India v England – 2016/17

India v England – 3rd Test, 1st Day

LordCanisLupus21 Comments

And so to Mohali. There seems little need to write a preview for this test match, because many people believe that the course of the match will be determined half an hour before the first ball is bowled. The consensus appears to be if India win the toss they will win, and if they lose the toss they’ll probably win. England have got themselves in the usual mindset, a bipolar existence we’ve seen too often in the past. One week (Rajkot) we are a bunch of world beaters, punching above our weight, batting beautifully, putting pressure on India, and the next we are a bunch of plucky underdogs, out of our depth, but fighting the unremitting odds presented us by losing the toss.

Ben Duckett has paid the price for losing in Vizag, and bowling three spinners may also bite the dust, but with Stuart Broad’s injury, it may also survive . Now England will be going in with Moeen up one spot, and Jos Buttler batting at seven, while Chris Woakes comes in for Stuart Broad. Will Ansari lose his place given the less than thunderous applause his 2nd Test performance garnered from the attendant press hordes (to be fair, it wasn’t Zafar’s best game)? It looks likely.

On Broad, I have to say what Cook said made me really concerned that this attitude is allowed to stand. Broad showed amazing amounts of resolve to bowl with a sore tendon. I’ve had achilles tendonitis and it is agony. So to bowl with it is a great credit to his powers of resolve. But was it really wise? Really? Careers end on decisions to play on with quite nasty injuries.

Cook also had warm words for Broad, who produced an exceptional spell on the fourth morning in Visakhapatnam despite a foot injury. “You wouldn’t know that his foot was as bad as it was,” Cook said. “But the specialist’s advice is that there is a risk of it going totally and he would then be out for a period of time

“They were quite surprised how well he got through those four-and-a-half days after doing it in the third or fourth over of the match. If he played here and did more damage to the tendon in the second over then you’d look stupid.”

“There’s a risk of it going totally…” let those words sink in. Ruptured tendons aren’t five minute injuries.No-one ever questioned Broad’s commitment. But if someone else is on the brink of serious damage, don’t criticise them if they don’t play. Don’t say their card is marked. Don’t say they are fragile. Don’t put out press briefings to say that they aren’t committed and/or their injury can’t get any worse. Arguably Mark Wood is still rehabbing because he was playing through pain, or playing with a risk of serious injury. Sports stars want to play, but sometime they need saving from themselves. Broad has been top notch on this tour so far, against past form, but there’s a need for sense out there. I know some might say “I’m sure they know better than you, Dmitri” and they are right, but that’s not to say that I’m not. Let’s hope for the best.

India have also made a change, and that is behind the stumps. Parthiv Patel makes a return to the test team. Parthiv made his debut as a 17 year old at Trent Bridge in 2002, and has played one test in the last 12 years, falling behind the towering presence of MS Dhoni. His recall, as a 31 year old, maybe a little bit surprising as Rishabh Pant, a 19 year old phenom, is scoring mountains of runs in the Ranji Trophy (four centuries, including a 308), but the Indians are putting weight on experience over youth. The sorts of scores Pant is getting would have a campaign being run in England for him, so it shows some of the depth behind the front line. Parthiv made 139 not out against Madhya Pradesh just over a week ago, so knows where the middle of his bat is at present. Other than that, India look a little more settled, although another poor test from the sublimely talented Ajinkya Rahane may have the home journos mumbling.

As usual, there will be plenty of debate about the wicket. Let’s take a look at the match played at Mohali recently.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2016-17/engine/match/1053543.html

Quite a well balanced match with Delhi, being quite a strong team on paper, making a decent score (and Gambhir making a ton, which probably got him selected!)

England’s record there isn’t crash hot. Mohali wasn’t on the 2012 rota, but it was on the preceding three tours. KP’s 144 helped avert a tricky position in the 2nd test in 2008/9, but we were well beaten there in 2006, being “Kumbled” who took 9 wickets in a game that was quite even at halfway. We were given a sound beating in 2001 too, losing by 10 wickets in the first test in that series. Interesting that we batted first in both the two losses, and batted second in the draw!

Enough for now. A decision on whether we play three spinners (Batty would replace Ansari) or another seamer (Jake Ball) will be made tomorrow. Until then, as the good men say… Comments below on Day 1’s play.

 

 

India vs England: 2nd Test, day five

thelegglance75 Comments

England did at least do cricket watchers at home a favour – in that they subsided so quickly the match was over before many had even hauled themselves on to the train or into the car to head to work.  No watching or listening with irritation, no lamenting a poor performance or berating a poor shot.  Having worked so hard to try and get some semblance of a chance on the final day, it all went wrong within minutes of the resumption.

It would be a mistake to view the events of day five as the reason for defeat; the hole England were in was so deep that it required virtual perfection even to take the game into the final session, but to collapse as badly as they did was not the end hoped for even in a match that they looked destined to lose from the second evening onwards.

There are a few things that can be taken from it though.  Firstly, India’s over rate was astounding, bowling ten overs in the first half hour.  While they were spin bowlers and England were not smashing the ball to all parts, if nothing else it should put to bed any justification whatever for tardy over rates in the wider game.  Teams can do it when they put their minds to it, there is no excuse whatsoever for failing to complete the necessary number in a day.

England seem quite likely to drop Ben Duckett for the third Test.  This smacks of the same kind of panic currently afflicting Cricket Australia.  He’s played only four Tests, and it’s only a couple ago that he was being lauded for how he played in scoring his maiden Test fifty.  If he was good enough then, he’s good enough now, or why pick a young player for the future to begin with if faith isn’t going to be shown? That doesn’t mean that a player is given licence to fail repeatedly, but it’s either a bad selection in the first place or it’s nothing other than panic from the selectors.  Neither reflects well on them, and Jos Buttler is no noted player of spin either.

