Tag: Jamie Smith

A Story in the Making

A look at goings on at Edgbaston where England and India are engaged in a test match. Also a huge photo gallery.

As we approach tea on the third day of the second test match of the series between England and India for the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy we have already seen some remarkable cricket.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England named an unchanged side, with the plan being to introduce Archer, fit again after many injury woes, at Lord’s, the second match of these two back to back tests. India made a number of changes. Karun Nair was moved up from number six to number three, B Sai Sudarsan was dropped, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, a batter who bowls medium pace came in at number six. Thakur was dropped, and Washington Sundar brought in to strengthen the batting (his off spin could not be accounted a major factor on an English pitch). India also decided that Jasprit Bumrah could not play both matches of a back to back sequence and reckoned that he would fare better at Lord’s, Akash Deep replaced him at number nine. The Indian line up was loaded with batting depth, but a little light on bowling. Ben Stokes won the toss, and in spite of neither pitrch nor conditions suggesting it, and in spite of India’s batting strength he chose to bowl, the tenth time he has done so out of 11 toss wins on English soil.

THE GLORY OF GILL

Shubman Gill came into this match with a test average in the upper 30s, with many reckoning he had the talent to be doing far better than that. His effort in the first innings here underlined exactly why. With some notable support, chiefly from Jadeja and Sundar at numbers seven and eight in the order Gill, who never previously topped 150 at test level scored 269 from number four in the order, propelling India to a score of 587. A score of that magnitude has sometimes been a prelude to a defeat – at Sydney in 1894 Australia lost after racking up 586 first up, while in a three-day match at Chesterfield in 1904 Essex lost by nine wickets after running up 597 in the first innings, and 78 years later at Southport Warwickshire scored 523-4 declared on day one of three, had Lancashire a wicket down by the close, and lost by ten wickets two days later. However, for all these examples it was not looking bright for England.

HITTING THE FLOOR AND REBOUNDING

England were three wickets down by the end of day two, though Brook and Root had fared reasonably after the top three all got out to bad shots. Root fell early this morning, edging behind to make it 84-4, still 503 adrift. One ball later that was 84-5, Stokes only able to offer a catch to the keeper off a brute of ball from Siraj. Jamie Smith hit the hat trick ball for four, the start of a blistering counter attack that saw him reach three figures before the lunch interval. Brook also went to a hundred, and Smith has now moved past 150, and has so far hit 19 fours and three sixes in the course of his innings. The sixth wicket stand is currently with 252 unbroken, though England are still over 250 short of first innings parity. Mohammad Siraj has three wickets, Akash Deep two, and no other Indian bowler any, and there has not been much threat from any of them either. There was a crazy passage this morning when Krishna attempted to test Smith with “bouncers”, which were at his pace and on this pitch medium paced long hops off which Smith helped himself to a succession of boundaries. This sixth wicket partnership is massively impressive, but am still 100% certain that Stokes should have chosen to bat first. He has chosen to bowl first in both matches, got away with it at Headingley because India had batting collapses in both innings after strong starts (430-3 to 471 all out and 333-4 to 364 all our) but does not look like getting away with it here. I also feel that India’s selection was fundamentally defensive – if they were resting Bumrah then left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav should have been selected to give the attack a bit of bite. The tea interval has arrived while I have been preparing this for publication, with England 341-5, still 246 short of first innings parity.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This oystercatcher was on the roof of the church of St Peter and St Paul in Fakenham, an inland town.
These four pictures showing a large group of Greylag geese were taken through the window of a bus, while it was stopped opposite Great Massingham’s village green.
Four into three does not go – four hoverflies and three dandelion heads in this case.
A European peacock butterfly on a buddleia about 100 yards from King’s Lynn station.
A squirrel running along a high wall (it is a surviving section of town wall)
Two for one on dragonflies by the Gaywood river.

England in Control in Manchester

A look at developments in the England v Sri Lanka test match at Old Trafford and a photo gallery.

