Hold Your Horses

I feel a bit fraudulent writing about the second astonishing denouement to a Cardiff Test inside two years: after paying scant attention, during a busy week for me, to a weather-affected match (nearly a day and a half lost to rain) that appeared to be petering out into a draw, I'd given up on the match by the end of Saturday; by yesterday evening, I'd basically forgotten it was still going on. (And it seemed like everyone other than Jonathan Trott had, too.)

It was only a couple of excited text messages, late this afternoon, that persuaded me to tune in again and witness the carnage. By that time, it was basically all over: Sri Lanka had lost 6 wickets in 39 balls for only 19 runs.

I did start listening in time to hear Ian Bell assume the Paul Collingwood Blinding Infield Catching mantle, to feel slightly sorry for both Tremlett and Swann that Broad came in at the end to clear up the tail and deny either a 5-for, and to hear a fairly unbelievable suggestion from the otherwise-quite-level-headed CMJ: was this performance a sign that England were about to take their rightful place as No. 1 Test side in world cricket?

Really, Christopher.

Firstly, there's the small matter of 2 further Tests to play against a Sri Lankan side who put together a not inconsiderable first-innings total of 400, not to mention a series against the current No. 1 side, India -- a team with 3 batsmen and 2 bowlers (fairly evenly matched against England's 2 and 3) in the ICC Player Rankings Top 10.

And secondly, it ignores the fact that, apart from extraordinary performances from Tremlett and Swann on the final day, the team effort so far has been no more than par for the course. (Switching sports, there -- as I did in the title of this post -- but it's a Bank Holiday, and I can't be bothered to come up with a better/less clichéd metaphor -- sorry...)

Ok, there were three centuries, but they were made under very little pressure. Of more concern to the England coaching set-up might be the mis-fires from the two mainstays of the batting line-up, Strauss and KP. (I admit that, having not followed the match particularly closely, this judgement may be unduly harsh on my part. Do statistics really lie, though?)

More worryingly, amid talk of 4-or-5-man bowling attacks, England went into the last innings with an attack of 3. (No, Trott and KP don't count.) If they'd faced opposition from a less rabbit-in-the-headlights batting line-up, there might have been rather more treatment along the lines of Tremlett's final over, which was deposited for 12 fairly easy runs by the 22-year-old debutant Thisara Perera.

So yes, this was a brilliant result; no, it's not time for the champagne yet. Here's my 3-point to do list for Team England before the Lord's Test gets underway later this week:


1. Balance the bowling attack: make sure that whoever comes in for the injured Jimmy Anderson provides an alternative to the options already available. (Sorry, Steve Finn.)

2. Consider adding a bowling option: it seems unfair to consign Eoin Morgan to the Test dustbin after scoring 14 not out; but then I wouldn't have picked him in the first place. Ravi Bopara provides a better 5th bowling option than the buffet fare of either Trott or KP, and his selection would also pay him back for his laudable decision to choose county cricket over the riches on offer in the IPL.

3. Have a chat with KP: shouldn't he be on a final warning by now? (Watch out for a match-winning 158* at Lord's, now...)

Cricketing Digest

I feel I've neglected the initial focus of this blog in the not-so-glamorous cricketing months, so in a short post tonight I thought I'd do a quick run-down of recent news in the world of leather on willow. (I haven't been following it for a couple of weeks, so it may be that the new Lalit Modi has decided that playing the game with a metal post and a ball of rubber bands is a better crowd-puller than a leather ball and a wooden bat, and therefore that that particular figure of speech is even more outmoded than usual. [They don't still use willow, do they? I'm way out of my depth.])

Broadly Speaking

(That was just an excuse to use that pun; I'd have done so even if I didn't have anything to say about the England captaincy.) So Alastair Cook, who's played 3 ODIs in the past two and a half years, is the new England captain. Right. And Stuart Broad, 9 months after being fined 50% of his match fee for an act of borderline ABH, has got the T20 job. Hmmm.

Here's a thought: why not pick someone to do both jobs who's in both teams? And who doesn't have a yearly tantrum?

