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Ambrose readies himself for England
By Will 7 months ago, Comments
When Tim Ambrose makes his debut on Wednesday, he will be the sixth wicketkeeper England have tried since Alec Stewart hung up his gloves in 2000, and the second with an Aussie twang after Geraint Jones. Andrew Miller met him yesterday.
CommentsPrior: from hero to zero in under a year
By Will 8 months ago, Comments
I was struck by the Mail on Sunday’s interview with Matt Prior today, and not just because he revealed an Asian cricketer called him “a white dog”. Perhaps it wasn’t wholly necessary to re-write it on Cricinfo but I felt it deserved as wide an audience as possible, and it was a relatively slow news day for UK readers.
What stood out confirmed to me (if I needed any further proof) just how focussed we all are on sporting figures these days. They are who we aspire to be, in some cases, and at the very least they provide a role model for kids as they wander the streets, pin-pinning themselves on discarded heroin needles and playing chicken on the motorways. Our sportsmen are heroes in an unstable modern world and we expect far too much of them. Poor old Prior - I have a lot of sympathy for him. He came into the side last summer and smacked a very find hundred on debut against a woeful West Indies attack. He was good behind the stumps too, and then it all fell apart.
In fact, what I noticed (I have no statistical evidence to back this up and am too knackered to look) is the quality of his keeping plummeted as series went on. He would start well - remember, he took some good catches - but whether it was tiredness, or the increased attention or his slipping batting form, his glovework went from slick to slippery. He was emphatically jettisoned by England for their current tour of New Zealand, and is finding his axing a very bitter pill to swallow:
Prior has been hurt by the very personal attacks - some even coming from the public; one woman wrote him a letter in which she said: “I can’t let my kids watch cricket any more because of the way you behave.”
“I don’t like the person I am portrayed as being,” he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday. “When I’ve read the character assassinations, I’ve phoned my family and asked, ‘Is this really me?’”
I don’t often find much sympathy with sportsmen. They are paid handsomely to play a game, one which they have usually excelled at for most of their lives, but the burning gaze of the media and the public must be unbearable at times. In the Mail it even said that Prior was called an “uneducated, skinhead buffoon” by one newspaper journalist, and clearly he has (wrongly) taken all this to heart, even removing his gold earring in a vague attempt to unshackle the chains of vanity. Well, that would seem to be the intention.
Can we expect a mullet and corduroys from him this season? Is there any place in the sport for “uneducated, skinhead buffoons”? Will he return to international cricket?
Incidentally, his rapid sacking sets a dangerous precedent. Clearly the selectors are sick to the back teeth of gloveman, who wear big gloves, dropping simple catches - and this is a fair complaint. But what if Tim Ambrose (what a cruel irony that it was Prior who leapfrogged Ambrose at Sussex) has a shocking tour of New Zealand’s low, slow, dying pitches? Will Phil Mustard replace him for New Zealand’s return trip over here, or will his lack of one-day success count against him?
Everyone talks highly of Ambrose - he has Australian blood in him, after all. The last glove-wearing convict helped us regain the Ashes in 2005, so perhaps it’s time for another. I just have this nagging feeling Prior’s going to come back - complete with Barnet, pipe and slippers - and prove us all wrong.
CommentsPrior dropped
By Jonathan Liew 9 months ago, Comments
Well, this was certainly a surprise. Prior had a pretty good series with the bat in Sri Lanka, and although he dropped a couple of catches, he’s always dropped catches. The selectors knew this when they picked him. His keeping’s actually improved quite a bit since he joined the Test side. And he’s scoring runs.
The good thing, though, is that England have perhaps half a dozen young wicket keepers who could potentially do the job just as well. Ambrose and Mustard have got the nod this time, but it could just as easily have been Steve Davies, Jon Batty, James Foster, Nic Pothas or Mark Wallace. And what if Geraint Jones piles on the runs next summer?
