Postsengland in sri lanka
Back to where we belong
By Will last year, at the end of December, 5 Comments »
Well that was brief and relatively painless, like a plaster being ripped off. But have a look at the scar!
England are back to where we belong. We’ve bullshitted our way to obscurity since winning the Ashes, and no amount of excuses about player unavailabilty can paper over the cracks which, in Sri Lanka, widened to cavernous proportions. This is a new era, certainly, but it reeks of the 1990s. Welcome back, England.
What did you make of the tour?
5 Comments »A damp squib of a Test match
By Jonathan Liew last year, mid-December, 5 Comments »
Mike Selvey was seeing the Galle squelch-pit through uncharacteristically rose-tinted glasses in yesterday’s Guardian:
Already there has been insensitive and thoughtless talk about shifting the match back to Colombo - as if that is the sort of thing that happens when rain is forecast for Chester-le-Street, or the Old Trafford outfield has been damaged by concert-goers. It just goes to show how some people are incapable of seeing a wider picture beyond their wraparound shades: anyone who suggests such a thing has failed to grasp what this match at this ground means to Galle specifically and to Sri Lanka in general.
The point Selvey was making, I think, is that it doesn’t really matter if there’s any meaningful cricket or not in Galle: as long as everyone turns up and mumbles some vaguely heartfelt sentiments about how much it means to the region, it’s really rather immaterial that a Test series is ruined and the England fans who have travelled thousands of miles to see proper Test cricket are instead treated to something rather akin to the serious bits of Comic Relief.
Obviously - obviously - it’s great that Galle is getting back on its feet, and it’s also nice to see international cricketers recognising the existence of something more important than cricket. Yet at the same time, there’s a Test match to be played, and either the ground’s fit to stage it, or it’s not. If it’s not, then moving the Test would have been simple common sense. Not only that, but it would have given Galle time to make a grand, dignified re-entrance to the Test arena, rather than the sodden mess that looks like ensuing.
If it’s playable, then, you know, fine. Hoggy’ll like a bowl on it. But while this outpouring of generosity and consideration to a town still trying to remake itself is absolutely the right thing to do, you do wonder whether it could be done without also devaluing Test cricket, which is in the interests of nobody. Offering support and assistance to those in need is one thing; ruining an enthralling Test series to achieve it smacks of perversity.
5 Comments »Pietersen c Sangakkara b Vaas 1
By Will last year, mid-December, 6 Comments »
Oh how simple it sounds.
Pietersen c Sangakkara b Vaas 1
Alas, it is anything but - and the media (yes, I know I’m part of it, but I can still comment) might be making a meal of it in the coming 24 hours. For those of you who didn’t see it, this is what happened:
| 60.3 | Vaas to Pietersen, OUT, and the plan has worked, it’s a brilliant piece of work at slip, but wait, there’s controversy. Pietersen went for a drive at a wide ball, nicked to the third slip, Silva, who dived to his left and grabbed the catch low to the turf, it bobbles up and Sangakkara comes from first slip to take the rebound. Pietersen waits as the umpires consult, Harper raises his finger, but TV replays show the ball appears to have brushed the ground before the initial take by Silva. Pietersen waits inside the boundary, as he did at Lord’s earlier this year against India, but there’s no overturning this decision and he’s off |
Clarification from Andrew Miller:
The difference between the two incidents is that at Lord’s there wasn’t an original agreement between the umpires on Dhoni’s catch, it was given immediately by Simon Taufel. However, in Colombo the umpires conferred before deciding Pietersen was out and the laws state that the third official can only be used if the view of the on-field umpires is obstructed.
This is clearly bullshit and the law needs amending immediately. Like many, I still hanker after the good old days when video replays were rare and pretty inconclusive, but cricket must move with the times and we can’t have this middle-ground where technology is used sparingly. It’s making the sport look pretty damn stupid.
Your thoughts? Vote on the right-hand-side of the site, too.
Should the third umpire be consulted more often?
