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Broad in confidence
By Will 2 months ago, 3 Comments »
As Jonathan points out, Ryan Sidebottom has done what many of us feared he wasn’t capable of and lead England’s attack with verve. But my other stand-out player for the final day was Stuart Broad. He opened the attack this morning, partly because James Anderson was still sore from his injured ankle on the third evening, and bowled with fire, pace and aggression. Brendon McCullum was troubled by his bouncers in particular - quick, nasty vipers rising from just short of a length - which is no mean feat considering how in-form McCullum is, not to mention his offputting ploy of standing three feet outside his crease. Quality bowling, the like of which Steve Harmison once produced four years ago. Broad’s spell was arguably another nail in Harmison’s coffin.
3 Comments »England’s torpor
By Jonathan Liew 2 months ago, 4 Comments »
It’s not just the long tail. But it is, to a large degree, the long tail.
When you’ve got Sidebottom, Hoggard, Harmison and Panesar propping the team up, the opposition know that six wickets are as good as ten. But England - and this is the thing - also know this. They know that if the top order doesn’t score the runs, it’s unlikely anybody else will.
And so they dig in. But this doesn’t actually help, as it’s not their natural game (with the possible exceptions of Bell and Collingwood). Pietersen nudging and blocking is half the player he is when he’s trying to score off every ball. As a result, I reckon, they’re not staying in any longer than usual, and of course they’re scoring a lot fewer.
In England’s first innings Vaughan faced 177 balls, Pietersen 131 and Collingwood 182. That should have been enough for a century for each of them.*
The lower order needs strengthening, and fast. Broad for Harmison seems to be the logical step.
*Pietersen’s ten Test centuries have come off an average of 130.5 balls. Only twice has he faced as many as 131 balls and not made a hundred.
4 Comments »England’s beauty tips
By Will 3 months ago, 2 Comments »
What key attributes do England need in order to succeed in New Zealand? Moisturiser and paper pants. The full horror show can be watched at The Times.
2 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 »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…
No Comments »Broad shooters
By Will last year, at the start of November, 3 Comments »
I had a very enjoyable day clay pigeon shooting with Chris Broad and his son Stuart. There were only a few of us there - a media day for Volkswagen - and both of them were on great form. Naturally, although Stuart had never shot before, he beat the rest of us - including Ian Valentine, who writes here, whose full-time job is for the Shooting Times. Photos below (you need Flash installed). A piece will be up at Cricinfo tomorrow or the day after.
I can see me enjoying shooting. It was tricky at first, and I never really got the hang of the “rabbits”. But the faster clays high up in the sky were pretty easy once you “followed through”. And yes, there were loads of cricketing clichés flying about all over the place. West London Shooting School - highly recommend 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 »Video of Bopara and Broad’s match-winning partnership
By Will last year, at the end of August, 7 Comments »
What a performance from Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad last night. I missed it, naturally, but have found a video of their brilliant partnership courtesy of crickethighlights.info - do give it a watch. They are the future, and are ridiculously level-headed for their age.
Incidentally, apparently you might need Firefox to watch it.
Bopara and Broad enthrall Manchester
By Alex Bowden last year, at the end of August, 2 Comments »
Why am I writing a piece for The Corridor when I’ve got a site of my own? Because I’m still ridiculously overexcited about England’s run-chase yesterday, that’s why.
I went to the fourth one-day international at Old Trafford yesterday and having been pretty comprehensively wowed by Stuart Broad’s and Ravi Bopara’s fightback, I made a point of watching the highlights on Channel 5. As is so often the case, the truncated version didn’t give the full effect. England were down and out. Wickets had fallen fairly regularly all day and with even more haste during England’s run chase. England had scored 114 when the seventh wicket fell, but that seventh wicket had been Paul Collingwood who’d scored the bulk of England’s total. The crowd knew that the game was up, so they did what they always do at times like this: Mexican waves, beer snakes and general merriment. In short, anything but watching the cricket.
So having lost seven wickets inside 24 overs, England then lost none in the next 24. The performance of Broad and Bopara was so impressive that drunk England fans, at the end of the day, when they’d been drinking for the longest, actually put down their beer snakes and watched the cricket in near-silence.
I’ve never seen a crowd do that before.
2 Comments »Live: England v India, 1st Test, Lord’s
By Will last year, mid-July, 3 Comments »
So, England are batting first and they’ve chosen Chris Tremlett over Stuart Broad. I’d have opted for Broad and Tremlett, not James Anderson - but that’s just me. Here’s Ceefax, just for laughs, and offer your thoughts below.
All change?
By Emma last year, mid-July, 1 Comment »
Earlier today, England named their 30-man provisional squad for the ICC World Twenty20. For once, it seems, the selectors have paid some attention to the nature of the format.
There are several interesting inclusions. The sight of Trescothick’s name, for one, will bring some relief to many, although there must be huge doubts over his progression to the final 15. Similarly, there are finally places for those players who have played the most Twenty20 domestically, and have proven themselves capable. After the series of washouts this year, it would have been hard to pick those necessarily most in form, but David Graveney et al seem to have elected for those players that have deployed themselves well over the past couple of seasons. Sir Viv Richard’s call for Darren Maddy, now captain of Warwickshire, has been answered, although there is no place for Nayan Doshi or Samit Patel. Among other ’specialists’ included are new Essex captain, Mark Pettini, Surrey’s one-year contracted Chris Schofield and the man of the moon ball, Jeremy Snape.
