Axar Patel – aspiblog

All Time XIs – Match Ups 58

Welcome to the latest installment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today is a transitional post, seeing the end of the Qs, who currently have 6 of a possible 105 points, and bringing the Rs into the spotlight, with 57 of a possible 85 points accrued from the matches in which they are alphabetically second.

THE Qs V THE Ws

This is the most ludicrously one-sided match up I have yet presented. The Ws utterly dominate in batting and pace/ seam bowling, have the better keeper and the better captain, and even in the Qs best department, spin bowling, the Ws are clear: Qs 0, Ws 5, and the Qs are lucky to get 0.

THE Qs V THE Xs

The Qs have the better opening pair, though DeXter wins the number three slot hands down, KippaX the number four slot even more handily, and LoXton at number five is likewise clear. AXar Patel wins his batting match up at six and outranks Iqbal Qasim as left arm spinner. Xenophon Balaskas wins the batting match up at seven but Qadir outranks him as a leg spinner. OXenham wins the batting match up at number eight and has no bowling challenger in the Qs ranks. BoX wins the keeping match up and wins the batting match up at number nine. MaX Walker hugely outranks Quinn as a bowler, Qais Ahmad however outranks Max Waller as a bowler. The Xs have stronger batting, stronger pace/ seam bowling, the better keeper and the better captain. The Qs have better spin bowling, and though I cannot give the Qs a whole point I will score this Qs 0.5, Xs 4.5.

THE Qs V THE Ys

The Qs have the better opening pair, The Ys then win every batting match up down to number seven, with Yardley outranking Quinlan as a bowler, outranking Qadir as a captain, and S Yousuf outranking Bernard Quaife with the gloves. The Ys also outrank the Qs in pace/seam bowling. The Qs have a numerical advantage in the spin bowling department, but my feeling is that the Ys two spinners are better, so I score this one Qs 0, Ys 5.

THE Qs V THE Zs

The Zs dominate the batting and are ahead on pace/ seam bowling, but the Qs have to be given the spin bowling. I score this one Qs 0.5, Zs 4.5.

THE Qs FINAL SCORE

The Qs have scored 1 point out of 20 today, and finish with 7 out of 125, just 5.6% overall.

THE Rs V THE Ss

Before I get into this match up, one comment about the Rs: Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe made headlines at the recent T20 World Cup, and probably merits an honourable mention under the heading of players who would be selected if I was picking with limited overs in mind. His long form record is not good enough to merit selection in this XI, though I could accommodate him in place of Robins, making Rhodes the captain (although Rhodes never officially captained, the various amateurs who captained him for Yorkshire and England pretty much took their cue from him) as I did when picking my all time Yorkshire XI.

The Ss have the better opening pair – Strauss outranks Rogers on sample size, and similarly Sutcliffe has to be considered on a level with B Richards, even given Richard’s average from the four tests he got to play. Number three goes to the Rs, number four is won by the Ss, who also win the batting element of every other match up down to number eight. Russell is definitely the superior keeper, and both sides are splendidly captained. The Ss have slightly the better front line pace trio, giving Starc’s left arm credit for adding variation, and they also have back up options in the form of Stokes and the quicker version of Sobers. Robins and Stevens rank about equally as leg spinners, Rhodes outranks Sobers the finger spinner by a large margin, but Sobers also bowled wrist spin, and the Rs have only part timers (Root and two Richardses) to bowl anything with a similar angle of attack to left arm wrist spin. Nevertheless, I think the Rs have to be given the spin bowling honours. I think the Ss advantages in batting and pace/ seam bowling just outweigh the Rs advantages in keeping and spin bowling, and award them the spoils by the barest of margins: Rs 2, Ss 3.

THE Rs PROGRESS REPORT

The Rs now have 59 of a possible 90 points, 65.6% overall.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I recently acquired some cricket cigarette cards, so this is a two part gallery – the cricket stuff first and then some of my more usual photos. The first part of the gallery will feature links to relevant posts.

Syd Barnes, one half of the new ball pairing for the Bs.

Now for some of my regular photos…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 41

Continuing my in depth analysis of how my all time XIs fare against one another, with some comments about Ireland’s great win over England in the T20 World Cup and a photo gallery.

Welcome to the latest installment in my extended analysis of how my all time XIs fare against one another. Today sees the Js occupy the spotlight for the final time, with 50 points out of 100 currently on the board. Before getting into the main meat meat of this post I congratulate Ireland wholeheartedly on their defeat of England. The rain, which washed the second match (Afghanistan vs New Zealand) out completely did play a walk on role – officially Ireland won by 5 runs on the DLS method. However, England deserve no sympathy and will receive none from me – they were behind the asking rate the entire way through the chase, even after Ireland failed to capitalize on being 92-1 after 10 overs, slipping to 157 all out in 19.4. Dawid Malan (35 off 37) and Harry Brook (17 off 18) were chiefly responsible for putting England in a hole they couldn’t dig their way out of – their scoring, with rain an obvious threat, was absurdly slow. England had a very deep batting order, but the approach of Malan and Brook meant that by the time the rain came the biggest hitter in the side, Livingstone, who would have been on a high having taking 3-17 with the ball, faced only two balls. Ireland skipper Balbirnie was named player of the match for his 62, but crucial early momentum was also provided by Ireland number three and keeper Lorcan Tucker.

