Finishing In The Pits

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

The Pits

 

March 31^st 2014

 

All logic said that England would end their campaign with a comfortable win of The Netherlands and would return home feeling a little better after an encouraging World T20 in which they could say, quite genuinely, that they were unlucky to be eliminated. No one could have imagined the full horror being on the wrong end of a hammering – their only heavy defeat of the tournament – to a side that is no longer ranked high enough to play official ODIs.

The team was awful. Catches dropped. Misdirected bowling. It took a mean spell from Ravi Bopara and, after a rather dodgy first over, from James Tredwell, to pull back the run rate. Then the batting was abysmal. England lost, inexplicably, to a team who they should have put to the sword, a team who were better on the day and, who should also have beaten South Africa.

In the three games so far the batting, condemned before the tournament as insipid and powder-puff, has been England’s strength. It has not been just Alex Hales’s century. In 30 matches in the tournament – 60 innings – just six times has 190 been reached, two of them by England. In Hales, England have the fifth highest run-scorer of the tournament and the second highest of the players not involved in the preliminary round. Various other batsmen have had useful innings, although the top three of Hales, Lumb and Moeen have not given England the solid starts that one would have liked. Moeen Ali, in particular, has been disappointing with the bat. However, a line-up criticised as unable to clear the boundary has hit 20 sixes and 58 fours in their four games (really in three because, today, the totals were 0 and 4 respectively).

When England have been weak has been in the bowling. No one has more than 4 wickets. Apart from the strangely underused Ravi Bopara, whose six overs over two games went for just 28, no one comes close to Chris Jordan’s figures: 4 wickets at 19, with a strike rate of 15.5 and economy of 7.35. Dernbach’s economy has been 11, Bresnan’s 9.7 (just 1 wicket for 97 in 10 overs), Broad’s 8.5, although with the consolation of 4 wickets at 25.5.

One thing that is singularly odd is that England’s three most economical bowlers bowled just 27.2 out of a possible 48 overs between them: in part that this because England used so many bowling options – 6 or 7 bowlers in each match – but it is still poor use of your resources to leave so many overs of your most reliable bowlers unused.

Bresnan and Dernbach have struggled. It is hard to see Dernbach playing again. Tim Bresnan has also looked more the vulnerable Bresnan of 2006 than the heroic figure of 2010/11. Can England continue to wait on him to rediscover his best form? It is hard to know how badly Stuart Broad’s knee problem has hampered him. After a poor start to the tournament with a couple of Dernbach-like overs, he has finished more strongly, but has never felt up to taking the new ball – not having him running in strongly with the new ball has weakened the attack significantly.

Like the death bowling, the fielding has been shambolic. Catch after catch has gone down. There have been misunderstandings in the field with runouts missed and catches dropping between fielders with neither making a serious effort to take responsibility. Unfortunately it has not been limited to difficult chances and to outfielders: several sitters have gone down and Jos Buttler has missed a couple of important chances too.

However, things are not as bad as they feel. The core of a strong side is there. Probably eight or nine of today’s starters will be in England’s best side in the summer, with the two or three changes more likely to be in the attack and one of those is more due to the nature of English pitches, which will not require two front-line spinners. Joe Root may well usurp Moeen Ali, but there must be some concern about Eoin Morgan who has only reached 20 twice in his last ten innings. The biggest need is to find a reliable death bowler and someone to use the new ball effectively. With Ravi Bopara, Moeen Ali and, presumably, Joe Root able to bowl overs, there will be no shortage of support options.

I stick by what said yesterday... it is not all bad. The side just needs a little luck and to win a couple of games to get some momentum.

Unconditional Surrender

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Without a fight

 

December 29^th 2013

 
 

At the start of the day there was a real chance that England could pull off a win. There were shadows around the ground of Dean Headley and Phil Tufnell and, why not? There were even thoughts of bustling Bob Willis charging in like a man possessed at Headingley. Australia’s top order has been shaky and you felt that one wicket could easily become three. Two edges went in quick succession to first slip and were floored and that was that. The first, you could argue, should have been attempted by Jonny Bairstow, but the captain went for it and got a hand to it. The second went straight in at a comfortable height and straight out. When that happened, you knew that the fight had gone. Jonny Bairstow did hold an edge soon after, but it was too little, too late. Shoulders had slumped. It was not going to happen.