Warne Again? No

(That one was even worse. Sorry about that.) So Shane Warne is to retire from cricket at the end of the season. Who even knew he was still playing?? I'm surprised he can bear to prise himself away from his nice little earner in the commentary box. Or maybe he's started combining the two? Now that I'd pay to watch -- get on it, Sky.

KP's Back

(Yes, I gave up.) Coming in second on our list of 'talented yet incredibly arrogant cricketers whom you thought had long ago decided to concentrate on the more commercial sides of their careers rather than spend any time actually on the pitch' is the delightful Sir Kev, who's preparing for his come-back from injury.

Given that a middle order of Trott, Bopara, and Morgan made 73% of England's runs in their last game, thought, you have to ask: do we really need him?

Well that was a lazy post. Apologies. More of the same, or better (you never know), next week -- I'm off to bed. Live the Friday night dream, people! :)

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of........Well, Victory

In a few hours' time, barring a Botham-esque stand from Smith and Siddle, England will have added a series victory to their regaining of the Ashes, and made a mockery of many pre-Brisbane predictions. (Mine included, although a 2-1 win was only slightly too conservative.)

The interventions of Christmas and New Year have meant I haven't documented this series as closely as I wanted to; some might say this was a good thing, as the up-turn in England's fortunes coincided with the start of my blogging silence. . . But I couldn't resist returning at the end of 23 days of often brilliant and sometimes woeful cricket to offer some final thoughts. (Slash gloats.)


Man of the Series

Fairly predictably, Alastair Cook. 700+ runs , batting for 36+ hours -- that's a day and a half. That pie's still tasting pretty good.


Best Innings of the Series

Finally, Kevin Pietersen had silenced the doubters. Not got the temperament to push on into the 200s? Pah. Weak against left-arm spinners? It doesn't really matter if you get to 227 before falling to one. The first innings at Adelaide was a masterwork. Gone was the scratchy, jittery Kaypee of yesteryear, foxed by such cricketing goliaths as Mehrab Hossain; this was a new, mature model of the complete batter. KP 2.0, then. Until...


...Worst Shot of the Series

Oh dear. After an ugly swipe at Mitchell Johnson yesterday, the composure of the Adelaide double-century appears to have been a false dawn.


Most Undermined Stat of the Series

Jimmy Anderson's 5 previous wickets in Australia went for 80 apiece; England were basing their attack on someone who just didn't have a clue when handed the Kookaburra ball. So this analysis makes for pretty good reading:

208.1 ~ 49 ~ 614 ~ 23

That's 23 wickets at 26.7, with an economy rate of less than 3 an over. Oh, and 23.5% of his overs were maidens.


The Heart and Soul of England Cricket Award

Duncan Fletcher, Nasser Hussain, and the Three Wise Andrews (Flintoff, Strauss, Flower) have all been credited with a hand in the renaissance of English cricket over the past decade or so; the man I believe to have done more for the game in this country than any other, since his ODI debut in 2001, is Paul Collingwood, who retired from Test cricket this week. So long, Paul, and thanks for all...of...these.

On the Kelvin Scale

Graeme Swann's drink-driving charges this week might have been seen as a distraction from the task in hand, as the no. 3 in the World Test bowling rankings was forced to miss training a mere 48 hours before the third Test against Pakistan. What caught the eye in the Cricinfo report on Swann's absence on Monday, however, was the input from the no. 3 in the England T20 batting lineup, one 'Kelvin' Pietersen.

The form of Kaypee, former captain and once the first name on [insert England coach here]'s team-sheet, has been a worry of late. Stephen Brenkley has written about the dipping Test average that will soon plumb depths from which even a Man of the Series Twenty20 performance won't be able to drag him. What this story about Swann shows, however, to the English media and -- equally importantly -- the Australian dressing-room alike, is that here is a cricketer who remains at the heart of (*yuk*) 'Team England': it is KP's twitted comments on Swannee's predicament that make the headlines, ahead of the more professional summary of the team captain.

And it reveals something about Swann, too: even within the England team there are grumblings about the South-African-born contingent. I wonder how Andrew Strauss feels about that?