2015 Ashes

Ashes Panel #005 – My Lords…..Poetry and Positions, Regrets and Decisions

LordCanisLupus8 Comments

australia-celebrate-the-ashes-whitewash_10piscrajeyf61qj64a1ovgr5r (2)

As an aperitif to the main event, the social event of the cricketing calendar, the Ashes at Lord’s – also known as England’s second test venue – we have the fifth instalment of the Ashes panel. Same format, five questions, of varying levels of banality, tackled head on by willing volunteers. Because we had such a short turnaround, I increased the number of people questioned, and once again, as with Panel #004, we have more than four respondents.

So, to introduce them, there is…

Philip Chapman (PGP); Oscar da Bosca (OdB); CricketJon (CJ); GraemeCr (Graeme); Metatone (Meta) and the inimitable poetry of The Bogfather (Bog). Hillel (EoinJPMorgan) was gracious enough to send his apologies for being unable to contribute this time around, but will be back soon.

Thanks one and all, and with all hope for the formatting not being completely horrendous, here we go….

1. We’re on the brink of the Lord’s test. Do you think this will suit Australia more than Cardiff?
Meta –  Lords will suit Australia more. It probably won’t be as fast and bouncy as they would like, but it will play to their bowling strengths more than Cardiff. On top of that, the forecast is fine weather and that usually blunts the swing there. That brings an advantage to Warner and Smith.
CJ – I think we are entering the realisation ( that the MSM haven’t yet done) or point of recognition that Australia perform with the Kooka on fast pitches and we perform with the Duke on slow pitches. To me it really is as simple as that. England are in a better place for sure but we will know much more about them after Lords and Brum.
PGP – Given that Mick Hunt the Lord’s groundsman has significant previous at preparing “home” pitches, I suspect the pitch will be slow but with better carry than at Cardiff. Will it suit the Aussies more? I am not sure that matters at this point – It will be a flat batting track. Lord’s has significant development work in progress and a full house on day 5 will be helpful.
OdB – As ever it will depend on what the groundsman serves up.  Lords can be a road, but as last year against India shows, they can give us a green seamer.  I think the Aussie batsmen will enjoy it more, it is a quick ground so good shots are rewarded.  I think that their bowlers may struggle, Johnson had issues last time with the slope, and I think that’s where his song was first heard, Starc was dropped in 2013 and will have to learn quickly how to deal with the slope, Hazelwood if he gets it right may be a handful, but they have to get used to it quickly.  They didn’t really seem to cope with Cardiff too well and took an innings to work out the lengths and areas to bowl, if England bat first again and they don’t acclimatise quickly they could be looking down the barrel after 2 days.
Graeme – The Lords pitch is always difficult to predict.  For a number of years in the noughties, the tracks used to have life for 2 days and then suddenly die, enabling some amazing feats of batting endurance from the likes of Sri Lanka.  Mick Hunt now seems to have cracked the art of creating a pitch that lasts for 5 days.  Last year he produced a green-top for the India match, which Broad and Anderson bowled appallingly badly on, but it turned into a good batting surface and retained enough pace and bounce on day 5 for Ishant to bowl India to victory.  I think this year’s pitch will be fairly similar given that he has had a period of hot dry weather, followed by some cool, damp days.  If there is bounce, then Australia will be a handful and Brad Haddin might even be able to catch a ball.  He really struggled when the ball was round his ankles at Cardiff – the Aussie technique of taking the ball at your side does not work so well when there is unpredictable bounce.  Rogers knows Lords well.  Clarke averages 47 there, however, which is a touch below his total average and Smith had a rough time in 2013.  A lot will depend on the toss and which set of bowlers uses the conditions better.  I favour Australia slightly because this is one pitch in the UK where raw pace might count for something and I wonder whether Anderson and Broad can keep their discipline for 2 matches on the trot?
Poetry Corner from The Bogfather…

I’m sure we expect a more even contest there

With even bounce across sloping square

The Aussie bats will like this consistency

I fully expect Smith to make hay at three.

.

A little damp below, but with more lift and rip

Hazlewood will love it when an opener gloves to slip

But if England’s eyes alight on a short of a length strip

Then we’ll see if our beloved leader can keep a grip.

.

Whether Mitch J can swing it the right way

Will be very important periods of play

Clarke will lead his wounded hordes

To a series equalling win at Lords.

——————————————————————————————-
2. Brad Haddin’s drop of Joe Root was pretty important, yet it is his batting that is really a concern. How long do you think he should be given? [Note – some responded to the question before the news of Haddin’s issues were made public.]
PGP –  I would drop him now and get Neville in – as we have seen with England last year over Matt Prior, you get fresh energy from a new young keeper. That won’t happen as he is one of Clarke’s only mates on the pitch. Which is good news for us.
Meta – As an England fan, going by the stats, I’ll be hoping they give Haddin at least until the end of the series. I expect Lehmann to pick him for the Lord’s game, but if he has another bad game I would think they will pick someone else – particularly if they go 2-0 down. Now if I’d seen more of the alternatives, I might be keener to drop Haddin.
OdB – The remaining 4 tests…..Seriously I am surprised he is still playing with an average of about 14 since Sydney 2014.  Perhaps Brad is a magic name like Alistair that allows selectors to ignore form and look at the other values he brings to the team.  I have never been a fan of his keeping and I think his batting is typically Australian so he will always struggle on English wickets (lots of back foot play).  I think both he and Watson will be retained for Lords, Lehman’s ‘just a blip’ describes how they view themselves and England and changing the team would be seen as a backward step.  I also think both he and Watson will be dropped by the 3rd test.  The problem with dropping them is that once you do it is the end of their careers so it is not an easy decision to make.
Graeme – I would not be surprised if Haddin were dropped.  Unless Broad and Anderson bowl short to him, he appears to be totally unable to play a moving ball.
CJ – We appear to be overtaken by events. There may be other forces in the background but apart from that I am surprised at such a downturn in form at 37. Bob Taylor was still a class keeper at 40 to 42 between 1981 and 1983 albeit in a very different era.
Poetry Corner from The Bogfather…

A single dropped catch happens

His keeping has become leaden-footed yet

If he fails and Australia lose this one

He’ll be replaced for the Third, I’d bet

No longer a danger to make the tail wag

Time to put gloves away in his kit-bag.

.

(Update)

It seems that Brad

Will miss the game

For personal reasons

And that’s a shame

Like him or not

To be unable to play

Such a pity to miss

The match in this way.

————————————————————————————————–
3. Are you at all concerned about our opening partnership, which, one stand at Headingley apart, appears to be going the way of other recent pairings?
Graeme –  The English opening partnership is a real concern given that Cook is impregnable.  I think Lyth should be given more time but, thanks to Moores’s safety-first (I need good results so I will stick with the guys I know) approach, he did not get a run in the Caribbean and has been given a difficult baptism against a lively New Zealand attack, even if it was not firing on all cylinders, and now the Aussies.  He seems a decent batsman but, let’s face it, he is doing no better than Carberry who was dropped presumably for having the temerity to outscore Cook down-under.  The worry is that the Aussies seem to be able to tie him down quite easily and he does not know how to rotate the strike…and nor does Cook seem to understand the importance of trying to bat WITH his partners rather than against them.  When things got bogged down, you would often see Strauss try something to break the deadlock, risking his wicket in the process.  Cook will never be unselfish enough to do that even if he had the ability, which I doubt.  For all his faults, Boycott had the ability to pinch a single and play from the other end.  I wish he could pass this know-how to Lyth.
Meta – Very concerned. You can’t keep losing openers quickly and still win matches. If England are to win the series they’ll need one of the openers to stand up. As a Yorkist I’m also particularly concerned that unless Lyth comes good very quickly he is likely to be the fall guy, even if he is outscoring Cook.
OdB – No, I think Lyth got a good ball in his first innings and moved the game on really well in the second (I still can’t believe how naïve the Australians played on Saturday afternoon, just bat a session and a half on a slow pitch and walk away with a draw (only about 2 hours play maximum would have been possible on Sunday)).  Cook just needs to continue his form against NZ, dancing down the pitch twice to Lyon was bizarre, however not as odd as seeing an off spinner bowling the 7th over of a first innings.  Unfortunately the Trott debacle hasn’t let us see enough of Lyth and Cook, but I like the cut of Lyth’s jib and I think he will last the summer and beyond.
CJ – Far too early to say although there is form with Compton, Robson, Root (temporarily) and Trott being experimented with. Lyth was found out on day 1 trying to force to leg when he should have been playing straight. This brings me to the point about being aggressive. There are times to do this, it will not always be appropriate against the new ball. Fwiw I think Lyth looked pretty good in that busy period with Ian Bell last Saturday.
PGP – I think I have said before that my gut instinct is the selectors picked the wrong Yorkshire opening batsman when they went for Lyth – although I would have picked Hales. Lees is a more talented player who can also read a game as his Captaincy of Yorkshire has proved (better than Cook and Root…!) However, he score a ton recently and as he has been picked on weight of runs he should be given more time. Cook scoring some runs will be helpful.