The test match between England and Sri Lanka is into the final session of the third day. England have fared very well. I covered events of the first day here, so what follows will look at days two and three.

DAY TWO

Yesterday was a work day, so I missed most of the play. Almost all of the England front line batters (Pope being the exception) got some sort of start, but they also got out without going on to really big scores, with the exception of Jamie Smith who batted superbly and ensured that England were well placed. England were 259-6, 23 runs ahead on first innings when rain and bad light halted the action, with Smith 72 not out.

DAY THREE

The morning session gave the lie to those who had worried that England’s decision to play five front line bowlers with Woakes at number seven had left them with too long a tail. It was over an hour before England lost a wicket, Atkinson being the one to go for 20. By then Smith had completed his maiden test century, and England had moved past 300. At 315 Smith himself fell, for 111. However Potts, Wood (22 off 13 balls) and Bashir added a further 43 entertaining runs for the last two wickets before England were all out. In the run up to lunch things got better still for England as Woakes and Atkinson bagged a wicket a piece in the mini-session Sri Lanka had to negotiate before the interval. The second session of the day was better for Sri Lanka, although they lost the wickets of Karunaratne and their captain Dhananjaya de Silva, and also saw Chandimal suffer an injury when a ball from Wood struck his thumb, which was serious enough to at least temporarily remove him from the action. Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis got Sri Lanka to the tea interval, though they were still in arrears at that point. That pair are still together as I type, with Sri Lanka now 146-4, 24 runs ahead overall. There was a bizarre outcome to a review of an LBW appeal by England when TV replay Umpire Joel Wilson requested a split screen showing bowler and wicket keeper at the time the ball was delivered to check whether the wicket keepers gloves were wholly behind the stumps, as required by law 27.3.1 – and they were not, leading to a call of no-ball and an extra run to the SL total, but fortunately for Smith the replay showed that even had this offence not happened the not out verdict wouldn’t have been overturned – it was umpire’s call on whether it was hitting the stumps.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This green shieldbug was resident in my garden for a couple of days. I took several images, getting far closer than is usually possible.

England Complete 3-0 Series Triumph Over West Indies

An account of England’s victory over West Indies at Edgbaston and resultant 3-0 series triumph, plus a photo gallery.

Yesterday I put up a post just as England were moving into a first innings lead over West Indies in the third test match of the series at Edgbaston. This post looks at the events that have unfolded since that one.

ENGLAND SURGE AHEAD

Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes extended England’s lead at a rapid rate. Smith just missed out on a maiden test century, but his 95 was a command performance, beginning with England still very much in jeopardy and ending with them in complete control. The scoring was not quite done even then – Gus Atkinson belted a couple of sixes coming it number ten, and England ended with a first innings lead of 94, and West Indies had an awkward mini-session to get through with the bat.

EARLY WICKETS FOR ENGLAND

West Indies did not make as much of a Horlicks of this mini-session of batting as the 1994 England side had in Trinidad, but the experienced Kraigg Brathwaite fell early, and Kirk McKenzie completed a truly miserable series (33 runs at 5.50 in six innings from a supposed number three) by doing likewise.

WOOD WASTES WEST INDIES

The West Indies had a respectable morning, though they needed far more. Mikyle Louis who had previously produced a succession of scores in the 20s completed a maiden test 50, and Kavem Hodge also reached 50. However, the lunch time score of 151-5, with da Silva batting in company with Hodge held out little hope for them, being a lead of only 57. The end of the West Indies innings was swift and brutal as the pace of Mark Wood was simply too much for them. Joshua da Silva had been somewhat fortunate to survive two LBW appeals from Wood when he was given out at the third time of asking and did not review it. Six runs later Alzarri Joseph had his stumps comprehensively shattered, and then at 171 came the killer blow for such hopes as West Indies retained, Hodge edging one through to Smith who made no mistake with the catch. Three balls later Jayden Seales’ off stump was sent cartwheeling. Number 11 Shamar Joseph creamed a four through the off side but the second ball of his innings was fast, full and straight, took the edge of his bat and flew to Brook in the slips. West Indies were all out for 175 and Wood had figures of 5-40 for the innings.

