Test matches recently have been marred by rain, with the England Sri Lanka series just about ruined by it. The second day in Barbados was similarly afflicted but the days can never be short enough for the West Indies. In twenty five overs, most of them before lunch, they lost Bishoo and Sarwan and were 5-57. Had it not been for a stubborn 41 unbeaten runs between Chanderpaul and Samuels, they might not have made a hundred. Ishant Sharma got both of the wickets but it was Praveen Kumar who worried the batsmen most, making the ball swing and buck and beating edges inside and outside. Sarwan continued to be a non swimmer out of his depth and reached such confusion that when a well pitched ball eventually arrived, he stayed on his crease and played castle protection with his batting pads. Even a corrupt umpire would have had to give it. Bishoo was just outclassed and steered a lifter at head height to one of the two gullies.
With more rain coming and the Indian quicks likely to stay fresh, it will take something special from the West Indies to get a first innings lead. Their best chance lies in the current partnership and if Carlton Baugh can live up to the reason for his selection. How this batting line up needs inspiration and steel. Gayle would certainly be unafraid of the Indian quicks and would take the battle to them, but this side needs Darren Ganga batting at four and with the captaincy duties. I am still amazed at the irony of Indian bowlers terrorising West Indian batsmen and a Caribbean selection policy which omits a strapping fast bowler in favour of a leg spinner. Clearly, Bishoo deserves and needs to be there, it's just odd in the light of West Indian cricket history since 1975. The rain looks likely to severely reduce the time available in this Test but it may not be enough to save the West Indians.
The West Indies made another erratic start to a home Test, placing confidence in one of their out of form batsmen over another and backing the bowling line up which did so well last week in Jamaica against the world's best cricket team. Brendan Nash, despite his lack of form, was unlucky to loose his spot in the side. Both dismissals in Jamaica had bad luck stamped all over them but the vice captain would well know that you make your own luck. Still, he was batting responsibly on a bad pitch when he was torpedoed, unlike his captain who was entertaining mania in a slog fest. Its not so much that his replacement, Marlon Samuels, can be questioned, more the continued faith in Ramnaresh Sarwan who has been a long time between scores. The other selection quandary was Kemar Roach, for a few years now the future of the West Indies attack. There was no spot for him here with Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul keeping the new ball in their hands. In essence, Roach is being kept out of the team by leg spinner Devandra Bishoo. Who would have though a leggie would keep a quick out of a Caribbean team even five years ago?
The first day was in three distinct and very different sessions with Darren Sammy's confidence as a bowling captain clearly with his bowling attack and it was a well founded confidence on the evidence of the first session. India limped to lunch, scoring only 44 and losing most of their top order to an aggressive Rampaul and some lame shots against the bouncing ball. The men behind the wicket accepted their gifts gratefully. After lunch, VVS Laxman and Suresh Raina batted with such assuredness that it appeared a different game on a different pitch against different bowlers as they added 103 at four an over. Laxman, in particular, batted as a man does when in complete control and his shot making was as if rewound from ten years ago. It seemed as though another great start had been thrown away by Sammy's men. After tea, it all changed again. Fidel Edwards was very, very quick and very, very erratic but even two episodes of five wides bounced over the batsmen and wicketkeeper only added more layers of fear to the Indians. Those with the enhanced reputation against the bouncing ball which has taken them from being sub-continent kings and elsewhere 'fraidy cats, are not here to swig on the white rum and strut their stuff. As Edwards blasted, Bishoo dropped onto a length from a nice loop and the combination was too much for India. Raina copped another howler but with no DRS, India will have to come to expect such things. His bat pad dismissal had more quest marks than the Riddler's suit. Laxman was duped by the leggie by a ball that dipped under spin and he hit it straight to backward point in what ended as an opportunity wasted - not an uncommon statement throughout his career. The tail folded quicker than a card table at 9pm on a seniors' euchre night, with India losing the last 6-46 in just fifteen overs. Bishoo was again impressive after Rampaul caused the early carnage and Edwards turned on the shock and awe after tea, nearly killing Harbhajan.
