West Indies v England, 2nd Test, Day 3: Awful England Crash Again

 

West Indies v England

2nd Test, Day 3: Awful England Crash Again

February 2^nd 2019

 

The relative batting performance for England and the West Indies can be summed-up in one statistic:

·        Seven West Indian batsmen got a start in their first innings, of whom, only two failed to reach thirty.

·        Seven England batsmen got a start in their second innings, of whom, only one reached twenty.

In a low-scoring Test, in which batsmen never felt in, the ability to grind-out a 30, or a 40 was fundamental. No one on either side got very close to Moeen Ali’s first innings 60, but all seven West Indians who got a start, passed 20 and enough of them chipped-in with 30s and 40s to take them past 300 and a total worth 500 to 600 on a better pitch.

In the 1^st Test, you could think of plenty of excuses: not enough practice, unfamiliar conditions, players a little over-confident, the wrong playing XI picked on the day, misreading of the conditions, etc. They would be switched-on and ready for the 2^nd Test. In fact, the margin in the 2^nd Test was probably even bigger than in the 1^st.

Much has been made of the relative difference in pace between the two attacks. In fact, it was not as great as it might seem:

England	Average Speed	West Indies	Average Speed	Difference
Anderson	81.7	Roach	81.6	-0.1
Broad	83.5	Gabriel	87.7	+4.2
Stokes	84.3	Joseph	85.3	+1.0
Curran	78.8	Holder	78.0	-0.8

Anderson and Curran were both slightly faster on average than their West Indian opposite number. Stokes was a fraction slower than Alzarri Joseph. The big difference was that the England pace attack had no one to compare with the pace of Shannon Gabriel. Although Gabriel only bowled around twenty deliveries in the England second innings that were above 90mph, the menace was always there. In contrast, 88mph was the absolute limit for the England bowlers, even with an effort ball (Ben Stokes bowled a couple of deliveries a little above 88mph, without ever threatening 89mph). Knowing that a really quick ball could come, the batsmen would always be a little tentative above getting into line, in case a ball came that exploded in their face in the way that the ball did to Joe Root in the 1^st Test.

One criticism was that the England bowlers were bowling the wrong length and line. Stuart Broad, in particular, beat the bat on dozens of occasions. Was he bowling too short? Would bowling straighter have helped?

Unfortunately, data is not available for the England first innings, but we can compare the line and length of Stuart Broad in the West Indian first innings and Shannon Gabriel in the England second innings. The comparison is interesting:

 

Gabriel only bowled 9 deliveries that pitched closer than 6m from the stumps. Broad pitched many more deliveries well up. Gabriel’s average length was about 7m from the stumps; Broad’s about 6.5m. Gabriel’s greater pace justified his slightly shorter length, but there is no good reason to say that Stuart Broad was consistently too short.

What about line? Gabriel’s average line to the right-hander was around seventh stump. Broad’s shows more dispersion, but was, on average, almost identical, although around half his deliveries were on the fourth/fifth stump line that Gabriel left almost unexplored. Gabriel pitched just one ball on the stumps; Broad just nine, one of them a toe-crunching Yorker on middle-and-off to the left-hander.

The biggest difference though was between Kemar Roach and Jimmy Anderson:

Anderson’s grouping to the right-hander was extraordinary, his deliveries landing in a box 4 metres long and about 4 stumps wide. The further up he pitched, the closer to the stumps the ball landed, making the batsman play. Roach tended to go much wider of off, tempting the batsman to have a go. In contrast, to the left-hander, Roach bowled more balls in line and was slightly tighter around off stump, with not a single ball down leg. In contrast about a third of Anderson’s deliveries to the left-hander were down the leg side, effectively eliminating LBW and bowled as modes of dismissal: in fact, around a third of his deliveries to the left-hander showed exactly the same tight grouping as he showed to the right-hander but, now, they were the wrong side of the stumps. This was the biggest single difference between the respective New Ball bowlers.

However, overall, there was not a huge difference between Anderson and Broad on one side and Roach and Gabriel on the other: Gabriel was that bit faster and could produce the 90+mph effort ball that was beyond Broad and Anderson’s line to the left-handers was significantly untidier, but there were not the abysmal differences in bowling between the two attacks that some critics perceived.