STOKES SLAMS HOME ENGLAND’S SUPREMACY

Zak Crawley was having a scan on an injured finger, which means that England needed someone else to open. However with a target of only 82 (three runs fewer than has ever been successfully defended in the fourth innings of a test match, and that match in 1882 was incredibly low scoring – the highest of the four individual innings was Australia’s second innings of 122) this was unliekly matter much. Rather than ask anyone else to do the necessary Stokes donned the pads himself and opened the innings with Duckett – two left handers answering to Ben opening the innings together. It was soon apparent that Stokes intended the match to be over before the tea interval – before the innings was two overs old he had struck four boundaries, and he continued in that vein, overshadowing Duckett, not generally noted for being a shrinking violet with the bat. Stokes reached 50 off just 24 balls, the quickest ever for England in test cricket (four balls quicker than Botham v India during the 1981-2 series), and two balls outside the all-comers record by Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan. Stokes finished things by belting the second ball of the eighth over for six to give England victory by ten wickets with two days and a little more than a session to spare. Wood’s blistering spell to terminate the West Indies second innings saw him named Player of the Match, while Gus Atkinson with 22 wickets at 16.22 each in the three matches was named Player of the Series. The West Indies have a promising bowling attack, but their batting is indubitably weak and lacking in depth. Playing Holder at six and da Silva at seven requires a much stronger top five than West Indies currently possess – Louis batted well today, Brathwaite is experienced but no ones idea of a great test opener and Hodge has been impressive, but Athanaze has played only one innings of note in this series, and I have already mentioned Kirk McKenzie’s shocking series. A full scorecard for this match can be seen here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A little bit of a preamble to today’s gallery, relating to the first picture in it: one of my fairly recent library finds is Rachel McLean’s ‘Dorset Crime’ series, several volumes of which I have now read. I highly recommend this series, in which I have read books 1,3,4,5,6 and 7 to date. The seventh book, “The Blue Pool Murders” features a map showing all the locations (LJ Ross in her Northumbrian crime series does the same thing, as does Rebecca Tope in both her Lake District and Cotswold series). Preamble done here is my usual sign off…

Surrey Topping The Table

A look back at the last round of County Championship fixtures and a massive photo gallery.

There was another round of county championship fixtures from Friday to Monday. This post looks back at the action, starting with…

SURREY V WARWICKSHIRE

Surrey won the toss and put Warwickshire in to bat. The first day ebbed and flowed, with Ed Barnard batting well for Warwickshire, reaching the close on 96* in a score of 318-8, which looked eminently respectable for a side that had been put in to bat. Barnard completed his century early on the second morning, and Warwickshire ended on 343. The Surrey innings seemed to be going on similar lines, with Jamie Smith the main scorer, until Craig Miles injured himself while celebrating his fifth wicket of the innings. A big ninth wicket stand between Smith and Sean Abbott (batting a place lower than scheduled due to the unsuccessful use of Kemar Roach as nightwatch, and in any case better with the bat than most county number nines) took the game right away from Warwickshire. Abbott completed a fine hlaf century, and Smith, in a magnificent display, scoring at close to a run a ball even in the first innings of a championship match, went on to 155. Surrey finished with 464 all out, a lead of 121. Miles’ injury prevented him from batting, though he probably wouldn’t have done much in the face of a magnificent performance by Kemar Roach, who took 6-44 as Warwickshire just barely scraped past 200, leacing Surrey only 89 to get in the final innings. By the end of day three Surrey were 31-0, a mere 58 short of the target. Warwickshire’s choice of bowlers to start day four – Rob yates and Jacob Bethell – was tantamount to running up the white flag, and although Rory Burns got himself out along the way, Warwickshire were in the end flattered by the final margin of nine wickets. Ed Barnard had a magnificent match for Warwickshire, with three first innings wickets to set alongside his century, and had the match been remotely close, even if Warwickshire had lost it I would have had him as Player of the Match. However, in the end it was very one sided, so my own reckoning makes it a joint award to Jamie Smith and Kemar Roach. Surrey now sit 21 points clear at the top of division one, having played the same number of matches as second placed Essex. Essex may have the stronger best possible XI, but Surrey have by far the greater depth – injuries would trouble Essex to a much greater extent if and when they happen, as would an England call up for Sam Cook, which is on the cards.