CommentsJones versus Read (vote)
By Will 2 years ago, mid-November, Comments
It was inevitable. Certainly in my eyes, anyway. Duncan Fletcher has a memory like an elephant, and an intense loyalty to those who have \”been there and done that\” (come to the party, put their hand up, etc.). Chris Read has done neither. The cynic in me ponders whether this was a master plan by Fletcher. Sack Read; send a rocket up Jones\’ backside to get him fired up; wait for Read to fail before reinstating Jones on the grounds of Read\’s inadequacies. The wicketkeeping debate is then quietened for another few months and Fletcher looks like a savior.
Should Jones have a poor Ashes series - and you can almost guarantee Read won\’t play a single Test in Australia - then we\’ll be back to square one. But for now, Fletcher\’s got his own way - and I\’m glad with the decision too. Read is the best keeper in the country by a distance but, with willow in hand, is little more than a rabbit in the headlights in Test matches. Since reinstating him in the summer, Read has done his cause no good; he has dropped some uncharacteristic clangers, too.
The duel between the two has been rolling on furiously on the blog, so it\’s high time we opened it up to you lot. Good decision? Vote, then leave a comment. (if you can\’t see the voting thing below, click here).
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CommentsEngland drop Geraint Jones
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of July, Comments
Chris Read replaces him. Very interesting. Thoughts later. Read Cricinfo. It’s good. Leave your comments below, immediately.
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CommentsReview: Eng v Pak, Lord’s
By Will 2 years ago, mid-July, Comments
The end of a Test match involving England usually sounds the death knell for Geraint Jones; if not his execution then he, or his supporters, are certainly called to account. Sure enough, readers of The Corridor have been sounding off much to my interest. Head over to this post which I wrote last year; around 85 comments have been left since then, and 10 or so left today alone after the end of the first Test against Pakistan.
He didn’t score runs of great significance in this Test but, it must be said, his wicketkeeping was (very nearly) faultless.
CommentsJones, Read or Davies?
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, Comments
Low but audible mumblings of praise have been heard across the cricket world, or at least in England, for Stephen Davies. 19 and from Worcester, his coach - former England wicketkeeper Steve ‘Bumpy’ Rhodes - has said that he’s really rather excellent. No pressure, then. More on this at The Times, but it’s high time we had another poll I reckon. Geraint Jones will, I feel, play in the Ashes and possibly in the World Cup. But Chris Read, the best gloveman in the country, is many people’s first choice - and could yet be a real force in one-day cricket.
So who do you think should play in the Ashes, or even against Pakistan? Stick with Jones, go with Read - or take a punt on the teenager? Place your votes, leave your comments and generally make a nuisance of yourselves. (If you’re reading this via RSS, click here to vote)
CommentsJones under fire again
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of May, Comments
Poor old Geraint Jones. Throughout England’s resurgance in the past three years, he more than any other player has attracted criticism over his place. And unfortunately, there is no sign of the media or public stopping - until he starts scoring. In his last ten matches, he’s scored just 353 runs at 23.53, well below his poor career average of 27.42. What to do? Today, two former wicketkeepers have offered their opinions:
Jack Richards, an Ashes winner in Australia in 1986-7, strongly believes Jones should be dropped.
“Is he there as a batsman or keeper? He doesn’t appear to be there as a keeper because he’s spilling too many chances,” Richards told BBC Sport.
But Paul Downton said: “His keeping has improved noticeably. He needs to score more runs but is clearly talented.”
Over to you. What should England do? Is it time for Chris Read again? Leave your comments and place your votes; it’d be interesting to see what the public feel.
CommentsGilchrist’s catch-to-stump ratio
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of December, Comments
Watching the thrilling highlights of the first ODI between Australia and New Zealand (well played the kiwis!), a stat popped up showing that Gilchrist has taken far more stumpings than catches in his ODI record. This suprised me, and led me to wonder if it’s a common thing for keepers. Shall investigate (unless anyone reading wants to do it for me…add your comments)
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