The West Indies, with twelve overs with which to start their innings on Day 1, did so badly, losing openers Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons inside five overs. Barath played a poor shot for such a fine player, offering catching practice to gully off the the full face of the bat from a slightly shorter ball from Ishant Sharma. Simmons, who looks a good batsman out of luck, got another pearler from the constantly improving Praveen Kumar. It angled in and then went away from the bat's edge to Dhoni's jumping glee behind the stumps. Then, after battling through to within two deliveries of stumps, Bravo left, again in dubious circumstances when the youngster Mithum worked him over with short stuff, slipping past his outside edge from around and over the wicket until the Indian's made loud claims of an edge to Dhoni.
Kumar's six overs at the end of the day set the tone for the West Indies collapse. He was quick and moving the ball from the first delivery. At 3-30, the West Indies have had another day so typical of their Test cricket since the 1990's. They bowled and fielded well after an aggressive decision at the toss but threw much of it away once they donned their batting helmets. With more wickets falling here than on the first day at Sabina Park, a result looks assured.
West Indies provided a short story for fans on the 4th day at Sabina Park in Kingston Jamaica, losing six wickets before lunch on a pitch which continued its unpredictability. Any chance the Windies may have had disappeared in the first eleven overs of the day. After adding 68 for the 4th wicket with Shiv Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo offered Kumar the equivalent of a free hit in brandings, walking across his stumps in order to tickle the ball to fine leg, missing and losing his exposed leg stump. It was an unnerving collapse of technique. At the start of Kumar's next over, he undid the little battler Chanderpaul with a slower ball which held up and looped to cover. Soon after, Carlton Baugh pushed hard in front of his pads in the Ponting way, found the Harbhajan delivery bouncing high on the uneven deck and sent it straight to leg slip. Darren Sammy, intent on getting the ball before the pitch got him used only 11 balls in his five over stay which yielded three 6's and a boundary in a helter skelter, live and let die performance which was high on flamboyance and low on brains. Meanwhile Nash watching from the other end and trying to act like the batsmen he is, had decided to defend and work for his runs when he was unfairly torpedoed by a shooter from the leg spinner Mishra. Apart from losing a valuable batsmen, it was not a dismissal that will encourage what the West Indians need to do most. Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards and Devandra Bishoo added 35 and 39 respectively for the last two wickets and part timer Suresh Raina took the last wicket when Dhoni was tiring from the half hour wait after lunch. Kumar was the pick of the bowlers. Losing by 63 when two of your top seven get ducks is a bitter pill but its medicine the West Indies have been taking for some time. Given the chaotic and often bizarre approach their batsmen take to the crease, its not a shock that their run of low team scores continues. The real shock comes in the preparation and presentation of a pitch that was a long way short of Test standard. Sure, its the same for both sides but when one of those sides is the best in the world and the other struggling, its crazy that the struggling home side had to play under such a handicap. As Shiv Chanderpaul and others have claimed, its time the coaching of the side be examined closely. Since Otis Gibson replaced John Dyson, the West Indies poor record has got worse, player relations are at an all time low and the cracks that started to appear in Richie Richardson's last days and now grand canyons.
Rahul Dravid was named man of the match and given the state of the pitch, his 40 and 112 were gold. They have little need for changes. The West Indies need to loose Sarwan and consider finding a place for Darren Ganga in the middle order. Whilst Baugh is the favoured wicketkeeper because of his batting, he is nowhere near the gloveman Denesh Ramdin is and given Ramdin's consistency with the bat in the most recent home season for Trinidad, he must come back into consideration. Their bowling is good enough and was competitive here but would be stiffer with Kemar Roach back in the side. The fact Bishoo worried the Indians speaks volumes of his emerging status.
India have the upper hand after the wickets continued to fall at Sabina Park in Jamaica in the 1st Test against the West Indies and will have mixed thoughts on two of the issues which have occupied much international cricket press surrounding the Indian side. The most controversial of these has been India consistent refusal to subscribe to the decision referral scheme. Again for this series, India have refused the ICC option of having a third umpire, aided by technology, be involved in referrals from players and the umpires in the middle in making decisions about dismissals. Leading the way, in a rather more outspoken manner than has been the usual for his career, has been Sachin Tendulkar, who believes until all the technology available is used, then sound decisions cannot be made. India have experienced the downside of not using the referral system on the third day in Kingston with Raina, Dhoni and Harbhajan all out to decision which appeared to have been very likely to have been overturned if appeals had been available.
