Bowling Worries For England And Thoughts On Australian Batting

Over the past year most things have gone right for Andy Flower and his coaching companions. Now, with the score line standing at 5-1 in Australia’s favour, he knows that the World Cup will be anything but plain sailing. There are mitigating factors but the truth of the matter is that quite simply they have not been good enough.

Injury is a major part in this with injuries to Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Graeme Swann and latterly Ajmal Shahzad being important. James Anderson has only recently returned from his short break for paternity leave (by which point the series was more or less lost) although none of these reasons really gets away from the fact that the bowling throughout this series has been substandard.

In the 6^th ODI today, England’s batsman fired and Australia were set a huge total of 334 to win. That they got there with such ease (despite the late flurry of wickets) is strange considering how effective England’s bowling attack are in the longer forms of the game.

You would have to think a first choice bowling attack of Broad, Anderson, Bresnan, Swann and probably Yardy with Collingwood as back up would be enough to hold most teams to a competitive score – yet it seems, unlike in the test matches, our back up bowlers are not good enough.

Tremlett bowls too short and is easy to hit – this will be even more the case on the slow and low sub continental wickets; Finn was dropped from the test side as he is not the line and length merchant England required – something that hardly bodes well for ODI cricket – and Shahzad, while showing moments of brilliance and exciting promise, is still a bit raw. It is right though that he is going as the back-up seamer over the other options although Woakes possibly deserves a chance.

It has not all been the fault of the bowlers though as the batsman have also been culpable in at least two of the six matches. Trott is of course the exception with two hundreds and a fifty in the series. Essentially, if he doesn’t fire, England have had no chance.

Over the past 18 months the lynchpins of England’s batting have been Morgan, Collingwood and Strauss. Strauss has been getting starts (including a couple of fifties) before falling just when he should be kicking on – something that is becoming a feature of his. Collingwood is of course in about the worst run of form we have ever seen from a batsman and Morgan, while looking in great touch, has picked the wrong shot every game early in his innings.

Some of it is surely down to a hangover from the Ashes, a dropping in the intensity perhaps, but in this professional age it cannot be an excuse. We do sympathise with the players as the schedule is truly hectic, as Pietersen said a few days ago, and it remains something the ICC and all the respective boards need to think about.

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Just a quick thought to finish… During the Ashes many people commented, both Australian and not, that the Aussie batsman had been adversely affected by 20/20 cricket and ODI cricket. The most compelling evidence for this was when the Aussies were trying to bat for a draw in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and, despite the onus being on crease occupation, they seemed only to have one mode – that of attack.

We had not given this much thought up until now, but it does appear that the Aussies are very suited to limited overs cricket. A Shane Watson 70 won’t make a difference in test cricket, yet in ODI’s can be crucial. Likewise in the bowlers, their most dangerous and game changing players – Shaun Tait, Brett Lee – can only play the shorter forms for fear of breaking down.

We said before this series that, despite the mass media’s acclamation of England, you cannot write off an Australian team who when we last checked were still ranked number one in ODI’s. The sub continent will be different of course but, in this format at least, they are an entirely different proposition.

 

Some Predictions For 2011

Predicting anything, let alone a wide ranging selection of sports events months before they happen, is often a fool hardy business. However, as usual, we are going to have a stab at prophesying what might happen in the international cricket and rugby worlds. After all, and at the very least, when we are casting around for something to write in December 2011 it will be a readymade article reveling in how prescient or, more likely, how far wrong we were…

Let’s start with cricket…

ICC Cricket World Cup (50 Overs): England

We haven’t looked at the draw so we aren’t sure exactly what the various permutations can be, yet the final we would like to see is an India vs England match up. There are probably four or five sides who could win this competition but, with the Ashes win under their belt, we believe that finally England might have the quality and consistency to go all the way. Otherwise India (as mentioned), Sri Lanka and South Africa will be the hot favourites.

Test Cricket

2011 is a year of prime opportunity for England to begin their assault on the world number one slot. Home series against Sri Lanka and India to be followed by a proposed tour of India and then Pakistan, possibly in the UAE, offer an opportunity to show that the recently concluded 3-1 Ashes win is no fluke. In the early season conditions against Sri Lanka we believe that England should comfortably prevail to be followed by a close but victorious series win over India. Honours will be reversed though should the trip to India be confirmed.

Elsewhere, Australia travel to South Africa and Sri Lanka; both of whom should have too much for the down in the dumps Aussies. The rest of the test nations will be fighting for position in the lower rungs of the table with New Zealand possibly relishing the prospect of getting one over Australia later in the year.

Zimbabwe too will make their return to test cricket on the back of some improved ODI showings in 2010. However they will be comfortably outclassed leading to lots of stats quoted with the caution they are ‘without games featuring Zimbabwe’.