The big difference between the sides on a difficult pitch was:

(a)    Taking the chances that were offered. England missed too many.

and

(b)   The West Indian batsmen were far more determined to hang in there in difficult conditions and not to give it away. The West Indian batsmen sold their wickets at the highest possible price.

For the 3^rd Test, at Gros Islet, England are hoping for a better pitch because they have seen that, on pitches with life, the West Indians have a big advantage. It would be astonishing if the groundsman did not serve up another spicy pitch, with the West Indians going for the throat. That said, is there anything that England can do to give themselves a better chance?

Denly had two low scores and his one Test has produced 23 runs, compared to the 31 of Jennings. Neither has exactly covered himself with glory. It would be hard to drop Denly and bring back Jennings… and pretty unjustifiable. There might though just possibly be a reason to play both Jennings and Denly, with Denly opening and Jennings slotting-in at #3, where many pundits suspect that he may do better, long-term, although it would be better to go with Burns and Jennings opening and Denly in his accustomed place at #3. While Jennings has not exactly been full of runs, part of the opener’s job is to see off the opening bowlers and get the shine off the ball. That Jennings did do: he faced as many balls in his two innings in the 1^st Test, as Buttler, Foakes or Moeen Ali have in the two Tests combined and not many fewer than Bairstow and Stokes.

One reason to play Jennings would be if there is a second, attacking spinner, because his specialist fielding at Short Leg at least partly compensates a lack of runs. That would be if the selectors went with Jack Leach instead of Sam Curran. Curran is going at almost 4-an-over and has taken just a single wicket in 42 overs of generally quite innocuous seam and, although third in the batting averages thanks to a Not Out, has managed just 50 runs. One suspects that Jack Leach would be a much better foil to Moeen Ali than Adil Rashid, would offer more wicket-taking threat than Sam Curran and, even if he slightly lengthens the tail, that tail has hardly wagged so far in the series anyway, with the last three wickets falling for one run in the first innings and fourteen in the second, having fallen for sixteen and eighteen in the 1^st Test. Overall, Leach is likely to add far more value in total than Curran.

With Ollie Stone withdrawn from the tour and Chris Woakes injured, the Leach for Curran swap is the only one feasible in the attack. Who though might make way to allow Burns, Jennings and Denly to make up the top 3? Jos Buttler’s 55 runs in 4 innings, while not exactly any worse than his colleagues, is certainly no better and it looks as if his hands have been generously spread by some errant kiwi with what was, for my generation, termed “Britain’s favourite butter”. He is also batting at least one and possibly two places too high at #5 If Buttler were to make way, Jonny Bairstow would go back to #5, where he would be likely to make more runs and we would, at least, have a top five of specialists, batting in their specialist position, rather than a mixture of batsmen out of position.

So, although it would make some fans splutter over their morning toast, the following XI would do no worse than the two sides selected so far:

Burns

Jennings

Denly

Root

Bairstow

Stokes

Foakes

Moeen

Broad

Leach

Anderson

West Indies v England, 2nd Test, Day 2: Blackwash Incoming!

 

West Indies v England

2nd Test, Day 2: Blackwash Incoming!

February 1^st 2019

 

Having seen John Campbell survive three false shots in one over yesterday evening, any one of which could have led to his dismissal then, in the next over, play and miss five times, today Stuart Broad saw him reprieved on review (catch by Root at 2^nd Slip), saw Keaton Jennings just miss out on a brilliant catch at Square Leg and saw Jos Buttler make a horrible hash of a dolly at 3^rd Slip, followed by a top edge that dropped safe in his next over. Then Campbell top-edged just out of reach of a chasing Jonny Bairstow. Poor Broad must have been wondering just what he has done wrong. And all the while the score mounted. However, it was also true enough that had Broad pitched a yard further up, he might have conceded more runs, but could have converted a dozen deliveries into wickets. Off came Broad. On came Stokes and, almost immediately, Campbell played the same shot to Buttler, now at 2^nd slip, only for him to hold on this time. Broad’s thoughts must have been unprintable. However, with just a single wicket falling before Lunch, things were looking increasingly black for England. Buttler’s drop was the ninety-seventh catch dropped off Stuart Broad in his Test career: Jos Buttler would make it ninety-eight soon after the new ball was taken after Tea.

