A detailed answer to a question posed by talk sport radio on twitter this morning in the form of a look at the resources available to the England test team at the moment plus a photo gallery.
Another English cricket season is around the corner (some pre-season warm up fixtures are already taking place), and it is a biggie – the Aussies will be touring later this summer. My title comes from a question that talk sport radio put out on twitter this morning, and I am using this post to give it a detailed answer – the brief answer is the single word “no”.
ENGLAND’S RESOURCES
Since Ben Stokes took over the captaincy the England test team has fared exceedingly well, and the side’s unprecedented 3-0 sweep of the series in Pakistan plus the subsequent 1-1 draw in New Zealand (with the second game lost by one run, Stokes going uncompromisingly for the win rather than shut the game down to secure the series) were both achieved without Bairstow. The only real vacancy in the batting order is at the top, where Crawley’s returns continue to be utterly inadequate for a test match opening batter. Foakes, the current keeper, played important roles with the bat in several of the wins and is without any shadow of a doubt well clear of Bairstow as a keeper. The bowling is also strong, although the spin department remains a concern. Even there, with Rehan Ahmed showing positive signs in Pakistan, the trend is upwards.
BAIRSTOW IN TEST CRICKET
While in the period immediately before injury forced his withdrawal from the side Bairstow was in absolutely white hot form with the bat, his test history, which dates back to 2012, is of blowing hot and cold, with the latter more frequently the case. He is apparently not happy with the notion of opening in test cricket, though he does so in both forms of limited overs cricket. For me the middle order is strong with the question being who to leave out. One way to accommodate Bairstow is to have Stokes, who certainly has the technical wherewithal to do so move up to open the batting, creating a middle order slot for Bairstow (WG Rumblepants suggested this on twitter in response to the talk sport radio query). None of Pope, Root, Brook or Stokes are dispensable, and I regard the notion of dropping Foakes, already on the receiving end of scurvy treatment from England selectors since his international debut in 2018, as an outrage.
THE ENGLAND TEST SIDE GOING FORWARD
With the powerful batting outlined above, plus Foakes as keeper, a slew of fine seamers available, plus outright pacers in the form of Wood, Archer and possibly Stone in the wings, and Leach and Ahmed available to bowl spin, plus Will Jacks on the fringes as a batter who bowls spin on the side, and a few county players knocking on the doors (a good start to the season for Ben Compton would certainly force the selectors to sit up an take notice to name but one) the truth is that the England test side does not need to perform mental gymnastics to find a way to accommodate an ageing middle order batter with a history of inconsistency at the highest level – they would do better to move forwards without him.
PHOTOGRAPHS
To put it mildly the weather these last few days has been less than ideal for photography, but I do have a small gallery of recent captures to share…
Photographed through the window of a bus, a pair of goldfinches using a cable (obviously very well insulated) as a perch.
A look back at the events of the third Pakistan v England test, which ended in the early hours of yesterday morning UK time.
At just about 5:40AM UK time yesterday Ben Duckett smashed a four to take England from 166-2 to 170-2 in the final innings of the test series in Pakistan, and in so doing created a piece of cricket history – no visiting side had ever won a clean sweep in a three+ match series in Pakistan until that moment. This post looks back at the events of the third match of the series (I covered the first two matches extensively already) and then at the key moments of this extraordinary series.
THIRD TEST: DAY ONE
Rehan Ahmed was given a debut for England, and Ben Foakes was recalled to the XI, Will Jacks and James Anderson being rested. For Pakistan Nauman Ali played in place Zahid Mahmood. Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat, which looked like good news for Pakistan. Pakistan scored 304, with various players making useful runs but no one getting a massive score, and by the close England had lost Crawley. Nevertheless, England would have considered getting Pakistan all out on day one a good day’s work.
DAY TWO
England looked to be struggling at 145-5, when Ben Foakes joined Harry Brook, but a big stand between these two and some useful contributions from the rest of the order saw England to 354, a first innings advantage of 50. Pakistan were 21-0 by the close.
DAY THREE
This was the day the fate of the match was settled. Pakistan were 54-3 at one point, all three wickets to Leach to give him seven in the match. Then Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel shared a century stand. The key turning point came when Babar Azam smashed a slow long hop from Rehan Ahmed straight to Pope at midwicket. From then on the Pakistan middle and lower order imploded, a combination of poor shots from them and good work from England seeing a high water mark of 164-3 turn into 216 all out. Rehan Ahmed had 5-48 and Joe Root nabbed a wicket with his occasional off spin. Rehan Ahmed’s debut match figures of 7-137 were the best such by an England leg spinner since Charles ‘Father’ Marriott took 11-96 v West Indies at The Oval in 1933. Marriott, then 37 and a part time cricketer (he worked as a schoolmaster and turned out for Kent in the summer holidays) never played for England again, Ahmed should do so on many occasions. Leach’s seven wickets with his left arm spin were enough to make him the leading test wicket taker of 2022.