- Yes, for all decisions in which the on-field officials are unsure (49%, 25 Votes)
- Yes, but not for all decisions (22%, 11 Votes)
- Replace the umpires with robots and Noel Edmonds (20%, 10 Votes)
- No, leave it as it is (10%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 51
Loading …Harmison the iPod
By Will last year, at the start of December, 6 Comments »
Great line from KingCricket on Steve Harmison:
We see and agree with the reasons for omitting Steve Harmison, but it does underline why we like him. You can’t pick a guy whose bowling line is set to ’shuffle’, but he’s resolutely not an English seam bowler. He’s 12 feet tall and he bowls quickly. It’s not that he’s capable of bowling quickly, it’s that he just does it. It’s his natural speed. In Sri Lankan conditions the ‘effort ball’ is pretty much an impossibility. Effortless speed is the only option.
Talking of nothing at all, I was pondering some songs which might accompany cricketers to and from the crease (Twenty20 style) the other day. I didn’t very far - The Police with So Lonely for the trudge back to the pavilion was an early idea though. What might England’s team have on their iPods, I wonder?
Update: AC/DC’s Shake Your Foundation for Adam Gilchrist. And possibly the theme tune to The Archers for Kevin Pietersen, in a “I’m more English than thou” sort of statement.
England fight but falter
By Will last year, at the start of December, 7 Comments »
What a cracking day it was. My mate messaged me shortly after it, having only caught snippets, and was surprised at my post-match adrenaline. Today was Test cricket at its gnarliest, epitomised by Ian Bell and Matt Prior’s stand. They played magnificently and it took a genius, Muttiah Muralitharan, to dismiss them both. With them went England’s hopes of salvaging a draw (if not a win). Had the tail managed to wag, England were about 20 minutes away from the safe confines of a draw owing to the fading light…but it wasn’t to be.
It was fun on comms, too. In the last three hours we had a consistent 40,000 people reading the live scorecard. That’s a heck of a number, and several hundred emailed in to say hello. We had people from Warsaw, librarians in Warwick and a school-teacher with his feet up setting his pupils a long (and quiet…) test.
What made Murali’s day all the more remarkable was that he was wicketless for most of the day. Only on receipt of a juicy, shiny new ball did he strike, and how, with the crushing double blow of Prior and Bell.
Worrying for England, they only have three days in which to recover - and Matthew Hoggard won’t be part of their Colombo gameplans. Come on down, scattergun Steve Harmison.
What did you make of England’s performance? Or, for that matter, Sri Lanka’s?
7 Comments »Matthew Hoggard’s video diary from Sri Lanka
By Will last year, at the start of December, 3 Comments »
Matthew Hoggard is video-blogging his tour of Sri Lanka. Have a look below, or click here.
You need Flash Player 8 or higher to view video content with the ROO Flash Player.
Click here to download and install it.
Matthew Hoggard, England all-rounder, animal lover and technical wizard gives
us a warts-and-all look behind the scenes as the tour of Sri Lanka gets
underway.
In the first episode, he struggles to cope with jetlag, enjoys the view of a
building site outside his bedroom, turns the tables on a Sky Sports reporter
and gets up close and personal with a Male Body Toucher.
England’s reserves
By Will last year, at the start of December, 1 Comment »
The news came through today that Billy Godleman, the Middlesex batsman and James Harris, Glamorgan’s 17-year-old fast bowler have both been called up to England’s academy squad in India. Or, to give them their new and irritatingly forgettable title, the England Performance Programme (EPP) squad. What a stupid, stupid name for a team that is. What was wrong with National Academy? Anyway.
Here’s how the ECB describe the EPP. “The purpose of the EPP is to provide world class support for the England team, currently in Sri Lanka for the Test series and to provide an ideal environment for players to progress with their individual development.”
That’s quite some statement when you consider just who England have to call upon, and how inexperienced they are.
