The Tailender

2012 Anniversaries

2011-12-30T19:06:00.005Z

12 January 1962 - Richie Richardson birth
19 January 1922 - Arthur Morris birth
7 March 1952 - Viv Richards birth
7 March 1987 - Sunil Gavaskar is first to reach 10,000 Test runs
25 March 1992 - Pakistan beat England in the World Cup Final
15 April 1912 - John Thayer death (on the RMS Titanic)
17 April 1972 - Muttiah Muralitharan birth
18 April 1992 - South Africa play their first Test following apartheid
28 April 1942 - Mike Brearley birth
2 May 1962 - First limited-overs match is played
28 May 1912 - Jimmy Matthews takes two hat-tricks in a Test
1 June 2002 - Hansie Cronje birth
8 June 1932 - Ray Illingworth birth
24 June 1912 - Brian Johnston birth
2 July 1912 - Tom Richardson death
8 July 1972 - Sourav Ganguly birth
12 July 1932 - Hedley Verity takes first-class record figures of 10/10
22 September 1962 - Martin Crowe birth
4 October 1962 - Patsy Hendren death
6 October 1992 - Bill O'Reilly death
18 October 1992 - Zimbabwe play their first Test match
8 November 1987 - Australia beat England in the World Cup Final
16 November 1862 - Charles Turner birth
16 December 1962 - Joel Garner birth

2011 Anniversaries

2011-02-05T09:08:00.000Z

6 February 1931 – Fred Trueman birth
18 February 1911 – Billy Murdoch death
25 February 2001 – Donald Bradman death
14 March 1981 – Ken Barrington death
24 March 1961 – Dean Jones birth
6 April 1991 – Bill Ponsford death
1 July 1971 – Learie Constantine death
3 July 1951 – Richard Hadlee birth
6 August 1911 – Norman Gordon birth
11 September 1911 – Lala Amarnath birth
12 October 1911 – Vijay Merchant birth
14 November 1971 - Adam Gilchrist birth
16 November 1971 – Waqar Younis birth
23 November 1961 – Merv Hughes birth
14 December 1991 – John Arlott death

TWC Christmas Quiz

2011-02-04T20:18:00.002Z

A poor quiz compared to the previous two years, far too many easy questions with only two testers from my point of view. The second part of Q26 took a bit of time but Q19 proved an impossible find, looking around the net I wasn't the only person stumped by it.

1. Zimbabwe, Andy and Grant Flower, John and Gavin Rennie, Paul and Bryan Strang, Guy and Andy Whittall
2. Bruce Reid
3. Lance and Chris Cairns, Johnny and Ernest Tyldesley
4. Roger Prideaux and Ruth Westbrook
5. Thomas Odoyo and Nelson Odhiambo
6. Bill Woodfull
7. Bobby Peel, Alan Hurst, Glenn McGrath
8. Jack Badcock
9. Trent Bridge, 1997
10. John Ferris
11. Graham Gooch
12. Keith Arthurton
13. Marvan Atapattu
14. Graeme Hick, Kepler Wessels
15. Adam Huckle
16. Graham Gooch
17. Martin Crowe
18. Declare
19. Denis Compton
20. Graeme Hick
21. David Warner
22. Stuart Broad, Ravindra Jadeja
23. Yusuf Pathan
24. 135
25. Isuru Udana, the second wicket was a stumping off of a wide delivery
26. Chris Rogers, Owais Shah
27. Bryce McGain
28. Kieron Pollard
29. Paul Nixon
30. David Payne
31. Freddie Brown, Ted Dexter
32. Frank Gillingham, on the non-commercial BBC he began reading advertisements
33. Salim Durani
34. Dick Westcott, Moises Henriques
35. Cooper
36. Stephen Fleming
37. Tony Dodemaide and Fidel Edwards
38. Alok Kapali, Chaminda Vaas
39. Shahid Afridi
40. Hundred in their first innings as captain

Picture Round: Vinoo Mankad, Bernard Bosanquet, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Michelle Pfeiffer. They all have cricket terminology named after them - Mankaded (a run out effected by the bowler whilst delivering the ball), Bosie (a googly), Dilscoop (a flick over the wicketkeepers head) and Michelle (a five-for).

Double O XI

2011-01-21T20:06:00.001Z

Previous XI had few openers, this team has them in abundance.
Alastair Cook
Graeme Gooch (c)
Cyril Washbrook
David Boon
Bill Woodfull
Frank Woolley
Dick Spooner (wk)
Colin McCool
Fazal Mahmood
Harold Larwood
Derek Underwood

Double L XI

2011-01-08T20:24:00.001Z

A very strong XI although no outstanding wicket-keepers and one opener short so a bit of a bodge with ABDV.
Bruce Mitchell
AB de Villiers (wk)
Jacques Kallis
Greg Chappell
Graeme Pollock
Frank Worrell (c)
Keith Miller
Shaun Pollock
Malcolm Marshall
Dennis Lillee
Bill O'Reilly

Double E XI

2011-01-02T23:41:00.000Z

Another random XI, surnames containing a double E.
Gordon Greenidge
David Steele
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji
Everton Weekes
Thilan Samaraweera
Allan Steel (c)
Farokh Engineer (wk)
Richard Hadlee
Brett Lee
Dennis Lillee
Bobby Peel

Surname Beginning & Ending with Same Letter XI

2011-01-01T23:12:00.003Z

A random posting to begin the year, any other players who should have made this team?
Andrew Strauss (c)
Hashim Amla
Rahul Dravid
Mike Gatting
Gary Sobers
Tony Greig
Brendon McCullum (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
Ray Lindwall
Devon Malcolm
Allan Donald

Some Ashes Thoughts

2010-12-31T23:51:00.002Z

No blogs since my pre-Ashes prediction mostly through laziness and playing Gran Turismo 5 but with plenty of time at this time of year I really should make an effort and cobble some words together on how the series has gone.

First off congratulations to England and one man in particular, not Kevin Pietersen but Andy Flower. I had my reservations when he took charge but the manner in which he has turned a group of decent individuals into a very good team deserves the highest praise.

When Flower took charge of that first tour he did so with a squad not of his choosing and yet in it was nine of the eleven starters in Brisbane, so his reign has been more evolution rather than revolution at least in terms of personnel. Incidentally, one of two that weren't on that tour was Jonathan Trott, instead he was the outstanding player on the A team tour of New Zealand, he followed it by averaging 90 in the English season and his subsequent Oval selection was only a 'shock' to lazy short-sighted hacks.

The point is there hasn't been any inspired left field selections from Andy Flower, a la Duncan Fletcher and Marcus Trescothick, instead he's stuck to his main duty and concentrated on coaching. I still believe the positive series results against Australia (09) and South Africa (09/10) came against the grain but as Eisenhower said 'I would rather have a lucky general than a smart general'.

Aussies To Edge It

2010-11-24T23:05:00.001Z

The English media are confident we'll win, but as the eternal pessimist I really don't see it happening. The same media were equally presumptuous that the football team would brush aside Germany five months ago, the same media also built up Haye-Harrison to interminable amounts and the same media nailed their colours to either Denman and Kauto for the Gold Cup decider.

So why are England so strongly fancied, well it appears to be more to do with Australia's decline than are own good form. Having scrapped a share of the series against South Africa last winter we brushed aside Bangladesh away and at home before facing Pakistan. The Pakistan batting line-up was weaker than Bangladesh and in a favourable summer for bowlers, England's made hay while the cloud loomed. Contrastingly Pakistan bowlers are a decent rabble, when not bowling no balls, and in the conditions they gave England's batsmen a thorough test that none passed with top marks. That to me leaves me with question marks not only against a batting line-up who had a poor previous series but against bowlers who've had an easy life recently. Particular concerns about how an inexperienced Steven Finn in a four-man attack would be able to cope if one of Australia's top order gets after his bowling. Earlier in the summer there was a feeling that a four-man attack wouldn't be enough to combat the Aussies, but whether through that gentle Pakistan warm-up or the watching of Australia deterioration from afar it has been moved to the back of the mind.

Since I began following cricket in 1997, I've always seen Australia as the best around and even the loss of the Ashes in 2009 I put down to a statistical freak of lighting that would never happen again. Australia were six runs per wicket better than England yet lost, how? I told myself that Australia were just damn unlucky in an attempt to convince myself that this country could not be beaten in a straight fate-free fight. Since 2009 I have been able to convince my brain that India, South Africa and maybe Sri Lanka are better than Australia, but England?

The teams that will line-up in a hour or so will be pretty similar to those of the 2009 Ashes, England have no Flintoff or Onions while Trott since replacing Bopara has cemented his place in the side. For Trott read Watson for Australia, since Shane replaced Australia's bright young thing in the last Ashes he too has done all that's asked of him. Australia's only change from 2009 is Xavier Doherty for Hauritz/Clark. So virtually the same teams from 2009 where as I've said Australia were statistically dominant but England won the "big moments" to take the series. England have improved since the last Ashes but their summer stroll gave little indication of by how much, that six run per wicket advantage Australia had may have been made up but in the Aussies backyard I still fancy they will take the urn back. 2-1 to Australia, you heard it here last minute.

Brief Return

2010-11-22T22:39:00.005Z

I hope to write an Ashes preview tomorrow but firstly I want to pick up something that Andrew Flintoff said in a BBC interview. "I don't think Australia play off-spin too well" Really? Weren't they the only side able to tame the greatest off-spinner of all time? Anyway a bit of Statsguru-ing and low and behold only one off-spin bowler (Harbhajan) has taken five wickets against Australia in the last three years and he has the worst average (61.25). Admittedly there's not many off-spinners about, in fact only one other frontliner, Saeed Ajmal, has bowled in that period and he took two wickets at over 100 in the Boxing Test last year.

Perhaps Freddie is living in 1956, or perhaps he's just reading too much Swann propaganda in the press. The fact is Australia played Swann well in 2009 and he only picked up wickets on the spinning pitch at The Oval, until that point he was outbowled by Nathan Hauritz, who is so poor that Australia can drop him. Anyway factoring all this, punters should avoid Swann for top England wicket-taker and instead plumb for Jimmy Anderson at a juicy 9/2.

Random Monthly Post

2010-02-07T21:20:00.004Z

Looking at cricket anniversires I saw that a number of very good players celebrate their fortieth birthdays this year, so I've created below a class of 1970 team, a bit too Aussie dominated for my liking and there's no great wicket-keeping candidates but for just a single year it's one hell of a team.

Justin Langer (21 November)
Michael Slater (21 February)
Darren Lehmann (5 February)
Inzamam-ul-Haq (3 March)
Michael Bevan (8 May)
Chris Cairns (13 June)
Paul Nixon (21 October)
Anil Kumble (17 October)
Damien Fleming (24 April)
Darren Gough (18 September)
Glenn McGrath (9 February)

Squad: Marvan Atapattu (22 November), Grant Flower (20 December), Robert Croft (25 May), Mohammad Rafique (5 September), Dean Headley (27 January), Andy Bichel (27 August)

Stars of 2010s?

2009-12-30T23:14:00.004Z

With the end of year, and for us simpletons the decade as well, I felt a blog might be in order. Rather than looking back at the last ten dreadful years I will look forward with the tiniest glimmer of hope at what the future holds. I could tell you the downright obvious - pitches will remain flat, bowlers deflated, all-rounders injured, the BCCI belligerent, the ECB incompetent and the ICC worse. Instead I decided to look for the cricketers that will shape the next ten to fifteen years, promising youngsters with the potential to decide between being stars of all time or just taking the big pay cheque from IPL. The rules of the following selections were to choose three cricketers from every Test nation who were born in the 1990s, therefore all still teenagers, and have yet to win full honours (no Mohammad Aamer, Umar Akmal, Rubel Hossain, Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell). My predictions are generally useless but with 30 bullets to fire I'm fairly certain there must be a future star in my choices.

Australia
Mitchell Marsh (20th October 1991) – Another son of a former Test player, a batsman he was the leading run-scorer in the under-19 'Test' series with India last year, and this season has played a number of impressive one-day knocks.

Josh Hazlewood (8th January 1991) – A tall fast bowler presently opening the bowling for New South Wales alongside Mitchell Starc, another promising youngster. Josh's superior youth record, 8 wickets at 32, and a year in hand give him the nod.

Alister McDermott (7th June 1991) – A fast bowling son of Craig, Alister has already represented Queensland in all forms, with success in one-day cricket where he has taken nine wickets at 21.55 with a economy rate little over four.

Bangladesh
Abul Hasan (5th August 1992) – A fast bowler with a very impressive youth record of 38 wickets at 18.15, that includes 14 at 8.92 against Zimbabwe under-19s in their series last month. Domestically he took seven one-day wickets in as many matches last year.

Nasir Hossain (30th November 1991) – An off-spinning all-rounder who has a good record in all formats. He made his domestic debut in 2008/09 averaging 28 with bat and ball in four-day cricket while 10 one-day matches in 18 days brought him 306 runs at 38 and 15 wickets at 16.

Anamul Haque (16th December 1992) – A wicketkeeper-batsman who made his first-class debut last year aged just 15. No great success domestically yet but at under-19 level he averages 52 in 'Tests' and 35 in 'ODIs', a fair few stumpings suggest his keeping isn't too shabby either.

England
James Taylor (6th January 1990) – A right hand batsman who announced himself this year by scoring 1,207 runs at 57 for Leicestershire in the County Championship. He broke county records for youngest one-day centurion, youngest first-class double centurion and youngest to pass the thousand run landmark in a season. He was named young cricketer of the year by both the Cricket Writers' Club and PCA.

Liam Dawson (1st March 1990) – A spinning all-rounder, his performances for Hampshire have already brought an England A call-up. In 2008 he took 11 one-day wickets at 15.81 and although his bowling in 2009 fell short of that, his batting improved with six fifties in all competitions.

James Harris (16th May 1990) – A fast bowler who has three seasons and 28 first-class matches worth of experience while still a teenager. He broke onto the scene in 2007 when he took 12 wickets in just his second match, aged 17 years and 3 days he was the youngest bowler to take ten wickets in a County Championship match. A regular for Glamorgan last season, he took 43 wickets at 34.

India
Abhinav Mukund (6th January 1990) – A left-hand opening batsman, he already has eight first-class centuries to his name, with one being a triple century. In October he represented the Rest of India in the Irani Cup and scored the only century of the match. Averages of 55 in FC and 48 in one-day cricket speak for themselves.

Bhuvneshwar Singh (5th February 1990) – A right-hand medium pacer on flat Indian decks should be meat and drink but this lad has an impressive record of 60 wickets at 27. In last season's Ranji Trophy final he took a five-for which included the wicket of Sachin for a duck. In the same match he scored 80 showing he's also fairly handy with the willow.

Harmeet Singh (7th September 1992) – A slow left arm spinner, he took seven wickets on his first-class debut for Mumbai. In this season's Vinoo Mankad Trophy (the one-day tournament for under-19s) he claimed 16 wickets at 8.18 suggesting it was no fluke.

New Zealand
Kane Williamson (8th August 1990) – A right-hand batsman who has long been considered the next big thing. He made his first-class debut two years ago and last season saw him score 800 runs at 50 in four-day cricket and 320 at 45 in the one-day stuff. Wickets with his off-spin and a solid youth record behind him, an international career beckons.

Corey Anderson (13th December 1990) – A left hand middle order batsman whose left-arm medium pace bowler has proved successful this season, adding another arrow to his bow. A good youth record in which he averaged 30 in both formats.

Doug Bracewell (28th September 1990) – A medium pace bowler with a first-class average of 62 is as good as it gets for young Kiwi paceman. To be fair he also offers some decent lower order batting with a first-class fifty behind him. Doug narrowly pips Harry Boam on the basis of marginally better records at youth level and in one-day cricket.

Pakistan
Mohammad Rameez (19th February 1990) – A fast bowler who took 70 first-class wickets in this season's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a tally only bettered by one bowler. Eight five-fors in ten matches is impressive as was his record last season when he claimed 41 wickets at 17.

Azeem Ghumman (24th January 1991) – A right hand batsman who has an impressive first-class record, in 17 first-class matches he averages 49 with five centuries. At youth level he top scored in the recent Zimbabwe series and is captain of the side for next year's World Cup.

Babar Azam (15th October 1994) – A 15 year old who is already playing for Pakistan under-19s and outperforming them, he ended the recent tri-nation youth tournament as leading scorer thanks to 127 against Sri Lanka. He scored another century in one of the warm-up matches and has also racked up runs for Lahore youth teams and Pakistan at under-15s.

South Africa
Jonathan Vandiar (25th April 1990) – A left-hand batsman who since his move to the Lions last year has scored two centuries and averages 44.50. In three youth Tests he scored centuries against both Bangladesh and India. He also captained South Africa under-19s to a 3-2 one-day victory over England in January.

Dale Deeb (8th September 1990) – A slow left spinner who's been successful in provincial cricket with Gauteng, averaging 28 in first-class and in one-day stuff 17 with an economy rate of under four. In five matches for South Africa under-19s he averaged less than 30.

Mangaliso Mosehle (24th April 1990) – A wicket-keeper and attacking batsman who has stepped up to franchise cricket this year. He made his professional debut for Northerns last October and despite not showing much batting form he earned a contract with the Titans, this season he's scored two fifties and a 49 all strewn with boundaries. In youth one-dayers he averaged 52 with a strike rate of 96.

Sri Lanka
Dulanjana Kalhara (20th May 1990) – A leg-break bowler who has performed well for Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club in his maiden season. Making his senior debut in September he's taken 31 wickets at 20 including back-to-back five fors.

Angelo Perera (23rd February 1990) – A right hand batsman who has averaged 43 in first-class cricket with Nondescripts Cricket Club this season. His batting is yet to fire in one-day cricket but his left-arm spin has claimed ten cheap wickets including a five-for.

Udara Jayasundera (3rd January 1991) – A left hand batsman who on his one-day debut this season scored 148, he also has a first-class century to his name. His occasional legbreak bowling has also been successful with his averages under 20 in all three formats.

West Indies
Kraigg Brathwaite (1st December 1992) – A prodigious run-scorer in club cricket who's early performances for Barbados suggest he's achieved the step-up. Following the contract dispute he was selected in the West Indies squad for the Bangladesh series, he didn't play but a WICB contract indicates his international debut will be sooner rather than later.

Andre Creary (17th November 1990) – A middle-order batsman who is to captain the under-19s in next year's World Cup. Like Brathwaite he was selected in the Test squad for Bangladesh's tour but didn't play, although he did make his first-class debut for West Indies A against the tourists.

Jason Holder (5th November 1991) – A fast bowler who made his name earlier this year when he faced England in a warm-up match, only 17 he took the wickets of Shah and Cook before striking a fifty. It wasn't a one off; in 2008 he took 19 wickets at 13.88 in the West Indies under-19 tournament and since he has made a promising debut for Barbados.

Zimbabwe
Natsai Mushangwe (9th February 1991) – One of many promising leg break bowlers from the nation. His domestic record is impressive 24 first-class wickets at under 25 and 17 one-day wickets at 16.

Dylon Higgins (5th April 1991) – Another leg break bowler, he took 11 wickets on his first-class debut in October. In the same month he took seven wickets at 25 with an economy rate of 3.23 in six ODIs against Pakistan under-19s.

Jethro Maudzi (10th March 1991) – A right hand batsman whose only played four professional matches but a century on first-class debut is enough to place him as Zimbabwe's premier young batsman (as far as I can see anyhow).

Annual Exit

2009-05-20T22:57:00.000+01:00

Last year I started on 2 February and wrote my last piece on 19 May and I've decided to do likewise this year. Thanks to all those who've taken their time to read my ramblings, rhetoric and rubbish. I hope to make a comeback for the Ashes but based on previous data the 2nd February 2010 is more likely.

Last Eight Nearly Decided

2009-05-19T23:13:00.000+01:00

My piece today is shorter than Chris Gayle's run up with just three Friends Provident Trophy matches to report and only two were completed. The only live match was at Leicester where Nottinghamshire won to maintain their qualification chances. I'm not exactly sure when the number of overs required for a match changed from 20 to 10 but that alteration was vital for Notts who after a rain break were left only 10 overs to bowl. Leicestershire's target was 77 but they were restricted to 67 with Ryan Sidebottom allowing only five runs from the final over. Notts scored 149 in 35.3 overs before the long rain delay, man of the match was Samit Patel who top scored with 48 not out following on the back of six wickets in his last match, he clearly looks in good all-round shape.

At The Oval already out Surrey beat already through Sussex with two former England players starring, Mark Ramprakash scored a third century of the competition while Chris Schofield took five wickets. The match was reduced to 39 overs per side and Surrey batting first scored 241 with Ramps making the major contribution. Sussex lost their form batsman Ed Joyce in the first over of the reply and despite a 58 run second wicket partnership between Joe Gatting and Chris Nash the introduction of Schofield halted the chase. The third match between Northants and Glamorgan was abandoned, both team were already out.

Tomorrow sees the final group matches and the main matters of interest lie in Groups A and B. In A three teams (Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and Hampshire) are battling over two spots, Hampshire are at Trent Bridge while Worcs face Ireland. In B the runners-up spot behind Somerset is up for grabs with three counties (Middlesex, Warwickshire and Kent) in the running, Warks have it in their own hands knowing a win against Kent (or abandonment) will send them through, Middlesex require a narrow Kent victory will Kent will need a large win to overturn the run rate deficit. Group C is decided with Gloucestershire and Surrey going through, Group D is mathematically in the balance but Derbyshire will need to win hope already through Lancashire beat Essex and need a large swing in run rate as well.

Ashes Anticipation Accelerates

2009-05-18T23:10:00.000+01:00

After the determined backs to the wall effort at home the West Indies surrounded the Wisden Trophy with a match and series performance that can only be described as feeble and lacklustre. Before the Caribbean tour England had held the trophy comfortably for nine years, the West Indies reign was a briefer nine weeks. Even despite the large pay days on offer the tourists clearly didn't want to be there, and none more so than Chris Gayle, if a team is said to represent their captain this was certainly the case. Man of the series awards seem pointless for two Test series but Fidel Edwards was awarded the West Indian version and he finished fifth in the bowling averages, Ronnie Sarwan might be another who escapes disgrace but he was only sixth in the batting averages. I have previously created a combined XI but its a pointless exercise. In terms of the stat I like, runs per wicket, England were 61.12 to 22.35 victors, a wide margin although not as big as Bangladesh 2005 (162.50 to 17.17 is surely a margin never to be broken, at least not until Zimbabwe return or Ireland became a Test nation).

Why do I go back for years, well it is obvious, on that occasion thanks to Glenn McGrath stepping on a stray ball England scrapped an Ashes victory for the first time in light years. I'm not an Aussie honest but England did have a bit of luck in 2005 and if they do regain the Ashes they'll need some more. Even after these feel good thrashings of West Indies, England remain a firm second favourite for the Ashes and rightly so. If you go back to 2005 and both countries had far better form leading into it, before Bangladesh England had beaten South Africa away and completed home whitewashes over West Indies and New Zealand. The 14 Tests in those four results produced 11 wins and only 1 loss. In their last four series this time around they have three wins and four losses, admittedly they have had tougher opposition but winning is winning and it breeds confidence. For Australia the pre-2005 record read nine wins and one defeat from 12 Tests including a series victory in India, now their last four series record is five wins and five defeats, although once again a caveat of tougher opposition. Even without stats it's pretty clear neither side is as good as the 2005 mark version. From the England XI that played at Trent Bridge four years ago possibly only Pietersen and Strauss will line-up at Sophia Gardens both are better players now although neither shone in the West Indies series, the rest will be missing after various form or fitness issues, two retired but both were precipitated by problems with their bodies, Tresco's head and Gilo's hip. From the Australian side at The Oval, six will have been lost to retirement (none due to fitness as proved by their Indian Twenty20 adventures), four will most likely return and Shaun Tait is the remainder. The large turnover of personnel means there are many players with question marks against them, Bopara, Broad, Swann and Onions for England and Hughes, North and Hauritz for Australia. There's also some uncertainty about Mike Hussey although a return to England, where he averaged 78.19 for Northamptonshire in three seasons and 76.71 for Durham in a single one, may be the perfect solution to reverse his form slump. With these unanswered questions the series could go other way but my head says Australia have too much for England.

Windies Require Rain

2009-05-17T23:30:00.002+01:00

Another day of Test cricket and another day in which England dominated, at the start of play they required 17 wickets and have got ten of those, only the weather can now derail an England victory. The main goal for England was to make West Indies follow on and they achieved that shortly after tea, James Anderson finishing with sixth Test five wicket haul. Stuart Broad also bowled well especially the spell at Ronnie Sarwan when he was nearing a hundred, he got there but Broad got his man with Sarwan on 100. Sarwan was required to bat again and his wicket before the close will be vital to the confidence of a victory push on the final day.

The day had begun solidly for West Indies as Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul put on 99 for the fourth wicket, but Broad picked up both men prior to lunch Chanderpaul edging behind and Sarwan after a barrage of short balls reached his ton with a pull before falling next over gloving to gully. Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin who had done well on the final day of the previous Test came together and resisted for a brief period before Nash was bowled in bizarre fashion. He had defended the ball into the ground with the toe end of his bat only to see the ball bounce back onto his stumps. Ramdin then had to deal with the tail and with support mostly from the free swinging Sulieman Benn who scored 35 before he forgot to run and was surprisingly run out. Ramdin reached a fifty before tea after which Fidel Edwards was caught a slip hooking and Ramdin also edged to slip playing a more conventional shot. West Indies were all out for 310, 259 behind and Andrew Strauss expectedly enforced the follow on.

The West Indies second innings followed the pattern you would expect, Devon Smith returned to the pavilion as soon as Graham Swann came on, Chris Gayle attacked but eventually came unstuck and Sarwan played some nice off-side shots before he also fell. Three down at the close for 115 and England's attack looks fresh, Shiv is still in but he hasn't looked quite the same beast this year as he has in the previous two.

A couple of matches in the FPT today, but like most recently rain washed out one match, that was at Northampton where Essex where the visitors in the 18 overs possible Chris Wright took three wickets and Rob White scored a fifty. The other game at Lord’s was also rain affected but before that Middlesex knocked up a county one-day record total of 341 with Phillip Hughes scoring 119, Owais Shah made his first significant runs since the IPL with 82 and Neil Dexter made an unbeaten 65. However the score wasn't enough as Somerset chased at Twenty20 rate. When the rain delay came in the 32nd over they were 209/4 with Zander de Bruyn and Justin Langer set. The target was adjusted to 290 from 41 and they completed the job with de Bruyn scoring 70 from 61 and Langer finishing unbeaten on 78 from 69.

Dull Day In Durham

2009-05-16T23:35:00.000+01:00

Today wasn't the best day of Test cricket we'll see this summer, there were no real outstanding performances and the match failed to progress much in the way of a result with the draw still the narrow favourite. The result is obviously dependent on the England bowlers taking 17 wickets in two days, based on the Lord's match they've got a good chance but this pitch is better and with more rain forecast a England win is only second favourite.

James Anderson after doing his job last night survived for half an hour this morning before Fidel Edwards got the wicket he seemed intent of getting. Kevin Pietersen got off to a quick start striking three boundaries in a Jerome Taylor over, indeed he looked in good touch until going for a big shot on 49. By that time Alastair Cook had been dismissed after eight hours of batting for a Test best 160. Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad added some impetus before the declaration came with the score at 569.

It's amazing to think England were dismissed for 51 by this attack just months ago, Jerome Taylor who won rave reviews that day (from everyone bar me) has reverted to type, Fidel Edwards is fast, wayward and has no ball problems, Lionel Baker is a decent county bowler but is little improvement on Daren Powell which is criticise enough and finally Sulieman Benn continues to be more interested in sledging than spinning. They're a bizarre rabble that I half-expect to be entering a bobsleigh competition.

West Indies batting isn't much better and they lost three wickets on the flat wicket in the rain interrupted final session. Anderson took them all, Devon Smith bowled, Chris Gayle unluckily LBW and Lendl Simmons edging to slip. Ronnie Sarwan looked it good touch with a number of drives and with Shiv Chanderpaul appearing as obdurate as his former self, the Windies have a good chance of saving the match.

Elsewhere in England there were four FTP matches, one of which between Worcestershire and Leicestershire was abandoned. In the others Ireland and Scotland both maintained their records as the only sides in the competition without a win however Ireland did come close to an upset against Nottinghamshire in Dublin. In a low scoring match Notts scraped home with two wickets and one ball in hand, the performance of the match and day was from Samit Patel who claimed 6/13 from seven overs, not bad for a fat lad. Scotland lost to Warwickshire by 50 runs at Edinburgh, Ant Botha scored a quick 37 and took three wickets. At Canterbury Somerset beat the hosts by 45 runs to maintain the only 100% record in the competition. Justin Langer top scored with 77 in Somerset's 296 with Sam Cook taking a creditable 3/29. The only reason Kent got close was Martin van Jaarsveld who scored an unbeaten 132 from 125 balls, the second highest score was 29.

Worthless Wins

2009-05-15T23:02:00.001+01:00

Another short piece but tonight's reason is a lack of cricket, the second day of the Test was abandoned while two of the four Friends Provident Trophy matches went the same way.

Before today Lancashire were the only side to have qualified for the knockout stage and they secured another victory with an eight wicket victory over Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens. The hosts batted first and were well placed at 122/1 after 21 overs when the rain stopped play. The match was reduced to 31 overs and Glamorgan struggled in the remaining overs adding 50 and losing seven wickets in those ten overs. The Duckworth-Lewis method rose the target to a stiff 208 but Lancashire completed the chase with little problem. James Harris took the wickets of Paul Horton and Ashwell Prince but from there Tom Smith with 87 from 88 and Mark Chilton with 58 from 42 took the visitors to a win with three overs remaining and eight wickets in hand.

The other completed match was between Surrey and Durham at The Oval. Durham were out of the running to qualify for the final eight when the match begun but like Lancashire they had an unneeded victory today. Batting first they scored 287 with Will Smith and Ian Blackwell scoring fifties. In response Surrey fell 60 short, they had started well but lost four wickets for nine runs mid innings to slow their progress. Scott Newman and Usman Afzaal scored half centuries while Gareth Breese took three wickets. Ben Stokes had a professional debut to remember; at just 17 he claimed two wickets including Mark Ramprakash with his third ball. At Hove Gloucestershire scored 306 in 50 overs but rain the Sussex response, Craig Spearman and Steve Adshead scored quickfire fifties. The fourth match between Derbyshire and Northamptonshire didn't see a single ball bowled.