Likewise, only two Tests ago the media were lamenting England’s spin bowling options and expressing a peculiar wish for them to try an all seam attack.  No matter what the situation there is always a suitable target for blame which never involves the captain, coaches, selectors or administrators.  They are above reproach.  Again, creating what David Warner so gloriously described as escape goats doesn’t help anyone, and it’s not a call to shift blame to others in any way.  England will lose Tests sometimes, and India is a challenging place in which to tour for English teams.  A rational and thoughtful approach in discussing where the shortcomings are is hardly a radical request.  Equally, that doesn’t mean people will agree as to what those are, it is a game of opinions after all.  But it would be far better if there was less flip flopping around and blame gaming towards some individuals and not others.

For this is what grates more than anything else.  It’s not traitorous behaviour to acknowledge that Cook isn’t the most acute captain in the world; he is what he is, and since he’s the skipper then it’s just a question of getting on with it – no one’s perfect.  But instead of any discussion around perhaps how India should not have got as many runs as they did in the first innings, instead everything that flowed from that is dissected and other individuals placed under the spotlight.  The point about the slating the spin bowlers received after Bangladesh is a case in point – the form of Adil Rashid is now being mentioned as a positive.  And so it is – but that was always a possibility anyway, for he’s a talented bowler trying to perfect a difficult art.  He deserves far better than having his character questioned repeatedly when things aren’t going well for the team, yet a pretence that it never happened now he’s doing well is quite obvious.

Consistency from the players is very hard to achieve.  Consistency from those commenting is not.  People can be wrong, and they often are.  Observers on cricket and economists could interchange on each others’ discipline with no discernible difference in accuracy, but it’s not asking too much to hope they would maintain a line and stick to it.

Of course, some will say that Cook gets plenty of criticism on this blog and is he not a scapegoat too?  Well no, because the whole point of that is that the cricket media never so much as whisper that he’s anything but perfect.  Cook is a fine batsman (though not a great, no matter how much some might try to claim it based on volume of games) and his captaincy is certainly better than it was.  But it doesn’t make him immune from comment either, and it is abundantly obvious that absolutely anyone else will be criticised before he ever is.  Virat Kohli received no end of stick for his captaincy from Nasser Hussain while Cook got none.  That’s simply bizarre and an avoidance of comment for reasons unknown, and as ridiculous as Shane Warne slating Cook while refusing to address Australian problems.  That doesn’t for a second mean he should be fired as skipper just because England have lost a game, but it does mean a reasonable analysis of all England’s flaws is the least anyone ought to be able to expect. That doesn’t mean a focus on Cook either, for the principal reason for the loss was the batting collapse, but it does mean that it is one of many areas that could and should be discussed.

Where do they go from here? Although there’s been an attempt to massage expectations so that anything other than a 5-0 defeat can be portrayed as a good tour, there’s not that much between the teams; the size of this defeat is slightly misleading.  England are well capable of winning against this India side, even in alien conditions.  This should be a highly competitive series, and in truth apart from one disastrous session with the bat (day five can be discounted to some extent because of the scale of the challenge) England have competed fairly well.  Cook observed that winning a couple of tosses would help, and although some will see that as making excuses, he’s actually quite right.  England did have the worst of the conditions here, and the toss is important.  It isn’t too hard to imagine that had England batted first here they could be now celebrating a win.

The bowlers have done pretty well overall; although England didn’t have a good day with the ball on day one of this match, that can happen and does happen. They don’t look out of their depth at all, neither the seamers nor the spinners.  Could they be better?  Absolutely they could, but there’s little point in engaging in wishful thinking – England need to cut their cloth according to what they have.  And what they do have is a leg spinner who is a definite weapon, two off spinners who are competent enough, and four seamers (one of whom sits out) who are actually very good.

The batting has been an issue, but not because of an inability to score runs, but because of the tendency – not at all new – to fall in a heap in combination once in a while.  That’s shown by the nascent series batting averages to date, four players averaging over 50, and only Duckett genuinely struggling.  The implication that it’s all his fault is ludicrous.  What England need to do – and there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why they shouldn’t – is put together partnerships so they compile a good team score.  Easy to say, harder to do, but not something that they are incapable of achieving at all.

India haven’t lost at home since England’s last tour here four years ago, and while it’s a big ask for them to repeat the feat, the idea that England are hopelessly outclassed is nonsensical.  If they play well, they have every chance of levelling this series.  England are not even close to being a great side, but then neither are India.  The overreaction to England wins is nauseating.  The overreaction to England defeats deeply irritating.

All of which means the match review ultimately amounts to one sentence:  England ost the toss, had a bad day or so and it cost them the Test match.   Better luck next time lads.

 

India v England – 2nd Test, 2nd Day

LordCanisLupus58 Comments

This England team really are a mine of material, keeping me motivated to continue. Whenever you think that this blog might die down, go through a period of stability and calm, so that we don’t have to keep stating what appears to be the obvious (to us), they come up trumps with a display full of talking points. I think what gets to me, and looking at the comments, us, is that we are so often right. Sure, a stopped clock and all that, and I don’t have an editor or a line to take to tell me what to do, but some of the stuff I read, or hear on the radio, baffles me. In the words of the late Fred Trueman “I have no idea what’s going on out there” half the time. Are they watching what we are? Are we so off the beaten track of cricket opinion? Is our evaluation of a days play so anathema to the others who report on it?