ELSEWHERE

The county of my birth, Gloucestershire, recorded their first win in the competition since 2022. Lancashire suffered an embarrassing defeat which left them looking more than ever like relegation fodder (incidentally I suspect their new coach Dale Benkenstein will not be getting another coaching engagement any time soon – it was he who oversaw Gloucestershire’s winless 2023 campaign, which raises the question of just why Lancashire hired him). Kent v Worcestershire was the last match to end, when Worcestershire decided that 16 overs weren’t enough for them to take the last six wickets (Kent were still in arrears, so not able to shorten proceedings further by declaring).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Smith XI

Inspired by Jamie Smith’s batting at Bristol in the last round of championship games I have selected a team comprised entirely of Smiths (he is twelfth person). Also includes some of my photographs.

This post was inspired by Jamie Smith’s double century for Surrey against Gloucestershire in the last round of county championship fixtures.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

For reasons that will become obvious I am including a twelfth person on this occasion.

  1. Graeme Smith (left handed opening batter) – the South African’s record confirms him as one of the finest openers of the modern era. He was also a candidate for the captaincy which I have awarded instead to his opening partner.
  2. *Mike Smith (MJK Smith, right handed opening batter, captain) – The Warwickshire stalwart averaged over 40 in FC cricket.
  3. Robin Smith (right handed batter) – An excellent player of fast bowling but had the gloss taken off his test record when he was found badly wanting against Shane Warne. Still even with the deleterious effect of Warne on his overall record he finished with a test average of 43.
  4. Steven Smith (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner) – The best test batter of the modern era, and possibly his country’s second best ever behind Donald Bradman.
  5. Collie Smith (right handed batter, occasional off spinner) – killed in a road accident at the age of 26 but he had already achieved plenty of note, including scoring 168 in a test innings and racking up a triple century in a Lancashire League game.
  6. Sydney Smith (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner) – West Indian born but primarily associated with Northamptonshire. He averaged 31 with the bat and 18 with the ball, figures that would probably equate to 46 and 27 on today’s more batting friendly surfaces. Three years after his arrival at Northamptonshire the county finished second in the championship, a position that they are yet to improve on 110 years later.
  7. +Ian Smith (right handed batter, wicket keeper) – A fine keeper and a good enough bat to have test centuries, including a top score of 173.
  8. ‘Big Jim’ Smith (CIJ Smith – right arm fast medium bowler, very aggressive right handed lower order batter) – still holds the record for the quickest 50 scored of genuine bowling, reaching the landmark in 11 minutes (overall innings 66 in 18 minutes). A good enough quick bowler to be selected for England at his peak.
  9. Peter Smith (leg spinner, attacking lower order batter) – his most famous performance came with the bat, for Essex against Derbyshire, when he came in at number 11 and proceeded to smash 163 out of a last wicket stand of 218. That innings helped him to achieve the season’s double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first class matches for the first time in his career.
  10. Haydon Smith (right arm fast bowler, right handed tailender) – the Leicestershire quick will form a useful new ball pairing with ‘Big Jim’ in this team.
  11. ‘Razor’ Smith (off spinner, right handed tail ender) – over 1,000 FC wickets at 17.55 a piece. The Surrey and London County player completes a highly dangerous spin trio who all do different things with the ball (of the three Peter Smith the leg spinner is probably the least threatening, but even he took his FC wickets at 26.55 a piece.
  12. Jamie Smith (right handed batter, wicket keeper). The inspiration for this post. His double century at Bristol took his FC average north of 40, but he is not his county’s first choice keeper and I could not leave out Collie Smith to get him into the 11, so for the moment he is twelfthy for this team.