A brief mention of the situation in Sri Lanka, I'm a complete dunce when it comes to the problems in the country but when the UN talk of a 'bloodbath' and say they expect thousands of civilians to die this year then it's clear the situation is very critical. The fighting is going on in the North of the island and the cricket grounds are in the South but still the scale of the fighting must lead to further concerns of the staging of the 2011 World Cup in the Indian subcontinent full stop.

Essex Lads Done Good

2009-05-14T23:16:00.001+01:00

A short piece as I have been busy watching my Wikipedia user page getting vandalised.

Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara scored centuries on the first day of the second Test as England dominated and West Indies tasted some of their own medicine. They produced flat pitches when they were 1-0 up just a couple of months back and now they have to feel the same frustrations as England did. West Indies don't have a hope in hell of winning this match given the end of day one score, given the pitch and given their sides performance last week.

Andrew Strauss won the Test and elected to bat first, that continued the extraordinary run he has as captain whereby he's had the chance to bat first in 11 of the 12 Tests. No wonder his batting record as captain is so good. Today wasn't his day though as after the initial jousts he fell to the leisurely spin of counterpart Chris Gayle, a ball down the leg side which Strauss could only glove. Cook and Bopara then came together with the score on 69, they shared 64 on the first morning at Lord's but that was merely a warm-up. This time the pair shared 213 runs, a partnership which dominated the whole day and rarely looked trouble. Cook inside edged over his stumps and Bopara leg glance could only be parried by Ramdin but that was all the chances the Windies could muster in 65 overs of batting. Not surprisingly Bopara's innings was more appealing but Cook also looked in great touch compared to recent offerings. The stand was broken when Lionel Baker got the new ball to fly back through Bopara's gate, he had already reached a third successive Test century, his innings included 13 fours and a six which was sandwiched between two of those fours in a Sulieman Benn over. Cook and nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson remained to the close, the score was 302/2.

In FPT today there were two no results while Middlesex thrashed Scotland with Shaun Udal scoring an unbeaten 79 and taking three wickets and Worcestershire beat Hampshire with little outstanding performances.

Blazing Gayle

2009-05-13T23:29:00.000+01:00

Chris Gayle has enlivened a boring Test match eve day by blazing away in his usual manner although this time it was his words not his batting. I thought the comments were bizarre, saying that you wouldn't mind if Test cricket would die out, on the eve of a Test match. What's he doing there then? If he doesn't want to play Test cricket then f*** off back to South Africa and give a guy who want to play a chance. Test cricket doesn't need a no technique, no skill slogger like Gayle, let him tour the world prostituting himself to the various Twenty20 leagues. A batsman who can't average 40 in this era is frankly crap no bones about it. Sadly the West Indies are still in such poor shape a player like Gayle is good enough to play for them. The fact such a great team as the West Indies is captained by this tw*t is as much a disgrace to West Indian cricket as that farce in Antigua and the Stanford circus combined. In the first Test he showed himself to be a hopeless captain so give the job who actually wants to be there and might do a half-decent job, what's wrong with Ronnie?

My weekly rant out of the way and onto another set of Friends Provident Trophy match, oh joy. Only three matches today with two wide margin victories and one tight finish, all games saw the traditional 'big' title chasing counties triumph over the 'little' making up the numbers ones. Starting first at The Oval where one of only two unbeaten teams in the competition not only lost but got a drubbing. Gloucestershire were that side and they were dismissed for 142 in pursuit of 306. Surrey's score was down to Mark Ramprakash who scored a 16th one-day century, he shared 94 and 96 run partnerships with Usman Afzaal and Matthew Spriegel. In reply Gloucestershire started off at a reasonable rate but having reached 109/3 they collapsed, losing 33 runs for seven wickets. At Headingley Yorkshire chased down Durham's 166, just. They needed eight wickets and 49.2 overs to get there but thanks to Richard Pyrah unbeaten 42 they did. It was a good day for Pyrah who took 3/23 as Durham, like Yorkshire, struggled on a difficult pitch. For the visitors Gordon Muchall top scored with 31. At Derby Lancashire booked their place in the quarter-finals by beating the hosts by 114 runs. Francois du Plessis starred with the bat striking 112 from 86 balls including 12 boundaries. Gary Keedy was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/43, opener Chris Rogers top scored for Derbyshire with 68 but they never looked like challenging Lancs total.

Trial And Error

2009-05-12T23:15:00.000+01:00

Prepare for meltdown everybody, the review/referral system is going to become mandatory from October 2009, conveniently there's an Ashes sized gap between the end of trial and beginning of the rollout. It seems truly bizarre that after such an unsuccessfully trial they would take this decision but if you remember back the trial in English domestic cricket two seasons ago was also unsuccessfully, clearly the administrators wanted this in no matter what. The fact it won't be used for the Ashes speaks loudly of the confidence the ICC has in the new system. Apparently this gap is so the umpires can be trained, it's a shame they weren't before the trial, now the logical thing would surely be to do another trial after some training and see if the results are any better. On the umpires, is it really possible to teach old dogs new tricks? Well only with time will that be answered. Also to come out of the ICC meeting was the decision not to impose weight or depth restrictions on bats. For how much longer can the ICC bury their heads in the sand over this issue before they choke the sport to death? If people want to see bat dominating ball let them go and watch Twenty20, make Test cricket a fair test of bat against ball.

Into the daily county round-up now and I only just realised that Friends Provident Trophy matches are running for consecutive days until next Wednesday, I'm bored already. Not sure why this situation came about, it never seemed this bad last year. Maybe part of the problem is the World Twenty20 but Championship matches are going on at the same time so the calendar shouldn't be such a crammed mess. It does once again highlight the stupidity of the ECB to add another Twenty20 competition for next year. The county treadmill is never allowed off the highest setting. Anyway back to today's play and there were less runs than yesterday's feast with only one centurion, young James Taylor of Leicestershire. Conversely there were a number of good bowling performances, Danish Kaneria being the pick.

Starting bizarrely with Group A and Hampshire beat Nottinghamshire by six wickets at the Rose Bowl. Hampshire skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas destroyed the Notts top order with four wickets to leave them 50/6. A recover was led by Will Jefferson and Paul Franks and a total of 202 gave their bowlers something to work with. Dominic Cork finished with impressive figures of 3/13 from 9.1 overs. Notts bowlers were unable to make early inroads and with contributions from everyone Hampshire completed the chase comfortably with over six overs remaining, Ryan Sidebottom took two of the four wickets to fall. In the other match in the group Leicestershire kept their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage alive by beating Worcestershire. As previously mentioned James Taylor scored a century and with fifties from Kolpaks HD Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar they posted 282 batting first. Worcestershire fell 18 runs of that despite Steven Davies smashing 62 from 46 as opener.

Middlesex's one-day form has been inconsistent this season and after 300+ yesterday they were dismissed for a lowly 165 today against Warwickshire. Young England batsman, of sorts, Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan put on 79 after the early clatter of three wickets but after Malan was dismissed wickets tumbled again. The wickets were shared amongst the bowlers but the most notable performance in the field was wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose who took seven dismissals, a Warwickshire one-day record. The reply hit few snags with pinch-hitting Neil Carter scoring 56 from 45 and Ian Bell guiding Warks home with 60 not out. At Old Trafford the hosts beat Northamptonshire by six wickets with overseas star Ashwell Prince taking the honours for his 78. Northants had set a modest target of 211 with only Nicky Boje reaching fifty, Glen Chapple was the pick of the bowlers with 2/32. The home side reached the target with 15 balls remaining, Paul Horton and Francois du Plessis contributed forties on a difficult batting day. At Sophia Gardens Essex heavily beat the hosts by seven wickets with nearly 25 overs remaining. Glamorgan total of 124 was something of success from a position of 57/7 but it was never going to prove enough. The main damage was done by Danish Kaneria with 4/16 from 10 overs and David Masters who took 3/21, only Ben Wright with an unbeaten 40 escaped embarrassment. Graham Napier failed to take a wicket but he scored 41 off 36 in the chase.

Somerset Smash Scots

2009-05-11T23:37:00.001+01:00

There were runs galore in the Friends Provident Trophy today with 2,227 of them in just four fixtures that equates to roughly 280 for each team, who needs the Indian Premier League or as Cricinfo have now called it the 'T20 League in South Africa', Lalit Modi would not be chuffed.

Anywho back to the matter in hand and the biggest scorers were Somerset who passed 400 for only the second time in their one-day history (the previous occasion was in 60 overs). Admittedly the score came at Taunton against Scotland but still it's a reasonable achievement. The main damage was done by Marcus Trescothick with 144 from 108, James Hildreth with 151 from 141 and Peter Trego who smashed an unbeaten 74 from 39, seamer Jan Stander saw much of the chaos from his bowling, he conceded 106 in ten overs. Scotland didn't have a hope of getting close and their eventually total of 252 was about what you would expect. They had three half-centurions with Gavin Hamilton, Ryan Watson and Neil McCallum but none could match the scoring rate of the Somerset top order. Alfonso Thomas and Trego collected three wickets apiece. In the other Group B fixture, Middlesex, dismissed for 65 in their last match, scored 322/5 at Canterbury. England call-up Eoin Morgan was the headline act scoring 161 from 136 balls, with 19 boundaries and two sixes. He was partnered for all of his innings with Nick Compton who himself scored 131. Phil Hughes had his first failure with 12 while Owais Shah in his first match in over a month was out for a duck. Kent couldn't muster any large partnership and fell well short on 242 all out, on a batsman's pitch Chris Silverwood took a highly creditable 3/26 from 8 overs.

In Group C Gloucestershire continued their brilliant start to the season by beating Yorkshire at Bristol. Alex Gidman chose to put the visitors in and it proved a wise move as they collapsed to 49/5, from there Anthony McGrath and Richard Pyrah recovered the innings with 67s but 217 wasn't to be enough. The hosts suffered a mid innings wobble losing three wickets for five runs but James Franklin and Steve Adshead struck fifties in a seventh wicket stand of 106 which saw them to the brink. Adshead was dismissed for 56 but Franklin and Jon Lewis got the team over the line with four balls to spare. The other match in the Group saw Sussex claim a third successive victory in the competition. The win over Durham was significantly down to two former England players, opener Ed Joyce continued his good form with his new county by scoring 127 while James Kirtley took career best figures of 6/50. Another former England player, Steve Harmison, had a poor day conceding 51 from six overs he was the most expensive bowler on either side.

Ian & Ryan Return

2009-05-10T23:02:00.001+01:00

While MPs have been in the spotlight for their expenses over the past few days, another person who the British public felt short changed by was given a second chance today. Ian Bell, the most talented English batsman of the generation has wasted his considerable talent over a 46 Test period but after a short rehabilitation in county cricket he is back for another go at the big time. The effective polar opposite is Ryan Sidebottom, a good honest county bowler was Duncan Fletcher's view of him but when he left Ryan got his chance at the highest level he grabbed it with both hands. His form in New Zealand was exemplary and he carried a lacklustre England to the series victory but a year later his international career was written off by numerous pundits after persistent injuries crippled him in the Caribbean. Both Bell and Sidebottom have played well in county cricket although neither has been outstanding. Sidebottom has played two four-day matches, taking seven wickets at 31.42 while Bell has played eight matches scoring 479 at 68.42, however both his two centuries came before the first squad was announced since then his record reads: 27, 51*, 37 and 30*, the fifty came in a one-day match. I'm somewhat surprised by both selections, there seemed to be all this talk of new England and Andy Flower's new selection policy of picking form players and yet one match in and we've reverted back to picking the same old players. England generally don't pick back-up batsman for home Tests so you can only read into it that Bell will come into the team for Tim Bresnan, that would be terribly unlucky for the Yorkshireman who barely got a chance on his debut. There was supposedly a new don't even think of Ashes agenda but these selections go completely against that. If England do change a winning team and lose then they'll deserve it.

Into county cricket and there's a run of Friends Provident fixtures at the moment, they began today with seven matches. Sidebottom didn't play but Bell got a duck and Ravi Bopara made two, rejects Steve Harmison (1/59) and Monty Panesar (0/52) didn't fair much better. The team of the tournament thus far have been Gloucestershire and today they gave a right ole thumping to Durham, winning by 148 runs. Half-centurions from Hamish Marshall, William Porterfield and Chris Taylor saw them to 301, a score well in the distance as Durham's top order crumbled to 43/5 at the hands of James Franklin and Anthony Ireland, Gareth Breese scored 47 but it was too late. The other form four-day side, Nottinghamshire, also had a good day beating Worcestershire by four wickets at Trent Bridge. For the visitors Daryl Mitchell top scored with 59 in a total of 209, Notts had a mid innings wobble chasing, losing four wickets for 22 runs, but when Andre Adams is down to come in at number ten you have the depth to handle such situations. Adam Voges and Paul Franks shared an unbeaten 61 stand to take them to victory.

Surrey for the third time in a week were involved in a thriller but just like the previous two they fell short, chasing 314 against Sussex opener Scott Newman scorched 130 but they fell two runs short 15 were needed from the final over. Murray Goodwin's 144 had been the backbone of Sussex's total, his innings came from 119 balls and included 16 fours and 2 sixes. At Canterbury the hosts beat Warwickshire by four wickets with eight overs remaining, Wayne Parnell continued his impressive form by taking 3/27, including Bell, as the visitors were all out for 218 inside the 50. Five of Kent's top six contributed to the successful chase, Justin Kemp saw them home with 45. At Chelmsford Essex beat Lancashire by six wickets, on a bowlers pitch they reduced the visitors to 82/8 before a recover saw the total to 157, Ashwell Prince was top scorer with 44 before being bowled by Bopara, David Masters took 3/19 from nine overs. Essex opener Varun Chopra played the perfect innings with 72 from 99. Debutant spinner Stephen Parry conceded just 17 runs from his ten overs. At Northampton Derbyshire beat the hosts by 21 runs, Stuart Law scored 95 in Derbyshire's 286 while Lee Daggett took four wickets, all bowled. Despite Mark Nelson scoring 74 from 67 Northants failed to keep up with the require rate. The only other match of the day, Hampshire against Ireland, was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Oval Thriller

2009-05-09T23:44:00.001+01:00

This is the blog's 200th entry so I should try and put some effort in but I haven't in the past 199 so why change the habit of a lifetime. No Test today but there was still plenty of county cricket including a thriller in the capital.

Surrey began the final day on 60/1 in their second innings and despite the Middlesex opening bowlers being injured Surrey lost wickets regularly to a position of 209/9, a final wicket stand of 33 between Murtaza Hussain and Stuart Meaker proved crucial eventually. Middlesex's target was 186 in 25 overs and there was never any doubt they would go after it especially with wonderkid Phil Hughes opening. Nick Compton opened alongside Hughes and they rattled up 93 quick smart to put them in the box seat but three quick wickets including both openers checked the progress. 'England's' bright new batsman, Eoin Morgan, showed his big hitting abilities and along with Neil Dexter left Middlesex with the comfortably gettable 17 from three overs with seven wickets left. However they crumbled under the pressure, first losing three wickets in two overs, leaving them as underdogs beginning the final over needing 10. A single from Ben Scott left captain Shaun Udal on strike for his first ball, he smashed it for six and suddenly they were back favourites needing three from four. Udal went next ball and Steven Finn strode to the wicket, he was nearly stumped first ball and was plumb lbw on his second. One ball left and Middlesex had a choice between Alan Richardson with a bad back and Tim Murtagh who couldn’t walk, they chose Richardson. He hit the final ball but needing three he was run out going for a second. Middlesex needed two more runs, Surrey one more wicket, a perfect end to the match.

Sticking to Division Two and there were a couple of interesting results as well as an expected one. At Northampton the home side upset Essex although the damage had been done in the first innings. Northants needed 160 more today with all ten wickets in hand and they reached the target losing just two wickets, Rob White scored a second fifty in the match. At Bristol the home side beat Leicestershire by ten wickets although like the aforementioned mention the first innings was were the match was decided, today Gloucestershire got the final four wickets they needed and chased down the 72 run target in routine fashion, the win makes them a surprise early leader of the division. At Canterbury the home side set Glamorgan an improbable target of 385 on the final day, the visitors began solidly before James Tredwell ran through the team taking a career best 8/66.

In the first division Nottinghamshire, my tips for Championship success, beat Somerset to go to of the table. Notts were set a fourth innings target of 261 and began the day on 112/3, Charl Willoughby trapped Samit Patel infront early on but from there it was plain sailing for Notts with Adam Voges and Ali Brown scoring unbeaten fifties. At Hove the hosts were set 317 in 56 against Durham but didn't show too much intent in chasing, Chris Nash scored 85 not out to make sure of the draw. At Edgbaston the only chance of a result was if Warwickshire failed to avoid the follow on target, they cleared it thanks to Jonathan Trott and Jeetan Patel ninth wicket stand which was eventually ended after 233 runs. Yorkshire had a quick dash before sticking them in again, Anthony McGrath and Adil Rashid scored fifties but Michael Vaughan wasn't used after a hamstring injury. One wicket fell and Ian Bell got a knock but the match was a stalemate from early in the day.

England Remember How To Win

2009-05-08T23:31:00.001+01:00

England have won a Test match for the first time since 11th August and the first live Test since 8th June. It not been an impressive run but as the Ashes fast approaches they have relearnt how to win and the papers high on going Onions pun crazy yesterday could easily go over the top tomorrow in looking forward to a potential Ashes success. Luckily Andrew Strauss is sticking, at least in the press, to the 'concentrate on the next match' approach and as long as the players toe the same line then fine. However if they are starting to think of Sophia in July perhaps first they should take a trip across London and there anticipation might be quenched. At the Oval today Phil Hughes scored 195 following closely on the back of 118 and 139 in earlier championship matches. The 20 year old now has a first-class average just a touch under 70 and his Test average is equally healthy. He's been tuned up by Middlesex, although he barely looks like needing it, and the run machine shows no signs of malfunctioning. Some may question the quality of the cricket but Surrey's attack was led by Andre Nel, a man with a far better Test average than either Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson.

England were expected to win the Test today and so it proved, barring a couple of partnerships the West Indies imploded in similar fashion to the first innings. The eventual target was 32 and allowed the hosts to repeat the margin, ten wickets, of England A's win last week. The first stubbornish partnership came at the start of the day as Devon Smith and Lendl Simmons put on 48 for the third wicket prior to a shortened morning session, rain removed an hour's play. But just like yesterday the imminent interval proved a major danger, in the three overs before lunch three wickets fell. Graham Onions got the two settled men while Graeme Swann took the crucial wicket of Shiv Chanderpaul. Denesh Ramdin and Brendan Nash were the second stubborn pair and they were more successful, putting on 143 in the afternoon as England bowlers were subdued for the first time in the match. It was the largest partnership of the match and the only one above fifty for the Windies. Broad was the man to break the partnership when he bowled Ramdin shortly after tea. That left Nash with a tail not keen on leaving a warm pavilion for a cold spell in the middle and they returned quick sharp. Three wickets fell in four overs before Nash on 80 decided to try and chance his arm, unsuccessfully. Strauss and Cook completed the formalities in half an hour, to leave both teams a free weekend.

Once again I haven't got time for a county round-up but there was one result today, Lancashire beat Worcestershire by six wicket to claim a second Championship win of the season and go top of the table. For Worcestershire it's a third defeat in four and things aren't looking good for avoiding relegation.

GGs On Form, Windies Not At The Races

2009-05-07T23:23:00.000+01:00

It was a golden day for the Grahams/Graemes as England took control of the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's. Graham Onions on his debut took five wickets in the final session after a dodgy first two while Graeme Swann took three crucial wickets and on a day of 15 wickets scored a valuable 63 not out. Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson both took two wickets on the day and England's attack is starting to look a force again after the numerous problems of recent times. Test cricket is normally considered the slow moving sloth of the cricket jungle but the rate of change in this Test at least made it look like a sloth on speed. The match looked even after the first day but all those dropped catches now look even costlier as the tourists wound the second wondering where to go from here.

Ravi Bopara and Graeme Swann began the day well against some poor Windies bowling, they put on 93 before Bopara chipped to Brendan Nash who this time took the chance. Jimmy Anderson was promoted to ten ahead of Onions and he survived to lunch despite a bang on the back of the head from Fidel Edwards. He didn't survive for long after the interval and Onions followed him after missing an Edwards full toss first up. Swann was left unbeaten on 63, a maiden half-century which included a number of lusty drives. The West Indies response got off to a blazing start with Chris Gayle taking the lead role in smashing boundaries off Broad, Anderson and Swann, who had been given the new ball ahead of three other pace bowlers. When Gayle was dismissed in the ninth over the score was 44, Gayle's 28 included six boundaries. Ronnie Sarwan scored two himself before he edged Stuart Broad behind on 13. Devon Smith carried the attack and after 17 overs West Indies were 95/2 but just before tea came the turning point.

Swann returned to the attack and dismissed Swann with a straight one and Shiv Chanderpaul next ball with one which spun, two big wickets shuck the Windies dressing room and it was still rocking like a boat in a storm after the interval as Onions showed his true colours after a few expensive overs. Lendl Simmons and Brendan Nash weathered the instant storm but when Swann got rid of Nash the Windies sunk. Onions claimed Simmons next ball and took the wickets of Jerome Taylor and Sulieman Benn in the same over. There was no way back from 119/8, Onions got Denesh Ramdin plumb in his next over and after a plucky final wicket partnership which was larger than the last six he dismissed Lionel Baker in the same manner. England enforced the follow on and in the short time available Anderson struck two vital blows with the wickets of Gayle and Sarwan. England failed to beat Sri Lanka and South Africa in recent Lord’s Tests after they followed on but with three days left there seems no hope for West Indies.

I haven't got time for a county round-up tonight but it was a good day for two England former players Anthony McGrath scored a career-best 211 and Glen Chapple after 6/34 yesterday he top scored with 89, both Roses sides have the upper hand. Australian Phil Hughes scored a third Championship ton in three matches. Very little form shown by the England rejects, Ian Bell is unbeaten on 33 overnight.

Bopara Secures Ashes Spot

2009-05-06T23:04:00.001+01:00

Ravi Bopara began the summer with a second successive Test century which will all but ensure his place in this season's main course, the Ashes. It looks an even first day at Lord's, although a decisive opinion will need to wait until the West Indies get to bat tomorrow. In composing his innings of 118 not out Bopara was the only England batsman to pass fifty, a strange contrast to Ian Bell who got saddled with the statistic that he was never the only English centurion in an innings. Fidel Edwards performance was the other highlight although the shoddy West Indies fielding stopped him having more impressive figures than 4/53.

Jerome Taylor dismissed Andrew Strauss early before Alastair Cook and Bopara took the team safely through to lunch on 88/1. The afternoon session belonged to Edwards who in a brilliant post-lunch spell removed first Cook, bowling him through the gate, and then Pietersen first ball, with a lovely outswinger. He also accounted for Paul Collingwood in the spell to leave England teetering on 109/4. Matt Prior supported Bopara with a nice innings of 42 before he fell tamely, hitting straight to cover shortly after tea. The evening session saw the bulk of the days catches go down with Edwards the most sinned bowler. Stuart Broad eventually departed for 38 after approximately four dropped catches and Tim Bresnan fell leg before wicket to Sulieman Benn for 9, so seven wickets down for 289, on a pitch offering some assistance to bowlers it looks fairly balanced.

A brief run through of the county headlines now and it was the bowlers who had the best of things. In the first division it was a good day for Lancashire against the league whipping boys Worcestershire, they closed with a narrow first innings lead but with five wickets in tact. Lancashire Captain Glen Chapple took 6/34 while former skipper Mark Chilton was the only man to pass fifty. At Edgbaston Yorkshire also had a good day although with a century from Joe Sayers scoring was always going to be on the slow side, they closed on 258/2 with Sayers 114 overnight, Michael Vaughan out for 16. The groundsman always produces result pitches and this week is no different, 13 wickets fell on the first day and only Zander de Bruyn (64) passed 30. Luke Fletcher, Ryan Sidebottom and Andre Adams shared the wickets for Notts. Durham recovered from 104/5 to close on 318/7, Dale Benkenstein scored 136 and Liam Plunkett is 65 not out.

In the second division Surrey had the best of the London derby with Middlesex, Mark Ramprakash is 126 not out. At Canterbury Wayne Parnell had a good day scoring a career best 90 and taking a wicket in Glamorgan's reply, Kent's teenager opener Sam Northeast added 87. At Northampton the home side had the best of play against Essex, Andrew Hall took 5/29 as Essex collapsed from 138/1 to 221 all out. And finally Kolpak Anthony Ireland took 6/31 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 133 at Bristol.

Anybody Want A Test?

2009-05-05T23:00:00.001+01:00

A short piece tonight as I have no cricket to copy the scores of and regurgitate into semi-readable paragraphs. There were two more matches in the IPL but I'm yet to be converted into, and possibly never will be, a Twenty20 fan. Due to the packed schedule the tournament has rattled along and today it passed the halfway stage. Taking a gander at the table and it's going to be a close run thing for the final four, seven teams are separated by three points with only the Kolkata Knight Riders adrift from the pack. One of the biggest failures of the tournament so far has been Brendon McCullum, just 85 runs from eight innings, and his opening partner Chris Gayle has been at in the best form either. Which links me perfectly to proper cricket, the first Test of the English summer begins tomorrow and Mister Gayle has finally arrived.

I wrote the tother day that Gayle may receive criticism for his late arrival but I didn't expect it to come from his own coach, John Dyson. Of course whether he can switch formats successfully will be the judgement that counts and that is one of the reasons why I'm looking forward to this first Test even if everybody else is bemoaning it. We'll see whether the IPL players on both sides can adapt, we'll see whether Graham Onions or Tim Bresnan can handle Test cricket, we'll see whether Ravi Bopara can be a Test number three, we'll see whether Andy Flower's new tenure differs from his predecessors and we'll see whether England can beat a side that England A thrashed just last week. Perhaps I'm desperate for some quality cricket having reported on the county cricket for the past two weeks but I am looking forward to this match. Hopefully after all the talk of 'flat deck Lord's' Mick Hunt, the groundsman, may actually prepare a fair wicket but with low ticket sales I suspect someone would have had a word in his ear. Does anyone fancy ending this charade and returning to four day Tests?

Middlesex Misery

2009-05-04T23:14:00.001+01:00

More Friends Provident Trophy matches today and once again I did follow any matches but a brief look at the scores tells the main headline from the day look was Middlesex’s batting catastrophe at the hands of Somerset. Yesterday Middlesex were dismissed for 133 against Kent but today they couldn't manage half of that, all out for 65 in Bath. The only man to reach double figures was Kolpak all-rounder Gareth Berg with 30 while four players fell for ducks. Peter Trego led the destruction with 4/17 for 10 overs. Somerset made light work of the target reaching it inside nine overs, Craig Kieswetter scored 37 from 21 balls. The other match in the group between Kent and Scotland went the way expected but only after Joe Denly played an anchor role as Kent scraped home on Duckworth/Lewis method. Gavin Hamilton and Cameron Borgas scored fifties in Scotland’s 227 while James Tredwell claimed 1/27 from 10 overs. In reply Denly held the innings together with 97 while contributions down the order added the impetus.

The other associate side Ireland also had a better day after some big losses earlier in the tournament but like Scotland they fell just short of victory. In a match reduced to 31 overs because of rain, Ireland scored a competitive 197 with fifties from Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien. That score was chased down with two overs and seven wickets remaining thanks to a brilliant innings from HD Ackerman who scored 118 from 87 balls including 16 fours and a six. The other match in that group saw Nottinghamshire lose their first match of the season, they were beaten by ten wickets on DL by Worcestershire. England rejects Gareth Batty and Steven Davies had good days, Batty took 2/20 from eight overs while Davies smashed 82 from 59 balls.

In Group C Surrey turned their form around by beating Yorkshire in a low scoring match, Yorkshire chasing 168 from 33 collapsed to 104 all out, Chris Schofield (3/16) and Grant Elliott (4/14) were the destroyers. Sussex beat Durham by eight wickets at Chester-le-Street, chasing 193 Ed Joyce scored an unbeaten century. In Group D Derbyshire lost by six wickets at home to Essex, Graham Napier took 3/35 and finished the match with 28 from 15. Northamptonshire beat Glamorgan by 35 runs, Andrew Hall took 4/14 as Glamorgan collapsed to 95/8 they did recover to 165 but still short of the target.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2009-05-03T23:07:00.000+01:00

Early season Sundays can only mean one thing, another round of Friends Provident Trophy matches. I planned to follow one match, Kent-Middlesex, via the BBC online commentary service but my other things got in the way. Most notably the Championship match between my boys, Norwich City and Charlton Athletic, we needed a win and for Barnsley to lose to ensure another season in The Championship, as it transpired neither result went our way. The Barnsley victory over a Plymouth side already on their holidays wasn't surprising but the tame display by Norwich against already relegated Charlton summed up the dire season we've had. There were a couple of highs in beating Champions Wolves 5-2 and a 2-0 derby day victory over Ipswich but when it came to the must win games against sides around us, there was a gaping lack of drive, effort and fight. Few fans will expect an instant return next season but an end to the loan signings and giving some youngsters a chance is a bare minimum for whoever is in charge.

Back to the cricket and the headlines from the FPT were a thriller at Chester-le-Street where a Mark Ramprakash century wasn’t enough to end Surrey's poor start to the season. There's was a second century in the competition for Paul Horton and in a high scoring round two young players Gareth Rees and Alex Hales also scored tons, the best bowling on the day was by Kent spinner James Tredwell.

Starting at Chester-le-Street and Ramprakash's unbeaten 109 went in vain as Surrey failed to get the five they needed from the final over bowled by Ian Blackwell. Phil Mustard and Dale Benkenstein had scored fifties in Durham's 266. The other match in the group was between the two unbeaten sides, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire, and it was the former who maintained that record. Gloucestershire chose to bat first and rattled up 269 with Craig Spearman at his explosive best with 92 from 71. Jacques Rudolph scored a century for Yorkshire but with little support they fell 28 short.

Moving to Group D where two sides made easy work of chasing targets. At Old Trafford Lancashire beat Derbyshire by eight wickets with Horton and Mark Chilton striking unbeaten centuries, from 39/2 they controlled the chase superbly putting on 202 to win with 21 deliveries remaining. Glamorgan caused the upset of the day by beating one-day specialists Essex in their own backyard. Essex batting first had scored 297, Varun Chopra like two of his team mates in the recently finished county match fell in the ninties, late onslaught came from England pair Graham Napier (42 from 18) and James Foster (27 from 7). Glamorgan, unlike Essex, attacked from ball one with Mark Cosgrove scoring 72 from 36, fellow opener remained and played a composed innings of 123 not out, another youngster Tom Maynard ensured a quick finish with 59 from 45, Glamorgan won by eight wickets and nearly four overs in hand.