It was a day when a batting side could be forgiven for falling to 77ao. It was also a day when taking chances was critical: England had the most awful luck – two decisions overturned (correctly) on review, balls flying just out of reach of fielders, delivery after delivery passing a groping outside edge – but also missed critical chances... the two drops by Buttler and one by Rory Burns. By one count, Stuart Broad could have taken as many as eighteen wickets between balls that beat the batsmen all ends up, edges that just evaded fielders and dropped catches. It did not take long for the feeling to pervade play that this was just not England’s day. And, all the time, John Campbell rode his luck and refused to give it away. It was a lesson in batting for England. This has been one of the biggest differences between the sides: the West Indian batsmen have gritted it out, ignored the near misses - the count was 103 "plays and misses" - and got on with it, while the English batsmen have either fallen to the first chance that they offered, or survived one and then, given it away.

The match situation at the start of the day was that whichever side won the day would win the match. West Indies have won the day clearly and are in pole position to seal the match and the series. England’s only slight hope is to knock over the tail quickly – although there are few signs of that happening – and that one of the top five makes a century. With a lead of 150, which means scoring 250+, the side batting last will have a tremendously tough task. Batting last is going to be very, very tough. It is hard though to avoid the feeling that England will need to do something very special to avoid a 3-0 blackwash as a prelude to the Ashes.

 

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.

West Indies v England, 1st Test, Day 4: Implosion and the Fifteenth Largest Defeat by Runs in Test History

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 4: Implosion and the Fifteenth Largest Defeat by Runs in Test History

January 26^th 2019

 

With England 215-4, five minutes before Tea and two set batsmen at the crease, England should have been setting their sights on taking the match well past Lunch on the last day. Victory was impossible, but an honourable defeat was well within reach. Who knows? Some rain and a bit of bloody-mindedness and an incredible escape might even be possible.

Reality was that two wickets fell to poor shots in twelve deliveries and England went to Tea knowing that it was all over bar the shouting.

The last six wickets fell for 31 runs in 71 balls. It was a miserable collapse on a pitch that had flattened-out, against a spinner who did not spin the ball.

The final margin was 381 runs. The largest ever margins of defeat by runs are listed here.

It was all so unnecessary. Burns and Jennings had continued where they had left off the night before. For fifty-two balls of the morning session, Jennings blocked-up an end and Burns accumulated busily at the other. It was the best opening partnership for a year and a half. Had it continued for an hour longer, the great escape could have become a reality. Burns looked set for a century. Jennings looked to have done the hard work and set up a big score for the taking. Leaden-footed waft. Thanks very much. And an end was open.

All the top six got starts, but only Rory Burns past 34 and he gave his wicket away too, just before the fifty partnership with Jonny Bairstow. Gave it away, as did all the top eight.

In the harsh light of a huge defeat, some fans are calling this the worst England side ever. It is not. This side beat India and Sri Lanka and had won six of its previous seven Tests. But it is a side with a couple of key weaknesses. And the team that was picked was not the one for this pitch. England misread the pitch completely and probably relied on winning the Toss and batting.

In the cold light of day, Sam Curran’s 14, 17 did not compensate for match figures of 29-4-133-1. Even had Stuart Broad scored a king pair, there is a feeling that he would have got much more out of the pitch than Sam Curran and kept down the West Indian first innings score. However, before we get all misty-eyed, Stuart Broad is not the player he was 5 or 6 years ago. He has brilliant performances with the ball, but they are becoming rarer. The fans have been questioning his continued selection for about as long as one can remember.

Probably Broad will play in Antigua, where a low, slow pitch is expected that will most-likely not suit him at all. Sam Curran’s selection was down to the idea that he could provide variety in the attack, a holding role, knocking-over wickets with the new ball and plenty of runs down the order. Now, the Curran bubble has burst: with his lack of speed, can he take wickets when not faced with a seaming, swinging greentop? Can he convert himself into a solid batsman in the lower middle order and fourth seamer?

We will never know what would have happened had Stuart Broad played. Maybe he would have had one of his nightmare matches in which he can find neither line nor rhythm. Or maybe he would have taken 6-20 on the first morning. You can play “what if” all you like.

The other two positions that are looking wide open for the 2^nd Test are that of Keaton Jennings and of Adil Rashid.