By the end of the year we would expect England to have usurped South Africa’s second spot in the rankings with India holding on by a slender margin at the top.

We would be entirely unsurprised should match fixing, spot fixing or any other sort of illegal fixing rear its ugly head once more.

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Moving on now to rugby…

Six Nations Rugby: England

There is little doubt following the Autumn campaigns of the northern hemisphere sides that England are going to be considered favourites. Italy are no hopers, Scotland lack fire power, Wales and Ireland lack consistency whereas France are mired in infighting and seeming self doubt. England showed signs that their game is progressing and whilst not in the same class yet as the Southern Hemisphere giants week in week out, they should have enough to top the table with one loss along the way.

Tri Nations: New Zealand

Only one conceivable winner here as Australia’s young and South Africa’s ageing side fail to get to grips with the juggernaut that is All Black rugby. Tantalising glimpses of All Black fallibility will begin to emerge as the tournament wears on however culminating in a defeat or two in the last couple of matches. The already enormous expectations will then become almost unbearable as the New Zealand public turn ugly and hyper critical leading to….

Rugby World Cup: Australia

…Australia winning the world cup in extra time. Australia are a side who can rarely be discounted in any sport and in rugby they have more than enough talent to match the All Black’s given a little bit of luck or perhaps faltering opposition. The ensuing backlash by the New Zealand public causes Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Mils Muliaina to move to Europe on big money deals and Sonny Bill Williams to move to rugby league.

England grind their way to the semi finals before being out classed but all other northern hemisphere sides disappoint with France in particular blowing up in spectacular fashion in the semi finals.

2010: A Cricketing Year

A few days late perhaps, being as we are in the early days of 2011, but we thought we would do a short review of the year and our favourite sporting moments, it’s heroes and its villains. We will split this into a couple of posts over the next couple of days; one for cricket and one for rugby with a few extras thrown in.

The Highlights

England Win 20/20 World Cup

As we wrote here and here at the time, this was an astonishing tournament for England. Astonishing in that England won a competition in a format which, until only shortly before, they had demonstrated a worrying inconsistency; but also personally so (something that took us by surprise) as, given a tournament that is not a overhyped domestic commercial affair, we heartily enjoyed the shortest form of the game.

Eoin Morgan’s Century at the Rosebowl

Interestingly, given the Compulsive Hooker’s well advertised love for test cricket, the first two highlights that sprang to mind were limited overs affairs. Morgan’s hundred was a wonderful innings and reinforced the growing belief that not only is Morgan probably the finest English limited overs player for quite some time, he is also one of the premier players in the world. In test cricket Morgan’s time will come again, probably sooner rather than later with Collingwood’s current travails, and when it does we look forward to seeing how he gets on with some interest.

India’s Series Against South Africa

With India and South Africa both seemingly being afflicted with the same disease as England, namely winning well only to lose well in the following test or vice versa, and with both a home and away series being played for each side, this has been a fascinating battle. Both sides are so well matched, particularly if Zaheer Khan is playing, that wherever the games are being played it is difficult to know who has the edge. With the Indian leg of the battle cut short in a brutal bit of planning by the BCCI and SACB that left us gasping for more, we are pleased to see a three test series currently being played.

2^nd Ashes Test, Adelaide

Despite the fact that the MCG may have been a greater margin of victory and that it may have been the win that retained the Ashes, it is the Adelaide test that was the highlight for us in this Ashes campaign. England dominated Australia in the second half of the Gabba test and didn’t let off here. A brilliant display of such all round cricketing perfection that we had to keep pinching ourselves to remind us that it was England in Australia we were watching.

The Low Lights

The Pakistani Spot fixing Scandal

With no resolution yet to this saga and an apparent willingness by certain people around the world, not just in Pakistan, to try and sweep this under the carpet, this has been a nightmare scenario for world cricket. With the possibility that we, the cricketing public, might lose the talents of Mohammed Aamir, not to mention any others that may emerge should the skeletons in the closet be aired fully, it really is a sad state of affairs. Pakistan have all the talents in the world but sadly are led and managed by a succession of inept and sometimes downright dangerous (to the game that is) people. Let us hope 2011 sees some appropriate punishments as well as an extra vigilant ICC.

Cricket Scheduling Worldwide

Whether it is the IPL, the Champions Trophy, the English domestic season or simply maddeningly short test series, the cricketing authorities around the world have a great deal to answer for. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again but that old cliché ‘less is more’ really is true. International cricket matches should be events that whet the appetite; domestic leagues should entertain whilst providing quality fixtures bearing the players themselves in mind and above all they should be fan friendly – something that at some point around the world all the boards fell down on.

Most Entertaining Player Award

Only one possible winner for this award – Graeme Swann. His video diaries are hilarious, his press conferences interesting and amusing and he plays the game with a rare joie de vivre. Well done sir.