In Group A it was the side batting first who made the big runs. At Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire thrashed Ireland by 134 runs, they scored 346 in their 50 overs with Ali Brown smashing 89 from 57 and Hales scored a maiden one-day century in only his third match. Ireland were never in the chase and batted out the 50 overs for 212, Samit Patel took 3/30, not bad for a fat lad. At the Rose Bowl Hampshire beat Leicestershire by 46 runs, the hosts scored exactly 300 thanks to an unbroken 177-run partnership between Chris Benham and Nic Pothas. Finally to Group B where Warwickshire thrashed Scotland with 20 overs to spare, Neil Carter starred with 65 from 38 balls in his usual pinch-hitting position. At Southgate Kent continued the form from yesterday by dismissing Middlesex for 133, Tredwell claimed 6/27 from his ten overs, they routinely chased the small target in 38 overs, Darren Stevens top scored with an unbeaten 37.

England Defeat Australia

2009-05-02T23:32:00.002+01:00

The statement that everyone wants to here this summer but in case dreams don't became reality I should make the most of Shaun Murphy's victory over Neil Robertson in the semi-final of the World Snooker Championship tonight. Murphy, a tubby Englishmen and Robertson, a blonde haired Aussie, it was like that ball of the century in 1993 except this time the Englishman smashed the Aussie out the park. Murphy had led 14-7 but was pegged back to 14-14 by Robertson and a tense finish seemed assured but the Englishman dealt with the pressure and rattled off three frames to book his place in tomorrow's final. Another great match in what has been a great tournament, hopefully another awaits.

I haven't quite got Ashes fever yet (or swine flu for that matter) but the first Test of the English summer begins next week, at a horrible early date of May 6th, and that does stir the cricketing juices. Its seven weeks since England's last Test and three since one anywhere in the world, an extraordinary barren spell if it wasn't IPL time, the tournament has found a place in the international schedule even if not the ICC have yet to official say so. In this drought we have had a single ODI series between Australia and Pakistan, the Indian Premier League and English county cricket, depending on your cricket tastes there's been something for everyone but all the above are second-class citizens when comparable to the good ole Test match. Ahead of the match the West Indies got heavily beaten by England A in their final warm-up. England A wasted the good work by Chris Woakes yesterday and closed on 143/6 but today they had things all their own way boosting the first innings total to 311 thanks to Tim Ambrose century and 77 from Adil Rashid. They then bowled the West Indies out inside 46 overs with Rashid taking three wickets and Liam Plunkett removed the tail with four. Rob Key and Stephen Moore knocked off the runs quickly to finish the match a day early. The side for the tourists wasn’t the strongest possible but it was close, Lionel Baker was rested and both Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards remain on IPL duty. It will be interesting to see whether there's a media reaction to Gayle especially. The media were critical of the decision last year for Daniel Vettori et al to arrive just before the final warm-up match, has the IPL established itself enough that Gayle captain of the team can arrive just before the first Test and not receive a negative comment?

Yesterday I wrote that there could easily be three more draws from the remaining championship matches, I got that wrong, there was one result and what a result it was, Kent won after following on. I had pondered the thought of a win after following last night but I presumed that Martin van Jaarsveld would need to gamble but he did no such thing, he delayed the declaration until after lunch but it still provided long enough for Essex to crumble. Robbie Joseph with 6/55 and Wayne Parnell with 3/56 were the destroyers, the top score for Essex was 36 by Ryan ten Doeschate, he looked to be taking the match to safety with David Masters but a late burst broke Essex hearts. In the first division both matches were drawn, at Old Trafford Ashwell Prince proved the roadblock for Nottinghamshire he shared an unbeaten 191 with Mark Chilton after the hosts had been 39/3. At the Rose Bowl Sussex batted on in their first innings gaining two further points, Matt Prior scored 140. Hampshire openers Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams shared 126 in noncompetitive conditions.

A Loss Of Logic

2009-05-01T23:19:00.002+01:00

England announced both the World Twenty20 squad and the squad for the West Indies ODI series today. The former receiving far more coverage as it's the more high profile competition, giving England a greater chance to fall from a great height straight onto their faces. The 15 party was named and just like two years ago there is a mix of established ODI players intertwined with Twenty20 specialists, it didn't work before so let's try it again. Also two years ago we had Paul Collingwood as captain and Andrew Flintoff was fighting with his own body, at least those circumstances have changed, well actually no. The worse kept secret going was that Collingwood was going to be captain and Flintoff despite going under surgery earlier this week is named. Alongside the regulars are those specialists, James Foster, Rob Key, Graham Napier and Luke Wright. Eoin Morgan is also named but he made the ODI squad as well so the ECB have decided he's the new 'project' player. With regard the 14-man ODI squad the other call-up is for Tim Bresnan, meaning four men from the original West Indies tour party have been dropped, they are: Steve Davies, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Samit Patel. With both squads there is a lack of second keeper, not surprising, and second spinner, somewhat bizarre given that apparently the spinners do quite well in Twenty20 or so I'm told. The dropping of Patel was interesting as it's for "lack of fitness" now it's undeniably that he is carrying a bit of timber but if that really is the reason then why does Flintoff just days after knee surgery make the ODI squad?

The brief county round-up now, five matches reached results today but four were draws. Two of these looked like bang-on draws a long way out and two you expected positive results in. With the three matches remaining, it could easily be another three draws as well. Beginning at Taunton where the home side secured the draw thanks to centuries from Justin Langer and Craig Kieswetter who shared 197 for the fifth wicket. The second innings 485/5 in stark contrast to the first innings 69, Graham Onions took 1/110 while Harmison brought up a wicketless hundred. At Headingley Vikram Solanki and Moeen Ali batted out much of the final day, Solanki ending on 206 not out while Ali fell in the final session for 156, the pair put on 317. The match witnessed only nine wickets in four days, admittedly a day was lost to rain but still that's a poor balance for what is a Test ground. Another draw looks set at the Rose Bowl where Sussex closed on 230/6 in their first innings, Matt Prior is on a unbeaten century, Dominic Cork has continued his good start to the season by taking three wickets. The weather affected play most at Old Trafford where only 30 overs were possible, the home side trail by 177 with all second innings wickets left.

Into Division Two, at Sophia Gardens the home side had a good day but had too much to force a victory, they made Derbyshire follow on after the visitors had scored 210 in their first innings, Kolpak Garry Park with 64. In 21 overs left they were able to pick up three wickets, all taken by Robert Croft who took six on the final day. At Southgate Middlesex will be disappointed that they couldn't force victory, Tim Murtagh took three early wickets with Leicestershire still over 50 in arrears. The resistance came from 19 year old James Taylor who scored a maiden first-class century, he was aided for much of it by Paul Nixon who scored a three and a half hour 31. The one result was at Northampton where the home side were chasing 371 against Gloucestershire, they reached 283/6 before Andrew Hall succumbed for 91, comfortably the highest score of the match. The tail-enders couldn't get enough and fell 44 runs short. The remaining match at Chelmsford saw the visitors, Kent, fightback after they were asked to follow on. A century from Martin van Jaarsveld and fifties by James Tredwell and Darren Stevens allowed Kent to close on 391/5, a lead of 226, if van Jaarsveld is prepared to gamble we could see the rarest of things, a win after following on.

Windies Woak Up Call

2009-04-30T23:23:00.000+01:00

Well as yesterday belonged to Graham Onions, the headline maker today was Chris Woakes. The young Warwickshire seamer took four top order wickets on a rain affected first day in the England A fixture against the West Indies. Put in, the tourists were 76/4 at the close, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Ronnie Sarwan and captain Denesh Ramdin all back in the pavilion from the hand of Woakes. Only 20 years old, Woakes was Warwickshire's leading wicket-taker in their promotion last season and prior to the start of the season was talked up by Allan Donald as an England prospect. In the first game of this season he bowled well on a Taunton flat deck and hit a second first-class fifty to show he can bat as well as bowl. After being bitten by my Onions prediction last week I wouldn't say he definitely won't play this summer but it must be unlikely for someone so inexperienced to be a given a chance but he has bags of potential based on recent form. The West Indies didn't put on a good batting display at Chelmsford last week so this latest showing in their final warmup match is worrying sign for them.

In county cricket the weather affected most matches across the country with two matches (Hampshire-Sussex and Glamorgan-Debryshire) being complete washouts. The round-up begins at Taunton where the headlines were made yesterday, Somerset crashed to 69 yesterday failed to lose a wicket today, technically they did have only 24 overs to bat because of the weather but nevertheless it's an improvement. Marcus Trescothick and James Hildreth took their third wicket partnership to 129. Can Somerset now perform the great escape and get a draw after some horrid play in the first two days? There is no chance of any result at Headingley in the other first division match entering a final day. In half a days play today Worcestershire fought back somewhat. Yorkshire on 394/3 overnight lost three quick wickets early all to the occasional medium pace of Daryl Mitchell, the most notable was Jacques Rudolph who was stumped two runs short of a double century. The visitors the had to deal with afternoon interruptions but closed on 100/2 to averted fears of a third successive defeat, Vikram Solanki once again led the team from the front with 66 not out. More play was possible at the traditional wet Old Trafford where Nottinghamshire progressed their first innings to 263/6, a 74 lead over Lancashire. The highest scorer of the day (and match) was Australian Adam Voges who scored 95 including 15 boundaries. Skipper and Keeper Chris Read is unbeaten on 48 overnight. After the convincing victory over Sussex last week I thought Lancashire might be dark horses in this year's championship but without Jimmy Anderson their pace attack can't match the big two of Durham and Nottinghamshire.

In Division Two Gloucestershire, like last week, look set to see the first result of the round. They need five more wickets at Northampton but a unbeaten 98-run partnership between Andrew Hall and David Willey leaves the possibility of some drama tomorrow. Gloucestershire began the day on 105/1 but failed to push home the advantage and were all out for 237. David Wigley after 6/72 in the first innings took three further wickets today. There was another 'late in the day' fightback at Southgate, where Leicestershire after being orced to follow on finished the day on 177/2, the experienced South Africans Boeta Dippenaar and HD Ackerman shared an unbeaten 96 before the close. The visitors only trail by 58 now so it could turn into a final day as Middlesex chase quick runs in the final session. There was a more surprising follow on at Chelmsford where second division favourites Kent had a poor day despite overseas player Wayne Parnell having a good county debut. The day began with James Foster falling one short of a 13th first-class century. In response Kent then collapsed to 57/5 before Parnell with 69, a maiden first-class fifty, saw them recover to 205 all out. Joe Denly fell for the second time in the day before the close to leave Kent one down for 54.

England Hopefuls Thwarted

2009-04-28T23:02:00.003+01:00

No blog yesterday as I was at Carrow Road having to endure Norwich versus Reading. So I return tonight back onto the county conveyor belt, the third round of the County Championship began today with a couple of further three matches beginning tomorrow.

The headline news from today came at Southgate where Andrew Strauss struck a 150 and Phil Hughes continued his impressive start to county cricket with an unbeaten 99 before bad light stopped play. The pair put on 244 for the second wicket after Billy Godleman was dismissed for one in the second over of the day. Strauss was the only England player to make an impression on the day before the first Test squad is announced. Michael Vaughan, Monty Panesar and Steve Harmison, all recent underperformers, had frustrating days as they tried to stake their claims for Test places.

At Taunton there was the unusual sight of a green wicket at the traditional batsman's paradise, it was enough for home captain Justin Langer to decide to bowl however the decision failed to pay off as Durham made the most of some poor bowling and hopeless fielding. The scoring rattled along a run a minute in the opening session thanks more to extras than any batsman. The largest partnership of the day came for the fourth wicket, Gordon Muchall and Dale Benkenstein put on 166 before the former fell to Omari Banks on 68, former captain Benkenstein went on to complete a century before the close. The wickets of Ian Blackwell and nightwatchman Graham Onions late in the day gave the scorecard a more balanced look but Durham are in the driving seat with their bowling attack. At Headingley only half a day's play was possible due to bad light and rain, the home side were 123/1 against Worcestershire when play was stopped. Vaughan had faced two balls having just come to the wicket, the man at the other end was Jacques Rudolph who'd scored 73 in his new position as opener.

In the second division Gloucestershire were the visitors at Northampton, batting first their top order struggled but runs down the order boosted the total. From 136/5 James Franklin and Steve Snell put on 67 before the former was bowled by Nicky Boje. Boje took the wicket of Jon Lewis shortly afterwards before Snell and tail-ender Ian Saxelby added 49 for the eighth wicket. Young Saxelby ended the day 54 not out, a maiden fifty in his sixth first-class match. The leading bowler on the day was David Wigley with 4/68, Monty Panesar bowled 13 wicketless overs. Sophia Gardens staged its first game of the season but weather again played a part, reducing the first day to 38 overs. The hosts closed on 79/2 after choosing to bat first, Graham Wagg took both wickets to fall and according to the Cricinfo scorecard Glamorgan's Ben Wright batted 326 minutes for 6, Sir Geoffrey has already called for him to fill the number three spot.

Today marked the beginning of the Fantasy County Championship on Cricinfo, a competition in which I finished a creditable 165th in last season. Not the best starts to this though, Charl Willoughby by taking a single wicket was my highest points scorer on day one but checking back to last year I didn't have a good first (or second) round then so all's not lost.

Vaughan Back In Form

2009-04-26T23:18:00.004+01:00

Second round of the Friends Provident Trophy and the biggest shock came at Headingley where Michael Vaughan actually scored runs. If there are two things we know about him it's that he doesn't score runs in county cricket and that he's not good at one-day cricket. Today he top scored with 82 including three sixes as Yorkshire won by 14 runs. Excluding the century in the pre-season friendly this was his highest score since the Lord's century last May, 25 competitive innings have passed since then so his form can at best be described as patchy. However I read a piece yesterday that commented Vaughan would play in the first Test against the West Indies, I couldn't see it as even with Andrew Flintoff crocked. If you base the selection on what happened in the Caribbean then Owais Shah would continue at three with Ravi Bopara at number six. Of course Andy Flower is now full-time coach and may have some strong opinions about the players in question but could he really consider Vaughan with his recent record?

To the round-up now and Vaughan's performance wasn't enough for the man of the match award which was given to Gerard Brophy after the Kolpak keeper scored 68 not out and took five dismissals. In Sussex's reply to the hosts 227 Tim Bresnan took 4/35, to boost his claims of ODI honours. In the other Group C match Gloucestershire thrashed Surrey at Bristol, the home side batting first scored 268 with William Porterfield and Chris Taylor contributing fifties. Surrey top six of Benning, Brown, Batty, Ramprakash, Afzaal and Elliott looks one of the strongest going but they capitulated and the visitors were dismissed for 140 inside 39 overs, Ian Saxelby on his one-day debut took 4/31.

To Group A where Hampshire beat Leicestershire by four wickets with 11 balls remaining, young left armer Liam Dawson after his mauling in the county match against Warwickshire took 4/48, he later added 35 to the chase. In terms of batting Matthew Boyce top scored with 80 while Chris Benham was Hants top scorer with 79. Rain reduced the Ireland-Worcestershire match to 33 overs but even over the shorter distance Ireland fell comfortably short of victory. Worcestershire batting first scored 180 with Steven Davies adding 47, Ireland never got going and fell 52 runs short, Paul Stirling scored the only half-century of the match.

In Group B both Somerset and Middlesex enjoyed easy wins. At Taunton Somerset beat Kent by 110 runs in a 38-over match, even in the reduced time four of the home side’s top five scored fifties most noteworthy was Peter Trego who smashed 73 from 36 balls. Chasing a rate of nearly eight an hour isn't a worry though when you have the 'English Matthew Hayden' opening, Joe Denly scored a mighty 43 from 60 balls, you can tell I don't get the hype that everyone else is spouting and today I was vindicated, if this bloke is the saviour to the ODI opener spot then I suggest we keep looking. Middlesex beat Scotland by 162 runs, openers Billy Godleman and Phil Hughes struck fluent fifties. The Scots never looked like getting close, the wickets were shared about, Shaun Udal the pick with 2/30 from 10.

In Group D Lancashire beat Northamptonshire away, Paul Horton scored a maiden one-day ton as the visitors chased 241 with five overs remaining, Saj Mahmood with 3/38 had done the earlier damage. In the other match Jamie Dalrymple continued the good form from yesterday adding 75 not out but there was no impetus from Glamorgan and a score of 205 wasn't enough, Daniel Redfern scored a fifty for Derbyshire and 43 from Garry Park guided them home, Dalrymple took 2/27.

Averting The Pressure

2009-04-25T23:19:00.001+01:00

With three of the four matches being draws this won't go down as the most exciting day of county cricket this season but there were some interesting performances. The matches at Edgbaston and Lord's were expectedly drawn and Derbyshire were expected to beat Surrey but the match at Chester-le-Street still was in the balance when play begun and that’s were I begin the round-up.

Durham versus Yorkshire was the quality clash in this round of fixtures and it proved to be the most exciting, most matches have been high scoring draws or easy victories but this one went to the wire with the home side pushing for victory while Yorkshire resisted. Yorkshire began play with ten wickets in hand, opener Jacques Rudolph was bowled by Graham Onions for 16 but this was the only wicket in the opening session. Michael Vaughan came in at number three but for the second time in the match he fell in the 20s, Onions picking up his wicket after he had picked up Joe Sayers in the previous over, from the stable lunch position they were now 72/3. A 44-run partnership, the largest of the day, between Anthony McGrath and Andrew Gale eased the nerves. From there Durham always looked unlikely to get the victory, but they kept plugging away and took wickets just when hope looked lost, McGrath, Gale, Gerard Brophy and Tim Bresnan all dismissed like Vaughan after getting a start. Adil Rashid and Steven Patterson saw off the final overs safely to leave Durham three wickets short.

Onions finished the innings with 5/56 and took eight in the match. Onions is one of the best county bowlers going and was spoken of in England terms last May for the first Test against New Zealand but he failed to make the squad, Matthew Hoggard and Jimmy Anderson were selected ahead of him. When Hoggard was injured before the second Test Chris Tremlett was given the nod. If you're behind Hoggard and Tremlett in the pecking order you have to be worried, not that either is a bad bowler but because the selectors have an inexplicable aversion to both men. Onions had some problems with injuries last season but has began the new one well on today's showing. There's little chance he will play for England this summer, one because in Tests the selectors will focus on players with experience, and two because he's so far down the pecking order. Saj Mahmood, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes are the three pacemen in the England Lions squad, the first two also toured this winter with the team alongside Mark Davies and Robbie Joseph. So that places him, at best, sixth in line and I don't expect one performance will catapult him up the list but he's still young at 26 and is a man to follow this season.

Returning to the round up and there were some nervy moments for Hampshire at Edgbaston, like Yorkshire they began the day with all ten wickets in hand and looking to secure the draw. Mid-afternoon they were 177/4 but an 87-run partnership between Michael Lumb and Nic Pothas averted the fears, both men struck fifties. Pothas adding an unbeaten 65 to his 122 not out in the first innings. Ant Botha got through plenty of work on the day and took four wickets. A result never seemed likely at Lord's but early wickets on day four gave the hosts a chance. However a unbeaten century from Jamie Dalrymple, against his former employers, and fifty from the evergreen Robert Croft ended the danger. A declaration gave Middlesex a session to bat in which time Phil Hughes scored an unbeaten fifty. At Derby the hosts, requiring 73 with eight wickets remaining, beat Surrey by five wickets, three quick wickets this morning but all-rounder Greg Smith saw them home.

Worcestershire Worries

2009-04-24T23:47:00.001+01:00

A shortish round-up tonight as I'm a bit under the weather and generally feeling lazy on a Friday night. There were three fixtures that reached a finish today, in the first division there were wins for Nottinghamshire and Lancashire and in the second there was a draw at Canterbury.

Starting at Trent Bridge, Notts (the side I confidently predicted would win the title) got off their championship campaign in perfect style with an innings victory over Worcestershire who have lost both their opening matches and must already be concerned they'll make an instant return to the second tier. The hosts began the day looking for wickets and they found them at regular intervals, Vikram Solanki lost four partners in the opening session and defeat was certain. Solanki found some help in the form of Aussie paceman Ashley Noffke who survived a hour after lunch but when he was dismissed the end was nigh, Solanki was ninth man out for 64 off 203 balls and the final wicket fell soon after. If Worcs had scored two more runs in the first innings and survived the follow on they could have got a draw, but they didn't deserve it. With Kabir Ali and Simon Jones out injured I see little hope for Worcs over the coming weeks and when they return there will be too much ground to make up. Notts title ambitions which face a sterner test when they play today's other winners, Lancashire, next week.

The Hove contest went into the final day on an evenish footing, Sussex leading by 138 with five wickets left, however the match was done and dusted by mid-afternoon. The Sussex lower order crumbled to lose their last five wickets for 19, the destroyers were James Anderson and Gary Keedy who both collected five wickets in the innings, Anderson's took match figures of 11/109. A target of 158 could still have been tricky especially when Corey Collymore took both openers to leave the visitors 12/2, who would be the ideal batsman for that situation? Well if you limit yourself to players in county cricket then Ashwell Prince would be top of the shortlist, he struck 91 not out to avert any fears of a collapse, supported by a fifty from Francois du Plessis as Lancashire won by eight wickets. The match at Chester-le-Street was also fairly even at the start of play but the hosts took control on day three. Steve Harmison and Graham Onions both took two wickets early on to bring the Yorkshire innings to an abrupt end, only eight runs added for the final four wickets, a position of 247/4 had become 272 all out. Michael Di Venuto then scored a marvellous 143 to put the match beyond the visitors, Will Smith declared to leave a target of 394. There were runs galore at Edgbaston, Jim Troughton scored 223, Tim Ambrose 153 and Rikki Clarke 112. Spinners Liam Dawson and Michael Carberry took much of the punishment. Hampshire rattled along to 61 without loss before the close so the pitch looks good enough for them to bat out the final day.

At Canterbury a result never looked likely and Northants showed no inclination to force the pace scoring only 200 runs in 90 overs, Stephen Peters completed a century and Nicky Boje scored an unbeaten (and pedestrian) fifty. Rob Key bowled Joe Denly for 21 overs and even more surprisingly brought himself on for a nine over spell in which he claimed his maiden first-class wicket. Derbyshire look set to beat Surrey when they begin tomorrow, they need 73 more runs with eight wickets remaining. Surrey lost wickets regularly in their second innings and were dismissed for 360 shortly after lunch. Set 218, Derbyshire got a good start with Garry Park the first wicket to fall on 89, his opening partner Steve Stubbings remained and is 66 overnight. And finally to Lord's where Phil Hughes added 18 to his overnight score before he was bowled by Garnett Kruger, the main scorer of the day was Dawid Malan who struck 11 boundaries in his 88, the fall of his wicket prompted the Middlesex declaration when still trailing, but Shaun Udal enterprise was rewarded with four Glamorgan wickets.

Phil Your Boots

2009-04-23T23:09:00.003+01:00

Be afraid be very afraid. Phil Hughes has arrived in England and in his very first match in these foreign climes he has hit a century and this is only the start of his tuning up process, imagine how good he'll be when he gets fully used to the new conditions. Of course he is still unbeaten so perhaps tomorrow we'll see him get into his stride. I did criticise the signing of Hughes in my own mind if not here, but perhaps it could work to our advantage. For a start we'll know a bit more about the most inexperienced Aussie in their line-up, nobody really knows how good he is/could be and perhaps we'll get a clearer indication before the Ashes, also he could get so bloated with runs that he's full before the main course arrives. For those unaware the second division is trailing Tiflex balls this season which supposedly swing more than the usual Duke's which are still being used in the first division, however it's yet to have an impact at Lord's.

In the first division Nottinghamshire are still in a strong position at Trent Bridge despite Steven Davies scoring a century, the Worcestershire keeper was the mainstay of their innings scoring 126, he was supported by Gareth Batty and Ashley Noffke but the visitors failed to save the follow on by two runs. Nottinghamshire then took three top order wickets cheaply to give them a great chance of getting their championship off to a win. The other first division match entering the final day is at Hove, Lancashire scored 299 in their first innings to gain a 10-run lead, Mark Chilton taking his score to 89 before the lower order fell quickly at the hands of Luke Wright who took career best figures of 5/80. Sussex closed on 148/5 with Ed Joyce scoring another fifty and Wright 33 not out, Gary Keedy took three of the wickets to fall, Jimmy Anderson the other two.

At the end of the second day Durham have the edge of the big clash with Yorkshire, Durham took their first innings to 362 with Phil Mustard ably supported by Callum Thorp however when Thorp was dismissed by Hoggard the two remaining tail-enders were less capable and Mustard was left stranded on 94. Yorkshire lost regular wickets until Gerard Brophy and Tim Bresnan came together at 142/4, they put on 105 before both fell in quick succession before the close handing the Durham the advantage. It's reasonably even at Edgbaston where Jim Troughton, like Hughes, is 100 not out, Warwickshire closed on 224/4 in response to Hampshire's 379. The Hampshire total built around Nic Pothas who scored 122 not out, he was supported by tail-enders Chris Tremlett and James Tomlinson to add 108 for the last three wickets. For the home side Troughton came to the wicket at 12/2 and remained from there on, alongside him Ian Bell scored 29 while Tim Ambrose shared in an unbroken hundred run partnership.

As predicted the first result of the week was an Essex win they chased down 101 against Gloucestershire losing just three wickets. The other contest that began on Tuesday looks like a draw, Kent replied to Northants 355 with 419, Martin van Jaarsveld joined Geraint Jones as a centurion, Darren Stevens added 73. Northants in their second innings are 148/2, Steven Peters and Rob White scoring fifties. At Derby Surrey had mixed day, first struggling to remove the home sides tail before Scott Newman scored a century to give them hope of a turnaround. Overnight Derbyshire were 152/7 and they added 122 before they were done, 83 of those came in a final wicket partnership between Greg Smith, who ended unbeaten on 94, and Ian Hunter, 47. Surrey not helped by a hamstring injury to their main man Andre Nel. Returning back to Lord's which looks a nailed on draw after two days, Glamorgan scored 505 in their first innings and Middlesex start tomorrow on 174/1. How about allowing pitch inspectors to have a look at the flat surfaces that plague county cricket, inspectors at Lord's every week? that's treasonous JP.

Playing For Keeps

2009-04-22T23:32:00.000+01:00

The title inspired by the cracking start to the season for a number of English wicketkeepers highlighted particularly today however there seems little hope for any of them in gaining Test honours. This may be a completely mad theory of mine, they generally are, but Matt Prior has an insurance policy over his place in the form of Andrew Flintoff. Simply put Flintoff is no longer an adequate Test number six and with a history of injuries neither can he bowl in a four man attack. Yet Flintoff is Flintoff and his aura more than ability guarantees his selection despite the inflexibility he brings. He must play and must be part of a five man bowling attack but there's no confidence he can bat at six so England need someone else who can namely a keeper, and the only English keeper who has a proven Test batting record is Mr Prior. While Flintoff remains fit, Prior will remain keeper, there's no way around that.

Flintoff has always maintained to be a batting all-rounder but it has never been true, he is easily one of the five best bowlers we have but one of the best six batsmen? You've got to be joking. Perhaps he was, from the South Africa home series in 2003 until the 2005 Ashes he averaged 43.43, an good average for a stand alone batsman but he also averaged 27.86 with the ball in the same 31 Test period. Since his annus mirabilis he just isn't the same beast and his batting has been the worst to suffer, he averages 27.88 with the bat and 31.62 with the ball. When you look around at other cricket nations there's simply no place for bowling all-rounders, India have no all-rounder, Australia have given Andrew McDonald a few consolations appearances but Andrew Symonds will be back before too long, South Africa have Jacques Kallis the king of batting all-rounders, New Zealand have Jacob Oram, West Indies have Dwayne Bravo but he's surplus to requirements, Sri Lanka don't need one with Murali and Mendis wheeling away all day, Pakistan when they play have Shoaib Malik who if you can call an all-rounder is a batting one.

Anyway enough of my rambling and onto the action. At Trent Bridge the home side are in a strong position after they built a large first innings and made serious inroads into the Worcestershire line-up. Chris Read 69 overnight (Aggers do stop it) completed a century, sharing 104 with Stuart Broad who struck 60 including 11 boundaries. Read eventually fell for 125 to Chris Whelan who also took the wicket of Broad. In response to Notts total of 505, Worcs were going well at 111/1 having recovered from the early loss of Stephen Moore but Nelson had his way and saw the fall of two wickets, Vikram Solanki for 50 and Ben Smith for a duck in the same Broad over. Broad took a fourth wicket before the close, that of weekend centurion Moeen Ali to leave the visitors 140/4 and with work to do to avoid the follow on.

In other Division One matches Lancashire have the upper hand at Hove, they dismissed the hosts for 289 Ed Joyce adding just a single to his overnight 89. James Anderson added three further wickets to end with figures of 6/56. Lancashire lost their first three wickets for 31 but they recovered with fifties from Ashwell Prince, Mark Chilton and Steven Croft, the latter two remain unbeaten. An even first day at Edgbaston, visitors Hampshire 310/7 at the close, Nic Pothas 83 not out. A similar picture at Chester-le-Street where the hosts are 303/7, for Yorkshie Tim Bresnan has taken three wickets and Gerard Brophy five catches, for Durham Ian Blackwell was SamitPatelesque in scoring 95 while Phil Mustard is 62 not out.

In the second division the first result of the round looks set to be an Essex win, they gained a first innings lead of 22 against Gloucestershire and then reduced them to 115/9 in their second innings, wickets tumbled after Gloucestershire were 51 without loss. Kent had a good day at Canterbury dismissing Northants for 355, Nicky Boje (98) one of numerous players this week to fall in the nervous nineties. The hosts then raced to 257/3 with Geraint Jones adding to four catches in the first innings with 103 from 111 balls, Monty Panesar so far wicketless. Surrey still missing Messers Ramprakash and Butcher were skittled out for a low score again, this time at the hands of Derbyshire and Graham Wagg in particularly. Nicknamed Waggy, haven't cricketers got wonderful imaginations, he took 6/35 including the top five, only Jon Batty made more than the no ball count of 14. Derbyshire struggled themselves and are 152/7 when play resumes. And finally...at Lord's an Aussie opener with three international caps to his name has enjoyed himself no not Phil Hughes but Mark Cosgrove of Glamorgan, he scored 120 and was the mainstay of Glamorgan's 351/6, Mark Wallace is 58 not out, seriously how many keepers have I mentioned?