I am a fan of both, but it is hard to see how either can play at Antigua. England have three Tests before the Ashes and one of them is a four-day match against Ireland. The selectors have to cut their losses with Jennings and either say that he will play the 1^st Test against Australia WHATEVER HAPPENS, or play his replacement. It is just possible that Jennings will play the 2^nd Test and that a decision will be made after it, in which case, almost certainly Joe Denly – no longer now an opener – would debut in the final Test, unless a convenient injury allows an opener to be called-up from the Lions. Like so many recent openers for England, Jennings has trouble outside his off stump. Sam Robson was a classic example. Also, like so many openers tried by England, Jennings scored a century early in his Test career, seemed set for great things, and then faded away. There is something very Rob Key-like about Jennings: in his last 21 innings, he has reached double figures 17 times, but passed 40 just 4 times; his median score in those 21 innings is 17. In other words, Jennings is getting a start, getting in, almost every time, but then getting out. It is something that Rob Key did a lot – he had the occasional big innings where he broke big, but was never really in and could fall at any time.

However, for all his success last season in Division 2 on some frequently very difficult pitches, there is a feeling that it is too late for Joe Denly. I like him a lot as a cricketer and am delighted to see him back in England colours, but Denly would be another stop-gap as a non-specialist and a high-risk strategy. He was taken to Sri Lanka as a potential #3 and third spinner and proved to be so far off the pace that he could fill neither role, causing a change in selection strategy for the Tests.

The other decision is Adil Rashid or Jack Leach, although a case could be made for dropping Moeen Ali. Again, caution. Adil Rashid, like Moeen Ali, is polarising opinion. We forget that both have done great things for England and recently too. Adil Rashid will never be Shane Warne. He will always have innings and matches in which his control and direction simply do not exist. At the same time, he can bowl an awful spell, be sent into the naughty-boy outfield for three or four hours and then come back for a second spell and bowl a delivery that turns a match. England gambled on his ability to deliver a couple of explosive balls that change the momentum of a match.

Moeen, who has been messed around something rotten, shuffled up and down the order, is now on a bad trot with the bat. Even a return to batting at #8, where he has had some of his best innings, simply has not worked for him. He looks completely at sea. And, despite a spell with the ball in the second innings in which he briefly threatened to turn the match, he could not follow through. Moeen’s performances with the ball against India and Sri Lanka should make him un-droppable, but the fans are unforgiving… and have short memories… just ask Stuart Broad.

Would Jack Leach have done better than Adil Rashid? Would Rashid + Leach, Leach + Moeen, or Moeen + Adil Rashid have been the best combination? Going back thirty years, England had Edmonds and Emburey. Classic Slow Left Arm and Off-Break. They could attack, or bowl long holding spells and the fact that their stock ball went in opposite directions made them a powerful complementary force. It is not difficult to believe that Leach would have complemented Moeen better than Adil Rashid, even if he did not offer the prospect of that occasional, explosive ball. However, it is not hard to imagine that sooner, rather than later, Jack Leach will pair up with Dominic Bess in a Test in a partnership that could continue for fifteen years.

What to think of the West Indies performance? They were brilliant. They wanted it more. They out-played, out-fought and out-thought England. Despite years of conflict between players and Board. Despite cricket no longer being such a part of West Indian life. Despite First Class cricket in the Caribbean dying, brilliant cricketers come through. This time it has been 22-year-old Shimron Hetmyer with 81 in the first innings that set up a winning total for his side. Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Shane Dowrich and Royston Chase have added their names to the long list of players who have bloodied England in recent series between the two sides. Will this be yet another false dawn for the West Indies? You would not bet against it, although fans would love it to be the start of a genuine, sustained resurgence of West Indian cricket. As was pointed out before the series, the West Indian attack has a fine record over the last year. We knew that they would test the England batsmen: that much was no surprise. The question is: can the dysfunctional WICB keep its young players and not lose the older hands? This is its biggest problem. World cricket needs a strong West Indies side, but governance has been so poor over the last decade that one wonders whether or not yet another new dawn for Caribbean cricket will turn quickly again into black night.

The questions for England are: do they twist or stick with selection and, can they get back into this series?

Right now, England are 1-0 down and need to win both remaining Tests to win the series. They have also shown enough vulnerability to encourage the West Indies to produce result pitches for those two Tests.

