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Saturation point nears
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
I think my brain is overloaded, fast approaching a cricket-saturation point. You’ll know that West Indies didn’t manage to beat Australia yesterday, but that didn’t stop my brain thinking otherwise. As I dozed off to sleep, I was immediately back in Barbados watching Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards lead West Indies to an historic win. The tactic Powell used of shepherding Edwards from the strike – ridiculed by all and sundry yesterday – was the key to their chasing down 475, and then discussion took place as to whether Gayle should be Knighted or not.
Then the familiar banging and crashing of my housemates woke me up at 5.30, and it dawned on me that I think about cricket far, far too much.
No Comments »West Indies’ dream still alive
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 13 Comments »
Can they do it? 235 for 3 needing a whopping 475 to win. Gayle and Sarwan have been and gone, but Chanderpaul remains not out. And the Windies have form in fourth-innings run-chases: they hold the record, 418 for 7…
(oh come on, we’re all allowed to dream aren’t we?)
13 Comments »Australia, they’re f****** finished
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, 31 Comments »
Those words came from a colleague today. Not just today, in fact, but through West Indies’ series against Australia. “The Ashes are coming home.”
I am significantly less convinced – though he has good form in picking these things – but heartened, from an English perspective, at the cracks which are widening. With Stuart MacGill’s shove (err, retirement? – ed), Michael Clarke has suddenly been elevated to their principle spinner. Beau Casson, who at certain angles looks well into his 80s, is MacGill’s unofficial replacement – so says Stuart himself – but with 107 wickets @ over 40 apiece, he’s hardly set the domestic scene alight.
Australia have just looked sloppy and off their game this series. Granted, Brett Lee eventually woke up today and blitzed West Indies, but not before a fairly mediocre opening burst, while Mitchell Johnson is accurate but lacks variation, at his own admission. Matthew Hayden, meanwhile, is clearly over the hill…or he would be if his knees would carry him. Their fielding is led by Ponting and Symonds, but the rest are fallible and were outfielded by West Indies in the first Test.
So, Aussies – where are you heading? Are you concerned about the number of star-quality players to have jumped ship in the past 12 months? What of Casson, Johnson and other rising up-and-comers? Defend your Baggy Green!
31 Comments »West Indies v Australia, 2nd Test, Antigua, 2nd day
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, 4 Comments »
After West Indies surprisingly resilient and bushy performance in the first Test, I was really looking forward to helping out in our coverage of the second against Australia in Antigua. Their fielding was electric, the bowling reasonably disciplined. A corner hadn’t been turned, but it was at least in sight.
That particular corner hasn’t disappeared completely, but today’s weak effort epitomises their plight. The fielding in the past two days has been shoddy (not helped, I admit, by an outfield which often leaves the long-barrier looking about as bulletproof as tissuepaper) and the batting, at times, well…I’ll come onto that.
First though, a happy tale – even if, in a roundabout way, it does prove how political cricket is in the Caribbean. Xavier Marshall is a 22-year-old batsman with stocks of ability – so much, it seems, that Jamaica refuse to play him. That doesn’t stop him playing Test cricket though, and his maiden fifty today showed glimpses of an extreme talent. He immediately reminded me of Sherwin Campbell when he drove Brett Lee repeatedly through the covers for scorching fours, and showed confident footwork to all the bowlers (until he left a straight one…). Best of all, he batted with a Caribbean flourish – none of this nudging and blocking and grinding. He whacks a cricket ball which, by definition, is what the batsman’s job description demands, and he did it with that carefree enjoyment that the world has missed from West Indian cricket. Keep your eye on him.
Bowling to Marshall was one of Australia’s elder statesmen, Stuart MacGill, and what a total shocker he had. Rank long-hop after half-volley after wide full tosses were sent down, seemingly at random…but predictably so, if that’s not a contradiction in terms. Brilliantly, the more he bowled the worse he became. One long-hop – a half-tracker at best – would have made Ian Salisbury jealous. Fear not, world: MacGill is very much in the winter of his career. As my colleague pointed out, he rarely looks fussed about the long-hops and continued full-tosses.
Outbowling MacGill, meanwhile, was Michael Clarke – an underrated left-arm spinner, or should that be mis-categorised? Clarke doesn’t actually spin the ball, but unlike MacGill he can land it on a length 10 times out of 12, and he was controlled enough to squeeze out two wickets to add to his rollicking hundred. Terrific innings which, dare I even think it, even had shades of Mark Waugh’s fluency about it. His tearful celebrations were pretty unAustralian though: what’s happened to them? They’re as bad as footballers these days (and yes, I know, Lara Bingle’s father died, yada yada).
