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Harmison feels betrayed by Fletcher
By Will last year, at the start of November, No Comments; be the first!
I asked Stuart Broad for his thoughts on the Duncan Fletcher futore the other day. “Don’t read books,” he announced with a broad smile (sorry). “Not enough pictures!” It was a predictable response, and I applauded his blatant bullshitting.
Steve Harmison, though, doesn’t really care what he says these days - especially if it means coming to the defence of his old chum Andrew Flintoff. Somehow, though, Harmison’s comments don’t carry the weight of, say, Andrew Strauss or Matthew Hoggard. You feel if Flintoff had run over a dog on purpose, before roasting it on a spit, Harmison would say “Andrew has learned his lesson. He might be a canine killer but he’s still great fun to be around; an inspiration. Just ask anyone. Anyone but the dog and its owner of course.”
Nevertheless, his outburst to the Daily Mail made for enjoyable reading and was yet another nail in Fletcher’s coffin. I can’t see how this affair will simply “blow over”. I see Nasser Hussain has also been making comments, in the same paper, about the lily-livered decision makers in the ECB, and their handing jobs to Hugh Morris and Mike Gatting. It feels like 1999 all over again…
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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 »Notes from the pavilion for October 17th
By Will last year, mid-October, 1 Comment »
Links of note from the past 24 hours:
- Cricinfo - Monkey chants controversy in Mumbai too - This is becoming increasingly uncomfortable…
- Cricinfo - Jones set for Worcestershire move - Is this the most expensive hospital pass in cricket transfer history? Come on…how long will he last, seriously?
- Cricinfo - Harmison signs for Lions - This will be worth keeping a close eye on
- The ageless Kim Barnett - He’s still going strong. At 47
Too highly rated?
By Ian last year, mid-July, 8 Comments »
I see Kevin Pietersen has been knocked off the top spot in the ODIs by Ricky Ponting. Very difficult to argue with that – Ponting is surely the stand out batsman in both forms of the game. Looking at the other batting rankings, it is difficult to find fault, although on current form, Shiv Chanderpaul ought to be in the test top three at least. Also, I struggle to understand how Mahela Jayawardene doesn’t break into either top ten, while Hussey retains a top five place in both. He’s very good, granted, but is he top five?
The bowlers are altogether more perplexing. For one, how can Shoaib Akhtar still be at number 10 in tests? He’s played four tests since the start of 2006 and taken only a handful of wickets. Maybe in the current game, not playing is the way to climb the rankings. Likewise, Jason Gillespie (22) is still deemed a better Test bowler than Lasith Malinga (28)!
Agreed, it must be difficult to devise a workable system. Also, stats don’t tell the full story. But things start to look decidedly suspect when you inspect the Best Ever Ratings, which is a list of players at their peak. Ponting at four is just about fair enough, given his recent dominance. However, Peter May above Viv Richards shows a flaw, while Matthew Hayden in the top ten is just crazy. KP (21) is one place higher than Sachin and two places higher than Wally Hammond. Enough said.
For the bowlers, I half expected to see the list packed high with bowlers of yesteryear, given how modern bowlers are meant to have struggled, but it does put Murali, McGrath, Pollock, Waqar and Warne in the top 15. Of course, Warne should be in the top three, if not top of the pile. Wasim Akram limps in at number 57 behind the likes of Ntini, Shoaib and Harmison, which doesn’t seem right.
That said, like most critics, I can’t think of a better way. There must be some bright spark at Cricinfo with a formula….?
8 Comments »Harmison and his blind guide dog
By Will last year, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
While his master leads the England bowling attack, Steve Harmison’s dog, Magoo, participates in the British Dog Agility Championships.
Via Patrick and Pootergeek.
No Comments »Harmison hype
By Will last year, at the start of June, 4 Comments »
There’s too much hype about Harmison. At test level, he’s a really average bowler.
Read in this week’s Time Out London in their brilliant column, Overhead underground (from themanwhofellasleep.com).
4 Comments »Honestly, Michael
By Ian last year, at the start of June, 13 Comments »
Just read the piece on Cricinfo about Michael Vaughan implying that the Fredalo incident ruined England’s chances at the World Cup and it got me thinking. There has been plenty written in the last few months that Vaughan should not be skipper; his ego hurts the team; he’s not worth his place etc etc. While his classy hundred against the Windies at Headingley may have bought a little respite from the nay-sayers, it wouldn’t take much for them to get tetchy again.