Poetry Corner from The Bogfather…

Who would accept the poison-chalice ?

Of opening with Our Leader

Just as likely to be abused by Alice

And fed into the farm animal food feeder.

.

If so daring to outscore or upset

He who must be eternally lauded

Tho’ if one of them were to run him out

I for one, will have applauded.

.

In truth our top order

Is in need of some vigour

For e’en a small partnership

Can seem like mortis (rigor-).

————————————————————————————————–
4. Despite a wonderful team performance, there are murmurings that Root should bat at three. Do you agree, and if so what do you do about Gary Ballance?
OdB – Madness, he averages 90 odd at 5 in the past year why move him?  I have concerns about Ballance, I think his average was inflated by mid-range bowling last summer, however they clearly see something in him and I admired his nuggety 60 at Cardiff.  It looked awful, but runs are runs, however you get them.  Bell is more of a concern, his first innings was all the collar up, bristling with intent bollocks that he thinks makes him look like a better batsman, to me he looked like he was going to get out at any minute, and the dismissal against Johnson in the second, backing away a la Clarke v Broad leaving all stumps visible.  Like Haddin and Watson, if he gets dropped it’s the end of his career, and I can’t think of any attacking no 4. batsman eligible for England with a good record against Australia who could replace him….
Graeme – Root looks good at 5 so why move him?  In his earlier days, Sobers batted all over the place, even opening during the Tied Test.  However, once Worrell put him at 6, he stayed at 6 for the rest of his career, even though he was the best batsman in the team/world.  You can influence a lot of matches from 5.  Ken Barrington played a lot at 5.  As for Ballance, while his recent performances have seen a tailing off from last year, he should be given a few more games.  However, if it becomes clear that he has an issue against the short ball, as appeared possible at Cardiff on that pudding of a pitch, then he should be replaced…and I would favour James Taylor rather than Bairstow.  I am not a great fan of Ballance, his extraordinary trigger movement seems to render him a sitting duck for the full, straight delivery but his record – admittedly against attacks without much in the way of threatening quick bowling – is good.  I would rate him on a level with solid county pros of yesteryear such as Luckhurst, Tim Robinson, Kim Barnett, David Lloyd.  He will score against normal bowling. 
PGP – In the second panel discussions I said I felt that Root should bat at 3, I still think that – but with Ballance’s first innings runs at Cardiff and Root’s apparent desire to stay at 4 or 5 then this is a bit of a moot point. As an interim, I think we would be doing a favour to Ballance if he was pushed to 5 with Bell at 3 and Root at 4. Alternatively Bairstow has been ripping the door down to get into the team. Then there is the option of putting Ali at 5 and playing Rashid.  Technically Ballance is in a bit of a mess – although the time at the crease last week will have been a huge help for him. His head position is key and he needs to get his head moving towards the ball earlier – but that takes confidence, so his issue is a little chicken and egg.

My belief is that the England batting order is a little odd with three blockers up to, then Bell, then Root – then a series of stroke makers in Stokes, Buttler and Moeen. I would prefer to see the order a bit more evenly spread personally.  I also feel that Buttler should be relieved of the wicket keeping shackles, give the gloves to Bairstow, this would give my ideal world order of Cook, Lyth (I would have Hales but that is for another day) Root, Buttler, Bell, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali. Yes I know Buttler is at 4 – but I think he should be given the KP role. He is going to be a superstar, it is time to let that happen – and it evens out the batting order somewhat. Please don’t say “it is too early” rubbish, now is the time.

Meta – I can’t see the benefit at this moment to shuffle the order. Ballance scrapped hard in the 2nd innings and got a bit of reward. Why risk Root’s purple patch when Ballance could be coming back into form? Of course, one might argue Bell may be a better bet at 3 (stronger technique, balance out the R/L a bit more as well.) Or one could call up KP. (As if.) Anyway, realistically, Root is the golden goose and you don’t touch him.

CJ – Ballance at 3 for me, Root at 5. Make the most of the talents you have. A classic case of symptom and cause being mixed up. I think Australia would have been well served leaving Smith at 5 even if it made Watto at 3.
Poetry Corner from The Bogfather…

Nooo! Leave our Joe

To take Root at five

He works so well

With 6/7/8

Giving our innings drive

So there should be no debate.

Perhaps at four in times to come?

When Bell has left the crease

Then Ballance at five

May be where he’ll thrive

And all this conjecture will cease.

Then perhaps Hales could cement

A spot at three to raise the pace

Maybe Bairstow or Taylor too

To provide competition for every place.

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5. As is our media’s trend, we are going overboard about the new management set-up of Strauss, Bayliss, Farbrace and Cook. I’m a notorious curmudgeon and think this is giving them too much credit. What do you think?

CJ – This is more about the absence of Moores. you could almost see he and Cook looking at each on the balcony for inspiration. Farbrace and Bayliss appear to have advised him to take responsibility. There appears to be a welcome embargo on Broad and Anderson ruling the roost ; it is quite possible someone has had a little word in their ear. Their bowling was the difference for me during the Cardiff gig.

Meta – Well Strauss didn’t do anything remarkable. Neither did Cook. So the first pile of nonsense from the media is trying to include them in the halo. Bayliss & Farbrace did do something amazing – they got Broad and Anderson to bowl a proper length – which was in recent times beyond Flower, Saker & Moores. (Who for all their faults are not the worst coaches out there.)

That said, it’s easy to imagine Australia winning the toss at Lord’s, Warner and Smith hitting big scores, England beaten by an innings and FCBS (Farby, Cooky, Bayly & Straussy) looking a lot less clever.

Graeme – Something has happened because they are not playing the way they did last year or earlier this year.  The bowlers are no longer testing the middle of the pitch; the batsman are trying to take on the opposition bowlers;  catches are being held; there is less of the Andersonian adolescent petulance.  Obviously the credit does not belong to Cook because he has been there all through.  You have to wonder what has changed.  Saker and Moores must be prime suspects.  Can you credit Cook for the field placements at Cardiff – the guys waiting for the drive?   This is not Cook’s method.  Something must have changed behind the scenes, somebody must be giving him good advice, supporting his fragile ego, winding back the stupidity and obstinacy of Broad and Anderson.  I wonder if Strauss is not being active behind the scenes….