It’s tough to make it clear how I’m thinking, and it’s nothing to do with a convivial lunch. But there’s a frustration watching this England team. It has ability. It just doesn’t seem to believe in itself enough. I find it hard to define. But if I’m frustrated with the team, it pales into insignificance when I read about the game. There the matters on the field seem, for some, to mean less than how they should be reported against some message that needs to be conveyed.

The last test match did not follow the script. This script appears to be an exercise in managing expectations. England were supposed to lose 5-0, because (a) we can’t spin and (b) we can’t bowl spin. Add to that scraping a draw in a series against Bangladesh, and the fear of God was put in us all. Then, one very positive, encouraging performance, and the managing of expectations is going to be a bit more tough to put out when England played so well. Where do we stand after Rajkot? The players have to be positive, we know that. We would be worried if they weren’t, but the watchers and writers have to display more scepticism. “Now we are ready to take it to India toe-to-toe” they imply, remarking that Ashwin has a block against England…. Kohli still hasn’t really made hay. Then the last two days happened and it is almost a volte face. The expectation management, or as I know it “excuse” is that we lost the toss and then we lose the match. So this is to be expected, or as Newman said this is “the performance we all feared”. Funny, this wasn’t really what I was reading last week. Clearly the toss is important, but as you’ll note from a remark in my “On This Day” below, it doesn’t have to be fatal.

Yesterday four wickets fell, today eleven. The game has moved forward quite rapidly and India hold all the cards. They got first use of the wicket, capitalising on their chance to use the pace and bounces, such as it was, to its fullest, while our bowling wasn’t quite up to it (and I’m not mentioning the captain). Two of India’s top four made centuries. England fought back well this morning, but still 455 looks a good score on this wicket. In fact, there aren’t many test wickets where 455 isn’t a good score.

England’s demise wasn’t so much as predicted as bloody well certain. Now a lot of this is predicated on me not seeing the action (job etc.) but following on Twitter and the comments here, but once Cook was toppled early there was an air of inevitability about this. I saw his dismissal, and a very good ball, make no bones about it, got him, but heavens above they didn’t half go on about how great a delivery it took to get the opener. As you know, I’m not setting up an Alastair Cook Appreciation Society on here, and as you may also conclude, I may go out of my way to find reasons to get angry about it, but the media he gets is preposterous. It’s as if any word of criticism is going to be met by the most awful of repercussions, and any dismissal has to be explained away with reverence reserved for royalty. Honestly, I’ve known nothing like it. Nothing like the Hughes puff piece interview in the Cricketer (which is really getting better if you could just shove #39’s bloody ego out of the way) which might as well have had a soft focus border and ended up with the question “Alastair, sir, do you have any words for your subjects to explain how they could be great like you?”.

This is what gets our ire – Cook is venerated, and even his mistakes are given a veneer. Contrast that with how the Joe Root dismissal has been treated. More of that later.

I’ve not seen the run-out. By the time this goes to press on the blog I would have. Most people indicate that Root was the guilty party, HH the victim. These things happen sometimes. They just do. You can’t legislate for them. Quite often, when they happen, the TV and news pundits will say it is evidence of “a scrambled brain” but that was obviously not going to be put forward for the manchild or for the putative World #1 batsman they’ve all very reasonably buffed up this week. So remember that the next time someone of a fragile mind might get run out, or play an injudicious shot, that scrambled brains don’t happen to the star players or the prodigies. (I’ve seen it now, it’s the sort of thing that happens, but let me make a point. Hameed made 13 in 50 balls and an hour and 20 minutes. He got run out with a dozy piece of cricket. Replace Hameed’s name with Compton. Not Compton now, but the Compton of 2013. Think he’d be getting that same lovely press for an innings every bit as slow as his. It would be unfair to have a go at Hameed, but that never stopped our media laying into Compton).

Next in was last month’s Bright Young Thing, Ben Duckett. Now I really want Ben to do well for a number of reasons, not least that he plays aggressively, seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and it might debunk the myth about Division 2 being too big a gap to bridge to play test cricket. His half-century in Dhaka was greeted with joy unconfined even as England toppled like wet cardboard after he got out to post that ignominious defeat (still not buying Bangladesh being a good side, yet). Today those that were praising are now burying. A number openly calling for him to be removed from the action for his own benefit. Hey, maybe opening with him and letting him get his eye in to quicker bowling might be better for him, instead coming in against spin, cold, is not working out well. There’s a lot being made of his technical flaws (watch out Ramps, they are after you) but two test matches ago we were being feted by tales of a “brilliant half-century”. As I write this Colvile has previewed the next part of The Verdict as “Is Duckett’s career in a spin”. Two tests, two innings, time to go. Now, just as people might be right about Hameed, so they might be wrong about Duckett. Not every top player has a watertight technique. Give the guy a bloody break.

Joe Root’s dismissal is getting the easy, lazy lines out again. Far better for a player to have his technique undressed, albeit in a one-off scenario (Cook) than for you to get out having an attacking shot and getting caught in the deep. I understand Farbrace  said that he did not want to hear anything about “that’s the way I play”, but if he did say that then he’s a dolt. Of course Newman has piled in, comparing this dismissal to his usual bete noire, Ian Bell (and SimonH’s prescience on this in the comments is spooky) playing well and getting out to a soft shot. Really. As usual, we pop at the one who showed most aptitude, rather than those who didn’t. Sure, Root will be mad at himself. He sets himself high standards, but maybe, just maybe, I’m smelling a Cook preservation rat, and Root’s name being discussed recently means a higher bar being set for Joe. Odd, because I think Cook is as secure as he’s ever been. I’m probably looking for my tinfoil hat.