The other matter, was the pressure which has been rising from below in the Indian camp as a group of young high quality batsmen have been staking their claim on Test spots held by players in the twilight of their career. Chief among the targeted seniors has been 38 year old Rahul Dravid, the oldest man playing Test cricket, who despite scoring his last Test hundred just last November, was said to be struggling after a rare lean series against South Africa - a series where his top score was 43 and the South Africa quicks appeared to worry him on their home soil. His answer here was a dour hundred - his 32nd - to follow an unusually snappy 40 in the first innings. His was the backbone to an Indian innings which has almost certainly set up victory. If this is twilight then as all photographs would tell you, its when you take the best pictures. The pitch is teaming with demons, with bouncers and shooters seemingly coming from the same spots. Bishoo made his leg spinners leap so high that wicketkeeper Baugh was, at times, jumping to take them. Kohli left early, given out gloving a short ball from Edwards down the leg side but there was much about the decision that was unconvincing in replay. Raina looked impressive again adding 48 with Dravid and was duped when he swept at a ball from Bishoo and was given out caught in close when replays showed only pads involved. Dhoni took a short, aggressive approach, convinced that the wicket wasn't good enough to defend on and top edged a cut shot from Bishoo to be caught square on the off side. Replays indicated it was a return crease no ball ... if the umpire had referred it. Harbhajan and Kumar went soon after lunch: the former to a very suspect lbw decision which would have cleared the stumps and the latter to wild slog. It was Mishra who stayed with Dravid for most of the remaining session adding 56 runs for the 9th wicket. With play extended because nine wickets were down, Dravid was the last out, mishitting a Steve Waugh special to mid on.
With 336 to get, the Windies openers set out at run a ball pace, taking Sharma at five an over although Kumar kept them quieter. Barath, in particular, looked as though he was late for a mate's wedding. Chasing an outswinger from Kumar, he snicked to Raina at third slip, who held a good catch after an earlier indiscretion. In the very next over, the hopelessly out of form Sarwan played a lazy shot outside off stump to only his second ball and was caught by an amazing diving catch from Kohli. Great catch, bad shot. Sarwan's last 11 innings have averaged 16 and he has less than 400 runs from his last 18 innings and one of those was his even 100 in England last May. Lendl Simmons, was unlucky. Looking more like the double hundred form he showed for Trinidad & Tobago last March he had stroked the ball with confidence and defended a few shockers off the pitch. He got the complete peach from Sharma and lost the top of off stump. Enter Chanderpaul and the West Indies hope for victory. Darren Bravo helped him add 51 unbeaten but with 195 to get, the rain and the pitch are likely to have the last word. Whilst India quicks have so far held sway, Mishra and Harbhajan will be unplayable between showers tomorrow. The West Indies selectors must remove Sarwon and are likely to return Samuels. Their problems lie in the lack of young batsmen with credibility to step up. There are older experienced heads who have been tried before such as Wavell Hinds and Darren Ganga but even though that might be seen as going back, the form and experience of Ganga, in particular, couldn't be better. He again captained his Trindad team impeccably in the last summer and finished with a match saving hundred, batting at four against Jamaica, who went on to be champions. If there is a young man who might bolt from the blue, maybe its Andre Fletcher, the 23 year old from the Windward Island who's great talent is batting but he also bowls and keeps wicket and had successive hundreds against Trinidad and Barbados at first class level this past summer. He had a few outings against Pakistan and India in one day games but it seems the longer game is his standard. They could do worse.
PostScript: According to Wavell Hinds, Vice President of the West Indies Players Association, his good friend Chris Gayle has said he is prepared to meet with the West Indies Board and have "real talks" about their differences and "if necessary" apologise for things he said in his own radio interview back in March. I wonder what the President of the players association, Dinanath Ramnarine thinks of that? Currently he is considering legal action against the CEO o the West Indies Board, Ernest Hillaire.
On a day when Gideon Haigh wrote on the joys of Test cricket and how it manages to keep the marketers at bay who want to slap and tickle it into pulp fiction, the West Indies and India provided an exciting second day at Sabina Park. Thanks mainly to a lack of runs, it may well end in three days if India's captain, MS Dhoni, is brave enough to declare with a 250 run lead. On the basis of the West Indies recent Test form, it should be more than enough.