THE Js V THE Vs

The Js are stronger in batting and have the better keeper, both sides have similar strength in front line pace bowling, though the Js have Jessop as an extra option. The Vs are stronger in spin bowling, with Verity, Vogler and Vine all front line options, while the Js have Jupp, Johnston in his slower style and the part timer Jayasuriya. I think the Js have got this one, but not by a huge margin: Js 3, Vs 2.

THE Js V THE Ws

The Js have the better opening pair though not by much, the Ws dominate in positions 3-6 batting wise, though the Js have the better keeper. Warne, Wardle and Woolley are a better spin combo than the Js have (Wardle’s ability to bowl wrist spin means that the Ws effectively have off spin covered even without having a designated off spinner). There is little to choose between the front line pace trios, though Jessop outranks Worrell as a support seamer. The Ws have a clear advantage but not enough to put them in whitewash territory: Js 1, Ws 4

THE Js V THE Xs

The Js are ahead on batting (only DeXter wins his match up among the Xs top eight), massively ahead in pace bowling, a little behind in spin bowling and BoX is one of the few keepers in this series to definitely at least match A Jones in that department. I don’t think the Xs spinners will help them enough to make any difference to the result: Js 5, Xs 0.

THE Js V THE Ys

The Js have the better opening pair by some way, the Ys the better nos 3 and 4. Jackson outranks Yallop at five and probably outranks fellow Yorkie Yardley as a skipper. The Js are way ahead in pace bowling and about even in spin bowling. This is a comfortable but not whitewash win for the Js: Js 4, Ys 1.

THE Js V THE Zs

The Js have the better batting by some way, the better skipper, the better keeper, a far stronger pace attack and a spin attack that probably matches that of the Zs if it doesn’t better it. There can be only one scoreline: Js 5, Zs 0.

THE Js FINAL SCORE

The Js have scored 18 out of 25 today, giving them a final tally of 68 out of 125, 54.4%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 34

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I created for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter fare against each other. The Hs occupy the spotlight and have so far accrued 55 out of a possible 90 points. The Men’s T20 World Cup is just underway, and we have already seen two major upsets – yesterday Namibia beat current Asia Cup holders Sri Lanka by 55 runs, while early this morning UK time Scotland beat twice former winners the West Indies by 42 runs.

THE Hs V THE Ts

The Hs as usual dominate batting wise, though there are several factors that lessen that dominance. Taylor and Trumper are a right/ left opening combo whereas Hobbs and Hutton were both right handed, and in addition Trumper played on poorer pitches than any of the others. Second is that Tarrant offers a genuine top line bowling option, unlike any of the Hs top six. Tyson and Trueman are at least a match for Hadlee and Holding as a new ball pairing, while Thomson is miles clear of Hammond as third seamer. Trumble outranks Harmer, and for my money Tarrant outranks Herath as a bowler, though that contest is a close one. The Ts also have the better keeper. I don’t reckon that the Hs advantage in batting is enough to make up for their deficit in bowling and score this Hs 2, Ts 3.

THE Hs V THE Us

This one is not a contest at all – the Hs comfortably outrank the Us in all areas, leading to an inevitable scoreline of Hs 5, Us 0.

THE Hs V THE Vs

The Hs dominate the batting, and have the better keeper. Bowling wise is a very different story – Voce and Van der Bijl have to be considered at least the equal of Holding and Hadlee as a new ball pair, and Vaas far outranks Hammond as third seamer, especially given that he would be likely to fare even better as third seamer in a strong attack than he actually did as new ball bowler in a moderate one. Verity far outranks Herath, and for my money Vogler outranks Harmer. I think the Vs bowling advantage outweighs the Hs batting advantage: Hs 2, Vs 3

THE Hs V THE Ws

The gap between the opening pairs is reduced by the fact that the Ws have a left/ right opening combination as against two right handers. Nos 3-5 feature three titanic clashes, while Hendren wins the batting element of his match up at six and Healy wins the keeping element but loses the batting element of his match up to Woods (Woods played on the rough and ready pitches of England before WWI and would have averaged more playing today). Whitty and Willis would be at least as potent a new ball pair as Holding and Hadlee, and Woods comfortably outranks Hammond as third seamer. Warne far outranks Harmer, while Wardle is clear of Herath, and there is also Woolley to bowl left arm spin. The Hs have a small advantage in batting and a massive deficit in bowling: Hs 1, Ws 4.

THE Hs V THE Xs

The Hs are massively ahead overall, though the Xs do have decent spin bowling and they do have the better keeper. Still, the Hs superiority is so marked that there can only be one scoreline: Hs 5, Xs 0.