Moeen’s LBW has me chuckling all the way to the end of this piece. For years we have rightly excoriated the BCCI for going their own way in not using DRS. The theory was that Sachin wanted no part of it because he might get out more, and the word of the Little Master was never to be contravened (it kept him playing well past his prime). The other theory is that the other word of the Lord in India, MS Dhoni, was implacably turned against DRS by an LBW decision overturned in the 2011 World Cup against Ian Bell. Whether these two contentions are true or not, let’s recognise that India have taken up the DRS. Now they use it to overturn an LBW decision based on a couple of change of regulations over the years, and suddenly we (well Newman does in the Mail) get all precious about it. “I’m sorry, that’s just not out” isn’t a defence when DRS has given it out. We can’t pick and choose. Sure, Moeen was unlucky. Sure, Moeen wouldn’t have been given out in years gone by, but spare me us moaning about DRS when we wanted it imposed on India.

So what now. The S&B crew need to get us out of trouble again. Stokes has shown much better aptitude against spin this winter, and Bairstow has put out so many fires in the past few months we almost expect him to do so. For the record I think getting to 256 is academic – India are going to bat next in this test match – so it’s a combination of time and runs that are going to matter.

So that’s more than enough for one day – I didn’t see the India innings, but I want to get this out because I have things to do. Which leads me to a topical On This Day…

On this day in 2012, Alastair Cook batted for 90 overs at Ahmedabad adding 94 runs to his overnight score of 74 not out, as he and Matthew Prior undertook a long rearguard to attempt to save the match for England. On a wicket that had seen 8 of England’s first innings wickets fall to spin (Ojha taking 5/45), Cook thwarted all that was thrown at him on the fourth day to take England ten runs ahead with five wickets in hand, and at least give England a chance of saving the match.

I thought I’d put this in because just because a pitch is aiding the spinners, it doesn’t mean you can’t make runs on it.

Sure, on Day 5 we were bowled out for 406 – Cook making 176, Prior 91 – and just five second innings wickets fell to spin, and India completed the win, but their rearguard inspired England that they could play on these wickets, Cook was brilliant all series, and England won on a ragging Mumbai snake-pit having lost the toss.

So for one of his best, most valiant, most stubborn knocks, Alastair Cook is today’s “On This Day”.

Comments on Day 3 below…

India v England – The Second Test Intro…

LordCanisLupus71 Comments

Plus, at the end of this piece, another “On This Day”

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Jimmy Anderson gets Sachin in 2007 – bowled as the evidence shows!

Dmitri, and I’m starting to talk about myself in the third person so beware, is a curmudgeonly old soul. He’s also been round the cricketing block when supporting England. As have many of you. We’ve seen many a bright starlet hit the ground running, only to struggle to maintain that as world bowlers look at you, think about how you bat, and target accordingly. We’ve seen many a resilient England performance, battling against the odds, only to be followed by a dreadful subsidence in a following fixture, or a comprehensive defeat. We live in post-Strauss captained England, one where it doesn’t really matter if we lose certain test matches, as long as we win the ones that are appointed to matter. We live in an instant gratification world, where a half decent debut is extrapolated out to those with all time great careers, and where one of the blogging cognoscenti can call me out for being unreasonable in pointing out how silly this looks. So just as Dhaka is now in the books, where a result can be ignored because there was a better one after it, and an opener who was praised can be ignored because there was a better show after it, we can consign Rajkot Boulevard to the memory banks and wander down the Vizag Vista for match number two. For those of you not aware of the fact, in amidst the fan boy accolades and the hyperventilating hyperbole from the first test, we didn’t win it. The score is 0-0.

It might be worth a walk down memory lane to see how England have fared in first and second test matches against India in the sub-continent. Back in 2012 we lost in Ahmedabad (and you’ll get nonoxcol going with that one) but did so fighting back in the second innings with a great innings by Cook and a good one by Prior too. We took that momentum into the second test and won. Some bloke played a reasonably good innings, backed up superbly by another Cook ton and some top spin bowling.

Our previous tour was that blight on world cricket, a two test series. We lost the first, in 2008, at Chennai as we walked into a Sehwag whirlwind and a Tendulkar masterclass, but we were, again, extremely competitive. We drew the second in a weather affected bore in Mohali, enlightened by some bloke making a reasonably decent hundred to ward off any threat. Wonder what happened to him?

In 2006 we drew the first test in Nagpur. You might recall a certain Alastair Cook making a half century in his first innings and a century in his second, and still Matthew Hoggard got to ride the post-match motorbike as man of the match. That was arguably a winning draw for England, much like Rajkot was, but we followed it up by losing on a spin-friendly track in Mohali before clawing back the series in the Ring of Fire test in Mumbai.

Back to 2001 and again in Mohali, we lost the 1st test of the series, with Dees Dasgupta, the legend, making a key century. That may have been peak India in terms of bowling spin, as Harby and Kumble put us to the sword, covering for two very inexperienced opening bowlers. England acquitted themselves well in the next two tests, although Bangalore was very badly rain affected.

There’s been a total randomness to how we’ve hit the ground in India, but it’s not unknown for us to over-rate the opposition and then, after we play them in the first test, re-adjust expectations. We usually are 1-0 down – 2006 being an exception (we lost the first tests in 1992 and 1984) and trying to claw back series. So yes, we are better placed. It also better places the doomsayers who had this as a 5-0 whitewash!