A LOOK AT THE XI

The team has a very strong top five, a genuine all rounder at six, an excellent keeper/ batter at seven, two useful hitters at eight and nine and only two out and out tailenders. The bowling his excellent variety, although it is short in the pace department. I would expect this team to give a good account of itself on most surfaces (only on a green seamer might they be in trouble).

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Given the lack of pace bowling I will start with that department. Gloucestershire left armer Mike Smith did not have a good enough record to merit selection, though he was a good county bowler. Warwickshire all rounder Paul Smith, who bowled fast medium, could only have been accommodated had I left out one of Collie or Sydney Smith, and I did not feel that I could drop either to make way for him.

There were two wicket keeping candidates other than Ian Smith, both with Warwickshire connections – ‘Tiger’ Smith and Alan Smith.

Off spinner Neil Smith, for all that he was briefly an England cricketer, was not of the same calibre as the spinners I have selected. Had Sydney Smith not had an ironclad case for inclusion as an all rounder I might have included a female in the shape of left arm spinner Linsey Smith.

Chris Smith might have had the opening slot I awarded to MJK. David Smith (Surrey, Worcs, Sussex, picked for the 1986 tour of the Caribbean) was a good county player but not (in spite of the fact that he attended a previous incarnation of my own secondary school) good enough to qualify for selection.

Finally, I deliberately did not pick the guy known in his Cambridge days as ‘Smith’ – KS Duleepsinhji, because I would have considered it hypocritical to avail myself of this “cheat code” given my own condemnation of the conduct of a certain county at which a senior overseas pro was referred to as ‘Steve’ by folk who weren’t prepared to pronounce his real name.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Royal London Cup South Group Final Games

The final South Group games in the Royal London Cup, a brief mention of Tapping House and loads of photographs.

INTRODUCTION

We have reached the halfway stage of the last set of matches in the South group of the Royal London Cup. By the end of today we will know who two of the semi-finalists are and who will be playing off for the right to join them. Before looking at today’s matches it is time to reveal all about…

YESTERDAY’S PREDICTIONS

This is what happened in yesterday’s matches:

  • Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire –  Northamptonshire 325-7 from 50 overs, Nottinghamshire 328-9 from 49.3 overs, Nottinghamshire won by one wicket.
    This one went down to the wire. In the end a magnificent innings by Samit Patel (136 not out) saw Nottinghamshire home. Tom Sole bowled only two overs for Northants (0-17), and my first prediction failed.
  • Derbyshire v Worcetsershire – Derbyshire 351-9 from 50 overs, Worcestershire 353-6 from 48.2 overs, Worcestershire won by four wickets.
    130 off 62 balls from Ricky Wessels put Worctesreshire in control of this chase, and with Tom Fell (49 off 56) and Callum Ferguson (103 off 95) also performing well they emerged comfortable winners, spoiling another of my predictions. 
  • Leicestershire v Warwickshire – Leicestershire 340 all out from 49.3 overs, Warwickshire 304 all out from 47.1 overs, Leciestershire won by 36 runs.
    Ed Pollock (57) and Robert Yates (66) both got going for Warwickshire, but neither produced a really big score, and nor did anyone else. Tom Taylor ensured that there could be no arguments over player of the match by following his 98 not out with 3-58 and a fine catch. Other than Taylor, Callum Parkinson (brother of Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson) took 1-55 from 10 overs of slow left-arm, and part time spinners Ateeq Javid and Colin Ackerman hac a combined 1-38 from nine, suggesting that they could have been profitably given more overs, just as Warwickshire had missed a trick regarding the offspin of Yates and Banks. I called this one correctly.
  • Durham v Yorkshire – no result, Durham 182-2 from 34.2 overs.
    The rain settled this one, ending Durham’s involvement in the competition. 

