Australian Lazarus, Some English Consolation

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Australian Lazarus, English consolation

 

March 6^th 2014

 

Yesterday Australia duly finished-off South Africa to win the 3^rd Test and the series. It has been a series of three incredibly one-sided matches, the smallest margin of victory was the 231 runs of South Africa’s win in the 2^nd Test.

Following on from the pattern last summer, the side that won the toss dominated all three Tests, scoring 397, 423 and 494-7d in the process, while dismissing the opposition for under 300 in every innings of the three Tests. It is a curious statistic, but South Africa’s 287 in the first innings and 265 in the second innings of the deciding Test were by some distance the best efforts in either innings by a side not batting first. In contrast, the side that had batted first declared in the second innings in all three Tests, losing a maximum of 5 wickets in the process.

In the 13 Tests that Australia has played since the start of the English summer the side batting first has taken a first innings lead in all but two games – the 1^st and 4^th Tests in England, both of them still won by the side batting first. In fact. The only time in the 13 Tests that a side batting first lost the match was England in Melbourne, where even a 51 run first innings lead was not enough to conjure a win.

Given this sequence of “bat first and dominate (usually win) the match”, one wonders what would have happened had England won the toss and batted in the first three Tests in Australia, or South Africa had batted first more than just the once in the recently concluded series. Would England have gone 3-down and had the fight knocked out of them? Would South Africa have capitulated so tamely? We will never know… What is clear is that, in all three series, the toss has had a disproportionate influence on the course of the matches.

The South Africa series also confirmed another trend in the 13 matches: despite the heroics of David Warner and Chris Rogers, their starts have frequently been diabolically bad, with the side being rescued time and again by the middle order and the tail.

At Trent Bridge, 117-9

At Lords, 128ao

At Old Trafford, 129-3

At Chester-le-Street, 76-4

At The Oval, 144-3

At Brisbane, 132-6

At Perth, 143-5

At Adelaide, 174-4

At Melbourne, 122-6

At Sydney, 97-5

At Centurion, 98-4

At Port Elizabeth, 128-6

The best start, by far, was in the Cape Town Test, when the third wicket fell at 217 in their first innings. Seven times at least half the side was out for under 150 and nine times the middle order and tail had to orquestrate a recovery from a distinctly unpromising position such as the 132-6 at Brisbane, or the 97-5 at Sydney. That Australia have won seven of eight matches this summer despite a stuttering top order that has only twice delivered a good start (counting the 174-4 at Adelaide as “good”), is a tribute to how well the lower order and the bowlers have rescued situations, leading to frequent jokes that they have followed Bradman’s example of reversing the batting order to confuse the opposition.

The revival of Australian fortunes has been astonishing, having been saved by bad light from losing 4-0 in England after a disastrously misjudged declaration at The Oval, they have roared back in a way that few people anticipated. Many fans were expecting a closer fight in Australia, as the Darren Lehmann regime started to take effect. However, there was an understandable feeling that Plan A was for Mitch Johnson to have one or, just possibly, two good matches and for Michael Clarke to have a couple of big innings and, between them, to win a Test or two. There was though no obvious Plan B. What has happened is that the new ball pairing of Ryan Harris and Mitch Johnson has proved (almost) irresistible. The one occasion that they had an off day – at Port Elizabeth, on what was expected to be a sporty pitch – the side was overwhelmed.

However, the fundamental problems have not been cured. The top order is still very fragile, but being bailed-out constantly by players such as Clarke and Haddin who are close to the end of their careers. One suspects that much of Mitch Johnson’s revival and effectiveness has been very much due to his new ball partner who is now going under the knife and whose career has been extended nervously Test by Test. Will Mitch be as effective without another bowler to support him who can bowl at high pace and with great stamina? Siddle is a good third seamer. Pattinson has promise, but seems not yet to be ready. Others are highly rated in Australia, but are yet to show themselves to be matchwinners. The other side of the coin though is that Brad Haddin has found a formidable lieutenant at marshalling recoveries in Steve Smith who is scoring big runs and starting to develop as a spinner. It will be interesting to see how Australia fare if they have to go into a Test without both Harris and Haddin.