Batsman of the Year

Sachin Tendulkar – who else?

Bowler of the Year

Dale Steyn. In a cricketing era where former players and experts generally have bemoaned the lack of quality bowling around the world, Dale Steyn deserves special mention as someone who has bucked the general trend. Fast bowling of the highest class is always exciting to watch and we look forward to him continuing his spree of destruction through 2011.

Villain of the Year

Ijaz Butt. A clown, a buffoon and an idiot are all adjectives that sum this man up. Pakistan cricket doesn’t need him.

Finally, here is a composite test eleven from the 2010.

1. Graeme Smith
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Jonathan Trott
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Hashim Amla
6. V.V.S. Laxman
7. M.S. Dhoni
8. Dale Steyn
9. Graeme Swann
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Jimmy Anderson

Thoughts on this and any other highlights or low lights you may have?

Confused Australian’s and Brilliant Razzaq

Two excellent results for both English and general cricketing enthusiasts yesterday. Firstly Sri Lanka disposed of a confused Australia team in a clinical and entirely satisfactory fashion – that is if you aren’t an Aussie yourself – and then Pakistan came back from the dead to beat South Africa in the opening ODI of their series in the UAE.

Firstly the match down under. The opening game of any Summer is always an opportunity to get off on the right foot – to set your stall out for the long days of cricket ahead. Judging by yesterdays game the stall Australia set out was a confused and generally not very well stocked affair – an added bonus for an Englishman coming as it does with an Ashes series looming. Of course it would be wrong to read too much into this game, it was only a 20/20 after all, yet there is some evidence of confused thinking in the Australian camp which possibly suggests that they are not exactly where they want to be.

Before we follow this line of thought any further let us just give due credit to the Sri Lankans who performed clinically and on occasions brilliantly in this, the sole 20/20. Fernando and Malinga were excellent with their changes of pace and general accuracy; Randiv, the off spinner, showed that there might be life after Murali and the fielding was good throughout. The sole blemish being perhaps that they failed to take advantage of any run out opportunities by hitting the stumps directly. As you would expect Dilshan and Sangakarra then ensured there would be no risk of an Aussie comeback.

And so back to the Australians and their strange decisions. By far the most peculiar of these was Clarke’s choice to push himself up the order to open the batting. 20/20 cricket is really a very simple thing. During the first 6 overs you want openers who can clear the infield and take advantage of the fielding restrictions, then you need batsman to follow who can continue this good work but who are perhaps adept at hitting gaps and ensuring that the scoreboard keeps moving (but importantly who can still hit boundaries if the second power play is called) and then the blasters at the end. Clarke does not fulfill any of these roles and should immediately be dropped from the 20/20 side giving Cameron White the reigns. In 50 over cricket there is still room for the batsman who can score 80 from 100 balls or so which makes him a valuable player in that format yet not in this shortened version of the game.

This confused thinking is encouraging from an English point of view as it shows a lack of clarity in the selectors minds. In the past with an all conquering side and numerous excellent replacements ready to be picked at any time being an Australian selector was easy. Now with the lesser talents on show and numerous who are good but not obviously better than anyone else, it is a difficult job suddenly and one that, in this particular case certainly, they are getting wrong. Other indications are the decisions to stick with players like Hussey and North when in our opinion it is clear that there are other options out there.

With the Ashes coming up we can only applaud this state of affairs, hoping that it continues at least to the end of the Summer…. It was also encouraging to see that Australia have picked their own version of Tim Bresnan – too late of course to get him in to the test side, but Hastings appears to be almost a carbon copy. Ineffective but hard working bowling and bits and pieces with the bat.

In the other game, Pakistan, or more accurately Abdul Razzaq, pulled off one of the most thrilling wins we have ever seen. Pakistan are a much beleaguered cricketing nation at the moment and from a neutrals perspective it was good to see them win. With the bowling attack they possess there is no reason why they should not be dining regularly at the top table – sadly however the batting regularly lets them down.

Abdul Razzaq yesterday rescued them from yet another collapse scoring a sensational 109* from 72 balls. Why the South Africans kept bowling it in his areas (i.e. full and straight) we don’t know but either way it was amazing stuff. We have rarely, if ever, seen a batsman turning down singles with a run rate needed of over two a ball and only a dozen deliveries remaining – yet it happened yesterday and was a testament to Razzaq’s ability to hit boundaries when needed.

Breathtaking, brilliant, unexpected and above all much needed for a Pakistan team who have ensured that this series is now alive. On a day in which Mohamed Amir and Salman Butt’s appeals were rejected, it was a something positive that should give much needed encouragement to the rest of the team.