I’ve been doing this blogging lark for too long now. I keep feeling that things I’ve said before I have to say again. This England team has far too many unreliable parts. By putting together ONE batting performance in the first innings that wasn’t exclusively relying on Cook or Root, or a Bairstow / AN Other recovery job, England’s top order strung scores together and made a formidable total. A forward step, but with pretty much the same personnel, do you think this is a solid base or an outlier? Let’s put it this way, the evidence points to the latter.

We’ve seen many decent performances followed by annoying lapses. Grenada by Barbados, Cardiff by Lord’s, Edgbaston by The Oval, Abu Dhabi by Dubai. The way the performance at Rajkot has been reported, you’d think all our problems are over, and England now stand a decent chance of doing well. The realist believes that the only time you might see a road like Rajkot is if India hold a one test lead going into the last match…. (at this point I must point out that India produced a truly dreadful dirge of a pitch when we were 2-1 up last time out). England can be good, they can be bad. One swallow does not make a summer.

hirwani
Imagine how our media corps would react after a debut like this man’s.

The main source of debate going into the match, other than where to place Haseeb on the genius steps (above Cook, about level with Sanga, maybe a notch down from Sachin, but compare HH and SRT’s debuts), is will Anderson play or not? I’m past caring. If Jimmy breaks down, leaving us a bowler short, then on his head be it. Newman’s almost messianic pushing of Saint Jimmy of Burnley has been bizarre, but he’s been given pause for thought by a solid bowling display by England in the first match. Now we’d have to leave out someone from the “best all round team performance” that Bayliss had seen from an England team in his time. Such great performances, if precedent is to be believed, have the “no vacancies” sign put up like a B&B in peak summer. But now there’s talk of letting Woakes have a rest, and while I might not quite believe it, I don’t know who is briefing who here.

The other matter is the wicket. Now here we are being given all sorts of doom and gloom, based, it seems on the recent ODI between India and New Zealand, which saw the visitors crushed, and Mishra take five wickets. Here are your Ranji Trophy games this season at Vizag:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2016-17/engine/match/1053467.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2016-17/engine/match/1053497.html

Both quite low scoring.

It doesn’t appear as though the ground hosted any first class cricket last year. Certainly it would appear there were no Ranji Trophy games.

2014/15 there appeared to be one much higher scoring match…

http://www.espncricinfo.com/indian-domestic-2014-15/engine/match/775677.html

Who knows what we will get? We are set for an interesting test match. Was Rajkot a blip? Will KL Rahul make a difference? Will England revert to a mean, or was that the benchmark for the series, and perhaps something we might improve upon? And whatever happens, will the print and TV media be able to keep their heads, or will they respond to the match as if they are Taylor Swift fans and she’s about to release another voice amended, pile of old dirge masquerading as music? There used to be Bad Blood indeed.

Enjoy the game.

ON THIS DAY….

croft-and-mullally

Let us wander back 18 years and the Far North Queensland town of Cairns. England were preparing for the upcoming Ashes with a match against Queensland, which started on the 13th. Within a few minutes of the start, Matty Hayden had been put out of action with a broken hand. It was a sporty wicket, a low scoring one, and these were the days when the Aussies put out full strength teams to mentally disintegrate the tourists.

So to Day 4, the 16th of November. England had been set 142 to win, and were doing their usual hard job of it. Starting at 74 for 5,  Ramprakash fell with the score on 89, and the writing appeared on the wall. Mike Atherton was batting at 8, for some reason, and his presence with Dean Headley took the score over 100. With the score on 101 Headley was bowled by Mike Kasprowicz, and shortly after Atherton was stumped off the bowling of Paul Jackson, who, if I haven’t told you before, I’ve played against! When Darren Gough was bowled by Kasper, England were 36 runs short, and Robert Croft was joined by Alan Mullally. The Leicestershire man’s batting would be a standing joke on this tour, but on this day he found his mojo. Run by run they eked England closer and closer. Derek Pringle, then of the Independent, has his report relatively easy to find online:

But if Croft was steadfast, Mullally was a revelation. Like all fast bowlers Mullally fancies himself with the bat. Until Monday morning there had been little evidence that he even knew what a bat was let alone familiar with shots like the hook and the sweep, both of which he played with great verve in his unbeaten 23. Dean Headley, another of the bowling fraternity, also weighed in with a useful 20, which included two of the nine fours struck in England’s second innings.

“I’m determined to have a good tour and do well,” said Mullally, once of Western Australia but now of Leicestershire. “If me and the rest of the tail-enders can make 20 or 30 runs each with the bat, it will help us enormously.”

As pure cricket goes, this match has been generally dull and attritional, though the drama as the last pair inched their way towards the 142 required was undeniable.

The unbelievable scoreline is here…. that Queensland team wasn’t bad.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/442641.html

Back to the second test. Please put any comments you have below.

India v England – Match Drawn

LordCanisLupus70 Comments

Maybe we’ll do a more considered piece later, but some immediate reactions are always worthwhile:

