Tag: Adelaide

England Floundering

A look at goings on in the Ashes series so far, a brief glimpse ahead to the rest of it and then a longer look at an (IMO) much needed potential Great Reset of English Cricket. Also some photographs.

This post looks at England’s start to the 2021-22 Ashes series and at what might be done going forward.

THE GABBA

After a rain ruined build up England won the toss and chose to bat. The chosen XI was Burns, Hameed, Malan, *Root, Stokes, Pope, +Buttler, Woakes, Robinson, Wood, Leach. Batting first was the right call, and the XI looked well chosen though it was surprising that neither of the veterans Anderson or Broad got picked (inserting the opposition at the Gabba has a shocking history). Unfortunately, the tone was set for England by Rory Burns who shuffled across his crease to the first ball of the series and made a leg stump half volley look like a swinging yorker – bowled for a duck, England 0-1 one ball into the series. Although Pope, Buttler and Woakes all showed some fight, England never looked like posting a big enough total, and were all out for 147. Robinson, Woakes and Wood all bowled decently, Leach was rusty after playing little recent cricket and took heavy punishment, Stokes was not fully fit and did little. Warner and Labuschagne both batted well but were overshadowed by Travis Head whose place in the XI had been questioned in some quarters. Australia’s number five scored an amazing 152, getting his team to a final total of 425, a lead on first innings of 278. England then had their best period of the series to date, ending day three on 220-2 with Malan and Root in the 80s. Unfortunately both batters fell right at the start of day four, and thereafter the innings was a procession, and England in the end mustered only 297, leaving Australia 20 to win. They lost one wicket just before getting there, which enabled Labuschagne to become the first non-opener to be 0* (0) in a test match – on every previous occasion this happened the target had been one and had come off one ball.

ADELAIDE

Adelaide is one of the most beautiful of all cricket venues, set amidst the city’s northern parklands and with St Peter’s Cathedral part of the backdrop, along with the river Torrens. It is also known for being a batters paradise, and if the ball does anything there it turns. Australia had lost Hazlewood to injury and Cummins because he was identified as a close contact of a covid-positive after eating at a restaurant the night before the game. Steve Smith of sandpaper infamy was thus elevated to the captaincy, while Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson filled the vacant fast bowling slots. England, in defiance of logic, common sense and Adelaide history went in without a specialist spinner and with four right arm fast medium bowlers backed up by Stokes.

Australia won the toss and decided to bat (in view of their circumstances and the nature of the Adelaide pitch a decision to bowl would have made Ponting’s insertion of England at Edgbaston in 2005 look like a stroke of genius!). England bowled accurately, but were consistently half a yard or so too short to be maximally effective with the result that the ball went past the edge of the bat many times but the batters had little real trouble. Additionally, one of the few genuine chances created by England was squandered when Buttler dropped an absolute sitter offered by Labuschagne. Australia ended the opening day on 221-2 from 89 overs (England’s over rate, which had already cost them their match fees at Brisbane was once again an utter disgrace). Ominously skipper and part time off spinner Joe Root got a few balls to turn when he bowled a spell on this opening day.

In the early part of the second day (today) England fared reasonably well, and the fifth Aussie wicket fell at 331. However, Steve Smith was still at the crease, and wicket keeper Alex Carey proceeded to score a 50. Michael Neser on debut at no8 scored a rapid 35, Smith fell just short of a century (93, trapped LBW by one from Anderson that kept low). Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson then shared a brisk, carefree partnership for the ninth wicket, before Richardson snicked one from Woakes and was caught behind. Woakes had shown the problem with selecting him overseas because “we want a number eight who can score runs”, namely that he is ineffective overseas in his main role: bowling – before being gifted that wicket which triggered a declaration at 473-9 Woakes had conceded 100 runs without ever posing a threat.

Before a thunderstorm brought an early close to proceedings England lost both openers, Burns to Starc and Hameed to the debutant Neser (the bowler’s second delivery in test cricket). Malan and Root were in occupation, with England 17-2.

Australia are 18 wickets away from going 2-0 up in the series, and in very little danger of being beaten whatever happens in the next three days.