I had one correct prediction and two wrong ones, putting me on 27/45 overall.

TODAY’S MATCHES

  • Somerset v Surrey – Surrey 289-9 from 50 overs.
    Surrey batted well, but could never get right away. Dean Elgar made 64, Ben Foakes 46, Jamie Smith 40 and Ryan Patel 41 not out off 32. FI expect or Somerset the best bowling came from the Overtons, Jamie with 4-64 off nine overs and Craig, continuing his excellent form in the competition, 3-48 from 10. Slow left-armer Roelof Van Der Merwe was economical, recording 1-45 from 10. I predict that Surrey will defend these.
  • Sussex v Glamorgan – Sussex 347-7 from 50 overs.
    110 from Laurie Evans, 96 from Luke Wright and 57 not out from David Wiese were the principal contributions to a fine total. Marchant De Lange took 3-74,  22 year-old medium pacer Daniel Douthwaite 2-46 and Lucas Carey 2-64. I expect Sussex to defend these easily.
  • Kent v Middlesex – Middlesex 380-5 from 50 overs.
    A massive score for Middlesex, dominated by Max Holden, a 21 year-old who bats left handed and bowls right-arm offbreaks, who scored 166 off 139 balls. The other main score was 94 from Kiwi Ross Taylor. No Kent bowler fared at all well. I expect Middlesex to win this with plenty to spare.
  • Essex v Gloucestershire – Essex 293 all out from 49.5 overs.
    From a batting point of view this was all about Varun Chopra who scored 156. Leg spinning all-rounder Rishi Patel was next best with 26. Slow left-armer Tom Smith was the pick of the bowlers, emerging with 1-44 from his 10. With Simon Harmer, Tom Westley and possibly Dan Lawrence available to bowl spin of various kinds in addition to Patel I expect Essex to defend these.

Thus my predictions are for wins for Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex and Essex.

BACK TO TAPPING HOUSE

I attended my physio session at Tapping House today and everything went pretty well. We were doing ‘strength and power’ exercises today. Anyway, it was good to get back there, not having been able to go last week.

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GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

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100 Cricketers – The Fifth XI Bowlers and Introducing The Sixth XI

The latest in my “100 cricketers” series, with some comment on the MCC v Surrey macth and some photographs.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this latest installment in my “100 cricketers” series, which I type just as coverage of an IPL game between Rajasthan Royals and The Kings XI Punjab gets underway. Today I conclude the coverage of my fifth XI and introduce the sixth XI in batting order. I will start my coverage of that XI with the bowlers for a reason that will be explained when I introduce the squad. The introductory post to the whole series can be found here, the post in which I introduce the fifth XI can be found here and the most recent post in the series can be found here. Before I get into the main meat of my post there is a bit of cricket to report on…

POPE AND SMITH PUT SURREY IN CONTROL AGAINST MCC

Surrey finished day 2 of the MCC v Champion County match in Dubai on 389-4, 124 ahead with six first innings wickets still standing. The architects of this unassailable looking position were Olly Pope with a career best 183 not out and debutant wicketkeeper Jamie Smith who had already impressed with the gloves, who was 123 not out by the close. Their partnership was worth an unbroken 245, a record stand for any wicket for Surrey v MCC. Smith needs two more runs tomorrow to set a new record for someone making their first-class debut for Surrey. He is still some way short of the all-time debutant’s record, 240 by a South African named Eric Marx. Pope has already had full England experience and would appear likely to get more in the not too distant future, while Smith has a ton in an under-19 international to his credit, and on the evidence of his innings today against a decent attack who had started the day well (Sam Cook took two wickets early on, and MCC captain Stuart Broad – a man with over 430 test wickets to his credit – also bowled well early on) may well be a candidate for full international honours as well. What should Surrey’s plan be for tomorrow (day three of four)? I would say all out attack with the bat in the morning session, and if not all out by then declare at lunch with what would be a huge lead and get stuck in to the MCC second innings. It is now time to for the business part of this post, starting with…