PGP – Farbrace and Moores were at significant odds during the last 6 months, from what I have heard. The way the Odi team was turned around and the way the test team batted in the Cardiff test suggests a much happier mood around the England teams. Farbrace has to take a huge piece of the credit for this – I also think that Root may be a catalyst to this too.  This is probably a question to ask at the end of the summer. or may be after the trip to Pakistan/UAE or maybe after the trip to SA.  Our next few months of test cricket is bonkers. One of the advantages of playing a young team now is that however the next six months go their group experience will set them up for a long time. I am also worried about Broad and Anderson – as we will miss them when they are gone…

OdB –I discussed this with a friend (who attends a test with me each year), he thought that we have had a potentially good test team that just needs direction, and that the ODI narrative has been usefully transferred to the test team.  I think Giles Clarke is a see you next Tuesday who has had a malign influence on this team, was behind various sackings and useless appointments, and I still rail against the ‘outside cricket’ jibe.   It doesn’t help when people like Selvey describe bringing on a spinner for the last over before lunch (a tactic as old as the game itself) as ‘the instinct that gave Moeen the last over before lunch on the final day in which he claimed Warner’s wicket and kick-started the Australian slide to defeat’.  Sorry I thought it was standard practice and a poor shot by Warner who should have gone forward rather than back.  It is clear that Bayliss has had an influence on the fielding and the manner in which we approached the second innings was a breath of fresh air, particularly Lyth and Bells’ counter attack of 49 in 5 overs.  A Flower / Moores side would have been batting on the Saturday morning and got to a 450 + lead by lunch (possibly declaring for 6).  That would not have been enough time to win the match, so I think there is a positive influence.  Strauss is a tough one, I liked him as a captain until the whole twitter/texting nonsense.  He overreacted to texts and ignored potential bullying (whatever Broad says, someone was clearly feeding KPGenius from the dressing room).  Calling someone names on live TV he was unfortunate to be heard, it is the gloating reaction of the MSM that is distasteful not a private conversation overheard by accident.  As for his actions since becoming Director, Cricket; sacking Moores was great, not rehiring KP was always going to happen as he wouldn’t have been given the job otherwise, but retaining Morgan was a brave (and correct) decision and he has reaped some immediate rewards for this.  He is establishment but you have to be to join the ECB, I will wait and see over the next year before I make my mind up on him.  I believe Cook has already retired as captain, they will remember to tell us at the end of the summer.  It looks like Root’s team already, and if Cook gets another home series win under his belt good luck to him, shame about the last 18 months of ordinary performances, was it the previous coaches, or Cook, or both?

The problem is, until we win at Lords (or don’t lose), then it is a bit new coach, same old fallibilities, win one test convincingly, lose the next poorly.  Headingley day 4 (pick a year, any year) is fresh, and if Australia put us under pressure how will Cook cope?  I think we have a potentially good test team (see how we do against SA and Pakistan later on this year to see whether there is the potential to be great), and if Rashid is brought in at 8 and Ali moved to 4 (when Bell retires/is sacked due to media pressure) then we have a team that covers all bases.  Wood has been a revelation, he bowls fast, and a good length, almost like Harmison used to do twice an over.

Poetry Corner from The Bogfather

Early days, lazy days

Of media puffery

Just a new phase

Of ECB bluffery

We’ve been here

So many times before

Near every write-up

A predictable bore.

.

It does seem that

The coaching team

have brought about

A new regime

Yet we outside

Must still press

For it’s our England

Nothing less.

Even the Captain

Seems to have read a new book

Though I think Bayliss

Spells out the words for Cook

And as Our Leader can’t think for himself

Farbrace helps him pick one from the shelf

As to leave Alastair in wonderland

Is unfair on someone so dim

So keen is he to please Strauss’s band

He’ll do anything they say at a whim

So no need to tell you all to keep an eye

As like Dmitri, a proud curmudgeon am !.

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Where else do you combine analysis and poetry? A tremendous effort by all concerned. As always, happy to see plenty of comments but please keep the first day’s play’s comments on the relevant thread.
My thanks to all of you for your time and effort. It’s a cracker!

The Ashes: 2nd Test preview

thelegglance32 Comments

Brad Haddin won’t be playing in this match for personal reasons – there’s nothing else that need be said about that except to wish him well.  Cricket is just a game.

Few realistically expected England to arrive at Lords 1-0 up, and even fewer to have been so dominant at Cardiff, a venue where Australia were thought to hold all the cards before the game.   Reports indicate that Shane Watson will be jettisoned from the team, and if so it is hard to escape the feeling that it will be the end of his Test career.  It seems exceptionally harsh to do so after one match, given he was downright unlucky in both innings but especially the first.  Selecting Mitchell Marsh for the first Test would have been a perfectly reasonable choice; but having gone with Watson, to then drop him after a single outing carries the whiff of panic about it, both scapegoating him for the team’s failings and effectively an admission it was the wrong call in the first place.

Furthermore, it is hard to see a way back for Watson now, meaning a player who is likely to be somewhat disgruntled is in the squad for the remainder of the series with little chance of selection ever again.  It’s the kind of muddled thinking that we’ve seen all too often from England in recent times.

Peter Nevill will make his debut as ‘keeper for this match, and by all accounts is a batsman/keeper rather than a wicketkeeper/batsman.  Lords has made more than one highly competent wicketkeeper look foolish with the ball moving after the bat, so it will be a tough challenge for him to start his international career there.  Perhaps many England supporters too will hope he has a decent game.

It seems likely that Starc will play, demonstrating that Cricket Australia now operate a Mitchell quota system.  There’s been little said about continuing to bowl him so extensively at Cardiff, but there must be question marks about his fitness over five days.  The enforced retirement of Ryan Harris was clearly a blow, but the ineffectiveness of the seamers has produced ripples of concern about the depth of the Australian bowling stocks.  More than anything, it is a response to the result on a very slow pitch rather than a real problem, Starc, Hazlewood and Johnson remain a major threat.

The same can be said for the batting, and it is striking how a single result can change the perception and the reading of the two sides.  Australia’s batting is now fragile, Warner is having difficulty with the pitches and the swinging ball (as an aside, it is quite impressive how Warner can so consistently say the wrong thing – why on earth would he come out with that?), Chris Rogers’ failure to score a century is reaching crisis proportions, Clarke is all over the place against Broad, Steve Smith’s technique is questionable in English conditions, while for England Cook has become a great captain, Root is the best batsman in the world, Bell is back, Stokes is devastating, Wood is the heir to Simon Jones and so on.

It’s nonsense of course, Australia’s batting isn’t necessarily their strong suit, but little has changed since before the series began except that they played appallingly in one match – more than anything, getting in and getting out is something batsmen view as the ultimate crime, and they did it spectacularly across the board.  What has changed is that they’re under a little more pressure to perform than before, because defeat at Lords and the prospect of the team unravelling comes into view.  The records of the players involved means there is no reason why they shouldn’t come back with a vengeance, and although the Lords surface is likely to be fairly slow again, it’s usually an excellent batting wicket and one they should find to their liking.

For England, it is likely they will name an unchanged side.  Moeen Ali was the big doubt, but Adil Rashid’s endless wait for his debut will continue, as he has been ruled out by injury.  That Moeen was set to miss the match clearly means he isn’t going to be completely fit, and thus his selection is a considerable gamble.  From this distance it’s impossible to know how serious it is, but for a player to be considered unfit to play, and then magically sufficiently fit when his replacement is unavailable hardly seems like good management of resources.  It should also be remembered that if the injury flares up during the game, England will not be entitled to a substitute fielder, and one would imagine Australia will be very aware of that – of course the same applies to Starc.

Although England’s batting performed very well at Cardiff, they have been prone to falling over in recent times, and not always in hostile conditions.  Early wickets were lost in the first Test for not very many, something that they have become rather prone to, and they aren’t always going to recover from that.  Cook had a quiet game with the bat, and despite Root’s heroics, he remains instrumental in drawing the sting from the seamers.

It’s extremely hard to call this game.  It will likely go near the distance, as Lord’s is the epitome of a chairman’s pitch.  Australia have a slight hint of disarray about them, but that will be swiftly put aside if they play well here.  England have the opportunity of opening up some major cracks in the opposition, but they will have to play better than they did at Cardiff to do that.  Should they do so, then all bets are off for the remainder of the series, and the howls of protest from Down Under will be loud and long.