England needed 167 to win and there were 17 overs to be bowled that evening. Traditional test thinking would suggest a cautious approach and looking to get through without losing any wickets, but Crawley and Duckett set off at a merry pace. When Crawley was out Stokes made a typical Stokes move – the events of Pakistan’s second innings suggested that this was Rehan Ahmed’s day, so Stokes sent him in at number three. This divided opinion among those following the match – some, like me, thought it was superb, others grumbled about it being disrespectful to Pakistan. It had limited success, Ahmed making a rapid 10, but I think it was right nevertheless. In 1986 when John Bracewell scored his maiden test hundred against England, NZ skipper Jeremy Coney tossed him the ball that evening although it was earlier in the England innings than he would usually have deployed his off spinner, and was rewarded with a wicket – it was Bracewell’s day. Stokes then went in himself for the remainder of the evening. Stokes and Duckett played well together and England closed on 112-2, 55 short of victory. I thought, as I said in my post on Monday that this was far preferable to 40-0.
DAY FOUR
Stokes and Duckett never looked like doing anything other than knocking the runs off and the main focus of interest soon became whether Ben Stokes could hit his 108th career test match six, thereby breaking the record held by England head coach Brendon McCullum. The answer to that was no, and with McCullum’s native New Zealand being England’s next opponents the two are tied on 107 sixes in test cricket. England won by eight wickets, with among those not to bat in the innings being Root (thin series but still England’s finest), Brook (soon to collect both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards) and Pope. This time last year a rabble of an England test team were being obliterated in Australia, and if you had told me that 12 months on an England test side would be winning 3-0 away from home without Root scoring many runs I would have laughed outright.
PLAYER RATINGS
These my England player ratings in batting order:
Zak Crawley 4 – failed in the first innings, made a half decent score in the second.
Ben Duckett 8 – a comparative failure first up (26), but 82* in the final innings rounded out an excellent comeback series for him.
Ollie Pope 6.5 – a 50 in the only innings in which he batted, and although he was gifted it by a terrible shot from the batter his catch to dismiss Babar Azam and start the implosion of the Pakistan second innings was a good one.
Joe Root 5 – a duck in the only innings in which he batted, but three wickets for him across the two Pakistan innings count for something.
Harry Brook 9 – a superb century which pulled England out of some strife in the first innings. He had a superb series and should be part of the England test side for many years to come.
Ben Stokes 8.5 – a fairly quiet match for Stokes the player (26 and 35* with the bat, eight overs for 20 with the ball) though that second innings carried England to victory, but a fantastic match for Stokes the captain.
Ben Foakes 7.5 – a good and much needed 50 in the only innings in which he was needed to bat, and impeccable as ever behind the stumps.
Rehan Ahmed 8.5 – had a great time with the ball, and an entertaining one as “night hawk” in the final innings. His success bodes well for England’s future.
Ollie Robinson 6 – a useful contribution with the bat in England’s first innings, and didn’t do a lot wrong with the ball, though this was never a surface to suit him and his light workload reflects that fact.
Mark Wood 7 – an entertaining cameo with the bat, and on a surface that offered nothing to a fast bowler he gave it everything he had every time he was asked to bowl.
Jack Leach 7 – England’s work horse in this match – 57 overs across the two innings yielded him combined figures of 7-212 and his scalps included Abdullah Shafique (who had made a splendid start to his test career until this match) in both innings and Shan Masood and Azhar Ali (giving the latter a Bradman-like end to his career – bowled for a duck by an English spinner who batted at number 11) in the second – four of his seven scalps thus coming from the top three in the Pakistan order.
SERIES KEY MOMENTS
Day one – England score 500 in 75 overs. This set a template for attacking cricket, and indicated that England weren’t about to just settle for an all round boosting of batting averages on a flat pitch.
Day four – THAT declaration – Stokes sets Pakistan 343 in four sessions, albeit knowing that the light will be truncating the first and fourth of those sessions.
Day five – England keep pressing, and claim the final wicket with maybe 1.3 overs left before the light closed proceedings.
Second test day one – England attack on a turner. Many criticized England’s approach in the first innings of this match, but they managed 281 from 51.4 overs, and my own belief is that they would have made many fewer runs had they been obsessed with batting time. England went on to win, as a fourth innings target of over 350 proved too much for Pakistan.
Third test day one – England bowl Pakistan out in less than a day after the latter have chosen to bat.
Day two – England bounce back from 145-5 to claim a first innings lead of 50.
Day three – Rehan Ahmed takes five wickets as Pakistan slump from 164-3 to 216 all out, England knock off two thirds of their victory target in the 17 overs they have to face that evening.
Day four – Stokes and Duckett carry England to an eight wicket victory, Duckett making the winning hit, which means that England whose total tally of test match wins in Pakistan prior to this series totalled two had secured a 3-0 win in this series.
PHOTOGRAPHS
These pictures are split – I left the camera I took them with at work on Thursday, which was the peak of the freeze and retrieved it yesterday. To further increase the variation there are some night time pictures there…
A look at how it is that England stand on the threshold of a historic clean sweep of the test series in Pakistan, plus some photographs.
This post will be a fairly brief one, setting the scene for a more detailed one on Wednesday. The main subject is the match that is nearing its end in Karachi. No visiting men’s team has ever won every match of a three+ match test series in Pakistan, and as things stand England, already 2-0 up in the series are 55 runs away from victory with eight wickets standing (and three of those waiting to bat are Root, Pope and Brook, the latter two of whom have had outstanding series) in the final game. This match has featured three things until Stokes was appointed skipper have been in very short supply for the England men’s test team in recent years, and I tackle each in turn.
