Rain stops play

So far this year I have been to 3 separate days of international cricket. The 1st was the ODI England vs New Zealand at Edgbaston, the 2nd was the 1st day of the 3rd Test of England vs South Africa also at Edgbaston and the 3rd day of the 4th Test of England vs South Africa at The Oval. I only bring this up as I have had the luck or lack of, this year to have only seen 1 full uninterrupted day of cricket.

• Of a potential 100 overs in the New Zealand game, I saw 54 overs;
• I saw all 90 overs of the day at the 3rd Test versus South Africa; and
• Of a potential 90 overs at The Oval, I saw a mere 17.5 overs!

So this year out of a possible 280 overs, I have seen 161.5 overs, just over half of those possible had there been full play on each day! Really gutted with that so far this ’summer’, never more disappointing than in the New Zealand game. Actually I’ve never previously had to apply for a refund as I had to do in the final Test of the year. Absolutely gutting. One last chance to make it up comes when I go to the ODI at Lords at the end of the month. Please please please please please don’t rain!

Anyway of the day at The Oval, Pietersen’s first Test in charge no less, the highlights for me were, Stuart Broad ripping out McKenzie’s middle stump, the classy batting of Hasim Amla and the aggressive return of Steve Harmison.

A great atmosphere with people leaping to their feet when the young man rearranged the furniture! Definitely my favourite moment of the day.

England vs South Africa Preview

The forthcoming Test series between these two nations has been earmarked by many England watchers as a true indicator of where England are in world cricket with a view, whisper it, to the Ashes next year.

Over the last 8 months or so England fans have had something of a Kiwi overdose, playing them away then at home. Whose great idea was that? Playing the same team back to back to back to back to… If that doesn’t make the cricketing public of both England and New Zealand stop watching the game I don’t know what will. Perhaps that’s what makes the forthcoming series against the South Africans so appetising. Finally! Some different opposition! Those suits at the ECB are real masterminds…

As such there’s been a fair bit of build up in the media, plenty of talk of the pacy firebrand Dale Steyn and the resumption of KP’s duel against his homeland. On a lesser scale the duels between the two captains Michael Vaughan and Graeme Smith is being talked up. Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times points to a real chance of England suffering a home Test series defeat for the first time since the turn of the century, which is pretty uncharitable to India having won albeit with some luck. But hey, England had their fair share of it in winning the 2005 Ashes series. So what of England going into this series?

The team has good batsmen, but for my money lack something in terms of aggression especially up the order. Strauss and Cook aren’t going to take the opposition bowling to task and set the agenda. Which is why Trescothick and Strauss were such an excellent partnership at the top of the order. One clearly had the task of pushing the run rate along while the other accumulated. Guessed which one was which? When Strauss and Cook are together, neither one looks truly comfortable dictating the pace.

The places of the captain and Kevin Pietersen are the most secure in the batting line-up, so it falls to the other two specialist batsmen to prove themselves. Ian Bell absolutely oozes the textbook talent, but there is a suspicion that he only makes the big runs in easy game situations. A glance at when he makes his Test match hundreds shows that another member of the team has made a hundred previously in the innings. He needs to prove his worth in tough situations. Paul Collingwood on the other hand is stereotyped as a scrapper, but again he has something to prove following a poor home Test match series against the Kiwis. Ambrose is a good ‘keeper, but has something to prove after a poor recent ODI series with the willow.

Looking at the bowling, Monty Panesar should have a key role in the series being the only spin bowler of any note on either side (Paul Harris? Didn’t think so). Of the pacemen Sidebottom, Anderson and Broad don’t look as good a unit on paper as Ntini, Steyn and Morkel and will have to work hard to stay afloat.

Sidebottom is the most consistent of the 3 and has for my money supplanted Hoggard as the reliable element of the England attack. I think Anderson is greatly underrated; look at his performances in recent Test matches, albeit against the New Zealanders. His struggles against left handers have been highlighted and how he deals with Graeme Smith at the top of the order will be a key battle. Stuart Broad gets better with every match but has yet to be put in a situation where he can get England out of a tight spot or into an unassailable position.