I’ve said before that you don’t know a team is past it until it actually happens, and they often spectacularly implode when it does (viz. England 2013/14), but equally one defeat doesn’t for a second mean we are there yet.  For that reason, this Test is completely pivotal.  An Australian victory sets the expected balance of the world back on its perceived correct axis.  An England victory, and it’s crisis point.  It will be a fascinating five days.

@BlueEarthMngmnt

Ashes 1st Test – A Brief Wrap Up

LordCanisLupus35 Comments

You’ll be pleased to know that The Leg Glance will be giving his insight into the first test in the next couple of days. So I’m not going to do too much, except for a couple of observations.

I’m not some all-seeing, believe my own place is the only place type of person, and you lot, I think, know that. But I find myself repeating the same old mesaages again and again. We’ve been here before…. Grenada and Lord’s in the very recent past. Now this is a totally different scale against a totally different kind of foe. But it is crucial that the players and the support in this country keep their feet on the ground. I used to nickname the Australians as the cockroaches. I don’t mean it in a horrible way…. when I used to live in a council flat in my early days, the flat was infested with cockroaches. The council regularly came in to clean them out, but one would always survive, and they would always come back. So when this country got so up its own arse after three successive series wins, by taunting and goading them, by laughing at them, and in some pathetic banter, dismissing them by people who should know better, we all knew they would come back. Didn’t we? I know I did.

I want England to be successful, believe it or not. I know some don’t believe e – jeez, I’m borderline obsessed by it that people actually think that I don’t – but the way to do so is to act like we’ve been there before. The thing is, we have been. In 2009 we won a brilliant game at Lord’s and two games later played an shocker. The 2013 series we won despite not playing our best and I think absolutely fair and square, but we allowed the fact we did so despite playing attritional cricket to dismiss the opposition. No-one expected 5-0.

I don’t think this Australia team will lose 5-0. Not a bloody chance. Come back and tell me I’m wrong if we do, but there is no way they’ll play this badly again. At least, I’d be shocked if they did. England hit them hard. Very, very hard. That was impressive. Now it’s refocus, re-position and get the heads down for the next game. Act like we’ve been there before.

Sadly, I don’t think we will. I think there will be too much gloating, and instead we should push out the negative factors in the Aussie team. I actually think the Dad’s Army thing is eating away. We’ve got the Aussie press and media already having a right go at Watson and Haddin. I’m not sure how much it hits home, but it’s more effective to question them, then it is to take the piss. I respect this team we are playing against, a lot. I’ve always admired the performances of the Australian test cricket team, and while yes, I’ve not been a fan of some of their antics, I stayed up all hours to watch them. The Waugh teams dominated you, played aggressive, attacking cricket. The sort of cricket I’d love to see us play. The sort of cricket we could never sustain. We aren’t in the position to take the mickey.

We need to take a leaf out of their book. Grind the opposition into the dirt. Don’t let them off the leash. Keep them down.

Oh, and of course, Alastair Cook is now a great captain. He had a very good game as a captain. It would be ridiculous, churlish even to question that. But hey. Let’s act like we’ve been there before eh?

Finally, there’s a lot of debate on here about the pitch. I have zero problem with it. I know. People disagree. But that’s life. To me it looked like a typical test match wicket in the UK. Don’t fall for that nonsense. Losers find comfort in excuses. I know, because we are damn good at it.

Have a great evening.

Ashes 1st Test – Day 4

LordCanisLupus51 Comments

This has been a truly hectic week. But now we can settle down and watch England take a lead in the Ashes!

We hope.

Well, some of us do. However, as I’m getting tired of banging on about it, it has to be said that some people seem keen to take this potential win as vindication of their position. Those who have looked at the last year as a total farce are to be lampooned, excoriated, ostracised. It’s an absolute nonsense. To point out, as Arron did yesterday, that Alastair Cook has the worst average of any England opener who has played more than five matches in England, is not to find misery in victory, but it’s a statement of fact. It gets worse when you see him continually buffered up by many. I was saying to my friends yesterday that this appears to Joe Root’s team these days, but I’d hate to see him made captain….

Anyway, this is all by the by. We have a long time (the weather forecast isn’t that cataclysmic for the Sunday play) and we need to make serious inroads today to make it a more comfortable experience. I have a sense it won’t be smooth sailing, but I’ve been wrong about the test a lot so far!

Comments below….

Ashes – 1st Test Day 2

LordCanisLupus55 Comments

The open thread for the second day’s play at Cardiff. England resume on 343/7 and the world is divided as to whether England or Australia are in charge. Many are pointing to the similarity between yesterday and Day 1 at Cardiff in 2009. Copious mentions of 670 or whatever it was.

So, fire away. I’m not going to be around much this evening to do an update as I’m having another birthday celebration with some friends, and on Friday I’m at a function, so we’ll see what I can do (TLG is currently not available for selection). It’s going to be make do and so forth.

The floor is yours.

The Ashes Mumblings – Day 1 Review

LordCanisLupus36 Comments

Well, what to make of that?

England, I think, would probably have taken the position they are in at the end of this day. It’s not dominant, but it’s not disastrous either. The first thing that England needed to do was convince us, and themselves, that this opposition isn’t some sort of unrelenting tide of aggression and superior skills. This was a day that England found themselves three down early, recovered, and made 343/7. That’s not too bad at all.

It’s too tough to gauge really how things went while you are in the office and not able to watch. I got to see a little of the play after lunch, and I saw a pudding of a pitch and a team with positive intent. I like the latter. This is a team that needed to have a result for that attitude today. If they’d gone all guns blazing and been bowled out for 150, it would have been horrendous. And who knows what would have happened had Haddin held on to that catch from Root.

Joe Root was amazing, once over his let-off. He’s making a lovely habit of making hundreds regularly. They are usually very watchable, and his reliability is massively important.

I’m going to hand it over to you lot who have commented away and kept me informed all day. Did Australia bowl badly (I thought Johnson looked decidedly unthreatening when I watched and Starc appeared to be floating it up at too full a length too often) or did England wrest the intiative? What do you think about Ian Bell’s alarming lack of form? What was the coverage like? Who or what caught your eye?

I leave you with Martin Samuel. A man who makes me almost pine for Paul Newman:

And then there was Alastair Cook, the captain’s rhythm expertly broken not by Australia’s bowlers, but by the practice of knocking off for a round of refreshments every hour, no matter the weather.

This meant that on a chilly morning when most were regretting not packing a second jumper, rather than sun cream, spectators had to sit through the arrival of the drinks tray roughly 55 minutes in. Maybe they were dispensing hot toddies.

Cook had batted like a dream until then but lasted just two balls after the interlude, before clipping one to Brad Haddin off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. The distractions were proving as valuable as Australia’s bowlers, and Test cricket has plenty of them these days.

Fire away…..

Logical

LordCanisLupus94 Comments

I tried to write something earlier today but it never really worked. Then, for some reason or other, it never saved. Maybe my tablet was operating on quality control.

Genuinely I’d like to thank you for all the kind words on the Lord’s memory piece. It may be nearly 10 years since that day 1, but the thought and the caring of my mates genuinely got me through some pretty dark times. We’ve probably all lost someone really close to them, and people say I “vocalise” it well, but it’s like the blog. I do try to be true to myself. This sport helped me when times were bad. That team not only lifted me, it lifted my even more heartbroken, even more devastated dad. I will never forget this frail old man, just six months from death, stricken, unbeknown to him, with an appalling illness called progressive supra-nuclear palsy, of which he was showing early signs, went up to see the Ashes parade. You know what that meant to me? To see my Dad show some joy because of what, in part, KP did that day before? That’s why, when anyone says to me “you’re not a true England cricket fan” I do get angry. I’m too much of a fan, that’s my damn problem.

The key to this is that the sheer depth of my respect for this 2005 team makes me even forgive the stupidity of Michael Vaughan and his flip-flopping, and yes, to a degree, Andrew Strauss and his trust issues. It makes me forgive Andrew Flintoff’s descent into reality TV hell. I will never forget what that team gave me and my dad. It’s personal. That’s what sport is.