Only 230 runs were score in almost the full quota of overs but wickets kept clattering down, 12 in all. The pitch was as promised, fast and bouncy but the quicks on show in either side are only shadows of the lightning boys who once sent thunderbolts down. Just what mince meat Griffith or Hall, or Roberts, Holding, Garner and Marshall would have made of batsmen on such a deck only bears thinking of in abattoirial terms. That fellow Ambrose might have liked it too. As it was, average fast men like Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar made the ball jump and jag and were too much for the West Indians. After Sarwan fell first ball of the day, Barath and Bravo resisted but only Barath looked capable of taking the bowling. When Kumar changed ends and removed him with one that angled in, jumped and cut away, he had done well to edge it to Dhoni. When Bravo and Nash were removed by Kumar inside his next two overs, West Indies had the death rattle at 5-102. Baugh scored most of the runs in adding 45 with the dogged Chanderpaul but the spinners finished what the quicks started and West Indies had another meager Test total. Harbhajan claimed Chanderpaul for the first time in Tests with a ball that got big on him, took the inside edge onto his thigh and was easily caught. It has taken the turbaned tweaker nearly a hundred overs to claim this obdurate little fighter. These days, Chanderpaul needs to bat longer for bigger scores, so concerned is he with not getting out. Stiil perhaps if a few more of his team mates attached as much concern to their innings, the West Indies might get totals to bowl at.
The chart illustrates the problem admirably. In sixteen first innings since 2009, the West Indies have averaged 295 in their first innings and 223 in the second. Sounds reasonable, even given that 300 isn't considered enough in a Test first innings in the modern game but nine of those sixteen have been below 250 and four more only just over the 300 mark. Three large scores, inflated by outstanding individual performances, most notably Chris Gayle's triple at Galle and Chanderpaul's epic 166 against the South African's at Warner, have bumped that average. The bottom line isn't the lack of bowlers who can worry Test batsmen but a lack of batsmen who can do just what Chanderpaul used to: drop anchor and score runs. Batsmanship has reverted to the cavalier days of the pre 1950's. Sure Sir Viv was the most aggressive batsman of his time, perhaps ever, but he didn't throw his wicket away and that can only be attributed to the influence of money and the short forms of the game which have seduced officials and players in this part of the cricket world where so many of the players stem from poverty or at best humble backgrounds. In the nineties it used to be the Yankee dollar which led these young athletes away from the game but now, it the incestuous appeal of the rupee, offered from within the ranks such that these men learn the game from the wrong end.
India batted more circumspectly against a spirited attack, Dravid in particular intent on setting a target beyond his opponents after Sammy floored a sitter in slips when he was on 6. Vijay and Laxman collected ducks" the former stunned by a shooter from half way along the track and the latter somehow managing to return a gentle catch to the bowler Sammy. India, already enough in front with a lead of 164, only need another hundred to be sure of it. Dravid, in this mood, will take 45 overs to get them so we may yet get to a fourth day where rain and showers beckon but not in English proportions and with that baking sun between them.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the West Indies Board have been at loggerheads since he was dropped from the West Indies one day side after the World Cup. Normally a quiet man, he gave an outspoken interview in the West Indies complaining that the coach, Otis Gibson and the Board are telling him how to play his cricket. After 17 years of Test cricket for the Windies and becoming the second highest run scorer behind Brian Lara, he believes he should be left to do what he knows best. In the interview and a subsequent newspaper interview he complained bitterly about the coaching direction under Gibson and the lack of support from Board members, from the President down. In common with other senior players around the world including Shane Warne and former captains like Ian Chappell, he can't see the point to some of the coaching techniques nor how they help his game. At time, Chanderpaul claims he has been given close instruction in how to bat. Given that he has been the only player to maintain his form through this low period of West Indies cricket, he has a point. He also spoke of how much happier he was under the coaching of that SCG Superman, John Dyson, where he was left to do his thing. This is a different dispute to the Chris Gayle spat but is related. It also has echoes in the Simon Katich affair as Chanderpaul is convinced that it is his age which is the focus of Gibson and the selectors. Sir Viv Richards and Andy Roberts have both risen to his defence and Roberts, in particular, has been scathing of the Board, President Julian Hunte and CEO Ernest Hilaire.
As a centrally contracted player, we are in the first instance concerned with your participation in such an interview of which we had no prior knowledge and for which the WICB granted no approval. Further, even had you independently decided to engage in such an interview, we must remind you of the duty enshrined in your retainer contract – to ensure that you do not do anything that, in the WICB’s reasonable opinion, is likely to denigrate the WICB, a WICB Team, another Player or any WICB Sponsor or which reveals any information that, in the WICB’s reasonable opinion, is confidential to the WICB.