  • The declaration – I hate declaration speculation and pretty much always side with the skipper when it comes to them. For example, in the West Indies in 2009, I could understand both Andrew Strauss’s declarations where the opposition were left 8 or 9 down at the end. So, unlike others, I’m not going to lambast Cook over the timing of the declaration. I also have to say that I was asleep until the Indian innings had begun, and with those wickets in hand we might have scored a little more quickly but that is easier said than done. There is no way our media is going to say we didn’t score quickly enough because that would be to criticise our captain, and we aren’t having that. That one member of the media felt it necessary to retweet Alison Mitchell’s pro-Cook piece in TCP immediately after the game finished speaks volumes. As does someone tweeting that this was one of Cook’s best tests as captain (er, really? On what basis?), the message requirement speaks more than the words they contain. Cook did what 95% of international captains would do. Maybe that’ll stop one former correspondent for saying how influential BMac has been on our game after 2015. In summary, we might have batted more quickly, but it’s at the margins.
  • Hameed’s 82 is a really promising start, but just that. Gary Ballance made test hundreds in his second, fifth and sixth tests, with a 71 in the fourth and 74 in the third. I am not doing this to be a killjoy, a malcontent, a churl. I’m doing this to inject some realism. We need a new opener in the worst way. We love the fact the kid is 19. Brilliant. Young talent, temperament to die for, a great story. But he couldn’t get a game in Bangladesh and so there were obviously doubts. He has a career best of 122, so he’s not pummeling in massive hundreds yet. So let’s wait before we anoint him the king of the hill. Why rush to excitement when we’ve been disappointed before after great starts. The other day marked the birthday of Ben Hollioake. Remember how he looked to the manor born on his international debut? Remember how difficult it was to establish yourself in the game once people have seen you play? Remember how Joe Root had a horrible time, and was dropped? Let’s be measured here.
  • Adil Rashid did not win man of the match (but someone tweeted he did – sorry) but had a top match. I could laugh my head off. In fact I will. Stack that fragile, luxury, card marked agenda away for a couple more tests, pundits. He is an attack weapon, not a stock bowler. If he can be our Stuart MacGill, an attacking expensive bowler who took wickets at a rare old click, we should be delighted. Anyone watching notice how Nasser did a complete “Shiny Toy” on Rashid saying we had found a wicket-taking spinner (then qualifying it by saying for one test). We don’t have memories of goldfish Nasser. He was fragile a few days ago. Well bowled Adil, you did your fans proud. I’m sure Bob Willis will be gracious enough to admit his error on The Verdict.
  • Overall – a really good England performance. Four centuries and a good debut by HH. A couple of “what ifs” but none we should really dwell upon. This blogger never thought we’d lose 5-0. One of the reasons is that the Indian batting “ain’t all that” despite the hype. Gambhir opening was a joke. Ashwin at six is at least one place too high on wickets like these. It just takes a little weakness and the chasm could open. Of course, that goes for us too, but this team, as it stands, looks balanced. Of course, there are vacancies in the bowling, despite in the same circumstances as Anderson finds himself now, KP had “no vacancies in the middle order” (don’t laugh). They’ll find a way in for Jimmy, and the rumours are it will probably be Ansari now (as the bigging up of Joe Root’s spin seemed to hint at in the evening session comms). In a test where three spinners seemed to be confirmed as the right way to go, it now appears as though we’ll think of four seamers instead. I do hope they are wrong.
  • For information, Stuart Broad now averages 125.6 with the ball in India after his match figures of 1 for 80-odd.

I enjoyed the bits of the Rajkot test I saw, and it reaffirmed five day tests brilliance in my eyes. Reaction and all the other stuff to follow. Comment away….

UPDATE – On the man of the match thing…

I love you India….

India v England -Day 4

LordCanisLupus39 Comments

p1070637Unless something very, very odd happens tomorrow, this test match is destined to be filed under “bore draw” along with Nagpur 2012 and Trent Bridge 2014; the last two tests to go the full distance between these two teams. That it doesn’t quite feel like that is because of the debacle in Dhaka. We would, according to the scribes and the pundits, have bitten your hands off for this result. England’s batting looking stronger than it has in the last few seasons. England’s spinners outbowling the Indian spin attack we were supposed to be terrified of. It has been a very good England performance on a surface that has not deteriorated noticeably over the first four days.

Yet again I have a confession to make. I saw the last hours play only. Blame Australia. Watching their collapse in Hobart last night was car crash TV. They not only capitulated to some excellent seam bowling, there was a comedy run out (which prompted the debutant’s brother to storm out in disgust) and Steve Smith assaulting Vernon Philander. Add to that Michael Clarke appearing to be under the apprehension that Philander being off the field meant the visitors had to field with 10 men (the sub fielder I think executed the run out) and Mark Taylor admonishing Paf du Plessis for running towards the umpire on an LBW shout (while sitting next to his co-commentator, that ultimate respecter of umpires, Shane Warne) and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. This meant bed time at 2 am, and waking up late. So sorry, I hope you enjoyed more of the play than I did.

Of course, we are seeing that age old English media trait of appointing someone as the saviour on the basis of first evidence. Take it away Scyld:

and if that wasn’t enough:

Now let me say this before you tear into me. I’m thrilled he looks the part, and he does. But he’s playing on a placid surface, against bowlers neutered by the pitch and in a 500 plays 500 test, more or less. What he has shown his temperament and class. Of course he has, but because he’s 19 we’re touting him as some child prodigy. “Touched by genius” in my view is a bit strong. Let’s see a big ton in the 1st innings of a match, or a pressure-filled hundred on a bunsen before we go the whole hog. This is a hugely impressive debut, but it’s not Trott at The Oval in 2009, it’s not KP at Lord’s (coming in at 20/3, soon to be 20/5) and it’s note even Cook at Nagpur in 2006 which was in the balance when he made it. This test was there to be made safe and Hameed has. There’s plenty to get excited about before we make Hall of Fame plans. Scyld can be a bit of an outlier, and in this case, I think the heat might have got to him.

He’s not alone, though. Plenty will follow, marvelling at the talent and temperament of a mere 19 year old. I’m sure I saw someone suggest he make our T20 team (because he hit a six). I’m here to be the grump. Let him play five/ten tests, playing on surfaces more testing than this, to see if he truly is the messiah, or merely a young talented boy.

Adil Rashid. Luxury bowler. Discuss media. Discuss.