Rivers of ink will be written about what happened and why. There are already calls for Andy Flower to go. The criticism last night of Alistair Cook’s occasionally bizarre decisions was manifest. Cook had two potential match-winners in the side: Stuart Broad and Monty Panesar, but seemed strangely reluctant to bowl either until it was too late. Joe Root got two short spells before Monty was even tried. To his credit, Joe Root did bowl one of the only four maidens of the innings, but the unwillingness to put on Monty early with a hard ball and just see what might happen was alarming. It is obvious that Alistair Cook has no faith in him and, if England play two spinners at Sydney, they will be Tredwell and Borthwick.

Andy Flower must take his share of blame for the dysfunctional squad. When you have three bowlers who you cannot risk playing, another who you do not want to play and two batsmen who you would prefer not to have to play in the team and *then* lose two vital players in mid-tour, you are in a mess.

While most people were happy to see Finn and Rankin in the squad and expected them to make a big impact – the reasoning behind picking them was good – there was a lot of scepticism about Chris Tremlett, who could not even hold down a regular place last season in a desperately poor Surrey side. Maybe the idea was to take him as a loyalty bonus in a large squad, with no plan to play him but, instead, to monitor his rehabilitation: if it was, the fact that he suddenly became a contender for the Test squad despite having the poorest returns of the three in the warm-ups, simply on the basis of net bowling, was a real cause for concern. It is true that England discovered Steve Finn on the basis of a net spell in the UAE, when Finn could not even get into the Lions team, leaping straight from net bowler to the Lions to Test bowler against Bangladesh. It is also true that Geoff Boycott “discovered” Carl Rackemann in the nets in 1977/78 (fancy some free dentistry, Geoff cobber?) but if you are picking your Test bowlers on their net form rather than middle form, something is seriously wrong.

Right now almost every place in the squad is up for grabs. Patience has almost run out for Michael Carberry, who started the tour with such a bang, but whose strokeless effort in the second innings had a lot to do with the collapse that followed. With Alistair Cook hitting the ball so sublimely, Carberry just needed to push singles and twos into gaps to pile the pressure on Australia by upping the run rate.

Carberry’s stats make interesting reading. In his five Tests he has totaled no less than 40 and no more than 74 runs per Test. Total consistency, but with the frustration of getting in and getting out time and again:

30, 34, 40, 0, 60, 14, 43, 31, 38, 12

302 runs at 30.2.

Nick Compton’s sequence was

9, 37, 29, 30*, 57, 9*, 3, 34, 0, 117, 100, 13, 2, 16, 15, 1, 7

479 runs at 31.9, aided by two not outs and a curiously similar start.

Apart from Carberry, Alistair Cook desperately needs some runs. Joe Root’s amazing international start has hit the buffers. Many question KP’s willingness to go on, even if his increasingly damaged knee permits it. It is hard to see Trott or Prior lining up against Sri Lanka next Spring, barring some extraordinary early season form. Swann has gone. Jonny Bairstow (average under 29 and, despite getting into double figures in his last nine innings, just two scores in them over 37) may have just the final Test left to avoid being discarded for good. Despite good form in the UAE and India when he bowled in tandem with Graeme Swann, Monty has gone backwards since 2007 and it is hard to see him playing another Test unless he can re-discover his golden touch at Essex. A lot of pundits would not pick Jimmy Anderson for Sydney and might not for Sri Lanka.

And Tim Bresnan, who has done exactly the job that he was picked for, including the figures of 18-6-24-2 in the first innings that took wickets at the other end for his teammates, is usually the first name on the team list to be greeted with cries of despair from England fans, wondering what he is in the side for. For the record, only Joe Root has a better economy rate for England in the series whereas, although his wickets have been relatively expensive (although less so than Anderson’s, Swann’s, Monty’s and Stokes’s), only Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and, by a fraction, Ben Stokes have a better strike rate for England.