THE Hs PROGRESS REPORT

The Hs have scored 15 out of 25 today, putting them on 70 out of 115, 60.87% (yesterday’s percentage was incorrect – should have read 61.11%, not 55.56%).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 31

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.

Welcome to the latest instalment jn my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I created for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today we finish the Gs, who are currently on 72 of a possible 105 points and see the H’s move into the spotlight, with 20 of a possible 35 points from the encounters in which they are alphabetically second banked.

THE Gs V THE Ws

The Gs have the better opening pair, though by much less than the raw figures suggest – Woolley and Worrell is a right/ left handed combo, whereas Gavaskar and Greenidge were both right handed. Also Woolley began before WWI, so faced some very rough pitches in his early days, while Worrell achieved his successes in test cricket’s lowest and slowest scoring period. Weekes was definitely the better number three, though by less than raw figures suggest – had they played on the same surfaces Weekes would probably have been about 10 per innings ahead of Grace. Walcott and Waugh win the number four and five match ups. Gilchrist wins his match up against Watling. Whitty and Willis have a small advantage as a new ball pair of Garner and Geary, especially given Whitty’s left arm, and while Gregory was the finer batter, Woods wins the bowling element of the fast bowling all rounders match up. Warne and Grimmett is a clash of leg spinning titans, but the diminutive Kiwi born Aussie of yesteryear took more wickets per match than Warne and had a better average – and there were plenty of big scorers around in the 1920s and 1930s. Wardle, probably being used mainly in his left arm wrist spin style as this is a bigger contrast to leg spin than left arm orthodox outranks Gibbs. The best sixth bowling option is close between Grace and Woolley, but the Ws have an accredited seventh bowler in Worrell. This contest is close on batting, features two ace skippers (I just give Worrell the verdict in that department), is close on keeping, the Ws are ahead on pace bowling and more comfortably ahead on spin bowling. The Ws are significantly clear in view of the depth and variety of their bowling, but we are not in whitewash territory: Gs 1, Ws 4.

THE Gs V THE Xs

The Gs have much stronger batting, an overwhelming superiority in pace bowling, a clear superiority in spin bowling and the better captain. BoX probably outranks Gilchrist as a keeper, but this is hugely one-sided: Gs 5, Xs 0.

THE Gs V THE Ys

The Gs have the better opening pair, the Ys the better number three, though not by much – playing Younis Khan’s era Grace would probably have averaged not far short of 50. M Yousuf outranks Gower in the number four slot, but Yallop is outranked by Graveney. Gilchrist wins the keepers match up hands down, while Gregory beats Yardley in both departments. Geary outranks U Yadav, Garner outranks W Younis. The Gs also win the spin match ups. The Gs have somewhat better batting, the better captain, the better keeper and a much better bowling unit – Grace as sixth bowler for the Gs certainly outranks the Ys fifth bowler, Yardley, as indeed does Gregory, who may also outrank U Yadav as a bowler. There is no circumstance in which the Ys can make a dent in the Gs: Gs 5, Ys 0.

THE Gs V THE Zs

The only match up the Zs arguably win is the keeping element of Zulqarnain Haider/ Gilchrist. For the rest it is the Gs all the way: Gs 5, Zs 0.

THE Gs FINAL SCORE

The Gs have scored 16 of a possible 20 points today, moving them up to 88 out of 125 points in total, 70.40% overall.

THE Hs V THE Is

The Hs utterly dominate the batting, winning all of the top six match ups, though the Is do just win at nos 7 and 8. Healy is the finer keeper, Illingworth probably outranks Hutton as a captain. Hadlee and Holding massively outrank Islam and Ireland as a new ball pairing, though Iremonger would outrank Hammond as third seamer. Ironmonger outranks Herath with the ball but Harmer outranks Illingworth is an off spinner. There can be only one result here: Hs 5, Is 0.

THE Hs SO FAR

The Hs now have 25 of a possible 40 points, 62.5%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off, here is a link to a crowdfunder on behalf of the West Norfolk Autism Group.

All Time XIs – The Letter X

Continuing my exploration of the All Time XIs theme with a look at the letter X.

I continue my exploration of the all time XIs theme with a look at the letter X. Filling the XI required a considerable amount of chicanery, so even though other players than the eleven I chose merited consideration I shall not be producing an ‘Honourable Mentions’ section today. Most of this XI have at least some international experience, and some are genuinely top class. Also, although we get into the all rounders a trifle too early for comfort, there are no absolute bunnies.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