Crickets Championship Future

At last and entirely unexpectedly (at least for the average punter who is not party to the inner whirring of world cricket) the ICC has jumped into action with regard to their plans for the game of cricket over the coming years. Whilst it has not been rubber stamped yet and so could still be potentially hijacked by one of the major powers; the plan appears to be a shake up of the game by implicating various international leagues and championships.

Over the past decade there has been much talk about the decline of this form or that form of cricket, the need to regulate that or this national board etc and simply the problems created by the sheer amount of cricket that is played today. The ICC’s plans are clearly supposed to address some of these issues and for that we find ourselves in the unusual position of applauding them. Whether they succeed or not is another matter – let us look at the recomendations:

• A test league and play off system over 4 years. This one we agree with. When the world was a bigger place and it was rare or impossible to watch cricket on TV, the visit of any touring side was anticipated and appreciated all the more. Tours were longer, series had more importance both as a player and as a spectator as who knew when they might tour again – in short an international series was an event. With the advent of almost constant international cricket and TV coverage from all over the world available seemingly on demand; cricket as a whole has suffered – most of all, of course, test cricket. In short a series on its own is not enough for many people unless you are a cricket traditionalist and so by giving test cricket a wider context it should in theory create more interest. Other plus points include the fact that sides like New Zealand and Bangladesh who, not being the largest draw cards for the paying public, fail to get so many test matches arranged and so will benefit from a guaranteed number of series per year. Equally with all countries having to play a certain number of tests in this time it should cut down on the number of pointless and boring one day series arranged.

  There are potential issues – for example; will the four year competition length mean that things will carry on much as they are now – interest only peaking if you’re side happens to be in the top four and make the play offs? With the final play off games being one off test matches is that a true reflection on a sides ability as the weather etc could be make a huge difference?

  On the whole however this move is a positive one and we look forward to seeing how it pans out.

• A ODI League over 3 years. Again there is nothing wrong with this proposal on the face of things although there are no further details at this stage with regards to how exactly it would work. For example what would happen if India and Sri Lanka arranged yet another series between them (as they are wont to do) despite having already played their deciding matches with regard to the league. We suppose it is up to the boards but in theory there should be less interest in these matches and so hopefully these pointless series could die out.
• A 10 team format for the ODI World Cup. This one we do not agree with. Yes it is true that the last couple of world cups have dragged on to the extent where even the most ardent one day fans were losing interest, and, in theory, by cutting the number of sides this problem would be solved. Yet this would be hard on the associate nations such as Kenya, Holland, Afghanistan and Ireland to name but a few. With no access to first class matches against the top sides (or even A teams of the top sides) the fifty over game is the one aspect of their international lives when they are able to compete against the big boys in a ‘proper’ cricket environment. If the ICC wants to promote the development of cricket and in the long term gain more test playing nations they have to realise that no one will get there having only been exposed to top level 20/20 thrashes.

  This decision also makes a mockery of the performances of Kenya and Ireland in recent world cups – particularly as they have taken a number of memorable scalps in this time. We would rather see the ODI world cup remain as a 16 team format unless the ICC follows up with a credible and imaginative plan for the development of the associate members.

  Finally we presume that the Champions Trophy will be done away with – if not there would be a second ‘ten team’ tournament which would be a world cup in all but name.

• A 16 team 20/20 world cup. No problems here – more exposure for the junior world teams can only help them. See previous point for more…
• The introduction of a 20/20 world rankings table and a league to follow. Hardly a ground breaking initiative on the rankings table and a league seems sensible considering that the other formats of the game will have one. Again potentially if used correctly by the ICC this would be a way of controlling the amount of cricket played.

So there we have it. It is quite possible that using this as a framework the ICC could begin to exert more control over all the individual countries and control the game more effectively whilst dealing with such factors as player burn out etc. What we expect to happen however is that after this is put in place it will simply lead to even further cricket, creating hard choices for the players when inevitably they have to make the choice of playing a test match against Bangladesh or appearing in the IPL for example.

Its a step in the right direction but at this stage no more than that.

One Dayers and the Future of the Game

Crowe’s Comments

There have been some interesting comments coming from Martin Crowe over the past couple of days in the cricket media with regard to the future of test cricket. Crowe has been saying that the world of international cricket should do away with one day international matches and focus its efforts on the preservation of test cricket and the continued propagation of 20/20 cricket. Crowe is a noted innovator and has in the past developed his own variants of the game, his 8 a-side Cricket Max is an example of this, and so perhaps we should not be surprised at anything he says and in actual fact has backing from some fairly unexpected sides. Shane Warne is another who has gone on record saying much the same thing.

This idea raises some interesting questions however and we are not totally sure that we fully support it. Yes the international cricket calendar is over crowded as it stands, yes there is a certain ennui being developed by the repetitive nature of the cricket and yes, even the players seem to agree, frequently complaining of burn out. However to do away with what has traditionally been such a successful variant of the game seems a little extreme.

