Shall I go with a snappy one word title do think? Or maybe a song title even? I’m not going to try and channel what Dmitri does so well, so I’ll go down a different line.
I thought I’d open up with a preview of the second Test in Grenada, with some observations about the first Test as well, and see what you think. Firstly, I know that England got a huge amount of stick for failing to bowl the West Indies out in the first Test, but on balance I think I’d give the credit to the West Indies themselves for surviving. It certainly wasn’t a normal day five pitch that had deteriorated, it simply became even slower. On a number of occasions in recent years, England have pulled off minor miracles in drawing matches they had no right to – and I presume that opposition supporters reacted in the same manner about their team failing to get over the line. Sometimes it just happens.
Now that draw does raise a fair few questions about the second Test. The pitch is forecast to be even slower and lower, potentially leading to even more attritional cricket than we have seen so far. And if that is the case, losing the toss and fielding first with only three days rest could prove challenging for the England attack – if the West Indies bat well. England sent down 130 overs in the second innings in Antigua, it’s a big ask for them to do so again. And that raises the question about Broad’s pace. There seems little doubt he is down on where he has been, and it was striking to see him deliver 79mph bouncers (quite effectively to be fair) in both innings.
That this series has become a must win for various members of the ECB hierarchy has removed any question of the bowlers being managed as much as they possibly could have been in other circumstances. With such a fearful schedule over the next year the prospect of one or other of the key men breaking down looms large.
And what of the spinner? There is always a danger of viewing the man left out to be the answer to all problems faced, and Tredwell didn’t provide the hoped for threat on the fifth day, that his advocates claimed Rashid would have done. But he did bowl pretty well in the first innings, and could be argued to merit retention. Bringing Moeen in, on the back of ten overs in a county match is also something of a risk. And what is Rashid for? It’s a little hard to see at present any circumstances where he will play, and that’s troubling. Leg spinners do go for runs with a single exception, but good ones also take wickets. No one worries about the fact that Dale Steyn doesn’t have a great economy rate. One wonders whether England would have selected Stuart MacGill.
Then there’s the captain. Even his staunchest defenders would concede that Cook the batsman is of much greater value than Cook the captain, and it’s there that the biggest concerns lie. To me, his technique looks little changed from last year. His stance has opened a little bit, but the head position still seems too far over and if so that would create the kind of problems with the full ball that we saw in the first Test. Possibly under pressure he reverted, but I will be watching closely in this match to see if the same problems are present.
One final cricketing thought. Colin Graves made it very clear England were expected to win this series. But is just a win enough? Did he expect it to be 3-0? It’s an open question. But make no mistake, failure to win this one, with Bridgetown to come, and the alarm bells will be ringing.
Vian
Being Outside Cricket 
Nice post. I don’t wonder whether England would have selected Stuart MacGill: I know they wouldn’t have. I’m not convinced they’d have selected Warne: too much the larrikin, not at all from the right sort of family. They did select Botham, of course, but that feels like a time long, long ago.
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“Cook’s rehabilitation since his dropping from the one-day side is a work in progress…”
Apart from it clearly “heading in the right direction”, does anyone actually know what that sentence means? Why did Cook need to be rehabilitated after being dropped from the ODI team? Why would that have affected his test performance? Surely the poor unfortunates who were forced to to endure the World Cup debacle were more in need of rehabilitation.
So anyway, some indeterminate substantive relating to Cook is heading in the right direction, Trott on the other hand is in danger of getting some runs here that might turn out to be meaningless in the long run when he comes up a less mediocr— I mean other opposition. like better ones. Luckily this doesn’t apply to Cook, because of all those reasons that mean it doesn’t apply to Cook.
“Cook spoke animatedly about his own batting and what he has been doing to try to halt the absence of centuries that have been his hallmark since his debut in Nagpur.”
Really, this guy is a professional writer? The absence of centuries has been a hallmark since Cook’s debut? Never mind, he spoke animatedly about his batting. No doubt that’s a sign of rehabilitation.
“There still seems to be a lack of synchronising his movements, though, so that he is almost playing the ball on the walk in his eagerness to make contact”
FFS Selvey, just say he’s all over the shop and can’t play a ball pitched up near off.
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Comments notably not allowed. He’d be eviscerated.