LOOKING AHEAD 1: THE REST OF THE SERIES

England are in deep trouble and have boxed themselves into a corner by sending home the Lions players en bloc, including Bracey who had just scored a battling hundred in the Lions last innings and Foakes, England’s best keeper. They have also left themselves little choice but to persist with Burns and Hameed since the only back up opener they have averages 11 in tests in 2021, 18.80 outside his one big innings at that level overall. They cannot go without a spinner again, and I also think they need to pick Wood for the rest of the series so that they have some genuine pace available. For the MCG I would select: Burns, Hameed, Malan, *Root, Stokes, Pope, +Buttler, Robinson, Wood, Leach, Anderson. At the SCG I might rotate Broad in for Anderson. The final match will be played at Bellerive Oval, Tasmania and much remains to be seen before thinking about that one.

LOOKING AHEAD 2: TIME FOR THE GREAT RESET

Before any of the suggestions I am about to make can be acted on one thing has to happen: Chris Silverwood, an unmitigated failure as England head coach, has to be given his P45.

Of the batters I would retain only Root and Stokes from the current squad. The bowling situation looks better, but although I advocate for him to be given this series I believe that like Bess and Ali before him Jack Leach has had his confidence ruined by the hamfisted way in which he has been managed and going forward would look to the younger spinners.

  1. Openers: unless Burns and Hameed go really well in what is left of this series I would want two new openers, and I see five who merit consideration for that role: Hasan Azad, Sam Evans, Tom Haines, Jake Libby and Rob Yates.
  2. Number three: Tom Abell, with Bracey in reserve. I would also be strongly inclined to name Abell as captain right from the start – Root is not a good captain, while his batting is indispensable.
  3. Nos 5,6,7: Stokes will occupy one of these slots, Ben Foakes will be at six and keeping wicket (he averages 38 to Buttler’s 31 in FC cricket and is a far better keeper). Ollie Pope will usually be the third of this trio, either batting down at seven or up at five, with Stokes in the slot he doesn’t get (I want Foakes at six to reduce the chances of him having to bat exclusively with the bowlers).
  4. The fast bowlers: Woakes in England remains in contention (I kept an open mind about him succeeding overseas, knowing him to be much improved of late, but his bowling has been toothless so far this tour). I want at least one of Archer, Stone and Wood in the side, fitness permitting. If none of these three are available then Brydon Carse or Saqib Mahmood (the latter is not express, but he is quicker than the common run of English seamers) would be considered. Henceforth only one of the two uber veterans can ever be in the side at a time. Robinson has earned his spurs and would be part of the squad and most likely the final XI.
  5. The spinners: I would establish a spinner’s camp, the first members of which would be Matt Parkinson, Jack Carson, Amar Virdi, Dan Moriarty and Liam Patterson-White (the last named is almost good enough with the bat to be classed as an all rounder, and would combine well with any of the first three should two spinners be warranted. England’s handling of spinners has been shocking in recent years, and needs to change.

A new look England to front up against the next test match opposition, the West Indies might have an XI of: Haines, Yates, *Abell, Root, Pope, +Foakes, Stokes, Robinson, Archer/Stone/Wood, Anderson and Parkinson, or if feeling bolder still, select two of the expresses to go with Robinson and Parkinson (assuming they are fit).

Making such huge changes is high risk, but persisting with the current non-working test set up means accepting the certainty of further failure in the premier format of the game. I prefer letting the dice fly to resignation.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

On Tuesday morning I had my booster jab, and since it has to be injected into an upper arm the choice of T shirt is important – can’t really go wrong with this one!
Proof.

Adelaide Antics

An account of two and a half extraordinary days of cricket at Adelaide.

The first test between Australia and India in the latest series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has ended after only half the allotted time, with Australia winning by eight wickets. Two and a half days proved ample time for some extraordinary happenings as we shall see…

THE MATCH

This match was a day-nighter which made it slightly easier to follow from the UK (the BBC have rights to Australian radio broadcasts for three years, so there was live commentary on 5 Live Sports Extra) – just a very early morning start as opposed an all-nighter. Both sides had questions over their opening pairs due to injuries. For India Prithvi Shaw got the nod to open with Mayank Agarwal, while with both Warner and heir apparent Pucovski hors de combat for Australia they opted for Matthew Wade, who had never previously opened a first class innings, never mind a test one to partner Joe Burns. The other question was over India’s choice of keeper, and they opted for the superior keeper, Wriddhiman Saha rather than deepening their batting by selecting Rishabh Pant.

