So, we have the 2nd test upon us and the major question (no, it’s not an Alastair Cook one) has to be whether Sri Lanka can actually be competitive in these conditions? As Dmitri covered in his report of the last Test, England performed well bowling wise in seam friendly conditions and had Bairstow and Hales to thank for propping up the batting, but Sri Lanka were embarrassing. They looked like a Division 2 county team who had never come across these conditions and I’m not exactly hopeful they’re going to be much better this Test.
I do really worry about the future of Sri Lankan cricket to be honest, what with a weak domestic game and a Board showing the same greed and incompetence as the WICB have displayed for years, things don’t exactly look rosy in their garden at the moment. I sincerely hope they can rouse themselves for Durham after the pasting they received at Headingley, but in my mind they only have 1 international class batsman in their squad in Angelo Matthews and their best and most promising bowler has gone home injured with a stress fracture. It’s going to be a big challenge to say the least and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if we saw another 3 day Test match.
As for England, they’ve unsurprisingly been hailed as world beaters again, which is a tad hasty to say the least in my opinion; however that is always the way with the English MSM, after all we’ve got the next Mike Brearley leading us now. The one player however, who seems to have inadvertently pissed on Selvey’s, Stock’s and Pringle’s chips in a former life is poor Nick Compton, who seems to be at the centre of an unpleasant whispering campaign from the Media. Whatever you think of Compton the batsman, and I personally think he’s a decent player who was treated awfully when he first came into international cricket, I think this sort of Chinese whisper campaign is at best unhelpful and at worst is slanderous. Indeed after the first Test it was left to Farbrace to address some of these unsubstantiated rumours:
“I have read all the stuff about Nick’s intense personality,” Farbrace said. “But I have yet to meet a batman at the top level who is not intense about the way they prepare. He is passionate to score runs for England and I think a couple of scores back to back and he will be off and running. I would say his state of mind has been very good.
“He is not a difficult bloke. He is an easy bloke to work with and he is passionate about scoring runs. He has everything you need from a top quality batter.
“We felt in South Africa he showed enough to suggest he can score runs in international cricket. He did not necessarily cement his position but we showed him faith by picking him.”
This doesn’t exactly tie in with the moody and difficult individual with few friends that is currently being portrayed in the MSM at the moment, so is this idle gossip from the hacks or is someone with an agenda leaking sound bites to old friends? I don’t think you need two guesses as to what my thoughts on the matter are. It seems that ‘if you’re not one of us, you’re one of them’ an individual from the ‘wrong type of family’ and as a result, no matter how many runs Compton does or doesn’t score this summer, his card has already been marked by those in the realms of power. I’m sure the ECB will phone up ISM to find someone else whose face ‘better fits’.
As to the makeup of the England team, I don’t see any changes occurring with Woakes replacing Ben Stokes as the all-rounder. Chris Woakes is an interesting case as his county stats indicate that he should be an international class cricketer – averaging 35 with the bat and 25 with the ball, indeed he took a 9 wicket haul against Durham this week to remind us how potent he can be (he’s just lucky that he was playing in Division 1, as we know, only Cook’s performances count in Division 2). However it is fair to say that he has looked at best innocuous in the Test arena and at worst a bit lost. I’ve seen an argument that he shouldn’t be judged yet as he hasn’t had a true run in the side to find his feet (6 tests spaced over 3 years), and this is a fair point, but you would think that with Stokes’ injury and a Sri Lankan team looking all over the shop against seam and swing bowling, that he needs to start turning those County performances into something more substantial in the Test arena to avoid being tagged as a ‘county trundler’. I’d also be surprised if they replaced Finn with Ball, despite the former looking a bit out of sorts with the ball in the First Test and Lord Selvey’s divine protestations.
On a final note, it will be interesting to see how many spectators turn up for the 2nd Test. I really feel Durham have been sold a turd here, especially against a Sri Lankan side who hardly turned up at Headlingley and on the back of a 2nd consecutive game in the North East. I do have particular sympathies for Durham with this, they’ve got a great ground, passionate fans and good facilities (despite the sparse public transport) and have always maintained aspirations for hosting Test Match Cricket; however the madness of the ECB bidding system combined with their vision to have at least 9 venues able to host Test cricket means that Durham have had to fork out the princely sum of £950k for the privilege of hosting this Test. This makes no financial sense whatsoever, Durham are forced to raise ticket prices, people therefore don’t attend and all they are left with at the end is a costly bill for a loss making exercise, no wonder they have had to approach the ECB, cap in hand, asking for a loan. Durham have no more Test matches scheduled after this one according to the current future Test calendar and one may sensibly interject that this could be the last ever match they hold there, which would be a sad indictment of the ECB’s cash before fan mentality. Of course, the ECB could rejig the order of Tests, so the Oval doesn’t automatically get the last Test of the main series, we could also agree a rotation of Test Grounds over a 4 year period and even strip away one of the Lords games each summer to make it a fairer playing field for all concerned; however London is where the ECB makes their money and the turkey’s running it aren’t suddenly going to start voting for Christmas any time soon. Spreading the game to the masses is a ‘nice to have’, but in reality it’s the money stupid!