Couple this with the fact that test cricket is now drawing such pitiful crowds (even recently in the bastions of England and Australia) and, therefore, if the ICC were to rid themselves of the ODI game altogether inevitably revenues would fall.  Factor in that the ICC themselves are such a weak organisation and that even if they tried to enforce something along these lines they would simply be ignored by the respective member countries it is increasingly obvious that Crowes idea would not work.

There are also many other levels at which this is not a practical idea. Currently the only top level exposure for the ICC Affiliate countries like Ireland, Afghanistan and Kenya comes through playing ODI cricket against the full member sides. Remove ODI cricket and suddenly these countries are reduced to developing through the medium of 20/20 cricket and, as we all can appreciate, this would be about as useful a preparation for test cricket as only doing 100 metre sprint training and then running the London Marathon.

We cannot help but feel that if the full member countries and the ICC want to preserve test cricket as the primary game and at the same time maintain an interest in ODI cricket too; they will do much better by simply controlling the amount of meaningless cricket played. Our suggestion would be to limit ODI series to three games only, a similar length 20/20 series – all of which should be played after the test series itself has taken place. Remove such meaningless competitions as the ICC Champions Trophy, endless and frankly dull series between the same countries again and again and suddenly everything will start to feel like an event again. If something matters (and by making these matches more scarce they will inevitably matter more as there is not that feeling of ‘it’s all right lads, there’s another game tomorrow’) then it becomes more interesting to the fans and attendance figures will go up.

We do our best (and usually fail miserably) to avoid clichés and twee statements here at the Compulsive Hooker, yet we are feeling unavoidably drawn into one here (and for that we apologise!). Less is more people – less is more!

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The County Game

Interestingly Vikram Solanki, Chairman of the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) has been saying much the same thing recently. The Friends Provident 2010 20/20 competition has been criticised heavily in many corners over the last couple of months – seemingly never ending (anyone know if it has even finished yet?) and under attended compared to previous years – and even the players are baulking at the demands placed upon them.

Clearly the problems that are present on the international scene are equally as prevalent domestically – all of which leads us to the conclusion that the ECB are just as guilty as any other board around the world – including the BCCI.

Everyone is chasing the short term dollar, rupee or pound whilst not realising or perhaps conveniently forgetting that in the long term they are doing more damage than good to what is the best and most wonderful game in the world.

Of False Dawns and Team England

False Dawns?

England completed another easy win over Australia yesterday at Cardiff, knocking off the required 240 runs with four wickets in hand and the best part of five overs to spare giving them a 2-0 lead in the five match series. Similarly to the first game there were few wobbles and, truth be told, England never looked like losing. Only some fine fast bowling towards the end from Doug Bollinger ensured England did not complete the win by a larger margin.

There were again some notable positives to come out of this game with Strauss scoring fifty at a good rate, Collingwood playing himself back into form and then, after Morgan had all but guided them home, some clever cricket from Bresnan and Swann. With 32 left to win and these two at the crease they showed admirable nous and not a little skill in their ability to drop the ball and run before Swann relieved what little pressure there was with a couple of driven boundaries. The England of old may have folded at 211-6 but not this current team – which brings us nicely to the question – is this yet another false dawn or actually a genuinely talented limited overs side which could conceivably challenge for the world cup next year?

England teams across the various sports competed in by our national teams have a habit of raising the sporting public’s hopes only to dash them again somewhere down the line. In cricket we witnessed this after the Ashes of 2005 with England subsequently beaten 5-0 away from home. In Rugby (it must be said only since 2003) after any victory, or sometimes not even a victory, but a simply a more positive performance you start thinking ‘perhaps from today we’ll be good’ only to then play diabolically against Italy or some such team. Even in Football, where we are supposed to be witnessing a ‘golden generation’ of English players, a great qualifying campaign is then dragged down in some ordinary performances at the world cup itself bringing what had previously been hopeful fans down with a bump.

Perhaps it is as much the fans fault as the English players in that there is too much expectation heaped upon the players of these games? This means that, perhaps, unless whichever national team we are supporting become a side similarly dominant to the Aussie cricketers of the last 15 years or the West Indies before that we will never be happy? For our part at the Compulsive Hooker we would like to see; the English rugby team regularly beat southern hemisphere opposition, the footballers live up to their superstar status by reaching the semi finals of the world cup (at the very least) and the cricketers beat Australia away from home in a test series… Not much to ask then!