A WIN ORIENTED MINDSET
England have all too often approached test matches from a perspective of ‘must not lose’. Under Stokes that has very much become the correct ‘must win’ attitude. The first match of the current series, when Stokes boldly offered Pakistan a target of 342 in four sessions (albeit knowing that due to limited daylight both the first and fourth of said sessions would be of reduced length) exemplified this, as did the way England started their chase of 167 for victory in Karachi – rather than ‘make sure we don’t lose any wickets’ Stokes and England opted to see if they could win it before the end of the third day.
PUBLICLYBACKING PLAYERS
There have been two outstanding on-field examples of this in the current match: Harry Brook caused Stokes to be run out, and Stokes as he left the crease made a point of telling Brook not to worry about it. Brook duly scored a superb century. Today Rehan Ahmed took 5-48, a splendid performance (more on this and him in Wednesday’s post), especially for an 18 year old debutant, and when Crawley was first out Stokes decided that was Ahmed’s day and sent him in at number three to play the ‘night hawk’ role – an attacking version of the ‘night watch’ role. Ahmed only scored 10, but he hit two boundaries and helped maintain England’s momentum. Stokes himself went in at number four, but the light closed in. Nevertheless, so much of the task has already been accomplished that even if Pakistan start tomorrow sensationally it is hard to see England even getting nervous, never mind succumbing to those nerves – doing what England did is far preferable to a more conventional 40-0, and almost 130 still needed.
SPIN BOWLING
English pitches these days do not often favour spinners with the result that England have struggled in that department in recent times. Jack Leach took his 100th test wicket during this series, and in the period in which I have been an active cricket fan (mid 1980s to present) only one England spinner has taken over 100 test wickets at a better average than Leach – Graeme Swann (Derek Underwood played some of his career during my lifetime, but benefitted from uncovered pitches for much of his career – on a rain affected pitch, or at the other extreme, a dustbowl, he was truly ‘Deadly’, but on ordinary surfaces he was merely very accurate, and I don’t think he would take his wickets at much if anything below 30 each these days). In this match Leach and debutant Rehan Ahmed each claimed seven wickets, and even Joe Root had some success with the ball. This is important – many of those talking about England’s approach under Stokes are understandably dazzled by the incredible batting, but to win a match you generally need to take 20 wickets, and one reason England are poised for ninth win in ten test matches is that they have taken all ten of their opponents wickets in each of the last 19 innings in which they have bowled.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before my regular photos I have two others that have appeared in previous posts to share for a special reason: Karachi is regarded as something of a fortress for Pakistan, and England are 55 runs away from taking it by storm, so which of the two photographs below do you think is more apt for the circumstances:
Please comment with your answer.
Now for my usual sign off…
My last auction purchase of 2022 (eight images total)Installed in the Cabinet of Curiosities next to another piece of railway themed silver.Local pond at the peak of the recent cold snap (two pics)At the Autistic Group at King’s Lynn library, where I enjoy the lego (two pics)The next five pics show the same pond that was frozen solid as it is today in less vicious temperatures.
An account of the closing stages of a classic test match and some photographs.
This post looks at the extraordinary events that unfolded in Rawalpindi this morning UK time.
AN EXTRAORDINARY FINISH
At the tea interval Pakistan were 257-5 chasing the target of 343 that Ben Stokes had dangled before them precisely a day earlier. Thus this match went into the final session with all results possible (the draw being in the equation due to the fact the fading light would force a halt at approximately 4:45PM local time) rather than the players heading out for an hour of meaningless cricket before the umpires were officially allowed to confirm the draw as would have happened had any current international skipper other than Stokes been in charge of the visiting side on such a flat pitch. Many, especially those who had objected to the Stokes declaration reckoned that the Pakistan victory was the most likely outcome, but that neglected both the time limit imposed by fading light and the fact that the pair in occupation, Azhar Ali and Agha Salman, were their team’s last recognized batters – Pakistan had four genuine tail enders in their team. Agha Salman was the first to fall post tea, and then crucially Azhar Ali was seventh out, leaving the tail enders needing to cobble 83 together to win or else to survive until the light halted play. Anderson removed numbers 9 and 10 in the same over to claim his third and fourth scalps of the innings, drawing level with Ollie Robinson who also had four wickets. Zahid Mahmood joined Naseem Shah, and they held out determinedly for some time.
Eventually the third ball of the the 97th over of the innings, bowled by Jack Leach, pinned Naseem Shah plumb in front. He sent it upstairs, but it was never really in doubt. By my reckoning the wicket fell with nine balls remaining before the light forced an abandonment. Pakistan were all out for 268, and England had won by 74 runs. I hope those who criticized the declaration are enjoying their portions of humble pie – England needed the time they gave themselves to take those 10 wickets. The last visiting side to play a test match in Rawalpindi, Australia in March, had their full first choice bowling attack and managed to take precisely four wickets in the entire match, so for a weakened England to claim all 20 of the opposition wickets was outstanding.