While South Africa and Australia were playing out an extraordinary finish in Cape Town, England and the West Indies were struggling to look the part in the Caribbean. Although England have won the series, mainly thanks to adapting better to the conditions, the level of cricket was often dire. The batting was hit or miss and the death bowling from both sides appalling, to be charitable and describe it with no worse a term than that. South African and Australian fans were united in being dismissive and have every right to be. However, there are some encouraging signs for England: having thrown away the first game, they could have fallen apart as they did in Australia, instead they came back and won two tight finishes with a very young team, despite wobbles that showed just how low their confidence has fallen.

Ravi Bopara held together a chase to reach a target in a match that appeared to have slipped away in yet another miserable collapse. Joe Root has scored 167 runs in three innings and has centuries in the warm-up and the 3^rd ODI and taken wickets. Moeen Ali has had two useful innings and bowled well. Tredwell has been very economical and Steve Parry a revelation. Michael Lumb also has a century and Jos Buttler should have had one.

On the flip side, Ben Stokes showed that he is far from the finished article with a few, expensive overs and a grand total of 9 runs in three innings. And Luke Wright’s contribution from two matches was one run and not a single delivery.

It is hardly a recovery, but maybe just the beginning of better times to come.

The Unstoppable Mitch & Ryan Show

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Australian Turnaround

 

February 15^th 2014

 

 

So much for Australia having a rude shock in South Africa. Their top order batting remains fragile, but that becomes irrelevant when the middle and lower order triple and quadruple the score and the Australian bowling, led by an unstoppable Mitch Johnson, continues to be devastating. Suddenly, England’s performance in Australia does not look quite so bad.

England’s problems have been well documented. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad were making breakthroughs with the new ball, but Graeme Swann’s problems and the lack of threatening support bowling saw Australia recover time and again and, the England batting failed to give their bowlers time to recover from their efforts. The wise looked at South Africa’s powerful batting line-up and relentless bowling and saw that things would be different. Well, they have not been.

It is like looking at the Ashes again: Australia 24-2, 98-4 and looking in trouble? Trouble? In comes Steve Smith, scores a century, this time it is Shaun Marsh who supports him with another and they put on 233 together. A clatter of wickets and you think that South Africa could just regain the momentum by ripping out the lower order but, no, Johnson and Harris put on valuable runs and see Australia almost up to 400. Poor start for South Africa, who start to recover and back comes Mitch Johnson… It has followed the pattern of the Ashes Tests line by line, right down to the total disintegration of the South African fielding in the second innings.

South Africa have barely managed as many runs in their two innings as Australia managed in their first after being put in on a lively pitch and, suddenly, are full of doubts and being questioned. Sound familiar? You look at how the South Africans have fallen apart and wonder whether or not there is any way that they can avoid a 3-0 whitewash. There are similar questions to the ones England were asked. People are saying that there is no steel to the side without the multi-faceted contribution of Jacques Kallis with bat, ball and in the field. And Graeme Smith looked clueless and unable to stop his side’s slide having given Australia first use of a pitch that deteriorated rapidly, although the South African effort in the field in the second innings was so poor that Australia’s batsmen still racked up the runs almost without being inconvenienced in the slightest.

What is the change? Take a look back to the 4^th Test last summer where, at Chester-le-Street, Australia disintegrated to defeat having looked in the box seat. Ryan Harris was bowling high ‘80s, with the occasional ball close to, or a fraction over 90mph. He was no faster than Stuart Broad and even Jimmy Anderson was matching him on the speed gun in the first innings. Move forward to Centurion: Ryan Harris was ramping it up to over 94mph – Mitch Johnson had a higher average speed, but the fastest ball of the first innings came from Ryan Harris. Having Mitch Johnson at the other end has added 5mph – that is 8km/h) to Ryan Harris – who has gone from a decent quick, to being just as nasty as anyone in world cricket. Last summer England knew that when they saw off Ryan Harris and the new ball what would follow would relieve the pressure. Now, first England’s and then South Africa’s batsmen have discovered that the pressure is relentless from both ends and that, even if they see off Mitch Johnson – which they are not managing – Ryan Harris is a far faster and nastier proposition than before to support him. With Peter Siddle now relegated to first change, where he makes a far greater contribution than he could with the new ball, keeping things tight and maintaining the pressure while Harris and Johnson rest.

