Changes & Strange Opportunities

One - Western Australian fast bowler Michael Hogan has announced he will quit Australian cricket after his contract with WA expires at the end of the 2012/13 season. The most consistent bowler in the Sheffield Shield last season, he played in all ten games for WA, capturing 46 wickets at 23 and was second in aggregate behind Tasmanian Jackson Bird. Plucked from first grade cricket in Newcastle three seasons ago and offered a contract in the West, Hogan has been ignored by the Australian selectors at a time when fast bowlers have rotated in and out of the national side with rapidity. Turning 31 tomorrow might have something to do with selection ignorance, despite the seeming support of national coach, Mickey Arthur (see quotes) who saw his wares as the WA coach. Given the the brittle nature of the fast bowling stocks, perhaps a man who has played 27 of the last 30 first class matches WA has had scheduled in the last three seasons and who taken 100 wickets to boot, might get a look in whilst the youngsters succumb to sore feet and dogey backs.

He starts a contract with Glamorgan now which will become full time next English season as he waves goodbye to Australia on his British passport.

 Two - the appointment of Geoffrey Boycott to be the new Chairman at Yorkshire marks a full circle for the irascible former England player who's playing record was impressive. Boycs scored more first class hundreds (151) than all Englishmen bar Hobbs, Hendren, Hammond and Mead and the same number as that other handy Yorkshireman, Herbert Sutcliffe, but as a player, captain and commentator, he has had a habit of being in the thick of controversy. He captained his beloved Yorkshire for eight years during the seventies, after Brian Close was sacked with Boycott receiving much of the blame. Earlier, he had battled injury during the late 1960's and missed games for England before returning an average of 95 in the boring 1970/71 tour of Australia - a tour which blooded Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh. He placed himself in Test exile for three years during the 1970's, returning in 1977 against Australia at home and making his hundredth first class hundred on his home ground at Leeds as England won by an innings. England won every time Boycott scored a century. His contract with Yorkshire was saved in 1984 by his friend and captain David Bairstow but former players Brian Close and Ray Illingworth eventually had him removed in late 1986. Despite being offered contracts elsewhere, Boycott never played first class cricket again.

Now, fifty years after his debut with Yorkshire and after a troubled life which has included a suspended sentence for assaulting his girlfriend in 1998, a battle with throat cancer in 2002 and ongoing bouts of depression, he returns as the Chairman, stating with conviction that he wants to win the County Championship next season in Yorkshire's 150th year. Yorkshire, relegated for the first time at the end of the 2011 season, sit in second place in Division Two and appear likely to bounce back to Division One in 2013 and have a shot at Boycott's stated aim.

It would be a grand return for a man who coveted the leadership of England but he has probably already marked his greatest achievement in the mentoring and friendship he provided for Jonny Bairstow after the death by suicide of his father when young Jonny was still in single figures. Such deeds are the true mark of a man.

Three - on the Test front, more woes for a luckless West Indies on their tour of England. Already two down, they have been competitive for much of the series against England but one disastrous session a Test  has cost them both matches. Their batting has been full of promise but short on delivery and except for Shiv Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, no one in the batting line up can be relied upon. Injuries have hit them hard with Shannon Gabriel sent home after a promising start at Lords, Fidel Edwards ruled out for Trent Bridge, Kirk Edwards ruled out during Trent Bridge and now Kemar Roach heading home with shin splint problems. Its the last straw for captain Darren Sammy, who stepped up with his first Test hundred in the second Test but with Roach out and Shane Shillingford a dud at Trent Bridge, unless English batsmen collapse with exhaustion, he may not be able to buy a wicket at Birmingham. News that Sunil Narine is being rushed to England will be a fillip for Sammy and perhaps indigestion for Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, who had tried to dine out on Saeed Ajmal in January and are still burping. It's a sign of the times that Narine will find time to make his Test debut now he has completed his IPL commitments. Remember when it was asserted such things could never happen?

Meanwhile, England will look to rest one or possibly two of their bowlers in preparation for the visiting South Africans. I wonder how Harold Larwood would have responded to the concept of rest for his blood filled boots in 1932/33 or Eddie Paynter, who came from hospital, batted with a fever and retuned to hospital after saving England in the Brisbane Test of the same tour? They were the days when men were men and Jardine was a bastard. The austere one himself, Douglas Jardine, would be playing "three monkeys" in his grave.