Ollie Robinson was named Player of the Match for his bowling efforts (I would have given it to Stokes for his captaincy, which transformed what have been an Old Trafford 1964 style snoozefest into a test match for the ages – I rank it second among those I have witnessed live behind Edgbaston 2005, but absent that it was right to honour Robinson for his great bowling effort on a lifeless pitch). I stand by every word of my criticisms of this pitch in earlier posts – it was Ben Stokes who engineered a compelling test match out of nothing on a surface that was ridiculously loaded in favour of the batters. England faced only just over half as many overs as Pakistan in the course of the match, winning it because they quite literally scored twice as fast as Pakistan. This match set many records: Highest match aggregate for test match with a definite result, highest match aggregate for a time limited test match (the first and second highest scoring test matches were both supposed to be timeless but were abandoned as draws when the visitors had to travel home, hence this match gaining these two records. Pakistan’s 847 is the most runs ever scored by a side losing a test match, and their 579 is the highest first innings score by a home side to lose a time limited test match (Australia lost after scoring 586 first up at the SCG in 1894, when overnight rain after the fifth day’s play in a timeless match turned the uncovered pitch into a vicious sticky dog and a hung over Bobby Peel claimed six cheap wickets with his left arm spin on the sixth morning, to give England victory by 10 runs). A final note from this remarkable match: James Anderson conceded just 2.35 runs per over, while the average economy rate of every other bowler in the match was 5.09 per over. A full scorecard can be viewed here, and I have included a video of the winning wicket below:
An account of the extraordinary fourth day’s play between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi, including an endorsement of Stokes and England’s approach.
Today was day four of Pakistan v England in Rawalpindi, and a remarkable day it was too. In this post I look at the events of the day and ahead to tomorrow and the future of international crickets oldest and greatest format, test cricket.
THE END OF THE PAKISTAN FIRST INNINGS
Pakistan boosted their total from an overnight 499-7 to 579 all out. All three wickets fell to Will Jacks, giving him 6-161 on test debut, his first ever five wicket innings haul in first class cricket. Agha Salman managed a 50.
THE ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS
England went about the business of extending their first innings lead of 78 with considerable spirit and gusto. At lunch they were 46-2, with Duckett and Pope gone. Crawley made exactly 50 before he was third out, and then came a gorgeous partnership between Root and Brook. Root at one point switched to batting left handed (his younger brother Billy, now at Glamorgan after spells with Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, is actually a left handed batter). Root was fourth out, having scored 73, which was just enough to put his test average at 50.00. Stokes fell cheaply, but Jacks hit 24 off 13 balls, and then the injured Livingstone joined Brook, who was on for breaking the record for the fastest ever test ton by an English batter. That was not to be, as when Brook had reached 87 off 64 balls Naseem Shah clean bowled him to make at 264-7, a lead of 342. The umpires called tea, and as it transpired Ben Stokes decided that with only the crocked Livingstone and three specialist bowlers left it was time to declare. This move basically took the draw off the table.
PAKISTAN’S SECOND INNINGS
Pakistan set off in pursuit of the target of 343 with some brio, but Ollie Robinson induced Abdullah Shafique to pull a ball into deep square leg’s hands, and later in the same over the new batter, Azhar Ali, was injured and returned to the pavilion. Ben Stokes had rival skipper Babar Azam caught behind, but Imam-ul-Haq and Shakeel Saud lasted until fading light brought the usual early close to proceedings. Pakistan were 80-2 at that point, and therefore will need 263 with 7+ wickets standing (even if Azhar Ali can resume his innings at some point tomorrow he will not be fully effective when carrying an injury). Thus a game which in other circumstances would have been the drabbest of high scoring draws enters day five with three results possible and the draw (barring rain) not one of them. I would say the England win is most likely of the three, the Pakistan win a not too distant second and the tie, which would only be the third such result in test history cannot be entirely ruled out – in many ways this extraordinary match deserves such an outlandish final outcome.
STOKES’ DECLARATION & TEST CRICKET’S FUTURE
There were many criticisms of Stokes’ declaration on twitter, but none from me. Stokes has said many times that he has no time for draws, echoing the legendary Somerset fast bowling all rounder and skipper of yore, Sammy Woods, who once said “draws…they are for bathing in”, and this was a case of him putting that philosophy into practice. Although it represents a major gamble it was a logical move on two grounds:
With Livingstone injured and having only specialist bowlers for company England were probably not going to score that many more runs anyway, and why gift Pakistan with the morale boost of three cheap wickets post tea?
England’s best route to victory lies paradoxically in keeping Pakistan interested – if the set target was entirely nominal Pakistan would shut up shop and a couple of their number would boost their batting averages courtesy of some red ink.
By taking such a hardline stance and effectively eliminating the draw from consideration Stokes has done test cricket a great service. Many of cricket’s most successful skippers have been so precisely because of a willingness to take risks in pursuit of victory. Stuart Surridge, captain of Surrey for five seasons in the 1950s and winner of the county championship in all five of those seasons, was noted for making declarations that no other skipper would have dared to, and getting away with it very frequently. He once set Somerset, with a batting line up led by the aggressive Harold Gimblett 297 in 315 minutes, and even with Gimblett scoring a rapid century Surrey won with half an hour to spare. On another occasion Surrey had bowled Worcestershire out for 27, and were 92-3 in reply when Surridge declared as he wanted a second bowl at Worcestershire that evening. Laker and Lock took the new ball, and each had nabbed a wicket by the close, and the following morning Worcestershire were all out for 40, losing by an innings and 25 runs. This remarkable victory sealed that year’s championship for Surrey.
Ben Stokes this match has demonstrated how a captain who is fully committed to taking an enterprising and aggressive approach can generate results even on surfaces that are practically tailored to prevent such. Whatever happens tomorrow, in spite of it being played on a surface which is IMO unfit for test cricket due to being ridiculously loaded in favour of the batters this match will go down as a classic test match, fit to stand alongside the great Ashes battles of 2005 and that is down to England and Stokes’ commitment to go all out for victory even if doing so means risking defeat. This match has confounded many people’s expectations of how test cricket is/ should be approached, and that is all to the good as far as I am concerned. Whatever the final result I unreservedly applaud Ben Stokes and his England team for their approach to the game.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
I thought that since I am applauding one bold captain in this piece, another , Captain Vancouver, was a fit subject for a feature image.
Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.
Welcome the the latest instalment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. This post sees us move past halfway in the match ups element of the series. The Hs are in the spotlight today and they so far have 36 out of 65 points.
THE Hs V THE Os
The Hs have much the stronger batting, the better new ball pairing (although O’Riordan outranks Hammond as third seamer). The Os have the best individual spinner in this match up in the person of O’Reilly, and they also have a numerical superiority in that department, but Harmer and Herath both outrank Ojha. The Os have the better keeper, though Healy wins the batting element of that match up. The Os may have the better bowling attack and certainly have more options in both pace and spin departments, but the overwhelming superiority of the Hs batting renders that null: Hs 5, Os 0.
THE Hs V THE Ps
The Hs win five of the first six batting match ups, the Pant, Procter and S Pollock all their batting match ups. Healy outranks Pant as a keeper, Procter outranks Hutton as skipper. Hadlee and Holding v P and S Pollock is a close contest for which is the better new ball pairing, but Mike Procter massively outranks Hammond as a bowler. The Hs have the edge in spin bowling. I see this as about even in batting, the Ps ahead in pace bowling and the Hs a tiny bit better in the spin department, and I expect the Ps pace bowling to settle the issue: Hs 2, Ps 3.
THE Hs V THE Qs
This one is clear cut, with the Hs ahead in all departments. Hs 5, Qs 0.
THE Hs V THE Rs
The Hs have the better batting line up, the Rs have the better keeper and also the better bowling – even if Hadlee and Holding are the best available new ball pair, which is open to debate, whoever out of Rabada, Roberts and Richardson ends as third seamer is way ahead of Hammond as a bowler. The spin department is closer, but Rhodes was certainly the finest of the four front line spinners featured in this match up. The Hs batting advantage is not enough to overcome their deficit on the bowling and keeping fronts: Hs 1.5, Rs 3.5.
THE Hs V THE Ss
This is very close on batting, with the Ss extra depth in that department possibly making the difference there. The Hs have the finer keeper, but the use of Sangakkara as keeper plus the presence of Sobers gives the Ss a range of bowling options far greater than that possessed by the Hs. Sobers in his quicker incarnation would be fifth choice seamer for the Ss, and he outranks Hammond, the Hs third seamer, as a bowler. Herath outranks the left arm orthodox version of Sobers, but does not also offer a wrist spin option. Harmer outranks Stevens. I think that with the batting fairly evenly match and the Hs having only a small advantage in spin bowling the Ss vast superiority in pace bowling gives them a huge win: Hs 0.5, Ss 4.5.
THE Hs PROGRESS REPORT
The Hs have scored 14 out of 25 points in this set of match ups, putting them on 50 points out of a possible 90, 55.56% so far.
Continuing my exploration of the all-time XIs theme with a look at cricketers whose surnames begin with the letter S. This piece spans two and a half centuries, five continents and even mentions one of the great fictional cricketers.
The exploration of the all-time XI theme continues with a look at players whose surnames begin with the letter S. This one was very tough, not because of any difficulty finding players of sufficient standard but because there was a lot overlap in terms of the expertise of the very best players, and balancing the side was a challenge that required compromise, of which more later.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex, England). A fine opening bat, and twice an Ashes winning skipper, though I have not given him that role in this side.
Herbert Sutcliffe (Yorkshire, England). 4,555 test runs at 60.73, 2,741 Ashes runs at 66.85.
*Graeme Smith (South Africa). One of the best captains of the modern era, and a top class left handed batter. He was a regular opener, but I believe he would handle first drop superbly as well.
Steven Smith (Australia). First called up on account of his leg spin bowling, he established himself as Australia’s best test batter since Bradman. After serving a ban for cheating (an incident that ruled him out of any leadership responsibilities) he returned to action with twin tons at Edgbaston in 2019.
+Kumar Sangakkara (Surrey, Sri Lanka). One of two serious candidates for the title of best batter his country has ever produced (Jayawardene being the other), and a good keeper as well. Usually I prefer to select a specialist keeper, rather than use a batter to perform this role, but circumstances dictate this selection.
Garry Sobers (Nottinghamshire, West Indies). The most complete cricketer ever to play the game. Devastating batter, left arm bowler of pace, swing, seam and both finger and wrist spin, gun fielder.
Ben Stokes (Durham, England). Attacking left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler.
Greville Stevens (Middlesex, England). A leg spinning all rounder whose FC averages were the right way round (29 with the bat, 26 with the ball). This slot caused me more grief than any other – with three gun fast bowlers rounding out the order I wanted a spinner, and with Sobers present, neither a left armer of any description, nor a regular off spinner (similar line of attack to Sobers in his wrist spin guise) would be ideal. There were two candidates within these constraints – this chap, and Paul Strang of Zimbabwe, and the latter paid 36 per wicket at test level and over 30 at FC level.
Mitchell Starc (Australia). One of the fastest bowlers in the world at present, and while his highs are not quite up at Mitchell Johnson 2013-14 levels, his lows are nowhere near the depths of 2010-11 Johnson.
