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« Previous EntriesMcCullum comes of age
By Will yesterday, about 9ish, 3 Comments »
I don’t really like the phrase “coming of age”, and I’m even less certain when a player actually comes of age. It’s open to debate and scrutiny, but Brendon McCullum’s run-a-ball 97 today was a microcosm of a player whose stock is rising remarkably fast. Yes yes, he thumped that unbelievable 158 in the Indian Premier League - but this was Test cricket, and New Zealand were blindly fumbling around a cavernous hole at 41 for 3. And then 76 for 4. Their top-order folded so meekly, and England’s bowling was so disciplined, that even 150 seemed a total beyond their reach. McCullum worked his backside off for his first 30 runs (and yet went to fifty from a relatively slick 65 balls) before exploding; the extra-cover smash off Stuart Broad into the Warner Stand was breathtakingly audacious and classy.
We all love explosive batsmanship, but an innings that combines grafting and sheer madness is doubly satisfying and doubly impressive. Perhaps I’m being too generous in saying he’s come of age, but then again the expectations of him are increasingly high.
3 Comments »Hoggard returns; no cover for Collingwood
By Will 5 days ago, in the early morning, 8 Comments »
So, Matthew Hoggard has been included in England’s 12-man squad for the first Test, alongside Paul Collingwood. Interestingly, Collingwood - who has an injured shoulder - wasn’t given any cover. No Ravi Bopara or Luke Wright to be seen. Andrew Strauss retains his place.
Batting looks strong, and the bowling ought to be too…but I’m never comfortable with Jimmy Anderson in the side. Who knows what he’ll do?
England squad
Michael Vaughan (capt), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wk), Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard.
Heart or wallet?
By Will Saturday, last week, 3 Comments »
I had a good look at Chris Jordan, the West Indian 19-year-old fast bowler, while I was down at Hove. He looks to be the real deal - lovely smooth action of 12 steps, recoiling as he approaches his delivery stride and a classical follow through. It looks all natural. It was a dead pitch, though he did remove Matt Prior with quite a slippery bouncer.
Have a read of my interview with him. He’s still not sure if he’ll play for West Indies or England, so I pressed Clive Lloyd on the matter…who is clearly desperate to lure him back. I read the other day that Dennis Lillee is utterly convinced Jordan will play Test cricket.
The only question, then: for whom?
3 Comments »MCC go pink
By Will 1 month ago, 6 Comments »
You’ve got to hand it to MCC. For so long they were the stuffy uncle of cricket: custodians of the laws of a noble sport, and with the detached arrogance to match such an honour. Their image has changed irrevocably in the past 15 years - just look at Lord’s for proof. It combines the old with the new like no other ground in the country (if not the world), and continues to break new ground. They’re now looking to utilise the tunnels beneath the nursery which once housed trains on the old tube line.
And today they unveiled a new pink ball as a potential replacement for the grubby white one which becomes so discoloured in ODIs. Yes, pink. It’s not as garish as it sounds and, on such a gloomy day at Lord’s, it was certainly luminous against the lush green turf. I’m not convinced it was any more visible than the old white one, but it appears MCC’s task is to find one more durable, not necessarily more visible.
Anyway. The chap tasked with all this is Dr Anthony Bull, a bioengineer from Imperial College, who was good enough to spare me and a couple of other reporters the time at Lord’s to explain a few things. More interesting than all the pink balls (honk honk, etc) was his opinion of the future potential of bat technology. He is convinced that within the current constraints of ICC regulations, the current bats can be improved so that a ball will travel a further 20% than they do at the moment.
That is quite some revelation and the impact on the game could be extraordinary. Mis-hits could go for six, or flashing nicks for six. Where on earth would this leave the poor bowler? Such a super-bat would give batsmen yet another unfair advantage over their opponents, and increase expectation on television suits to finish games even sooner than they currently do. Boundaries have been steadily creeping in from the fence in the past ten years - an absolute and unrecorded farce if you ask me - for that very reason: to get “result” games in order to lure bigger audiences to TV.
Anyway, we’re some way off ever seeing this super bat. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts. Would you be in favour of such a technological advance, or does it belittle the already hapless bowler to a mere support act?
More on Dr Bull and the pink balls at Cricinfo.
6 Comments »County cockroach here to stay
By Will 1 month ago, 2 Comments »
Some interesting pieces in the papers the last couple of days. Steve James in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph.