We also refer you to Rules 6 and 9 of the WICB Code of Conduct, which respectively prohibit unbecoming behaviour that could bring the game of cricket into disrepute or be harmful to the interests of cricket, and players and team officials from making public or media comment which is detrimental to the interests of the game.
It is our opinion that several of the comments made by you in the course of the abovementioned interview have the effect of denigrating the WICB and in particular the Head Coach, the Selectors, the CEO and the Executive Members of the Board. We further consider that your comments were ill-advised and detrimental to the interests of the game.
While we consider it unfortunate that you choose to make public comments on issues about which you may feel dissatisfied, rather than seeking to have discussions with me, any member of Team Management or any other WICB official; we would like to give you the opportunity to explain your comments and the reasons for same.
We would appreciate a response from you within 10 days of receipt of this letter.
Sincerely, Ernest Hilaire Chief Executive Officer
West Indies Cricket Board Inc. Subsequently, Chanderpaul has met with Hilaire and has been chosen to play in this series but what happened in that meeting is conjecture only. All of this further underlines the depth of the problem. When a quiet man like Chanderpaul is pushed into such a reaction, trouble is no longer looming, it is here. The parallels with Katich are uncanny. There is no doubt that West Indies cricket needs strong leadership but it needs it from men without vested personal interest. The whiff of corruption wafts about Julian Hunte so much that you check your shoes you meet him. Its time for the West Indies to elect to prominent position men who have the respect of the players. There is a very good interview with Andy Roberts which cross references some of these issues and some specifics about deficiencies in how West Indies is approaching the development of young players.
The West Indies implosion since that day in the mid nineties when Richie Richardson's arrogance failed to grasp that the wind of change had blown his side away, it has been pretty much downhill, with Chanderpaul the only player to remain from that time and the only one to constantly resist the slide. Now, at a time when the Windies Board should be looking after him and eking out a few more seasons for him with whatever comforts he needs, they instead drop him because he disagreed with the coach and chose to opt out of training routines he felt were detrimental to his main job, his batting. All the while, age is waved about like the dirty word some try to make it in sport when the real guide should always be form. Its amazing how the best coaches seem to be those who have been successful Test players. They seem to understand that players need to be managed as a whole package, rather than as a collection of subsets of skills to be tweaked and polished. Not only are blokes like this coaching successful sides but their players are happy.- think Kirsten, Wright and even Dyson, who was sacked by the West Indies Board for backing his players in disputes.
India's three week, three Test series against the West Indies in the Caribbean is underway, heralded as it has been by who is not playing. Notably for the home side, Chris Gayle's mouth and ego continue to refuse to find a compromise with an administration which is, itself, well short of exemplary. Gayle has made it clear he thinks little of Test cricket, saying several times in both England and the West Indies that he'd rather play Twenty20. His dedication to the Test cricket cause was obvious on the last tour to Australia and frankly, if he chooses this lofty line of self over team mates, let him swing of to India and become a legend in his own lunchbox. None of which fixes the problems with West Indian cricket which has suffered from maladministration and a complete lack of regard for their players. Proper pay for a days works is just the starting point. Apparently they are not aware of what happens when you offer peanuts? Dwayne Bravo is also out of this first Test, having still not recovered after months of recuperation after his last stint in India. It would appear he is trying to keep his options open between officialdom and his mate Gayle.
Meanwhile, the Indians have arrived to play Test cricket without Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Zaheer or Sreesanth, all apparently saving themselves for England. Its an overconfidence trick which may backfire. India won the toss and batted and more than half the side where out before they reached their first hundred runs. Before the series, much was being made of the increasingly experienced and potent West Indian new ball attack of Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards and although Rampaul made early inroads having both openers gone by 30, it was the little legspinner Davendra Bishoo who ripped the heart out of the batting. On a fast, bouncy track made especially for quicks, he removed Dravid, Laxman and Dhoni either side of lunch in just four overs. Without doubt, he bowled some rubbish later but soon after lunch, the world No 1 India were 6-85.