Seconds Out, Round Two

2009-04-21T23:19:00.002+01:00

The ECB have so far sent out half the cavalry in the second week of county fixtures, the second half will arrive tomorrow as in their infinite wisdom have decided to stagger the fixtures. I'm not exactly sure of the reasoning but it may be to have five days of county coverage instead of four, if so I suppose I should be grateful. So 16 counties in championship action the missing two are Leicestershire and Somerset, the former are hosting the West Indies while the latter will be resting and scratching their heads about how to take wickets at Taunton.

In Division One Nottinghamshire will be the happiest side after their first days work, they closed on a more than useful 334/5 against Worcestershire. Nottinghamshire lost openers Mark Wagh and Bilal Shafayat in the first session, a common characteristic of play at Trent Bridge where the opening positions have been the weakness for some time, last season Will Jefferson and Matthew Wood had poor years and both have been left out in the cold for the start of this. From a position of 46/2 the Notts pair of Samit Patel and Adam Voges made use of a good batting strip to move the score onto 186. Patel scored 95 from 137 balls before he was run out by Vikram Solanki. After Ali Brown had made a sharpish exit on his county debut Chris Read joined Voges and they shared 114 for the fifth wicket. The stand was ended when Voges just like Patel fell short of a century, caught behind off Matthew Mason on 99. Read and Graeme Swann saw the team through to the close and with the likes of bowling all-rounders Stuart Broad, Mark Ealham and Andre Adams to come they're handily placed for a large first innings.

At Hove it was honours even after a slow scoring day, the home side finished on 247/5 against Lancashire. Sussex had been 160/5 when Luke Wright was dismissed by James Anderson so the hosts will be happier with the close of play score. They got there thanks to Ed Joyce who scored 89 and Robin Martin-Jenkins with 52. Joyce must be someway done the peaking order for England but it will still be interesting to see how well he does having switched counties. His first-class average is mid-40s and one of the highest around for those not given a chance in Tests. Anderson took three of the wickets to fall, interestingly he got through 24 overs, are the central contracts being relaxed? Or is Peter Moores getting some revenge?

In Division Two Gloucestershire struggled at Bristol, dismissed for 155 after being put in. Hamish Marshall scored 66 but there was light support, Ryan ten Doeschate took five wickets, David Masters three and James Foster snared five catches. Essex were 60/3 at the close. The match is evenly poised at Canterbury where Rob Key also decided to bowl first, Northants closed on 268/5 the main contributor was Nicky Boje with an unbeaten 77.

Test Preparation

2009-04-20T23:10:00.002+01:00

Today saw some preparations ahead of the England and West Indies Test series, West Indies began the tour with a three-day match against Leicestershire while two England players were in IPL action.

The first point to make about the tour match is that it's the hosts sixth day of consecutive cricket, they began a four day match last Wednesday and yesterday they had a one-day match. Admittedly only four players (Boyce, Dippenaar, Allenby and White) have played them all but a packed schedule is a common complaint of county cricketers. Hence the absolute joy when the ECB announced at the funeral of the Pro40 the creation of a second Twenty20 competition would make sure the players are kept nice and busy. Can the ECB explain when the Leicestershire cricketers were supposed to prepare/train for the one-day match on Sunday or for this contest?

The West Indies had to get used to differing conditions, firstly even with this being a warm spell in England temperatures in the Caribbean are considerable higher. Secondly after the rock hard pitches they've been feasting on in previous months they now have a green juicy surface to conquer. Although the leading wickettaker on day one was the giant spinner Sulieman Benn who took 4/31 as the hosts were dismissed for 182 batting first. The uncapped Andrew Richardson took three tailend wickets in his bid to overhaul Lionel Baker for the third pacemen spot. The tourists had a session to bat and lost four wickets in that time against an experienced attack. 18 year old Alex Wyatt in only his second first-class match picked up two scalps including Ronnie Sarwan. The other two wickets were taken by Harry Gurney and Jigar Naik who have a combined nine first-class matches between them. The West Indies closed on 80/4, not great against a Leicestershire second XI attack.

The West Indies do have some players away at the IPL with Sarwan in this country I presume its Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Shiv Chanderpaul. England also have a small contingent, Dimi, Ravi, Owais, (I wonder what attract Indian businessmen to those three), Paul, Graham, Kevin and Freddie. Mascarenhas is playing for Rajasthan and took 3/20 and was out for a first baler in his first match. Bopara plays for the Punjab and he scored 22 when opening against Delhi. Both Shah and Collingwood apparently are with Delhi but haven’t been seen yet likewise Napier who was signed by Mumbai. Pietersen and Flintoff are both happy as they had two matches so far which roughly equates to £150,000 for both men. They were in action today against each other and Flintoff's Chennai triumphed over Pietersen's Bangalore by 92 runs. Both men recorded economical three-over spells but the difference came in the batting where Freddie scored 22 not out from 13 deliveries and KP fell to a golden duck. Is that all you get for £75,000 nowadays?

Andrew Strauss has said that the signing of Phillip Hughes to his county Middlesex could work both ways. He thinks it will give Middlesex the chance to look at him and find some weaknesses to exploit. Note this down and if Hughes does average over 50 in The Ashes I can rightly blame Middlesex for not finding any weakness and simply tuning him up, and if he averages less than 40 then I will happily admit Middlesex decision was perfectly fine.

Bell And Kieswetter Double Up

2009-04-19T23:08:00.002+01:00

Today was the first round of the Friends Provident Trophy, seven fixtures but not many close contests. The Durham-Yorkshire clash looked the pick of the opening matches but was rather one-sided. Put in, Yorkshire scored 268 with contributions from Jacques Rudolph (73), Gerard Brophy (66) and Michael Vaughan who scored 43 off 44. Callum Thorp was the pick of Durham's bowlers, Steve Harmison conceded 63 in eight overs and by one run per over was the most expensive on show. Durham never looked in contention and lost wickets at regular intervals, only Dale Benkenstein with 68 passed 30. Both opening bowlers Deon Kruis and Tim Bresnan took 3/28. With Harmison's ODI career as dead as a dodo Bresnan must have as good a chance as anyone of replacing him and filling the position that England struggled with all winter.

Following the run-laden Championship match between the two Warwickshire and Somerset battled again this time in a one-day match at Edgbaston. Of the three centurions at Taunton two repeated the achievement in Birmingham, Ian Bell playing as opener struck 108 to demonstrate he has a ODI future as well as Test. For Somerset James Hildreth missed out scoring 20 but Craig Kieswetter the day after a maiden first-class century he scored a new one-day best of 138 not out. The lad can bat and his keeping is tidy so he's bound to be a contender for the poison chalice of England wicket-keeper when he qualifies next year. The other notable performer was Kolpak all-rounder Zander de Bruyn who took 3/30 and scored an unbeaten 73 as he and Kieswetter took Somerset to a comfortable victory. The other two centuries came at the Rose Bowl where Hampshire hosted Worcestershire, the visitors batting first scored 320 an innings built around Moeen Ali (125) and Ben Smith (70). Ali is the man who has been handed the impossible task of filling the middle order berth left by Graeme Hick's retirement and as shown by his Cricinfo profile has one hell of a beard, with averages in the mid-20s he won't be winning any international honours any time soon and neither will the other centurion. John Crawley opening the batting scored exactly 100 before he was stumped by Steven Davies, Crawley is a heavy county scorer who was shoved in and out the England team as much as most, a poor man's Graeme Hick if you will. He shared 116 with Michael Lumb (61) but after that solid platform the run rate proved too much for Hampshire. Gareth Batty, who looked out of his depth a few weeks ago, claimed the best figures of the day, taking 5/35 from his allocation pretty impressive on a pitch which had been flat enough to produce 320.

Another England spinner in the wickets was Graeme Swann who took 3/24 in his first match after elbow surgery. Nottinghamshire had a nice workout to begin their season, beating Leicestershire by eight wickets with 20 overs in hand. The defending champions of the FTP are Essex and they were involved in the closed match, beating Northamptonshire with ten balls remaining, 38 year old Grant Flower took 2/31 and led them to victory with an unbeaten 42. Monty Panesar scored 6 not out, took a wicket and a catch in another all-round display. In the same group Lancashire had plenty in hand over Glamorgan winning by 80 runs, Kyle Hogg and Saj Mahmood taking three wickets apiece. And finally....Gloucestershire won by seven wickets against Sussex, in the field Vikram Banerjee (on his one-day debut) took three wickets and a catch as Sussex were restricted to 227. Experienced duo Craig Spearman and Chris Taylor guided Gloucestershire home with 22 balls left. In his first game of the season Matt Prior scored 50 and took a catch.

Back To The Drawing Board

2009-04-18T23:11:00.009+01:00

I could talk about the IPL matches but after three days of reporting the county championship I will stick with it through thick and thin. And by God wasn't it thin four matches made it to the last day all four draws and not one got close to a result.

The remaining first division fixture looked least likely to get a result and so it proved. The main interest on the day revolved around James Hildreth and how many did he want to score. The eventually answer was 303, at which point Somerset skipper Justin Langer declared mid-afternoon with a lead of 172. Somerset hadn't lost a single wicket all day with Hildreth and Craig Kieswetter sharing 318 for the fifth wicket. For Kieswetter it was a debut first-class hundred and he finished on 150 not out. The match and scores remind me of the recentish Barbados Test visitors bat first and score big, hosts bat and score bigger, one innings close to a triple century, keeper scoring a debut century takes it past 150. On a flat wicket Warwickshire were never going to crumble and lost one wicket before the captains shook hands, in a tame ending Marcus Trescothick even turned his arm over for five overs. Interestingly Bell came in at number three while Trott after a first-baller in the first innings was left in the pavilion, if he's that focused on scoring runs then watch out Owais.

Warwickshire v Somerset summary
Batsman of the match: James Hildreth
Bowler of the match: Chris Woakes
England prospects: I wouldn't be surprised to see Woakes and Hildreth representing England some time in the future but for immediate prospect only Ian Bell has a chance, what value does 172 on a flat pitch get? The delaying in naming of the first Test squad allows Bell (and Vaughan) another opportunity to weedle themselves into the squad. Unless Shah gets crocked in the IPL I expect he will be given another chance.
Team prospects: The weighting of the points means wins aren't everything if you want to survive, for that reason Somerset with that Taunton pitch can be fairly confident of staying up for Warwickshire their survival may depend on how Jeetan Patel will do when his paperwork gets sorted, I think they have enough to survive but I wouldn't put money on it, not my own anyway.

In Division Two the home teams who were all batting second were all on the back foot. Two of them were forced to follow ons while Essex just survived the indignity. At Chelmsford Derbyshire began the day seeking quick runs before a declaration but a tight opening spell from David Masters and Chris Wright halted the acceleration, David Pipe added impetus scoring an unbeaten 64 before the declaration came, Essex set 312 off 45 overs. An opening partnership of 88 saw the home side safely home. At The Oval Surrey followed on after being dismissed for 160, they were 46/6 at one point but Usman Afzaal managed 65 to add some respectability. There wasn't enough time for Gloucestershire to push for victory they took two wickets in the 30 overs before time was called. At Grace Road Leicestershire had longer to survive, after the final two wickets of the first innings added 33 the hosts were sent back in by Nicky Boje, they batted time with six wickets remaining, Boeta Dippenear scored 68 not out in four hours.

Terrific Taunton Ton For Hildreth

2009-04-17T23:07:00.002+01:00

There are numerous cricket stories today but I'm going to stick with the first round of the county season with a round-up first. The ICC have taken the only decision possible and removed Pakistan from hosting duties for the 2011 World Cup, I say only decision but you can never please everybody and Javed Mianded has said this is a lack of support and understanding from the ICC. In South Africa Australia have completed a consolation victory over South Africa, I say consolation but the win does take them above India in the ODI rankings. Batting first Australia scored their highest score of the season, 303. South Africa managed a good start but the innings petered out at the fall of Jacques Kallis in the 35th over. The hosts needed 116 off 93 balls with seven wickets remaining at that point but didn't get close, falling 47 runs short.

The final bit of news comes from the World Cup Qualifier which virtually finished today, the top six places for ODI status and top four places for World Cup spots have been resolved. It was a close run thing but Ireland, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands will be playing in the subcontinent (minus Pakistan) in two years time. While those four plus Scotland and Afghanistan will have the headache of trying to get ODIs against decent opposition for the next four years. Kenya were in danger of missing the World Cup but other results went their way and they beat Ireland thanks to an unbeaten 66 from Collins Obuya, Warwickshire's most unsuccessful overseas signing.

Speaking of Warwickshire (seemless) they were given the run around today by Somerset's James Hildreth as he scored a carefree century, coming to the wicket after the hosts had lost both openers in quick succession he alongside Justin Langer exerted control of the day. They were helped by some bizarre captaincy from Mr Bell, standing in for the injured stand in Tim Ambrose. Well I presume it was Bell who asked peashooter Rikki Clarke to bowl bouncers at an experienced Test opener with a short leg side boundary. That was the tactic before lunch when Warwickshire still had a snifter of an opening. After lunch Hildreth and to a lesser extent Langer made hay while the sun shined. The attack missing its only experienced seamer, Neil Carter like Ambrose was crocked, they were powerless to resist Hildreth's spell. The new ball and Chris Woakes accounted for Langer (76) and Zander de Bruyn (4) but alongside keeper Craig Kieswetter he added another 100 run partnership and closed on 191 not out, Somerset on 454/4.

The first result of the new season expectedly came at the Rose Bowl. Worcestershire's only hope, rain, removed an hour of play but when that relented they were in trouble. Vikram Solanki added just nine to his overnight 64 and after a stubborn last wicket stand the home side were set 106 for victory. Hampshire got home with seven wickets remaining, Michael Carberry scoring 58. To me the Hampshire team doesn't look particularly strong, which is highly worrying for Worcestershire, and even when Marcus North joins the side they don't have comparable quality to Durham, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

In the second division seamers had a good day, at Chelmsford Essex struggled against Ian Hunter (5/46) and could only muster 194 in response to 326. At Leicester Andrew Hall completed his century but the hosts found batting tougher and were half out for 19. Contributions from Paul Nixon, Jim Allenby and Sam Cliff saw them recover to 150/8 at the close but they face a tough task saving the follow on. Monty Panesar didn't take a wicket in 12 overs but scored 24 with five boundaries earlier in the day, perhaps he's now concentrating on the number three position as the spinner spot is sown up. The other match between Gloucestershire and Surrey saw no play. Both teams long search for championship wins goes on.

Take Two

2009-04-16T22:51:00.005+01:00

The second day of the county season was similar to the first in many ways, Ian Bell scored runs at Taunton, wickets tumbled at the Rose Bowl and the April weather played its hand again.

Dealing first with Mr Bell, he was 84 overnight and added 88 more today before falling to a brilliant legside catch by Craig Kieswetter. Thanks to some rain at Leicester stopping Andrew Hall it meant Bell was the first centurion of the 2009 championship season. Against some innocuous bowling from the hosts Bell shared a 141-run fifth wicket partnership with stand-in skipper Tim Ambrose which built Warwickshire a commanding first innings total. Three quick wickets followed Bell's dismissal but the tail wagged, young Chris Woakes scoring a maiden half-century. Both teams earned maximum points, where's the logic in a side getting maximum bowling points for conceding 500? Anywho in the remaining 19 overs Somerset came through unscathed closing on 70, Warwickshire's bowlers were better but were unrewarded.

From one match where the draw is highly likely to another where the draw is highly unlikely. 28 wickets have fallen on the first two days at the Rose Bowl and there was only half a day's play yesterday. Hampshire began the day on 76/4 in response to Worcestershire's 132 and lost three wickets in the opening hour to leave them 116/7 however Liam Dawson and Dominic Cork, bowling all-rounders at different ends of their careers, formed a eighth wicket partnership of 91 which gave the home side a vital advantage in a low scoring match. Teenager Liam Dawson scored the first fifty of the match, making 66 off 83. The eventual advantage was 84. There was the chance of a two day match after the Worcestershire batsman collectively failed for the second time in the match, 53/7 before a revival from Vikram Solanki and Chris Whelan ensured the match entered a fourth innings and third day. Whelan fell to Chris Tremlett off the final ball of the day, the visitors lead by 66 with just two wickets remaining so barring something special from Solanki Hampshire will gain the first win of the championship season.

Rain affected the second division with less than 40 overs possible in the three games. 17 overs were possible at The Oval where the two winless teams from last year are taking on each other; Gloucestershire made the most of the conditions taking three Surrey wickets cheaply in the evening session, Gloucs had finished their first innings on 333. At Chelmsford the home side wrapped up Derbyshire's innings for 326 before scoring 29 without loss. There was no play possible at Grace Road.

Bell Begins Rehab

2009-04-15T23:27:00.003+01:00

First day of the county season and there was a fast start in the race for number three. On the comeback trail following a poor winter is a slogan that could be applied to a number of England players, but on this occasion it's Ian Bell. Bell's last innings for Warwickshire had been 215 against Gloucestershire but that was in July and a lot had happened since then, he took the form into the first Test against South Africa but after that 199 his form deserted him and it was only stopped when he was dropped after the Jamaica horror show. Bell, like a lot of the England batsman only scores runs when their place is on the line, an ECB spin on this could be that they perform when under pressure but it actually comes across as players in a comfort zone. The problem for Bell was he had been to the well previously to scrap out an innings when about to be dropped but this time the well was dry. Thankfully for England, and Bell, this may have been the best thing to happen. A couple of months out of the set-up will wake him from his complacent slumber and give him the chance to plunder some county trundlers to all parts. As demonstrated by his previous innings for Warwickshire if he can then there's a large possibility he would carry the form into international cricket. Whether he can score enough runs to force his way into the team for the Ashes is the question.

Bell made a fluent 84 not out on a weather affected first day in the Warwickshire-Somerset fixture, he came to the wicket early after the fall of Tony Frost and thereafter remained throughout, hitting 13 boundaries in his knock. He lost two partners before lunch, including that of England Lion Jonathan Trott for a first-baller, but alongside Jim Troughton he put on 123 before bad light stopped play. Seamer Ben Phillips took all three wickets to fall. I was surprised to see that tiny Tim Ambrose was chosen as skipper in place of the injured Ian Westwood, no disrespect intended but he doesn't appear the captaincy type and Warwickshire do have an experienced top six with a number of other candidates.

Moving to the other first division fixture and there was wickets aplenty at the Rose Bowl where Worcestershire had a poor first day on their return to the top tier. After choosing to bat first they were bundled out for 132 and in response the home side after an early wobble recovered to 76/4 at the close. The visitors hadn't started poorly and were 91/2 before an afternoon collapse dashed hopes of batting points. The 37 year old Dominic Cork will hog the headlines after taking three wickets in four deliveries (or four in 11) on his county debut. Hampshire were in trouble themselves at 10/3, Kabir Ali taking two wickets, but Jimmy Adams and Sean Ervine saw the side to respectability before Ervine fell in the closing overs.

There are those who believe that the second division is the equal of the first division but those individuals normally have allegiances with a second division club and not wanting to pour scorn on their opinion but they're talking rubbish. The gap in quality and depth and intensity and any other measure you care to mention is big. Therefore I will be focused on the first division in my daily round ups.

There does seem an interesting balance in all the second division fixtures with the close of play scores being: 297/6, 306/7 and 321/8. Gloucestershire were Worcesteresque in that their top order scored runs but they fritted the advantage away against Surrey, they reached 247/2 with Kadeer Ali and Alex Gidman at the wicket with fifties to their name but from there they crumbled to 283/8. The deskippered Jon Lewis provided some late order hitting to push Gloucs past 300. South Africans Jade Dernbach and Andre Nel took three wickets apiece. Messers Ramprakash and Butcher aren't playing so Gloucs have as good a chance as any to get a championship win that had alluded them last year.

For Derbyshire seven men passed 20 (and they all scored five boundaries) but the highest score was a mere 50. Young Daniel Redfern was the half-centurion and he shared a third wicket partnership with the old Stuart Law, so old in fact he made his first-class debut eighteen months before Redfern was born. In the Kolpak derby at Grace Road Andrew Hall (a Kolpak) topscored with 95, the closest that anybody got to a century today. David Willey, son of Peter, scored 60 on his first-class debut. For all the critics (including myself) of quality that is one area where the second division is superior, in giving young players a chance. I'm not sure whether it's a choice or down to financial restrictions but all the same it's a positive as the main point of county cricket is supposed to be "produce players for England". Of course the Corks and Laws of this world offer something with their experience they can pass on to youngsters and a fair percentage of the Kolpaks do add quality to the competitions but having young English players doing well is what it's all about.

The Unexpected And The Expected

2009-04-14T23:21:00.001+01:00

An thrilling Champions League tie tonight between Liverpool and Chelsea, the match swayed back and forth so much it was scarcely believable. Liverpool began the two legged match down and out but two goals in the first half gave them hope but they still remained behind. Chelsea, so poor in the first half, eased the pressure in the second with three goals, 6-3, game over. But Liverpool kept attacking and scored two more goals to get to within one goal of winning but it wasn't to be, Chelsea had one more goal up their sleeves, to tie the fixture and win on aggregate. It was best football match I've seen in a while, well since Norwich beat Ipswich 2-0 earlier this season anyway. The reasons for more football talk is two fold, one there's not much cricket around and two I can link this story to cricket in a roundabout way.

I enjoy most sports and April is the best time for most of them, last week there was the US Masters, the week before there was the Grand National, this week there are the starts of the English cricket season and the IPL, in football the season is reaching a climax and the month ends with the World Snooker Championship. It's an absolute feast for sports fanatics but there's some who want get full enjoyment because they're a one sport beast. I can never understand those people as I don't understand how they can watch the Liverpool-Chelsea match or the final day of the US Masters and not feel total enjoyment and be completely enthralled. But there are people who don't get other sports they're blinkered on one single one and thus people are losing out. One such person is Jonathan Agnew, on Inside Sport last night when asked what his highlight of the sporting week was, he didn't give the expected answer and echo follow pundit John Parrott choice of the golf but instead said his highlight of this week would be the appointment of England's new cricket coach. He did what any politician would, avoided the question as he had no good answer and answered the question he would like to have been asked. This isn't a slight on Aggers, as the BBC cricket correspondent you would expect him to promote the sport, but it shows how blinkered and fanatical he is on one sport. Any other sport is 'just not cricket'.

With regard that comment, Aggers did reveal (of sorts) that the coach would be announced this week. It wasn't much of a reveal as the first Test squad is announced on Sunday and the new man will want to be involved. Today it was announced that the announcement would be made tomorrow, that wouldn't be much of a reveal either, Andy Flower as the only candidate on the shortlist is very likely to get the job. I've stated my views on the situation a few times but as a summary, I'm not a Flower fan although the way the ECB has managed the 'search' is the more troubling aspect. If we weren't in Ashes year and desperate for a coach quick smart then I'm sure this coronation wouldn't be tolerated by the media. Flower could prove to an inspirational coach but it would surprise me. Flower's record as captain of Zimbabwe was very poor, and not just because it's Zimbabwe, Heath Streak and Alistair Campbell have superior records. Last year Dave Berry on his blog evaluated captains and Andy Flower was comfortably last. There may be no connection between captaincy success and coaching success, there's not enough men to have fulfilled the roles (coaches are only a modern phenomenon) to say but that record can't breed confidence.

County season starts tomorrow and only two England contract holders will be playing: Monty Panesar will be in action in the annual Kolpakfest at Grace Road and Ian Bell will be hoping the Taunton wicket is as flat as ever. Alastair Cook should be playing for Essex but he has fractured a finger.

Second Teams

2009-04-13T23:35:00.002+01:00

Having a second team in sport is generally not tolerated and only the domain of rich celebrity types, I'm not rich or famous but I have to admit to breaking one of sport's unwritten laws.

In football this season I have followed the fortunes of Luton Town, one reason is that they have some Norwich City players amongst their ranks both loaned from the club and some we have let go entirely. The second reason is Luton were handed a 30 point deduction at the start of the season, and have faced a near impossible task to survive relegation. The harshness of the penalty coupled with the most British of traits, supporting the underdog, meant the second result I checked on a Saturday afternoon was theirs. Today though ended mission impossible, the maths caught up with them and they were relegated out of the football league after 89 years.

The 30 points were deducted because of financial indiscretions, 10 for paying agents through a third party and 20 for a failure to satisfy the League's insolvency rules. The problems were caused by a previous regime but the new owners, Luton Town Football Club 2020, were handed the draconian punishment. As one Luton fan said: "It's like moving into the house of someone who's robbed a bank, being arrested for the crime yourself being forced to plead guilty and then being sent to prison". Of course the club can't get off scot free as they have broken the rules but 30 points was ridiculously harsh and left them all but relegated, playing out a season with no sense of achievement.

The irony came last weekend when the FA Trophy (a tournament restricted to clubs in the third and fourth divisions of English football) was won by Luton, of the 48 teams in the lower leagues Luton were shown to be the best and yet they're bottom of the pile and will be unable to defend the trophy. The irony was made greater by the fact the guest of honour on the day was Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney, the man who had saddled Luton with 20 of those 30 points. It was the twenty-first century version of Jesse Owens winning four golds at the Berlin Olympics in front of Aryan Adolf. 40,000 fans turned up to support Luton in the Wembley final, a ludicrous number for a League One or Two side never mind what is now a Conference team. Luton, a club with one of the biggest fan bases and one of best teams in the lower leagues have been sent to the graveyard of the Conference, a league renowned for its competitiveness and with a terrible record of bouncing back for League relegees.

There's a discrepancy here, West Ham three seasons back survived relegation from the Premiership largely (but not solely) on the performances of one man, Carlos Tevez. He had endured a poor season until February but scored goals galore in the final months and West Ham survived after a final day win over Manchester United. The problem was Tevez was signed illegally so what punishment did they get, a fine of £5.5 million, in terms of Premiership money that's about 15% of the annual income, small fry as they retained top flight status guaranteeing themselves another season of £40m Premiership money instead of £2m a side gets in the Championship. Luton meanwhile were all but relegated because either the FA wanted to send a message to other clubs or because they wanted there names in the headlines. Should sport be decided by on-field actions rather than off-field politics?

Onto cricket and my second team has had much better fortunes over the past year. South Africa, after a series draw in India and win in England, the winter (English perspective) has seen them get well used to the Australians, winning both series away and after the disappointment of the loss at home in the Tests they have added the ODI series to the impressive list of recent triumphs. The reason for South Africa is unclear, possibly from the 1999 World Cup when they were the only team who could compete with Australia, the natural enemy of course, but the larger reason may derive from the players they had: Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener and Allan Donald all had something about them that I liked. Hansie was the most outstanding leader I've ever seen and even after the 'match fixing' I was still a fan. Jonty was the most outstanding fielder I've ever seen and with me being neither good at batting or bowling he was the obvious hero, Lance was the most outstanding hitter I've ever seen as a youngester you don't care of technique you want to see the ball bludgeoned to all parts and that's what you got, Allan was the most outstanding fast bowler I've ever seen the spell on that evening in Trent Bridge came early in my cricket watching and will stick with me as the definition of how a fast bowler should be.

Enough about me and onto today's action, South Africa wrapped up the series with a fairly comfortable 61 run victory at Port Elizabeth. On a good pitch South Africa batted first and rattled up 317, Herschelle Gibbs after a number of starts against Australia this season he converted one scoring his 21st ODI century. 66 of those came in a 136 run partnership with AB de Villiers that lasted 20 overs and made the most of the middle overs. Mark Boucher (29 off 25) and JP Duminy (40 off 25) did some late innings hitting to push the total past 300. Australia got off to a great start with the Brad Haddin-Michael Clarke partnership proving fruitful once again, they put on 129 before the first wicket fell, they were 27 ahead of South Africa at the same stage with a perfect platform but they would be becalmed by the two spinners, Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe. Left armer van der Merwe, in only his third ODI, removed Clarke, Callum Ferguson and Mike Hussey in a three over spell, the wickets slowed scoring and the required rate climbed. Ricky Ponting had played patiently until the 40th over (the first of the batting powerplay) when with 108 required from 10 overs he hit Dale Steyn for four boundaries in an over but when he was dismissed from the last ball of said over the game was up. Steyn picked up two tailenders to finish with 4/44 but the difference between the teams came in the middle overs - South Africa attacked the spinners and didn't lose wickets while Australia lost four wickets and the new men were unable to hit the boundaries that Gibbs and de Villiers had.

2009 County Preview

2009-04-12T23:28:00.004+01:00

It's an enthralling final day at the US Masters but I have torn my attention away to write a terrible 500 word piece. The only cricket story today has been the conclusion of the Durham-MCC match and the poor performances of the England aspirers - Rob Key 5, Michael Vaughan 12 and Ian Bell 12. Australian Callum Thorp did for Bell and Key and also removed James Foster and topscorer Stephen Moore to record figures of 4/15 from 13 overs. It wasn’t the first time Thorp had been a thorn in the side of England, prior to his first-class debut while still a window cleaner he played against England on the Ashes tour of 2002/03 on that occasion he took 4/58 including dismissing Key, Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain. He clearly has a penchant for England number three's or perhaps they're just the easiest wickets to get.

The group of Durham fast bowlers is quite extraordinary such that Thorp isn't guaranteed a spot when the season proper begins, Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison have won international honours and both Graham Onions and Mark Davies have been in England Lions squads with those riches at hand Durham, not surprisingly, are favourites to retain the title (best price of 4/1 with the bookies). Nottinghamshire, last year's runners-up, are second favourites and have impressive bowling reserves of their own however they will have international call-ups to contend with, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann will miss much of the season, Ryan Sidebottom who endured a torrid winter with England will make more appearances than last term and alongside Darren Pattinson and Charlie Shreck they form a imposing trio. They've signed Jason Brown from Northants to cover Swann's absence and with namesake Ali Brown from Surrey bolstering the batting I'm predicting (why don't you learn?) a Nottinghamshire triumph.

Strong favourites in Division Two are Kent (best price of 9/4), who did well in all limited overs competitions and were going fairly well in the Division One of the County Championship but in a very congested league they fell away in the closing weeks and had the disappointment of relegation to add to final defeats in both Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup. Joint second favourites are Essex and Middlesex, while the other relegated team, Surrey, are fourth favourites, the other five teams are long shots. I can't look past Kent, Middlesex have to make up for the loss of Ed Smith (Retired), Ed Joyce (Sussex) and Owais Shah (England) they have wonderkid Phillip Hughes for the first half of the season, but they're still short. Essex have quite a young side and their limited overs prowess may distracted them from the four day game. Surrey's concerns are with the bowling, the attack is a mish-mash of young (Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker and Chris Jordan) and old (Alex Tudor, Pedro Collins and Jimmy Ormond) so a lot rests on new signing Andre Nel.