I’m not convinced recalling Trott as an opener was a great move – surely would have been better to have had him chasing at the heals of the middle-order, ready to step in if one failed – but from what I can see he got two good balls early on in his first game for a year and a half. It happens. This, to MS, is deeply worrying. Cook got out in familiar fashion, continuing a two-year run of failure, and for MS things are looking up. He even mentioned that Cook’s movements are so uncoordinated he is playing front-foot shots with his right foot still in the air, but for him this is moving in the right direction. I can’t even be bothered to rip it apart any more,
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Recalling Trott as an opener was an appalling move.
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Thanks Vian.
Anyway, Monday to Friday and now Tuesday to Saturday. It doesn’t seem particularly intelligent scheduling, unless weekends are different in the West Indies.
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I wonder if it’s to benefit Sky? It’s on during the evening, but a weekend might not get such attention. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’m struggling to see where any other advantage lies.
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Most of the people at the ground are British tourists. Suits them fine.
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Apparently not. Only a minority are. Having said that, if they’ve sold out the first two days, I guess they’re happy.
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Perhaps more accurately I would say that, over the last 10/20 years, British tourists have often/usually been in the majority (and I think the tickets are priced accordingly) and so they plan matches with tourists in mind rather than the locals. I can’t see Grenada being quite as attractive as the more traditional venues though.
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Meanwhile, Pollyanna writes:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/20/jonathan-trott-england-west-indies-second-test
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On what basis does Cook “look to be heading in the right direction” beyond wishful thinking? It’s always possible of course, but there’s been no evidence whatever.
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Goodness only knows. Because he’s Alastair Cook, that’s all I can come up with. You can analyse other players to the nth degree (or call them numpties), but for Cook you just give him paragraph after paragraph of his own words and your own rose-tinted spin.
Fed up.
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If he’s Pollyanna, I guess that makes us lot Cassandra.
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Oh, I’ve done the Pollyanna/Cassandra thing several times on the Guardian already!
There were many opportunities during the paper’s absurd reporting on the 2013/14 Ashes.
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Dobell did dig up the remarkable stat that over the last 4 tests Cook has 3 w 1 d, averaging 57 over that time, and averaged 49.66.
Hard to believe, but apparently true. I mean, not withstanding that internet searching for ‘how to bowl to alistair cook’ (google) yields as its first hit the ‘How to Bowl to Alistair Cook for Dummies’ youtube video which is exactly what it says on the tin.
So…. I could see how some might think Cook just finally got over the problem in the middle of last summer, sparkling form in the only form of the game that matters, the recent match being mainly a result of unexpectedly cheap balls….
And seriously, cheap balls? I mean, as if assuming it was reasonably feasible even to get the top end ones, wouldn’t each ground have to use that level of ball for a while to accumulate enough slightly worn ones for the tests? I’d have assumed they’d be using what ball they were using for the PCL season, and if so in the WI regional setup the difference in cost would be very noticeable.
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It seems Ramdin did Google or received some Texts from KP:
Such are Cook’s woes these days that even the West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin felt confident enough to point out his flaws. “He has his strengths and his weaknesses, we try to bowl more to his weak areas,” he said. “He’s out a lot caught behind – the slip areas, inside edge. He falls over a bit.”
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@Pontiac
It’s garbage though. He was dropped on 0 at the start of his 95. He was dropped three times on the way to 79. He scarcely looked any better than he did against SL. He was playing the sides he averages late 50s against and still couldn’t make big runs. After the WI he faces the four sides he has his lowest averages against. And yet we’re still supposed to accept this optimistic, borderline deluded assessment of his improvement?
It’s about time some people (not just the usual suspects either) accepted that he’s not a demigod with a divine right to play. England lost Strauss within months of two hundreds; lost Tres within a year of an extraordinary innings at Joburg, and within months of another one in Multan that should have set up a win. We would lose Cook within a year of what, exactly? Rubbish batting, selfishness, petulance and revolting entitlement.
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Selvey saw Finn take wickets against Scotland. Selvey used this as the basis for a whole article on the second coming of Steven Finn.
Case closed.
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Beat me to it Arron. It’s so au contraire in Selvey’s opinion on Cook’s batting.
I saw nothing to suggest that it is heading in the right direction. The mind boggles.
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And Vian beat me to the beat me to it comment!
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He’s had issues with Trott for quite some time. Doesn’t rate his technique.
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Blimey, I thought Cooky, Moorsey and Trotty was stretching it, but Goochie? PG Wodehouse would be thinking it was all getting a bit affected.