Had it not been for Harbhajan and Raina, it would have been a complete disaster. The pair added 146 for the 7th wicket and it was Bishoo who was again involved in breaking the partnership. Edwards bounced Harbhajan who swung lustily into the hook shot, skied it and Bishoo took a stunning running catch. Edwards and Rampaul cleaned out the tail. Normally, 246 would not be enough but this isn't a good West Indies batting line up. It certainly has talent but little confidence. By stumps, Ishant Sharma had pulled a wicket back for India as the West Indies struggled to get the ball off the square but Adrian Barath, one of the best to surface for the West Indies in the last ten years, was looking assured. It was impressive that Ramnaresh Sarwan came to the wicket in his normal spot at three, despite the proximity to stumps and the hostility of the bowling. With Chanderpaul and Nash to follow, there is always hope but the prospect of Harabhajan and Mishra, the bowlers with which India have entrusted victory in the series, doesn't allow that hope to rise too high. It should be a fascinating series.
Sri Lanka managed to save the Third Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, with credit going to the forecast rain, to England not accepting all the chances they created and some steely batting from the Sri Lankan batsmen. Chief among the batting heroes was Kumar Sangakkara, a man who wore the captain's cap again in this match after a finger injury removed Dilshan from the match. The previous captain, Sangakkara stood down after the World Cup, in part to prolong his already glorious career but also in order to seek relief from a role which disturbed him to the point of depression. His first innings dismissal reeked of a man distracted and he has batted with none of usual crisp strokeplay and confidence throughout a series where the English pace attack have dominated. The playing fields of England have had a happy knack of bringing down the best of batsmen: Reference Doug Walters or Ricky Ponting as a starting point in the argument. So it has been with Sangakkara, who before this match had only 376 at 26 in the Old Dart and not a century to be found. A definite black spot in a career which has averaged 56 in 97 Test matches.
In the light of all that, Sangakkara's batting in the second innings was the stuff of champions. It wasn't perfect, chanceless batting but it was heroic. He found an able ally in an unexpected quarter when Rangana Herath batted for an hour and a half after facing the night watchman music the span>night before. The time he spent in the middle, in the context of a day shortened to only four hours batting, went a long way to saving the game, as Sangakkara could never have done this alone.
After they had frustrated England in a 75 run stand, the partnership which defined the draw came with Tilan Samaraweera. It was batting on either side of the second new ball and whilst they were secure, they didn't forget that batting is about scoring runs and the more they scored, the safer they became. Sangakkara had a close shave when Anderson steamed in with the new cherry, edging over slip, but beyond that, this experienced pair negotiated almost all the way to tea. It was Sangakkara who was fooled by a ball which Anderson held back slightly and he drove loosely to point where Rouse, substituting for Broad, held the catch. By then, the skies were rumbling a reassuring chorus and Prasanna only had time to edge Anderson through a vacant third slip before tea ended it. England secure their fifth consecutive series victory and may feel it should have been more convincing than 1-0. In truth, their pace attack was too much for Sri Lanka until this last day of the series and their batting stronger and more consistent. Both sides are off to a month of silly cricket before India beckons England back to Lords.
Sri Lanka may have done enough to save the Third and final Test against England and limit the damage to those disastrous twenty five overs which ended the first Test at Cardiff. Faced with a stiff challenge which has bought them undone so far in the series, there was more spine in their batting, especially from the return again skipper, Kumar Sangakkara. Andrew Strauss had the English tactics summed perfectly and allowed his side to bat for half the day at pace in order to get enough but not too many runs in front. Jimmy Anderson did what good night watchmen should do by surviving the evening and then scoring quickly or getting out in the morning. Eoin Morgan made another competent half century filling Collingwood's shoes admirably now that the great servant of English cricket watches from the stands but it was Bell who caught the eye with a delightful array of those sweet cover drives and deftly timed cut shots which are the man at his best. Having survived - just - the baptism of fire that was McGrath and Warne in his early career, he has blossomed into a sumptuous feast in the middle order. This was his third Test century in four games, starting with Sydney where he settled some scores against the beaten Australians. Those collywobbles outside the off stump are no more and Warne and Co have created a cross for future Aussies to bear in at least the next three Ashes series. Bell is just as good as some of us thought and more so for the roads he has travelled. With a lead of 193 and more than 40 overs to bowl on the only sunny day of the this Test and one of the rare ones of the series, England's pace bowlers were sharp and accurate and Graham Swann very probing against a weakened Sri Lankan line up but for once, resistance was shown to the oncoming waves and by stumps, Sri Lanka was far from drowning. Paranavitana lasted an hour before Anderson enticed an edge to Swann who held another fine catch at second slip. If anything marks the improvement in this England side, it is their slips catching which has become, for the first time in ten years, reliable. Dilshan's replacement, Lahiru Thirimanne was impressive, staying until the 38th over in helping Sangakkara add 61 for the second wicket before Tremlett's return forced him to play on his off stump and Strauss held a easy catch at first slip. Its not hard to understand why many rate this debutant highly.