The change in Mitch Johnson is even more remarkable than the one in Ryan Harris. He was capable of great spells and great matches, but would always return quickly to bowling with all the control of a spray gun, but none of the threat. After his return in the ODIs in England, the ODIs in India, the Ashes and now the series against South Africa, he has sustained threat, hostility and accuracy for longer than anyone could have imagined possible and has transformed Australia. While he continues to do it and Ryan Harris acts as his sidekick, Australia are proving unstoppable.

Time To Move On

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Oh India!

 

February 9^th 2014

 

Despite the fact that the aftermath of the disastrous 2013/14 Ashes series is still ripping English cricket apart, it is time to move on. Same Blog. New title.

England too will have to move on, sooner or later. However, the news that Stuart Broad wanted KP in his T20 squad, but was overruled has ensured that the story will not die yet. After losing 3-0 to Australia and with the side going through a period of deep soul-searching, one fears that England’s World T20 campaign may be short, brutal and do little to quell debate.

Meanwhile, there has been some actual cricket elsewhere. Bangladesh v Sri Lanka and New Zealand v India. Not exactly series to set pulses racing, apart from the fact that you have the world’s two largest cricket publics involved.

Any side, apart from Zimbabwe, that plays Bangladesh expects a whitewash. Bangladesh at home though are becoming much harder to beat and have shown it, albeit on a pitch that has broken bowlers’ hearts. Things were so much in favour of Kumar Sangakkara that his massive innings of 319 was actually used to criticise him. A match that produced 59 runs per wicket and in which only seven second innings fell in almost two full days of play on Days 4 and 5 is not exactly riveting.

What was fascinating was the debate about the delayed declaration. At Tea on Day 4 Sri Lanka were 356 ahead and many fans wanted Angelo Matthews to declare there and then, arguing that the lead was already enough and that Sri Lanka were being negative in prolonging the game. Had Angelo Matthews pulled out then he would have challenged Bangladesh to score 357 in a minimum of 120 overs. Having survived 120 overs in their 1^st innings and scored well over 400, Matthews decided that, with batting seemingly getting easier and not harder, that he was not keen to offer Bangladesh a real chance to win a match against a Big Eight team and throw away the series win into the bargin.

In the end, Sri Lanka gave themselves 98 overs to knock over the opposition reasoning that if they could not do it in 98 overs, they would be unlikely to in 110.

As it turns out, events proved Matthews absolutely right. Bangladesh ended on 271-3 and would have fancied their chances of chasing down 357 with an extra 20 overs to bat.

Bangladesh can infuriate. They can be worse than dreadful, especially away from home, but the evidence that they are moving forward is undeniable.

With South Africa a consolidated leader in the ICC Test rankings, their two closest challengers over the last year, England and India are both falling away. England needed to win the series by at least two clear Tests just to maintain the distance. A 5-0 defeat has seen Australia leap over England into third in the rankings, although there has to be a feeling that the huge failings that people (including Australians) were seeing in Australian cricket a few months ago have only been papered over by this win and that the series in South Africa may produce a rude shock or two because the side suddenly thinks that it is a lot better than it is really.

India have gone south – literally – heading to New Zealand with the feeling that their renovated side really is a bit special and the opposition is only New Zealand. Barring a brain-fade on the 3^rd day when, despite a lead of over 300 and the Indian batsmen looking as out of place as a pork butcher at a Bar Mizbah, Brendon McCullum did not enforce the follow-on and saw his side rolled-over so cheaply that it brought India back into the match, New Zealand dominated the match.

