In Mumbai today, India scored a record 443 runs in the day for the loss of just one wicket. What on earth are they trying to do to Test cricket?
This game follows run-fests in Kanpur and Ahmedabad on flat, lifeless and deathly dull pitches. With matches like this, is it any wonder that they're played out in front of row upon row of empty seats? People will vote with their feet if they're not happy about the product being served up and the game will suffer as a result. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the Indian board was attempting to strangle the life out of unprofitable Test matches in order to make the already tubby IPL cow even more attractive to those who would milk it dry. You can get away with a one-sided contest between bat and ball for 75 minutes in a 20-over game, but spin it out over five days and people will turn off.
Moreover, it's making an utter mockery of Test records, batting and bowling. It's high time that the records show the quality of the pitch with asterisks next to any game played in such conditions.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Insight you cannot buy
In today's Guardian, Duncan Fletcher is back. The former England coach has been a regular in the pages of said periodical since he left his previous post and, frankly, his column has been as full of the same banalities as his press conferences and the same loyalties to the same, small coterie of players as typified and, ultimately, brought down the Fletcher era.
This week, Fletcher is talking about the South Africans and the threats that they will pose. His three players to watch were the most eye-catching part of the piece, the rest of it being the sleep-inducing rubbish we're accustomed to. With his wide ranging knowledge of the game and tactical insights, could we expect him to highlight someone that's maybe slipped under the radar a little? Perhaps an up-and-coming youngster unknown to English audiences? Yeah, right. Instead he's gone for Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn. That's 241 Tests combined scoring 17102 runs and taking 436 wickets between them. Hardly going out on a limb. Why not inform us about Wayne Parnell, even if he is well known to county audiences, and Yusuf Abdulla, the two young left-arm seamers who look the real deal? No mention of Roloef van der Merwe moving from a one-day specialist to the Test arena or the exciting batting of Loots Bosman.
He played it safe, too safe at times, as a coach, and so it continues as a columnist.
This week, Fletcher is talking about the South Africans and the threats that they will pose. His three players to watch were the most eye-catching part of the piece, the rest of it being the sleep-inducing rubbish we're accustomed to. With his wide ranging knowledge of the game and tactical insights, could we expect him to highlight someone that's maybe slipped under the radar a little? Perhaps an up-and-coming youngster unknown to English audiences? Yeah, right. Instead he's gone for Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn. That's 241 Tests combined scoring 17102 runs and taking 436 wickets between them. Hardly going out on a limb. Why not inform us about Wayne Parnell, even if he is well known to county audiences, and Yusuf Abdulla, the two young left-arm seamers who look the real deal? No mention of Roloef van der Merwe moving from a one-day specialist to the Test arena or the exciting batting of Loots Bosman.
He played it safe, too safe at times, as a coach, and so it continues as a columnist.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Next test for England
It's South Africa next for England and the touring parties were announced yesterday. Dare we suggest that common sense seems to have broken out at ECB headquarters? Gone are Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar and about time too.
Harmison's been a good servant for England, but looking back on his career, that patch from the West Indies tour in 2004 to the Ashes in 2005 looks like the blip rather than the dross he's served up at other times. On a hard, bouncy track - an archetypal Old Trafford wicket for instance - there are few better, but there's always that nagging doubt that the next ball will go flying over second slip's head and away for four wides. Harmison is yesterday's man and the time is right to leave that behind and move on.
Monty isn't yesterday's man. Neither does he look like tomorrow's. His lack of variation means he's very easy to read - compare and contrast to the unreadable Ajantha Mendis - and he's fallen behind Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid. Finally, Rashid is in the squad and though it looks unlikely that anyone would play two spinners in South Africa, his progression is something to celebrate.
The main headline is the inclusion of four South Africa-born players now that Jonathan Trott has become a fixture. Kevin Pietersen is in, as expected, though it remains to be seen how fit he'll be.
This tour represents England's first since the retirement of Andrew Flintoff. In comes Luke Wright to the Test squad. Luke Wright. Test player? Really? I don't see it myself.
Harmison's been a good servant for England, but looking back on his career, that patch from the West Indies tour in 2004 to the Ashes in 2005 looks like the blip rather than the dross he's served up at other times. On a hard, bouncy track - an archetypal Old Trafford wicket for instance - there are few better, but there's always that nagging doubt that the next ball will go flying over second slip's head and away for four wides. Harmison is yesterday's man and the time is right to leave that behind and move on.
Monty isn't yesterday's man. Neither does he look like tomorrow's. His lack of variation means he's very easy to read - compare and contrast to the unreadable Ajantha Mendis - and he's fallen behind Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid. Finally, Rashid is in the squad and though it looks unlikely that anyone would play two spinners in South Africa, his progression is something to celebrate.
The main headline is the inclusion of four South Africa-born players now that Jonathan Trott has become a fixture. Kevin Pietersen is in, as expected, though it remains to be seen how fit he'll be.
This tour represents England's first since the retirement of Andrew Flintoff. In comes Luke Wright to the Test squad. Luke Wright. Test player? Really? I don't see it myself.
Champions League
It's perhaps a sign of the perceived importance of the Champions League T20 that it's being broadcast in the UK on Eurosport 2. The key point of that sentence is the appearance of the number 2 at the end of it. Eurosport 2. Not even on Eurosport's main channel. So it was something of a surprise when, surfing the channels, I happened across the opening game between Bangalore and the Cape Cobras. Thinking that watching some cricket is always infinitely better than seeing none, I settled in to watch.