With rain featuring less prominently in the the last day forecast but enough to suggest that guts and determination and some luck might save Sri Lanka, the loss oh Mahela Jayawardene under the shadow of stumps was a blow. Broad pushed one in at him, made it jump from the pitch and a late decision to play only found the shoulder of the bat for Prior to finish things. Through it all, Sangakkara finally stood up to show his class. He has been elsewhere this series but here he fought the English, especially Swann, who was at him from the off in a tantalising display. This was the best of battles as class bat fought class bowler. With rain as his assistant, Sanagkkara must keep the battle fresh tomorrow. With Samaraweera and Prasanna as support, Sri Lanka could save this game but form and recent history don't favour it.
The best cricket teams can rise above obstacles, even the weather, because of a confidence that comes from being winners. Like other sides, they have a strong and deep batting line up, class and variety among the bowlers and they snap up the half chances when they are offered but its that winning confidence that secures victories where there were none to be had. For ten years from mid nineties to mid naughties, Australia were that team but England now have the crown. On a rain interrupted third day, under conditions notoriously difficult for batsmen and following a disastrous start, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell brushed the obstacles aside and played winning cricket.
Sri Lankawere finished of briskly but with almost the same speed, England were 2-14 inside eight overs: Andrew Strauss gone again for single figures, edging comfortably to first slip and Jonathan Trott tickling one to the keeper from Lakmal bowling right arm round the wicket. The latter may well have been a clever plan but it mattered not as England were in strife with the enigmatic Pietersen striding to the wicket. For almost all of the 40 remaining overs that were slotted among the showers, that's just what Pietersen did ... stride and strut and perhaps even found his old swagger. Was it aided by Herath's late addition to the bowling personnel? Did Sangakkara err? Despite KP's blunder in losing his wicket in the last over of the day, it was a fine innings and included two partnerships which have kept the game completely in England's control. Cook continued on his run making ways in a partnership of 106 with Pietersen but it was again Bell who caught the eye, scoring at a run a ball with exquisite timing and precise strokeplay. England ended the day in front after scoring at 4 an over, making every effort to set up a winning advantage on Sunday. A lead of 150 may be enough. A 2-0 series win may well lift them above South Africa making their series against India next month a top of the table clash.
Cricket Australia has released the home summer itinerary for 2011/12 which begins slightly later in December with Tests against New Zealand in Brisbane and Hobart. The late start is to allow our boys to play three away games in September against Sri Lanka and two away games in South Africa during November. Good move that. When our Test team assembles for the first Test of our summer they will have already played five Tests. This could well work against what would have been seen as relatively easy Tests against the Kiwis. Players five Tests into a summer at the first toss would be tough for any of our good Aussie teams from the past, let alone this rag tag mess with its surfeit of captains, over supply of out of form batsmen and the best quicks we can offer which aren't good enough. We don't have a spinner so I won't mention one here. If ever a real example of the camel being a horse designed by a committee has been provided by the Australian Selection Panel, it is the current Australian side. If things go badly in Sri Lanka and South Africa, which common sense, word rankings and home ground advantage suggest they might, then the cards may well be falling to New Zealand's advantage. The exposure to mangled vowels will barely be settled when Michael Clarke's collective will face the best team in the world at Melbourne for post Christmas festivities. Sydney will follow in the New Year. That's right. Australia's best grounds for spinners will be handed to the hosts in the first two Tests ... a side with more spinners than a group of blokes tossing coins on Anzac Day and each of those close to the best of their type. Melbourne and Sydney where Tendulkar has four hundreds, three of them in Sydney where he averages 221. Masterful programming. By the time Perth happens, our quicks will be in their tenth Test match in 61 days across three different continents so perhaps the advantage Perth usually offers the home side may be somewhat reduced. By Adelaide, they'll be waving white flags. After that, it will be one day capers, with programmers again returning to a three team format but, will anybody care? Eleven Test matches from September to late January is an impossible task for new captain Michael Clarke but at least we should see some new faces as players wear out and crumble before stern opposition. Three of Australia's four opponents are ranked above them, India and South Africa markedly so. Breaking the series down doesn't make it