India were set 407 to win and a lot of fans thought that New Zealand had thrown the match away. It beggars belief! Only three times in 2118 Tests has a target this large been chased, yet there were pundits saying seriously that T20 cricket had changed the way that these things are done and that 400 is no longer frightening.

I was speechless as, with India less than half way to their target, New Zealand fans were writing the match off totally as an embarrassing defeat. India were batting well, but you knew that it would only take a wicket to change things. At 222-2, things did look promising for India, but the new ball was coming and 222-2 was soon 270-6. India still got closer than they should have to a stunning win, but people who have been following cricket for years and know a little of its history should have known better. If a side is capable of chasing over 400 in the 4^th innings to win a Test, that is a quick stunning feat and one that happens just once every few decades.

India’s quest to put up any kind of serious opposition away from the sub-continent, continues. In the last two years India’s away record is P11 W0 D1. That is diabolically bad. Despite England’s struggles away in the last two years, they did manage to win in India and draw series in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Indian fans seem to be in denial about this and argue that the opposition cheats by serving up greentops, without realising that it is Indian’s fame of performing badly if there is the slightest life in the pitch that makes sides use this tactic. One Indian fan even argued heatedly that playing cricket on grass is not natural.

The Shockwaves Continue

 

 

Ashes 2013/14

 

Ghostly echoes of 2009

 

February 4^th 2014

 

The aftershocks from the disastrous Ashes tour continue. The Australians were not displeased to have destabilised England to the point of seeing Trott and Finn sent home and Graeme Swann into retirement. The Test series ended with rumours that, in an eerie echo of 2009, the coach had said “either he goes or I go”. Back in 2009, Peter Moores was sacked as England coach and Kevin Pietersen as England captain just two weeks before a tour to the Caribbean. England’s results had been depressing for several years and, rather than address the decline seen at the end of Duncan Fletcher’s reign, Peter Moores just seemed to make it worse. However, the killer was a massive personality clash between coach and captain that, rather than finishing one of the two, ended in a case of Mutual Assured Destruction.

Emergency captain – Andrew Strauss, who had just barely saved his England career in New Zealand – temporary coach and shot out for 51 to lose the 1^st Test and the series. Three months later, an Australian side who suddenly thought that England would be soft opposition, as in 2006/07, received a rude shock. By a happy chance England got the captain who they should have appointed in 2006 and the coach that they had needed desperately to harness the available talent. England would love to think that Mutual Assured Destruction (2014 version) will end as happily.

In an eerie echo of what happened five years ago, first the coach has gone and now Kevin Pietersen too, although this time not the same day. Pietersen will not be considered either for the limited overs tour of the Caribbean, or the World T20. In short, his career is over.

Much has been made of the fact that he was England’s leading runscorer in Australia, although he had a poor series, passing fifty just twice and averaging under 30, which was still five more than his captain averaged, while only Michael Carberry faced more balls in the series.

There are plenty of comments that Kevin Pietersen batted irresponsibly in Australia – not that many of the others have anything to boast about in that respect – and that he had been a divisive influence in the dressing room. However, no one has come forward with any details of what he did that was so destabilising to the team. When Andrew Flintoff was relieved of the captaincy in 2006, we heard the grisly details of his drunken exploits in a pedalo. During the textgate scandal, we found out probably more than we wanted to about KP’s texting. Now, we hear nothing apart from an unconfirmed report in an Australian newspaper (not above a little mischief-making, as we have seen) that Cook and Pietersen had a heated row in the members’ bar at the SCG on the eve of the 5^th Test – not the sort of place where you can have a discrete blazing row without anyone other than an Australian journalist finding out!!

It is fair enough that changes need to be made and that some unpleasant decisions have to be taken, but singling out one player without explaining why is hardly going to make things better.