Moeen Ali – Worcestershire
Tim Ambrose – Warwickshire
Tim Bresnan – Yorkshire
Michael Carberry – Hampshire
Steven Davies – Worcestershire
Joe Denly – Kent
James Hildreth – Somerset
Graham Onions – Durham
Adil Rashid - Yorkshire
Chris Schofield – Surrey
James Tredwell – Kent
Chris Tremlett – Hampshire
Jonathan Trott – Warwickshire
Luke Wright - Sussex
James Harris - Glamorgan
Steve Finn - Middlesex
Billy Godleman - Middlesex
Of course they don’t have to call upon just this lot, and they’re in India for their own development as much as cover for the senior side. But it’s always interesting to see who the selectors consider to be future England batsman and bowlers. Matt Prior needs a good tour in Sri Lanka…Tim Ambrose is a little bit good.
1 Comment »England start well
By Will last year, at the start of December, 1 Comment »
Surprised? Me too, as are the whole of England no doubt. This was comfortably the best start by a touring England side to a series I can remember for years - certainly by one bowling first, and definitely by one who lost the toss. My and my colleague reckon it’s the best bowling performance since Angus Fraser took 5 for 28 against the West Indies on the first day at Sabina Park in 1990.
The threat of Muttiah Muralitharan still looms large. Like a really, really nasty weather forecast for a Bank Holiday you just know he’s going to cause havoc at some time or another, especially considering the turn Monty Panesar got. Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan played him pretty safely in the evening gloom, however.
It certainly beats the horrors of last year.
1 Comment »Bopara or Shah?
By Will last year, at the end of November, 8 Comments »
Before meeting the bumbling Boris just now, I was reading Christopher Martin-Jenkins’ piece in The Times on the selection dilemma England are faced with. Will they opt for the greater experience (and age) of Owais Shah, or plump for Ravi Bopara’s allround nous and youthful potential? CMJ reckons the decision is as much down to the selectors’ own opinion - stats and figures can only tell us so much - but, like me, would pick Bopara for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Saturday.
It’s tough luck on Shah, who I have followed since he was captain of England Under-19s a decade ago, but now is the time for Bopara.
Who would you go for and why?
8 Comments »England’s number eight crisis
By Jonathan Liew last year, at the end of November, 4 Comments »
I like Ryan Sidebottom. He’s a smart bowler, a hard worker and a thoroughly nice man. He is not, however, a Test match number eight. There’s a very real prospect that England could find themselves this time next week 150-6, with Sidebottom, Hoggard, Panesar and Anderson to come. With Muralitharan wheeling away at one end and Malinga at the other. It’s frightening to contemplate.
Slagging off Duncan Fletcher is all the rage at the moment, but his emphasis on batting all the way down the order was one of the more commendable things he did for the England team. He understood that losing your last five wickets for peanuts hands the momentum to the opposing team, as well as undoing all the good work of the batsmen. It’s a lesson Peter Moores is in danger of ignoring by leaving both Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann out of the XI for the final warm-up game.
Your number eight has to bat. And while England don’t have a Pollock, Lee, Vettori or Vaas, the least they can do is shore things up a bit by playing Broad or Swann (both of whom, by the way, have earned a chance with the ball). In the long term, Flintoff might drop to seven. But for the moment, playing four number elevens in a place like Sri Lanka isn’t just unwise, it’s suicidal.
My choice would probably be Swann, with Anderson to miss out.
4 Comments »Fans warned: ‘Do not disturb’
By Will last year, at the end of November, No Comments; be the first!
I have to admit this piece from Christopher Martin-Jenkins completely passed me by yesterday, so I’m indebted to Patrick for pointing it out.
How crass it was, therefore, for the team’s permanent travelling security officer, the mustachioed Australian Reg Dickason, genial and popular figure around the team though he may be, to take it on himself to justify his presence by building barriers between the open dressing-room area on the grass in front of the intimate little mahogany panelled pavilion at the Colombo Cricket Club and the tiny smattering of spectators who had come to watch.
That was not sufficient for the eagle-eyed protector. A block of wood was added to close a gap between one pillar of the gazebo and the boundary fence; a table was placed to bar entrance to further grassed steps directly behind the players and finally, la pièce de résistance, up went a handwritten notice in green ink: “STRICTLY NO AUTOGRAPH PLEASE: It is a disturbance to the players. Please understand.”
This may seem a small matter, but it is an important one. It might conceivably have been excusable had the players shown any sign of being disturbed. In fact, like most professional cricketers, they seemed happy to sign the occasional autograph and they are perfectly capable of courteously refusing one when needing to concentrate on the match.