So to this series, and how I think it will go. TLG has done a brilliant piece, and please, if you’ve not read “The Gathering Storm” (I do think we do great titles, in the main) then do so. I’ve tried to think on logical grounds, and whereas six months ago I’d have said this was a beating waiting to happen, now I’m not so sure. Why? Well, I’m not as convinced by Australia as I was six months ago, and that may sound strange given the World Cup and the beating they gave the West Indies that we couldn’t. It’s not even the over-hyped nonsense about a new positive attitude coming out of the ODI series. It’s not even logical, but stick with me people:

  • I don’t like this Australian team’s age if I were an Aussie. I’ve been there too many times before where a team gambles on people coming back from injury or for one last hurrah. So in the Aussie team they’ve lost Harris, they have Rogers coming back from a concussion and already announcing his retirement; they have Brad Haddin who looks out of his depth in the test batting arena recently and, of course, we have Michael Clarke’s rickety back.
  • They haven’t won here for 14 years. That counts for something.
  • We both beat India at home by two test matches, but India looked stronger the more the series went on, and Australia’s much vaunted bowling attack had fits with an Indian batting team that we were rolling over at the end of last Summer.
  • The linchpin is Steve Smith. If that falls apart, their batting could be a mess. The fact is he’s due to be a weaker link. Actually, that’s not a fact, that’s a hope!
  • Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle have never done it consistently over here. Nathan Lyon is a good bowler, but he’s got scars.

Yeah, wishful thinking, and then I get to the point when I have to think about our team:

  • We need Cook to have a good series. He’s had four below-par series and one amazing one. The bowling attack in that 2010-11 will go into history. There are no Doug Bollingers, Michael Beers, Xavier Dohertys bowling here.
  • As metatone said, Adam Lyth is a really important player. Root and Carberry did not pull up any trees (bar one 180) as Cook’s opening partner, and Cook couldn’t carry the weight. It’s vital he does.
  • Gary Ballance worries the heck out of me at 3. Even when he was scoring runs there last year and this spring, I had doubts. I do hope he plays well, I really do. I just don’t believe he will. Please, please prove me wrong GB.
  • Ian Bell. The enigma. Which Ian Bell is going to turn up?
  • Joe Root – there is that gnawing thought that he’s had struggles in both his Ashes series, and that he’s feathered a nice record against some of the more friendly attacks. It’s there, at the back of my mind. I’m hoping it stays there.
  • Ben Stokes – a goat last year, top dog this year. He’ll have a series in between that. It took Freddie a while to get consistent, and Flintoff was a much better bowler.
  • Jos Buttler – I have no fear for this guy, but still he needs to do it in the Ashes and again in South Africa. A century would be lovely.
  • Moeen Ali – No need to go over this again.
  • Mark Wood, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad – Hope over expectation!

I still think we will probably lose, but I’m not as sure about it as I thought I was.

Now, tomorrow, I won’t be around much. There will be alcohol. There will be a reasonably late night. I think TLG is also incredibly busy at the moment. We’ll do our best to put an Ashes preview, but if one of you would like to do it for us to kick off the 1st Test thread, we’d be delighted to have it. Drop me an e-mail on dmitriold@hotmail.co.uk……

Ashes Panel #003 – Starc Ballanced Poetry, Give Johnny A Bell

LordCanisLupus33 Comments

australia-celebrate-the-ashes-whitewash_10piscrajeyf61qj64a1ovgr5r (2)

We have four entries in, so as usual, I will stick this up. I am awaiting Dennis Does Cricket, who volunteered, but he’s obviously incredibly busy with his site and has covered some of the ground already.

So, without further ado, let me introduce our esteemed panel. First up is Rooto, who is a regular here with a base in the South of France. Then we have Sean B, another loyal follower on here and on Twitter. We have our own Bogfather, who has responded in his own inimitable way, and finally, the blogger of all things West Indian, David Oram (AKA Col Blimp and Roland Butcher’s Hook). A great panel to match the two already, and they were put the usual five questions.

1. Australia appear to have lost Ryan Harris for the first two tests at least, and Mitchell Johnson thus far isn’t pulling up any trees? Has your confidence in England risen or fallen with this news?
Rooto – My confidence in England couldn’t fall, it could only rise. It’s perhaps important to state that first up, as it colours all that follows! This news only provokes the smallest, slightest quiver on the needle, however. Johnson could get a hot streak tomorrow and ride it till September. Now that Harris officially isn’t playing, it only renders concrete what was already being rumoured – that he wasn’t going to be picked anyway, because they have enough bowlers faster, fitter and (in Hazlewood) as tight as he. The reason we all like Ryan-o is that he isn’t quite so dangerously Aussie. Harris was the connoisseur’s fast bowler, or at least that’s what observers like Mike Selvey would have us believe. That’s great, and I don’t wish to speak ill of the retired, but I think the Aussie team runs on bloodlust rather than fine appreciation. The Aussies will play 2, maybe 3 Mitches and they’ll be full of confidence whoever puts on the annoyingly ubiquitous cap.
Sean B – Not really, i still think they have a very strong fast bowling unit in Hazelwood, Starc and Johnson, although i think Gary Ballance will be mightily relieved that Harris is not playing, his lack of foot movement would have made him a sitting duck for Harris to get him LBW. I watched the Aussies in the West Indies and Starc was the real danger man, he can swing it both ways at pace and is particularly strong  at bowling to left handers, so it will be a real test for our top 3 and could largely decide who wins the series.
David O – Risen enormously! Luck plays a huge part in sport. Of course we want to compete with and beat the best – but if they are hors de combat, well then so be it! It’s no use crying over spilt milk, but nothing wrong at grinning like a Cheshire Cat when Glenn McGrath trips over a cricket ball. Harris was a fine cricketer – but his moment in time has now passed. We shall see whether the same is the case with Mitchell Johnson. Is he past his sell by date? Or is this his majestic swansong? Much has been made of the age of the Aussies. Are they over the hill? Maybe. It is fine line between players passing their peak, and being ‘past it’. Similarly teams. Recently I made this comparison of the age factors which defined England’s two recent Ashes whitewashes:

The 2006/07 series was characterised by a bunch of old blokes (Australia) who knew they had ‘one last job’ in them and, after the 2005 Ashes result, were determined to prove a point.
The 2013/14 series was characterised by a bunch of old blokes (England) who hoped they had ‘one last job’ in them, and after the 2013 Ashes result, were self-deluded enough to think they had nothing left to prove.
Australia are great on paper. As an Englishman, I hope they crumple and fold.
England are looking fresher. And in years to come we may look back as this being the defining breakthrough series for players who have promise, and may realise it.
The Bogfather: The formatting might go astray here….
Oh, No Harris
To embarrass

Our batsmen..

With Mitch J

On the spray

We’ll relax then…?