better. Sri Lanka haven't been beaten at home for six years and that includes series victories against India twice, South Africa and England and even though England are putting the cleaners through them in Blighty, Australia will struggle to win a Test, let alone a series. Sri Lanka 2-0. South Africa aren't one of the two best sides in the world by fluke and you can forget the choking tag providing any solace to the Australians as there is nothing to choke over. South Africa have lost only once in 12 years at Capetown, five years ago to a very different Australian side and although The Wanderers Ground in Jo'Berg has offered mixed fair, its a result pitch and its hard to see Australia getting on top of Graham Smith's men. Let's be generous and called it 1-0 to South Africa. Clarke's men should beat New Zealand comfortably in Brisbane but Hobart will offer the Kiwi's a chance for a draw so I'll score the series to Australia 1-0. As for India, Melbourne and Sydney look to be easy victories to the visitors if they can bring their best side and their thoughts are only of cricket. There are less distractions these days and by that stage of the summer Ponting may well be gone, so only Johnson who seems coated with Teflon, will remain to say nasty words in an endeavour to have the ICC asking who let the monkeys out. Perth should be Australia's under normal circumstances so again, let's be generous but Adelaide can only be a draw as even good spinners tend to disappear over the short haul to the Victor Richardson Gates. India 2-1. That makes a 2-5 summer for Australia with four drawn. Under the circumstances - bad programming, heavy work load, ongoing selection routs, the captaincy - its a generous estimate. Without doubt, those who can rise above these circumstances will deserve our praise. Cricket Australia couldn't have made a worse hash of a follow up summer to last year's Ashes debacle if they tried. All that's needed to make it complete is the reappointment of Andrew Hilditch for another three or more years. David Boon and Jamie Cox will be axed once the Argonauts Report is tabled as Cricket Australia needs to do two things: apportion blame and save face. Its the latter which will be applied to Andrew Hilditch. To do otherwise will be to direct blame too close to home . We Cricketragics, maddened by last summer and further incensed by recent events with Simon Katich, must do what those in the ties and coats refuse to do. We must turn up to the grounds and support our team, despite its lack of strength, despite it playing with hobbles about its ankles, despite its lack of sensible direction ... for its not their fault. Clap until your raw hands bleed and your wife begs you to stop, even though there seems no sense. Save your anger. The dark ages will pass and amongst the destruction, avengers will rise ... just don't ask me how or when!
Cricketragics should make sure they venture away from the main articles from time to time as connections are regularly made with the thoughts of some of cricket's best brains through this website. One place to look for smart ideas is "Worth Reading" in the side bar (down the left of the page). Just recently, links to two articles which will prove interesting in the light of recent events have been added. An interview with Simon Katich just under twelve months ago makes it clear that despite claims to the contrary, he didn't really see his axing coming. The second, is an article by Gideon Haigh, one of the best thinkers on the game. His concern is less with the removal of Simon Katich as it is with where we will find the next Simon Katich. Despite the quality of the Review panel headed by Don Argus, Haigh has his doubts.
"Does anyone believe that if the Argonauts reported tomorrow and described Cricket Australia's embrace of the BBL as hasty, ill-considered, marketing-driven and ultimately destructive, it would make a blind bit of difference?
The panel may come up with some useful recommendations - it has ample cricket sense to draw on. But the probability is that they will fall as seeds to stony ground, because the system into which they must be integrated is geared not to restoring Australia's Test ranking but to creating a noisy performance art for ten-year-olds. Yes, it's contract time in Australian cricket, but with all due respect to an admirable cricketer, the issue is not so much what we have done with the last Simon Katich but where on earth we will find the next."
Worth reading!
The other section to pursue is "Cricket Interviews" where you'll find a lengthy interview with Greg Chappell by Daniel Brettig, conducted in May before the Katich furore broke. Chappell reflects on his first season back in the selectors chair. It makes for interesting reading in the light of what we have seen in the past few weeks.
"The players are always saying they'd like open and honest appraisals of where they're at. Trying to achieve that is a constant exercise, but receiving bad news is never easy, delivering bad news is never easy. The chairman of selectors is the one who has to deliver that news and it isn't always well received, obviously." Greg Chappell
The full Test itinerary is also now available on the side bar at Test Cricket Fixtures, with Australia's home summer program having been released this week.