Is it all for show? There are significant figures gone from the World Cup squad: Strauss, Vaughan, Joyce, Mahmood and Dalrymple all miss out. However, there is no real sign that England intend to keep these welcome additions in their final 15. The entire one-day squad that faced the West Indies have been included, although it must be admitted that one incumbant, Stuart Broad, was the most economical seamer in last year’s domestic competition. It can only be hoped that in slimming down the squad in August, the selectors do not show this initial attempt to be a pointless exercise in media quelling.
1 Comment »Who should be in England’s Ashes squad?
By Will 2 years ago, mid-September, 22 Comments »
It’s very simple: who should be in England’s squad to tour Australia in November? It’s the most important squad announcement since, well, whatever. It’s huge. You get it, we all get it.
Should Jon Lewis get a chance? Has Stuart Broad shown enough? And who will you have as captain; Strauss or Flintoff?
All that kind of thing. I’m not around much today so leave your opinions and let’s work out the squad.
22 Comments »Same old England…
By Emma 2 years ago, at the end of August, 8 Comments »
England and limited overs games don’t seem to be a good mix. I wouldn’t like to take anything away from Pakistan, who played the unfamiliar format extremely well, especially when put in the context of what has happened off the field in the last week. However, anyone who has ever so much as glanced in the direction of a Twenty20 match could tell you that 144 after electing to bat is not enough.
I don’t like to appear jaded, though, so instead of listing what went wrong, I’m going to pick up a couple of positives. After several months of shuffling various opening partners around the ever-present Trescothick, Bell’s promotion to number two seemed one of the more convincing attempts to find two styles that compliment each other. Before Bell misjudged a late cut to Younis Khan in a wide slip, the England innings had looked to be fairly secure. Good to see Trescothick find a bit of form. The only other batting of positive note belonged to Michael Yardy, who did well to provide some impetus in the last over.
In the bowling department, it was nice to see my concerns over introducing Stuart Broad to the big stage too quickly seem to have been unfounded. With confirmation that Harmison is going to miss the entire one day series, he is certain to be given another outing tomorrow. Yardy, too, might also make the mark after contributing well to what was a generally good fielding performance by England.
Oh, and, after losing a tooth in the domestic finals at Trent Bridge, I’m glad Chris Read has decided to wear a helmet when standing up to the stumps. But I’m not sure that counts…
8 Comments »Eng v Pak, Twenty20 - who to pick?
By Emma 2 years ago, at the end of August, 6 Comments »
In the last week, with the ongoing ‘Ovalgate’ saga, the big media questions on the one-day series have not been the usual deliberations over selection. Now that it seems that there will definitely be a series, with both sides confident that Pakistan will be competing, the next couple of days may bring a resumption of normal service.
There are certainly some potential headaches for David Graveney and company when it comes down to converting their 16-man squad to an 11-man side. It seems unlikely that Ed Joyce will interrupt the ongoing battle for an Ashes place. But with both Collingwood and Pietersen set to come into the team that lost to Sri Lanka at Headingley, it seems likely that one of the batsmen will have to make way rather than reduce the bowling attack. Jamie Dalrymple will retain his place as Fletcher’s favoured spinning all-rounder, and Chris Read must be looking forward to proving he is the best English ‘keeper in the shortest form of the game.
It is well documented that England’s recent one-day problems lie on a foundation of wayward pace bowling. The inclusion of six pace options, with only Harmison and Mahmood retained, suggests that the selectors are trying to meet this head on. But who to pick? Broad and Gough are certainly popular choices in the media, with impressive Twenty20 pedigree. Who do you think should be on Monday’s team sheet?
6 Comments »Stuart Broad proves appetite for big stage
By Will 2 years ago, mid-August, 4 Comments »
The Twenty20 Final is arguably the most important day in English cricket. Many will be scoffing at that thought…but after witnessing Trent Bridge yesterday on finals day, for the first time, I am utterly sold by the whole idea. It is a brilliant concept, its credentials further enhanced by Allan Stanford whose cash-injection has produced a superb tournament over in the Caribbean.
It was a big moment for Stuart Broad, then, Leicestershire’s 20-year-old giant. He has bowled quite superbly throughout the tournament, and is among the most economical. Again, yesterday, in the semi-final and final, he was very, very impressive: a smooth, uncomplicated run-up, reasonably high arm, and unerringly accurate. He is 6 foot 6 I believe, and although doctors are predicting he still has room to grow, I hope he stops now. If he grows any taller, he will find it very difficult to sustain himself in this modern world where cricket never stops. But sod the negatives, let’s just enjoy watching him bowl. He could well be on the plane to Australia.
I also enjoyed the Sugar Babes yesterday! Great fun - really brilliant to have mid-match entertainment. And Keedie was there too, belting out some choons. I took some photos, one of which is below
But this has to be my favourite: look at the grumpy pair in the middle!
My thoughts on the day, and of Twenty20, are at Cricinfo.
4 Comments »