Black Hats and White Hats

When I was kid (last week), I loved westerns. It was the days before "The Wild Bunch" and "Soldier Blue" bought explicit gore to the genre and belief could be suspended to such an extent that John Wayne could fire a hand gun from the hip as he fell from his horse and hit an unknown ambusher half a mile away hidden above him on rocky crag. I still replay the scene from "The Searchers", word for word at every family bbq, when Wayne is asked if he has found the missing child after an indian attack (Chocise not Kapil Dev). "Don't ever ask me," he says, barely restraining the tears of rage. "What do I have to do? Draw you a picture?"

There were the goodies, who wore the white hats and the baddies, who wore the black. Was it merely a case of defining right and wrong in such stark contrasts that audiences could make no moral mistake? Actually, no. It was immensely more practical than that. Westerns were seen as action movies. Their budget was cheap so they used performers who were cheap and in the 1930's and 40's, none were cheaper than the stunt men, so westerns were full of saloon brawls, gun fights with falls from roofs and horse chases. Directors, needing the audience to keep track of the action, dressed protagonists and antagonists in distinctive hats and given that the film medium was black and white, hats with the opposite ends of the contrast scale were the answer.

None of which has much to do with cricket except for the contrast shown by the following four men of the game.

Black hat: Kevin Pietersen. The former England captain explained again to the world why he has earned that title. He has again fallen foul of the traps of modern communication by firing of an apparently expletive tweet (such an inoffensive descriptor for such a damaging act) questioning the credibility of Sky commentator Nick Knight. International players often make such claims against commentators who they may consider were lesser players than themselves. Its one of the reasons Channel 9 in Australia and Sky Sports employ so many former captains in their commentary teams. Indeed, Knight did make some unsubstantiated claims on air during the 1st Test at Lords but then so did Ian Botham but then, Jack The Lad is unlikely to be questioned by anyone, let alone Pietersen. KP is a serial offender on Twitter, which encourages quick, instant reaction in its 140 characters and thrives on the emotional outbursts we all have. Like Facebook and email, its too easy to fire a broadside without the safety of the days of letter writing, which took longer to compose and had to walked to the letter box, all of which gave us reflection time. In the end of course, Pietersen can't hide behind excuses of the evils of modern communication and perhaps this undisclosed heavy fine which has been held over for twelve months will help him. The ECB will wait for him to do another Warnie. Dumb play cowboy.

White Hat: Adam Gilchrist. No more tearful farewells for Gilly. We shed those tears a few years back when he said goodbye to first class and Test cricket but his contribution to the IPL has been as big as any overseas player. The money has been good and Gilchrist's comments after announcing his retirement in India made it clear he'd like to keep his big ears open for a further contract as a coach. Like Mark Taylor, Gilchrist has been a Teflon man in Australian cricket. Even with all of the decay in behaviour around him through years playing with Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting, the controversies around Andrew Symonds and the turbulent series against India in Australia, Gilchrist stood apart because he is a decent chap. He is just the sort who should stand on the table and lead the men in "Under the Southern Cross we stand ..." Ride off into the sunset cowboy.

Black hat: Luke Pomersbach. Something not right about this lad. He bears the hallmark of other people in the public eye who's behaviour is extreme and odd. Released on bail in India after allegations of inappropriate actions toward an American tourist and then the assault of her male partner, Pomerbach is placed in harms way before the Indian courts (Singh not Sitting Bull). He is also a serial offender, having been suspended by Western Australia twice in the last four years based on behaviour to do with a loss of control of his temper and excessive drinking. The media will dance over him and the focus will again be on the symptoms of the problem. No risk he has to pay the piper for the tunes he's been discordantly playing but until someone gets in beside him and shows him what's lurking beneath, he future becomes worse than uncertain. Dumb play cowboy. Footnote: Royal Challengers Bangalore and probably Pomersbach himself have taken the football club option for resolving charges in India by paying off the complainant in an out of court settlement. This of course deals only with the most recent consequences, not the problem. There's a role here for Michael Slater, who had the guts to face up to more than the world's fastest bowlers and recreate himself.

White hat: Craig McDermott. The Clint Eastwood of this mob, McDermott made the transition from being an injury prone fast bowler good enough to only have Warne, McGrath, Lillee and Lee ahead of him in the all time wicket taking list for Australia. The Pale Rider rode into town after England had taken the place by force, trashed it and rode out with all the spoils. The slow talking Ipswich boy took our fast bowlers aside, whether new or old and taught them the old ways of keeping the ball up to the bat and allowing it to swing. It can't have been rocket science if the Poms could do it and the rewards have come in the short twelve months Billy the Kid held the bowler's reigns. Hilfenhaus has gone from a no wicket trundler to being rated in the world's top ten. Siddle is our most consistent performer and Pattinson, Cummins, Starc and Copeland have all made their debut. With so many notches on the butt of his smoking gun he has saddled up and ridden back from where he came, having been change and leaving the people of the town(team) empowered. After all "... when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is." Ride off into the sunset cowboy.