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Cook increasingly wears the shifty hangdog look which announces than an Englishman is about to speak French.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11550966/England-must-be-bold-in-second-Test-against-West-Indies-and-gamble-on-Adil-Rashids-X-factor.html
Obviously Michael Vaughan reads me, right?
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Good piece. Agree that it’s important to give credit where it’s due, esp. to Holder.
Still, I felt the match highlighted a lot of concerns about the bowling, crucially the lack of penetration. England have previous playing Broad when unfit, so I’m really concerned that it’s happening again – and the press don’t seem to remember any of the past, so aren’t impelled to investigate or question the present…
I don’t think it’s correct to blame the conservatism on Graves. If the selectors and Moores were really that keen to win, they would be looking at Plunkett and Lyth from the off. So it’s clear from their actions that they are purportedly building up for a tough summer.
But they are doing that very badly, wearing out the two experienced bowlers and failing to explore the options. (Free the Yorkshire 4!)
Which brings me to Rashid. I suspect he’s not even (right now) as good as Macgill, but what leaves a bad taste in the mouth is the handling of everything. Tredders has a better record as a ODI bowler, but we didn’t trust him against teams like NZ and Aus. Which tells me that he isn’t under serious consideration – Moeen is in pole position. For me the insanity is that if Tredders isn’t seen as good enough against good teams then we should have been using this game to see if Rashid might have been. Sometimes players blossom on the big stage. Rashid has a bit of that in his character. And if you don’t believe that, then it should have been some other spinner in the squad, someone you would like to find out about…
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That Rashid has been on several tours now without being tried makes you wonder what the point of taking him is. Vaughan is right in his article that there’s a constant focus on what might go wrong, not what might go right. And the fact that he might leak runs is anaethema to England. To a lesser extent, we went through this with Finn, where in 2010/11 he was taking wickets for fun, but dropped because he would leak runs.
As a mindset, it’s extraordinary.
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Being based in Australia I’ve hardly seen him bowl, but when one of your biggest supporters (Vaughan) is saying that 2 out of 3 spells are rubbish – well, it doesn’t really inspire confidence.
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@TLG – You hit the nail on the head.
Just as England have a previous record of bowling Broad injured, so they have a previous record of picking Rashid to carry the drinks – and it’s never improved his game…
@BigKev – to go with the above – happy for England not to pick Rashid if they don’t think he can step up – and it’s certainly an open question whether he can or not – (he did progress in the BBL a couple of years ago) – but if they don’t have confidence to pick him, then it’s time to stop putting him in the squad.
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Rashid is “not even as good as MacGill”??? Stewie was a world class leggie and took 208 test wickets at an average of 29 at strike rate of 54. (ie a similar average to Swann but a better strike rate) I’m all for giving Rashid a game but I don’t think he’s anywhere near MacGill’s class.
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A good start Vian, something Englands openers haven’t had for a long while.
Have just seen a brief interview with captain Cook on Sky news and he was quite tetchy i thought, i guess answering the same questions time and again about his form will get to most people but it just seemed to me as if it was getting to him more than before which has to be a concern given its only the second test. England should try Rashid and leave out Broad. Something doesn’t appear to be right with Broad at the moment.
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Nice opener Vian. I would say it was more of a cover drive than a leg glance!
Anyway, the Cook debacle has got me thinking. Can anyone remember any other England player (or one from another country for that matter) being viewed with such misplaced reverence and being left in the team through such a lengthy fallow period?
I cannot think of any other incident of an England player, in such poor form, being allowed to carry on for so long and as captain! Wow, what a horror show………any suggestions?
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I thought I’d do a comparison to the last example I could think of – which wasn’t an England captain, and wasn’t terminal, that of Mark Taylor for Australia.
In his horror run between centuries on 25th January 1992, and his next, on 3rd June 1993 (17 months), he scored 483 runs @ 24.15. He only scored 2 fifties in that time, and the lean trot lasted for 20 innings.
Now, Cook has gone 33 Test innings (and 23 months) since his last century, scored 923 runs @ 28.84 with rather startlingly 9 fifties in that time.
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Taylor had another comparable horror run, between 17 November 1995 and 5 June 1997. 2 fifties in 24 innings, 569 runs at 24.74. The second half of that run is Wes Craven meets David Cronenberg: 12 innings, 134 runs at 11.17, highest score 38.
This run famously came to an end in the second innings of England’s only win in a live Ashes Test between 1986 and 2005…
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Both times England ended his poor run you’ll note…
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Any idea where my comment about Allan Border disappeared to?