Brian Statham (Lancashire, England). One of Lancashire’s greatest ever fast bowlers, and one of the select few to have an end of his home ground named in his honour (James Anderson, also at Old Trafford, is in this club, as are Barbadians Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall).
Dale Steyn (South Africa). The greatest fast bowler of the immediate post McGrath period, and surely a shoo-in for an all time South Africa XI even given their strength in the pace bowling department.
This XI features a super powerful top six, Stokes with full licence to attack and a powerful quartet of bowlers. The pace attack, with the quick version of Sobers arguably fifth choice in that department (behind Steyn, Starc, Statham and Stokes) is awesome, and Stevens plus Sobers in his slower guises should offer sufficient spin to augment that attack. Sangakkara as keeper violates my usual principal of going for the best keeper, but he was good enough to do the job for Sri Lanka on a regular basis.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
A multi-faceted section starting with…
THE NUMBER EIGHT SLOT
There were two off spinners who would have their advocates for these position but missed out for reasons of balance: Harbhajan Singh of India and Graeme Swann of England, who each paid a little over 30 a piece for their test wickets and who were both useful lower order batters.
However, had I been willing to ignore considerations of balance I had a raft of top options to pack out the pace battery: Frederick Spofforth, a legend from the early days of test cricket was probably the pick of those I overlooked, but two present day Indians, Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj would have their advocates as well, Peter Siddle of Australia is a quality practitioner if perhaps a notch below the very top bracket, Amar Singh, part of India;s first ever test side, was also indisputably a great fast bowler. John Snow of England was another great pacer who could have had this slot. Olly Stone, the Norfolk born Warwickshire and England pacer who has been plagued by injuries has the ability, but not the proven track record. Barbadian all rounder Franklyn Stephenson, one of only two cricketers to do the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first class matches in an English season since the reduction of the programme in 1969 (the other, Richard Hadlee, also played for Nottinghamshire) would appeal to some as a number eight.
I was conscious of the merits of all these players when making the call to select Greville Stevens, and my contention is not that he is a better cricketer than them, but that he is a better fit for the team, given the players who already had irrefutable claims for selection.
OPENING BATTERS
Bert Sutcliffe, the legendary New Zealand left hander, still holder of the record first class score by a native of that country (385 for Otago vs Canterbury, in a team score of 500 all out, with Canterbury contributing 382 off the bat in their two innings combined), and with a fine test record was a serious candidate for Strauss’ slot as left handed opener.
Among the right handed openers I could find no space for were Andrew Sandham, a member of the 100 first class hundreds club, Virender Sehwag, devastating unless the ball was swinging, when he could look very ordinary, Bobby Simpson of Australia, Michael Slater also of Australia and Alec Stewart of England all had impressive records as right handed opening batters. Arthur Shrewsbury of Nottinghamshire and England, second best 19th century batter behind WG Grace, was another who could have done a fine job in this role. Reg Simpson of Nottinghamshire and England had moments at the top level, including a 156* against Australia which set up a test victory for England, but he was not in the same bracket as the others.
MIDDLE ORDER BATTERS
I start this section by drawing your attention to my all time XI of Smiths, so that I do not have to repeat myself regarding players with that surname. Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan of the West Indies can both count themselves unlucky to have surnames beginning with S – under most other letters they would merit serious consideration. Mahadevan Sathasivam of Sri Lanka has legendary status in his own land, but for a series like this I have to deal in hard facts, so he misses out.
WICKET KEEPERS
Roy Swetman was a fine keeper in the 1950s, and Herbert Strudwick of Surrey and England made more dismissals in first class cricket than any keepers bar JT Murray of Middlesex and Bob Taylor of Derbyshire, though he often batted number 11, which with Statham and Steyn having ironclad claims for places was problematic.
ALL ROUNDERS
Darren Stevens’ performances since moving south from Leicestershire to Kent have been outstanding, but he has never played anything other than county cricket.
SPINNERS
Maninder Singh of India was a fine bowler, but as a left arm orthodox spinner he overlaps with Sobers, and he was a genuine bunny with the bat. Reggie Schwarz of Middlesex and South Africa missed out, because for all his importance as the guy who learned the googly from its creator Bosanquet and taught it to a number of his South African colleagues he actually used the googly not as part of his bowling armoury but as his stock ball, therefore becoming effectively an off spinner, a less good fit for the XI than a more standard leg spinner. Molly Strano, a consistently successful performer in Australian domestic cricket, and therefore by definition a superb bowler also misses out because she is also an off spinner.
BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Lack of sufficiently concrete records for two players prevented me from considering them: Edward ‘Lumpy’ Stevens, a great bowler of the late 18th century and Heathfield Harman Stephenson, whose performance for the All England XI at the Hyde Park Ground in Sheffield led to the coining of the phrase ‘hat trick’. He dismissed three of his opponents with successive deliveries, and the Sheffield crowd were so impressed by this display of bowling virtuosity that they used a hat to collect money for Stephenson and made him a presentation of both hat and money.
A FICTIONAL TALENT
Tom Spedegue, hero of a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he pioneers a new type of delivery which descends on the batter from the clouds “Spedegue’s Dropper” and shatters that season’s visiting Australians by taking 15 wickets in what turns out to be his first and only test would certainly have added variety to the attack had he been real.
WHITE BALL TALENTS
Had been selecting with limited overs cricket in mind Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sanju Samson would both have been close to inclusion.