In the words of Bruce Willis, yippie-kai-yay, time to cowboy the **** up. 

The Next Captain Cook?

Alastair Cook led England home 

England won the first Test of their summer against a very game West Indies. Alastair Cook and Ian Bell took charge of their second innings after Jonothon Trott and Kevin Pietersen were both out in the first hour and the moderate chase was looking shaky at 4-57. Despite losing the two wickets, sixty had been added by drinks.

It truth, Cook and Bell were seldom worried by a limited bowling attack and the target was reached by scoring at four an over. Roach was expensive, despite claiming Trott with a rising ball on off stump in only the sixth over of the morning. Darren Sammy held a sharp chance at second slip. Pietersen, batting with his usual pace, was out only five overs later to Gabriel. He dispatched the first ball of the over to the mid wicket fence, pulling off the front foot and when trying it next ball, was undone by the pace being off the ball and it being too close to his body for such a shot. He inside edged to Dinesh Ramdin.

It was one way traffic after that as the batsmen picked the bowlers off to gaps in the field so successfully that 121 were scored in the morning session.

Ian Bell made 61 and 63 not out

It lasted just beyond drinks in the second session, when Bell tucked a ball from Samuels through mid wicket for four. Cook failed to last the distance by only five deliveries, caught in the gully by Kirk Edwards off the skipper in the over before. Johnny Bairstow avoided a first ball duck by the thinnest of inside edges and England got there by five wickets.

Its hard to be critical of Sammy's captaincy but his best work is done with his players, instilling belief and self-confidence. Its what made them competitive in this Test. His tactical acumen sometimes lends itself to discussion and perhaps concern. Why, for instance, was Roach left on after the early clatter of wickets, when he was bleeding runs profusely? In trying to taken eight wickets on a track that was lifeless and offered little movement, why bowl Samuels for so long (11 overs for 51) and Fidel Edwards for so little (6 overs for 21). Edwards bowled five overs in the morning session and the first over over of the afternoon session and was then not seen again. Similarly, after removing Pietersen in his first five over spell, Gabriel didn't bowl again. Sammy could have lifted a tactic from the Michael Clarke playbook and rotated his men around short, sharp spells of four overs, constantly changing them and constantly making the English batsmen re-adjust. It may not have bought victory but it certainly would have led them closer. Clarke also identifies his most potent assets on the day and organises them to bowl when they can be most effective.

This was not a famous victory by England but it was a very good one.

Both sides have answered some questions in this Test match and of course, as the losers, the West Indies have more yet to answer. Kemar Roach bowled well but also conceded 18 no balls. At that rate, its only a matter of time before a crucial blow goes unstruck because he over steps. In the modern era, there is no excuse for indiscretions which can be cured and controlled. England bowled just four no balls in 220 overs. West Indies must play Shane Shillingford at Trent Bridge, despite it being a seamers wicket but the problem is who to drop? Clearly Gabriel will be the bunny, despite match figures of 4-86 at Lords but the problem of picking your captain and then picking the team is shown again. There seems to be great faith in Samuels off spin but it can't in the amount he turns the ball. Samuels is to off spin as my grandma was to Formula 1 driving. Among the batsmen, Kirk Edwards is the main concern but there is no space and time for him to find form away from the Test team. Narsingh Deonarine would be good option but where does he bat? If Chanderpaul could be convinced to move, Edwards might be dropped, Chanderpaul moved to three and Deonarine come into the middle order. Although a part time spinner, he's better than Samuels.

England will play an unchanged side. Winners are grinners and Steve Finn can please himself.

England Face A Roaching

West Indians trying to stay warm

Stranger things did happen!

England have been pushed back into a corner at Lords by a spirited performance from Darren Sammy's West Indians, which lasted from the first ball until the last as they refused to submit. At stumps, the Poms are once again facing batting woes which have dogged them since January, losing Andrew Strauss and night watchman Jimmy Anderson in the four overs bowled. On the last day, they'll need another 181 to secure a victory which looked much easier twenty four hours ago.

Whilst the 157 run fifth wicket partnership between Shiv Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels was the cornerstone of the innings, it had been expected that the rest of the cards would fall once they were parted but it took a long time for that to happen and as each over passed and both players closed on centuries, belief started to grow in the West Indies camp. In the first session, with the outside temperature on 10C, no one braved the balcony outside the visitors rooms. After lunch, with the new ball taken, the balcony filled with players covered even in towels to try and stay warm. Their look wasn't important ... it was the fact they were there.