The bookies are also offering odds on the top batsman and top bowler in each division, Mark Ramprakash is the expected favourite in the second division but a price of 5/1 looks attractive, the aforementioned Andre Nel would be my selection amongst bowlers at a handy 14s. In the top tier Marcus Trescothick is favourite batsman at 7/1 but Stephen Moore at 22s looks attractive. For bowlers Harmison is 9/1 favourite, I'd prefer Jeetan Patel at 14s.

Wide Open

2009-04-11T23:22:00.002+01:00

It's hardly surprising that the IPL bigwigs chose South Africa over England for hosting duties, in England the annual showcase of Champion County versus an MCC side has turned into a damp squid, no play was possible today and only 89 overs in the first three. The main interest leading into the match was the battle for the number three spot with Michael Vaughan, Ian Bell and Rob Key all hunting the position that's currently in the very loose grip of Owais Shah. You get the sense that the battle will be the ongoing storyline until we reach Sophia Gardens in July.

Meanwhile in South Africa there was six matches in the World Cup Qualifiers, without interruption, there were four Super Eight matches and four upsets including the shock of the tournament as unbeaten Ireland were defeated by Afghanistan. Yesterday I had sort of given the victory to Ireland already, rather embarrassing for any normal person but I'm now used to my most straightforward forecasts going awry. The Afghans batting first had scored 218, in response Ireland were in trouble at 73/5 but Kevin O'Brien and Andrew White recovered the innings with half centuries apiece. Ireland required 33 at a run a ball when havoc was caused by Hamid Hassan, he removed White in the 45th over and in the 47th took O'Brien and two other wickets, match over.

In other matches Canada beat Kenya comfortably by seven wickets; Ugandan born Henry Osinde took four top order wickets in his opening spell and opening bat Rizwan Cheema smashed 49 from 24 balls. Scotland scored a 26-run victory over the Netherlands, seamer John Blain taking 5/45, the 20 wides delivered by Dutch proving crucial. The final match saw bottom of the table Namibia beat UAE by 49 runs, captain Louis Burger topscored with 61 and in the field took a wicket and run out. The results leave the Super Eight stage interestingly set, two teams with 3-1 records, two with the reverse and four with 2 wins and 2 losses, it's anybody's guess who'll qualify. The next round of fixtures is on Monday with Afghanistan aiming to topple the leaders once again, this time Canada will fill the role of Goliath.

Catch Up

2009-04-10T22:59:00.002+01:00

Had some internet problems over the week so had a brief absence from the blogosphere but unfortunately I am now back. I don't believe I have missed too much, the ECB still hasn't named a new coach (although with Dyson, Kirsten and Moody not interested, Ford withdrawing interest and Giles not getting an interview, it's very difficult to believe the 'shortlist' the ECB talked of being anything longer than one name), the World Cup qualifying spots are still up for grabs and those two long awaited tournaments - County Championship 2009 and IPL 2 - are still a week away.

I have missed three international matches so a quick recap for those who've been on Mars or without an internet connection. The third Test between India and New Zealand was drawn, India dominated proceedings but a cautious declaration and final day rain denied the India win, however they did take the series 1-0. There has been two matches in South Africa-Australia ODI series and the hosts have won both, they were thoroughly beaten last Friday but recovered well, beating Australia by seven wickets on Sunday and by 25 runs yesterday.

Moving onto the World Cup Qualifiers and after three more rounds of fixtures we are at the Super Eight stage. Bermuda have been the biggest casualties amongst the four teams eliminated, Afghanistan gaining the fourth spot in Group B ahead of them. Afghanistan lost the last three group matches and are on the brink of elimination, not sure of the math but they'll need a minimum of three wins from their four super eight matches and after playing unbeaten Ireland tomorrow that will be three from three. Scotland's Neil McCallum scored a third century of the tournament on Monday and not surprisingly is the leading scorer thus far, the leading wickettaker is UAE's Pakistan-born fast bowler Zahid Shah who has 12 at 13.16.

I did miss the conclusion of some domestic championships, in South Africa the Titans draw with the Lions was enough for them to retain the SuperSport Series title. Two men in the tournament passed 800 runs – Imraan Khan and Ashwell Prince and both were introduced to the Test team with mixed fortunes. Slightly down the list in fifth place is a 19 year old by the name of Rilee Rossouw, he scored three centuries for the Eagles and has been called the most promising SA number three since Peter Kirsten, watch this space.

In New Zealand Auckland won the State Championship final against Central Districts. Auckland captain Richard Jones and Anaru Kitchen scored centuries, Lance Shaw claimed seven victims in a five wicket victory for the team that had finished top in 'regulation'. The West Indies competition still has a round left but Jamaica have already secured the title.

Flintoff Guides England Home

2009-04-03T23:28:00.001+01:00

Would you Adam and Eve it? England win a series, Andrew Flintoff took career best figures, Mike Hussey scores some runs, an Australian spinner takes some wickets and Claire Taylor was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the year. There were numerous surprises today in sharp contrast to the rest of a pretty dull week.

Let's start with England, after enduring a horror winter they found a silver lining by beating the West Indies in the fifth ODI by 26 runs to claim the series 3-2. The match like the rest in the series was rain affected although the interruptions were kept to before play, the contest was reduced to 29 overs apiece. England put in lost their captain, Andrew Strauss, in the second over however Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen recovered from that early loss and put on 80 for the second wicket. Pietersen fell to a catch by Darren Sammy which at best was dodgy in that it hit the ground. Bopara was dismissed for 44 going for a heave, next over Shah was dismissed for 6 going for a heave and the next over Flintoff chipped to Shiv Chanderpual on 3. After the middle order carnage Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior put their ginger and bald heads together to salvage the situation. With eight overs to bat they ticked it over for three of those before the batting powerplay signalled a change in momentum, the last five overs generated 53 runs.

The score looked vulnerable with Chris Gayle in the opposition but his early dismissal by Jimmy Anderson gave England a major boost. Lendl Simmons, Ronnie Sarwan and Chanderpaul all fell when set after which West Indies were 69/4 in the 15th over. Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard recovered the innings but with the rate increasing above nine the pressure told, Bravo was dismissed tamely for 33. Pollard fell to Anderson next ball and the match was up. Denesh Ramdin stroke two boundaries but after he was bowled by Flintoff is signalled the final drama, Flintoff had Ravi Rampaul plumb in front and bowled Sulieman Benn first ball to claim a hat-trick. His figures of 5/19 made him the obvious choice for man of the match.

So England won the series they were expected to lose and lost the series they were expected to win, so that must be the only hope looking at the summer. Neither series was convincing but there was some good cricket from England. Strauss had a very good first tour as captain from a personal point of view but his last six centuries have been in vain so it might be best if he has a poor summer. This tour had some close matches and that's a worry for England, although improving from an all-time low West Indies aren't a strong team yet and England failed to dominant them. If they are to win the Ashes they need to improve quickly, find a number three, decide on a spinner, find a third fastman and pray to the gods that Flintoff remains fit.

Claire Taylor became the first women to be awarded the Wisden Cricketer of the Year accolade, the other winners were James Anderson, Dale Benkenstein, Mark Boucher and Neil McKenzie. Anderson was nailed on as the England player who fits the criteria of having a good 2008 season and having not been awarded it before. With the lack of international candidates I expected a county cricketer to be selected but I thought another Kolpak, Martin van Jaarsveld, would get the nod. I'm surprised by the two South Africans, Boucher's award appears to be a career one essentially against what Wisden Cricketer of the YEAR is all about. McKenzie had a decent summer but Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers had better ones, perhaps they thought AB's time would come again and thought Prince's international career was over so switched to McKenzie as he was in the team, positions which have switched in the past month since these were selected, woops.

In Brief:
Australia thrashed South Africa by 141 runs in the first ODI of the series, Brad Haddin's position as opener continues to reep rewards while Mike Hussey after a horror season top scored with 83. Nathan Hauritz took 4/29 as the hosts crumbled from 91/1 to 145 all out.

Even first day in Wellington were India, put in, closed on 374/9, Sachin Tendulkar topscored with 62 and Chris Martin took three wickets.

Buses And Trains

2009-04-02T23:12:00.001+01:00

After the strike threats earlier in the week tomorrow is the final ODI of the England and West Indies series, there have been two close matches, one comfortable victory and one annihilation, both teams have won two. After several rain interruptions and the printing out of many a Duckworth Lewis sheet the slate is wiped clean. West Indies have had the better of proceedings and go into the final match as narrow favourites, whether that's because of the latter or whether it's the fact England have generally fallen apart under any pressure points over the past year is debatable. England will have the availability of the IPL bound Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen who have both been passed fit, the only expected change for the fifth ODI will be Sulieman Benn returning in place of Nikita Miller.

Is it me or is all the international cricket overlapping, it seems like I never have a chance to discuss South Africa-Australia or New Zealand-India matches as England-Windies are always playing the same day. Surely it would be better to organise matches on different days to keep cricket in the headlines rather than the lull we've had in the past few days then three matches at once.

The international cricket a step down, the World Cup Qualifier, continued in South Africa today with the Afghanistan train rolling unabated, today they pushed aside Bermuda and now sit atop Group B. In the same group the Netherlands are also two from two after they defeated Denmark. Dane opener Michael Pedersen scored 121 in a total of 245 but it proved in vain as his Dutch counterpart, Alexei Kervezee, also scored 121. Kenya thrashed the UAE in the third match in the group, Lameck Onyango took 6/14 from 10 overs. I notice the Kenyans had eight players whose surnames begin with O, that must be a record for an international match. Into Group A and Ireland maintained there perfect record with an easy victory over Oman, Kevin O'Brien scored 101 not out and Regan West took 5/26 in a 116 run win. Canada also remain unbeaten after they defeated Uganda by five wickets, Canada number three Geoff Barnett scored an unbeaten century after openers John Davison and Rizwan Cheema had a tee off competition. In the third match Scotland bounced back from the Ireland defeat yesterday with a comfortable 73 run win over Namibia, Scotland had found themselves effectively 48/4 but Neil McCallum scored a second successive hundred and assisted by Kyle Coetzer and Jan Stander they took the total to 267/6, plenty in hand over Namibia who had Gerrie Snyman (95 not out) to thank for getting a reasonable total.

I Don't Want A Flower

2009-04-01T23:14:00.001+01:00

So what's making the news today well there's continued talk of England's new coach and from their opponents camp of the possible strike action ahead of Friday's ODI decider. On the first point Hugh Morris said the search for a new coach was a "transparent process" so he obviously was going to reveal the candidates then, well no but he did indicate Andy Flower is one of them. On Flower he said he "done really well" on tour in West Indies begging the question if losing a Test series to a side below you in the rankings is doing really well then how on earth did Peter Moores get sacked, under him we lost to Sri Lanka, South Africa and India so the ECB must consider he was doing a brilliant job. Another interesting Morris sound bite was what they want from the next England coach, when they issued the job advert the number one must have skill was: "Demonstrable success as a cricket coach at domestic and/or international level" but realising this would rule out the one guy they want as coach they've changed the must have to: "Cricket knowledge, skills and reputation are fundamental to the job". I'm pretty negative towards the idea of Flower as next coach on the basis that it's another 'promotion from within' job and secondly he has no track record when compared to some of the other names bandied about.

I spoke of the ICC World Qualifier yesterday and there were six matches on day one of the competition. The leading matches were Ireland-Scotland and Kenya-Netherlands, in the first a century by Scotland's Neil McCallum wasn't enough as Ireland successfully chased 233 in under 40 overs, opener William Porterfield scored 101 from 89 balls. There was something of an upset in the second match as the Netherlands chased 248 mainly thanks to Ryan ten Doeschate who scored an unbeaten 106 in 84 balls, building on his reputation as the best non-Test player. In other Group B matches Afghanistan beat Denmark, Karim Khan taking 4/27, and UAE beat Bermuda despite Dwayne Leverock recording impressive figures of 10-5-13-1 (who would have thought you'd ever find the words big Dwayne and impressive figures in the same sentence). In the all African contest Uganda triumphed over Namibia by six runs and in the big 'un vs little 'un contest between Canada and Oman size prevailed, Rizwan Cheema (born in Pakistan) smashed 64 from 44 and Sunil Dhaniram (born in Guyana) scored an unbeaten 100. You'd think a country of 33 million people could find 11 individuals that can play cricket, I was tempted to say the match should be awarded to Oman but on checking their players I couldn't find a true Oman man amongst them.

Oman It's A Slow News Day

2009-03-31T23:06:00.001+01:00

No major headlines or major matches so my usual scattergun approach is called for, the leading news from an England perspective is Kevin Pietersen homesickness, the supposed story being today he admitted he asked to come home, not the most ground breaking story as Andy Flower revealed that on Sunday, perhaps it's the token cricket piece as there's little else going on. However that won't be the case for the next three weeks as there is a plethora of international cricket, thanks to the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, some snobs won't bother to take a look but a ~~lazy blogger with no other cricket to report~~ cricket fanatic like myself can't get enough of Oman vs. Uganda. Speaking seriously there are some decent teams – Ireland and Kenya I suppose – and some cult figures – Dwayne Leverock, John Davison, Ryan ten Doeschate. There's also the possible fairytale of the cheating Afghanistani's, having won World Cricket Leagues 5, 4 and 3 they now have the chance to join neighbours Pakistan and India in the 2011 World Cup. The tournament begins tomorrow, contains 12 teams with four golden tickets on offer.

Last week I wrote of the last round of fixtures in the West Indies and feel something of a commitment to follow up at the end of another round. There was only one result in the three fixtures that concluded this week, that match was in Jamaica where the home side despite having Brendan Nash in their ranks succumbed to the Windward Islands in a tight and tense clash. Jamaica had gained a seven run first innings advantage, but the top order collapsed to 17/5 in the second innings they recovered to post 107, setting the Windwards 115. The visitors raced to victory inside 29 overs but had some scares along the way, on 108/5 the 'white Sobers' struck with two wickets in two balls but it was too late, the Windwards got the last seven runs without further loss.

The match between Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and Leewards Islands was a highscoring stalemate that barely reached the third innings. There were two double centuries, one from CCC opener Omar Phillips who was making a maiden century and the other was by Runako Morton who scored his second double in a week. I was thinking of criticising West Indies domestic cricket for being so weak it allows a batsman with a Test average in the mid-twenties to score bags of runs but then I remembered Mark Ramprakash. Back to the match and the first innings scores were 519 and 596, the Nevis pitch is just as flat as the rest in the West Indies then. The third match between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago was affected by rain and led to T&T's eighth draw from ten matches this season. The highest score of the match came from Daren Ganga, a five hour 92, and the leading wicket-taker was Imran Khan who took match figures of 7/66.

Lax Of Cut-And-Thrust

2009-03-30T22:00:00.002+01:00

My last report of the India-New Zealand second Test was last Thursday after the first day which the Kiwis had bossed. New Zealand had the better of the next two days as well as India looked to be facing one of the biggest upsets in recent Test history. However resistance from Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman saw India to safety, the tourists lost just one wicket on day four and two on the final day. They ended on 440/4 after 180 overs of second innings batting, not pretty but mighty effective. Gambhir scored his fifth Test century, an uncharacteristic 11 hour marathon 137, and Laxman scored his fourteenth ton, a brisker 124 not out.

India's players had learnt their lessons from the first innings and survived on a still flat pitch against a decent attack that lacked enough cutting edge to put the batsman under pressure, that's not a significant criticism on New Zealand there's no attack in the world that has a strong 'cutting edge' which is why pitches like this shouldn't be allowed. The average runs per wicket this year is 44.19, making it the most batsman dominated year in Test history. Any chance of the ICC getting their heads out of the sand on this issue? Nope no sign yet. How much longer will it take for the ICC to realise fans want to see a contest between bat and ball as much as a contest between two nations.

For some reason I always think back to a certain match which had a similar pattern, and for this match the one that instantly strikes me is Lord's last year when England had the best of the first three days but South Africa survived the last two days comfortably. After that match South Africa had the momentum and dominated the next Test the following week, I suspect the same will happen in New Zealand. You only get one chance against the top teams if you don’t take it wave goodbye to the series.

England Unpredictable

2009-03-29T23:46:00.002+01:00

Two days ago I called England hopeless and that they fail to learn from their mistakes, yesterday I bemoaned England openers for their general rankness so I think it's only right I claim my part in today's victory. My words left the Windies players complacent and England's wanting to rip my head off or at least prove me wrong, and so thanks to some rain and another great innings from Andrew Strauss England did won and levelled the series. England are damn unpredictable if nothing else, how can you square the performance on Friday with the performance today, I realise results change round all the time when two fairly well matched teams play each other but the massive swing in just 48 hours is startling. What side of the bed will England get out of next Friday?

West Indies began the match the better, Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons rattled along putting up 66 in 11 overs of willow swinging leather flying action. Gayle launched five sixes but immediately after the fifth he was out pulling. Ronnie Sarwan ran Simmons out, and then played on from an Andrew Flintoff delivery, three quick wickets and Windies 83/3. Denesh Ramdin and Shiv Chanderpaul steadied the ship but they both fell to Adrian Mascarenhas when set. Kieran Pollard also was dismissed by Mascarenhas but in controversial circumstances as Andrew Flintoff took a catch right on the boundary instead of prancing about like Adam Voges he stood his ground but replays suggest his foot moved the boundary triangle thingymajiggy. From this point the innings belonged to Dwayne Bravo who struck 69 with little support from the lower order, from Shiv's dismissal to his own fatal end Bravo scored 62 runs out of 82 added. Lionel Baker scored two boundaries in the final over to get the hosts to a competitive 239.

Rain then played a part, reducing the match to the minimum allowed, 20 overs. The revised total was 135, 14 more than England had managed in the Twenty20 match two weeks earlier. It was no gimme but following Baker's second over, which went for 18 including four successive boundaries, it looked a fairly simply job. Runs started to slow after the powerplays and with seven overs left the required rate was up to 7.28 however with all ten wickets in hand England were still strong favourites. 17 runs came from Darren Sammy's third over and the contest was all but over. Bopara, after striking his first boundary, from his 38th delivery, fell next ball, possibly the only time he could be comparable to Gayle. Matt Prior came in at three, Kevin Pietersen was injured while bowling, and alongside Strauss saw the match through with nine balls remaining. England's performance had little weakness although the bowlers struggled first up against the West Indies openers. The batting was fine and Strauss should have secured his place in the one-day team for the summer, however despite a 100+ partnership I'm still to be conceived Bopara is the right partner alongside him.

AOB: At the same date last year I wrote of how well British cyclists had done at the World Championships, they had won nine gold medals from 18 events, and at the Olympics British track cyclists won seven from ten. However at this year's world championships the proverbial wheels came off, GB won two golds (from 18 events) and finished third in the medals table. The men's part of the team failed to win a gold having secured five last year. It should be said Sir Chris Hoy (winner of three golds in the Olympic) is currently injured and the team had some younger riders present however having seen how the 2003 Rugby World Cup/2005 Ashes triumphs went to the players heads you get a bad feeling it could happen again.

Starter For Ten

2009-03-28T23:01:00.001Z

It would be wrong to say all England problems are with the top order or openers but they're certainly one of the most pressing concerns. Capitalising on the powerplays seems a completely alien tactic to England in modern times. The loss of Marcus Trescothick left a massive hole which three years on is still unfilled, Michael Vaughan had a horror show in the last World Cup where he barely got it over the square, Alastair Cook the most defensive opener in world cricket has been given plenty of goes, middle order 'technique high big, hitting low' players Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara have been tried, pinch-hitters Luke Wright, Phil Mustard and Matt Prior also had their turn. Andrew Strauss is now the new Vaughan, selected not on ability but to keep a solidity of captaincy.

England since the World Cup have had two good England series, beating Sri Lanka away and South Africa home. In Sri Lanka the odd opening couple was Mustard and Cook, they scored 83 in their five outings together so couldn't be called a raving success but it was a low scoring series. Against South Africa Bell and Prior were the combo producing 270 runs at 90 in four outings. After two failures in India Prior was dropped down the order to be replaced by Bopara. Bopara has remained since and has seen off two partners in Bell and Cook, but now his place at the top of the order is under the spotlight.

Current international openers ordered by a rating combining average and strike rate (figures for the last two years):
Brad Haddin (120.00*2) + 97.56 = 337.56
Virender Sehwag (48.93*2) + 125.57 = 223.43
Martin Guptill (64.50*2) + 85.43 = 214.43
Tillakaratne Dilshan (56.22*2) + 94.57 = 207.01
Chris Gayle (53.88*2) + 92.38 = 200.14
Hashim Amla (54.20*2) + 88.99 = 197.39
Salman Butt (53.26*2) + 83.03 = 189.55
Gautam Gambhir (46.80*2) + 90.14 = 183.74
Brendon McCullum (39.84*2) + 97.55 = 177.23
Graeme Smith (46.00*2) + 82.42 = 174.42
Herschelle Gibbs (37.29*2) + 91.29 = 165.87
Sanath Jayasuriya (30.75*2) + 95.84 = 157.34
Michael Clarke (30.50*2) + 77.54 = 138.54
Andrew Strauss (32.25*2) + 70.87 = 135.57
Khurram Manzoor (33.71*2) + 62.93 = 130.35
Lendl Simmons (38.00*2) + 53.52 = 129.52
Ravi Bopara (25.33*2) + 67.55 = 118.21
The above makes sorry reading for England while every other major country has at least one batsman topping 180, (effectively a 40 average and 100 SR, a 45 average and 90 SR etc) both England's are below 140 (effectively a 25 average and 90 SR, a 30 average and 80 SR etc).

England only have one opener on this tour and as captain his place is secure for the time being, the partner best suited to him is the question. Strauss isn't the most attacking opener and so England should be looking for an attacker at the other end, Bopara's six innings opening have been: 60 (82), 1 (7), 24 (33), 43 (62), 14 (19) and 10 (22). That's a strike rate of 67.55 so either he's unable to play shots in the opening overs or England are still ignorant to the concept of having a player hit over the top when the field is up. Bopara is a wristy middle-order player who's better suited to numbers four or five but in a crowded middle-order that position is taken so if he drops down from opening, six or seven is the likeliest spot, his bowling is rarely used so having a specialist batsman bat seven appears just about crazy enough that England might do it.

If Bopara doesn't open his position will likely be taken by a wicket-keeper, whether that is Prior or Steven Davies is up for debate. Davies had much success in one-dayers last year and where did he bat? opener, what was his scoring rate like? his last six innings were: 103 (83), 59 (43), 92 (60), 119 (87), 28 (28), 12 (6). Of course that form is well out of his system but it's enough to tell you he's confident and comfortably enough to hit big from the start, and even at domestic level it's far better credentials than Bopara's. Dropping Prior is probably harsh but after yesterday's debacle some players need to be reminded their places in the starting eleven aren't racing certainties. If Kevin Pietersen really is at the end of his tether he should be dropped/rested and return to England if he wishes, that leaves a batting slot open but with Ian Bell still in recovery the only replacement would be playing Prior as a specialist bat. Adil Rashid should also be given an oppourtunity at the expense of Gareth Batty. So my bunch of misfits for tomorrow would be: Strauss, Davies, Shah, Bopara, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff, Rashid, Mascarenhas (floating to allow him the batting powerplay), Broad, Anderson. I suspect in a must-win game England will stick with the safe options even despite Friday, it's very hard to see England getting a win whoever they select, but cricket can always produce surprises.

Winters Of Discontent

2009-03-27T23:13:00.004Z

I could have written the usual single word heading seeking maximum impact but it's brought out of the bag so much it's lost any effect. I could have written a piece on the match but is there much point describing a no contest. There is no getting away from the fact England are truly hopeless at cricket, their players are like Fabergé egg, giving the impression of quality and looking pretty but they quickly crack under any sort of conditions or pressure. The batsmen have got as much technique as any other nation but sadly were they are horribly lacking is between the ears, they fail to learn from their own mistakes, they fail to learn from their teammates mistakes, they fail to learn full stop, they fail full stop. Kevin Pietersen has said he's at the end of his tether, I think England fans must be as well.

This winter we've seen humiliation after humiliation, there was 99 against Stanford's Fraud Stars, 98 against a Mumbai second XI, five ODI beatings by India, the pièce de résistance of 51 against West Indies in Jamaica and now 117. In the middle of this England had the farce of a coach vs. captain battle played out in the media. The question that has to be asked is whether this is the worst winter the England team has ever seen? Let's look at three other contenders:

1980/81 – 6 matches (4 Tests and 2 ODIs) – 4 Lost and 2 Drawn
Statistical the worst winter, there have been nine winless winters but this contained the most matches. However they were facing the West Indies side they had beaten them only months earlier and contained the famous pace quartet of Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Andy Roberts. Croft was the main destroyer taking 24 wickets @ 18.95 in the four Tests and 9 @ 2.66 in the two ODIs. West Indies were coming off the back of a series win in Pakistan, it was West Indies first and only victory there and Pakistan hadn't lost a Test at home in over a decade.

England started the tour badly, in the first ODI chasing 127 they were dismissed for 125 (Croft 6/15) and at one point lost four wickets for a single run. England were beaten by innings (Croft 6/66) in the first Test, only Geoffrey Boycott passed fifty. Returning to 50 overs England made 137 (Croft 3/9) in the second ODI, West Indies casually chased it down in 40 overs. The second Test was cancelled but England maintained the previous standards in the third, dismissed for less than 200 for the fifth successive time in international matches, 122 (Croft 4/39) was the lowest of the lot. England improved for the final two Tests, drawing both with Peter Willey, Boycott, Graham Gooch and David Gower all scoring centuries. England's runs per wicket (rpw) for the six matches was 23.00, over 15 behind the Windies.

1920/21 – 5 matches (5 Tests) – 5 Lost
Another winless winter this was the only occasion when they failed to even obtain a draw although with timeless Tests there's a fairly obvious reason for that. England didn't get close to a victory and the MCC's reluctance to send a team to Australia in the first place proved justified. England didn't get close to a victory and suffered a disastrous whitewash at the hands of a better prepared host. The backdrop was nothing, this was the first Test series after the Great War, many cricketers from both teams were lost but England recovered less well.

Jack Gregory, a tall well built all-rounder in the truest sense announced himself by scoring 442 runs, taking 23 wickets and snaffling 15 catches. Australian captain Warwick Armstrong scored three centuries and legspinner Arthur Mailey, another man in only his maiden series, took 36 wickets. The timeless Tests offered England no escape, in the first Test they were set 659 after only mustering 190 in the first innings. The second Test was lost by an innings, they were down to 10 men after the first day, Jack Hearne taken ill. In the third Test England gained a first innings advantage of nearly 100 but hundred from Charles Kelleway, Armstong and Nip Pellew left the tourists an improbable 490. England got the chance to bat first in the fourth Test but it made no difference, runs from Armstrong and Gregory gave Australia a hundred lead, then Mailey took the limelight with 9/121, only Jim Laker has taken better figures in an Ashes Test. It left Australia a target of 211, Gregory scored more runs to make it a formality. In the fifth Test a innings of 170 from Charles Macartney and yet another fifty from Gregory gave Australia a large first innings advantage, with England 91/6 in their second innings an innings victory looked likely although this was averted the defeat wasn't. England's rpw for the five Tests was 28.35, nearly 18 behind the Australians.

2002/03 – 22 matches (5 Tests and 17 ODIs) – 14 Lost
The statistics can't match the previous two but if you break down where the victories came then it becomes worse. The season had two centre pieces the Ashes and the World Cup both were failures, the only difference from the most recent Ashes/World Cup double header was the tri series was lost and the first final was reminiscent of today's horrors. As well as cricketing matters there was also the Zimbabwe situation which dragged on with little leadership from anybody above Nasser Hussain's head.

The winter technically started with the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, England beat Zimbabwe but were comfortably defeated by India, openers Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly both hit tons. England's next match was the first Test in Brisbane the perfect example of everything going wrong, Hussain won the toss and bowled, Simon Jones did his knee, Australia 364/2 and that was only the first day, Matt Hayden scored two centuries and England were set 464 and scored all but 385 of them, 79 all out inside 29 overs in other words. Innings defeats in Adelaide and Perth saw England wave goodbye to the Ashes for another 30 months. Before the fourth Test the tri series began, England losing twice to the hosts before two wins over Sri Lanka. In the Boxing Day Test Justin Langer smashed 250 and England lost again although they made Australia work for the 107 target. In the fifth Test England averted the whitewash with a 225 run win, however with Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath injured and it obviously being a dead Test it still wasn't entirely convincing. Back to the one-dayers and England made the tri series final despite losing three more times to the Aussies, the first final was a hopeless affair, England scored 117 in 41 overs which Australia then chased down with easy in 13 overs, Adam Gilchrist smashing 69 not out including 15 boundaries. England got closer in the second final but still lost. So to the World Cup, after the Zimbabwe boycott they put together unconvincing victories over the Netherlands and Namibia. Jimmy Anderson's swing under the lights brought victory against Pakistan but four days later they realised at first hand the difficulties of the conditions as they were beaten by India. England's super six rested on a match with Australia, England had them by their throats at 135/8 chasing 205 but it was England who did the choking as Andy Bichel and Michael Bevan combined to lead Australia to victory. England's rpw for the Ashes was 29.30, 17 and a half behind the Australians.

There's a book worth of England tours that could have made the list, and the current team is writing its own chapter. The clear difference between the three disasters I selected and the current one is the opposition, the aforementioned three teams were the undoubted numero uno in the world, the West Indies it should be reminded are still below England in both forms of rankings. I was foolish to think after the previous ODI that their was still hope for England but is there anybody in their right mind who can think this year won't follow 1989 and 1999 and be another nadir in English cricket history.

Taylor Ton Has Kiwis On Front Foot

2009-03-26T23:06:00.003Z

There was international cricket today after a few days of none and it proved to be a rather unexpected outcome in Napier. New Zealand, the worst Test nation, who were so soundly beaten in the first Test ended the first day of the second Test against India in the box seat at 351/4.

Daniel Vettori won the toss and chose to bat first, New Zealand's top order was removed in the first hour, 23/3 in the 11th over, but just like in the first Test a first day fight back was on the cards. Jesse Ryder was again playing the supporting role this time to Ross Taylor. Taylor had been impressive against England a year ago with a century in the Hamilton victory and another at Old Trafford when they failed to had convert a considerable first innings advantage, but since then he has struggled as New Zealand's premier batsman. Today he scored a third Test century and a second 150, he scored 27 boundaries in the innings and was the heaviest scorer in a 271 run fourth wicket stand, a record for New Zealand. The partnership, rattling along at 4.56 runs per over, took New Zealand not only to safety but it put them on the front foot. Ryder, who had reached his century before Taylor had fallen, remained undefeated at the close, with James Franklin (26 not out) at the other end. India fielders put down numerous chances on the first day and have been made to pay, but they can still come back into the match but it will require a couple of early wickets with the still new ball. If New Zealand can survive the opening overs of the second day then the worst possible will be a draw, the pitch is good for batting so that's the favourite outcome at this stage.