 

West Indies v England, 1st Test, Day 1: Anderson and Stokes Provoke a Calypso Collapso

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 1: Anderson and Stokes Provoke a Calypso Collapso

January 23^rd 2019

 With the pitch suggesting to Joe Root that a second spinner might be more useful than an extra seamer, Sam Curran put another nail in the incipient coffin of Stuart Broad’s Test career by keeping him out of the side again and Adil Rashid won the battle for the #10 spot in the batting order from Jack Leach, with the selectors reasoning that his ability to produce an explosive, wicket-taking delivery was more important than Leach’s economy and ability to close-down an end. While the Curran-for-Broad selection worked in Sri Lanka, where seamers were bit-players, how effective it will be in the Caribbean is open to doubt. Broad, at his best, is by far the better bowler, although Curran offers variety, giving a left-arm/right-arm opening attack, something that England have missed for many years. However, it did not take long for doubts to surface, with his first ball disappearing to the boundary and the 21 runs from his first five overs providing sharp contrast to the just 4 runs from Jimmy Anderson’s first five. The decision to play Adil Rashid brought the normal storm of protest on social media, ignoring the fact that the eight matches since his unexpected recall have brought him 22 wickets at 29.4, well below his career average and a reputation for making critical breakthroughs when most needed and least expected. While the Moeen-Leach OB/SLA combination is probably the best match and the most reliable, life is never boring when Adil Rashid is bowling. And to think that Dominic Bess, who made such a favourable impression last summer, is no better than fourth choice and maybe even fifth. Spin may be dead, but England have probably six spinners right now who are as good as any who played in the barren years before Monty Panesar’s brief career.

Within an hour in the morning the fans more inclined to knee-jerk reactions were summing-up the match and the series. As Jimmy Anderson reeled-off maiden after maiden at one end, Sam Curran’s first ball sailed away to the boundary. Things did not get much better for him after that inauspicious start. Suffice it to say that he does not look like a new ball bowler at this level.The pitch looked friendly. The bowling looked impotent. And the selection of Curran and Adil Rashid ahead of Broad and Leach looked like a pretty crass error. It was a situation that threatened 300-3 at the Close and a hard day chasing leather. The openers put on 53 and then 73 were added for the second wicket. At 126-1, with only Jimmy Anderson exercising any control, Stuart Broad was beginning to look like a bowler of legendary powers (it is curious, when he is in the side the fans moan that he has done nothing to justify his place and, when he not picked, they moan that he is the best bowler that we have). There was though a little warning of the frailties of Caribbean cricket as Ben Stokes picked up Brathwaite and Bravo in quick succession and 126-1 became a slightly less solid 128-3. Still, five of the top six reached 40 and with the new ball taken and the Close looming, 240-4 looked like the foundation for 400+. The West Indians just needed someone to hang around and turn a solid start into a big score and make England suffer. This is not a great England side, but one of its virtues is that it finds ways to turn games that look to be heading the way of the opposition.

Sixteen deliveries with the new ball and even though the odd ball beat the bat, more were beating the boundary fielders. Then Royston Chase played a loose shot and, suddenly, the batting disintegrated in the Calypso Collapso fashion that has encouraged tired bowlers for years. Three quick wickets for Jimmy Anderson and then one for Ben Stokes with what proved to be the last ball of the day. The West Indians can consider themselves fortunate that, despite a decent over-rate from England, the umpires considered that there was not enough time left to finish the over, otherwise you would not have bet against a ninth wicket falling.

264-8 represented a decent day’s work yet, with the new ball suddenly starting to spit and misbehave, you wonder if the pitch really is as benign as it appeared to be in the morning. It could have been even better. At 178-4, Hetmayer drove Jimmy Anderson to Jos Buttler at cover. Buttler shelled what should have been a fairly straightforward catch and Hetmayer went on to 56* at the Close. Maybe England will pay for two sessions of anaemic cricket and 280 will prove to be a match-winning score: that you never know until both sides have batted and, sometimes, not even then. England though have a got themselves into a position that offers them a real chance if they can finish the tail quickly in the morning. With Jimmy Anderson resting on figures of 24-12-33-4 and Ben Stokes, 19.2-2-47-3, with a still new ball in the morning, the England batsmen may get their chance quite quickly.