MaX O’Dowd (Netherlands). His country’s most consistent current batter.
MaX Holden (Middlesex). A left handed opening batter. His FC record is modest, but he does average over 40 in list A cricket, and he is still young enough to do something about that FC average.
Ted DeXter (Sussex, England). A dashing right handed stroke maker, a useful medium-fast bowler and a fine fielder.
*Alan KippaX (Australia). His opportunities at international level were limited, not least because he did not get on well with Don Bradman, but an FC average of 57 tells you how good he was. He and Halford Hooker shared the all time record 10th wicket stand in FC history, turning 113-9 into 420 all out. He was a notably stylish batter to the extent that some even mentioned him in the same sentence as the immortal Victor Trumper.
Sam LoXton (Australia). An aggressive right handed batter (the five sixes he hit in his 93 at Headingley in 1948 remained an Ashes record for a single innings until Old Trafford 1981 when Ian Botham hit six in his 118) and a right arm fast medium bowler.
AXar Patel (India). A good enough left handed batter to average 33 in FC cricket and a very fine left arm orthodox spinner. His test opportunities have been limited by his being a contemporary of Ravindra Jadeja, but when England visited and Jadeja was injured he was the best bowler in the series.
Xenophon Balaskas (South Africa). A leg spinner and good lower middle order batter.
Ron OXenham (Australia). A right arm medium pacer, and a useful batter as well. He once shared a match winning last wicket stand of 76 while nursing an injury.
+Tom BoX (Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex). A wicket keeper and right handed batter. The earliest player to actually feature in an XI in this series, having played FC cricket between 1826 and 1856. His 247 FC appearances yielded 235 catches and 162 stumpings, and given the make up of this team that high number of stumpings counts in his favour. Between 1832 and 1856 inclusive he played in every single match involving Sussex. Given what my reading on the game;s history has told me about the state of pitches early in cricket’s history I have mentally upgraded his batting average of 11.95 and moved him a couple of places up the order in consequence.
MaX Walker (Australia). A right arm fast medium bowler, known as “Tangles” on account of somewhat unorthodox approach to the wicket. He was at his best as third seamer behind Lillee and Thomson. He took his test wickets at 27 a piece, a respectable figure.
MaX Waller (Somerset). A leg spinner, and like Walker above him, a reasonably competent lower order batter rather than an out and out tail ender.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE XI

The opening pair of MaX O’Dowd and MaX Holden is definitely makeshift, but I would expect the latter to at least be able to bat for a bit of time even if he didn’t score many. Dexter at three and KippaX at four are the engine room of the side batting wise, with the latter the best batter in the side, and due being a contemporary of a number of superstackers is somewhat underrated. He is this XI’s answer to Joe Root, though a better captain than the Yorkshireman. LoXton is probably a place too high, but he did average closer to 40 than 30 with the bat. AXar Patel is probably the third most important player in the side behind DeXter and KippaX. Balaskas and Oxenham were both genuine all rounders as well, and Box, a superb keeper, never got to bat on properly prepared pitches – even Fuller Pilch, the best batter of his era, averaged under 20 at FC level, which lends some context to Box’s average of 11.95. MaX Walker was an authentically test class fast medium bowler, and Waller is not the worst of leg spinners, though his Fc record is modest. The XI is undoubtedly a touch light on batting, but the bowling is good to compensate. The big question is whether to open with OXenham and LoXton to enable MaX Walker to come on as third seamer, or use the one genuine test class seamer as a new ball bowler. DeXter is not the worst fourth seamer either.

PHOTOGRAPH

Our brief cricketing excursion through the letter X is at an end and it remains only to apply the usual sign off…

India Zindabad! (Again)

An acknowledgement of a great performance by India and some magnificent bowling by R Ashwin and Axar Patel, with an honourable mention for ‘Daniel in the lions den’ Lawrence.

This is the second time I have used India Zindabad! as a title (see here). The first referred to a series win in Australia sealed in extraordinary circumstances at the Gabba. This one refers to events at Ahmedabad, which have just concluded with a masterful bowling display by Axar Patel and R Ashwin.

DAY TWO

I covered the events of day one here, so I now resume with coverage of day two. England bossed the opening session, and did likewise for most of the second, at one point having India 148-6, still 57 behind, when Washington Sundar joined Rishabh Pant. England then paid for a team selection that had left them short of bowlers, with Stokes and Anderson both exhausted and Bess unable to provide any control. Pant completed a magnificent century and then fell immediately after, but then Axar Patel joined Sundar, and they were still together at the close, with India 294-7, 89 runs to the good.

THE CONCLUSION TO THE INDIAN INNINGS

Day three began as day two had ended, with India making merry, and it looked for a good while like Sundar would be joining Pant in the centurions club. The breakthrough finally came after 90 minutes, when Axar Patel was run out for 43. Ishant Sharma was then trapped LBW by the persevering Stokes, and then Mohammad Siraj took evasive action in anticipation of a bouncer and was bowled by the full length ball that Stokes actually produced. That gave Stokes four wickets for the innings, with Anderson taking three and Leach two.

ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS: DANIEL IN THE LIONS DEN

The reason for the biblical allusion in the heading of this section will become apparent as the story of England’s second innings unfolds. Zak Crawley was first to go, falling to Ashwin for five, before Bairstow played his first ball straight into the hands of a fielder to end his test career with a golden duck (there can be no way back for him in this format, though he will still be a white ball regular for some time). Sibley was then bowled by Axar Patel to make it 20-3, with Root already looking comfortable. Stokes was sent in at no5 in spite of not having much rest from his bowling endeavours, and he accrued two runs before playing a ball from Patel into the hands of Kohli to make it 30-4. Pope made a decent beginning but was then stumped by Pant off Patel for 15 to make it 65-5, which brought Daniel Lawrence to the crease to join Root. Almost immediately Ashwin trapped Root LBW, which he reviewed out of sheer desperation, but it was never going to be overturned. That was 65-6, and Ben Foakes came out to join Lawrence. Foakes resisted stoutly for a time, lasting 46 balls and 61 minutes for 13 and the partnership between him and Lawrence yielded 44 runs. Bess managed two before Pant took a catch off Axar Patel to account for him and make it 111-8. Jack Leach resisted stubbornly as Lawrence moved towards a 50, and a further four after that would have given him an aggregate of 100 for the match. Just after Lawrence had reached his first milestone Leach edged Ashwin to Rahane and it was 134-9, which brought Anderson to the crease. Anderson got a single, and Lawrence had a big swing at Ashwin and was bowled to end proceedings with England 135 all out and India winning by an innings and 25 runs. Daniel Lawrence had scored 50 out of 70 runs scored while he was at the wicket, off 95 balls and in 112 minutes. R Ashwin had just pipped Axar Patel to the bowling honours, with 5-47 from 22.5 overs to the left armer’s 5-48 from 24 overs. In the series Ashwin had 31 wickets and Patel 28, a combined tally of 59, with Axar Patel not playing the first match, while England’s bowlers between them had accounted for 58 wickets in the series. The pitches for the second and third matches both attracted adverse comment, some of which was merited, but this match was played on an excellent cricket pitch that brought everybody into the game, and England quite simply and abysmally failed to find any sort of counter to two excellent spin bowlers who bowled very few loose deliveries. Ravindra Jadeja is due back fron injury in the not too distant future, and slotting him into the team will give India the right kind of dilemma (I would say that Rahane who has neither current form nor an outstanding past record in his favour and Sundar are the two most vulnerable current team members).

I conclude this post by congratulating India on a magnificent performance. New Zealand will have a tough battle on their hands in the World Test Championship final, though that will be in England. An analysis of England’s two tours in the early part of 2021 is a subject for a separate post, which will be coming either today or tomorrow. A full scorecard for this match can be seen here. Pant’s ton and immaculate keeping have deservedly earned him Player of the Match, while Ashwin’s outstanding all round effort has equally deservedly seen him named Player of the Series.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

India’s Day In Ahmedabad

A look at the events in day 1 of the fourth and final test of the India v England series.

The fourth and final test of the India v England series started at 4:00AM this morning UK time, at Ahmedabad. This post looks at a day that may very well have booked India their place at Lord’s for the World Test Championship Final.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England sprang a major surprise by naming what amounted to eight batters and three bowlers: Sibley, Crawley, Bairstow, *Root, Stokes, Pope, Lawrence, +Foakes, Bess, Leach and Anderson. I do not believe that Bairstow has a place in test squad, let alone the XI, and relying on three frontline bowlers plus bits and pieces is a massive gamble. Australia tried this strategy at The Oval in 1938 and were on the wrong end of what remains the worst defeat in test history, the margin an innings and 579 runs (England 903-7 declared, Australia 201 and 123, with two batters, Fingleton and Bradman injured during the long England innings and unable to bat). India meanwhile made only one change, Mohammad Siraj coming in for Jasprit Bumrah. England had selected themselves a team that meant they virtually had to win the toss to have a chance. They did so and chose, correctly, to bat first…

THE PLAY

It is never the case that winning the toss means winning the match – you have to make the right decision which England did, and you have to play good cricket, and that is where England slipped up. There was early life for the pacers, but it was the arrival in the attack of Axar Patel, left arm orthodox spin, which started England on their downward spiral. Sibley, obviously spooked by events of the previous two tests, was so anxious to cover possible turn that he was not in the right position to play one that went straight on, and his stumps were rattled. Crawley having hit one four early in an over attacked again a couple of balls later and holed out on this latter occasion. Root got a good ball from Siraj and was trapped LBW and that was 30-3. For a time Bairstow and Stokes went well, but then Bairstow got in a mess against Siraj and was LBW for 28 (he had enjoyed some good fortune along the way too, including a boundary from a shot that had there been a second slip would have been catching practice for them). Pope dug in in support of Stokes, but just after completing a fine 50 Stokes lost a bit of concentration and allowed a ball from Sundar to cannon into his pads. Lawrence then joined Pope and they seemed to be recovering things once again before Pope was unluckily dismissed when he played a ball into his pad from whence it looped up to forward short leg. Foakes was out cheaply. Then, just as a 50 seemed on for him, Lawrence departed for 46, and almost immediately Bess followed to make it 189-9. Leach and Anderson at least saved England the embarrassment of a sixth successive sub-200 total, pushing the score up to 205 before the end came. Patel, who currently has the best bowling average of anyone to take over 20 test wickets (he is on about 10.5 per wicket, with Lohmann, a 19th century great who took 112 wickets in 18 test matches, on 10.75), had 4-68, while there were three scalps for Ashwin and two for Siraj.