Anyway Day 1 comments below:
Being Outside Cricket 
A brief (but intense) round of applause for Paul Farbrace. Good sense and honesty are rare qualities.
The bidding system….. words fail, really. Not only does the present regime in England cricket rip off the fans, it rips off the counties as well. Then it kindly lends the counties money, no doubt more than they can afford to repay. It’s like having the sport run by your friendly neighbourhood Mafia don.
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Some MSM in the past have made a big issue of England not winning the first test of an away series, we don’t have players who grasp the game by the neck or who realise the situation for what it is.
It should not be forgotten that Nick Compton did exactly what was needed in the first Test in South Africa and it’s a shame it’s now being forgotten.
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Yes that is my exactly my point with Compton, I certainly think he has the technique to do well at Test cricket, but there is a clamour across the printed and social media that he is some oddball, totally ill-suited to the game.
Yes he is out of form at the moment, but I think with the right support (I think he’s the sort of player that benefits from the carrot approach), he could profit in the Test arena.
Time will tell, but I think the picture painted of him is grossly unfair.
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The system for allocating test match cricket to the counties reminds me of the Fiat Federal reserve system of creating money out of thin air. You end up with a lot of debt being owed to an elite. And as the debts just keep mounting up, you have to borrow more from same elites to bail you out. Total madness.
As for Compton, I wish him well, but we all know he is dead man walking. If he does not score runs he will be attacked. And if he does score runs the pundits will say he is too slow. He can’t win. What is interesting about what Farbrace is saying, if true, is that the media are liars. Either the media are liars or he is covering his back side.
As for Sri Lanka, what a sad state they have become. And in these conditions you have to fear for another 3 day test match. Leeds only lasted less than 2 days without the rain breaks (163 overs) Good luck selling that to the masses.
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Among the talk of Compton’s twin hundreds and gritty effort in Durban, it is easy to forget his contribution in India. Not startling on paper, his crease occupation provided vital ballast when we all feared we would be ripped apart on spinning wickets. The media coverage of him is absolutely startling.
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What makes me laugh about the way Compton is portrayed in the media is the opposite to what they complained about with KP. In his case he was too casual (whistling while walking to the wicket. ) his body language was poor. Compton is trying like anything, and they then say he is too intense.
In other words, they pull it out of their backsides. It has nothing to do with any of what the player does, but they haven’t got the guts to just say his “face doesn’t fit.”
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If any of you get a chance to go to /durham, do. It is a fantastic venue. It isn’t stunning, though it is well situated, but it is well designed. It feels like a county ground. You are on top of the action. You can interact with the players and the crowd knows their cricket (unlike, dare I say it) the MCC. Not much shelter if it rains, mind.
PS. It;’s pronounced ‘Chester-Lee-Street’. If you listen to the commentators, they’ll give it a French ‘Le’. Conclude what you will about their interaction with the great unwashed.
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Agree totally, I went to the 2007 Eng vs. Windies Test at Durham. Thought it was a great ground, with friendly and passionate locals (the North East is my favourite place to see sport, as the locals are even happy to talk to us Londoners). It would be a huge shame if this happens to be the last Test there, I feel they’ve been sold down the river with false promises etc…
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So the Northeast gets Tests in May. When there is more likely to be rain around, than at any other point in time, or probably any other area of England. This tends to lead to shortened Tests, combined with the less than stellar opposition that is usually invited for May
Durham has hosted 5 Tests. Four of those were in May and June. Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, West Indies twice were the opposition in those cases. Even though both the West Indies Tests lasted 5 days (the other two Tests lasted 3), the weather was more responsible for that, than the quality of the opposition. West Indies lost by 7 wickets in 2007 (284 overs were bowled). West Indies lost by an innings in 2009 (276 overs were bowled).
The last Test was against Australia in 2013. That Test lasted 4 days, but at least was quite exciting (Australia were cruising in the 4th innings, only to collapse).