England v Pakistan: 2nd, Day 1 - As You Were!

 

England v Pakistan: 2^nd, Day 1

As You Were!

June 1^st 2018

If Joe Root’s fairy godmother had appeared and offered him three wishes, you can guarantee that “a decent opening partnership” and “bowlers with accurate length and line” would have been the first two out of his mouth. “Knocking over the opposition cheaply” would have followed them. It was his lucky day. The fairy godmother came up trumps. England looked like the side that, over recently years, has been hard to beat at home.

The final England XI was as difficult to call as any for a long time. In the end, to the already known sacrifice of Stoneman was added Mark Wood – not a good day to be called “Mark” – and Ben Stokes was unable even to bat. This meant that Woakes came in for Stokes and Curran for Wood, to add some variety to the attack.

There were calls for Stuart Broad to be dropped after a largely anaemic winter – if you pass over his fine performances in New Zealand – and a poor 1^st Test. He though, after rumours that he might be dropped, was well-nigh unplayable for a good fraction of the day, inducing a play and a miss from an incredible 30% of deliveries. He removed both openers with 17 on the board and took Usman Salahuddin to leave Pakistan 78-6. When Jimmy Anderson added Faheem Ashraf to his earlier dismissal of Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan were 79-7 and looking set for a total under 100. Shadhab Khan scored a fine 50, well-supported by the tail, to avoid that indignity, before becoming Sam Curran’s first Test wicket.

While 174ao in a session and a half was no way to start a Test, it was not the disaster for Pakistan that it could have been. It also showed how the situation has reversed since Lord’s: England were energetic, the bowling accurate and they caught (almost) everything.

Pakistan, in contrast, looked helpless with the bat and unthreatening with the ball. England got their first fifty opening partnership for seven Tests. Jennings and Cook were both solid and batted well together, so it was a surprise when Jennings edged behind. There was also a fifty partnership for the second wicket, with Cook falling shortly before the Close, just short of his own fifty. Dom Bess’s reward for his batting at Lord’s was to be promoted to nightwatchman and he duly took 9 of the 13 balls remaining in the day. If Root and Bess can bed-in in the morning, it will set up the position for Bairstow and Buttler to push on, hopefully to a score near 400. The bad news is that the weather forecast is poor, something that Pakistan, for once, will not be to unhappy about.

One ball from Hasan Ali in the final over pitched on a good length and kept alarmingly low: if that is happening on the first day, the fifth day may not be fun for the batsmen.

3-43 for Anderson. 3-38 for the superb Broad. 3-55 for Woakes, expensive, but threatening. And 1-33 for Curran, who shaped-up well, even if at the gentlest pace of the England quartet. What was interesting was that, with the exception of Mohammed Abbas, who was high-70s, all the seam bowlers on both sides were averaging low 80s, although the quickest balls of the day were bowled by Hassan Ali and Mohammad Amir.

England v Pakistan: 1st Test Preview - And the Winner is… Dom Bess!

 

England v Pakistan: 1^st Test Preview

And the Winner is… Dom Bess!

May 23^rd 2018

First: an apology… I never did wrap up the New Zealand series. Disappointment at the outcome – when you take wickets with the first two balls of the day and it is all downhill from there, it takes some effort to dredge up the effort to write. New Zealand held out comfortably for the draw and took the series. England were not good enough. New Zealand were good value for their win and deserved it thoroughly.

Then, a heavy schedule at work was followed by being signed-up by the View from the Outfield website to report on County cricket – if you don’t know View from the Outfield, you can find it at viewfromtheoutfield.com: it is well worth a read – which is taking two or three hours out of many of my evenings.

Another season, another series. Pakistan are the warm-up act for the summer’s main series against India, with an ODI series against Australia sandwiched in between. For England, this summer bears a depressing similarity to 2014, when England played after a 5-0 defeat in Australia, then lost for the first time at home to Sri Lanka and were being thoroughly outplayed by India before Moeen Ali went from being “Moeen Who??” to being “the beard that is feared”.