And then my moment of the day, a snapshot of why West Indian cricket continues to take one step forward and two backwards. With about an hour left in the day’s play Runako Morton strode to the crease, his baggy-maroon cap at a jaunty angle. He clearly meant business, and not necessarily to the letter of the law. What a pity players can’t be jailed for crimes against batting, for Morton tried to heave a fullish delivery from Clarke and was caught by a perplexed Simon Katich at short midwicket. To his credit, he tucked the bat under his arm and strode off even quicker than he’d marched to the crease, presumably to find a hangman’s noose. The rashness of it defied explanation, and West Indies had lost their third.
Plus ca change, and all that.
4 Comments »West Indies need 287
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of May, 8 Comments »
What a game in Jamaica where West Indies are (somehow) putting Australia under all sorts of pressure. As I write, West Indies have begun their second-innings chase of 287 after bowling Australia out for 167 who, at one point, were 18 for 5. 5 for 18, 18 for 5 – go on, say it. It’s immense fun. I can’t remember the last time Australia’s top-order failed so spectacularly though my colleague reminded me of Edgbaston in 1997.
Is this the demise of the once great Australia? Of course it’s not – but it might be the beginning of the end, if that’s not contradicting myself. The embryo of a decline. It’s also pleasing to see Australian journalists are just as fickle as us Brits. Alex Brown, in the SMH, ponders the question and comes across all doom and gloom.
Being the West Indian fan that I am, and despising Australia as a pom’s birthright allows, I’m egging them on all 287 runs. Keep an eye on the scorecard…
8 Comments »McGrath 150-0 England
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of December, 1 Comment »
While Shane Warne added a gold lining to his script with his 700th wicket, on his home ground, and another five-wicket haul against England, Glenn McGrath was chugging along at the other end. He might have easily ended with more than a solitary scalp but, on a day of records, one of them nearly passed by unnoticed.
In dismissing Sajid Mahmood, McGrath claimed his 150th Test wicket against England. He has taken them at under 21 runs each and, it occured to me yesterday, I’ve seen nearly every, painful one of them.
The metronome started ticking in 1994 at the Gabba but it wasn’t memorable, and few who witnessed this spindly twig could’ve forseen a future champion. 0 for 40 from 10 in the first innings; 0 for 47 off 14 in the second. His enforced half-step into the stumps on delivery seemed a clever move but awkwardly executed. He didn’t look a natural.
A few months later, picked for Australia’s epic tour of the Caribbean, McGrath showed the qualities which would become a blueprint for fast bowlers. He took 5 for 68 in the West Indies’ second innings at Bridgetown - dismissing Brian Lara for the first time – as Australia took a series lead. After a draw in the 2nd Test at Antigua, McGrath took 6 for 47 to rout West Indies for 136. West Indies won – it remains one of my favourite Tests – but McGrath showed his class. Here’s the Daily Telegraph’s report:
McGrath, 25, a two-metre tall bush bloke from Narromine, held his
press conference barefoot and in shirt and shorts yesterday,
hardly the vision splendid of Australia`s knight in shining ar-
mour.But with the Ashes new-ball pair of Craig McDermott and Damien
Fleming injured and back in Australia, that is how “Pigeon“
McGrath has emerged in the Caribbean, having won the man-of-the-
match award in Australia`s first Test win in Barbados with 8-114
and now a candidate for the same honour in Trinidad.
McGrath sat in the players` box and scrutinised the West Indies`
attack on Friday, observing how Curtly Ambrose (5-45), Courtney
Walsh (3-50) and Winston Benjamin (1-13) bowled a fuller length
to avoid being cut or pulled with the ball digging into the pitch
and standing up.With several hundred Australian spectators following the team`s
progress, McGrath is still coming to grips with the personal war
chant – “Ooh, aah, Glenn McGrath!“ – reverberating around the
boundary.“It`s something I`ve never experienced before,“ he said. “It
started in Barbados. Hopefully, we`ll bring the cup home for
them. We`re real confident. We are here to win, and that`s ex-
actly what we`re going to do. The guys are pretty keyed up. If we
nail this Test, it will be great. It`s a pretty tense dressing
room. The main thing is that everyone wants everyone else to do
well. The attitude could not be better.“
Even the champions have to work hard. They always seem effortless, filled with luck and fortune but there’s blood and tears behind the smooth veneer. Anyway, he’s finished…and thank God for that!