The grotesque amounts of money being bandied about is a definite turn-off, as are commentators reduced to being product spokespeople. It's not as bad as the IPL, but by christ it's still irritating.
My attention drifted, briefly brought back by Ross Taylor's blistering 50 off sod all, until one moment that suddenly made the whole thing worthwhile. The Cobras were in trouble having lost a couple of early wickets, including Herschelle Gibbs first ball, when JP Duminy strode to the crease. A few balls later and he marched down the wicket to slap the ball way back into the crowd. The bowler: Jacques Kallis. And did he not like that. The verbals came flying and suddenly I realised - this matters to them. And if team-mates are willing to get nasty in the pursuit of glory, I could see myself to following this through to the end.
The grotesque amounts of money being bandied about is a definite turn-off, as are commentators reduced to being product spokespeople. It's not as bad as the IPL, but by christ it's still irritating.
My attention drifted, briefly brought back by Ross Taylor's blistering 50 off sod all, until one moment that suddenly made the whole thing worthwhile. The Cobras were in trouble having lost a couple of early wickets, including Herschelle Gibbs first ball, when JP Duminy strode to the crease. A few balls later and he marched down the wicket to slap the ball way back into the crowd. The bowler: Jacques Kallis. And did he not like that. The verbals came flying and suddenly I realised - this matters to them. And if team-mates are willing to get nasty in the pursuit of glory, I could see myself to following this through to the end.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
What's the difference...
...between Iran and the England cricket team?
Iran eventually got rid of the Shah.
Iran eventually got rid of the Shah.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Utterly without a clue
Three ODIs down and three England defeats. Not only that, but three miserable defeats, all of which came about in pretty much identical circumstances. There's no plan, there's no strategy and whoever makes the tactical decisions in a clueless idiot, especially regarding powerplays.
After the second game of this seven (seven!!) match series, the batting powerplay was left until England were eight wickets down and the batting colossus that is Ryan Sidebottom strode out to the crease. This happened again in match three. The reason given by Andrew Strauss was that "you can lose wickets in those overs". Where, oh where, does one begin?
It may not have come to Strauss's notice, but England have proved a bit too fecking adept at losing wickets in any over, powerplay or not. When they come, as they do all to reliably, the wickets are given away to one of the worst Australian sides in living memory and yet are more than able to outclass this shambles of an England side. Matt Prior's dismissal in game two, slapping a reverse sweep straight to backward point, was a very Matt Prior way to get out while the travails of Owais Shah would be finny if they weren't real. He's amazing at turning easy twos and threes into singles, looks a candidate for a run out at all times and then when he trod on his wicket.... Dear me. Any yet he, like most of the batters (as discussed previously), seems exempt from being dropped.
This series has gone, that much is clear, so why not chuck the lot of them out and start trying to bring something together ahead of the Champions Trophy which isn't that far away? Probably a bit too radical, but England are going nowhere in ODIs at the moment and it seems the only thing that will stop the slide is the scrapping of the 50-over format.A
After the second game of this seven (seven!!) match series, the batting powerplay was left until England were eight wickets down and the batting colossus that is Ryan Sidebottom strode out to the crease. This happened again in match three. The reason given by Andrew Strauss was that "you can lose wickets in those overs". Where, oh where, does one begin?
It may not have come to Strauss's notice, but England have proved a bit too fecking adept at losing wickets in any over, powerplay or not. When they come, as they do all to reliably, the wickets are given away to one of the worst Australian sides in living memory and yet are more than able to outclass this shambles of an England side. Matt Prior's dismissal in game two, slapping a reverse sweep straight to backward point, was a very Matt Prior way to get out while the travails of Owais Shah would be finny if they weren't real. He's amazing at turning easy twos and threes into singles, looks a candidate for a run out at all times and then when he trod on his wicket.... Dear me. Any yet he, like most of the batters (as discussed previously), seems exempt from being dropped.
This series has gone, that much is clear, so why not chuck the lot of them out and start trying to bring something together ahead of the Champions Trophy which isn't that far away? Probably a bit too radical, but England are going nowhere in ODIs at the moment and it seems the only thing that will stop the slide is the scrapping of the 50-over format.A
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Dropped for other's mistakes
"Well played son. You almost won us a game we had no right to get close in at the Oval. By the way, you're dropped". I'm guessing that's the conversation captain and coaches had with Adil Rashid ahead of the one-dayer at Lord's.
How typically English. Which other side in world cricket drops bowlers - any bowlers, let alone the pick of the attack - to compensate for batting failures? How can it be that the ones sweating on selection after a collapse aren't those responsible for getting the runs? It's a mystery. And the even more stupid thing is that Rashid was the pick of the batters as well as bowling superbly well. I've nothing against Eoin Morgan, quite the reverse. I think he'll make a fine player and he would warrant a call-up should any of the top order fail. That top order failed, as England ODI top orders are wont to do, and yet it's a young, impressive bowler that gets the chop. Ludicrous. The selection policy is completely backwards and England will never be a force in one day cricket while it persists.
How typically English. Which other side in world cricket drops bowlers - any bowlers, let alone the pick of the attack - to compensate for batting failures? How can it be that the ones sweating on selection after a collapse aren't those responsible for getting the runs? It's a mystery. And the even more stupid thing is that Rashid was the pick of the batters as well as bowling superbly well. I've nothing against Eoin Morgan, quite the reverse. I think he'll make a fine player and he would warrant a call-up should any of the top order fail. That top order failed, as England ODI top orders are wont to do, and yet it's a young, impressive bowler that gets the chop. Ludicrous. The selection policy is completely backwards and England will never be a force in one day cricket while it persists.
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