What this article tells me is that he is still the right man for the job. Vaughan is basically saying that Fred was a bloody idiot and messed it up for everyone by attracting every tabloid paper to the hotel lobby. Fair enough, he did. He also went on to criticise himself and admit that his ODI record sucks. It does. But given how guarded interviews tend to be nowadays until the sportsman has retired, this was pretty candid. A new skipper might not have been so forthright, but Vaughan is about the only one who can say boo to a goose like Freddy or his buddy Harmy for that matter. And we need those two loons back to full throttle if we’re going to threaten the Aussies next time round. Which, if I’m really really honest with myself, is all that matters in the longterm. Vaughan, 32, is still the man to do that.
As for ODIs, I would let him continue as skipper. I’ll admit I am a big fan of his (the Michael Vaughan extra cover drive marks the start of my summer), so this is subjective as ever, but given nobody else is nailing down a place in the top three, what harm is he doing….?
13 Comments »Jones! Bowden!
By Ian last year, mid-May, 14 Comments »
Where were you for the Edgbaston climax in 2005? I was driving home in a car that only had FM, so I had to get updates from Michael Parkinson on Radio Two. Happily, the old cove would regularly interrupt his guests to give details, but all the same I missed the Jones!! Bowden!! Kasprowicz!! finale.
I mention it because I now know what it must have felt like to be Michael Vaughan that day. OK, so the stakes were a little lower in our South Cotswolds Division Three clash last Saturday, but the match situation was very similar. They were chasing 230-odd and we had them 190 for 9 with six overs left. Numbers nine and eleven at the crease. A formality or so we thought. But somehow, the ball kept missing the stumps and fielders, and we began to panic. Before we realised what had happened, they needed 11 to win off the last over. Still ours to lose, right?
A couple of good balls and a decent stop on the third man boundary brought it to eight needed off three, with the better batsman on strike. ‘Give him the single, lads!’ So we drop back five paces and he duly clips it to mid off. ‘Hold the ball!’ We now have the rabbit on strike and he needs seven off two. Game over.
But no! Wait! Mid-off has not held the ball, but instead he has slung it at the non-striker’s end. It misses by a yard and I fluff backing it up (it bobbled, honest!). They run a second. Six off two, with the better batsman on strike.
The next ball goes over cover’s head for four. Two to win, last ball. What do you do? Stop the single and win; or give them one and take the tie? Mostly we did neither. Some came in, some drifted, others minced about. Our heads were scrambled. How Harmison was even able to grip the ball, let alone bowl it, I have no idea! How Jones could have felt his legs, let alone move them!
I dropped in to a short-ish mid-wicket and the ball was chipped over my head for the winning two runs. Had I stayed where I was, it would have been an easy catch, with Richie Benaud crying out my name (in my head). Time will tell if I’m picked for next week’s match….
14 Comments »Harmison and Jones on the comeback trail
By Will last year, at the end of April, 1 Comment »
So Steve Harmison is beginning to show signs of mental rehabilitation from the horror show of last winter, with eight wickets in the match against Worcestershire. In an interesting piece for The Times, Robin Scott-Elliott notes that Harmison has already bowled more Championship overs a week into the 2007 season than he did all last summer (just 32).
Today is an important milestone for Simon Jones who plays in his first competitive game for Glamorgan in almost a year, a Friends Provident Trophy thing against Somerset. Will he last a whole game intact?
1 Comment »Photos from MCC v Sussex, Lord’s
By Will last year, mid-April, 4 Comments »
Some cracking photos from Peter Meade of MCC v Sussex.
Matthew Hoggard in typical unrestrained, relaxed, un-mediary pose:
Steve Harmison. Pensive as ever.
And finally…
Australia v England, 3rd Test, Perth, 3rd day
By Will 2 years ago, mid-December, 32 Comments »
The third day at Perth. It’s quite simple for England: take 9 wickets for about 50 and knock off 200 runs. It’s possible, too; all they need is for Steve Harmison to find some bounce and Monty Panesar some turn. Fortunately, Harmison is finally looking like a bowler in this series and not a stray from the Barmy Army. And Monty, well - we all know about the Montster.
Blind optimism is well and truly the way to go. It’s the 1990s all over again. Also: if you have any Russian friends, here’s how to say Happy Christmas: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom.
Get chatting.