The match appears headed for a draw. England’s 114 for 0 put them 163 in front, and a brisk pre-lunch session may tempt the visitors to try to set up a three to three and a half hour exercise in survival. England have worked very hard and will not give the hosts a sniff, so a lead of 270-280 with 45 overs left may be something like a target to go for. There is a school of thought that we should bat out time and let the hosts fry. I hope not, but also strongly believe a big marker has been laid down here by England. We aren’t going to be outmatched so horrendously that 5-0 was on the cards. It’s not the time to gamble, and we have a captain who won’t. If we are back here tomorrow talking about anything other than a routine draw, we are in for a hell of a day.

Some Statto Tweets for reference:

and

Which includes Mark Ealham and Ed Smith…..

Comments below….

India vs England: 1st Test day three

thelegglance29 Comments

This particular Test has caused a mild outbreak of panic at BOC Towers, falling as it does during a period when all three of us are snowed under with work during what tends to be our busiest time of the year in our respective jobs.  Add into that 4am start times, lots of travelling and full days and trying to keep abreast of goings on in Rajkot appear to be a little distant.  In my own case, this week has been spent at World Travel Market at Excel, where international goings on allowed me to play a small joke on various colleagues on Wednesday morning:  “Have you seen the news overnight?  Isn’t it extraordinary?”, “Yes it is, I wonder how all the people on the American stands are feeling this morning”, “Oh I doubt they care too much, but 311-4 is a really impressive start”.

England’s 537 all out undoubtedly created scoreboard pressure, on a pitch that was felt likely to deteriorate, but India’s response has been one of outstanding batting and perhaps slightly disappointing bowling.  The seamers have been tidy enough, without being especially threatening while the spinners have been short too often, and badly used in at least one instance.  The stand between Vijay and Pujara was both essential and deeply impressive, slowly getting India back into the match, taking few risks and batting time.  Having reached 277-1, what followed was something of a surprise, for England had shown few signs of being likely to take wickets, only to snare three in little more than an hour.  If nothing else it was a reward for plugging away, and for keeping the scoring rate under control.

High scoring matches often appear to drift for large parts of a given day, as one side slowly claws their way towards parity and the other fruitlessly tries to stop them.  It’s why low scoring matches tend to be consistently exciting throughout, whereas with ones like this the viewer can disappear for an hour or two and come back to see how little has changed in terms of the balance.  The three late ones don’t exactly amount to a clatter, more of a gentle rattle, but they will have caused a frisson of anxiety in Indian ranks and raised the hopes of the English ones.  The pitch so far hasn’t been a dead one by any means, and there is both spin available and some movement off the surface for the seamers and rather more in the air.  It may be simply that both sides have batted well, it wouldn’t be the first time.

While Stokes removed the fluent Pujara, it was Adil Rashid who got the obdurate, yet intermittently attacking Murali Vijay with a delicious googly in his first over back just before the close.  And here is where even Sky felt it reasonable to offer up some criticism of Cook (before Rashid took the wicket, note) for not making more use of him and going to him as the last possible option.  It’s a criticism this blog has made repeatedly, and it’s not a matter of being wise after the event, it’s because there’s absolutely no point in having a leg-spinner if he’s not to be used as an offensive weapon.  England’s plethora of all rounders frees up spaces for luxury players who can bring something different, and a leg spinner is about as different as it gets for an English team.  Yes, he will go for runs, yes, he will be sometimes inconsistent.  But he’ll also get you wickets, that’s the whole damn point.  England have six frontline bowlers in this side, there are plenty of fall back positions should the leggie have a bad day – for him to bowl the fewest of any of the spinners on a pitch that is offering purchase is a waste of resource.

As for the wider question of where this game is going, as things stand the draw appears the favourite, but that is based on how the bat has dominated to date.  The behaviour of the surface is going to dictate much, yet with few signs of radical change to date it’s perhaps wishful thinking to expect it to drive a result on its own over the next two days.  India have plenty of batting still to come but are also a sizeable 218 runs still in arrears.  Should they get remotely close then the pressure will transfer to England as they will be doing nothing other than playing for the draw with the time remaining, while even if they only add another hundred it’s hard to conclude that England would feel safe enough to declare until some time into day five assuming things went well.  But perhaps given the kneejerk response to defeat in the last Test in Bangladesh, that’s still a position England should be pleased with.  The old mantra that they are never quite as good or quite as bad as the press portray them is as true now as it ever was.  All things considered, so far it’s quite even.

Day Four Comments Below

 

India v England – Day 2

LordCanisLupus42 Comments

As Day 2 ended Escort rightly pointed out on the comments to Day 1 that it was a little quiet around here. While there is no doubt that a bad performance, or a moronic press piece set the pulses racing, we aren’t the relentless churls that pressmen of yore (no sign of that blog yet?) tagged us as. We’ve complained that this England batting line-up needed to put scores together, and they have. Not a lot to get mad about, is there?

How this innings will be judged will be clearer in three days time. The media seem to think there is something in this track, although I’ve not seen a lot of the game to comment, but it does seem odd that this wicket appears to have neutralised India’s key weapon, Ravi Ashwin, and as a result they’ve struggled. England appear also to have benefited from some woeful fielding and a little bit of the lady luck that can be so helpful (I’ve watched the highlights of Stokes through the 90s….). India appear to have been relatively untroubled on the way to the close. The thoughts must be that this is a very good batting surface and it will take a lot to get a result. But the thing about test cricket is that one bad session and the match can be thrown into the melting pot.

