictable England Test squad for many years, the actual squad announcement was characterised by a total lack of any real surprises: eleven of the twelve names had been widely predicted. The only slight doubts were the name of the extra bowler (Woakes rather than Patel) and whether or not the selectors felt that Matt Prior was ready for a five-day Test – if not, it is widely assumed that James Foster was on standby and he may yet play this summer.

Prior played against Loughborough and in the first Championship match against Middlesex in April and, since then, has only played a single T20 and the latest Championship game against Nottinghamshire. Scores of 43, 0, 125, 39, 30 and 19* suggest that his batting is in decent knick, but he has only taken the gloves for the T20 and the Notts game, so there must be some doubt about his staying power if he needs to field for the best part of two days.

The failures of others had made Sam Robson’s elevation inevitable after a superb winter. His start to the season has been solid, rather than spectacular, with a single First Class century (a big one) plus another in a friendly and 3x50. His season so far has been famine or feast: 11, 1, 163, 41*, 7, 77, 7, 68, 51, 19*, 6, 24, 42*. However, 517 runs at 51.7 is not to be sniffed at, even if it places him only 18^th in the table of run-scorers so far in First Class cricket.

Chris Jordan’s success had made his elevation inevitable. With Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad fit and showing good form and useful part-time spinners available in Root and Moeen Ali, Samit Patel and Scott Borthwick could not force their way in and James Tredwell’s travails meant that he was never a serious option as a specialist spinner.

Liam Plunkett has been getting headlines this season. He has not been destructive – he still does not have a 5-for and his best match figures are only 5-97 – but he has been fast, nasty, aggressive and consistent with 26 wickets at 25.5. The Sri Lankan batsmen have already shown that if there is any life in the pitch at all they just do not fancy facing Chris Jordan one little bit.

It is a safe bet that Chris Woakes (somewhat lucky to be picked given his poor season so far, but still as good an all-round promise as you can get) will be the spare bowler and that will Jimmy Anderson, who has been in vintage form, blocks up an end, the Sri Lankans will face Jordan, Plunkett and Broad running in hard and bowling a lot of short balls at the body.

Lords pitches have not been very lively in recent years. If the Sri Lankan’s find any green at all in the pitch this morning it will do nothing to alleviate their suspicions that they are being victimised. A strong and united team with a grudge will be a dangerous opponent, even though England should be too strong in the end.

Early Signs Are The Bowling Is More Of An Issue For England

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Contenders Showing County Form

 

April 16^th 2014

 

 

With eight rounds of matches before the international season starts and almost every place in the England line-up at least potentially up for grabs, early county form is going to be unusually important. So far there have been two rounds, plus a host of matches against the students in various guises.

So far, only Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex have played two games in Division 1 and, in Division 2, only Hampshire and Worcestershire. However, already a lot of contenders have put down markers. Ian Bell, Alistair Cook, Sam Robson, Matt Prior, Jonny Bairstow (although against the students), Gary Ballance, Michael Carberry and Adil Rashid, one of England’s forgotten men, all have centuries. Robson, Bell and Cook all went well past 150. The top runscorer in the land though is an England reject: Ed Joyce has 3 centuries in 4 innings to date and 383 runs, well ahead of Alistair Cook’s 315, also in 4 innings.

It is early days, but plenty of batsmen are scoring runs. Despite Carberry’s century today, there are thoughts that maybe Sam Robson is pushing to the head of the queue to accompany Alistair Cook to the middle: one more big score and his case may become irresistible, while Carberry may be behind even Nick Compton now and wasting his time having criticised the selectors. The bowling situation though is less clear.

Steve Finn (twice), Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Meaker all have 5-fors, Meaker’s a 6-6 against some stunned students, but he also took a 4-for and bowled with fire in a lost cause against Glamorgan. Steve Finn’s 15 wickets have come at a strike rate of 25.5 in just three innings, suggesting that reports of his demise are premature. Elsewhere, Chris Jordan has impressed with pace, hostility and skill and Tymal Mills has had a powerful performance, if still painfully erratic and nowhere near ready for Test cricket.

So far we have not seen Broad, Bresnan or Stokes and spinners have been mainly surplus to requirements, so the relative claims of Borthwick, Moeen Ali, Tredwell, Monty and Rayner are somewhat on hold. Moeen and Monty have had their moments and Scott Borthwick has been Scott Borthwick: expensive, but his two wickets in two balls almost snatched a win for Durham in a match that looked a certain draw against Northants (8 wickets at 34.4 and a strike rate of 53 suggests that he has a wicket-taking knack, however many half-trackers are mixed in). If either Moeen or Borthwick want to play, they need to score plenty of runs and, so far, others have more.

Other absences are also significant. Jonathon Trott has just 71 runs in 3 innings. Nick Compton 105 runs in 3 innings, without a 50. Chris Woakes 26 and 2 wickets in 2 innings. Graeme Onions has 4 wickets @ 37.5. Joe Root is waiting, like Ben Stokes, for broken bones to heal. There is plenty of time for any or all of them to make their case, or for someone else to come through, but Trott and Woakes need to stake a claim soon, or find themselves left behind in the popular perception of who has form and who has not. Nick Compton needs big runs and, even then, it may not be enough to convince the selectors that he was dropped too soon. And those who suspect that Graeme Onions has lost a little bit of nip and would be exposed at Test level, even if he still does well for Durham, will look for signs that he is not quite the force that he was.

England Looking For Bal(l)ance?