2 Comments »It is balderdash. There will be changes and rightly so, but the County Championship will survive. It always has done so and always will. It is a sporting cockroach. It’s small and ugly, and many a county chief executive considers it a pest and an impediment to financial progress. But stamp on it as much as you like, it will keep coming back for more.
For decades championship crowds have been declining and media space dwindling. But the standard of late has actually improved. Players elevated to Test cricket have often thrived immediately. One-day cricket has, of course, been a different matter.
[...]
It is still watched by far more spectators than equivalent domestic competitions anywhere else in the world. It is not always appreciated how fortunate we are in that regard. Even domestic one-day cricket is often ignored elsewhere. Walking into New Zealand’s state one-day final between Auckland and Otago, complete with their internationals, at Eden Park’s Outer Oval last winter was like stumbling upon a poorly attended benefit match. Only a few hundred spectators were there to witness an electric 170 from Otago’s Brendon McCullum. That was on a Sunday, too.
English Premier League gathers momentum
By Will 1 month ago, 10 Comments »
The news that Allen Stanford, the Wild West’s Lalit Modi, is to meet the ECB next week offers a delicious opportunity to ponder what the England board has up its sleeve. And still the ECB continue to maintain, with absolutely no conviction, that they “don’t want a knee-jerk reaction to the IPL”. That is exactly what they want, and arguably need. There’s a sense the ECB are spitting nails that another country - god forbid India! - have stolen their Twenty20 and created a monster from it. They want that monster, their beast, back.
So they’re pondering the English Premier League (EPL), a smaller sibling India’s giant tournament, to take advantage of England’s season to attract international stars. It’ll probably take place in June and July next year as no other country has any international commitments to conflict. And with Stanford potentially coming on board - it’s absolutely unclear what, if any, the Texan’s role might be - the prospect of millions of dollars come into the equation.
Stanford’s 20/20, the Caribbean tournament which he piled millions of his own money into, has been a runaway success with cricket at its core. There are even some who wish Stanford would take charge of ICC’s World Cup every four years; he does things loud, in a very American way, but rather like Mr Getty has a fondness for cricket and wants to keep the sport’s traditions at the centre. Also like Getty and Modi, he knows a good deal when he spots one.
In the IPL, team names have been singularly uninspiring. The Mumbai Indians, the Deccan Chargers, the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Boring. What do you make of England’s plans, and what teams might be created?
10 Comments »Ian Bell, one of Wisden’s five: right or wrong?
By Will 1 month ago, 6 Comments »
So then. The 2008 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack launches tomorrow and judging by the torrent of abuse my phone received today, the general opinion of Ian Bell being awarded as one of the Wisden five is one of shock. Or faint disgust. You decide.
When I heard about it, I admit it was quite a surprise - but bear in mind the qualification period is up to last December, by which point Bell had utterly cemented his place and the doubters were left flushed. For the time being, at least. Lawrence Booth:
Peter Moores and Andy Flower began to encourage him to express himself more at the crease and suggested he practise with a narrow bat against the spinners - a tactic he had employed in his youth. The idea was to force him to hit through the line, and the result was borne out at The Oval and in the one-dayers, where his total of 422 runs at 70 was the highest on either side. Not only that, but a strike-rate of almost 92, a full 23 higher than his previous career figure, pointed to a new sense of urgency. Now the two bats - one the width of a ball, the other three-quarters that - go everywhere with him. Less for once has meant more.
A mate of mine called the decision a travesty and said it even denigrates the value of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. I’m less angry about it, mainly because I can see reasons for his inclusion (excellence in one-dayers and generally more consistent) and otherwise. But the level of disgust calls me to open this up to the rest of you.
Right decision or not?
6 Comments »Blu Tack England
By Will 1 month ago, 12 Comments »
I urge you with all my might to watch this video by LeftArmChinaman. It is a thing of majestic beauty and brilliance.
If you can’t see it above, head to his blog.
12 Comments »Ambrose demolishes England
By Will 2 months ago, 5 Comments »
14 years ago to this day, any lingering doubts or reservations I had that cricket had taken me under its spell were emphatically removed. England needed 194 to beat West Indies in the third Test at Port-of-Spain, and in came Curtly Ambrose, bounding up to the crease, arms pumping, gold chains swinging - with a menacing, almost demonic look in his eyes. 19.1 overs later, England were bowled out for 46 and my passion for the game was confirmed, signed, sealed and dated. Even now, if I catch a glimpse of that spell in Trinidad, I am fairly awestruck.
Bizarrely, I’ve just remembered it’s my grandmother’s birthday too. She’d have been 108!