I've taken a perusal through the New Zealand and West Indies domestic competitions this week and will follow with South Africa. The SuperSport Series is currently in its eighth and penultimate round, and it's been a low scoring first day. 17 wickets fell on the first day of the Warriors-Dolphins clash, the Chevrolet Warriors were dismissed for 162 before the Nashua Dolphins collapsed to 51/7 in reply. The bowling honours going to Dolphins Kyle Abbott, who on his Dolphins debut recorded remarkable figures of 17-10-18-5. The Dolphins destroyer was the more experienced Mario Olivier (5/31).

The Eagles-Titans match was a fixture between the top two in the league, Nashua Titans, the leaders, had the better of the first day as they dismissed Gestetner Diamond Eagles for 178 before responding with 108 for the loss of two wickets before the close. Only one Eagles player could have said to have had a good day, 19 year old Rilee Rossouw who scored 109 of the 178, the second best score was 16. The damage was done by Morne Morkel, dropped from the South Africa team during the Australia Test series, he took 6/43. The other recently dropped man, Neil McKenzie, also had a good day in the third clash of the day, Lions-Cobras. He scored 76, including 12 boundaries, for the Highveld Lions who were dismissed shortly before the close for 296.

Surrey Nel Essex Ten

2009-03-25T23:12:00.000Z

Going to be a short piece today, there's no international cricket and no major headlines. The most noteworthy is Andre Nel retiring from international cricket and joining Surrey. Surrey struggled last season in Division 1 of the County Championship, and with their leading wickettaker, Saqlain Mushtaq, having left they were on the look out for an experienced international bowler. They were linked with Harbhajan Singh in December but he presumably wasn't considered 'in your face' enough so they signed Andre. In the Pro ARCH Trophy, the pre season competition in Abu Dhabi, Surrey has struggled. They finished third in their group and they lost the fifth placed playoff, the attack was led by Stuart Meaker and Chris Jordan, both 20 year olds with a combined 17 first-class games so Nel signing looks the perfect acquisition. It was the final of the Pro ARCH Trophy today and Essex proved triumphant over Middlesex, the Essex team were very successful last season in the limited overs competitions, winning the Provident Trophy and the second division of the Pro40 they also reached the semis of the Twenty20 Cup, with this latest success they must go into this year's competitions as favourites. The team has no real stars, Ravi Bopara and Graham Napier, are probably the most well known and are IPL bound but last year saw some career best performances from experienced county pros like Jason Gallian and David Masters. In the third place playoff of this tournament, Yorkshire thrashed Lancashire by 156 runs with Joe Sayers scoring 132, rather surprising given his previous reputation as a stonewaller and after he endured an annus horribilis in 2008, averaging 8.44 in eight matches. In the whole tournament Essex's Ryan ten Doeschate and Maurice Chambers were the leading runscorer and wickettaker respectively.

I spoke a little of West Indies domestic cricket yesterday and should tie up the loose ends from this week's round of matches, both were drawn, both with chasing teams seven wickets down at the close. In the Windwards Islands-Trinidad and Tobago fixture Ravi Rampaul celebrated his call-up to the ODI squad by taking 4/35 and reducing T&T to 11/3 at one point however it wasn't enough, captain and spinner Rawl Lewis proved defiant scoring 66 not out. In Jamaica the home side had a similar day, reduced to 45/4 against Combined Campuses and Colleges, Kevin McLean taking three of those including Brendan Nash. But a half-century from keeper Carlton Baugh brought them safely home.

Kane Is Able

2009-03-24T23:25:00.003Z

The headline news is the moving of the IPL to South Africa, but frankly it's not there's not too much you can comment on the subject. The most interesting aspect is the fact it has been moved back eight days in the schedule yet the final date hasn't changed, this move crams the tournament of 59 matches into 36 days instead of 44, this move might not be such a negative think the 2007 World Cup although I didn't hear any criticism that last year's IPL was too long. The schedule change is bad news for England's representatives as they are on pro-rota contracts and could face a major slash in there expected earnings.

After the mass of international cricket last week, we now have a clean sheet so I'm forced to delve into the first-class arena and there are some interesting bits and pieces about. It was round seven in New Zealand's first-class competition the State Championship and one of the matches takes the eye, Central Districts chasing down 448 against Canterbury, the sixteenth largest winning run chase in first-class history. Canterbury with two centuries from Johann Myburgh had built a commanding lead but his efforts proved in vain as Central Districts got the runs with three wickets remaining. Part of the problem had been Matthew Papps scoring; chasing a declaration he managed 63 from 166 balls. Even so, the target should have been enough but Districts opener, Peter Ingram, set up the victory with 166 before Timothy Weston guided them home with 89 not out. Returning to the unsuccessful twin centurion Myburgh for a moment, he's got an interesting history having been South Africa born and played much cricket in that country before switching allegiances to New Zealand in 2007, he will qualify in 2010 and with New Zealand still having problems with their batting it wouldn’t be surprising to see him represent them, Brendan Nash Mark II? The other noteworthy performance of the round came from another middle order batsman, Kane Williamson, you may not have heard of him but I suspect you will do in the coming years, he's 18, averages over 50 this season and has already played for New Zealand A. This weekend against table toppers Auckland he scored 111 in the first innings and 95 in the second. After this round of fixtures Auckland and Central Districts have already qualified for the championship final, which starts April 5th.

In West Indies after a strike by players, the 11th round of fixtures got underway over the weekend, two matches are still in play with tomorrow the final day while one, between Leewards Islands and Barbados, was completed. At least for me the result was surprising, I had a misguided belief that Barbados still were the dominant force of West Indian domestic cricket, well they don't appear to be this season as they were beaten by an innings in their own backyard, Runako Morton scoring 210. Barbados do have something going for them with a nicely named fast bowler, Javon Philip Ramon Scantlebury-Searles, although that's nothing compared to Barrington Bjorn Beckenbauer Yearwood.

Barbados now find themselves fourth in the table behind the Windward Islands as well as Leeward. Guyana are at the bottom of the table of seven, behind the new boys Combined Campuses and Colleges. The reason for both Guyana and Barbados performances is that the domestic competition is taking place at the same time as international matches for the first time, Shiv Chanderpaul and Ronnie Sarwan haven't played a match this season, last year (out of six matches) they played three and five respectively.

Australia In South Africa, Series Review

2009-03-23T23:31:00.001Z

I did it for England-West Indies so shall repeat the format, a stats fest of a first paragraph. The three Test series contained three results with two going into the final day, effectively the compromise position between TV companies and boards who want five day cricket and the fans, who want results, and stats junkies who don't want to see mountains of boring runs which continually bias the averages. Specific stats reveal the series produced 35.50 runs per wicket (rpw), as a yardstick the whole of history is 31.87, the last eight years is 34.67 and the last 12 months is 36.70. Despite the empathetic South Africa win in the third Test they trailed Australia 36.12 to 34.79 in terms of the individual teams' rpw. There was a more significant gap in the speed of scoring with South Africa's runs per over at 3.05 while Australia reached a five series high of 3.45.

Using 35.50 as a base, seven batsmen averaged more than that (excluding one Testers Ashwell Prince and Albie Morkel). Seven bowlers (including Simon Katich) were lower than that mark. In terms of the breakdown of the 14, it's seven apiece. Based on stats a combined XI would be: Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Peter Siddle. Kallis pushed up to three because of the average performances by Ricky Ponting and Hashim Amla, Kallis would also be the main captaincy candidate in what is an inexperienced team, there's no Ponting, Mike Hussey, Neil McKenzie, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher or Makhaya Ntini. The breakdown of the side is 6-5 to Australia which seems fair.

As I followed little of the series, too preoccupied with the big clash between England and West Indies rather than this first against second clash, my opinions aren't worth the blog they are written on but I'll give some none the less. The stats are skewed somewhat to South Africa by the final Test although I don't expect Australia merely rolled over, Mitchell Johnson certainly didn't. It is difficult to gauge a consolation victory especially after the Sydney Test between these two turned into a precursor for this series. I don't wish to sit on the fence but there's little to choose between the two sides. Even though Australia won the series they appear to have more problems, the experienced middle order who aren't in form and the lack of a spinner. South Africa's top three were outscored, but Ashwell Prince's hundred in the final match will leave the fans hopefully that problem may be eased. Pundits who have seen the series point to the lack of incisiveness in the attack and that appears the main problem, Morne Morkel was dropped after taking 15 wickets at 45.53 against Australia in five Tests, his brother came in and took a single wicket, the search for a fast bowler is top priority. Wayne Parnell is the new kid on the block but with the next series in November against an England team glowing from Ashes success will they want to risk someone so inexperienced.

Speaking of weakness and I can't avoid poor old Mike Hussey, as another Mike, Mr. Skinner of The Streets, once sang 'It was supposed to be so easy'. His average which stood at a second best ever less than 18 months ago has now nose dived like the FTSE 100 and Mike is far more concerned with his place in the side. At the end of the Sri Lanka series in November 2007 it stood at 86.18, 19 Tests later and it has collapsed to 55.29, that's a fall of 36%. The FTSE 100 has fallen by 38% over the same period. Hussey averages 23 with a strike rate of 35 in his past eight Tests and it will be interesting to see how he is treated by the selectors, if you can remember back to the last Ashes series in England, Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke had both been in poor form in the previous Australian summer but both remained for the Ashes, however their averages were 34.83 (Hayden) and 29.88 (Clarke) so Hussey is testing the selectors patience further with his current form.

Shiv Sinks England

2009-03-22T23:40:00.002Z

Today's performance summed up some of the same stuff we saw in the Test series, England losing the most obvious, but you could see some positives from the day, and they've left you with just enough hope that you think the next match will be different, there was even an essence of Jamaica as England lost Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior in quick succession to leave them 97/5, to get to their eventual total from there probably has to be considered a positive, as I said last week I don't want to see the England team humiliated and so from the first two ODIs I have to say mission accomplished. England batsman no doubt made mistakes, but with the hope they might learn from those, with the belief this West Indies aren't world beaters and add in the possible return of a talisman in the form of Andrew Flintoff and I am still confident the series can be won.

West Indies batted first and lost their openers early, far from a setback it enabled the side's two best players, Ronnie Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul, plenty of time to bat. They took the opportunity with both hands, a 133 run third wicket partnership in 30 overs. Sarwan fell for 74 in the 35th over, the first of the batting powerplay, this was the signal for Chanderpaul to attack, five boundaries in the next three overs. Wickets continued to fall at the other end while Shiv remained finishing on 112 despite an injury which left him struggling to walk. Perhaps they were sitting on the fence but pundits considered it a par score.

The West Indies innings was two big scores and little else, England went one step further, while Andrew Strauss played a perfect anchor role, no one stayed with him and build a stand which could have got the bowlers thinking if nothing else. Wickets came often, Ravi Bopara 14, Kevin Pietersen 12, after some early boundaries Shah got tied down and fell for 22, Collingwood was dismissed by Dwayne Bravo in the same over, Prior edged behind for 2. England half down with less than a ton on the board, the West Indies had the game in their laps. Strauss and Dimitri Mascarenhas kept it ticking but boundaries were four leave clover rare and when a mix up occurred in the 36th over, any hope was gone. Broad and Batty went cheaply and despite some singles from Steve Harmison and Strauss the rate climbed unabated. A rain break stopped play in the 47th over for the second time in the match and for a third consecutive innings in the series. Strauss had reached his century beforehand and was dismissed two balls after the short interval. Last man Jimmy Anderson scored eight before being bowled to end the contest. There was some criticism on the Sky report for Strauss' innings which was harsh in my opinion, what more do you expect from him, a strike rate of 81 is good for a player who completely deconstructed his technique a year ago to become a more defensive player. As he was the only player to pass 30 it seems the criticism is heading to completely the wrong person.

Interesting (well possibly) the match drew some similarities with the second ODI of the previous series in 2007 with a large third wicket partnership between Shiv and AN Other, Shiv ending on an unbeaten century and West Indies winning to level the series 1-1.

England's women team had more success in their match today, playing against New Zealand in the World Cup final. They chased 167 with four wickets remaining, the target would have been easier but for 48 from the Kiwi number nine Lucy Doolan, the topscorer on the day she also took 3/23 from her 10 overs, if losing players were considered for Player of the match awards she would have won it. England looked comfortably in the chase until being tied down by the spinners, what appears to be a common occurrence in this tournament, 109/1 after 26 overs they needed over 20 more to obtain the final 58 runs. But that matters little, England got home and after dominating the tournament proved triumphant in the final.

Busy day wasn't it, the other international action was between Australia and South Africa, the match was virtually over, Australia began day four 340 in arrears with eight wickets left. The first half of the day was South Africa’s, Paul Harris and Dale Steyn taking three wickets apiece to reduce the tourists to 218/6, with nothing to lose number seven and eight Andrew McDonald and Mitchell Johnson had some fun putting on, 163 in 26.3 overs. After McDonald, Peter Siddle fell next ball to leave Johnson 95 not out looking nervously at déjà vu having been stranded on 96 two Tests previous. Bryce McGain made his most worthwhile performance in Test cricket, by blocking two deliveries, short ball next over and Johnson pulls a six to reach a maiden Test century. Harris cleaned up the tail to finish with 6/127, the first South African spinner since 2003 to take six in an innings. Australia lost by an innings and 20 runs.

Sport's For Kings

2009-03-21T23:27:00.006Z

There's some (deluded) people in this world who don't understand sport they might prefer to watch a film, a drama or a soap but the past few days has identified a couple of the reasons why sport is continually a fascination for many. Yesterday there was the ODI between England and West Indies, the finish was unpredictable, so unpredictable that a collection of the 1000 great writers working for a 1000 years would struggle forecast it. Switching sports today Manchester United, a side who looked a run away train heading for the title ten days earlier were beaten 2-0 by Fulham, a middle table side, they had two men sent off and Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky not to be a third. Possibly easier to envisage than the cricket but if 1000 football experts had been asked to predict the result, only a handful would've got it right. Films/dramas/soaps aren't real life they're fiction and are limited by the writer's mind, sport isn't, there are 22 men who write the script and the overlapping threads make for a far more complex and interesting drama.

The other major sporting event today was the Six Nations, and the Ireland-Wales match in particular. Ireland were going for a first grand slam since 1948 while Wales were defending champions, it had all the ingredients to be great viewing and so it proved, the match was filled to the brim with drama. Ireland led 14-12 with six minutes left, Stephen Jones kicked a drop goal to put Wales 15-14 ahead. After a poor kick by Jones and good work by the Irish forwards it left Ronan O'Gara with a chance himself for a drop goal, he did and Ireland led 17-15, the commentators called the match over, but hold on, there was another twist, Ireland gave a penalty away close to half way and gave Jones a penalty kick to win the match and deny Ireland, line was perfect but length fell just short, Ireland had the victory and the grand slam.

There's a phrase that often does the rounds when there's an unpredictable succession of sporting events, "if this was a film script then would regret it for being too unbelievable" or words to that effect, but that's completely rubbish there's numerous examples of unfathomable events which defy logic in sporting history (Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson, Headingley 1981, Lance Armstrong winning seven consecutive TDFs with cancer, Aldaniti and a cancer ridden Bob Champion winning the Grand National, Zimbabwe beating Australia in 1983, Burton Albion holding Man Utd a couple years back, England winning the 2005 Ashes etc etc etc) so the writer, if he's worth he's salt, could point to them. The surprising happens so often that you find it surprising that so many get surprised, expect the unexpected is a completely oxymoron of course but it applies perfectly to sport, we get lulled into a false sense of security, but as soon as you believe you have the game sussed BAM! another surprise result, you're back to square one. Some could argue the greatest movies do a similar thing but it's a limited supply of great movies, sport continues to churn out the masterpieces and there's just no end in sight.

Forgetting all the philosophy crap which I'm fond of on a Saturday night when I've had a few beers, what's being happening in bare facts. Well actually I could link the previous paragraphs, can you fathom how a South Africa side that were beaten quite comfortably in the first two Tests by Australia, come to the third and produce a demonstration of clinical cricket. They rattled up 651 at over four an over, to give a 442 advantage on first innings and if I have worked Statsguru correctly in my inebriated state it's the biggest first innings advantage over Australia since the Durban Test of 1970 and the third largest of all time (the record breaking Oval Test of 1938 is first) and no team has EVER had such an advantage batting second against them. AB De Villiers was the star today rattling up 163 before falling to Simon Katich who also took Dale Steyn and finished with figures of 3-1-9-2, the other spinners figures weren't so good, 18-2-149-0. Poor Bryce, if he wasn't an Aussie I would feel sorry for a journeyman who at the age of 36 finally gets a chance and is carted round the park like a net bowler, has anybody had a worse Test career than his?

The other Test in New Zealand finished as expected with a comfortable win for India by ten wickets. Tomorrow both England's women and men play, one set won their last match the others lost, it's time those women took some tips from the men I think.

Say Hello To The Sack

2009-03-20T23:39:00.002Z

Well, after the wait you never expected it to be simple, as things with England rarely are but today's events where pretty extraordinary even for us. To call your team in when the match is still in the balance will take some beating as the luckiest victory of all time. Boxing trainers rarely throw in the towel when their fighters are getting battered never mind when it's an even contest. Of course there is a reason for this removal of the fighter from the battle, John Dyson's failure to read a Duckworth-Lewis chart. Well if your tactic to win the match is too play to the Duckworth-Lewis method then you can have no sympathy for the West Indians, if you play with fire you should expect to get burned every once in a while.

The farce overshadowed (and was caused by) another bad decision by the umpires, rain earlier in the day had lost 40 minutes but not a single over was removed from the schedule. It's happened before and it will happen again until the ICC put in some proper measures, they supposedly did after Edgbaston last year but they're clearly not adequate. If 40 minutes are lost then 40 minutes should be made up, instead the umpires reduced the interval by 15 minutes, leaving themselves 25 minutes short, a dark finish was inevitable.

England batted first again and scored 270, on a slow pitch Paul Collingwood was not surprisingly the top scorer with 69, Owais Shah another you would expect to like the surface scored 62 and the pair shared 98 in those middle overs. The score of 270 was a good one, but it should have been better as England went to sleep in the powerplay, not the first 15 overs ones, we're used to slow scoring then but the batting sides powerplay was were England missed the boat. They took it at the start of the 41st over but could only muster 18 in the next five overs, I doubt records are kept for 'batting powerplay' scoring but that would take some beating. The noteworthy feature of the innings was the West Indies bowlers continual giveaway of wides, 23 all told the biggest culprit was Daren Powell who delivered six in five overs.

In response Stuart Broad dismissed Chris Gayle for 2, that wicket meant the chase was also going to be more controlled affair rather than an assault and that a close finish was likely. Lendl Simmonds and Ronnie Sarwan were controlled almost to the point of handicapping their own side, after 25 overs the score was 99/1. Sarwan (57) and Simmonds (62) fell in the middle overs and although the Windies had a platform the required rate was over seven and two new men at the crease. Those men, Shiv Chanderpaul and Kieron Pollard, supplied the most needed impetus, they shared a partnership of 60 in seven overs, although most the damage came in one of those. Steve Harmison's first six overs went for 25 but his sixth went for 26 alone, Chanderpaul the destroyer smashed em all and sent the match the Windies way. Broad dismissed him in the next over and when Dwayne Bravo fell to Jimmy Anderson, the match was perfectly in the balance. The pendulum swung the hosts way again when Pollard drove Anderson for a four in 46th over but he was then dismissed next ball. With conditions getting gloomier all the while the 47th over proved to be the last, Broad dismissed Denesh Ramdin off the second ball and West Indies were behind the DL method for the first time, Dyson called them in and they lost. Collingwood got the man of the match, Broad deserved it, but as we know it's a batsman's game.

In the two Tests going on, India and South Africa both look well set for victories. India scored 520 in their first innings and then took three New Zealand wickets before the close. Sachin Tendulkar was the main man, scoring a 42nd Test century with an innings of 160. Ashwell Prince fell 10 short of that score but his innings was just as important, opening for the first time in Test cricket he shared 97 with Hashim Amla and 160 with Jacques Kallis before falling for a round 150. Kallis reached his century before the close and South Africa are well on top after two days, 195 clear with 7 wickets left. Australia's most notable performance came from Bryce McGain who currently has figures of 11-2-102-0, if that's there best spinner then we may have a chance in The Ashes after all.

Batsmanny

2009-03-20T13:13:00.004Z

I will post my usual England lose blog later today but I heard of Manny Ramirez, one of baseball's biggest stars, trying his hand at cricket and thought I would share the video.

Play Dead

2009-03-19T23:33:00.002Z

There was quite a bit of international cricket today with a couple of dead matches besides the live India-New Zealand Test. Since the early part of this decade, dead matches have become the scourge of the ICC because they are the ideal conditions under which match fixing can breed, Hansie Cronje's most famous actions came in the dead Centurion Test of 2000 when South Africa were 2-0 ahead going into the final Test. Today the South African team found themselves on the opposite end, 2-0 down with a match to play. They have thrown some fresh men into the South African amphitheatre and have so far reaped the rewards, well in control after day one. When Steve Waugh took over the captaincy some people noticed that the Australians started winning the dead matches which they so often let slip under previous regimes, that ruthless streak has remained since but perhaps today was the first sign the team is regressing into it's former self.

Australian openers Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich started well before the golden (and green) boy of cricket was trapped in front by Paul Harris. Ricky Ponting fell for a duck in the next over, Albie Morkel claiming a prized first Test wicket. Dale Steyn took the wickets of Mike Hussey for a run a ball 20 and Michael Clarke for a duck shortly after lunch to leave Australia tentatively placed on 81 for 4. Katich and Brad Haddin then combined for the largest partnership of the day, 71 for the seventh wicket, both men were dismissed by the left hand of Harris in the space of four overs. Andrew McDonald and Mitchell Johnson put on 32, but with another wicket brought two as Peter Siddle followed McDonald to the pavilion. Another double wicket fall brought the innings to a close on 209. South African openers, Imraan Khan and Ashwell Prince, had racked up the runs in last week's round of the SuperSport Series and continued that form putting on 57 in 14 overs before the close, Australia were 58 before they lost their first wicket, so too much can’t be predicted but South Africa will be the happier camp thus far.

The other dead match I referred to in the introduction was England's match against Australia in the Women's World Cup, the super six clash wasn't dead when it began but with New Zealand scoring a first innings of 373 against Pakistan it effectively was. Australia had lost to New Zealand and India earlier in the tournament, two sides England beat so the Australians victory was somewhat surprising but Australia finally produced the form that made them the pre tournament favourites to win by eight wickets with 16 overs remaining, however it was too little too late. New Zealand's thrashing of Pakistan means they will play against England in the final, the fixture in the super six stage was won by England with a margin of 31 runs, so they will go in as favourites despite today's performances.

Finally a mention for the other Test cricket. India, responding to 279, steadily set about surpassing that total. With the exception of Virender Sehwag, who only has one gear, it was a case of gradually accumulation which doesn't seem to have gone done with some Indian fans. I'm not sure it's much to worry about but I suppose an Indian fan after their recent form has a different mindset from an English fan in the middle of a drought of success (from the men's side). Anywho after two days India hold the upper hand trailing by one run with five first innings wickets remaining.

Kiwis And Colly Flower

2009-03-18T23:29:00.009Z

As I speak the second day of the first Test between India and New Zealand is underway so as my first day report is rather late I shall keep it brief. New Zealand collapsed, Ryder and Vettori saved them. Is eight words brief enough. Ok let's add some meat to the stick man's bones, or at least get a felt pen and go over the lines. The Kiwi collapse isn't particularly surprising, during England's look at the them last year it was clear to even me that although their bowling attack looked healthy the top order was as brittle as...something that's very brittle. Since then however Tim McIntosh has had a good start to Test cricket and Jesse Ryder has started scoring some runs so perhaps they thought they had turned a corner. It doesn't look so, the Kiwis were 60/6 before Ryder and Daniel Vettori led the fightback putting on 186 for the seventh wicket. Having scored a century Vettori fell and another clatter of wickets followed, Ryder reached his century before he was last man out. India had the better of the day but New Zealand have something to bowl to at least.

England news today surrounds the captaincy as it was announced yesterday that Andrew Strauss had a hamstring strain. Early today there were some reports that Kevin Pietersen might be back in the job, presumably from lazy writers who thought as Andrew Strauss was injured he was the most logical successor but that choice never seemed likely. Later Geoff Miller 'revealed' that Paul Collingwood would be captain if Strauss didn't play. But hold on a minute isn't this the same Paul Collingwood who resigned the role as it was affecting his performance, well maybe his opinion has changed since last summer or just maybe was Miller telling us what we already suspected, Collingwood didn't walk, he was pushed. Talking of captaincy (seemless) Michael Vaughan reminded us all he's still alive, he scored a ton against Surrey in the pre-season tournament in Abu Dhabi, Matthew Hoggard didn't have quite as good a day, he was slaughtered for 59 from seven overs.

Quote of the day: "and we had Bopara who is a classy looking player with a high ceiling." What the hell architecture has got to do with a player's abilities I don't know but these were the words of one Andy Flower. I presume he meant Bopara has a lot of potential but it's a rather unusual phrasing, if he's got any more of those up his sleeve then perhaps his appointment as coach may have some positives. It would be a change from the streams of bland sporting clichés that rolled off Peter Moores' tongue.

Round The World In 600 Words

2009-03-17T23:19:00.002Z

Apologises in advance for the cringe worthy start. Tests are just like buses none for a week and then two come along in consecutive days, well hopefully your public transport isn't quite that bad but you get the picture. There is the first Test of India's series in New Zealand starting just now and the dead third Test between South Africa and Australia takes place on Thursday (not quite consecutive days therefore ruining my opening gambit but that's time zones for you).

Anywho as no action has taken place I'd struggle to utter a word so what else is there in the news. Sir Viv's stadium has been blocked from staging international cricket for 12 months, hardly a harsh punishment given that the West Indies only host four ODIs against India in the next 12 months. The ICC are set to do an inspection but it does pose the question if they're qualified to do it once then why not all the time?

Another piece of news is that Bangladesh have again postponed Pakistan's tour of the country over security fears, it all relates to a mutiny last month in which over seventy people were killed. Somehow I had missed what appears to be a massive news story, in contrast it wasn't humanly possible to avoid the news of the Lahore attack which had eight fatalities. Instead of pondering why news companies don't judge a tragedy by the number of deaths the cricketing point to make is with regard the 2011 World Cup. The Mumabi attacks last year, the Dhaka mutiny last month, the Lahore attacks this month, and in Sri Lanka there's been a civil war going on for 26 years. Are the ICC so incompetent and plain idiotic that they'll still want to stage the tournament in the subcontinent, I'm afraid I know the answer to that question. Why not go the whole hog and stage a couple of matches in Kabul, Afghanistan will probably be in the tournament anyway.

The story I didn't want to overlook today was England's women who reached the final of the World Cup for the first time since 1993. They thrashed the West Indies women by 146 runs in Sydney to book their place with a game to spare. Today's match was never likely to be a contest, England top of the group and unbeaten while the West Indies were bottom and their only victory had been against South Africa when they took 49 overs to chase 117. One of the biggest shocks ever in international cricket never looked on the cards as Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins piled on 134 for the first wicket. Both fell in quick succession, the first wicket was possibly difficult for the commentators as S Taylor was run out by S Taylor and that brought S Taylor to the wicket. The S Taylor that came to the wicket uses her middle name, Claire, so that probably helps. Another bizarre scorecard occurrence came in the West Indies reply where Sarah Taylor, England's wicketkeeper as well as opener, ran out Merissa Aguilleira. There was a case a couple of years ago when a keeper stumped a player and the scorecard stated it was a run out (if memory serves it involved Zimbabwe possibly in the last World Cup and a runner may have been involved) and I never knew quite how they judged a stumping from a run out. Anywho the bowler was Katherine Brunt who is medium-fast so it seems unlikely the keeper would be standing up, sometimes in the final overs players take a run to the keeper but to do it in the fifth over needs a physiatrist. There's probably a simple explanation like the scorers confused the S Taylor's.

Looking Ahead To The Summer

2009-03-16T23:24:00.000Z

I've gone a bit off cricket recently what with the end of the England-West Indies Test series and last week's Cheltenham my eyes have been taken from the ball, I will attempt to regain focus this week. On the menu are two Tests (New Zealand-India and South Africa-Australia), the start of England's ODI series and the climax of the Women's World Cup, none of which are particularly mouth watering but they should at least give me enough to type a decent length blog. So what's been happening today, well the Champions Trophy was moved from Pakistan to South Africa, the West Indies squad for the first ODI was announced, Kent want to sign Stuart Clark for next summer and England had a post mortem over yesterday's shambles.

Starting with the latter, Andy Flower was the pathologist today. The top line was: "We're a long way from having a successful formula" not exactly surprising anybody with two eyes could see that. But the interesting line for me was the one that the BBC decided to pick out: "Usually your best players are your best players. But there are instances where you get specialists in Twenty20 cricket." Really Andy wow that's a groundbreaking theory, with thinking like that there's no wonder he's favourite to be the new coach. God help us all. The thing is for all the talk England won't ever select a specialist team because of the reaction it would lead to from established players who are booted out the side for a no substance slogger from the shires. We all know what will happen, England will fudge the issue and select a couple of Twenty20 specialists for the World Twenty20 squad, they probably won't make the team but if they do they'll be given a single over or bat at eight. So what would a team of specialists look like well based solely on last years Twenty20 it would be something like this: Marcus Trescothick, Joe Denly, Michael Carberry, Antony McGrath, Graham Napier, Dawid Malan, James Foster, Simon Marshall, James Tredwell, Tim Murtagh and Ian Salisbury. Now I don't expect a 39 year old Salisbury turning up in the England team but there are half a dozen names there that should be in the squad. Of course this XI could take on an England one prior to the World Twenty20 to see which plays in the big tournament then KP, Freddie, Colly and Co. couldn't have any complaints.