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Watching the tealeaves

 

December 11^th 2013

 
 

For those looking at the tealeaves for hints of what England plan to do at Perth, one sizeable hint has passed under the radar. Gary Ballance was shipped off to Perth early to play for the EPP side against Western Australia 2^nd XI. With Chris Jordan and James Harris both impressing with three wickets in oppressive heat on the first day at Perth (albeit Jordan’s 3-83 was fairly expensive compared to Harris’s 3-58), the EPP XI has had a chance to make a point to their seniors, chasing the Western Australia 2^nd XI’s 319-8d on Day 1.

Ballance batted with enormous determination in stifling heat to score 89, but was still overshadowed by Sam Robson’s 108* in England’s 220-2d last night (European time), declaring when Ballance fell.  With Western Australian 2^nd XI collapsing to 32-5 just, 131 ahead, with Tymal Mills having an opening spell of 3-6 and Chris Jordan also taking a wicket with the new ball, it looked as if a swift end might come tonight. However, the middle order has staged a big recovery and, at 167-6 and a lead of 266 at the Close, the EPP are going to face a substantial fourth innings chase. This will allow Gary Ballance a further chance to push his case.

With a lot of pundits expecting Gary Ballance to bat at 6 in the Test, if he is picked to make his debut, he will have just one day to recover before walking out again. The fact though that Ballance could not quite finish the job and reach his century (like several of the England players at Adelaide), even against a very modest attack, does make one wonder if he is the solution to England’s lack of runs in the Tests. However, as these matches are almost not being reported, it is hard to find out what happened and just how meaningful any performance – usually reported through social media – is. The EPP matches are not ranked as First Class, which gives a strong indication of the quality of the opposition.

In contrast, after a modest second half of the English season, Sam Robson is going from strength to strength and is becoming well-nigh undismissible playing for the EPP. He is available for Tests next May, in time for the Sri Lanka series and, with England’s top 3 in a state of flux, there is a real chance that he may go straight into the side. Very few people see Michael Carberry as more than a short-term solution as an opener, Joe Root seems not to be ready to move up and there is increasing speculation that Alistair Cook may want to move away from the new ball in the future unless his form comes back. With two centuries for the EPP side, albeit against modest opposition, he has been the undoubted star of the team.

With Chris Jordan being picked for the ODIs to follow the Tests, England seem to be wanting to bring on players for a further regeneration of the side although, Australian claims notwithstanding, the England side is actually significantly younger than the Australian Ashes side. Chris Jordan’s ODI selection seems to be at the expense of Jade Dernbach who has finally – and many fans would say, not before time – exhausted he patience of the selectors, although still in the T20 squad. Jordan is very much at the crossroads In his career. He is now 25 and, after starting as an all-rounder of enormous potential for Surrey, lost his way as so many young players have done recently at that county. However, his performances for Sussex, particularly in the first half of the season and then for the Lions, in his ODI debut and now for the EPP have been encouraging but, if he does not break through in the next season, he may have missed his chance. Jordan though has declared for his adopted England ahead of his native Barbados (although also qualified for England through his grandmother), showing that he is prepared to burn his bridges in an effort to get into the tougher England set-up. If he decides to re-qualify for the West Indies in the future, he will be past 30 and unlikely to get a chance to play Test cricket, so this is very much an all-or-nothing shot at success.

With the EPP side already playing in Perth, there are people calling for Tymal Mills to be added to the England squad for the 3^rd Test, on the grounds that England need someone fast to counter the menace of Mitch Johnson. It is an interesting theory, but Mills is very raw and, like his teammate, Reece Topley, before him, who has only in 2013 played his first full season, is being only very lightly used by Essex in Division 2 of the county Championship. Mills played just 6 matches in 2013, taking 11 wickets, which hardly qualifies him for a Test debut and would make his elevation almost a desperation move.

Whatever combination England try, it is a fairly safe bet that Tymal Mills will not be in the XII! Australia though are trying to confuse things though by indicating that Nathan Lyon may well be in their XI and in suggesting that the Perth pitch will not just suit seam. It seems likely though that England, who must win, will go with four seamers and try to use the life in the pitch. Monty, Swann and Stokes will be nervous for their places, with Bresnan, Ballance and Finn all hovering, hoping for Andy Flower to wander up and give them some good news.

Bresnanwatch Continues

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Enter Tim Bresnan

 

November 28^th 2013

 

 

The chances of Tim Bresnan making what for many, would be a shock return to England colours for the 2^nd Test have just increased again. The aim of playing him against Queensland 2^nd XI was to assess his readiness for Tests. By playing him in the England Performance Programme game he gets a four day match against arguably stronger opposition – Queensland 2nds are roughly equivalent to a 2^nd Division English county – than he would get at Alice Springs in the two day game. If he lasts three days without reaction, he should last a five day Test (Australian fans might argue that there will not be many games going into a fifth day in this series). In theory, as the EPP game will end tomorrow, with the EPP side well-placed to win, Tim Bresnan could even take part in the second day of the game in Alice Springs too if the Queensland match finishes quickly and England are batting on the first day in Alice Springs.

Although the EPP side bowled out Queensland 2^nd XI cheaply and could have enforced the follow-on, they chose to bat again, 220 ahead and stretched the lead to 376 by the Close. Another overnight declaration should see Tim Bresnan get another good workout, even if the batting is not especially challenging. With 4-31, the best figures for the EPP side and a wicket third ball, he is showing that he is getting match fit and is ready for bigger tests after reportedly bowling at full pace in the nets.

However, this is not exactly great opposition. Joe Burns carried his bat for 97 in a total of 156 and only one other batsman passed 7. Interestingly, Tim Bresnan was promoted to bat at 4 in the second innings and managed a 5-ball duck, which will probably not dismay him too badly, while Sam Robson, batting at 7, added 35 not out to his 102 Retired Out in the first innings. However, the Queensland 2nds new ball and first change attack had exactly two First Class matches between them so, Ryan Harris and Mitch Johnson they were not.