India won the toss and chose to bat. The second ball of the game exposed a gap between Shaw’s bat and pad through which an HGV could have been driven, leading to the ‘death rattle’ and India were 0-1. Agarwal also fell cheaply, before Chesteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli stabilized things. Pujara batted well up to a point, but did not do quite enough to keep the scoreboard ticking. Ajinkya Rahane now joined Kohli and for a time all was rosy for India, as the pairing prospered. The falling sweep twitter account piped up to mention that Rahane had never been run out in a test innings, to which I could not resist responding with a question as to whether that related to good running or an ability to ensure that his partners lost their wickets when mix-ups occurred. A few moments after this exchange Rahane proceeded to stitch his skipper up, and India were four down. Rahane himself followed not long after, and Hanuma Vihari also fell cheaply, bringing R Ashwin into join the keeper Saha. None of the remaining members of the batting order, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami could lay claim to any real batting skill, although Bumrah had just notched his maiden first class 50 in a warm-up game against Australia A. Saha and Ashwin made it to the close with the score at 233-6.

The second day began with a flurry of wickets, as India were quickly rounded up for a total of 244. Australia made this total look quite respectable, and it was only a fighting 73 not out from captain/ wicket keeper Tim Paine that kept their deficit to 53. India missed a cartload of chances as well – officially five catches went down, and there was more than one incident of an edge falling short of a fielder who had positioned themselves too deep to make the catch. Among thos reprieved was Paine himself on 25.

India began their second innings 25 minutes before the cut-off time at which stumps had to be drawn, which I thought represented a case for promoting Pujara to open in place of the clearly vulnerable Shaw (check my twitter account and you will see that I posted to this effect at the time). India felt otherwise and in to bat trooped Shaw and Agarwal. This time Shaw did get off the mark, but with four to his name he was bowled in pretty much identical fashion to the first innings, the ball going through a veritable chasm between bat and pad to hit the stumps. Bumrah was then sent in as nightwatchman, and managed to see things through to the close at 9-1.

For some reason known only to themselves the BBC were not joining the broadcast of the third day’s play until 40 minutes after the start, so I missed the beginning of the end, the commentary being joined just as Kohli was dismissed to make it 19-6. I heard commentary on the dismissals that I had missed, as playbacks were presented during the coverage of what remained, and I heard the end of the Indian innings and the entire Australia chase. Agarwal and Bumrah took the score to 15 before Bumrah was out, the first of four successive wickets, the others being Agarwal, Pujara and Rahane to fall with the score at 15. Saha and Ashwin fell in successive balls as well, and that was 26-8. At 31 Vihari, the last recognized batter was ninth out, and five runs later Shami was struck on the arm and retired hurt, leaving the Indian 2nd innings all over for just 36, their lowest ever test score (previously 42 versus England). Australia thus required 90 to win. Burns and Wade batted well, before Wade was run out with Australia 20 short of the target. Labuschage holed out with eight still needed. The end came with Joe Burns hitting a six that also took him to a half century.

His 73 not out, captaincy and excellent wicket keeping, including a fistful of catches in that second Indian innings earned Paine the man of the match award.

THE INDIAN 2ND INNINGS

Normally when a team is out very cheaply there is at least some culpability on the part of the batters. When England sank for 46 to lose a match they had been ahead in at Trinidad in 1994 the rout began with Atherton padding up to the first ball and being plumb LBW, Ramprakash falling in the same over, also to a dismissal that suggested a player and a team in a funk. Here, apart from Shaw at the end of day two, the wickets all seem to have fallen to magnificent bowling, Cummins (four wickets, including his 150th in test cricket) and Hazlewood (five, at one stage 5-3, 5-8 by the end of the innings, including his 200th test wicket) bowling a perfect line and length and benefitting from some good fortune which both thoroughly deserved, as they found numerous edges and each edge was pouched, mostly by the keeper, some by other fielders. 36 all out in a test is a shocker, but here any honest observer has to credit the bowling, not blame the batting.