5 Comments »The 19th best all-rounder in the world
By Jonathan Liew 2 months ago, 7 Comments »
The latest ICC Test rankings have Huddersfield’s own Ryan Sidebottom in the top 10 for the first time. That’s a mighty fine effort, seeing as he’s only played 13 tests and doesn’t yet qualify for a full rating.
Even more impressive, however, is that LG deem him to be the 19th best all rounder in world cricket. Suck on that, Stuart Broad…
The list goes:
1) Kallis 2) Vettori 3) Flintoff 4) Vaas 5) Bravo 6) Pathan 7) Oram 8. Gayle 9) Kumble 10) Lee 11) Symonds 12) Franklin 13) Sehwag 14) Collingwood 15) Harbhajan 16) Muralitharan 17) Clark 18) Rafique 19) Sidebottom 20) Zaheer
I still maintain that if Anthony McGrath had got a fair crack of the whip he could have been the new Ian Botham. The man averages 40 with the bat and 14 with the ball in Test cricket. Botham averaged 33 and 28 respectively. Reckon we missed out on a potential legend of the game there.
7 Comments »Ticket availability for England’s summer
By Will 2 months ago, 1 Comment »
Grab yourselves a ticket or two while you can.
1 Comment »Strauss not out 114
By Jonathan Liew 2 months ago, 8 Comments »
Well, it’s tea. Andrew Strauss is 114 not out. It’s yet another infuriating twist in the tale.
It’s infuriating, not because I didn’t want him to score runs, but because it delays still further the day when I finally make up my mind about him. I really was beginning to formulate a definite opinion of him: a nice-looking player but too limited in his range of strokeplay, prone to playing away from his body, iffy against spin, etc etc. Then he goes and scores a hundred. Fair enough, it was chancey, the attack was county standard at best, the pitch is a belter and Bell’s hundred was better. But it is a hundred, and one that matters. Vaughan and Collingwood can’t buy one of those at the moment. And, at the age of 31, it seems he’s finally discovered the straight drive.
So since I can’t muster an opinion of my own, I reckon I might be swayable by somebody else’s. Do leave yours below…
8 Comments »Highlights of Sidebottom’s 7 for 47
By Will 2 months ago, No Comments; be the first!
Some highlights of Ryan Sidebottom’s 7 for 47.
No Comments »Average batting or brilliant bowling?
By Will 2 months ago, 7 Comments »
What on earth is going on? I spent last night in a public house and got a text message at 21.35 saying “Broad out first ball of the day”. Any lingering temptations I had of finding another pub with Sky went straight out the window…so I’m finding it hard to believe the scorecard this morning. Sidebottom seven-for, and England have a lead?
Having not watched any of it, I’m trying to work out if this Test has been crap batting or brilliant bowling. It seems to be a mixture of the two, though heavily swayed in favour of the former. Amazing, isn’t it? Give two teams a cracking surface and they all collapse like a pack of cards, though no one predicted this pitch would offer so much movement.
Sidebottom’s 7 for 47 was England’s best since Steve Harmison’s 7 for 12 at Sabina Park four years ago. He’s not only passed 50 wickets in quick time, but has taken 23 wickets in this series. 23! England now lead by 176 but there’s absolutely no point in me sticking my neck out and making a prediction. So it’s up to you lot.
7 Comments »New Zealand v England, 3rd Test, Napier
By Will 2 months ago, 2 Comments »
The third and final Test of this series is intriguingly poised. Out go Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills for New Zealand, in come Tim Southee - a promising nineteen-year-old swing bowler - and Grant Elliott, a South African-born allrounder. On paper, England are favourites, but the pitch at McLean Park is as flat as an ironing board (so say the experts) and, although five days is a long time (cliché alert), all indications point to a run-feast of a draw.
There is plenty to play for - not only for this series, but the return series in May. As one of New Zealand’s lot said, they’re treating this match as the third of six, which is an interesting way of looking at it. Here’s the scorecard for when play gets underway in a couple of hours.
It’s Stephen Fleming’s 111th and final Test, and he still needs another 113 runs to achieve his ambition of averaging 40 in Test cricket. He couldn’t have a better pitch on which to give it a fair crack. It’s also Christopher Martin-Jenkins’ last Test as The Times’ cricket correspondent. He’ll still be commentating, and occasionally writing the odd feature (for Cricinfo, hopefully), but it brings to an end a fine and distinguished reporting career by one of the most respected writers in the industry. Cheers to CMJ.
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