The morning session belonged to the two middle order men, adding 92 and steadily rising the frustration levels of the English. Their approaches were different. Samuels constantly pushed singles and then dispatched the loose stuff which was mostly offered by Tim Bresnan but he also took four boundaries in three overs from Graeme Swann. Chanderpaul was classically himself, so locked into his own introverted little world that he nearly ran himself out by darting off for a single but forgetting to tell Samuels his plans. His lack of communication is legendary in cricket. Some people say he is the Stig, cut in half and given a different helmet. None of which changes his refusal to play outside off stump and the graft of his leg side game.

Marlon Samuels made 86

By the time they were separated, six overs into the new ball, West Indies had a lead - not enough to win with but enough to annoy the Englishmen. Then a remarkable thing happened. Just like John Keating's school boys, the West Indies tail started putting up their hands, showing the belief and commitment that Darren Sammy had instilled in them. Apart from Kemar Roach - who had devilry to do later - each did their share. Dinesh Ramdin batted for three hours, adding 39 with Chanderpaul before the little man was finally fooled by Swann and then 46 with Sammy. Sammy's contribution was still full of shots but it was tempered, responsible and not flamboyant and it refused to be intimidated.

It was in this space after tea that the English game plan of patience started to unravel. They might have expected to have the champagne flowing by half past four but were instead still in the field, the lead now into that wobbly range and the tail finding something they weren't supposed to have. With their wounds exposed, the last pair added salt and rubbed. Fidel Edwards batted for more than an hour and the biggest bunny since Roger Rabbit, Shanon Gabriel, saw off Anderson and Stuart Broad and batted for more than half an hour and reached double figures for only the second time in his first class career. He even hit Swann to the mid wicket boundary. The English tactics were strange, bordering on panic. Strauss gave long spells to all of his quick men and Broad and Anderson, in particular, over-used the short stuff at the West Indies last four. Bouncing Gabriel seemed the most ludicrous tactic off all, when full and straight would have ended it.

All of which builds character in the underdog. Strauss and his men gave Darren Sammy their full support in rousing his men.

Broad picked up four more wickets and has strong claims for man of the match honours with eleven for the match but England will have to win for him to be shaking the jereboam of Bollinger over his mates tomorrow. That's no longer a certainty. The oddity was Swann. For a man who takes more than a third of his wickets stump to stump - bowled or lbw - and has a justifiable reputation for cleaning out the tail, where was he? England bowled 81 overs in the day and Swann only 11 of them.

Roach removed Strauss

Having to face four overs before the end proved too much. Edwards and Roach steamed in. Roach seemed to alarm the batsmen, despite bowling in the low 140km/h range but after a long day, there are better places to be. Is it just me or does Roach bear an uncanny resemblance to Wes Hall in his run up? He removed Strauss first with a lifter which the first innings century maker couldn't keep down and Keiran Powell took the catch in the gully. In his second over, he sent one into the mid riff of Jimmy Anderson and he gloved it down the leg side to Ramdin. Trott, a batsman, came in and did what batsmen do.

I wonder if some thick spectacled lonely statistician could study the use of night watchmen. Its a ploy which so rarely works and so often ruins the rhythm of an innings. Very few get good runs the next day and the list of night watchmen hundreds is a short one. If they get out, nothing has been achieved. If they stay, the batting is messed up the next day. Either way, it just throws away and early wicket and no matter what you say, the English batsmen will still see 2-10 on the scoreboard tomorrow morning without thinking about who constitutes the two. All the batsmen have to slot down the order one place. Batsmen are suspicious, brittle little things, of which is sometimes asked "how many batsmen does it take to change a light bulb ... change?" Batsmen groom, bowlers grunt.

I've argued this case before but it keeps happening. Why bowlers have to do their work and the batsman's is beyond me.

The West Indies have had a great day. If Sammy can bottle it and uncork it again tomorrow, then the next bottle might be Broad's champagne. Three strikes before lunch should do it.

Session Count: England 5, West Indies 4, drawn 3

West Indies Win The Day In A Losing Cause

Bell made 61

Despite a gallant bowling performance from the West Indies which removed the last eight English wickets for only 154, a fine Test debut by Shanon Gabriel and the steady improvement of the remainder, England still took a substantial lead into the second innings, thanks mostly to Ian Bell. He alone kept his head whilst other batsmen blazed and left but then, by that stage, it was exactly what England needed. 55 for the ninth wicket with Graeme Swann certainly helped. England are blessed with a team which bats strongly to ten and even Jimmy Anderson bats better than most number elevens and is the team night watchman. Broad and Swann are the best batsmen in their batting position in world cricket.