Most people are suggesting that England need to shuffle the batting order and add some pace to the attack. Finn has more wickets on the tour at a better strike rate than Rankin, but Rankin’s far superior economy may win out, although Finn would be the most dangerous bowler… albeit, most likely to both sides. He needs to be handled with care in a five-man attack and asked to bowl very short spells, flat out. Whether Finn for Anderson would revive the menace in England’s attack is open to doubt: Broad, Stokes and even Anderson have touched 90mph and Finn is not an express bowler.

Next summer there are plenty of options: Chris Jordan, Tymal Miils, Chris Woakes could all make the step up. Graeme Onions is around. Woakes’s nervous start recalled Ian Botham’s debut in 1977 when his inaccurate swingers were ruthlessly picked off by Greg Chappell and it would be foolish to discard him, particularly as he came back well later. Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, the Overtons and James Taylor are all waiting in the wings, not forgetting Scott Borthwick and Varun Chopra and, of course, Sam Robson, plus a chastened Simon Kerrigan who now knows how much he has to do to succeed at this level. It would only take one or two of these players to come through to transform the side completely.

Oh Dear! Faint Hopes Sprout Unwisely Again!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Going! Going! But not quite gone

 

December 16^th 2013

 

 

Barring a small number of romantics who think that some miracle will save England, the Ashes will be formally lost, probably before lunch tomorrow. Three years ago, England managed just 310 in two innings as they were blown away. If you want a positive, you will see a total of 502 between England’s two innings, with five wickets left and feel that this is an advance over 2010 and might be right, but then, in 2010, England were not chasing 504 to win (at Perth, in 2010, Ricky Ponting set England a mere 390 and still won by 267 runs).

However, with Matt Prior in such dire form that, despite his current red-inker, if you take out his 69 at Adelaide, his other five innings in the series have garnered just 19 and Stuart Broad only planning to bat in an emergency *AND* the new ball due in thirteen overs, it will take divine intervention to push the match past lunch on Day 5.

So far in this series, Alistair Cook, Ian Bell, Joe Root and now Ben Stokes have reached 72. Only Joe Root though has pushed past 72 and then, only to 87. For their own self-esteem, England desperately need Ben Stokes to continue his gusty batting and push well past a century tomorrow morning. Even if the match is lost and the Ashes with them, England really need someone to score a big hundred to show the rest that it can be done.

The mood was so downbeat in the TMS commentary box that, even late in the evening session, most of the team really expected the extra half hour to be taken and for the match to end today. After Australia scored 134 runs in 102 balls in the morning, including 28 off the final over of the innings from Jimmy Anderson and 22 off Swann’s last over before the new ball was taken and Alistair Cook went first ball, the end could have been mercifully swift. Many England fans will regret that it was not because it means that, once again, they will go to bed tonight with that tiny fragment of hope that will swiftly and painfully be atomised when they check the score in the morning.

One small piece of good news for England is the way that Tim Bresnan has knuckled down, despite being far from match fit. He is the only bowler, apart from Joe Root, who the Australians did not get after and even though his match figures of 3-134 are not stunning, he did the job that he was picked for by bowling plenty of overs and keeping the scoring rate down, as well as managing a run out into the bargin (he conceded just a fraction more than 3.5 an over, far superior to Jimmy Anderson, Ben Stokes, or Stuart Broad).

Once again, batsmen got starts. Michael Carberry added another start to his growing list (his scores in his four Tests are annoyingly consistent: 30, 34, 40, 0, 60, 14, 43, 31 – eight innings, seven starts), without going on to make a major score. He has shown enough that you believe that a century has to come soon, but he just cannot make that breakthrough, can he?