Anderson got Gill in the first over of the reply, but that was the limit of England’s success for the day, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara reaching the close with their side 24-1, 181 adrift. England bowled far better than they had batted but remain well behind the eight ball. This was the best cricket pitch of the series by some way, with players of all types firmly in the game and although one should not generally make judgements until both sides have batted once the instinctive feeling, with few balls doing anything mischievous, is that England fell in the region of 100 short of a decent total. Axar Patel now has 22 wickets in five test innings.

I would say that the ordering of results by likelihood after this day of play is as follows: India Win – defo odds on, England win – substantial odds against but not absolutely out of the question, Tie – now only the third least likely of the four results, though as always long odds against, Draw – not happening.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Ignominiously Defeated In Two Days

This post is my account of how one of the most farcical test matches I can recall (with approximately 35 years of being an avid cricket fan behind me) reached its conclusion. A brief disclaimer: England were outclassed in this match, and the pitch did not influence the result – England won the toss, batted (correct thing to do) and still took a hammering, but a surface on which when it is a bare day and a half old Joe Root secures innings bowling figures of 5-8 is NOT a suitable surface for test cricket.

THE CRASH OF WICKETS

Virat Kohli’s dismissal near the end of the first day (see here for an account of that day) saw India 99-3 overnight. Leach struck twice fairly early to make it 117-5, and at that point, more or less coinciding with me putting out a tweet to the effect that he should do so, Joe Root came on for a bowl himself. He picked up the wicket of Rishabh Pant pretty much instantly, and that opened the trap door, as India slid to 145 all out, an advantage of 33, with Root having 5-8 from 6.3 overs. Leach had four wickets, taking his test bowling average below 30, where it stayed (it is actually precisely 29.50 – 60 wickets for 1,770 runs in 15 test matches). Could England bat respectably and give themselves some sort of chance of a win? Could they blazes. Zak Crawley, the first innings batting hero was out to the first ball of the innings, putting Axar Patel on a hat trick, and he nearly had it too, as Bairstow was adjudged LBW, but the TV replay showed a faint nick and the third umpire overturned it. The reprieve lasted one ball as Bairstow was promptly bowled through a ‘gap’ between bad and pad that a bus would have had a decent chance of navigating. This meant that Bairstow’s contribution to the occasion amounted to 11 balls faced, no runs scored, two horrible dismissals and a burned review in the first innings. Root and Sibley seemed to be righting things for a time, but then Sibley played a very un-Sibley like shot to surrender his wicket, and it rapidly became a procession, with England’s resistance levels down in the pico-ohms. The innings limped to 81 all out, leaving India needing just 49. Axar Patel had five wickets to follow his six in the first innings, a superb double, and achieving the rare feat of outdoing R Ashwin whose own haul saw him become the second quickest ever to 400 wickets, in his 77th test. With no other options on that surface Leach and Root took the new ball, but the target was just not enough for any pressure to be created and Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill cantered home to a ten wicket victory.

PLAYER RATINGS

I have done these in info-graphic form:

SELECTION ISSUES

There have been various complications with this tour, but to put it bluntly England’s approach to selection has been abysmal. They snookered themselves for this match by naming a group of 17 from whom the final XI would come that effectively given their obvious lack of trust in Bess meant they would be playing only one specialist spinner. Then, rather than shoring up the batting with Woakes at eight they picked three specialist quicker bowlers, Archer, Broad and Anderson, one of whom has no experience of bowling in India and one of whom pays the proverbial king’s ransom for his Indian wickets, giving themselves a tail to rival that of a diplodocus. Ben Foakes was twice left high and dry with this tail, spoiling his chances of doing anything significant with the bat. My suggestion for this match is that England look to the future, with WTC qualification hopes up in smoke, and promote both Parkinson and Virdi from the reserves. I name Woakes as no8 to guard against Foakes being left high and dry with the tail again, not really expecting either him or Stokes to feature with the ball. Thus, with the obligatory dropping of Bairstow (and, surely to goodness, the end of any nonsense about him featuring in any further test squads) and deciding that Lawrence will probably not be an improvement on Pope I arrive at the team in the infographic below:

PETITION AND PHOTOGRAPHS

There is a petition calling for the creation of a direct rail link between King’s Lynn and Norwich on 38 Degrees, and given the state of Norfolk’s transport infrastructure and resultant traffic overload on Norfolk’s roads I can only consider this an excellent idea, so please sign and share it by clicking here (screenshot below as a segue into my usual sign off).

Cricket and Controversy: Day 1 in Ahmedabad

An account of day 1 in Ahmedabad and some related matters. Plus a few photographs.

This post looks at day 1 of the day-night match in Ahmedabad and at certain issues relating to that day’s play. As a disclaimer before moving into the main meat of the post I wish to make it clear that I India are in the driving seat firstly and mainly because they have played far superior cricket. That does not mean that certain complaints about luck, the pitch and some of the umpiring are invalid.