So with congratulations to our three century makers (and when was the last time we had three centuries in an innings. Without looking it up I’m going for Sydney 2011 as my worst guess) and wishing luck to our spinners tomorrow to get more out of the wicket than the Indians, I hand it over for your observations, your comments on today and importantly for Day 3…

Comments below…

India v England – Day 1

LordCanisLupus18 Comments

You know I have a rule on this blog. One of the few. I don’t discuss politics. I don’t want you to discuss politics. This is a cricket blog. But I’m not a journo. I don’t get paid.

However, this is not merely a cricket blog, but a journal of my life as well, and you cannot escape life when it hits you between the eyes. I have to say that this morning I did not give a single toss about this test match. I had to face things that actually directly impact my life – you know I go to the States every year, have family there, and have an American spouse. So you aren’t going to get a match report from me. I wasn’t watching, and to a large extent, wasn’t even following the game.

Sean and Chris are both unavailable for selection, so it falls to me. 311 for 4 is an excellent start and it was great that Joe Root converted a 50 to a ton. Not a massive ton, but the first in India by an opposition test player since 2013, I think I read. Moeen has the chance to join him, posing that tantalising question that I sort of raised yesterday (in saying he doesn’t have a long-term future at 5). 99 not out overnight, and hopefully an early milestone and moving on to a nice sizeable knock. 500 has to be the aim, whether we get there or not.

Other match reviews are available, and I’ve not read them, but if you have comments on today and tomorrow’s play, stick them on here. 1460ish days to the next US election. And I’m not allowing comments on that.

Comments on Day 2…..below

India v England – Series Preview

LordCanisLupus34 Comments

First up, if you haven’t already read them, please look at the efforts of the seven respondents to the Panel questions below. They gave some thoughtful responses, some excellent points and food for thought. Thanks to all of them.

So what are my answers to my own questions:

1. How do you think England sit as an international team after the 1-1 draw in Bangladesh? Glass half-full or half-empty?

I have a lot of problems with the acceptance of the second test defeat as if this would have just happened regardless what team we put out. Each series and each dynamic is different. We decided to not give 100% in the second test, resting players and giving the impression it was a practice match. And then our batting subsided. The blame went on the spin bowling, and the batting was largely ignored, save for the savaging of Ballance. We’ve been banging on about the batting for a while now, and the chairs have been shifted around again. Haseeb Hameed is opening, Duckett is at 4. This doesn’t bring me much in the way of comfort. Cook has 4 tons in 43 tests, Root’s conversion of 50s to tons remains a concern (and one of the better ones to have), while Moeen doesn’t have a long-term future at five, in my view. Stokes and Bairstow are solid citizens in the middle order, but we need big hundreds from somewhere. So, unsurprisingly, after two drawn series, my glass is half empty.

2. Ravichandran Ashwin? All time great, or product of the current environment?

He’s the premier spin bowler of his era, so doesn’t that make him an all-time great? His average is pretty damn good, he takes a ton of wickets at home and he’s a pretty decent batsman to boot. He’s a very fine bowler. A couple more of years of this and he’s destined for the stars. But our generation bestows greatness much easier these days. The need to be out in front is paramount. Greatness is sustained high level of performance over many many years, or a brief period of such electric high standard that few in the world will ever match it. I pose this question, is Mitchell Johnson an all-time great?

3. Three seamers or three spinners for England? How would you go?

Sick and tired of the debate, to be honest, because it is shrouded in forgetting the past and also wishful thinking. Stuart Broad does not average 143 runs per wicket in India by accident. Chris Woakes has a ton to learn in these conditions. Ben Stokes was very good in Bangladesh, but to me there’s that question of workload with him, and he’s had injuries very recently. India could break his back if wickets aren’t falling. The fact we are wishing for a rapid James Anderson recovery speaks volumes. As for the spinners, well we have what we have. I think we need to focus on players who take wickets on turning pitches rather than “stock bowling” but that’s what it’s all about now. I don’t know if it matters to be honest. With Stokes and Moeen being all-rounders, then the other balance doesn’t matter so much. What I do know, is if you want bowling dry, then Rashid isn’t your man. If you want bowling dry, why would you even pick him?

4. Do you think Ben Duckett has a future as a test match opener / middle order or no long-term future at all?

Simple answer? No idea. I’m not sold on him at all at this time, but then I have been wrong many times before (see, up until now, Jos Buttler). He’d be another Alex Hales as an opener. He’ll have good series, and he’ll be undressed by the new ball a lot of times. In the middle order, if we can solidify the top order, and he comes in at 100 for 2 on quite a few occasions, he could be a major asset. I think his long-term future is as a high order ODI batsman (possibly a number 3 after Hales and Roy). Duckett has a lot of goodwill within the media set-up, and not without reason. But I don’t see him as “our David Warner”.

5. Finally, what do you think the series score will be and why?

I don’t think we will lose 5-0. If we do, that should not be allowed to stick. Things would need to be looked at. Coaches, captain, players etc. The English team is not one that should be beaten 5-0. Setting ourselves up, mentally, for it, is more media management, more softening us up, and turning defeats into triumphs. The same media that had us winning all seven tests last summer, and still struggling to comprehend how we drew at home with Pakistan. I think there will be at least one draw, and I think we can get into some decent positions and turn them into win(s). Winning the series might be out of the question. Remember how decent spinners like Shaun Udal have had their day in India. 3-1 would be the worst I’d expect if we were being honest with ourselves. Let’s hope they can do better than that. Cook and Root need to make key runs, but others need to make tons.

Good luck to Haseeb on his debut. Good luck to Rajkot on its test debut, and let’s hope for some exciting cricket and some surprise performances.

Comments on Day 1 below….