Yet the future is still Starc

As Hazelwood hits the mark

And Siddle can still riddle them…

Yet, I still expect

Each Mitch to click and collect

The openers and three

Bell too, intimidatingly quickly

Feeding on weaknesses known

As runs dry up amid ‘outside’ groans

Leaving 4 through to 8

To get us out of a state

Which won’t always occur

So forgive me if I demur

From taking the positives…

—————————————————————————————-

2. England have chosen two spinners in the squad. Is it for show, or would they ever contemplate playing two in the same team?
Rooto – They’ll only play Rashid if the backroom staff have burnt the DVD of Cardiff 2009. It’s amazing that memories of that match have brought us this far, but so few writers (BTL is different) remember how ineffectual Monty and Swann were on that pitch. This pitch could, of course, be different. In which case why are the press talking about 2009? Either it’s as slow and low as before, and 2 spinners won’t help, or it’ll behave differently, in which case the parallels are unhelpful. On a different note, Bayliss may have ideas about Rashid’s greater mystery, and his ability to turn it the other way from Root, but Cook will be in his ear with different ideas based around familiarity and poor net-bowling in the Windies. My feeling is based purely on cynicism, but I don’t think they’ll play both this summer. If Rashid gets a game it’ll be because Ali has been suffering. I hope that doesn’t happen, though not because I don’t rate Rashid – I do, as much as I can without seeing him play much. Firstly, it’s because Ali seems like a good guy, and secondly as I have sub-zero confidence that Cook will be able to nurture, guide and help Rashid through his test debut. If the Aussies get after Ali in the first two tests, I want Cook to be played a video, on permanent loop, of Morgan putting his arm round Rashid and giving him the last over in that ODI at Trent Bridge.
Sean B –  Absolutely for show – i think there is more chance of seeing Lord Lucan riding Red Rum down Queen Street than England playing 2 spinners at Cardiff. They had the perfect opportunity to play to 2 spinners at that bunsen in Barbados and still only ended up playing 1, so if they didn’t do it there, they won’t do it at all. I also don’t see who they would drop to accommodate 2 spinners – it would be madness to drop Stokes, but that would be my gut feeling on who would get the chop if they did.
David O – Yes they might. All-rounder Stokes is a credible third seamer, and if the came across a ‘raging bunsen’ England have the option of playing two spinners and still having enough seam options in a five-man attack. But it’s unlikely. I think we all expect them to start with Moeen, and turn to Rashid if we go a Test or two down. Personally, I wish we’d be bold enough to pick Moeen as a batsman, and Rashid as a bowler – though you could almost switch that around. My own England team would have 6 bowlers –

1. Cook
2. Lyth
3. Root
4. Barstow
5. Moeen Ali
6. Stokes
7. Buttler
8. Rashid
9. Broad
10. Anderson
11. Wood
The Bogfather –

For sure it’s for show at the Mo’

Cookie won’t want to be Adil-do

By not having a clue how to win

By placing fields for twin spin.

If England wanted to show fight

They’d let Buttler bat higher and delight

Bring in Bairstow to keep up close

He’s more used to Rashid’s mixed dose

And Jonny’s in hot form with the bat

So what would be wrong with that?

If that means dropping Ballance or Bell

Then so be it, what the hell!

———————————————————————————————
3. You are the last panel before the start of the series. You can give me a score if you want, but who do you pick to watch for each team as the key performer (one of you I know the answer from….)
Rooto – I’ll repeat my bold claim of 0-4. It’s hard to judge the weather forecast for Nottingham, Cardiff, London and Birmingham when I’m sat in sweltering Mediterranean heat (sorry to mention it), but in this mindset I can’t see Anderson thriving. Too dry and flat. This leaves England’s key player as Broad. He’s not going to be dropped in a panic as others might, and he just might swing a game for us (see question 5). My other answer is Cook, perhaps repeating other people’s responses. So much will trickle down from his performance. For Australia, we know what we’re getting with the bowlers, and with the quality batting that Clarke and Smith bring, so the crux for them, the known unknown perhaps, is Warner. He tees off successfully enough times, and our neck is feeling the hobnails again.
Sean B – For me, there are a number of people who could be key performers on both sides (Anderson, Stokes, Warner, Smith) but i would go for Root for England and Lyon for Australia (expecting some abuse with the latter choice). I think Root will need to play the same way as Ian Bell did in the 2013 Ashes series and score a mountain of runs for us to have a chance. I can see the Australian attack making early inroads into our batting order and with our late order batsmen sometimes flattering to deceive (they’ll either put on an extra 150 or fall over for 30) i think we are very reliant on Root. I have chosen Lyon because i think he is a vastly underrated bowler and I think spin could play a big part in the series. Lyon quietly goes about his business but he has the ability to either tie down an end or to be an attacking wicket taker. Whilst not a big turner of the ball, he varies his pace well and is a wily bowler (whilst the plaudits for the debacle down under should rightly going to Mitchell Johnson, Lyon took his fair share of wickets that series as well and i think he is even better now). If you offered me an English ‘Nathan Lyon’ i would snap your hand off, i just don’t think Moeen is quite good enough.
David O -I’m backing my ‘Youth over Experience’ narrative for the series and England to win 3-1, possibly coming from behind – but definitely having the best of the luck and the weather. Little things we’ve mentioned lately in passing,but not focused upon, may have a bearing e.g. Australia’s behavior. If Haddin etc are as foul as they were in the World Cup I think the officials (consciously/unconsciously) will lean in England’s direction and we may be at the better end of those key border-line decisions and DRS reviews. This is nothing but a hunch. But a think a moment has been reached when the authorities have grown tired of their histrionics and may be less accommodating to them.

Key performers:
For Australia Mitchell Starc. And Pat Cummins. One-eyed joy at the retirement of Ryan Harris is tempered with the call up of Cummins. I first saw him and Starc during the 2012 World T20 tournament, and I thought ‘shit – these two will blow us away in next year’s Ashes (2013)’. Of course we didn’t see that happen – but my premonition may still come to pass.
The batting form of Smith, Warner and Clarke is also crucial. Is Smith the real deal, or a shooting star. Is he phenomenal or a phenomena? Likewise Warner. And is Clarke still great, or is this his last Test series? Is the decline of his back, and form, terminal?
For England Root and Stokes. Are these blokes good cricketers, or great cricketers? Ashes series decide these things. Root is going to overtake Alastair Cooks run scoring record about 15 years from now. He’s bound to have at least one 700+ victorious Ashes series. I’m hoping this is the first. Stokes has likewise got a Botham 1981 or Freddie 2005 in him. Is this their time?
Equally, several senior England players need to set their career record straight – further failures for Cook, Bell, Broad and Anderson could see all of them put out to pasture if England get stuffed. If they have a big part of an England victory, we’ll collectively gloss over 2013/14 (as we did 2006/07) and acclaim them as England ‘greats’ (though I do fear we may get thumped and wave farewell to them all as England ‘goods’).
The Bogfather:

2-0 after three

To the Aussies it’ll be

Then our leader is replaced

by the young and fresh faced

Joe Root…

He’s held our batting together so far

Already lauded as a global superstar

He’ll take up the challenge with gusto

Watching him grow is a must…Oh…

Here he comes on a Wood-en horse

Leading us to win the last two of course

So a 2-2 draw, no Ashes regained

A flight of fancy? Must pull in my reins!

Opening morning of Ashes is dawning

MSM bow down with such fawning

As Cookie awaits the first ball to face

He prods forward, a buzz, a nick, at pace

An appeal, hushed silence. Hark!

Here cometh, Mitchell Starc…

——————————————————————————————-
4. Jonny Bairstow is in incredible form both in ODI and county cricket. Will he replace Bell or Ballance before the series is out?
Rooto – I hope so. The sooner the better. We need to ride the wave of his form. It would be very old-school England to pick him as it crashes onto the beach. If I was trying to convince Trevor Bayliss, I’d talk about Bairstow as an essential extra member of the squad; of the importance of having a squad of regulars, from whom the most in-form are picked, especially as it’s a tightly-packed back-to-back series; and therefore of the need to tell Ballance that he’s merely being rotated for a short while.
Sean B – They won’t drop Bell full stop unless he is injured (whether we agree that’s right is up for debate, but that’s just the fact of the matter). Ballance has looked in incredibly poor touch and is most at risk, his footwork has been non-existent and has looked like he has been trying to play french cricket for the past 6 months, which is a real shame as he was a revelation last summer. Bairstow is the next cab off the rank (and more worringly the only cab off the rank), so if Ballance has a poor couple of tests, then i can see Bell moving up to 3, Root at 4 and Bairstow at 5. If we get a couple of injuries to the batting line then i would be seriously worried, as i don’t think Lees is ready, Hales still needs to work on his 4 day game and Vince isn’t good enough. I like the look of Varun Chopra, but that is just a personal opinion.
David O – Yes without question.  Bairstow is in wonderful form and ought to be in the side at this minute. I’m totally unconvinced by Ballance – and was when he was scoring runs for fun. But I hope I am wrong.
The Bogfather:

I think I covered this in Q2

And that is what I think they should do

But knowing how clever our selectors are

They’ll wait ’til the Aussies lead by two bar

and Jonny will then be so out of form

So they’ll pick him, isn’t that the norm?