Darren Sammy had at least conjured a session win for his side: its first of the Test and with three wickets and a solid start to their second innings fifteen minutes before tea, the second session was theirs on a platter. For an hour, the openers had looked solid, offering no way in for an attack which has been irresistibly deadly for the last few years. Barath, batting with the same resolve but even more concentration looked more like the determined little battler that scored a debut hundred against the Australian in Sydney a few years back. There was nothing loose waving outside off stump and Powell was every bit the Test batsman.

The last eleven balls to tea changed all that.

Bairstow celebrates the
run out of Kirk Edwards

Adrian Barath was removed with the last ball of Tim Bresnan's first over with a brute that jagged away and lifted and caught his outside edge. There was nothing he could do - it was just too good for him. Batsmen the world over from Test to playground would have sighed the same "bad luck mate". In the next over, Broad bowling with two men back behind square and the telegraph tapping his intent, dropped short to Powell and was more surprised than the batsman when Powell hooked to Bell at square leg. The extra height of Broad got big on him and he carried through where maybe a more experienced man might have dropped his wrists but experience isn't something that the Caribbean has. Five balls later, Bravo called Kirk Edwards to come for a sharp single and then changed his mind. Edwards was too big a unit to turn and beat Jonny Bairstow's dart thrown bullseye from a short mid wicket. Bravo himself was a sacrifice in the first innings and Edwards shocking run on this tour continued.

It would have been an unpleasant place in the visitors rooms at tea.

The last session was played in two halves. The first, to drinks, was a battle not so much to survive as to score. Just 33 runs were scored in 19 overs as Chanderpaul batted under self imposed restraining orders. Again breaks proved crucial as Bravo, who had just started to blossom taking fours from Broad and stroking the ball nicely into gaps, left thanks to the guile of Swann. The off spinner is such a good bowler to left handers and he did Bravo with an arm ball which the batsman left and lost the top of off stump. At 4-65, a collapse was imminent but Marlon Samuels had other thoughts, smacking Swann sweetly through the covers second ball. Drinks were taken at the end of the over.

Chanderpaul resisting arrest again

In the last hour, Chanderpaul and Samuels batted not only without concern but added 51, easily the West Indies best hour of the Test. They were particular hard on Bresnan, taking five boundaries in as many overs. The Yorkshireman had conceded just six in his previous thirty overs of the match. Anderson and Swann were swung in and out of the attack in the last hour, whilst Bresnan bled, with even Chanderpaul into the boundary scoring spree. His last three scoring shots being a tickle to the fine leg boundary and then two spanking drives through cover.

Thanks to the fifth wicket pair, the session belonged to the West Indies, giving them two of the three on a much better day. Strauss' century separates them in this match and still 35 behind its hard to see anything but an England win. The weather for Sunday looks poor and time will be lost but perhaps, the way they finished, Chanderpaul would prefer to be out there. Dinesh Ramdin is no mug, with 166 at this level and nine other first class hundreds but the tail is long and contains no life with which to waggle. Had Rampaul been there, hope might have gleamed stronger. As it is, Chanderpaul, Samuels and Ramdin must find 200 between them and then hope for fifty from the last four.

Stranger things have happened. Glen McGrath once made a half century ...

Session Count: England 5, West Indies 2, drawn 2

Strauss Composes Another Classic

Strauss back cuts for his ton

It was dull and overcast and the Lord's crowd, with England's highest percentage of members, was, as usual, restrained. With bacon and egg ties in choker mode in order to maintain those stiff upper lips, it was only the abundant supply of fashionably attired young ladies who supplied a rosiness which is really England in its finest hour. Given me Rose Tyler rather than Winston Churchill any day as the heart throb of this nation.

The weather and dour members bore no resemblance to the cricket.

In the centre, it was a day to savour for Andrew Strauss. It seems a long time ago that Strauss, the outsider, finally ascended to the sometimes poisoned challis that is the English captaincy. Lifted to the role after Freddie Flintoff's very public demise at the hands of knees and depression and the desperate experiment with Kevin Pietersen, he clad steel onto the raw talent, teaching his men to be tough in the hardest place of all, the mind. Pummelled by the perennially brash, talented and at times lucky Australians, good young men like Ian Bell and James Anderson were sinking until Strauss taught them how to swim. He found ways for egos with names such as Pietersen and Swann to become great team players but still remain individuals. Most importantly for the Pink Gin set, he beat the Australians at home and then away and in the process returned England to former glories and the top rung of cricket's most important ladder. He is, arguably, England greatest captain ...

... which explains Fleet Street's rising demands for his head.