The other piece of news I'd like to comment on is the Clark news, it's obvious what I'll say, why should a English county allow the an Aussie a chance to prepare for the Ashes, not only that he's an injured Aussie who'll be desperate to get some match practise prior to the series, so what do we do? we lay on a perfect schedule to aid his recovery, how nice. Is this madness or what? One of Richie Benaud's favourite lines was (and possibly still is): Do what the opposition would least like you to do. (Not sure I got that quite right, but you get the idea). Why doesn't someone at Kent decide to listen to Richie and look out for the interest of the national team for once. If the ECB had any sense they'd block the move or do what they should have done many years ago and altered the overseas rule so that it really is one a season not five a season each coming in for a month. The whole point of overseas players is to help pass on their experience to the youngsters, this effect is multiplied exponential the longer the player remains there. I presume England will also go about making sure not a single wicket takes spin, therefore eliminating the only hope England had of winning a match.

Back To Basics

2009-03-15T23:26:00.001Z

You hardly expected England to win but somehow I hoped they might actually put up a fight. Three run outs, nine wides, dropping catches, if you can't manage get those sort of basics right at international level then frankly there's something wrong. Whether the problem lies with the players or the coach is debatable although most would point the finger at the men who take the field I appear to be the only person not wanting Mr Flower to get the permanent role, given an opportunity against one of the few worse sides in the world you lose, why should that performace be rewarded?

The only apparent bright spot from today was Steven Davies scoring 27 on debut. England started well,(first three overs) at 25 for no wicket Colin Croft on TMS spoke of 210 as a target, I laughed with derision doesn't he know a bean about English limited overs cricket, didn't he watch the Stanford circus. I would have been happy with an average 160, not being disgraced is all I want from the England team sadly they can't even provide that. What sort of score is 120 in Twenty20 cricket, it's downright crap. Even West Indies lacking their most destructive weapon in Chris Gayle strolled to the victory they deserved, not for playing great cricket but for turning up, being prepared and getting the basics right. The greatest sportsman and coaches try never to over complicate things, and against England right now the opposition coach need not say a word of advice, go out there and play, against England being adequate is enough.

I do appear to have turned far more critical of England today, in all fairness they've been putting in performances like this all winter (I could go back further) and I've never been that critical perhaps it's the straw that broke the camel's back or perhaps at some point I turned deluded and thought England might have a chance in the ODI series, after today the most ardent England fan can't have that opinion.

Indian Upsets

2009-03-14T23:49:00.004Z

Not in the mood for a blog but in an attempt to maintain the daily in the strap line I must resist the idle urge. Unlike yesterday we had some international cricket today, with matches in the women's World Cup and the final ODI between India and New Zealand. There was also domestic action in South Africa however the second day of the Sheffield Shield final was abandoned after heavy rain.

In the World Cup Australia suffered another unexpected loss this time at the hands of India, going down by 16 runs. Ellyse Perry, the golden girl of the tournament, had a shocker going at over six an over and being dismissed for a duck. The other day I incorrectly stated there was a semi final stage in this tournament, I assumed an ICC event would milk the tournament as much as possible they have done that but instead have a third/fourth playoff. All that means Australia are unlikely to win the tournament they hosted and were favourites for, very un-Australian.

The other big match was between the two group winners, England and New Zealand, and it was the former who won by 31 runs thanks in no small part due to Charlotte Edwards who scored 57 and took 4/37. The Kiwis were slowed by the spin of Edwards, Holly Colvin and Laura Marsh and chasing 202 reached 100 in the 36th over, old school scoring. Another old school move was the sight of a wicket-keeper batting number eleven. It left me with the question of who was the last male to do likewise and with Statsguru it's easy to find out, Jeroen Smits in ODIs and Nayan Mongia in Tests. Back to the matter in hand and England's win leaves them in a great position to qualify for the final, they do still have the small matter of Australia to come but as long as they beat the two minnows they will still qualify for the final. India's victory means their clash with New Zealand will most likely decide the other finalists.

India's men didn't have such a good day losing the final ODI of their series in New Zealand. The batting which had fired all series, leaving them with a 3-0 lead going into the match, failed for once and a total of 149 was easily attainable by the hosts. I didn't follow the series but clearly there's not too many problems with the Indian side, winning 3-1 away isn't easy but looking at the scorecard the team doesn't look quite right. Perhaps it's simply the low numbers next to their names but I don't yet rate Yusuf Pathan and, despite top-scoring today, Rohit Sharma. They have one inexperienced player too many if you ask me but it's hard to work around that if a number of players are retired by the selectors.

Any Other Business: As I normally finish my blog with some other random sports stuff I've decided to call that section AOB. Tonight I'm rather disappointed that Amir Khan has won his fight, reasons why I hate Amir Khan: 1) I hate the Bolton accent 2) the guy lacks intelligence his wonderful pre-fight quote was "normally big fights are in Las Vegas OR America" I do wonder what country he believes it's in, 3) He sold his arse to Sky and 4) Cos he's owned by Sky if I dare turn on Sky Sports News tomorrow I'll get the Amir-love crammed down my throat and 5) He's related to Saj Mahmood who I rated as one of the worst players ever to represent England.

No News Bad News

2009-03-13T22:46:00.003Z

Possibly the shortest blog I'll ever write tonight, it's a slow day for cricket news and nobody can feel like writing too much on a Friday anyway.

What have been the bits and pieces of news then, there's been some South African domestic cricket the highlights being Ashwell Prince (Warriors) smashing 254 as opener against the Titans, Imraan Khan (Dolphins) is currently 135 not out against the Cobras who JP Duminy has taken three wickets for and in the low scoring contest at Wanderers Morne van Wyk (Eagles) has taken eight catches of the 15 Lions wickets to fall so far. The other major first-class cricket is the Sheffield Shield final, Victoria vs Queensland, Chris Rogers and David Hussey scored centuries on day one. Those two have combined first-class records of 20,781 runs at 52.08 yet only 19 of those have come at international level and I suspect that figure isn't likely to rise either. The depth of Australian bowling is in complete contrast, Queensland openers were James Hopes, the medium pacer, and Ben Laughlin, a 26 year old with a first-class average of 65+ who is still good enough to be called up to the one-day squad.

Returning to my piece yesterday, I did eventually pick a winner at the Cheltenham festival but I was already out of cash at that stage. Kauto Star did win the big one and another of my other tips, Oh Crick, also won, at handy odds of 7/1. My other tips performed poorly but having got a winner or two that didn't matter. Tomorrow's the Midlands National and I like the look of last year's second Badgerlaw. Don't worry that's the end of the horse racing tipping on this blog until at least the Grand National anyway.

England Success

2009-03-12T23:17:00.003Z

Desperate for England success, I thought I would take a gander at the women's World Cup, England have so far breezed past the group stages by beating Sri Lanka, India and most recently today Pakistan. England won by eight wickets after Pakistan could muster just 78 in 39.5 overs, it wasn't quite the Bermuda women's performance from last year when they scored 13 all out but it's still a sign of the wide gulf in quality between team's in the women's game.

We've now reached the super six stage in the World Cup and Pakistan are 'good enough' to be there alongside England, India, New Zealand, Australia and West Indies. Points have been carried forward so group winners England and New Zealand are sitting pretty. Australia and India will also fancy their chances. They are recognised as the four best international teams and it would be a major upset if they don't all reach the semi finals. The bookies make both Pakistan and West Indies 200/1 shots for the title once again demonstrating the gulf. England are now favourites while Australia and New Zealand are vying for second favourites.

The biggest shock of the group stage came when New Zealand beat, favourites and hosts, Australia by 13 runs. Forget the dodgy Zimbabwean umpire it was the Kiwi captain Haidee Tiffen who took the headlines top scoring with 57. The supposed big contest in the other group was India-England but England won comfortably chasing 170 inside 40 overs. Caroline Atkins won man of the match for 69 not out, but on a flat pitch Holly Colvin's 3/22 was the better performance in my book. Colvin, the youngest person ever to play for England, was also impressive against Pakistan recording figures of 10-7-8-1.

And now for something completely different. It's the Cheltenham festival this week, and I have a horrible week, not a single winner. So in a charitable act to you the public, I am going to reveal my tips for tomorrow, back them at your peril. Before I do I should have a word for the Gold Cup, in terms of quality it's the best jumps horse race in the calendar and it will be a joy to watch tomorrow afternoon. Paul Nicholls saddles the leading three in the betting with Kauto Star, Neptune Collonges and Denman. Denman, last year's winner is only third favourite after a troublesome season. Kauto Star, winner in 2007, has had two wins this season and the only blemish was when Sam Thomas was on a run of jumping off horses. I'm not sure of Neptune Collonges and with Denman's troubles it leaves only Kauto in my head, even odds of 2 to 1 looks decent value. Here's my tips: Jumbo Rio, Dave's Dream, Pride Of Dulcote, Kauto Star, Chilling Place (ew), Penn Da Benn, Oh Crick.

England In West Indies, Series Review

2009-03-11T23:19:00.005Z

My blog yesterday came to an abrupt end, I could claim I was saving my thoughts for today so they could mature but as you'll see that wasn't the case. Quite frankly I didn't really know what to say. England lost a series to one of the worst sides in world cricket but England's best day of the series was the final one and there had also been some good performances from England individuals. You can't really slaughter them or praise them.

Ok let's have a stats crazy first paragraph. The series produced 5279 runs, the most since the last Ashes series, only four four-Test series (technically this wasn't but it was) in history produced more runs, two of those also came in the West Indies. The average runs per wicket (rpw) was 46.71, making it 'only' the twentieth most batsman friendly series in history. Six of the top ten in that list came this decade. England's average rpw was 49.56, West Indies 43.82. England fell 0.02 short of the record for highest rpw in a lost series, 49.58 by India in Pakistan in 2005/06. England scored at 3.51 runs per over, West Indies 3.01. Using 46.71 as a base, nine batsmen (not including Ravi Bopara) exceeded that. Seven bowlers (not including Lionel Baker) were under that mark, Steve Harmison helped by playing on the friendliest surface for bowlers makes it. Of those 16 above average performers, 10 were English. If you were to place them in a team which position would be vacant? It won't surprise you to find it's number 3 (Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff, Broad Swann, Harmison, Anderson). The match in which all ten played was Antigua Part Two. Based on stats a combined XI would be Strauss, Cook, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Collingwood, Prior, Broad, Swann, Benn, Taylor and Anderson. Edwards bowled well without reward, Shiv edges KP out, Ramdin kept better than Prior (52 v 111 in the byes contest) but five bowlers leaves little choice.

So what can you analyse from all those stats, well England had the best of the series. What happened in real life, England lost, what does that tell you about stats they're not worth the blog they're written on. England had the advantage of batting first in every Test but only once did they turn that into an advantage, West Indies passed them in the first and third Tests, drew virtually level in the fourth and only in the second did they fail (you should have worked out I'm not counting the beach Test). In the final two Tests England recorded first innings totals of 600 and 546 but West Indies, buoyed by the confidence of saving the Antigua match replied in kind, the 'fear factor' was gone. They realised they have the capabilities to go toe to toe with a decent team, of course you can point to the flat pitches but I'm sure they've crumbled under scoreboard pressure in the past, Centurion 2004, The Oval 2004, Brisbane 2005 and Leeds 2007 look some fine examples. Ian Botham and Nasser Hussain were very critical of England's presence of a fear factor, although I don't have any qualms with the timing of the declaration in the final Test. The Antigua declaration was the more problematic one, the nightwatchman when you're 300 for 1, the batting was quick but nowhere as quick as yesterday (admittedly the West Indies did have an attack back then), and they needed 500 on the board before declaring. Having said all that, if England can't dismiss the West Indies in one and a half days then there's little hope for them in Ashes year.

The only thing worse than England were my predictions just two right (numbers 2 and 8). My mystic ball is up for sale.

More stats to finish I'm afraid. England's ranking is down to sixth and their points score now at 98, put in perspective that's their joint lowest level in this form of the rankings which began in June 2003, 98 was the score when the rankings began and they reached a high of 119 in the Ashes aftermath. West Indies meanwhile are up to 89, when the rankings began they were 82 and their low was 72 which they spent most of 2006 and 2007 on. In 2008 they climbed by eight points (only South Africa did better) and they've repeated that improvement in 2009 already. The difference in rankings between England and West Indies in ODIs is nearly twice that in Tests so at least we should have a better ODI series, right?

No Bore Draw

2009-03-10T23:22:00.000Z

Not quite the final day to end all final days but it certainly was a cracker, England played almost the perfect day's cricket but it wasn't enough, they scored the quick runs required and for once in this series they broke the top order, wickets continued to fall but not at any point were England favourites, they were always swimming against the tide.

England began the day with a slim 82 run lead and with Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood at the wicket. In the fifth over of the morning Collingwood offered a simple caught and bowled to Ryan Hinds, he took it gratefully and it turned into a blessing in disguise for England. Matt Prior proved to be the perfect partner for Pietersen, they clobbered 106 in less than 15 overs of mostly part time bowling, when a decent bowler, Baker, came on he immediately got reward (I'm sure I said that yesterday as well, perhaps it's a characteristic that he shares with Simon Jones who always used to do it) bowling Prior for 61. Pietersen was on 84 at this point, England were 209 ahead with 69 overs left in the day. This was the point at which Ian Botham wanted them to declare and I'm sure their will be some other writers point to it. Part of the problem with not declaring is that you tie yourself into KP's century, if KP had slowed his scoring you would have been stuck between a rock and a hard place. KP didn't slow and reached his century 20 balls later, he was dismissed in the final over before lunch, during the interval Strauss did declare to leave 240 in 66.

West Indies began reasonable confidently as if tempted but that was soon out of the question as they lost both openers by the ten over mark. Lendl Simmons, make shift opener in place of the injured Chris Gayle, was dismissed by a great catch from Collingwood at second slip. Devon Smith going for a heave to a Graeme Swann delivery was caught in front, he was given out and wasted a referral in the process. Ronnie Sarwan and Ryan Hinds took the score to 58 before Sarwan edged Swann to Collingwood at first slip, Colly had dropped him in the first innings off Monty Panesar but this time he made no mistake. Hinds and Chanderpaul took them safely to tea. Shortly afterwards Swann had another lbw decision go his way, Chanderpaul out for six off 51. His replacement Brendan Nash was plumb in front three overs later. Wickets continued to tumble just when you thought the match was over, Hinds was dismissed for a most valuable 20 by Panesar, Gayle defied for 42 balls (only one scoring shot) before Panesar picked him up as well, that left nine overs for three wickets. Anderson bowled Powell with four overs left but Fidel Edwards for the second time in the series batted out the final overs this time alongside Denesh Ramdin who faced 87 balls under intense pressure.

Stat of the day: Swann final innings figures of 21-13-13-3 were the most economical of the last decade but it mattered little, England needed wickets.

Was As Dead As A Door Nail

2009-03-09T23:55:00.003Z

If this wasn't the final Test and if Andrew Strauss wasn't going 'to make a game of it', tomorrow, then nobody would bother watching. But as it is there's a glimmer of light that there may be an exciting climax to a so far dull match. The match is so dull that the third umpire has resorted to playing around with the referral system to make sure people keep watching, we don't want to miss the next howler, we can't look away. The referral system has received so much criticism from all quarters that it's almost certain the ICC will make the trial permanent. It's the only ICC plan to enliven matches played on flat decks. Some advocates of the system have said that it works but the umpires aren't using it properly but frankly that doesn't matter, the bottom line is whether the problem lies with the third umpire or the on field umpires we've seen numerous combinations and they have all made a cock up of things.

The day began with Brendan Nash and Shiv Chanderpaul settling back into another day at the office of batting time. On and on they went, their partnership worth 82 overs before Nash was eventually prised from the crease, how many runs the stand was worth is unknown the tally lines had disappeared since they were first coupled. Nash reached a first Test century before falling to Stuart Broad, Nash had spent 18 deliveries on 98 and 99 having jumped from 90 with cover drives off an Amjad Khan over. The lure of Amjad is already wearing off, Jonathan Agnew pured yesterday he was exciting, all hustle and bustle, today there was no sympathy as he was carted around. Neither James Anderson or Stuart Broad are world class bowlers but both were by a wide gulf better than Amjad, simple conclusion Amjad was never Test class and never will be.

Shortly after Nash's dismissal came the first referral of the day Shiv was given out caught behind on 90, he referred it and after inconclusive replays the decision was reversed. Shiv made no further mistakes and reached his 21st Test ton. Ryan Hinds at the other end was dismissed for a quick 23. Denesh Ramdin scored a less quick 15 before Anderson finally got some reward in his 27th over. That wicket brought tea after which Chris Gayle resumed his innings and after nine balls he was gone again. Fidel Edwards held out for a while, Lionel Baker didn't, Shiv remained unbeaten. Gayle could learn a thing or two about preserving your average from the little man. That's not a slight on Shiv who faced 358 deliveries so he wasn't playing for a not out although with him who can tell, I just think Gayle was rather stupid to enter the fray when he's injured and the match clearly can't be lost.

England were left half a session to bat and largely thanks to Kevin Pietersen they scored a brisk 80 before the day was out. In the fourth over of the innings Andrew Strauss edged behind, not given by Harper, it was referred and despite clear evidence he edged behind, the decision stood. Strauss, in guilt, hit a delivery straight back to Gayle in the next over. Owais Shah edged behind on one to send his Test batting average into Ramprakash country. In the dying overs of the day there was still time for more referral controversy, this time Cook was given out, he referred it, replays didn't look out but the decision stood. Cook trudged off not pleased. Pietersen ended on 34 not out, Collingwood 1. West Indies down to three bowlers at the start of the match now only have two and that will give the England players the confidence to play there shots tomorrow morning. England will have to give themselves two sessions to bowl and leave the West Indies an equation of roughly 250 in 60 overs. With Gayle injured I don't suspect they'll go after it, and that means the West Indies won't lose.

Bookies odds: Draw 2/7, West Indies 9/2, England 14/1

Effectively Over

2009-03-08T23:25:00.009Z

West Indies are on the brink of achieving their goal, they lost just three wickets today and it's now impossible to look beyond a third successive draw. The past three matches have followed much the same line, with me predicting an England win beforehand only to realise after a day or two that the pitch isn't a result wicket, whether this is the 'doctoring of pitches when you're ahead' tactic of yesteryear or just pure coincidence is debatable but given the statistic that in the decade before this series the Bridgetown and Port-of-Spain wickets have resulted in two draws in 18 Tests and have now produced two in consecutive matches you have every right to be suspicious.

The main points of interest from today were Amjad's action and Monty over appealing. As I have yet to sell my soul to Murdoch's men I can't fully comment on either but from the brief TV summary I did see I would say Monty's appealing was OTT, but as TMS constantly point out he doesn't understand the LBW law so he's always going to appeal for everything, add to that Monty's natural exuberance style for doing anything and it equals one of the most distasteful things in cricket, excessive appealing. The short highlights package don't include any close ups, but the comments on TMS said everything but 'he's a chucker', jerky action was a much used phrase. He's given away so many extras I doubt the West Indies will be complaining.

England could argue they had the better of the first half of the day. They removed the nightwatchman early and after Ronnie Sarwan received a life by Paul Collingwood's spill at slip he was also dismissed. His first failure of the series gave Amjad his first Test wicket. There was then a 20 over partnership between established Chris Gayle and the newcomer Lendl Simmons that took them through to lunch and beyond. Gayle reached his hundred off a quick single and pulled a hamstring in the process, he retired hurt replaced by Shiv Chanderpaul who had his own injury problems on day one. Shortly afterwards Simmons fell for 22 after a stubborn little innings, this left the score at 203/4 with two new batsmen at the crease, as good as things got for England on the day.

Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash are the two little roadblocks of the West Indies team, after the stroke makers at the top of the order these two are able to grit their teeth and battle for their lives when things are going wrong and when things are going right they do exactly the same. There can't be many modern players who have a batting average that exceed their strike rates but this pair is in that select group. They shared an unbeaten 146 in 52 overs passing the follow on target in the process. Brendan hasn't cashed in on the flat pitches in this series, his only previous half century came on the pitch in Jamaica which has most assisted the bowlers, but on 70 not out overnight eyes will be on a maiden Test century tomorrow. Shiv has scored just three boundaries in his innings so far and has been outscored by Nash although neither of these things will bother him. He also hasn't had a great series, but that shows just how far the West Indies have come, Shiv may be their best hope but he's not their only one.

Bookies odds: Draw 1/7, England 17/2, West Indies 16/1

Uphill Struggle?

2009-03-07T23:40:00.003Z

Today's play followed the course you expected, England batted into the final session before declaring their first innings for the third successive match. Also for the third match in succession West Indies will begin day three with one wicket down. With Powell coming in at three the order is lengthened even further, Denesh Ramdin is expected at number nine. A score of 546 was what England managed and that tells you enough about the pitch, it's going be an uphill struggle for England's bowlers to take nineteen more wickets in nine sessions. I followed none of today's play so apologises for the following three paragraphs.

Andrew Strauss added three to his overnight 139 before being bowled by Fidel Edwards, Owais Shah replaced Strauss but only lasted only a over before he ran himself out. Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior batted over half a day together, putting on 218 in 53 overs. They were given a helping hand by Chris Gayle who continued with the plan of bowling Brendan Nash, Ryan Hinds and himself. Hinds, a man who’s not taken a three-for in 13 Tests, was required to bowl forty overs, Gayle saved his fast bowlers presumably with a view to the ODI series, any second innings bowling plan will include reducing the run rate again.

Prior reached his half century before lunch off just 53 balls. Collingwood reached his ninth Test hundred in the last over before lunch. The afternoon milestone race was won by Colly reaching his 150 three overs before Prior reached 100. Before tea Gayle brought back a frontline bowler, Baker, and it did the trick, he caught Colly in front for 161 although it did require third umpire assistance. After tea Baker got his second wicket of the day, innings, Test and career when Stuart Broad punted one to long off. Swann had a bit of a swing and then the declaration came.

West Indies reply got off to a pacey start, and when new bowlers Amjad Khan and Graeme Swann were introduced it accelerated further. Amjad started with three no balls in his first four deliveries while in Swann's first over Gayle smashed two sixes. Monty Panesar came into the attack and in his first over produced the sort of variety he must have been working on, his final delivery got the breakthrough, Devon Smith letting a straight one go.

The West Indies tactics aren't attractive but they have so far been effective, the bookies odds changed quite a bit from yesterday with the draw now shorter than 2 to 1 on. I expected the draw to be favourite but the swing given England had a good day surprised me. It may be the desperation entering my head again but that 11/4 on England looks a decent bet.

Bookies odds: Draw 4/9, England 11/4, West Indies 14/1

On The Defensive

2009-03-06T23:41:00.000Z

I was out this evening so missed quite a lot of the first day but the close of play score tells me I didn't miss much and more importantly West Indies are well on their way to drawing this Test. 250 on a first day is no great shakes, against only three bowlers knowing you need to win the series it's poor, perhaps England know something about the pitch.

Once again Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook disapproved two of my predictions early on, Strauss on winning the toss chose to bat and Cook was dismissed in the first hour by Daren Powell who opened the bowling in the absence of the injured Jerome Taylor. Lionel Baker replaced Taylor in the side while Sulieman Benn was dropped with Lendl Simmons making his debut. England selectors also shuffled the pack; Matt Prior, Monty Panesar and Amjad Khan replaced Tim Ambrose, Ravi Bopara and Ryan Sidebottom. None of those were in action today but they'll need to be on the top of their game if England are to win, the attack of Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and an injured Graeme Swann is a bit meh, you're almost certain what they'll come up and on their own they can't take twenty wickets, they need some X factor. Monty needs to show the weeks of working with Mushtaq Ahmed weren't wasted and to show some variation (very cliché I know), without which he is a line and length bowler, nothing wrong with that if you bowl 80mph but it's not what you want from your spinner. Amjad, we're all told, can reverse swing the ball, if that's true then it would be a massive boost to the armoury of this attack.

Back to the play and scoring was slow, Strauss and Owais Shah put on 100 in 40 overs, Shah was on 0 for 19 balls before attempting a suicide single, Shah produced some nice drives but had to retire hurt with hand cramps. Kevin Pietersen was caught in front by a Brendan Nash delivery that kept low but was reprieved by the third umpire as the ball pitched outside leg. Pietersen was bowled by Ryan Hinds, who fulfilled the main spinning duties with Benn dropped, before tea for 10. Strauss and new man Paul Collingwood put on 100 in the final session. Strauss scored his third century in as many matches, not failing late in the day like his previous two, while Colly reached another fifty.

So England on top after day one but the West Indies will be happy with things, a run rate of lower than three means England may have to bat all tomorrow to get the first innings score they want. I suspect England will reach a big total as the West Indies bowling is toothless, the pitch is good for batting although slow. The real battle will begin on day three when England five man attack takes on the West Indies seven batsman.

Bookies odds: England evens, Draw 11/10, West Indies 14/1

Final Chance

2009-03-05T23:04:00.006Z

Tomorrow begins the final Test of the England-Windies series, England have a third and final chance to draw level in the series they were expected to win. They crumbled in Jamaica to go one behind and have been on a so far fruitless chase round the islands in hope of getting their own back. In Antigua a combination of their own caution and some heroic resistance left them empty handed while in Barbados the pitch was too good, now to Trinidad and a pitch which all reports suggest is a result wicket, but which way will it go.

I made some predictions before the fourth Test and let's just say they were poor, I could blame the flat pitch for my expert forecast being somewhat awry but I daren't hide behind that. Number one went wrong at the toss, England won and batted meaning Strauss' remarkable record as captain continued, his side has batted first in eight out of nine Tests including the last seven. The rest of predictions fell like dominos, Cook finally found some form and disproved two of my predictions, Swann didn't get a bat, Ramdin produced a career best performance, Taylor was easily outbowled by Edwards, the top order West Indies collapse was out the window before they had batted, not even Powell could get dismissed for a duck, Shiv was robbed of a big score by the third umpire and finally the desperation of predicting England finally winning proved ill-advised. Ten predictions all failing, I am the anti-Nostradamus. In an effort to clear my name I am going for one final round of predictions and further am sticking with most of the line-up from the last Test.
*West Indies will bat first.
*First innings scores to be within 50.
*Monty Panesar to outbowl Graeme Swann.
*Alastair Cook will score another century (and some idiotic sports presenter will compare it to buses).
*Chris Gayle to outscore Andrew Strauss.
*Graeme Swann to better his highest score.
*~~Jerome Taylor~~(injured so replaced with Fidel Edwards) to take a five-for.
*Shiv will top score for the West Indies.
*KP will top score for England.
*England will win.

What's Wrong With The A Team?

2009-03-04T23:12:00.003Z

To talk about cricketing matters after the events of yesterday doesn't seem trivial but the show must go on. After the cancellation of the Lahore Test if leaves a blank in the international calendar and a blank on the subjects I can talk about. The most high profile cricket was the England A-New Zealand A 'unofficial Test' not sure why they've come up with that title for it, it's probably all part of the project 'make A team cricket more attractive' which included the name change of England A to England Lions, don't the ECB have bigger problems than 'sexing up' A team cricket (that would be a great TV show), apparently not. My ability to link any cricket event back to a dig at the ECB or ICC is quite remarkable.

Anywho the A team's first match ended in similar fashion to the full teams recent result - a bore draw which barely made the third innings never mind the fourth - but there was a eye catching performance from an England perspective in the form of Jonathan Trott. Trott top scored in both innings with 138 not out and 75 not out, and the most important thing is he scored the runs at number three; the exact position England selectors are scratching their heads over.

Michael Vaughan was there for a while but he was only in the XI because he was captain, Ian Bell was there for a while but he was only in the XI because Peter Moores much preferred him over the alternative, Owais Shah. Shah finally got a go in the first series after Moores was sacked, but after two Tests is likely to be dropped as England go for five bowlers in the final Test. He got out after playing nicely at Antigua and didn't look convincing on a flat deck in Bridgetown but two Tests aren't enough to draw assessment on. Who fits into number three in the line-up for the final Test is a good question, and leaves me with a dreaded doubt that England will stick with Shah and go for six batsmen, virtually seven with Matt Prior returning. If Shah doesn't play then Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara and Prior are all options to move up, I would go for KP as I think he's the batsman I'd want going in at 0/1 or 100/1, I would be comfortably with Prior or Bopara coming in at 100/1 as they would be facing a old ball and have a platform enabling them to play freely but Pietersen in his fiftieth Test must be the best suited to coming in at 0/1.

Returning to Mr Trott, he's a Warwickshire batsman and is South African born so would no doubt fit well between Strauss and Pietersen in the order. He averages 42 in both first-class cricket and the one-day stuff but last year he had averages of 62 and 54, so he's definitely on the up. The only English qualified players to have scored more runs in last years County Championship were Bopara (already in), Marcus Trescothick (retired) and Stephen Moore (who is opening for England A), none of whom averaged more than 62.

Is Trott the man to fill the gap? Who knows, first-class averages are a decent indicator of a player in my opinion but by no means can they tell you how well someone will do at international level. Will he be given a chance? I highly doubt it, Shah will only be dropped because of circumstances, and there's Vaughan and Bell who if they play reasonable well early in the English season will be in the frame for the first home Test of the summer.

Black Day For Cricket

2009-03-03T22:57:00.005Z

No long piece today because there's been more news and opinions than you can shake a stick at. The only point I'll raise is from the ICC press conference with Haroon Lorgat and David Morgan, some of the information coming out appeared to be contradictory. I'm sure I heard at one point they said that Sri Lanka hadn't sent secruity officals, they also said it's the individual boards responsibility to take secruity checks however with ICC officials in the country they must do they own assestments. They also revealed the damning verdict of their own secruity men ahead of the Champions Trophy last year, they said the information was discussed at an ICC meeting, so it makes you wonder why on Earth did Sri Lanka go?

There was also difference of opinions on the 2011 World Cup, Morgan was noncommittal on the subject but Lorgat said it's high unlikely or similar and in a interview with BBC later on said it was "inevitable" that Pakistan will not play host.

Flat Out

2009-03-02T23:16:00.000Z

The bowlers ordeal is over, after five days of fruitless efforts they can finally stick up their feet and consider how they will be able to walk tomorrow, physios will be working doubly hard to get everyone fit, but those with the biggest headache of all will be the England selectors who need to decide on a side that is capable of taking twenty wickets on what you expect to be another flat un in Trinidad on Friday. With Matt Prior returning to the team the only option will be to go with five bowlers. The golden rule of putting is to make the ball reach the hole, it ain't going in otherwise, the England selectors need to go with five bowlers to make sure of getting a result, it's no certainty it will go their way but they need to give themselves a chance.