KP had the TMS team after his blood by playing sensibly, getting to 45, starting to break loose and then falling to an obvious trap. The situation was made for him. Lost cause. Chance to make some runs without pressure. A KP special century and suddenly, with Ian Bell digging in, England could be pressing for an unlikely draw. Now, even staid comentators such as Jonathon Agnew and Geoff Boycott are suggesting that his place in the side should be questioned on the grounds that he did not play for the team.

Afterwards we were treated to perhaps the best period of play of the series for England. Ben Stokes and Ian Bell launched a glorious counter-attack and 99 runs came in 20 overs. At 220-4, with only seven overs to go in the day you could start to dream: if they see it through to the Close and if they get back in tomorrow morning… Ian Bell was a tad unlucky, because he almost got away with the ball that dismissed him. There was no question that he knew that he had feathered it, but the umpire said no, HotSpot showed nothing and the TV images seemed not to indicate an edge. Joe Root knows that lack of evidence of an edge is not enough to save you from being fired-out caught but, last summer, Bell would undoubtedly have been reprieved. Sadly, for him, RealTime Snicko showed a small signal, which the TV umpire was prepared to accept as good enough grounds to overturn the on-field decision, just when it seemed that the decision would stand. Unlike for Joe Root, justice was seen to be done and any faint hopes of a miracle were snuffed out. This time DRS got it right, but the application of DRS by the TV umpire remains sadly inconsistent and that is its biggest flaw.

Although 31 came off the final six overs of the day, it is only the most temporary of reprieves. Stokes and Prior would have to bat past Tea tomorrow for England to have a real chance of the draw and that is not going to happen. Stuart Broad’s toe is not broken, but he is sore and on crutches and will not have the benefit of a runner due to the rather idiotic rule change that forbids them. Even if the tail were to hang around for a long time, England are, effectively, a batsman short anyway.

Win The Toss. Win The Match!

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Which way will England jump?

 

December 12^th 2013

 

One thing that seems to have passed unnoticed is that Alistair Cook only needs to do one thing to bring England right back into this Ashes series: win the toss! So far, of the seven Ashes Tests this year, five have been won by the side winning the toss; the two exceptions were seriously rain-affected and also dominated by the side batting first. With the Perth match almost certain to produce a result, the chances that the sequence will extend to six wins from eight tosses won are very high.

England’s shadow side, the EPP, chased down 348 to win in a maximum of 77 overs against Western Australia 2^nd XI. Key to the win was Jonny Bairstow’s 123, opening the batting. What was more interesting was that, if Gary Ballance is really intended to make his debut tonight, what he was doing batting down the order in a frantic run chase is open to question. It was Ballance though who saw England home with two overs to spare in company of Varun Chopra.

We still have little idea what the England strategy will be bar the rather open “there will be changes”. As there was really no chance that England would play two spinners at Perth, that one is pretty obvious. As it is also assumed that Tim Bresnan will play, one option is the straight swap of Bresnan for Panesar. This has some advantages: it would beef-up the tail and give England four seamers, while leaving Graeme Swann in the side for variation and as a specialist slip fielder. The worry here is that, with Stokes at 6, Prior at 7 and Broad at 8, the reliable batting would end with Ian Bell. Can England make enough runs for even five bowlers to defend?

Other options? Ballance for Stokes at 6. With temperatures forecast to reach as much as 40°C, going in with only three seamers is a huge risk, especially if England lose the toss again and the Australians continue to target Graeme Swann. Finn for Monty? Possible. Finn has to be bowled in short, sharp spells and bowl fast and aggressive. However, England badly want to have Tim Bresnan in the side to have a control bowler for long spells.

Quite possibly England will leave the top seven unchanged and make the straight Bresnan for Panesar swap. It may well be the least bad option, although I would love to see Steve Finn thundering in with the new ball tonight.

We will know in a few hours…

Cook On The Rocks

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Alistair Cook’s Challenge

 

November 30^th 2013

 

 

Alistair Cook is facing arguably his biggest captaincy crisis as a tour that England undertook with great optimism, looks to be falling apart. The 1^st Test has been lost by a huge margin, with England showing little taste for facing high pace. The Australians are attempting aggressively to destabilise England with inadequate practice and the sort of in your face aggression that they hated receiving from England. What is worse, England are faced with a squad where too many batsmen are out of form and the possible replacements are so inexperienced that they would be a huge risk, while the bowling attack is becoming too one-dimensional.