Like Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, in a history of the game which thirty year olds believe to be complete, Strauss rose above a media driven hysteria at Lords today and finally converted what have been a succession of good starts into a century. It had been 26 innings since the last: a series defining hundred at Brisbane in November, 2010, in the first Test of a campaign to retain the Ashes that was so successful it removed the Australia selection panel, the coach, the captain and changed the entire way cricket was played and administered in Australia. How many captains can claim that?

Of course, according to Michael Atherton, not one person in the cricket media has called for the head of Andrew Strauss. He clearly never proof reads his own articles.

Trott made 58

It was wonderfully measured innings from an equally measured man. After England made a four an over start thanks mainly to Alastair Cook's uncommon aggression, Jonothan Trott joined the skipper and stayed and stayed in a partnership of 147 which all but broke the West Indians. By lunch England were 1-80 and they had doubled that for no further loss by tea. Strauss was in control for every bit of it: allowing balls to wizz past outside his off stump, driving imperiously in an arc from mid off to extra cover and then on those times when the ball was too short to avoid temptation, cutting through point and behind for boundaries.

Sammy removes Trott

It was the 75 minutes after tea up until drinks which was the West Indies best passage of the day. To be honest, their bowling never looked likely to collapse the Englishmen but neither did it wave a white flag. Kemar Roach looked out of sorts, despite bowling Cook, but Shannon Gabriel bowled an accurate first spell in Test cricket. After tea, Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards bowed 16 overs between them from which Strauss, Trott and Pietersen could only add 39. Sammy, who has often been criticised for his lack of overs in this team he captains, stepped up to shoulder the burden of holding the Englishmen at bay as Strauss approached his century. He removed Trott when he played loosely outside his off stump to Dinesh Ramdin - loosely and Trott being two words not normally used in the same sentence. The over before, Edwards caused Strauss to make his only mistake of the day, a simple edge flying to Darren Bravo at slip. He floored it, only to discover Edwards had over stepped. On 95 at the time, it was luck Strauss has earned. Edwards bowled with such control and thought, it was hard to realised this was the same wild swinger which has so often sprayed for pace.

Strauss and Pietersen added fifty, most of which consisted of Pietersen's audacity. He pulled balls to the boundary from the front foot and had both feet on the batting accelerator when he slashed an innocuous Marlon Samuels "nudie" outside off stump - aren't they all - and put a thin edge into Ramdin's gloves.

Fidel Edwards

The new ball came due but with Edwards exhausted from his earlier spell, he could raise little even though he tried and his partner Gabriel is still too raw for such occasions. Roach had bowled three overs trying to warm up for the fresh cherry but was harshly treated. Bad light, forestalled by the lighting towers, finally overtook the play fifteen minutes after the scheduled time for stumps.

Earlier in the day, the suggested form of Shannon Gabriel became a reality in just one delivery. Perfect ball, perfect catch at a perfect height. The only imperfection came in the shot. Shiv Chanderpaul could have come out without his kit. Stuart Broad finished with seven wickets, his fifth and best five wicket or better return in Tests. Four out of five of them have come in England and each on a different ground.

England have spent two days playing like the best team in the world but there can be nothing but praise for the West Indians. Whilst rash strokes and bad calling cost them dearly with the bat, they bowled with great heart. Despite their good lines and length and heart, they have now given up three centuries in consecutive innings of the tour after Taylor stitched them up in the first innings against the Lions, they were Rooted in the second and Strauss stayed composed today.

Still, there is more hope for them than this writer's corny puns.

England Take Charge - Eventually

Day 1 Scoreboard

On a day when the West Indies lost the toss and were sent into bat under grey skies and suggestions of moist still retained in a pitch starved for sunlight in the last month, they could have, quite reasonably, collapsed and been out for less than a hundred. Facing what the English press regards a the best seam attack in the world - somewhat conveniently oblivious thinking in the light of tourists soon to arrive in their country - the youth of their top order, the age of their middle order and the recklessness of their long tail didn't look to make this much of a contest.

Of course, then there's Shiv Chanderpaul. The ugly duckling who never became a swan and the ultimate survivor who was never voted off the Caribbean islands, has survived loss of form, outspokenness against Julian Hunte's inept Board, a generation of bowling opponents which have included Warne, McGrath, Muralitharan and Akram  and the worst set up technique in the history of ball sports ... but all have all failed to defeat this little, dark eyed man man from Guyana. That being the case, England's four bowlers were unlikely to do so.