One crumb of comfort for India: immediately after the 46 all out I referred to earlier, and which I regard as a worse collapse, for all that England then scraped up 10 more runs than India managed this time, England travelled to Barbados where the West Indies had not been beaten in 59 years, and proceeded to win comfortably, Alec Stewart notching a century in each innings.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Obviously India have a mountain climb, and the fact that Kohli is leaving to be with his wife as she gives birth and Shami is in jeopardy due to his injury today makes it even steeper, but they must not give up. The next game is at the MCG, where they won comfortably last time they were in Australia, and Bumrah in particular will have fond memories of that match. At the start of the 1902 Ashes Australia were bowled out for 36 in a single innings, albeit then being saved by the weather, and rebounded to win the series 2-1, with England’s lone victory coming in the final match at The Oval. I await the match in Melbourne with great interest, having enjoyed this one very much.

PLAYER RATINGS

I will start with the winning team:

Matthew Wade – given a job to do that he had never previously done he can be proud of his contribution to a low scoring match. 6/10
Joe Burns – many were questioning his presence in this team, and his first innings effort was far from encouraging. He also struggled in the first part of his second innings, but in the end emerged with flying colours. 7/10
Marnus Labuschagne – a gritty effort in the first innings when the rest of the Aussie front line batters all fell cheaply, and he fell in the second innings when trying to speed Australia over the winning line. 7/10
Steve Smith – R Ashwin demonstrated in the first innings that the least elegant but most effective batter in the game can be dismissed cheaply, and he did not the opportunity to make a noteworthy contribution to the 2nd innings. 3/10
Travis Head – an anonymous match for him. He failed in his only batting innings. 2/10
Cameron Green – a hugely exciting young all rounder of whom I expect to be hearing much more. He did enough in this game to demonstrate that he belongs at the highest level. 5/10
Tim Paine – a gritty innings, some fine keeping and good captaincy (although his use of the DRS still needs plenty of work). His player of the match award was well merited. 9/10
Pat Cummins – the right arm quick demonstrated why he is currently ranked the no1 test bowler in the world, bowling very well in the first Indian innings and magnificently in the second. 9/10
Mitchell Starc – good with the ball in the first innings, not much needed in the second. 7/10
Josh Hazlewood – a superb bowling effort in the second innings in tandem with Pat Cummins, and adequate in the first innings. 8/10
Nathan Lyon – the off spinner was out bowled by his rival Ashwin, but in a match where the quicks were more prominent he was far from failing. 7/10

Now we turn the Indians:

Mayant Agarwal: not a match the established opener will look back on with any pride. 4/10
Prithvi Shaw: a nightmare for the youngster who has a magnificent record in Indian domestic cricket but is not yet established as a test player. I cannot see him continuing as an opener – it is an early wicket every time for the Aussies if he does, but he may have a role in this series nonetheless as there will be a vacancy at no4, where he will be less exposed. 1/10
Cheteshwar Pujara: he did a solid job in the first innings, although he should have done more to keep the scoreboard ticking. Failed in the second innings. 4/10
Virat Kohli: before being stitched up by Rahane in the first innings he looked nailed on for a century. 7/10
Ajinkya Rahane: played well in the first innings, but a lot of the good he did for his side with his personal score was negated by his role in Kohli’s dismissal and his own subsequent dismissal shortly afterwards. Including the run out of Kohli the last 16 Indian wickets plus Shami retired hurt raised just 89 between them. 3/10
Hanuma Vihari: two failures for the youngster. 2/10
Wriddhiman Saha: kept superbly as usual, and looked to have done a valuable job with the bat in the closing stages of the opening day. 4/10
R Ashwin: good work with the bat near the end of the first day, but dismissed right at the start of the second when a decent morning’s batting could have put India out of reach in the match. Bowled beautifully in the Australian first innings and was rewarded with four wickets. 7/10
Umesh Yadav: bowled respectably in the first Australian innings. 5/10
Jasprit Bumrah: bowled impressively and commanded respect from all the Aussies. It must be said that there was little evidence of his much vaunted improvement with the bat and using him as nightwatchman was probably a mistake (if India were going to protect any of their major batters it should have been Shaw, which they could have done by promoting Pujara one place). Still, he did little noticeably wrong, and did manage the nightwatchman’s first task of surviving to the close of play. 6/10

Looking at the players India have available for the second match I would suggest that they select Shubman Gill to open with Agarwal and fill the temporarily vacant no4 slot by moving Shaw down from his current opening berth.