Whilst it is possible that we are witnessing another false dawn with this one day side, we feel that finally England have a side capable of regularly scoring enough runs and a bowling attack clever and varied enough to limit most teams to an inferior total. Broad is one who typifies this, yesterday living up to Michael Vaughan’s billing of him as a ‘clever cricketer’, by reining in the Australians after a profligate start by Jimmy Anderson. There are still one or two in this side who are a little short of the highest quality – Bresnan, Yardy, Wright – yet until a better replacement comes along this lot are unlikely to let anyone down. Indeed Wright has played crucial parts in both games so far with a good innings in the first match and some important wickets in both.

The other factor that has probably been overlooked up until now (certainly by us at the Compulsive Hooker) is that a winning one day side is only ever going to assist your test team in becoming dominant in their own right but a losing one will certainly drag the test team down. For so long England have regarded ODI cricket as the poor neighbour of tests and, whilst this in our opinion remains true to a certain extent, it is probably impossible to become the dominant team in world cricket whilst only half (or a third these days with the inclusion of 20/20) of your national set up is firing. Winning habits in one form helps breed winning habits in the others in spite of the various changes of personnel.

Therefore, and in short, we are going to go on record and suggest that this isn’t a false dawn and, providing England build on this, there is a rosy future ahead for England’s limited overs teams!

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KP Signs for Team England?

News came out a few days ago that Kevin Pietersen is looking for a new county after claiming that the commute from Chelsea to Hampshire simply doesn’t work for him. We would normally have some sympathy for this although clearly it is his choice to live in Chelsea and his commute has probably only be necessary maybe 20 times over the past five years! Clearly he is looking to join one of the London counties in Surrey or Middlesex but the natural question is then; what could these counties realistically expect to get out of this? He is likely to be away with England for the best part of the year and we would bet that his record for Hampshire when he has played has been no more than mediocre. It is possible that, with the majority of his wages paid for by the ECB, one of these two counties may take him on as a commercial proposition – i.e. to sell as many shirts as possible and make some much needed cash – but we’re not sure this would work.

Therefore the question is; does KP even need a county? There is so much international cricket these days that it is perhaps not totally inconceivable… What does everyone think?

Crickets Shift In Gears And The Might Of Morgan

There have been times throughout the history of cricket where this wonderful game has metamorphosed into something quite different. Perhaps the first was the introduction of round arm bowling by John Willes in the 1830’s which paved the way for the legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864.

W.G. Grace then initiated a further development to counter the greater bounce that these bowlers were now able to get by becoming the first player to really be comfortable playing off both the front and back foots (before then players had usually played with their weight going in only one direction) and which is safe to say revolutionised the art of batting.

The 1960’s then provided a plethora of changes with amateur cricketers becoming a thing of the past and with the introduction of domestic one day cricket. International one day cricket followed soon after in 1971 and with Kerry Packer’s World Series competition kicking off in 1979 it became recognisable as the game it is today.

The most recent but undoubtedly not the last major development was the introduction of 20/20 cricket in English domestic cricket. Indeed this last initiative could see possibly the biggest changes yet to the very fabric of cricket, threatening as it does the popularity of the longer forms of the game, but certainly on a lower level there have already been marked changes. These were never more apparent than in yesterdays first one day international between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl.

Batting first Australia scored 267-7 in their 50 overs, the only batsman to make a half century being Michael Clarke who scored 87 not out from 97 balls. England then chased this total down with four overs to spare to win by 4 wickets. Eoin Morgan this time doing the damage by scoring a brilliant 103 not out from only 85 balls.

Only 10 years ago 267 would have been considered a good score with the upper reaches of the 200’s being very challenging and the Valhalla of 300 being a comparatively rare occurrence. Indeed of the all time total of 360 three hundred plus innings totals achieved, only 87 occurred prior to the year 2000 and with a measly 12 being prior to 1990. (This is despite the fact that many games used be 60 over matches rather than the current 50 back in the early days of ODI cricket). 267 was never likely to be enough on a flat pitch and Clarke justifiably or not is shouldering most of the blame.

Clarke has come in for a large amount of criticism in the recent past due to his pedestrian performances at the 20/20 world cup, yet, in the longer 50 over games, we were still backing him to come good which in some ways he did. It could be argued that he batted very well, rescuing Australia from he depths of 97-4, yet the lack of acceleration at the end of his innings showcased his shortcomings once more and, as ever in this situation, meant that he left a lot of people unsatisfied. Morgan on the other hand is a very modern cricketer and showed this by playing what was probably the perfect innings.  In many ways it started similarly to Clarke’s, building slowly with Luke Wright from a similar score, always comfortable in the knowledge that he has in his armory and ability to score at 10 an over if needed.

This article is nothing new or revolutionary and this topic has been covered on many occasions before, but it simply struck us more forcefully than it ever has before whilst watching last nights match. 5000 one day international runs, a strike rate of 77 and an average of 42 but somehow, suddenly, he’s not good enough. Clarke is of course a brilliant player in the longer forms of the game and a major talent. With that in mind we suspect that he will be able to alter his game and adapt to the demands of modern limited overs cricket but right now, if we were the Australian management, we would rather the big hitting Cameron White was batting at 4.