Chanderpaul made 87 not out

The disappointing part of the day was that the West Indies through opportunities away. In the first two sessions, they lost a brace of wickets early and the fought back - in the first session through Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo and in the second, it was Marlon Samuels who worked hard with the little left hander. Both partners were lost unnecessarily. Bravo ran on what was his call when Chanderpaul pulled the ball behind square, where it was half stopped but watched the ball and ignored his advancing partner. He touched down, back in the safety of his crease just as Bravo reached him. Despite Matt Prior's ugly throw to Swann at the bowler's end, Bravo was run out by the length of the pitch. Its fine to say it was Chanderpaul's only blemish but it was a major one. Samuels left of his own making after a partnership of 81. He slashed a drive at Stuart Broad, hitting it straight to the new boy Jonny Bairstow at point. It was a lazy end to a responsible innings but symptomatic of Samuels career at Test level where he has rarely lived up to his apparent potential.

Earlier in the day, Adrian Barath had played a restrained hand opening the innings, choosing his shots carefully, especially the drives which have so often been too expansive and led to his downfall in slips. He still had a high percentage of boundaries in his innings but in between let a lot of very good balls from Jimmy Anderson go by. Immediately after lunch, all restraint forgotten, he drove at Broad, was done for length and Anderson held a great catch in the gully. Bringing it down from above his head, he caught the rebound as he fell.

Darren Bravo looked superb

Keiran Powell and Kirk Edwards were rolled by Anderson in his first nine over spell, during which he was close to unplayable. He bowled a series of deliveries to Powell which rolled across the left hander and once committing him to letting the ball go, bent one back at him which he virtually left and was bowled. Edwards was beaten by a a late inswinger and was plumb.

Bravo looked very impressive in his curtailed innings and will take some runs from this English attack in this series. Holding drives back and playing them late, he looked a class above the rest.

Broad tore through the lower order in two spells after tea and finished the day with six but he is yet to be as impressive as twelve months ago. Recovering from injury, his length was erratic and he was taken for more boundaries than any other bowler. Four of his dismissals were gifted from poor batsmanship but in the end, he has a swag of wickets in the column that counts. Any bowler knows you have days like these and also knows that someone else misses out on that same day. Today, it was Anderson, who bowled superbly from start to finish. He hooped the ball both ways, reminiscent of a certain West Australian forty years ago. Graham Smith's batsmen would have been making notes.

Jimmy Anderson bowls Powell

Tim Bresnan, England's so called lucky charm, bowled an immaculate line for all of his twenty overs and exemplified the pressure which England like to put batsmen under. The theory goes, that when the runs go dry, batsmen get itchy feet but Chanderpaul has abundant supplies of vinegar and rosemary. Whatever pre-match thoughts were, Bresnan was the right choice.

Chanderpaul starts the second day needing 13 for his twenty six hundred and only the youngster, Shanon Gabriel to bat with. He'll need to hope Gabriel survives the two balls left in Broad's 25th over, as his batting pedigree isn't encouraging. In first class matches for Trinidad in the recently completed season he had scores of 0, 11, 0, 0, 0x, 3, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0. Just close your eyes and hope Shiv.

England v West Indies Preview

Jonny Bairstow

England begin a three Test series against the West Indies clinging to their No 1 ranking in Test cricket and in search of a confident display and a comfortable victory as insurance for the real show down against South Africa later in the English summer. Currently. England hold their spot on percentages only with their star badly tarnished by Pakistan. South Africa, by comparison, look strong across their team, with only Graeme Smith'c nervous captaincy the question mark.

Ravi Bopara, having finally secured his spot at six in the English Test line up, tore his quad muscle batting against Kent in the County Championship and was ruled unfit. The English selectors, with their Young Lions in the process of beating the tourists, have sprung a surprise is selecting Jonny Bairstow, a batsman/wicketkeeper, to occupy the number six spot. Bairstow, the son of a former captain of Yorkshire, is a fine player but could consider himself lucky to have beaten his Lions captain James Taylor into the spot. Bairstow made a good fifty as the Lions struggled after early setbacks but Taylor, in at 3-92, was last man out at 341 after scoring a really fine hundred.

The back story for Bairstow is one he dismisses quickly. A blood redhead as was his old man, he will forever live with his father's suicide. Much effort is made to find reasons why otherwise capable men take their own life and so it was with David Bairstow, who took an overdose three days before hanging himself. Jonny was 8 when "a family member" found his dad in the family home. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. All we can be sure of is that the poor bugger was in so much pain that he saw death as the only way to make it stop. Those bar room boofheads who like to allege suicide is a selfish act or a sign of weakness should hope they never face the choice. Its neither. Bear in mind, these men are from Yorkshire and come no tougher. That's at least part of the problem. They are unable to forgive themselves. A half brother, Andy was the same age then as Jonny is now and was knocking on the door of first team cricket but apart from a short spell with Derbyshire, his career never lifted beyond second teams.