32 Comments »Live: Australia v England, 2nd Test, Adelaide, 3rd day
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of December, 16 Comments »
The third day from Adelaide. England are in a terrific position, but the pitch remains flat and they only have the one spinner. No pressure, Ashley Giles…or Steve Harmison for that matter. It’s up to those two to produce something special.
16 Comments »Fast, and not so fast, bowlers
By Scott 2 years ago, at the end of November, 7 Comments »
There’s been more ink and bytes spilled on the Steve Harmison issue then any other English player in the last week or so then I can remember. Given that so many English hopes rested on his shoulders, that is understandable.
Jagadish crunches some numbers on Harmison. Meanwhile, his fellow fast bowlers escape scrutiny.
England’s other bowlers deserve some stick as well. Matthew Hoggard is an honest toiler, but he will struggle in Australian conditions. The lack of reverse swing has gone a long way to de-fang him. And, let me make it clear, it would have de-fanged Simon Jones as well, if he had been here. There might have been a few less half volleys, but it is wishful thinking to think that England’s attack would be much more dangerous with Jones about. At best, he might have stemmed the tide.
Since Jones is not around, England called upon two younger sorts. Jimmy Anderson got the nod at Brisbane, and he was mediocre. His bowling figures reflect that too. He was not able to bowl a consistent line or length to develop any pressure on the batsmen and Australia’s batsmen just waited for the bad balls and picked him off.
And there’s no excuse for that- his performance was barely worthy of first class cricket. Anderson needs to stop worrying about his hair product, get a copy of his Brisbane pitchmap, and get his arse in the nets and start working.
He certainly doesn’t deserve a place in the Adelaide Test but he might get it; the only other pace alternative is Sajid Mahmood. I saw Mahmood in the first game of the tour against the Prime Minister’s XI, and he was even worse then Anderson. If England seriously bring him into the XI for Adelaide, it will be Christmas come early for the Australian batsman.
Much more likely is the introduction of Monty Panesar. I’ve not seen him bowl except for highlights, but everyone that has seen him was surprised that he wasn’t included at the Gabba. From what I can tell, England’s best option is to include both spinners, and rely on Flintoff to attack with short sharp bursts, including the new ball.
Giles is not regarded as a serious wicket-taking options, but he does have the merit of keeping it tight. That is a handy virtue to have while Panesar is attacking at the other end. It is a huge ask to Panesar on Ashes debut, but England’s bowling plight is desperate, and there’s nothing else for it.
Anyway, that’s my take. Tim de Lisle has his take here. What’s your take?
7 Comments »An Ashes Christmas Carol
By Scott 2 years ago, at the end of November, 10 Comments »
Gather round, boys and girls, and let dear old Uncle Scott tell you a cricket story. This especially goes out to all you smartarses out there that think this series is over bar the shouting.
Once upon a time, there was a country called England. They played cricket, but they weren’t very good at it, and they hardly ever got to have the Ashes. But eventually, they gave the captaincy of their cricket side to a hardcase Yorkshireman, and after a very tight home series, the Ashes were regained at the Oval, and there was much rejoicing through the land.
Needless to say, the Australians weren’t very happy about this state of affairs, and later in the next year, the English came to Australia to defend the Ashes. And at the First Test in Brisbane, Australia absolutely smashed them, scoring over 600 and winning by a mile.
England had put their hopes on a new fast bowling sensation, but he had gone for 1 for 160 in Australia’s innings and the Australians were not very worried. It seemed that the Ashes were coming home to Australia for sure. Then this happened, and this happened and this happened, and Australia was very annoyed indeed because the English had beaten them three Tests in a row for the first time in 25 years.
So the lesson is, boys and girls, is that it’s not over till its over. And if England were to bounce back and thrash Australia in this series, it would be no more then history repeating itself. Especially if Steve Harmison were to be the agent of Australia’s undoing.
10 Comments »England’s rust a warning to the future
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of November, 11 Comments »
I’ve been furious with Steve Harmison throughout this Test, and this year. But on the bus home this morning after work, it struck me that the problem isn’t solely his own. The near-total lack of warm-ups before internationals these days allow no time for any player to prepare sufficiently for the cauldron of a Test. Consequently, we could be entering an era when talent is elbowed aside by sheer fitness-fanatics - and what price will cricket pay? Anyway I wrote some stuff on similar lines, so have a read and offer your own thoughts.
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