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Mighty Morgan

Morgan’s innings yesterday is undoubtedly his finest yet in a one day shirt for England. With his previous hundred coming against Bangladesh it is a fine achievement to score one against the might of Australia. Admittedly it was a rather callow attack featuring a 19 year old on debut but this should not take too much away from him.

There was a moment when England slipped to 97-4 with Luke Wright and Morgan newly at the crease where we felt the old England nerves creeping in. One or two more wickets and we felt it was game over and with Wright having not achieved a great deal in an England shirt we were backing Australia for the win. We had of course not taken Eoin Morgan into account though and he typified this new look England team. Never panicking and always thinking, it was an exceptional innings, and made us feel guilty for ever doubting England.

England vs Australia: A Bullish Preview

An unsually placed, but entirely fascinating, contest gets underway in Southampton later today, with the first of five one day internationals between England and Australia being played. Unusual in that this must be about the first time in cricket history England and Australia have played a stand alone series of one day games without the main course of a test series to follow. Fascinating in that, during a Summer in which so far we have had only the rather bland offerings of Bangladesh to savour, Australia represent a genuine test and will provide some early and probably largely irrelevant pointers to the Ashes series at the end of this year.

England have come off a 12 month period of success comparable to most in their history although there is the rather inconvenient blip of a 6-1 home thrashing in the one day games last September. It is unlikely we feel that the contest will be so one sided this time however as you get the feeling that Andy Flowers men have finally found a winning formula.

The English middle order is their main strength, KP, Collingwood and Morgan providing genuine class. Strauss will be looking to cement his place which (in our opinion) was unnecessarily called into question. Kieswetter has to show that he is more than a blast or block merchant – he has shown an inability to knock the ball around for singles with a high proportion of balls faced being dot balls. This is though a little bit of hyper critical criticism however as his strike rate is still highly respectable.

For Australia Doug Bollinger returns and, in our opinion, not before time. After seeing his performances in the IPL we were astonished to see Australia go into the 20/20 world cup without him and we rate him very highly indeed. We feel that, on balance, the English bowling attack probably has the edge on Australia’s but, whilst they may not be McGrath’s and Warne’s, the Aussie attack should not be underrated. Shane Watson will likely be key in all disciplines as he has turned into a pretty awesome performer at international level, with his bowling in the shorter forms of the game being more than useful.

In summary, we would expect England to take the series 3-2 as, for once, the levels of talent are tipped in favour of England. Being Australia they will never give up however and could easily sneak a series win of there own.

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We mentioned above that the talent levels man for man are probably in favour of England in this series. With that in mind we thought we would test our hypothesis with a comparison of the two teams we suspect may be picked today:

Andrew Strauss vs Shane Watson
Strauss will feel that he has a great deal to prove in this format and as captain and we are backing him to respond in style. Watson is now one of the key figures for Australia and with his bowling is a key player. With Strauss as captain of England this extra influence is  negated and so we have decided on a draw.

Tim Paine vs Craig Kieswetter
The battle of the two keepers. Both aggressive opening batsmen and both with the responsibility of the gloves, these two are remarkably similar in their achievements so far. Kieswetter is probably the better batsman but Paine the better keeper.All things considered though we are going for a Kieswetter win

Ricky Ponting vs Kevin Pietersen
Two marquee batsman, one probably at the peak of his powers, the other a veteran, slowly on the decline. Ponting has not scored the volume of runs expected of him recently so this could either be the beginning of the end, or simply a time bomb waiting to explode on someone. Pietersen win.

Paul Collingwood vs Michael Clarke
Whilst Collingwoods value to England cannot be underestimated in this form of cricket, Clarke has shown himself to be one of the foremost players in this format in world cricket. Troubles aplenty during the 20/20 world cup, expect Clarke to come out all guns firing and be the main player for Australia during this series. Clarke win.

Eoin Morgan vs Michael Hussey
Difficult this one. Both are exceptional finishers and proven big hitters. Morgan is still at the start of his career whereas ‘Mr. Cricket’ is in the twilight of his. Despite thinking long and hard on this we can’t separate them and have gone for a draw.

Luke Wright vs Cameron White
Wright is the eager puppy dog of the England team who occasionally comes off. White is the clinical destroyer of tired bowling late in the innings and so for us this is no contest. Neither bowl much so this is a clear White win.

Tim Bresnan vs James Hopes
Bresnan is the better bowler and Hopes the better batsman. Both are solid players in this format who are unlikely to set the place alight but can be relied on to produce a 1-35 from 8 overs and a quick fire 20 or 30. Hopes to tell the truth is probably more than capable of scoring a 60 odd with the bat and for this reason we have gone for a Hopes win.