Hence, my key battles for the series:

• Graeme Smith vs James Anderson
• Monty Panesar vs South African batsmen
• Dale Steyn vs England batsmen
• Kevin Pietersen vs South African bowlers

Six balls short

Got back from Birmingham yesterday in one way happy that I saw some cricket, but in another frustrated at the lack of result. I did not have great hopes of seeing my first live international cricket of the year given Tuesday’s weather forecast for the following day. I would not have minded if it had hammered down with rain all day, but the annoying spits and spots that kept England and New Zealand off the field, seemed tailor made to frustrate. A friend noted I seemed depressed as I munched on my lunchtime sandwiches.

Come two o’clock I was ready to hit the road for the 2 hour journey home avoiding the rush hour and as a last resort popped into the Sports Cafe to see if there was any prospect of play. It was absolutely agonising watching the groundstaff tentatively pull off the first of the outer covers in the background while David Gower chaired a breeze shooting session in the foreground on Sky.

My mood lifted in the taxi on the way to the ground, better late than never I suppose and Edgbaston cheered heartily when the players appeared for the 3pm start with Ian Bell playing at his home ground and the prospect of KP’s switch-hitting fresh in the memory.

Bell only lasted 3 balls before he got a leading edge and was caught in the off-side, looking to clip the ball off his legs. Never mind, time for Pietersen.

Great cheers as he walked out, however he didn’t really seem to time the ball too well, before he hit a catch straight to long-off on the edge of the fielding circle after scoring 13. Luke Wright on the other hand had some good clean hits in half century and having seen him for the first time I was reasonably happy with what was on show.

England lost wickets at some rate towards the end of the innings with Collingwood and Bopara involved in the most farcical, both diving towards the crease to avoid a run out. Bopara went for 10. I was really impressed by Owais Shah who looked in great touch as he got to 18, the highlight being a six he hit deep into the stands and midwicket that got the weather resilient Brummie crowd roaring. Dimi Mascarenhas tried to force the pace towards the end but was out cheaply as England lost all their wickets for 162 runs in their shortened 24 over innings.

Considering the weather, it was absolutely farcical that everyone sat around for half an hour between innings, surely the priority should have been to get on with the game? As it turned out, it made a real difference to the outcome. Or lack of.

The Kiwis came out to bat at six o’clock looking to chase 160 runs in 23 overs with the asking rate at about 7 an over, they played effectively if not in exactly a thrilling manner, picking up singles with the odd four clubbed along the way. The Mexican wave is often a key indicator of such play, but this is what the Black Caps do best; no place for a McCullum or Taylor fireworks show late in the day.

Cloud after dark cloud rolled over the ground during the match, over the pavilion, the pitch and then away towards the city. Unsurprisingly, it got progressively darker during the Kiwi innings with lights from the scoreboard and corporate boxes being very noticeable in what turned out to be the dying overs of the match. The temperature also dropped away significantly with the flecks of rain coming again. Wearing just a T-shirt under my light jacket it was the 18th over when I decided, looking at the skies coming in from behind the pavilion, that I’d had enough. After finally getting a cab outside of the ground (unreconstructed madness!), I slumped thankfully in my seat out of the rain that was now teeming down. On the radio Jonathan Agnew had just announced the abandonment of the game in the 19th over, 6 balls short of the Duckworth Lewis calculation kicking in and a result being had. The Kiwis were rightly annoyed being ahead on Duckworth/Lewis when the umpires pulled the plug.

Driving away from Birmingham later that evening the sky was the brightest it had been compared to almost anytime during the day. Frustrated but not as much as if I were a New Zealander. I had a slight smirk at that.

Hopefully Sunday will be better; I’m going to watch Northants in the Twenty20 Cup.

Collywobbles

Yeah and that’s the crappy tabloid headline out of the way! This has nothing to do with former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore, but being a cricket blog, it has everything to do with England ODI captain, Paul Collingwood’s, current struggles with the bat.