If you wish to see a scorecard and some more recognized views about this match, click here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Classic Test Match

some thoughts about the recent test match between England and the West Indies, declarations and umpires.

INTRODUCTION

This post is devoted the second test match of the current England versus West Indies series, which ended at about 6:45PM on Tuesday. 

THE EARLY EXCHANGES

England batted first and reached 258 only because Ben Stokes (100) and Joe Root (59) were reprieved early in their innings by bad West Indies fielding. Kraigg Brathwaite (134) and Shai Hope (147) were the cornerstones of a the West Indies response, which eventually reached 427, a lead of 169. In the second England innings no-one reached three figures but there were solid efforts all the way down the line, and at 490-8 Joe Root decided to declare and give the West Indies a little session of batting just before the close of the fourth day. 

THE FINAL INNINGS

The West Indies made it to the close of the fourth day without losing a wicket. Brathwaite made 95 in this second innings, coming within five of becoming the first batsman ever to score twin centuries in a first-class match at Headingley (and this was the 534th such fixture at the ground), a feat that was finally achieved by player of the match Shai Hope, who also received support from Roston Chase (30) and Jermaine Blackwood (a rapid 41 in the closing stages) who ended up 118 not out, and appropriately enough scored the winning runs. 

There are two features that I am going to make specific comments about, starting with…

JOE ROOT’S DECLARATION

For all that the end result was not what he would have wanted I still say, as I said on twitter at the time, and again a day later when the result was imminent, that this was a good declaration, and that Root was entirely right to go for victory. I remember (though few others will as it was not actually a pafrticularly good match) the Australia v West Indies test match at Adelaide in 2009 when the West Indies were one match down in the series after being soundly defeated at the ‘Gabbatoir’ (a nickname for the Woolloongabba stadium in Brisbane, also known as the Gabba) based on what often happens to visiting teams there) but declined to declare, batting on into the final day. Australia faced a target of 330 off 81, and skipper Ponting decided to settle for the draw rather than going after this target. By the end of the day there were not many people left in the ground (I know whereof I write – I was one of the few who did stay right to the end). I condemn Ponting for this decision to preserve his team’s 1-0 lead in the series rathwer than trying to make it 2-0, as also I condemn the decision of Ryan Ten Doeschate today to extend the Essex second innings into the final afternoon rather than make a serious attempt to win the match by declaring at or even before lunch. PS when I wrote this paragraph I did not realise that Somerset’s “resistance” would be quite so utterly spineless – it now looks like Essex may get their victory after all.

While I do not quite as far as the legendary Sammy Woods (who played for Somerset in the lat 19th and early 20th centuries) who once responded to an enquiry about whether his team might have played for a draw in a game they ended up losing responded with “draws…they’re for bathing in” but I do not hold the draw in high regard and would much prefer a team take risks in the attempt to win than see them play safely for the draw. In the special case of a team being one match to the good going into the final match of a series I would condone a more cautious approach being taken, although Kevin Pietersen’s magnificent series clinching innings at The Oval in 2005 was hardly cautious!

To finish this section: Joe Root was justified in declaring when he did (as was David Gower at Lord’s in 1984 when the result was even more embarrassing for England, courtesy of a magnificent 214 not out from Gordon Greenidge), and this result stands to the credit of the West Indies batting, especially that of Brathwaite and Hope and not to the debit of Root’s declaration. 

SOME SENSIBLE UMPIRING

According to the strict letter of the law play in a purely day game cannot continue if the floodlights are providing more light than the natural light. I congratulate the umpires in this match for not acting with Emeritus Professor of Biosophistry like pedantry and curtailing play due to the light, thus depriving the West Indies of their well-earned victory. There seems little doubt that the light was bad enough to have warranted taking the players off, but the umpires realised given the match situation was such that the players should be kept out there. 