ENGLAND PAY FOR OVERLONG TAIL

England’s selection for this match showed four changes from the second test of the series in Chennai, with Crawley, Bairstow, Archer and Anderson replacing Burns, Lawrence, Ali and Stone. This resulted in an XI of: Sibley, Crawley, Bairstow, *Root, Stokes, Pope, Foakes, Archer, Leach, Broad and Anderson. My own pre-match feelings were that this was a high risk selection, with such a long tail, and with the selection of three specialist pace bowlers. Ali was not available for selection, and it was always unlikely that Bess would be recalled, which with the refusal to promote either of Parkinson or Virdi from the reserves dictated that only one spinner would play. I would have retained Burns and Lawrence, moving Lawrence back down the order and away from no3, would from the 17 England had named in advance have gone with Woakes at eight, would have retained Stone after his good performance in the second test, and Leach and Anderson were virtually mandatory picks in the circumstances. India opted to strengthen their batting, bringing Washington Sundar in for Kuldeep Yadav and relying on Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma for the pace bowling, with Axar Patel and R Ashwin to bowl spin, and the latter, coming off a century in Chennai quite possibly to bat at number nine. The first news other than the selections was the toss, which England won and chose to bat.

Sibley got a good one and fell without scoring. Crawley was playing nicely, but Bairstow could not pierce the field, and the very first delivery by a spinner, Axar Patel in this case, pinned him LBW for 0, and Bairstow then burned a review, a call by him that was bad enough to warrant the label ‘Watsonian’ in honour of a certain Aussie batter of the not too distant past. For a time Root and Crawley went reasonably well, but then both got out with lunch approaching, and England were 80-4, 53 of them off the bat of Crawley. Immediately after lunch things got worse for England as Pope was dismissed to make it 81-5, and then Stokes fell cheaply as well, leaving Foakes to bat with the tail. It was 98-8 at low water mark, but Foakes, Broad and Anderson inched the score up to 112, off 48.4 overs, before Foakes was last out. Axar Patel had bowled 21.4 overs and had 6-38, following up his five in the final innings at Chennai. R Ashwin had three and also bowled superbly. England were psyched by the fact that there was turn on day 1, and a number of their wickets fell to balls which actually went straight on. Save for Crawley no England batter even managed 20.

INDIA’S RESPONSE

England did not bowl badly, although they did not have the right attack for this pitch, and they were unlucky on several occasions, and there were also two very poor pieces of work by the third umpire. First Shubman Gill edged Broad to Stokes and it was given out on field but then referred upstairs, and the third umpire overturned it very quickly indeed without due care and attention – he may have got it right but if so it was by luck not judgement, and in a test match that is not acceptable. The second incident of poor third umpiring saw Rohit Sharma reprieved for the third time in as many innings, all being controversial. Foakes executed a stumping of Leach, with to all appearances Rohit Sharma’s foot behind the crease but in the air, and it was sent upstairs and again after looking at one replay for a very short period the third umpire overturned it. I am absolutely certain that this one was a wrong call, and the failure to follow protocol even if the call by some chance had been right was unacceptable. In the event Gill’s did not cost much, as he got out not long after to Jofra Archer, being caught by Crawley, too far off the ground for even this third umpire to think of intervening. Leach got Pujara, an LBW that was so plumb that it was not sent upstairs, and just before the close Kohli who had two escapes, first when Pope just failed to pull off what would have been a miracle catch and then when the same player missed a more straightforward effort off a less than impressed Anderson, was bowled by Leach. Rohit Sharma however was still there on 57 not out, with India 99-3, a mere 13 short of matching England’s first innings. Leach currently has 2-27 from 10 overs, meaning that the combined figures of the left arm orthodox spinners on day one of a test match are 8-65 from 31.4 overs. Two days before the start of play this pitch had a respectable covering of grass, but by the day before every last blade of grass had been shaved off, and with nothing to bind it it is already breaking up, and never mind day 5, I would definitely not bet on there being a day 4 and would make it no more than even money that there will be a day 3.

WHERE NOW FOR ENGLAND?

With this test match, and with it, England’s hopes of making the World Test Championship final, effectively gone already, barring miracles, I would go experimental for the third test, promoting Virdi and Parkinson from the reserves with a view to selecting at least one and possibly both, I would rest the veterans Anderson and Broad, probably selecting Woakes and Stone as my new ball pairing if I even picked two front line pacers. Out would go Bairstow, who as regular readers of this blog know would not have been in my tour party anyway, and I would move Stokes up to three, bringing Lawrence back in the middle order. A drawn series, especially when it ushers Australia into the final of the WTC, is less appealing than looking to the future even at the risk of sustaining another defeat. England have mishandled several things in this series, but most egregious has been the Bess/ Moeen Ali situation, where because of Covid (he actually had the disease) and his need to return home to see his family between the test and limited overs legs of the tour Ali was available for just one match, and England were so eager to play this 33 year old who averages 29 with the bat and 36 with the ball that they dropped Bess in a rather insensitive fashion. Even worse, they then allowed it to become public knowledge that they had begged Moeen to change his plans and stay on for the remainder of the series. This left them either to pick Bess with his head not in the right place or, having announced 17 names from which the XI for this match would be selected, to go in with only one specialist spinner. They took the latter option, and we were treated to the sight of four bowlers of above medium pace bowling on a spinning track, as Root was not willing to swallow his pride and acknowledge that England’s chosen bowling attack was unfit for purpose by bringing himself on.