So Durham never had a 5-day Test (without substantial loss of time (90+ overs) in 5 attempts. And it is extremely doubtful that the sixth time will be lucky.
Meanwhile, the earliest the Oval has hosted any international side was July 8th (against India, in 1982). Out of 101 Tests having been held there, only 7 started in July, 4 in September and the rest in August.
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“So the Northeast gets Tests in May. When there is more likely to be rain around, than at any other point in time”
May is the driest month of the year in Durham (apart from February)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durham,_England#Climate
The problem with Durham is that it is fucking miles from anywhere. At least with Birmingham/Nottingham/Manchester/London there are 20 million people within an hour and a half’s commute from the ground.
With Durham that number is probably <5m. Its no wonder it has tiny crowds, its just not a suitable international venue.
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Well the weather forecast for the game looks as though it may be dry, but overcast for the first few days. So it should be ideal bowling conditions for England’s seamers. Cook will probably only get one innings to get ‘the greatest run ever scored by and ENGLAND batsman.’ (Snark)
If Durham have paid out £950 thousand for the dubious privilege of holding this match you do wonder if it’s finacially worth it if doesn not reach Sunday? Wouldn’t it be funny if every test ground in England and Wales said we don’t want bid for any test matches now? The ECB would have to play it at Guildford or Basingstoke or The Parks.
In other news……. those hoping for some Test match cricket this summer that actually manages to provide a contest will be concerned to hear the Hafeez may be out of the Pakistan team with a knee injury. Final decsion will be taken next week. Will any test match go past the forth day this summer?
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ENGLAND win the toss, and will bat. A nation holds its breath…………….
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He’s such a card…
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/27/chris-woakes-england-sri-lanka#comment-75090658
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Apologies if this has already been posted. It deals with things of greater importance to some of us than 10,000 runs.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-sri-lanka-2016/content/story/1019347.html
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It’s just stupid to schedule a match at Durham right after a match at Headingley. You automatically reduce the potential crowd.
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I’d just like to congratulate Alastair Cook on reaching 10,000 runs. I know he hasn’t done it yet, but i’ve got to go and teach a lesson and when I get out the crescendo of cheering and hosannas will probably be so deafening and off-putting as to stop me reading my phone all weekend…
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Oh. Was that me?
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Oops! Not this session! C’mon Nick, stuff it to the MSM snacks!!
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Snarks!
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Excellent jinxing job there, Rooto. It almost looked for a moment as if you didn’t actually mean it to be . . .
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A nation mourns. Cook fell 4 runs short.
On to the next Test to finally get there.
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Cook goes to a pretty horrific shot, hanging his bat outside off-stump. Will probably curse him now but I feel that Hales is actually enjoying himself out there. Wonder if he can express himself while still maintaining his shot selection discipline.
Compton steps into his personalised public kangaroo court…
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Reckon one (or more) has a tweet ready to go on his demise?
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Compton already looking way too intense and self-absorbed and inhibited by a lack of stroke-play or urgency. Admittedly he hasn’t faced a ball yet but I can see a lot by the way he walked out and tapped the wicket with his bat.
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From Stephan Shemilt on the BBC live feed:
“… Two men looking to establish themselves, one looking much more at home”
No shit. One has been there all morning; the other has just got to the crease. They just can’t help themselves.
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LOLZ
Hope he reels in some fish.
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Talking of reeling ’em in….
The foot-stamping and repeated demands that he “show respect” are hilarious.
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When did Peter Hayter become Cook’s fanboy supreme?
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If you want a job writing for the ECB cricket industrial complex there are certain hands you must not bite.
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Of all the people to get to 10 000 runs:
Lara averaged 53.19 when he got there (and got out soon afterwards)
Tendulkar averaged 57.80 when he got there.
Sangakkara averaged 56.50 when he got there.
Ponting averaged 59.17 when he got there.
Dravid averaged 55.56 when he got there.
Jayawardene averaged 51.02 when he got there.
Gavaskar averaged 51.28 when he got there.
Kallis averaged 54.64 when he got there.
Border averaged 52.08 when he got there.
Chanderpaul averaged 50.00 when he got there.
Steve Waugh averaged 49.75 when he got there.
Alastair Cook, will average 46.30 if he gets there in the next innings.
Now, I know most of these batsmen were not openers (and even Cook batted for 576 runs at #3, which is not too dissimilar to Gavaskar).
But they also faced better attacks than Cook. Probably without exception. Or are we to believe that Eranga / Pradeep are a fiercer prospect to face than Murali and Vaas? That the West Indies of the 1970s and 1980s are less daunting than Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor and Gabriel?