The sound that you can hear is of twenty three million Australians laughing themselves sick as English cricket rips itself apart…

A Fitting End To An Awful Tour

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

A fitting end

 

February 2^nd 2014

 

It was singularly fitting that such a catastrophic tour should end in such a lamentable fashion. After throwing away the first T20, the second was one-sided and the third a miserable massacre. When a flurry of Australian wickets fell around 130 the BBC text commentator suggested that it was feared that Australia already had more than enough. He was right. England’s chase was so shambolic that it neatly summed up the tour.

That the tour has only claimed one victim so far – Andy Flower has finally accepted that his position has become untenable – but there will be more. The good news in this tour has been strictly limited, but the emergence of Chris Jordan has been one piece. Having finally made his T20 debut, Chris Jordan delivered the short  of bowling spell that has been so sadly lacking so far. Unfortunately it coincided with Ben Stokes and Jade Dernbach having the sort of nightmare that has become habit with England’s bowlers. For all his success in the Tests, Ben Stokes is far from the finished article and is demonstrating it. Today he could not be trusted with a full spell of four overs. Jade Dernbach’s continued presence in the England set-up frustrates England supporters more than anything else. While his ODI performances have been, to put it politely, disappointing, he has been more consistent in T20 and, although he news brings snorts of disbelief, is one of the most successful bowlers in the world in T20. However, a final over from him that went for 26 put the final nail in the England coffin, with only a brilliant stop from Luke Wright limiting the damage to only 26.

It was a pity because Stuart Broad and Chris Jordan did their jobs with a combined 8-0-53-4. Dernbach, Stokes and Root – who took Stokes’s final over – went for a combined 8-0-98-1. Twenty overs of the former would have limited Australia to under 140, probably fewer. Twenty overs of the latter would have seen Australia pass 250.

Back in 2003, a disastrous start to the South Africa  Tests, combined with Michael Vaughan’s successful tour of Australia and ODI captaincy made him the obvious candidate to take over. Right now, the Alistair Cook – Andy Flower combo have lost the Tests 5-0. Alistair Cook and Ashley Giles in combo have lost the ODIs 4-1 and Stuart Broad and Ashley Giles together have lost the T20s 3-0. It is hardly a strong case for Ashley Giles to take over. And not a great advertisement for Stuart Broad to get extra responsibility. The greatest beneficiary of the debacle has been Eoin Morgan, who has batted well and, by not being captain, his enhanced his credentials enormously.

It is a mess. And not too many people think that Ashley Giles is the man to fix it.

Yet Another Unexplicable Defeat

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Unbelievable!

 

January 26^th 2014

 

 

When you are chasing a small target and have six batsmen who get into double figures, with the target never more than one-a-ball, you really do expect to win. However, right through the chase the scores were very close, both in wickets and runs, with England just a fraction ahead most of the time until the end of the 47^th over.  In a tight chase, everything comes down to confidence and Australia feel that, even if they need 60 to win with the last pair together, they are going to win. England think back to the Sydney Test, or the 2^nd ODI and start to fret that it is going to slip away again and, in doing so, it does. In the end, it came down to fractions and the 30 runs that Australia scored from their last 4 overs ended up being the difference between the sides.

The key moment came after 33 overs when England had their maximum advantage of the entire match: 142-3 against 128-5, with Root and Morgan batting comfortably. The next seven overs brought just 18 runs and the wickets of both batsmen, as Australia strangled the chase. From then on it was a 50-50 game and, despite the depth of batting to come, it would come down to confidence and belief. Australia believe and their escape in the 2^nd ODI has just reinforced it, England felt confident, but filled with doubts again as they saw an unassailable position slip away slowly.

Another feature though has been a constant: the winning side tends to get the breaks. In the Test series there was so many moments when all the luck that was going went Australia’s way. Here, when Ravi Bopara was doing what he had to do and grit out the runs without doing anything flashy, laying a base for the strokeplayers at the other end, he suffered the diabolical luck that England have faced all tour: Wade misses the ball, it ricochets off him and hits the top of the bails. Bopara has lifted his foot a fraction… OUT!!!