With his batting this season in all forms of the game hardly setting the world alight, or indeed the country (or indeed the county of Durham?) Collingwood will surely feel the pressure when England start their 5 match ODI series against New Zealand next week. As a gauge he only passed double figures once in 4 innings against a solid but unspectacular Kiwi bowling unit, scoring a measly 32 runs at an average of not even 11, giving him the worst statistics for a specialist batsman in the Test series. Hardly the same man who scored an almighty double hundred against the Aussies in their own back yard. (albeit in a losing cause in 2006).

Now I have to admit to a vested interest here; I have tickets to the 2nd ODI in Birmingham next week, my first live international cricket of the year, so the last thing I want to see as an England fan is Colly scratch around at the crease only to spoon a catch up for some bit-part Black Cap bowler. New Zealand will be up for it, wanting to take some cheer home with them following the 2 nil Test defeat when England’s bowlers found a rare moment of ruthlessness on the final morning.

With his early season lack of runs there has been much talk that his place in the side may be in jeopardy. Simon Hughes’ article in The Telegraph last week is a case in point and surely another poor series would have England’s fringe players again asking the question with Ravi Bopara and Owai Shah being the most audible of the enquirers. Yes, people will talk about his consistently excellent fielding, but it is as a batsman and a captain that he will be judged and Collingwood will need to assert those sides of his game to enable he stays at the helm.

The man is nothing less then a fighter, time and again working hard to maximise what skills he has often in the face of more obviously talented colleagues and opposition. Don’t write him off, but I’m sure he knows he has to fire in the coming weeks to retain his status as an England cricketer or risk being cast out.

Until then here’s the best of the England captain:

A quality catch; see ya Matty!

England flatter to deceive, Windies look upwards and the Royals are crowned champions

Right, I’ve been quite busy over the past week, which means that the ‘blog has had to suffer. I apologise for this one, I will have more time next week for a super special entry, I promise!

The 3rd Test of England vs New Zealand started today at Trent Bridge in Nottingham and it wasn’t long before England were in deep Trent water at 85 for 5. I guess like any other England fan, I look at the top 6 English batsmen and think, that though it looks a touch defensive, on their day they should be able to post good totals. However, that’s ‘on their day’ and if doesn’t come against as lightweight attack as the Kiwis have, it could be a blue moon in daylight before it does happen. For my money England have really missed the aggressive impetus that Marcus Trescothick used to give at the top of the order since he retired. I dread to think what a South African attack will do to our batsmen later on this summer. At least Pietersen and Ambrose showed what was required and though they got out towards the end of the day, 273 for 7  is a great recovery considering the English post-lunch blues. If the home team can eke out another 40 or 50 runs, they should be confident of holding New Zealand to something short of that total when they come out to bowl.

Across the Atlantic in the Caribbean, Australia are finding a West Indies side that are at least up for the fight which is more than could be said on their tour of England last year, when they apologetically rolled over for a 3-0 defeat. In truth since that low point, West Indies Test match performances have improved in recent months with a win against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, a win against Sri Lanka in Port of Spain and genuinely competing with Australia for the first four days of the 1st Test at Sabina Park before capitulating on the last day. They have a battery of decent quicks, Taylor, Powell and Edwards supported by Bravo and a rock in their batting lineup, Chanderpaul, for others to rally around. Some decent batsmen to support ‘Tiger’, Sarwan and Gayle and a spinner would give them a better balance. So are the Aussies wobbling? I wouldn’t believe it, sure most of the marque names of the past decade have gone, but don’t believe for one second that the Aussies are about to relinquish their throne. Well done West Indies I say.

I can’t end a review of the week without commenting on the IPL finals. After Punjab threw it away in the semi, to my mind it could only be Warne’s Rajahastan Royals to win the title, albeit I thought they might do it a bit more comfortably than leaving it until the final ball of the match. Credit should go to their opponents Chennai for making the match one that ebbed and flowed right up to the last over, in grave contrast to the one-sided semi finals. My personal favourite moment of the semis was watching batsman after hapless batsman trying to slog Warne away and failing as he turned the ball at right angles off the pitch!