Most of the aforementioned batsmen have captained their sides for fairly lengthy periods of time too. Kallis has not, but in his case, he bowled a fair number of overs too, taking nearly 300 Test wickets in the process.
Or is this the kind of contextualizing of an achievement that is impossible for the MSM to give?
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Bit of English thinking for you…
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If ever you want a tweet that shows why this site of Dmitri’s is still very, very relevent to English cricket this one tweet by Jay shows why.
The ECB/media have managed to turn huge sways of England fans into morons.
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1. So was Gavaskar. So Gavaskar is clearly ahead of Cook, by nearly 5 runs / innings.
2. As pointed out, Gavaskar and Border batted in an era with better bowlers, less protection etc. Border played in the middle order, and nearly 60% of his Tests as a captain. And, Border had to keep the Australian batting order together.
And if batting in England is so hard, why does Jimmy Anderson average 26 in England? Malcolm Marshall averaged less than 26 in all places bar New Zealand (and less than 20 in the West Indies). Cook never ran into him. Or Walsh, Bishop, Ambrose, Donald, Wasim, Waqar etc.
You could hardly find an equal composite attack nowadays to several of the attacks that were going around before Cook entered the scene. And they must almost necessarily include Dale Steyn – whom Cook has hardly faced courtesy of the brilliant scheduling prowess of the ECB, and some unfortunate injuries to Steyn.
3. Kallis got nearly 300 Test wickets. Somehow I think that compares slightly favourable to the prize wicket of Ishant Sharma, in a Test that had died long before the greatest ever came on to bowl.
4. Sangakkara kept wicket for quite some time. And in the majority of those cases still batted at #3. Which means he could still be facing the second ball of the innings, after having kept wicket for a long period of time. How is that for a challenge? Sangakkara batted at #3, and came in at 0/1 on 15 occasions in his career. I checked, and on at least one occasion he even made a double ton after keepng wicket in the first innings.
In fact, while playing as a designated wicketkeeper at #3, Sangakkara still averaged 44.43, with 7 tons (5 at home, 2 in Pakistan). One of those tons came in the 1st innings, 3 in the second innings, and another 3 in the third innings. Sure he had a poor record in England as a designated wk batting at #3, (6 matches, 30.00 average), but it is not like Cook’s results at home against say Australia or South Africa have been that stellar either.
5. Dravid, Tendulkar, Jayawardene, and Sangakkara all played hundreds of ODIs. Dravid and Sangakkara kept wicket in numerous of them as well. All the batsmen mentioned above barring Kallis, Lara and Chanderpaul have at least one World Cup (T20 or ODI) to their name. Which suggests that they are multifaceted cricketers – unlike Cook.
6. All these batsmen (maybe with the exception of Jayawardene) have batted really well against quality attacks on more occasions than Cook (I refer to Anantha Narayanan’s research on the topic).
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Interesting question, as opening is often considered more prestigous than other positions.
Why are opener’s runs more valuable? Because they face the new ball, and the best bowlers when fresh. Maybe you could say they have extra pressure of being responsible for setting up the innings. That’s about it as far as I can see. On the other hand, by definition they never come in during a collapse, and they’re generally allowed to bat at whatever pace they feel like.
Why are non-opener’s runs more valuable? Because they face the ball with the shine taken off so with more propensity to swing, and then may also have to adjust to a new ball, they face the best bowlers when they’ve gotten into a rythm for the day, they have to adjust the a variety of game situations, they may come in during a collapse and need to defend without being bogged down (a very difficult approach to get right), they may have to bat with the tail, and they’re more likely to face a deteriorating pitch.
So in fact, I’d say in respect to Cook, he’s an opener so that makes his achievements less impressive:)
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Why only most others? Who should he not be compared to? When Cook gets to ten thousand it will be a fine achievement, nobody is denying that but please spare us the guff and media spin.
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Compton out. Sadly his dismissal will give his critics plenty of ammo
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Stocks didn’t disappoint.
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I think this blokes joking. I hope he is……
Richard: “It all depends who you have to face. Any aussie in the ’90’s with a good average is worthless as they didn’t face Warne and McGrath. My average in my garden against my brother was 3 but he was a great bowler getting turn off the rose bush”
Sri Lanka even managed to bowl 61 overs in two sessions. Miracles will never cease. England 200/3.
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“Any aussie in the ’90’s with a good average is worthless as they didn’t face Warne and McGrath”.
Perhaps ‘Richard’ could be introduced to Steve Waugh and he could tell the Steely-eyed One that he is “worthless”?