FUTURE TALENTS
Will Smeed, scorer of the first individual century in The Hundred, is an obvious talent for the future. Glenton Stuurman (pronounced like ‘Steerman’), a young South African quick bowler is very promising, though he has a huge amount to do to come close to dislodging his compatriot Steyn. Sophia Smale, a 17 year old left arm orthodox spinner has announced herself with a couple of fine performances in the Hundred.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Our cricketing journey through the letter S, spanning two and a half centuries and many continents, is at an end, and it remains only to apply the usual sign off…
A look ahead to the upcoming test summer with Ben Stokes as new captain.
The county championship season 2022 is in full swing, and there have been plenty of successes to celebrate from home grown talents. Ben Stokes has been appointed test captain in succession to Joe Root who resigned that office just before the season started (not a decision I would personally have made, but one that for the moment has to be accepted). Given recent batting efforts by England in test cricket only those two can be said to have nailed down front line batting slots while the bowling is somewhat more settled although finding a genuinely fast bowler who can stay fit remains a challenge, and spin options are somewhat limited. In the rest of this post I look at who is doing what and form my team and some likely alternatives for the coming season.
THE OPENERS
Alex Lees deserves an extended run having been selected for the tour of the West Indies and acquitted himself well there. I would like a right hander to partner him at the top of the order and Zak Crawley is not it for me – he averages below 30 for England and not much above that for Kent. Dominic Sibley is a possibility for a recall, but Tom Haines of Sussex had a good season last season and is in the runs again this time round, and he would be my choice. Rob Yates of Warwickshire is another prospect.
NUMBERS THREE AND FOUR
Joe Root will obviously fill one of these slots, and for me that would be number four owing to the fact that there are two regular number threes who are having outstanding seasons for their counties: James Bracey of Gloucestershire and Josh Bohannon of Lancashire. Bohannon has significantly the better overall record and has recently scored his maiden FC double century, and he would be my choice, with Bracey among the reserves.
NOS FIVE AND SIX
The skipper has one of these slots, leaving one other to fill. For me because his FC record is so far ahead of any other contender that slot goes to Ollie Pope though with a warning that if he fails to deliver some big scores in this summer’s test matches it will be the end of the road for him as a test player.
THE KEEPER AND BOWLERS
The keeper is an obvious choice – it is long past time that Ben Foakes was given an extended run at the highest level. The bowling is tougher, but based on form and fitness I would pick Woakes, who is one of the best in the world when playing in England (he is of questionable value abroad, which complicates matters but I regard his selection for home games as a must), and a 9, 10, 11 of Anderson, Mahmood and Parkinson (I believe it is time for England to trust the leg spinner who is improving rapidly and has a very impressive FC record). Oliver Edward Robinson has bowled well for England since his call up, but there have been fitness issues, notably in the later stages of The Ashes in Australia.
Among current openers Rob Yates of Warwickshire should be on the radar, while Ben Compton of Kent is making a strong case for being fast tracked (five centuries in his first 13 FC matches, current batting average 61 for just over 1,000 runs) into international cricket. There is also a case for Gloucestershire veteran Chris Dent who has just racked up a double century against Surrey in the course of which he has passed 10,000 FC runs at an average of 38.
Among middle order batters Dan Lawrence is of course in the mix, and I would add to him the names of James Bracey, Tom Abell and Jamie Smith, the last named another recent double century maker (that innings has pushed his career average above 40, and he is definitely on an upward trajectory at the age of 21).
There are various keepers doing well on the county circuit, and my personal pick for reserve keeper is Kent’s Oliver George Robinson.
Among the seam bowlers Stuart Broad is still going strong, Oliver Edward Robinson may merit further consideration if he can sort his fitness out, the Overton twins have both been in excellent form this season and if one of Archer, Stone or Wood can enjoy an injury free period they would be in the mix.
Jack Leach is the next best specialist spinner behind Parkinson, with youngsters Carson, Moriarty and Virdi all also on the radar. However it is unlikely that in England anyone would pick two specialist spinners, which brings Liam Patterson-White of Nottinghamshire into the equation. He bowls left arm spin and is a more than useful lower order batter. His averages are currently just the wrong way round – 25.45 with the ball and 24.65 with the bat, but he has plenty of time in which to improve, being only 23 years old.
FORECAST
For all that I am not entirely convinced that Stokes is the right choice as captain prospects are not altogether bleak, especially if some of the players I have named are given their opportunities. The batting is where there have been serious problems, and lots of players are scoring heavily in the early part of this season.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As usual I end this post by sharing some of my recent photographs…
A look back at the West Indies v England test match in Antigua.
The first test match in three match series between the West Indies and England ended in a draw yesterday. This post looks back at the match.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England made a cautious selection, opting for both Woakes and Overton, leaving out Saqib Mahmood. The West Indies meanwhile went for Holder at number six and four specialist bowlers as well. Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat first.
ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS
England made a disastrous start, slumping to 48-4. A fightback spearheaded by Bairstow and featuring good contributions from Stokes, Foakes and Woakes saw England end the first day 268-6 and possible back on track. On the second morning England battled on to 311 and it looked very much game on.
WEST INDIES FIRST INNINGS
West Indies did not score at all quickly, but they batted a very long time on a surface which had little life. Wood, the only bowler England had who was capable of bowling genuinely fast, left the field injured fairly early in the innings. Leach bowled well but without luck, keeping things tight but not taking wickets. Stokes, supposedly having his workload managed, was made to bowl 28 overs in the innings. Eventually the West Indies were all out for 375, Nkrumah Bonner scoring a very slow century to anchor the innings.
ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS
Zak Crawley delivered with the bat for once, and Root moved into second place on the England century makers list and became the leading scorer of centuries as England captain (24 in his career, still nine short of Alastair Cook’s tally and 13 as skipper). With Wood injured a measure of caution was necessary when it came to the declaration, and Root declared leaving WI a target of 286 in 70 overs.
WEST INDIES SECOND INNINGS
It was soon obvious that West Indies were not going to attempt the target, but when they lost their fourth wicket with quite a bit of time remaining England had genuine hope. Root made a point about his team’s mindset by staying out there until West Indies had six wickets left with only five balls to go – only then did he accept the draw. There was some adverse comment about this, but he did the right thing, not giving up on the chance of victory until he absolutely had to.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Time for my usual sign off…
Having shown the good (lots of treeplanting) this is an example of the bad – there used to be lots of plants that supported wildlife here, and they have been destroyed.
A preview of Ashes 2021-22, with official coverage starting at 11PM UK time.
Official coverage of the 2021-22 Ashes series gets underway at 11PM tonight UK time, on five live sports extra for radio fans like me and on BT Sports for TV fans. The preliminaries have been turbulent for both sides, though at least England’s woes have largely been weather related (no on-field preparation time due to ridiculous amounts of rain), whereas for the second time in a few years an Australian test skipper has stepped down mired in scandal.
ENGLAND
England welcome Ben Stokes back into the fold after a layoff for mental health reasons. Sensibly Pope, a massive talent and one seemingly well suited to Aussie pitches has been preferred for the number six slot to the perennially underachieving at test level Jonathan Bairstow (a magnificent ODI opener and a fine T20I number four, the two international roles he should now make his sole focus). The basic question left is between Woakes (for extra batting depth and arguably bowling variety), Broad (for maximum bowling firepower) and Leach (there is some talk of going without the spinner, but with Stokes back there is no excuse – three front line pacers plus Stokes as back up is plenty in that department). My own final 11 would be: Burns, Hameed, Malan, *Root, Stokes, Pope, +Buttler, Robinson, Wood, Broad, Leach but I would not unduly quarrel with Woakes being picked ahead of Broad.
AUSTRALIA
Cynics would say that the loss of Tim Paine probably leaves Australia better equipped both batting and keeping wise than they were with him in post (Alex Carey makes his test debut as keeper-batter). Pat Cummins, who was Paine’s vice captain takes over the captaincy for this series (it is not common for a specialist fast bowler to be given this role – the last for England was Bob Willis who held the reins from 1982 to early 1984, and the only one ever to perform the role for Australia was Ray Lindwall in the 1950s – he stepped in on the field due to an injury). Mysteriously, Steve Smith, who could surely never be trusted with the captaincy again, has been appointed vice captain. Australia have a tried and not very trusted at no5 in Travis Head, a newbie at no six in Cameron Green and a debutant keeper in Carey. They have an experienced pace trio of Cummins, Hazlewood and the express paced but sometimes erratic Starc, and the second best test off spinner currently playing the game (sorry Nathan Lyon, Ashwin is definitely ahead of you). Their batting has three proven stars in Warner, Labuschagne and Smith.
PROSPECTS
While neither could be described as top class both of England’s openers, Burns and Hameed, have demonstrated an ability to bat time in test matches, and they provably gel well as a pair – three test century opening stands together already. Malan at number three is frankly a backward looking selection, but he may perform well. Obviously the skipper, batting in his regular number four slot, will be crucial to England’s chances, and at least the Burns/Hameed combo should insure that he is not too often coming in with the ball still new and shiny. It is a huge relief to have Stokes back in action, and a good series for him could well swing things England’s way. This is the series for Pope, who enjoys the type of pitches that Australia usually provides, to establish himself beyond question in England’s middle order, and I am expecting big things from him. Buttler has a respectable test batting record, and though he is not the equal of Foakes as a keeper I can understand why England have opted for him. The bowling, even with Anderson rested due to a minor calf issue, looks impressive. Robinson has been a revelation since his elevation to the test match ranks, Wood is quick and performs well away from home, Leach pays less than 30 per wicket and takes only just short of four wickets per game in his career to date and could well be crucial in this series, Broad has previously had success at the Gabba, and Woakes if picked will probably perform well.
Australia are in some turmoil, with four of their top seven genuinely questionable, though their bowling unit is its usual formidable self. Also Cummins is new to captaincy and there are at least two major ways a bowling captain can err – they can bowl themselves into the ground in an effort to lead by example, and they can go the other way and not give themselves enough overs. Also captaincy can have an adverse effect on form – Ian Botham took 7-48 in his last bowling innings before becoming England captain and 6-95 in his first after resigning the role, but never managed a five-for as captain.
A further factor in the equation is that due to their quarantine policy Perth (where England have only ever won one match, under Brearley in 1978) is off the roster, and if the weather forecasts are correct the opener at the Gabba is highly likely to be drawn.
Thus, even though it is half a century since an England team regained The Ashes down under (three retentions in that period, in 1978-9, 1986-7 and 2010-11), I really believe that England have a genuine chance. Australia will start as favourites and rightly so, but if England get everything right the upset is a definite possibility.
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