Here are a couple of links relating to this test match:

LOOKING AHEAD

The final match of this series should be good, and almost certainly will feature a moment of history as James Anderson goes into it with 497 test wickets to his credit. Then England have the task of taking on Australia in Australia. This is a seriously tough task, but I think that this England squad can do it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As always I end this post with some of my own photographs:

squirrel 3squirrel 2squirrel 1wagtails

A Day-Night Mismatch

An account of the first day-night test match on English soil, with some photographs at the end.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this account of the first test match in the series between England and the West Indies, which should still be going on but actually finished on Saturday.

THE FIRST DAY-NIGHT
TEST MATCH IN ENGLAND

One of the test matches in Australia later this year (the second of the series at Adelaide) is going to be a day-night test match, featuring sessions played under floodlights, and as part of that pink balls (as opposed to the usual red). England not fancying this being their first experience of the format decided to schedule a day-nighter at home beforehand. The problems with this decision are:

  • England because of the long twilight periods when neither natural nor artifical light are really good is not a suitable place for the day-night format.
  • The current West Indies side can hardly be considered to pose a challenge of anything like the magnitude of that of the Aussies in their own backyard.

THE MATCH ITSELF

England lost debutant opener Mark Stoneman and number three Tom Westley (also recently elevated to this level) early on, but then Alastair Cook and Joe Root put the bowling in perpsective with a huge and largely untroubled third-wicket stand. Root just pipped his predecessor as captain to the hundred mark. When Root was out for 136, Dawid Malan joined Cook and they took England through to the close of day 1. On Day 2, England lost a few wickets, including eventually that of Cook for 243 – this last triggering a declaration with the score at 514-8. Rain intervened with the West Indies 44-1. 

On Day 3 the West Indies had a horror start, largely thanks to James Anderson, with 44-1 rapidly becoming 47-4. Although Jermaine Blackwood showed some spirit with a rapid 79 wickets continued to tumble and the West Indies first innings ended on 168 from 47 overs. While many captains have become cautious about enforcing the follow-on in recent years this was one occasion when any captain declining to do so would surely have deserved to be presented a white feather and their P45. Joe Root duly sent the West Indies in again. Early in the West Indies second innings there was some speculation about whether England would take the extra half-hour to finish the job, but it soon became clear that the West Indies would not be batting long enough for the question to arise. Once again resistance was conspicuous by its absence, and the West Indies were all out for 137 in their second innings, this time from 45.4 overs. The most noteworthy feature of this innings was Stuart Broad moving ahead of Ian Botham to number two (behind Anderson) on the all-time England test wicket takers list. 

England had won by an innings and 209 runs with a couple of hours of possible playing time remaining on day 3 (taking the rain that shortened day 2 into account this was effectively a victory in half a test-match worth of playing time). 

While I hope to see Stoneman, Westley and Malan get some big runs in the two remaining tests I do not think that performances against these West Indians will count for anything down under, and nor for reasons already outlined can I really consider this dreadful mismatch any sort of preparation for Adelaide in November. On this occasion it may actually be genuinely the case that Geoffrey Boycott’s mum would have scored runs and/ or taken wickets such was the feebleness of the opposition (for the uninitiated, based on his comments as expert summariser Geoffrey’s mum would appear have a batting record to compare with Don Bradman and a bowling record not dissimilar to that of S F Barnes!).

Most of all, in the remaining two matches of this series I would like to see the West Indies show a bit of heart and spirit, and at least make England work for the victories, as they signally failed to do at Edgbaston. Anyone who had booked seats for the fourth and fifth days is highly unfortunate – the refunds policy covers bad weather but not one side playing bad cricket.

What we saw in this match was a proficient, professional outfit dealing severely with opposition who were not remotely in the same class – well done England, but in a few months you will be facing much tougher opposition.

A scorecard of the match can be viewed here, and if you so wish you can explore from there to read more about this match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We end with a regular feature – some of my pictures:

Moorhen2Mallard11-13 King StreetK&HMoorhenGullPollinatorPollinator2Pollinator3Pollinator4

Rathskeller
The Rathskeller, where I shall be attending a Beer Festival in the run-up to Heritage Open Day

StageTB2TB4white butterflyBannerBPBP2BP3Cormorant

flying butterfly
A butterfly captured whiel in flight

GG