There is an irony in the fact that, having been a fixture in the England side for four years since his Lord’s debut against Sri Lanka in 2014, Moeen was almost certainly not even mentioned by the selectors for this Test. In India and Australia over the last two winters, England have given debuts to Liam Dawson, Zafir Ansari, Mason Crane and Jack Leach. Ansari has retired. Liam Dawson’s star has faded to the extent that he is unlikely to play another Test. Crane is just coming back from serious injury and now it is the turn of Jack Leach, who took Mason Crane’s place in New Zealand when Crane was injured, to have a serious injury himself.

While short-sighted curmudgeons have been moaning about playing on “the beach at Taunton”, England are seeing it pay dividends. Jack Leach was one of the few successes on the Lion’s tour to the Caribbean and his spin-twin, Dom Bess, also came out of that tour with great credit with a maiden century (in the post-Lions, Champion county match) and wickets. He may have played only sixteen First Class matches and he may not be a regular in the Somerset side but, when he plays, he has often been lethal. Twenty years old and averaging four wickets per match in his short career, astute followers of the county game have known for a year that his Test match debut was just a matter of time: most people expected to be against Sri Lanka in the Autumn but, the attrition rate of spinners means that he will get an early chance to impress. Lest we forget, Alf Valentine had only played TWO First Class matches before he set about destroying the England batting in 1950.

It could all end in tears – England have tried spinner after spinner since the decline and fall of Swann and Monty – but remember that Nathan Lyon was the thirteenth spinner to be tried by Australia in a short space of time and he seems to have done okay.  There are plenty of cricketing reasons to believe that, come this Autumn, in Leach and Bess, England will take to Sri Lanka their most potent spin combination since 2011.

Do not expect miracles from Dom Bess. He has taken just one wicket so far this season on the seam-friendly pitches, as Somerset have relied so far on pace, but this game will be about his temperament and readiness. Bess will play, as England have already stated that he will provide the variety in a seam-heavy attack.

For England there are many questions:

·       Has Alistair Cook still got the hunger to score big runs? In 2017 he was scoring runs for fun for Essex before the Tests. In 2018, he has managed 84, 0, 26, 37 and 66. After a pretty dreadful winter, there is enough there to show that he is getting some form back but, will it last into the Pakistan Tests?

·       Mark Stoneman is lucky to hold his place. He scored 4x50 during the winter and bettered his best Test score three times, falling in single-figures just twice in seven Tests, but still has not passed 60. Can he make a definitive contribution and seal his place? He has reached 20 four times in seven innings this season for Surrey, but has yet to reach 30. In contrast, Keaton Jennings is on a run of 109, 126, 136, 73 and 69 for Lancashire. If Jennings can maintain this prolific form, it will be hard to ignore him.

·       What about Joe Root at #3? He prefers to bat at 4. It is well-chronicled that it is a long time since Root has converted a 50 into a century: he has been scoring 50s a-plenty, but the difference between the two sides in Australia was often the relative contributions of the captains. Can Root score big runs at #3 and improve his conversion statistics?

·       Is Ben Stokes ready for Tests again? We already know that he will miss one of the Tests against India as his charge for affray will come up in Bristol Crown Court, where he faces a possible sentence of three years in prison. How distracted is he by what is coming up and by the media circus that will follow him?

·       What about Jos Buttler? He will bat at 7 with a licence to play with freedom. However, he played just one red-ball game in 2017 and has struggled to adapt to Tests. Can he harness his incredible talents in Tests? His form, opening, in the IPL has been extraordinary, but that is a very different problem to batting in a Test.

·       Which way will England jump with the fourth seamer: Chris Woakes or Mark Wood? Woakes was bitterly disappointing in Australia and Mark Wood can hardly say that he seized his opportunity in New Zealand with both hands. Can either cut it long-term at Test level?

·       And, the $64000 question: how long have Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson got left? Anderson was masterful in Australia and Stuart Broad looks to be back to his best, but England know that Anderson is on borrowed time and Broad may have only two years left in him at this level, even if his form continues to justify his place.

Last time Pakistan toured England, they shared the series, celebrated wins with press-ups. They also became #1 in the ICC Test rankings to boot. Now they are #7 having barely won a match since. They beat Ireland, but not after Tim Murtagh and Kevin O’Brien gave them an almighty scare (in the end they were relieved to scramble over the line) and have been depressingly badly treated with the warm-ups, by having games against the hapless Northants and a weak Leicestershire: as preparation goes for a Test series the ECB should be embarrassed and ashamed by their lack of generosity as hosts.