Some of the bowlers Waugh faced (in at least six Tests): Ambrose (in 23 Tests – I think their duel when Waugh made his 200 is one of my favourite sessions of Test cricket), Walsh, Bishop, Gough, Fraser, Wasim, Kumble, Donald,Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Hadlee, Waqar, Marshall, Patterson, Shoaib Akhtar, Srinath.
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I’m pretty sure he was taking the piss Simon.
However, the debate rages on about Cook. I notice his band of followers are using the word “longevity” a lot now. As in……
“Well yes, Cook might not be the best, but his longevity can not be questioned.”
I also get the sense many are getting sick of this saga now. When a stat becomes more important the whole test match, and now a couple of test matches it is getting indulgent. Good news for Cook is if ENGLAND pile up the runs today and tomorrow he can get his landmark in front of his adoring fans at Lords. It will be the greatest 5 of all time.
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Was he ? I hope so. I remember some people trying to argue this seriously about Viv Richards (but not to Viv Richards!) in the 1980s.
Don’ t think the run landmark will be the end of it. Lurking in the background, there’s also this one:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;groupby=captains;orderby=won;result=1;team=1;template=results;type=team
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Yeah. And Cook?
All the bowlers with 25- averages he has faced (averages since 1 Mar 2006, minimum of 50 wickets).The averages listed here are averages in those matches. Does not necessarily mean that Cook fell to Steyn, Harris, Murali etc.
Dale Steyn for all of 9 Tests. And a heroic average of 37.50 .
Ryan Harris for 12 Tests. And a heroic average of 33.40.
Muralitharan for 5 Tests. 45.30
Asif for 5 Tests. And a heroic average of 32.22
Jadeja 5 Tests. 33.28. Jadeja is next to useless outside of India (home average is about 15, away 45).
Philander for all of 3 Tests. And a heroic average of 32.50
Yasir Shah for all of 2 Tests. 46.75
Nothing too disastrous, but nothing great either.
Notice that with the exception of Philander / Steyn in 2012 (3 Tests), Cook has not faced an attack with 2 bowlers averaging less than 25 (with a minimum of 50 wickets since March 2006).
Think Steve Waugh has done better on that metric.
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I posted a reply to you SimonH. But it seems to have been caught up in the moderation queue, so please be patient (and Dmitri, you can remove this post when you see fit, once the moderated post has been approved).
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D. Nothing in my spam or pending folders from you.
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The reply showed up quite soon after I made my post (the 3.35 PM one). So it must have been approved rather quickly.
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It got sent to my inbox for some reason. Apologies about the day in releasing it…
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No worries Sean.
Thanks for posting a good entry, and preview for the Test as well.
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By the way if you didn’t hear TMS at lunch time, Aggers had a good interview with Foxy Fowler. He was promoting his book, and talked openly about his mental health problems. He also revealed another side to Sir Ian Botham. It was a side which he sometimes doesn’t always get the credit for.
Worth a listen if you have half an hour.
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Oops careless by Root. Harks back to his habit of not converting big 50s…
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Oh…Alastair, look
You still can’t Cook
The MSM books…
So you still stand
Beyond a boundary, still fanned
By your ECB favouritism
Which we know is the schism
Where your runs still abound
Til somewhere south, then they’re be found
For the hagiographers
To incite and ne’er defer
To the fact that you from the front ne’er lead
For the team England, to succeed
As you,your lambs to the slaughter, bleed
On your farm, rifle aimed
Oh, the harm, proudly displayed
As you accumulate and shyly crave
That landmark which unspoken be
Apart from the MSM in perpetuity
Who, if only we could Strauss lust
Then your scores we’d adore, you we’d trust…
But…
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So what’s the verdict for today, honours pretty much even?
I only tuned in for a little bit, but it seemed SL were appealling almost every second ball, and ENG were living dangerously, but in the end 6/300 is a pretty decent position.
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If the skies remain leaden I would reckon that England’s frontline seamers will look a whole lot more dangerouns overall than Sri Lanka, not that I thought that they bowled that badly.
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Were the last comments I posted here considered unsuitable, and moderated?
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Nothing in pending or spam, fred.
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Thanks Sean and Dmitri. Very strange.
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Hi Fred,
Nothing has come through to my inbox with any of your comments. We’re not exactly like our mates at the Guardian.
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Well played Moeen. Compton will be wondering why he could not be as fortunate to be dropped like Moeen has been. Could well spell the end of his England career – it looks increasingly unlikely that Compton will get a chance to save his career in the second innings.
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