THE FIFTH XI SPIN BOWLERS

My spin bowlers for this squad are an off-spinner and a leg-spinner respectively, giving good variation. One was a great of the early 2000s, the other is a late developer who has only recently begun to establish himself at the highest level. I deal with them in chronological order, beginning with…

HARBHAJAN SINGH

417 test wickets, albeit at a slightly expensive 32.46 each, are impressive bowling credentials. His performances against Australia in 2001, when he virtually won India a series against them were simply extraordinary, and when England visited India around the same time they were equally at sea against him. For a brief period in the early 2000s he was probably second only to the amazing Murali (mentioned in this post) among offspinners.

ADIL RASHID

Only 60 test wickets at an average of 39.83, although his ODI record (128 wickets at 29.74, economy rate 5.58) is good. However, his recent performances since his somewhat controversial recall to the test ranks have been good, including his first five-for at that level, as England’s spinners outdid Sri Lanka’s in the latter’s backyard. England have not produced many internationally successful legspinners down the years – among English bowlers of this type only Doug Wright has as many as 100 test wickets, and he paid 39 a piece for them. Scottish born leggie Ian Peebles’ 45 test wickets at 30.93 included that of Bradman on two occasions (Peebles went on to become one of the better writers about the game). Tich Freeman (he was only 5’2″ tall), second leading wicket taker in first-class history with 3,776 at 18.42 was only asked to play for his country on 12 occasions, capturing 66 wickets at that level at 25.86 each. Adil Rashid is therefore faring better than most English legspinners, and I believe that he still has a few good years left in him.

THE FAST BOWLERS

It is now time to focus on my new-ball pairing, an Aussie combo featuring serious pace from one end and unrelenting accuracy from the other. We will start with…

BRETT LEE

310 test wickets at just over 30 a piece. At Trent Bridge in 2005 he caused nerves in the England camp after a match that the latter had largely dominated. England got home on that occasion, the margin being three wickets, but Lee’s bowling in the final innings with only 129 to defend certainly caused a few nerves. In the final match of that amazing series at The Oval he came off second best when a blistering post-lunch spell to Kevin Pietersen was met with spectacular and very successful aggression from the batter. 

GLENN MCGRATH

In the only Ashes series on which he was part of a losing combination Glenn McGrath (563 test wickets at 21.64) was out injured for both of the matches that his team lost, and this is no coincidence. In the first match at Lord’s England bowled Australia out for 190 and things seemed to be looking good for the home side. McGrath produced an opening burst of 5-2 to make things look very different, and Australia ended up winning by 239 runs, although Pietersen made two fifties on his test debut for one English positive. When Australia went to the Caribbean in 1995 (The West Indies were still a mighty fine side then) McGrath said before the series started that the Australian fast bowlers needed to give their West Indian counterparts a hard time, which was a brave statement from a genuine no 11 who knew he would be a sitting duck for any retaliation on their part. Australia, due in no small part to regularly dismissing the West Indies lower order cheaply went on to take the series, the first side to do that against the West Indies since 1980. From then until the end of McGrath’s career in the 5-0 whitewash Ashes of 2006/7 Australia dominated the world game, and he was one of the chief reasons why.

INTRODUCING THE SIXTH XI

Here in batting order is my Sixth XI:

  1. Sanath Jayasuriya
  2. Navjot Sidhu
  3. +Amy Jones
  4. *Virat Kohli
  5. Harmanpreet Kaur
  6. Chloe Tryon
  7. Deepti Sharma
  8. Malcolm Marshall
  9. Michael Holding
  10. Curtley Ambrose
  11. Courtney Walsh

This is my XI that features a West Indian pace quartet – an intention that I have mentioned previously. My next post will feature them in detail and will (I hope) be just a bit special – I have a reason for wanting that specific post to be somewhat special, see if you can guess before I reveal why at the start of it. 

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is my usual reward for those who have made it through to the end:

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