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It didn’t post – I’d have seen it come through.
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Have just tried again, it may have been because it had a link in it. I’ll try once more without the link this time.
Alan Border went 36 Test matches (61 innings) without a century between Oct 88 and Sept 92. He did however, average 44.95 during this time, scoring 21 half-centuries. Australia only lost 6 of these 36 matches, which would have relieved any pressure on his place.
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Cheers guys, when I asked the question, I did have Mark Taylor in mind, but thought his lean spell was not comparable to Cooks. It’s not far of is it though!? That he had 2 lean spells, with the second giving up an average of circa 11 is quite an eye opener. Can’t believe both times, we helped him out of his run of poor form. Could the Aussies do a return favour for Cook, in the summer, if he is still in place?
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Also with regards to ‘Tubs’ he was quite a good captain if I remember correctly and so was Border. Cook, however, well not so much…….
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Among other countries, I’ve mentioned recently that Graeme Smith went two years without a century once.
Saurav Ganguly once went nearly two and a half years without a Test century (Oct 99 – Feb 02). He had 38 innings, made only four fifties and averaged just under 27 – although he did make a match-winning 98* in that time.
Ganguly has partly made it for it by becoming one of the best commentators on TV which it seems fairly safe to say is not something one will ever be able to say about Cook.
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There’s one very important difference though: Taylor was a very good captain.
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Well. Sitting on a fart reeking train at cannon street and I see the duties handled well. Cheers sir. Have a lot to catch up on.
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‘a fart reeking train’ – sums up the selection/coaching/captaincy/management at @ECB_cricket perfectly… With your agreement, I may use this phrase later on twitter!
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actually, I can see a poem coming on! (later) – Don’t switch off yet!
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Saving it for the inevitable end of the 2nd test – (brewing…)
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Cautious, conservative Cook, has gone to the Windies daring not to lose. That’s why we have Trott instead of Lyth, because he trusts Trott, he now also trusts Moeen, even though the lad kicked off from a position of deep mistrust not so long ago. He trusted Prior to the point of wrecking him, and he trust Broad and Anderson….you can see the meme running through it all…if you’re not one of Cook’s trustees then you’re not in mate….unless of course someone eventually gets injured!! I really do think its as simple and as manifestly pig headed and stupid as that!!
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Good point from Dean Wilson that I haven’t seen anyone else make:
“[England] have not faced a specialist leg spin bowler in Test cricket for almost three years. On that occasion in 2012, Piyush Chawla took 4-69 while Bishoo took 3-34 in the solitary one day game he played against England in 2011”.
Nearly three years? Blimey!
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Made a few times in the Telegraph, although slightly more opaquely: ‘which they have hardly seen since Shane Warne retired’ and similar comments.
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Fair play to Adil. I think I’d have told England to stick it and fecked off back to Yorkshire on the first available flight.
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Dobell is also Completely Certain that Cook is going to score serious runs in this series and that he looks very good and is well sorted out. So we’ll have to see…
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Amazing insight from the Iron Rod himself in the Telegraph:
“I’m desperate to set the tone well at the top of the order. It’s always important, every time you play for England as a top-order batter, to score runs and help England win.”
PS – Thank you and good luck Vian, always enjoyed your posts – great call Dimi
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….and they have not been reading these pages:
Berry: Part of that process was to study old tapes of his batting, as he did in early February. To the untrained eye, the difference between the Cook of a few years ago and the Cook of today are subtle: he was perhaps a little stiller then, more decisive in his movement, less eager to get off side of the ball
Your analysis showed some not so subtle problems.
Looking in the rear view mirror (or the old tapes) it all looks good. I was hoping during the WC he was working with “Goochy” to sort out his current problems, instead he was looking at his Best of Cook DVDs!!!
This is part of the Slidng Door dual realities of the ECB and Cook and Moores – all is well, there is no problem, Cook scored runs, we did beat India, we look good in the nets, we are due.
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Dobell thinks the tinkering Cook has made with his technique will work. We shall see.
I think it’s a perfectly fair article by Dobell, to be honest. If Cook doesn’t score any runs, then he’s going to be dropped.
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Trott, usual pre facing scratching around then moving all over the place whilst facing, Cook…well… if this is looking good in the nets, then the mind boggles….and @ECB_cricket promoted this!
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Interesting watch. Trott each time has that double movement, coming at the ball and then playing forward or back.