Looking further ahead, to the home season and beyond there are several things that need addressing:

The County Championship cannot keep being shoe horned into the worst times of the season for spinners.
Counties who dare to produce turning surfaces should not be punished, but rather applauded for offering a wider variety of surfaces for cricket to be played on.
England need to find new spinners. Other than Leach and the out of favour Bess only Parkinson and Virdi among the men are remotely close to having records that would justify elevation, which is why I recommend what I am now going to call the ‘Ecclestone Experiment’ – just see what Sophie Ecclestone, with 101 wickets at 25.90 in international cricket at the age of 21 can do playing among the men.
England also need to improve their batting against spin. Elizabeth Ammon, who tweets as legsidelizzy, has pointed out that England had a spin bowling camp in Sri Lanka, but no ‘batting against spin bowling camp’, and that that needs to change.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just a few photographs today…

India Dominant In Chennai

A look at day two in Chennai and some matters that arise from it.

This post looks at day two in Chennai, and at a few related issues.

INDIA’S DOMINANT DAY

The second day of the second test match got underway with India 300-6 overnight. Jack Leach began with a maiden over. Moeen Ali was gifted a couple of wickets (one a magnificent stumping by Foakes when Axar gave him the charge in the day’s second over, and one a full toss placed into the hands of the fielder) to bring his tally up to four, but also continued to bowl regular quantities of dross. It fell to Olly Stone, the fast bowler, to end the Indian innings, taking the last two wickets, to go with his earlier wicket of opener Shubman Gill.

England’s response was shocking, as they slumped to 39-4 and then 52-4. At that point the two Surrey men, Pope and Foakes, who had been sensational with the gloves, shared a stand that bolstered the total to 87, before Pope was dismissed. Moeen Ali, whose batting was allegedly part of the justification for his selection, contributed six to a stand of 19 for the seventh wicket, Leach made a run less but batted for longer, and Broad, sent in at number 11, made that position look his natural one, getting out as he did. Foakes was stranded on 41, and England, were all out for 134, a deficit of 195. They had taken the follow-on question out of India’s hands, just, but there was no way India were going to enforce and take even a 0.1% chance of having to bat last on this pitch.

Olly Stone took the new ball with no joy, but Broad did not share it with him, Leach coming on instantly. Moeen leaked 11 from his first over of the second innings. Leach got the wicket of Gill, and England deserved more success but were unlucky on several occasions with close decisions, and victim of at least one scandalously bad piece of umpiring, when Rohit Sharma was given not out for an LBW, and the official grounds for confirming it as not out were that he had played a shot, when even he did not make that claim on his own behalf, having tucked his bat in behind his bat. In the end India closed on 54-1, 249 runs to the good, and the question is when, and not if, they level the series.

CONTROVERSIES

Let me make one thing clear here: I am not in the business of deflecting blame or denying India credit. India deserve to be in the box seat in this game, having both batted and bowled better than England. However, it is legitimate to raise questions about a pitch is certain to see the game end with one whole day unused and may even see it end with two days unused. India have made better use of it than England (and how!) but that does not excuse producing such a strip for a match that is scheduled to last for FIVE days.

Secondly, although I do not believe them to have had any serious impact on the match situation, there have been a number of very poor umpiring decisions all of which have gone against England. None of the officials handling this game, either the two on-field umpires or the TV replay umpire have done their jobs anything approaching properly, and none should ever stand again in any match of any importance.

SELECTION ISSUES

India correctly dropped Sundar, who although he batted well in the first match was a liability with the ball. Ashwin, Axar Patel (who has had a splendid test debut) and Kuldeep Yadav all bowled impressively, especially Ashwin (5-43). By contrast, willfully refusing to learn from what happened with Sundar, England went the other way, dropping Bess and recalling Moeen Ali. For all that he somehow has four wickets against his name Ali is also the single biggest reason that England are in quite such massive trouble, having been leaking runs at nearer five than four per over on a helpful surface. He is almost 34, his bowling average at test level is approximately 37 and not improving, his batting average is below 29 and on the decline. I am absolutely certain that England need to admit to perpetrating a colossal blunder and drop him forthwith. The third match of this series is a day-nighter, and I would be tempted to for that game to go in with Leach the sole specialist spinner, with Stone selected alongside both of Anderson and Broad as a pace attack. If England feel they must have two front line spinners then they should either recall Bess or promote one or other of Parkinson or Virdi in his place. Pardon the all-caps here, something I very rarely do, but just to emphasise: MOEEN ALI IS NOT TEST MATCH CLASS WITH EITHER BAT OR BALL and continuing to pick him will hand the series to India on a plate.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…