—————————————————————————————————–
5. Finally, give me a favourite Ashes memory that isn’t 2005 or Botham’s Ashes for the English respondents….
Rooto – Broad, Durham 2013. I thought we were going to lose that one. Also, I was able to watch it abroad on a legal, not-for-UK youtube stream. I think that was officially the last good thing the ECB ever did for fans.
Sean B – As i’m banned from saying 2005 (I pulled so many sickies at work that series to watch the cricket), then i would say the Melbourne and Sydney test in 2010/11. I have always dreamed of watching an England team travel to Australia and then completely crush and dominate the hosts (unlike the normal spineless demises of past and present). This was a demolition job, an absolute embarrassing pounding from both ball and bat and it was wonderful. To see the normally chipper hosts (I was watching the coverage in Malaysia at the time on channel 9) be an embarrassed and meek shell of themselves was extremely fun to watch. I don’t think i’ll ever see an Australian team rolled over by an innings, 2 matches in a row, at home again and i revelled in it. I also really liked and connected with the England team back then as well – The Swann sprinkler, Chris Tremlett (who i had a bit of a man crush on in that series), KP, Trotty, Bresnan, it was just a great and likeable team and we played some wonderful cricket in that series.
David O – 3rd Day at Edgbaston 1985. I was 16. My Dad and I and some of his friends went up for the 5th Test, for the first three days, series level at one-all. After 2 rain-effected days Australia were 330-8. When we got up my Dad looked at me with shock and horror. One of those awful looks parents give teenagers, and we just want to say ‘fuck off!’ I said, “what?” “Look in the mirror”. I did. I was covered in spots. I felt fine – but that was it, we were heading home. When he rang home my Mum revealed that my brother had come down with German measles. Ah.

We drove home to London listening to the cricket. England took both the final wickets in the day’s first over, and despite Gooch going for 19, Gower and Robinson creamed the Aussies all day in glorious sunshine, adding 331 for the 2nd wicket. By the close we were ahead with plenty of wickets in hand, and in a position to boss the match. I’d missed one of England’s great days of Aussie bashing. My Dad had got home in time to pick up his Spurs season ticket and head off to White Hart Lane. First day of the season, Tottenham unveiling new signings Chris Waddle and Paul Allen. They won a spanking 4-2. No wonder he made such a quick decision that morning without protest.
I got through my German measles. I didn’t get to see Ellison’s decisive series-winning spell on the Monday evening live on TV – the BBC had left the cricket when the extra hour took play into their normal evening scheduling – but I can confirm that despite my incapacity, I saw clearly and distinctly Gower take a clean catch off a Wayne Phillips cut via Allan Lamb’s boot on the Tuesday afternoon. It was nowhere near the ground. Obviously. Ever.
The Bogfather:

Not an Ashes memory, but my first Eng v Aus experience. As a bit of background, my initiation to Test cricket came in ’76, watching Greenidge, Richards, Roberts, Holding et al on the box, as well as Hampshire at the United Services ground, Portsmouth. Then, in March ’77 came this…

I lay awake in pure excitement

Radio tight to my ear

Awaiting the Centenary Test

from Melbourne, near midnight here

My first exposure to radio commentary

And from 12000 miles away

Determined to stay awake

E’en tho’ I had school the next day

Sound kept low so as not to wake

Anyone else in the house tonight

Crackling lines and Aussie tones unknown

Yet still Arlott was there to delight

What a first day

Australia blown away

McCosker felled, as seagulls stood in a line

Lever and Willis, Old and Underwood

Only Greg Chappell briefly withstood

This was more than mere dreams, so sublime

Then England were shattered

Lillee and Walker battered

All out for less than a ton

Greig top scored with eighteen

I remember him yorked, it seems

Leaving Willis, not out, one

Second innings commencing

No more tepid batting or fencing

Aussies building, Hookes imperious

Marsh, a century fightingly serious

McCosker jaw-strapped

Aussies cheered and clapped

The score mounted, 463 to win

Surely impossible, imagine Lillee’s grin

Early wickets fall

Brearley grinds and nicks

Then Randall fidgets and refuses to fall

Except for a back-roll after a Lillee ball

He doffs his cap as the bowler glares

Passes 150, supported by Amiss’s share

And Greig, then Knott edge us past 400

Until Knott, LBW, Lillee’s 11th wicket plundered

So near yet so far, and an amazing final stat

45 runs the final difference,as was 100 years before that…

————————————————————————————————-
Well, that was different. The panels will be mixed up now, and it’s not to late to get on one by the way. You have our e-mails and twitter feeds, so on certain days we might get you to comment on the days play or some big issues. Thanks thus far, and we’ll certainly reconvene at the end of the 1st test…..

The Gathering Storm

thelegglance84 Comments

Less than a week to go before the Ashes begin, and the news today that Ryan Harris has announced his retirement is an unwelcome development for Australia.  Harris probably wouldn’t have been in the side for Cardiff, mostly because his fitness was questionable anyway – and clearly rightly so – but to lose a player of that calibre from the squad is unquestionably a blow.  For Harris himself, he’s had perhaps four more years of a Test career than seemed likely when he limped out of the 2010/11 series, seemingly into retirement.  That he came back, and proved so effective a bowler, is greatly to his credit.  A shortened career at international level perhaps, but 113 Test wickets at 23.52 represents a fine return even so.   And there’s little question that a certain England captain will be delighted that there’s no prospect of his technique being picked apart by such a clever bowler.

He has said himself that he’s played 27 more Tests than he thought he would, and it’s probable that is at least partly down to Cricket Australia’s relatively careful management of him, providing space for recuperation.  They received a lot of stick for their policy of resting and rotating their pace bowling attack, yet it may well have ensured that in Harris’s case, they truly did get as much out of him as was possible.

Pat Cummins has been called up as his replacement, which is an interesting choice, as he hasn’t played first class cricket in almost two years.  His talent isn’t in doubt, but given his own injury record, it has to be questionable whether in the event he needed to play, he’d be able to last five days of a Test.  Even if completely injury free, he’s very much out of practice at the longer format.

Australia have had a decent workout in their two warm up matches, and perhaps the one area of concern for them has been that their spinners have come in for a fair degree of stick.  A warm up is a warm up, so not too much should be read into it, but it does perhaps detail a line of attack that England could look to adopt when the phoney war is over.

And a phoney war it certainly is.  David Warner picked the build up to the Tests to repeat his claims about Joe Root from the tour two years ago which resulted in Warner throwing a punch.  This is trivial stuff, but it indicates that the sledging game is well and truly on.  Australia themselves are something of a known quantity anyway, much of the series depends on how England play.  The one day series raised optimism that England would look to be aggressive, but the Test side and the one day side are two distinct entities.  An obvious difference is that the captain is Alastair Cook, not a skipper renowned for going for the throat of the opposition.  Indeed Shane Watson specifically referred to that issue recently:

“I’m not sure if that’s exactly in Alastair Cook’s DNA, to be really able to put a game on the line. It’s going to be interesting to see how now that Alastair Cook comes in and takes over the Test team, how they continue to evolve as a team, because it’s very obvious in the one-day series they’ve played how they’ve really started to take on the game.”

Watson hits the nail on the head there.  Partly of course it’s a case of trying to undermine England, which is normal enough and fair enough.  But the question itself is one that England followers have raised several times.  Putting aside the merits of the teams for a moment, the style of play is going to be interesting to watch.  It remains extremely hard to imagine England adopting the mentality of the first innings at Edgbaston in 2005.  That contradiction has been observed by the incoming coach Trevor Bayliss:

“The way the game has been played over the last five or ten years, you could argue that maybe we haven’t kept up to date maybe as some of the other teams. Whether you like it or not, the T20 format and the one-day format do have a bearing on the way the game is played at Test level. It’s that philosophy of being positive and aggressive.”