A lot of fans – and some commentators – have laid the blame for the defeat at Bopara’s door for getting himself out, but it was symptomatic of the way that Australia have consistently had the rub of the green during the tour. It is also true that a side tends to make its own luck. Last summer, with England clearly superior, the one occasion that Australia had got into a winning position, England were saved by rain although, the way that Australia consistently had got into promising positions that they lost because the change bowling was so weak, I still would not rule out the possibility that England would have won. When the force is with a team, it only takes a tiny mistake or a piece of good fortune to let them back in.

A fine England bowling effort deserved better. Chris Jordan (described as fast-medium) again broke 90mph and was comfortably faster than Nathan Coulter-Nile (described as fast). Jordan’s pace ramped-up steadily in his last few overs and was rewarded with two wickets in two balls in his last over to close an economical spell. Stuart Broad tied the Australian top order in knots. James Tredwell bowled well, giving little away and Ben Stokes stifled the Australian revival, taking the sting out of their middle-order and reducing their options of a late charge.

After yet another agonising loss, does Stuart Broad, who takes over the captaincy for the T20s, have any way of raising the side?

Finally, At The Nineth Attempt...

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Tenth time lucky

 

January 24^th 2014

 

Australia’s curious policy of resting their best batsmen had the effect of giving England a consolation win and some self-respect, but it was the bowling unit that let Australia down. A attack with Mitch Johnson breaking the 90mph barrier and James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile both a whisker below 90mph, backed up by Faulkner, Maxwell and Christian is by no stretch of the imagination a second-string attack, yet England and particularly openers Cook and Bell went after them from the start and treated Johnson and, especially, Pattinson brutally.

In this series Australia have conceded the fourth and ninth highest totals that a visiting team has made in 397 ODIs played in Australia. 102-1 from 14 overs, England were well on course to beat the 343-5 that Sri Lanka managed at Sydney in 2002/03. More importantly though, they showed that they could handle Mitch Johnson’s high pace, if they wanted to. Had Johnson been subjected to such a barrage in the Test series Australia’s entire strategy would have fallen apart. Despite a miserly spell from Glenn Maxwell, playing a lone hand and, amazingly, not even bowling out his overs, 76 from the last eight overs pushed England well past 300.

For once Chris Jordan looked off-colour and did not take an early wicket and, with Stuart Broad also expensive, Australia were well ahead of England after six overs and seemingly cruising. The introduction of Tim Bresnan in the seventh over, followed shortly afterwards by James Tredwell changed the complexion of the match. Bresnan dismissed Marsh in his first over and Matt Wade came in and the scoring rate plummeted. From being 7 ahead after 6 overs, Australia were 30 behind England’s score after 15. Wade was horribly, embarrassingly able to find any fluency and, finally, provided Ravi Bopara, again excellent with the ball, a very rare mid-innings wicket maiden.

While Finch was causing merry mayhem at one end, Australia were getting close to parity and had the initiative despite the lack of any kind of support at the other end. When Finch perished at 189-5, having score 57% of his side’s runs at that point, it only needed calm bowling to close out the match.

In the end, Australia subsided rather meekly, missing the chance to bury England completely and condemn them to their worst ever sequence of international defeats. With a 5^th ODI and three T20s to come, it also leaves England with the chance to finish with some momentum: winning the final ODI and the T20 series would at least allow England to spin that the things had been turned around at the end of the tour. With a clearer head at the death in the 2^nd ODI, the series might even still have been live at Adelaide.

Apart from the fact that Jordan came back strongly and comfortably passed 90mph again and that Cook is starting to re-gain form and fluency with the bat, Buttler, Stokes and Bell all had good games and, although Ravi Bopara has not scored many runs, his bowling has been consistently excellent, with good economy and vital wickets through the series.

“All” there is left to do is to show that this was not just a flash in the pan win against weakened opposition, by winning a few more matches to end the tour.