The game at Alice Springs has solved no problems. Neither Finn nor Rankin have had a good game. The overwhelming opinion is that both are unselectable for a Test.

Steve Finn, who made such an impact three years ago, has lost his way, totally, in the way that Jimmy Anderson did at the same age. Jimmy Anderson though, after a couple of wilderness years, came back better than ever. Steve Finn desperately needs a year of county cricket to go back and sort himself out. However, right now I am not even sure that he would make an impact in county cricket. It may take him two years to come back as a wicket-taking bowler.

The name Boyd Rankin has inspired respect on the county circuit for years, but not fear. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if someone who is a really good county bowler has that X-factor that makes him a Test match bowler. In the case of Boyd Rankin I have always had my doubts. Better judges than me saw him as a likely vital part of the attack but, I see him as a Test third or fourth seamer at best. Against an Australian side that is feeling increasingly confident and, backed up by a hostile public, senses blood and will attack any weakness, you cannot play a bowler who you cannot depend on.

That reduces Alistair Cook’s options. He can continue with Chris Tremlett, who took 4-120 in the 1^st Test and was economical in the first innings, but more expensive in the second. Despite the four wickets, he looked as if he would struggle to be a threat on better surfaces (although it is true that the Gabba pitch looked like a road and the commentators were at a loss to explain the low scoring). He could go for Ben Stokes as a batsman who can bowl, but Stokes is unlikely to be a genuine wicket-taking bowler at this level, at least at the moment and has been expensive so far on the tour. Stokes would also be batting too high even at seven.

Then, there are the two left-field picks. The obvious one is Tim Bresnan. He got through the three day game against Queensland 2^nd XI, bowling 26 overs, having two innings with the bat, one of them a longish one. He has been bowling at full pace for a while in the nets and looks ready. He also gave Australia the holy terrors both in 2010/11 and last summer by bowling long containing spells and taking vital wickets. Tim Bresnan is the sort of cricketer who will walk through a brick wall for you and has more than a hint of Ian Botham about him, although not such a talented cricketer. There are plenty of parallels between them, in physical appearance, pace and need to show their stamina. There are also a history of similar injury problems. Tim Bresnan may never score a Test century, although he has the talent to if he ever finds himself in the right place at the right time, but he is happy to lead a fightback when one is needed.

The other side of this is that a gentle three-day game against modest opposition is not exactly the greatest preparation for a five-day Test in a cauldron of hate. Can Tim Bresnan bowl 20 overs in a day and then come back the next day and bowl ten more? How match fit and sharp is he?

Another option is to play on a perceived Australian weakness and play Monty Panesar in a five-man attack. Andy Flower does not like to do this without a genuine all-rounder and with Matt Prior low on form and confidence, dropping a batsman would be a huge risk. However, there is no question that Monty and Graeme Swann bowl well together and Australia do not play quality spin well, seeing so little of it for years now in their Domestic game.

In this scenario, Matt Prior (or, conceivably, Jonny Bairstow) would bat at 6, with Broad, Bresnan, Swann, Anderson and Monty making up the tail.

However, Andy Flower is not given to panic reactions to defeat and rarely makes more than one unenforced change to a side. It would also give a long tail, with runs needed from Stuart Broad.

In 2010/11, England were hammered at Perth and looked lucky to escape defeat at Brisbane, despite the big second innings score. That series ended with two innings victories. Can Alistair Cook engineer a turnaround as surprising as that one this time? Unlike Andrew Strauss, who was a clever strategist and very much underrated as a skilled captain, Alistair Cook is more inclined to react to events rather than setting the agenda. Can he show himself capable of leading from the front? Australia are full of confidence, but that confidence is likely to be fragile – a defeat at Adelaide could really rock them back on their heels, but how to engineer it?

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.