Cook….his head dammit. Watch his head.
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I got dizzy just watching it, and it was only a couple of minutes – doesn’t inspire confidence…
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this was interesting video and very insightful, I commented on it on twitter – but this gives a bit more space than 140 characters…
Firstly – on Trott’s technique – his trigger movement is late, which as Vaughan has pointed out repeatedly, means that he is moving when the ball is released. This is a problem – it also means that his weight is going forward and along a single line towards mid off.
The resulting impact is simple any movement away from him and he will fall over – which we see – and nick off. He has as a result lost his balance.
What he should be doing – for minimal change and maximum impact is moving earlier having the movement complete as the bowler enters his delivery stride. Ideally he would also just move in one direction (preferable forward) and not forward and across. That will improve his balance no end.
Now on Cook.
People rightly focus a lot on his head position – which is an issue – but he has issues with his back leg and hips. they should be facing point through the shot with a full ball – what we see is that his hips come through and back foot comes round meaning he is, like Trott unbalanced.
Cook also has the most ludicrous trigger movement and front foot in the air at the point of deliver known to man.
Frankly he would be better off just standing still on the balls of his feet. That would allow his head to stop falling over.
Currently he has adopted an Alec Stewart like movement from a wide stance – this is going to make looking after his off stump even harder.
I have no idea what Goochie and Ramps are coaching these guys – but seriously it is nonsense. I have also seen some ridiculous front foot move to the leg side which James Taylor has started doing. Talk about how to ruin a guy’s technique!!
I could waffle on about this for ages – but it is reasonable to say that sorting their technique out would take about 30 mins of common sense. Which past performance suggests mean that they will never sort it out.
ARRGGHHH
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@ Philip Chapman – so simply dissected, well done! – what are our coaches doing? Or are they being over-coached into such muddlesome movements – FFS – stand still, watch the bowler, watch the ball!
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thanks – people coach too much to justify their jobs. I have been coaching people to simplify their technique for the last few years and most have appreciated being able to just focus on watching the ball and not worrying about anything else.
it is both easy to say and do when you don’t charge for your services (I don’t), if people are paying for your help then it is much harder to say – “you look really good, I don’t think you should change much”.
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Yes, overcomplication is the bane of batting. It just ensures there’s something else to go wrong. Even someone like Chanderpaul, who looks messy at first sight, ends up in a very conventional position by release point.
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How on earth is Trott going to play late with those trigger movements?
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Agree with the above re: Trott’s trigger movements but I couldn’t see AC’s head (moving or otherwise) at all….are we watching the same video?
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11 of 16…
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I thought the more important stat about Cook (i.e. more important than Dobell’s last 3 tests and “no 100 for 2 years”) was from Booth’s article — 21 times out of the last 33 he’s failed to reach 25. If he gets 100, and I can only see that happening with some bad fielding and a few lucky lbw calls, it won’t change the fact that he’s been technically found out.
And regardless of what Dobell might say, the ODIs after his “triumphant” Indian series demonstrated that he still had those technical flaws.
I think he would have been better off watching that “How to Bowl to Alistair Cook for Dummies” video mentioned earlier.
Also, there are two versions of Trott — one where he “has overcome the demons that haunted him”, and the other where he’s recovering from stress and is “not a nutcase”. I wish the press would make up their mind.
I have no problem with someone quitting due to stress or mental issues of any kind — that should of course be treated the same way as any injury. But I do think a bit more honesty in all this is required. He was found out by Mitch J in the post Ashes ODIs in England, and clearly had done nothing to deal with either his technical or any mental problems by the time he got to Brisbane. Sure he got two good balls in the 1st test last week, but look how he played them.
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Sometimes the truth hurts but is ignored by those who have a greater need to be loved….
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Thoughtful analysis of Cook’s technical changes by Nasser Hussain:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3047670/Alastair-Cook-overdone-new-stance-don-t-write-just-yet.html
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It’s good to see some proper analysis of it. He looks horribly off balance in that screen shot, feet, body and head completely out of alignment.
It is possible Hussain is spot on that he overcompensated. We shall see.
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Is Cookie trying to copy Shiv? If so, there’s hope for him yet!
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maybe so, but a crab without claws is pretty defenceless…
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I’d suggest that he should model himself on the Alasdair Cook of 2011. That one seemed to work well.
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Seafood goes stale very quickly, no matter how you Cook it, or attempt to dress it up…
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