Good to hear that Andrew Walpole nipped this particular example of ridicularse in the bud. Even judging by photos of the team and interviews, it’s clear there’s a buzz of excitement there which, in the last year of Fletcher’s reign, was waning. Peter Moores and the ECB need to start afresh, and I hope examples like the one above aren’t repeated too often. It’s pathetic.
No Comments »Have Australia done England a favour?
By Will last year, mid-November, No Comments; be the first!
Have Australia done England a favour, asks Dileep. It’s something I was pondering today when the news came through that Farveez Maharoof will miss the England series. They are receiving a hammering from Australia and yet the first Test against England begins on December 1.
When Sri Lanka lost 2-0 away to India two years ago - Murali was in the squad - the damage wasn’t done by pace bowlers, but by Anil Kumble [in Delhi] and Harbhajan Singh [in Ahmedabad]. If England’s batsmen apply themselves as well as they did in the middle three one-day games, they have every chance. As Australia have shown, neutralising Murali is half the battle won. Deny him wickets, and the Lankan lions looks toothless. If they continue in this vein, Michael Vaughan’s younger pride might just inflict a mauling.
Neutralising Muralitharan is of course the principle aim for England. Half the battle is then won. I was chatting with a colleague briefly today about England and we both admitted to being excited about this series. Peter Moores was in charge over the summer, but the shadow of Duncan Fletcher still loomed over him and England. With his book now out, al the revelations exposed, I think he is now firmly relegated to the past and England can move on. It’s an exciting time and my editor, who was down in “Bell’s Kitchen” the other day, told me he sensed a new and fresher England side. New coaches, fresh faces, new enthusiasm - time to crack on and nail the Lankans while they’re down.
Winning in Sri Lanka did wonders for Fletcher. With the youth of this side, it’s a delicious prospect to think what Moores and co might achieve.
Who will win the Eng-SL series?
- Sri Lanka (59%, 53 Votes)
- England (31%, 28 Votes)
- 1-1 tie (10%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 90
Loading …Notes from the pavilion for October 19th
By Will last year, mid-October, No Comments; be the first!
Links of note from the past 24 hours:
- Breaking: Rashid misses out on Test squad - Yorkshire Post - 19 minutes after the England squad announcement for their tour of Sri Lanka, the Yorkshire Post gets right to the point. Where’s Rashid? Come off it.
England name squad for Sri Lanka tour
By Jonathan Liew last year, mid-October, 1 Comment »
England have named their squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, and it’s pretty much as predicted:
Vaughan, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Shah, Bopara, Mustard, Prior, Broad, Hoggard, Anderson, Sidebottom, Swann, Panesar.
Some initial thoughts:
1) It’s pretty harsh on Chris Tremlett, who hasn’t really put a foot wrong yet for England. Unless – gasp! – they’re punishing him unfairly for his indifferent one-day form.
2) If the selectors were going to drop Strauss they should have replaced him with another opener, rather than naming three number sixes and promoting Vaughan, who doesn’t even want to open.
3) If both of Harmison’s practice games get rained off, where does that leave him?
4) Either Broad or Swann has to bat at number eight. Which means that, cruelly, one of Anderson or Sidebottom has to sit out. Or both, if Harmison waltzes back into the team. In other words, all three pacemen from the India series could be left out in favour of someone who wasn’t even good enough to make the side at the time. Hmmm.
5) The fact that Mustard has been named in the full squad, rather than placed on standby in Chennai, is hardly a resounding vote of confidence in Prior. Is Mustard, in fact, the reserve opening batsman?
What are everyone else’s thoughts?
1 Comment »England win a one-day series
By Will last year, mid-October, 7 Comments »
Even I, an insufferable cynic of one-day cricket, had to be impressed by England today. In fact, they have been the better team all series. Athletic in the field, imaginative and flexible with the ball, generally industrious with the bat and captained sensibly by Paul Collingwood.
Your thoughts on the match and series? Is this the turning point or were Sri Lanka caught napping in light of being Muraliless?
7 Comments »