~~Pessimistic~~ England fans believed there was a chance of defeat at the start of play and although Alastair Cook looked shaky to begin, the draw was never in doubt as England serenely batted the day out losing two wickets before the result, which we all knew after day one, was rubber stamped. If the day does remain in the memory of anyone then it will be Alastair Cook who finally convereted a Test fifty, it had been 11 unconversions before today when he finally made his eighth Test century, 14 months, 16 Tests and 967 runs since his last one. He shared an 88 run stand with Andrew Strauss to quell even the most pessimistic of fans. Owais Shah fell soon after lunch for 21, not a significant score in the obvious sense but it could be significant if England go with five bowlers on Friday. Shah had taken the old advice of 'get our foot to the ball' too literally and was stroke on the full by a Sulieman Benn deliver, that brought Kevin Pietersen to the wicket, remember him. He and Cook batted out the rest of the day, Pietersen reached 72 at the close while Cook was 139, his highest Test score and during it he became the youngest Englishman to reach 3,000 Test runs. Previous record holder, David Gower, was 25 years 239 days, Cook is 24 years 63 days, if he doesn't make 10,000 I'll eat my hat.

The Test in Johannesburg finished as expected, the South Africans couldn't repeat their record run chase of three months previous. It reminded me of the 2007 World Cup match when Australia scored 400 and because of that record ODI the previous year people expected South Africa to chase it down, especially after getting a good start, but they started to crumble and ended up comfortably short. A few weeks later they were celebrating being crowned, once again, the number one team in the world.

Quality Not Quantity

2009-03-01T23:40:00.003Z

This week there's been more runs than a diarrhea clinic, firstly there was the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test at Karachi where 1,553 runs were scored for the loss of 18 wickets (average of 86.27 runs per wicket) and now in Barbados we have 1,355 runs for 15 (90.33) with a day to go, if you really need more then head to Lahore, 317 for four after day one. I called for accountability by the Karachi groundsman, PCB and ICC so I shall do the same now, how can the Barbados groundsman (can't be bothered to find his name), WICB and ICC accept a pitch that doesn't allow for a balanced contest and doesn't allow even a possibility of a result. The pitch in Johannesburg looks reasonable fair, and at least is producing a result, so why do other groundsman find it so difficult, and why don't the ICC instead of pouring money down the drain that is China put it towards appointing pitch experts (an elite panel of course) so the premier format of the sport remains of the utmost quality. They are trying to control an uncontrollable in making the Chinese cricket fans/players why not take the easy route and control the controllables.

Today Ronnie Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin were the men to make the most of the conditions; they shared a 261 run sixth wicket stand which took up most of the first two sessions. It's the largest stand of the innings, match and series. Sarwan eventually fell for 291 after 699 minutes and 452 balls, whether it ranks higher than his match-saving innings in the last Test is matter for debate. By the time he departed Ramdin had reached his maiden Test century, his previous best was 71 and when he eventually fell he'd more than doubled it. Taylor produced an entertaining fifty with a number of lusty blows. Ramdin along with the tailenders scored quick runs, the last 150 added in less than 30 overs, the acceleration gave the West Indies a health lead and with the thoughts of the conclusion in Jamaica and Antigua, there were some who contemplated a chance of victory. The pitch is showing no sign of deteriorate so I can see no way in which England will get dismissed inside a day, they'll need to use the day as some batting practise and make the opposition bowlers toil ahead of last chance saloon in Trinidad.

The match in Johannesburg is far more intriguing but I haven't followed it so can't really comment but South Africa attempting a world record run chase are 178/2 and fuelled by the memories of Perth the bookies make them a best price of 5/2, Australia are a shade of odds on while the outsider, the draw, is 3/1. In contrast the outsider in the Carribean Test, an England win, is 500/1. Tells you all you really need to know.

Shining Sarwan Overshadowed

2009-02-28T23:19:00.001Z

Today was another day when the referral system took more headlines than the players. The decision of the third umpire to give Shiv Chanderpaul out was quite frankly breathtaking, as I don't have Sky I didn't see the decision first hand but from the furore it created I knew it was bad, but still I felt I needed a trip to the opticians after seeing it. If balls, which nearly everyone can see, going over the top are given out by this referral system, because there's no definite proof that a ball would continue to rise, then clearly there's no way this trial can became a permanent aspect of Test cricket. There was also the decision to give Brendan Nash out which gained controversy, I've only seen it once and that was front on and it looked alright but Hawkeye apparently said it was going over. Based on the previous decision it seems highly peculiar that this time there was enough proof to reverse the original decision of not out.

To be fair, if it wasn't for Daryl Harper, the day would have quite boring. Of course there was enough great innings by Ronnie Sarwan, once again there was a sense of déjà vu, he had scored 94 on the third day of the previous Test. But besides that it was the routine we expected, pitch still flat, batting still straightforward and bowlers toiling. West Indies basically have saved the follow on and with six sessions left England have to get 15 wickets and score about 200 runs. With the final Test to come Strauss won't throw caution to the wind and the draw is the only possible result, best price with the bookies is 6 to 1 on, sounds like buying money to me.

Sarwan was a constant through the day batting with Smith, Hinds, Shiv and Nash. The largest stand came in the afternoon alongside Chanderpaul, they put on 122 in 37 overs before the first of those controversial dismissals. Nash played an attacking cameo, in contrast to his previous efforts of the series, before falling to Swann, who picked up three wickets in the day, all lbw. Of Swann's 19 wickets, 11 (57.9%) have come from lbws, eight were left handers. The greatest off-spinner of all time Mr Murali has an equivalent percentage of 18.8. Admittedly it's only the start of his Test career (Swann not Murali) but it's an interesting anomaly nevertheless.

The day belongs to Sarwan his innings of 184 not out contained 19 fours and two sixes and apart from a slog sweep for six off Swann every single one of his boundaries came on the off-side, driving and cutting with the full confidence of a man in the richest vein of form of his career. The only drying up of boundaries came after that six, he scored a four next ball but then 27 overs before his next boundary, the reason? he was on 74 and didn't want to throw away another Test century like he had last week, a batsman who learns from his mistakes, I wish England had one. In April of last year I stated Sarwan is in the Bell/De Villiers envelope of talented but some what unfulfilled, two of those players have started to fulfil their potential, demonstrated by their performances today alone but one sadly, from my perspective, has gone backwards.

A Bit Flat

2009-02-27T23:46:00.000Z

After two days England have declared on a mammoth first innings total and the West Indies are face a 500 odd deficit with nine wickets remaining after the loss of Chris Gayle. Haven't we been here before?

I said yesterday the pitch wasn't as flat as Antigua but I have to admit I was wrong, it is much flatter and England don't have a snowballs of getting twenty wickets so we should turn all our attention to Johannesburg and see what this South Africa is really made of. I say that because the really top teams are able to wriggle themselves out of the position they find themselves in. I remember Australia beating Sri Lanka 3-0 in 2004, in every single Test they were behind the eight ball but every time they came through. Now South Africa aren't Australia (1999-2007) far from it, but if they harbour ambitions of being the number one ranked side they've got to learn to wriggle.

I won't turn my attentions to that match though, as I'm English and watching our bowlers toil for the next three days is exactly the sort of thing I'm used to. West Indies took six wickets in five sessions, England need 19 in nine so unless the pitch deteriorates the result is a forgone conclusion. Therefore it does seem pointless to comment on today's preceding but I will as I've got to meet the 400 word minimum for this blog.

Pietersen, just like last week, fell early on the second day, instead of Colly and Prior now we had Colly and Bopara, their partnership proved the backbone of the day. Bopara got a life on four but after that the pair made hay; they shared 149 of the easiest runs you're ever likely to find before Colly had a ginger moment. Out, with a century within his little grasp. Bopara and Ambrose scored even easier runs, against an old ball delivered by tired men on a flat track, they contributed 113 runs in 21 overs before Bopara was caught going for a big hit, unlike Colly however he'd reached a century first, how eight runs can make such a big difference in how people will reflect on their innings. Colly didn't give a chance early on and had to face the new ball but Bopara will receive more plaudits in the papers tomorrow, of course he's a younger, more inexperienced player but it seems strange the differing assessments the pair will receive. Ambrose scored a few runs without Ravi before Strauss decided 600 will do. A word for Fidel Edwards who was the pick of the bowlers and his figures didn't show the threat he posed, that's what you get on flat pitches (and with dodgy fielders). Gayle was dismissed leg before wicket by the third umpire, the decision gained some controversy although I thought it looked alright. Devon Smith and Ronnie Sarwan survived the new ball spells and looked comfortably set for some batting practise tomorrow.

Déjà View

2009-02-26T23:28:00.001Z

I assessed England as having the upper hand after day one of the previous two Tests and neither resulted in anything so I'm not going to be lured into that trap again. The pitch is flat, England losing three wickets in a day tells you that, so it's hard to look past a draw even this early. The title is from the identical first day close as the previous Test, 301/3, there's also the Strauss factor who scored yet another century. Why view instead vu? It's because I've used vu as a headline before.

England chose to go with Sidebottom ahead of Harmison and, I feel somewhat significantly, Bopara over Bell, is this the shape of post-Moores England selection policy? They may have thought those selections would please the media, but oh no, most grumbled at the lack of a fifth bowler, how many of those did so before play is another question. England batted first yet again under Mr Strauss. At lunch the Strauss and Cook partnership had passed a hundred for the second successive match, it was their eighth century stand in all but that never previously put on more than 123, this time they did cash in, piling on 229. Strauss fell after tea for 142 and Cook went five overs later going for another hook, having miscued only minutes earlier, 94 means his run of fifties continues. Shah never looked comfortably and fell for seven after an hour's batting. Late on despite Benn getting some turn, the new ball was taken and it proved expensive, 41 runs coming in six overs. Collingwood and Pietersen set to continue their successfully middle-order partnership tomorrow.

The West Indies did drop a few chances which point to this pitch being slightly more helpful to bowlers than at Antigua last week but England do have a weaker attack. As I said last week England will be looking to 550, contributions from Ravi Bopara and Tim Ambrose will be needed if they do.

Apparently the two top ranked sides in the world are playing somewhere, not sure why they would dare to compete with this wonderful series but they have. Apparently Australia named three debutants, sounds like England in the 90s, and one of them got a duck, sounds like England in the 90s. Howstat informs us that great openers like; Sir Len Hutton, Saeed Anwar, Graham Gooch, Herbie Taylor and Glenn Turner all made ducks on their first Test innings. Looking on the negative side of things, he is an Aussie after all, so did Matthew Elliott, Kris Srikkanth, Neil Fairbrother, Bruce Edgar and Ken Rutherford.

Fourth Test Predictions

2009-02-25T23:42:00.004Z

Before the second Test which turned into the third I made some predictions, and I never reviewed how unsuccessful I was but on the eve of the fourth Test I've decided to have another go at predicting so thought I would wrap up my previous effort. Number two and seven weren't particularly fair as neither player got a game but I might as well give myself one point out of the two. Number one was always pretty obvious but still that's another point. Looking back the third prediction was a poor one, Cook scored fifties in both innings. Number four I got right and that wasn't a certainty. Number five was wrong although I based that on the pitch which surprised everyone. Number seven is my proudest prediction of the round, the 'white Sobers' did pick up his maiden wicket, it was by no means a certainty, his first-class bowling record read just six wickets in 42 matches. I got the English half of the top scorers right but the most important prediction went awry on that final day. So that makes a 50% success rate, not bad for a first effort.

So here goes with predictions for the fourth Test:
*West Indies will bat first
*Alastair Cook won't score a sixty in either innings.
*Ravi Bopara and Graeme Swann will both break their highest scores in Test cricket.
*Tim Ambrose will outscore Denesh Ramdin.
*Jerome Taylor will take a five-for.
*West Indies will find themselves at approximately 50/4 in one of their innings.
*Daren Powell will fall to a duck in one innings.
*Shiv will top score for the West Indies.
*KP will top score for England.
*England will win.

I've kept numbers eight and nine and have slightly altered numero due and sei. The first is based on Strauss' record as Test captain, England have batted first seven out of eight so I'm of the thinking that record must be evened out. I thought of going with just Bopara on number three but the odds of that would be stingy so I chucked Swann in as well. Ambrose did well in the warmup and I have a feeling he might do well here. Taylor didn't have the best of matches last time but with his fast bowling colleagues earning the plaudits he'll be fired up to show who really is the star performer in this attack. Number seven is based on the theory of the 'Test after the Test before', he's number ten for a reason. Sticking with Shiv, he's got to come good some time, and moving to KP for England. Finally the England win that should have been last week will arrive, I'm normally very pessimistic so this is perhaps a sign of desperation rather than belief.

Balance The Books

2009-02-24T23:35:00.003Z

The question on most people minds is will Younis Khan break Brian Lara's record but I can't be the only person thinking how can a groundsman (and the PCB and ICC for that matter) justify a pitch that produces 12 wickets in four days? Take nothing away from Younis, you can only play the wicket that's stuck in front of you and without his effort Pakistan could have been struggling even on this the most placid of pitches but it still doesn't feel right that a match can be so one-sided.

As we draw to a close on this decade and we look back on it that phrase 'one-sided' has been far too prevalent than anyone would want. Bangladesh after 59 Tests continue to struggle, most have been defeat most by an innings, sure they've come close on a few occasions but they're still to get a credible victory. How long will their learning experience last, I suspect it will be at least another 10 years before they become a decent Test side and they'll be given that time because of the ICC Asian influence. The reasons why the ICC has let the bat-ball axis became one-sided is less clear, my theory which I spoke about the tother day is that faster scoring has led to shorter matches hence administrators wanting five days of attendances and television companies want five days of cheap TV put pressure on grounds to produce wickets to satisfy their wants (I should probably do some research as to whether matches in the early 2000s were shorter than they are now to backup my theory but I'm convinced no-one has enough time do to the research and prove me wrong so I should be alright). To stop that I advocate four-day Test cricket, pitches would then be forced to become more helpful to bowlers or else we'll return to 60s 70s and 80s subcontinent cricket with draws comfortably outweighing results.

I have rather drifted off any semblance of a point, apart from attempting to boost my own campaign for four-day Test cricket by coming up with theories which are based on hunches. I guess one point I attempted to make was why has the ICC sat back and watched for years as the game has continued to be dominated by the bat. Four day Tests or a change in the lbw law are far to drastic measures for a conservative governing board but do something, please.

Multiple Choice

2009-02-23T23:17:00.002Z

England's two day tour match with the Barbados Cricket Associations President's XI came to a finish today, amazingly the match was drawn but did serve as a reminder of how poor the touring party are. Ravi Bopara and Amjad Khan, two players not good enough for original 16, were able to step off a plane from New Zealand and produce the best performances of the match. With England's performance in the first two Tests (technically not but it makes easier writing) then it would hardly be surprising if either or both made the team for the fourth Test on Thursday.

Rather than answering questions the tour match gave the England selectors more selection dilemmas than ever although one decision was made straightforward as Matt Prior has decided to return home to see his wife and new born baby. Predicting the rest of numbers 6 through 11 of the line-up is anything but straightforward, will the hungry newcomers get slots or will the selectors go to tried and tested mediocrity. Prior's decision to go means the five man attack is out of the window, bad news for Adil Rashid, therefore Freddie's number six spot is a straight battle between Bopara and Ian Bell, the latters second innings of 72 in the warm-up match may be enough to get him a Test recall.

The bowling attack isn't quite so clear; Stuart Broad is a cert as is Graeme Swann if he's passed fit, if not then Monty will make an immediate comeback. The other two fast bowling spot could go to any of four (Khan, Sidebottom, Harmison and Anderson), of those I feel Sidebottom must play if he passes through this warm-up fit, Khan showed that although he takes wickets he's just as expensive as Harmison and Anderson, even if Sidebottom isn't moving the ball at least he offers you some control. Of the other three it's a job to choose but I think the selectors will go for Harmison on the basis that without Freddie they'll need some pace and bounce. Second guessing the selectors is a haphazard business so expect Bopara, Rashid, Khan and Anderson all to play in Bridgetown. As I have said before there's plenty of players to choose from, none of them much cop but still, you've got a choice.

Sportsweek Reveals Extent Of ECB Shambles

2009-02-22T23:32:00.000Z

On BBC's Sportsweek programme that devoted a large portion to the Stanford saga, David Collier was given top billing for his first interview since the affair. The second question Gary Richardson asked was what financial did Stanfords offer? This seems a slightly strange question as it was well reported that Stanford offered $3.5 million per year, and Richardson is full aware of this. Collier responds immediately by saying it was less than 2% of total revenues, BAMM Richardson got what he wanted, obvious next question why did the ECB need to do the deal? Collier's limp response to this is the broadsheets would have been interesting reading had we turned the deal down. Collier has clearly done some research and then reads out some of the broadsheet headlines at the time, well yes some journalists may have thought it was a good idea but they weren't the ones doing the deal were they David? They weren't the chief executive who were putting their name on a multiple million pound deal were they David? They weren't the ones who should have been pulling Stanford's financial fortune apart with a fine tough comb were they David? Stop passing the buck, take some responsibility and resign like a decent man would do. Richardson's next question was on whether the ECB would pay back the $3.5m if Stanford was convicted of fraud, a question you would expect and you'd have an answer prepared, apparently not, he'd have to consult the board, what exactly have the board have been talking about for the past week.

Collier reveals that all board members didn’t see the whole of the contract; his excuse for this oversight is because 'it's always been the case', that sort of thinking got Ian Bell so many caps. When asked if he had considered resigning Collier went on a detour but eventually said no, during the detour he said he didn't feel he could have done anymore when signing the deal. Bizarrely on the next question he backtracks and says he did talk to Giles Clarke on the subject of whether they should resign. The interview ended with the new coach question and asked whether it will be an Englishman, Collier said the ECB would appoint the best man for the job, a simple 'no' would have sufficed.

The other cricket interviews were with two county chairmen, Neil Davidson of Leicestershire who talked sense and Andy Nash of, Giles Clarke's, Somerset who didn't. Nash went through all the positives from the past few years, clutching a straws when you get down to IPL deal that was struck when clearly the ECB and PCA caved from two weeks to three, it may only be a week but it means players will go straight from India into a Test, it's 'only' the Windies was the thinking. Nash denied that chairmanship of the ECB is a closed shop and said 'democracy within cricket is alive and well'. Richardson pointed out there was only one person running and Nash repeated his previous comments. Davidson pointed to the fact that it's hardly a democracy when half a dozen county chairmen refused to speak with Jonathan Marland (the guy who attempted to run). Nash said that because Marland had sent him an email rather than giving him a phone call, Nash refused to speak to him. The most frightening thing Nash said was that the majority of county chairman agree with him.

Things we learnt today: 1) The ECB makes decisions based on what the papers say, 2) Collier has his own personal collection of newspaper headlines that agree with him, 3) If you're inadequate at your job and you're doing your best there's no need to resign, 4) The board hasn't bothered to discuss the Stanford saga yet 5) The ECB couldn't afford to photocopy the Stanford contract for all it's board members, 5) If you're running for ECB chairman you must telephone county chairman instead of emailing and 6) That most of the county chairman are mad as a box of frogs.

Foray Into Four Day

2009-02-21T23:09:00.002Z

Not a huge amount of news today, not from an England perspective any road. There's been plenty of domestic cricket around the world with Ishank Jaggi (159* for Jharkhand) and Shoaib Ahmed (7/15 for Hyderabad) making names for themselves in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and in South Africa Herschelle Shmoikel Pinkus Yerucham Gibbs led the Cape Cobras to success in the South African Twenty20 competition.

The only international cricket was the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Test which doesn't attract my attention much, I know I claim to be true cricket fan so should love any Test cricket but Sri Lanka-Pakistan doesn't get the juices flowing. It's nothing to do with quality I'd have more interest in New Zealand-West Indies, so perhaps it's my naturally hatred towards the Asian block. What happened in today's play was Sri Lanka batted first and made plenty, 400 in a day in fact. SL have never scored 400 in a day against decent Test opposition (Everyone but Bangladesh and Zimbabwe post 2003). So as I'm not interested in the play I'll widen the issue.

It's time for the ICC to seriously consider four-day Test cricket. Let's take a step by step run through of recent times. Increased number of ODIs -> Increased scoring in Tests -> Matches finish earlier -> Groundsman make pitches flatter to last five days -> Balance between bat and ball distorted -> Increased number of T20s -> Increased scoring in Tests -> Matches finish earlier -> Groundsman make pitches flatter to last five days -> Balance between bat and ball distorted further. Well that's how I see things anyway. If Tests are made four days, groundsman wouldn't prepare such flat tracks and the bat-ball axis would become more balanced. Four day Tests may also allow teams to have some warm-up matches in tours and possibly the two Test series currently prevalent everywhere could be left for Bangladesh alone.

After the Oval Test of 1938, Bradman wrote in the 1939 Wisden of the doping of English wickets: "The scales are not evenly balanced, and the question of wickets needs serious consideration." Seventy years on it's a similar state of affairs. Bradman also proposed another change in the lbw law (the existing laws came into affect in 1935) allowing any ball pitching in the offside that would go on to hit the stumps to be given out, therefore scrapping the 'if he plays a shot he can't be out' bit. Removing that removes a grey area from the umpires mind ('is he making a genuine effort to play the ball' can be interoperated differently by different umpires), makes the laws simpler which is no bad thing and will level the bat-ball playing field. This Bradman fella knew a thing or two about cricket, it's a shame the people high up in power don't.

Allen, Adil and Andy

2009-02-20T23:48:00.003Z

Not a huge amount of news today, there has more in the ongoing Stanford saga with him being found somewhere after going missing at some point. I'm not particularly up on the details because I've done my best to avoid the story. The other Stanford related news is that, and you may want to sit down for this, the ECB have terminated their contract with Allen. Some people were calling for Giles Clarke's head even before this week's revelation so it's hardly surprising his position is under serious scrutiny but sadly he'll come through this storm still at the head of affairs, David Collier will take the bullet for him.

On the field, or at least closer to it, today we heard Graeme Swann is doubtful for the fourth Test after suffering an elbow injury. With Freddie already in the treatment room this latest news may open the door to Adil Rashid's Test debut, but sadly we know how England selectors work, in all likelihood they’ll turn back to Panesar and Bell. Let's explain the problem mathematically. Three fast bowlers + in form spinner + half-fit Freddie = 19. Three fast bowlers + out of form spinner = less than 19. Let's start the bleeding obvious for a second, England if they want to win the series have to win in Barbados, and to win you have to take twenty wickets therefore pick five bowlers and back the top five to score big. The tour match should have an impact on who plays hopefully Rashid is at least given a go in that one, if he doesn't then serious questions need to be asked of the England selectors. Why pick a third spinner if when one spinner is horribly out of form and the other is injured he still can’t get a game.

And finally, today Andy Flower has said he wants the permanent job, probably not the best timing of his career. The ECB began the selection process yesterday when they issued the job advert. An interesting line, for Andrew Strauss at least, is: "The post holder will be the senior official within the England Team and will exercise full control over all other Team management personnel." We also learn the selection for the job will be assisted by Simon Cummins, with the ECB bigwigs you wish he was leading the search. Two of the required skills ('Demonstrable success as a cricket coach at domestic and/or international level' and 'Strong disciplinary skills') rule Andy out of the running, but as he's the cheap option he stands a chance.

Windies Defy The Odds

2009-02-19T23:14:00.000Z

Well well well just when you think you know cricket, you realise you don't. It looked for all the world as if England had the match in their pockets but West Indies proved a master pick-pocketer, they survived a tense final day for the loss of six wickets to gain a share of a the match they were behind at every stage.

After a rain delay of 75 minutes to begin the day, Sarwan and Chanderpaul did a great job in batting to the middle of the second session. In all they batted 53 overs, the longest partnership of the match proved decisive, they reached the new ball and although they fell to it it meant the lower order didn't have to face it. Sarwan reached a 13th Test century that should have came two days ago but on 200 for the match his off stump went flying to one that came back and kept low while Chanders six overs later edged behind, both dismissed by Broad. Nash and Ramdin survived to tea with five wickets left, the draw was favourite. Nash fell in the fourth over after tea, the tail was exposed and the pendulum swung England's direction. England were firmly in the box seat when Taylor fell playing a loose shot and Ramdin played on. Twenty-one overs against the West Indies 9, 10 and jack should be enough for any side. Swann's third lbw of the innings got rid of Benn with 14 overs still remaining but the final pair of Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards proved adept enough against a tired bowling outfit that severely missed Freddie.

This result isn't as crushing as in Jamaica, they are some good performances to take from the match in the form of Swann and Strauss, but there are serious questions as to why England can't get over the line in matches. Lord's, Edgbaston, Chennai, St John's in the last nine matches should all have been won after early dominance but none were. Strauss's second innings declaration and the choice of Anderson as nightwatchman have already been highlighted in the immediate post mortem so I suspect they'll receive more coverage tomorrow. I said two days ago that 450 would be the target lead, that would have given England seven more overs, but would it have been enough? Instead of negative England I should give a word to the West Indies, it was a great backs-to-the-wall effort led by Sarwan but just like at Jamaica there were a number of valuable contributions. The ability to draw matches you have no right to is another sign that the West Indies are on the up.

Tomorrow Is Another Day

2009-02-18T23:03:00.000Z

Too busy with other stuff to follow today's play but it wasn't on paper the most attractive day of Test cricket, waiting around for an England declaration and then waiting for the wickets to fall. It always seemed unlikely that England could have a fourth successive day of dominance and the close of play total still left the West Indies the chance to escape.

Nightwatchman Jimmy fell having survived the first hour, a dismissal that pleased every Englishman although the West Indies best plan of slowing the rate would have been to let Cook and Anderson bat on and on and on (well you get the idea). Shah played the shot of the day, hooking Powell for six, before he fell soon after going for another pull. Cook and Pietersen reached lunch safely on 135. Cook fell two overs later for 58, he was unlikely to reach a hundred today but it still makes ten fifties since he last converted one. For the record it's not a record Arjuna Ranatunga ended his career with 22 'unconversions' and there may be a longer run if I could be bothered to check. Back to the action, Pietersen and Colly added some impetus to the innings with a 42 run partnership in seven overs but thereafter wickets tumbled. Four England batsman lost their wicket in 25 balls as they used the long handle to get 500 ahead, once they did Strauss called time leaving four and a half sessions to bowl the Windies out.

The second half of the day was back to the proper Test cricket. The West Indies, looking to bat time, and England, looking for wickets, could both claim to be satisfied with their work. The West Indies with their two best batsmen at the wicket against an old ball and apparently rain in the air have a snifter of a chance which is all they deserve after being outplayed for the majority of the match. England have got three top order wickets and know if they could either Ronnie or Shiv early then it will be plain sailing.

Up The Swanny Without A Paddle

2009-02-17T23:31:00.002Z

England have had a third successive day of dominating proceedings and are in serious danger of getting into a position that even they can't manage mess up. Graeme Swann (5/57) was the pick of England's bowlers as they dismissed the West Indies well short of the follow on target. Andrew Strauss decided to take the safety first option and bat again although he didn't last long. England now lead by 312 runs with nine wickets remaining, not only are they holding all the aces but all the kings as well.

Devon Smith and nightwatchman Daren Powell began the day well, not only surviving but adding 54 runs in the first hour. However the drinks break did for them, Smith falling to Swann the second delivery after the intermission. That brought Ronnie Sarwan to the wicket, he proved to be the mainstay of the West Indies innings. Powell fell to Swann before lunch having done his job well, if every nightwatchman faced 83 balls...then it would be god awful game. Sarwan and Ryan Hinds batted to the double century before Hinds fell for 27 nibbling Flintoff behind (Aggers do stop it). That was as good as got for the West Indies, the middle/lower order didn't quite collapse more crumbled. Chanderpaul fell early, very un-Shiv like and after a solid partnership between Sarwan and the 'white Sobers', Sarwan went for a wander on 94. Down the wicket to Swann and back to the pavilion he went, in between the ball went straight down Flintoff's throat (Aggers do stop it). Denesh Ramdin allowed Swann some catching practise off a full toss to leave the Windies well in the mire at 252/7. Nash and Taylor survived for a dozen overs but the new ball got the former for a fluent 18 off 81 balls. The tail didn’t last long, Swann and Flintoff boosted their figures with a wicket apiece. England led by 281, but with Flintoff and particularly Harmison suffering Strauss chose to bat again. If those two bowlers had been fully fit I would like to think Strauss would have stuck them in, but I suspect I'm wrong. Fidel Edwards steaming in dismissed the captain for 14 which led to Jimmy Anderson making a second appearance as nightwatchman, apparently compulsory under ICC regulations.

The declaration point will provide much of the discussion tomorrow, and there'll be doubtless criticism as Strauss makes sure of things and delays it until England have a 450+ advantage. West Indies will want to contain England (after an early burst with the still new ball) however that's not their bowlers' strength. Even if they do contain England, their batsman are going to have to bat for at least four sessions which on a pitch continuing to deteriorate would be some feat.

Colly Century Exerts England Control

2009-02-16T23:09:00.002Z

I didn't follow all of today's play but once again England had best of things and remain on top, but the question remains of whether they can obtain twenty wickets on this surface, in many ways the match situation has changed little today with a draw and England win still in a even race. 301 for 3 overnight, you half expected that England would surrender the advantage and be all out for under 450, a score that would allow the West Indies a chance of getting a result themselves. However, England exerted the advantage thanks to a Paul Collingwood century and some useful contributions from the lower order.

After nightwatchman Anderson fell to Fidel Edwards in the second over, Collingwood came to join Kevin Pietersen at the wicket. Pietersen was strangely subdued today and Collingwood, despite a 15-run handicap, overtook him after a sixth boundary took his score to 28. The pair reached lunch without loss on 391/4. Pietersen fell shortly after lunch for 51 from 132 balls with just four boundaries. Of KP's 28 Test fifties it was his slowest. Flintoff fell second ball to a off-cutter shooter that any of the best batsman in the world would have struggled to survive. After that Collingwood and Prior shared 62 before the latter fell to Brendan Nash for 39, I had predicted Nash would take his maiden wicket in this Test so was quite pleased the 'white Sobers' obliged for me. The next partnership between Collingwood and Stuart Broad was also worth 62, Broad scored the majority (44) as he kept most of the strike away from Colly who had reached his century just before Broad's dismissal at the hands of Hinds. Swann and Collingwood smashed a few before the declaration came leaving England half a session of bowling before the close. The dangerous Gayle, who had scored 30 off 31, gave his wicket to Harmison to add the cherry on England's day. Without Gayle the West Indies will be looking to grind the runs out in search of the follow on target of 367. The match situation should look clearer tomorrow night, if West Indies look on course for 367+ it's a likely draw, if they don't it will be the best possible opportunity for England to get back in the series.