Graeme Swann vs Nathan Hauritz
To give Hauritz credit, he has improved dramatically over the past 18 months. Yet so has Swann and in our eyes there is not a finer spin bowler currently playing the game. Swann win.

Stuart Broad vs Ryan Harris
Harris is Australia’s Ryan Sidebottom. Solid, dependable but unlikely to run through you unless its swinging yet saying that he should not be underestimated. Broad is ever improving and if he can ensure his emotions don’t get the better of him he should have the better of this personal battle. Broad win.

Ajmal Shahzad vs Clint McKay
Two young players with a great deal to prove although Mckay has enjoyed a brilliant start to his ODI career. Shahzad has it all to do so therefore we are going for a Mckay win.

James Anderson vs Doug Bollinger
Two excellent performers and whilst we feel Bollinger has the potential to be very threatening, we do not believe there is much to choose between these two but have under pressure plumped for an Anderson win.

It is unlikely that we have picked the exact team that Australia will play as Steve Smith for one stands a very good chance of playing. Yet you get the idea – gone are the days when an Australian captain could be asked ‘which England players would get in your team?’ and reply justifiably ‘None – or possibly Goughie as 12th man…’

A 20/20 Volte-Face

This World Cup 20/20 keeps astonishing us, here at the Compulsive Hooker, with the amount we are enjoying it. This volte-face is not the only thing making us think twice though, as there are players, particularly in the England setup who are impressing us and forcing us to reevaluate our opinions of them.

The first of these is Tim Bresnan. We always liked old Tim, having him down as the sort of good and gutsy county player willing to run in for England on a wet and windy April day at Chester Le Street, perhaps even taking a couple of wickets. We always suspected though, that put him on a flat deck in southern hemisphere sun, he would end up with the sort of figures Martin McCague would have been pleased with, i.e. 0-120 from 16 overs. Everything we have seen of this winter has been slowly changing our opinion of him however, culminating yesterday in the realisation that (in limited overs cricket anyway) he is a very useful player. Changes of pace, cutters and swing mean that he is a handful in these formats, combine this with his ability to score runs as well and you have a very good cricketer in deed.

Secondly, Michael Yardy. Every time we hear that England have picked a player for their bowling, but who possesses an awful record in that field we groan. (It happens a surprising amount!). Yardy is one of these who in county cricket is a top order batsmen and has a first class bowling average of 77. Admittedly his OD record is better with 87 wickets at 37, but still hardly a player you would pick for England as one of 5 front line bowlers. He has however proved my skepticism wrong bowling tight spells in the last couple of matches, using his ability to bowl left arm ‘darts’ well. The only question is why he is due to come in at 9 or 10 in the batting order. He is by trade primarily a batsman, so why not get him up the order a bit. Certainly in front of the bowlers anyway!

Eoin Morgan is another one who, whilst we have always been fans of his,  has forced us to reconsider the value of limited overs cricket as a stepping stone to test matches. Last week we laughed at David Warner’s statement that he hoped Australia would consider him for test cricket if he did well in 20/20 cricket. This week however the thought has crossed our mind, that if Morgan continues his brilliant form in both 20/20 and ODI cricket, why not give him a go in the test matches. Conflicting thoughts you may think – but they are players at different stages of their development and we think it is possible to have both opinions at once.

Warner has played 4 first class games without a great deal of success. He has also got a poor record in his first forays into ODI cricket. Now we know he is young and therefore hasn’t had the chance to develop in these forms, but he is never going to be picked for the test side without a first class hundred under his belt. Morgan on the other hand, has scored 6 first class hundreds and averages 37 in first class cricket, a figure that is steadily improving. Most importantly though he has shown he has the big match temperament and the ability to succeed, similar to the way Marcus Trescothick proved himself initially. Trescothick was averaging low 30’s when Fletcher picked him on the back of an impressive 160 for Somerset.

Warner, it must be said, also looks like he has a good temperament and bags of ability. He just needs to prove himself a little more in first class cricket before even thinking about the next step up. Undoubtedly if he does come through he is likely to find it easier to make the test side than someone not in the selectors eye line at all, yet at this stage his comments seemed to be ever so slightly delusional.

As the England team roll on from success to success we are having to pinch ourselves repeatedly to ensure we are not dreaming. It really is quite extraordinary as even 3 months ago when Trott was toiling to 39 from 51 balls against Pakistan none of this seemed possible, let alone likely. The two best sides in this competition, dare we say it, are England and Australia and it would be a brilliant occasion if these two were to meet up on Sunday, therefore breaking the sub continental hegemony in 20/20 cricket. The vagaries of the game mean we could end up with a Pakistan vs India final just as easily though!