And yet Andrew Strauss doesn’t seem to be on the same page.

“As I said at the start of the summer, I think Cook is very much the man to take the England Test team forward

Perhaps there’s an element of having to say that, but the innate conservatism of Strauss is looking somewhat out of kilter with the approach of both the new coach and of the stand in.  It was certainly noticeable that Bayliss was very quick to praise Morgan and Farbrace for the way the one day team played the game, as was the much more non-committal remark about Cook:

“I’ve not seen him up close or worked with him before.”

It is of course entirely possible that despite the initial appearance of them being chalk and cheese, they might get on like a house on fire.  It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened – perhaps most notably in the instance of the taciturn Duncan Fletcher and the fiery Nasser Hussain, who proved to be an outstanding partnership.  But it still has the feel of end of term about Cook’s captaincy, particularly so if England lose, as so many expect.

And will England lose?  It was quite amusing to see Glenn McGrath react at the terming of Australia as “Dad’s Army” when it was actually Jason Gillespie who made a point of describing them as such.  And yet it is quite clear that this is indeed a fairly old Australian side.  One thing that shouldn’t be ignored is that sides never look past it until they actually are.  Although more sensible observers noted that England in 2013/14 were a side running out of steam, few anticipated the collapse that followed.  A side can look old very quickly.

Where Australia do clearly look to have the edge is in the fast bowling stakes.  Starc and Johnson are a potent opening pair, though Johnson does blow hot and cold.  If he were to return to the 2009/10/11 vintage, then Australia have a problem.  Of course, if he’s more like the one from the last Ashes, England could be in for a fearful hiding.  Even then, Starc looks a more obvious – and more consistent – threat in any case.

So where do England have to perform if they are to have a chance?  Cook himself is pivotal.  His technique was dismantled by Australia’s bowlers in the last two series, and should that happen again, England will do well to compete.  Cook bats long, and blunts opposition attacks when all is going well for him.  His technical approach is vastly improved over the recent vintage, both in terms of playing much straighter and his judgement of line.  The strength in England’s batting is in the middle order, but for that to be a strength they need a platform.  Lyth is at the start of his career, it’s asking a lot for him to provide it consistently at this stage.  So it hangs on Cook himself.  If England are consistently 30-3, then to call it an uphill task is an understatement.

Equally, there are question marks over other players.  Ballance’s sophomore difficulties need to be resolved and fast.  Ian Bell’s relative drought likewise.  There is ability throughout, but as things stand too many of them have dubious recent records.

The England bowling attack is simpler to assess.  Broad and Anderson are a fine new ball pairing in English conditions, the doubt is over whether the latter will be ground into the dirt and asked to do too much.  Broad might blow hot and cold almost as much as Johnson, but Australia does seem to bring the best out of him.  Perhaps the key might be Mark Wood, who has shown serious promise in his brief career to date.  That doesn’t mean he’s under pressure to deliver, it means that he’s a wildcard that may just come off.

Bayliss also made an interesting comment that Moeen was the number one spinner “at the moment”, and suggested that he had no problem with selecting two spinners for Cardiff. It seems unlikely, but it’ll give Adil Rashid a degree of hope he might be more than a drinks carrier in future.

One of the fascinating elements of this series will be how Steve Smith performs.  He’s had an outstanding couple of years, but his idiosyncratic technique is likely to receive greater examination with the Duke’s ball moving around.  He certainly didn’t do that well on the last tour, and while that doesn’t reflect the player he has become since, the same could be said of Joe Root.

And so it comes to the time of actually making a prediction for the series.  I don’t think it will be as one sided as some others do, but I do think Australia will have a bit too much for England to beat them.  Being optimistic, a 2-2 series result would represent serious progress for England, but the head says Australia will win 3-1.

@BlueEarthMngmnt

Hardly

LordCanisLupus20 Comments

I was in good cheer when I read another tweet yesterday, and which I’ve seen in today’s amazing episode of The Cricketer Magazine.

I mean, seriously. I am getting to be seriously crotchety in my old age, but I hate this shit. I realise we live in a corporate world, where sport has to flog itself to maximise the revenues for its players and so forth. But Hardy’s doesn’t own the Ashes, and they aren’t some commodity that can be flogged to death to some corporate with ties to the sport as deep as a puddle. But no, let’s have it hawked out and retweeted by the players so they can earn a few more bucks. Let’s have all the interviews by England players sponsored so they can earn a few more quid. I even saw an advert on Twitter by Specsavers using the Ashes.

While I don’t doubt the sporting commitment of any of these players, there seems far too much of players hawking themselves to flog a bit of the sponsors wares and not enough actual proper engagement with the hoi polloi who follow them around. The team looks appallingly distant still. I get no more of a warm glow from Alastair Cook as I do from my neighbours on the other side of the estate I live on. I hate how sport has become a corporate vehicle, so it’s corporate first, second, third, fourth and so on, and the punter comes a distant last. The corporate pays and gets the finest seats, the best service, and fuck me blind, decent beer. We sit in the cheap seats, have to somehow manage to carry four beers in a paper/cardboard contraption that happens to break if it gets to wet to a crowded seat, with eff all leg room, to be bombarded by nonsense, have official rehydration breaks, have the most prestigious test series in the game paired with an investment bank every time it is mentioned over here (it was never the Cornhill Insurance Ashes, was it) and drink absolute piss masquerading as one of Paul Sheldon’s selection of “fine beers”.

Their priority is to make money – the players and the administrators. To soak the asset. If they see off some of the low earners or recalcitrant fans, well that’s just collateral damage. They probably wouldn’t drink Hardy’s wine, probably think Waitrose is a bit too pricy, wouldn’t have a scooby who Royal London are, think tap water is fine to drink, don’t use an investment bank and so on and so forth. Stuff ’em. After all, they are outside cricket.

Commercialisation is a growing annoyance, and don’t tell me the journos don’t think so. Agnew, for one, was livid he had to go through this “interview is brought to you by…” crap. The players seriously don’t help themselves when any interview they have is done under serious media management and only on the premise that they can hawk something for a few bob more. This tweet summed it up…

Which brings neatly on to Betway’s new “employee” in his Editor’s notes in The Cricketer…

“Alastair Cook has been called a weasel and a coward and other derogatory things. He does not deserve any of it.”

Ah. But calling someone who scored 8181 test runs a c–t is ok. Rah Rah. The article has decency all over it. Alastair is a thoroughly decent man. If you get a chance, read it. It’s like a bloody love letter. There seems no recognition that there is another interpretation of all this. That Cook has never truly explained the decision that he must have been party to to (a) exclude Pietersen and (b) as Dean Wilson reported, I believe, at the time, that he maintains a veto over his return. I call not explaining this as, yes, a form of cowardice. A form of weasel behaviour. He may have very good reasons, but I’ll bet he’s storing them up for a lovely autobiography somewhere down the line. Hughes, of course, conflates the cowardice line with actual facing up to quick bolwing in a marvellously ridiculous finale…

“He (Cook) is the antithesis of the men who say, “It’s the way I play.” He is constantly evolving as a player and as a leader and is about to confront the fastest attack and feistiest foe to visit these shores for many a year. So whatever you think of him, don’t call him a weasel or a coward.”

Bloody hell. Instead, we’ll just laugh at this piece of analysis (as previewed in comments below) in a tweet from Tickers.

Indeed.

I’m sorry, but Lovejoy, complete with stupid mug shot is at it again in The Cricketer…

“Obviously the above are moot points if England themselves have a divided camp and are still being forced to answer questions about the captain, opening batsman and other extraneous stories that refuse to die down. Alastair Cook must shrug off any worries about the hierarchy and apparent criticism from the media and get back to enjoying the role of prolific run scorer and team captain.”

Count the many ways this is laughable.