It is quite likely that just four of the eleven players who faced England at Lord’s less than two years ago will be in the Pakistan XI. Like England, they desperately need a strong showing for their own credibility. Pakistan are mercurial: perhaps the most naturally talented cricketers in the world, they get too easily distracted by what they see as on and off-the-field conspiracies and, as a result, disintegrate far too easily. Just as England have to learn to cope with pitches taking big turn in India and the UAE, India and Pakistan have to learn to cope with a tinge of green in the pitch in England without screaming “foul!!” Cricket is intended to be played on grass and, in a wet and humid country, grass tends to grow green.

The bad news for England is that even a 2-0 series win – which seems to be totally implausible – will barely gain any ranking points: England need to win 1-0 even to stand still. Pakistan will remember what Sri Lanka did in 2014 and know that England are vulnerable and that there are questions against the name of almost every player in the XI; the Pakistanis will be only too happy to deepen the England crisis and are quite capable of doing it if they can retain their focus.

New Zealand v England: 2nd Test, Day 3 - This is not an April Fool: England may win!

 

New Zealand v England: 2^nd Test, Day 3

This is not an April Fool: England may win!

April 1^st 2018

When England were 94-5 on the first afternoon, you would not have got very good odds on a New Zealand win. The dark forecasts of some fans that England would be whitewashed 2-0 looked all too likely to be fulfilled. It is Joe Root though who, today, will be shouting “April Fool”, having fooled most of the cricketing world into believing that his side would struggle to beat anyone right now. Suddenly and unexpectedly, England are right on top and, with two days to play – albeit two days that will be curtailed due to bad light – will hope to set New Zealand around 400 to win in four and a half sessions.

If you had added that this position would be set up by Stoneman and Vince, you would have been condemned for trying an obvious April Fool. Let us not be fooled though. Stoneman and Vince respect tradition and have not suddenly become Compton and Edrich: Stoneman pushes his highest Test score ever upwards – 52, 53, 56 and now, 60! At this rate he should score his maiden Test century in around his 40^th Test. If you look at Stoneman’s scores in this series – 11, 55, 35 & 60 – you would feel forced to say that he has been a success, averaging 40, but he continues to suffer from vertigo when in. If you consider reaching 15 as getting a start, he has done it in 13 of his 18 Test innings, but still averages only 30.2. Vince is just as bad. He has now played 13 Tests and averages under 25. He has reached 15 in his last eight innings, but passed 25 just twice. And his dismissals are almost identical ever time, prodding outside off. Partnership of 123, grinding England into a position of near impregnability and then both getting out within a few runs of each other.

It is fortunate that two other players who are short of runs in recent Tests took up the baton. There is a lot of chatter about Joe Root’s inability it covert 50s into 100s in Tests – a century here would set up a declaration and make a point. And, after a superb run, Dawid Malan’s run fountain has started to dry up. Since the start of the winter Tests, Joe Root has fallen in single figures just twice and made 6x50, but never got close to a century and has just one century in his last 13 Tests, as against 11x50. It is hard to criticise someone who has passed 50 twelve times in thirteen Tests, but such are the standards that Root has set, that people do wonder if the captaincy has just taken a little edge off his game. Dawid Malan was one of the great successes of the Ashes with 1x100 and 3x50 but, his last 5 innings have been 5, 2, 23, 0 & (now) 19*: another low score and the shine will be coming right off that Ashes success. Malan’s average is under 31 after twelve Tests and he knows that it has to increase, and rapidly, to cement his place.

That England are in this position is down to some excellent bowling from Stuart Broad. Bowling a fuller length and making batsmen play has made him look exponentially more threatening and a 6-for and his best figures for almost two years have been the reward. The opening bowlers on either side now have the first 23 wickets of the match. Never have the two pairs of opening bowlers bettered this number and, should Boult or Southee manage the next wicket to fall, the match will set a new record in Tests, beating the mark last set in 1912.

What England would like is to press on in the first session and stretch the lead from its current 231 to around 350. An hour in the afternoon at most, then, to a declaration. Ideally, they would like Root and Malan to set a foundation for Stokes and Bairstow to come in with a licence to enjoy themselves. Of course, in this topsy-turvy series of collapses and tail-end heroics, who knows what the reality will be like?