Jonny's dismissal of these events is a practised one. When asked at a press conference earlier in the week about being the 13th English son to follow his father into Test cricket, he shrugged of suggestions of any triskaidekaphobic reaction. Yorkies don't put store in such things. Life is hard work and winning comes against all the bastards that try to beat you down. He was asked what he'd be thinking about when he goes out to bat. "Booger at other end trying to get me out!" was his appropriate and well balanced response. He has nothing to fear on the cricket field but the same genetic inheritance which has won him three lions on his barrel chest also hides demons in waiting which are more easily managed in subsequent generations who are armed by their parent's sacrifices. 

Geoff Boycott played a pivotal role

It was a team mate of his father's who carefully stepped in and guided young Jonny, encouraging him forward, throwing balls to him in the backyard and talking to him about the game. He acted as mentor and quietly as the man in the young man's life. The next time you laugh at Geoff Boycott and his old fashioned ideas, remember the generosity of his role here.

Bairstow will England's only change, with Steve Finn and Graeme Onions to be excluded from the thirteen man squad. It's a team which bristles with experience now, with only Jonothan Trott and Tim Bresnan having played less than 40 Tests.

The tourists have had a poor build up, as usual with the modern tour. Two first class matches can't possibly prepare a Test squad for a series against a home team where players have at least five games at county level available to them but the West Indies don't have the international performances behind them to insist on a more helpful program. The first game against Sussex at Hove was washed out after 34 overs and the second resulted in a ten wicket loss to the best of young England. At least the batsmen got two innings but it leads the Windies into the series opener with a top three in which only Keiran Powell has runs under his belt. Darren Bravo has looked as good as we know he is but the West Indies have some thinking to do about the middle order and perhaps the even bigger question, of whether to play Shane Shillingford or go with four quicks on a pitch which traditionally gives them succour.

Narsingh Deonarine late arrival

The line up should follow these lines: Barath, Powell, Kirk Edwards, Bravo, Chanderpaul, Deonarine, Ramdin, Rampaul, Sammy, Shillingford, Fidel Edwards. Marlon Samuels has played in both tour games and has batted well but he was only selected because Deonarine was unable to arrive earlier because of visa difficulties - just another of the problems which have fractured the West Indies preparation. Ravi Rampaul and Shillingford seem likely to pose the more difficult questions to the English batsmen, whilst Fidel Edwards blasts away. Sammy, as captain, under bowls himself and occupies a Mike Brearley role in this West Indies side.

How will the series pan out? West Indies at their best will trouble the Englishmen but finding their best under these conditions will be a master stroke if Sammy can pull it off. Kirk Edwards needs to score heavily and dull the danger than James Anderson and Stuart Broad pose. Shiv Chanderpaul will drop anchor in the middle order and even Swann will do well to bother him but others have to score around him. Its possible, but an air of vulnerability still hangs over the head of the West Indies batting line up. In conditions at Lords which promise to be overcast, the England seamers won't need much from Swann. Its unlikely any chances created from the edge will go astray, with Bairstow added to a slips cordon which already has safe hands at all heights.

The English batting looks very strong. Back at home after a dreadful winter, blokes like Strauss, Bell and Pietersen will be hungry for runs, whilst Cook and Trott go on their merry accumulating ways. Bairstow couldn't have asked for a better debut Test.

The match starts at Lords tomorrow.

Head Full Of Whispers

I'm having a few weeks away from daily comments about the beloved game whilst I attend to the task of launching my next collection of poetry. My first collection, "Six Nines" (2009) proved successful but the second "Head Full of Whispers" (2012) is a little overdue. HFOW will be launched in Tamworth on 26th May but copies are currently in local bookshops or are available in either bound ($15) or eBook style ($9) from www.sixninesimagery.com

The first book made the accountant happy because it only just squared the ledger. With your help I can send him into apoplexy which would make me happy. Please be patient for new material on this site but help yourself to the back catalogue.

Swan's Crusade

Swan Richards

Greg Baum's article about Swan Richards and his Crusaders (SMH 5/5/12) is a timely reminder in cricket's lull period over the Australian winter, that Test cricket will never die, regardless of how many varieties of money grabbing short forms of the game stand by and stab at it with their multiplicity of sharp edged, rupee dripping blades. History, it seems, cannot be denied.

There are parallels outside the game which show humanity's need to maintain social order. The rise in street gangs with their hierarchical order which reconstructs family among those who have little or no genetic connection. The strong growth in interest and adherence by our newest generations to the legends of ANZAC just when the originals have exhausted themselves: at the going down of the sun, we do remember them. Respect has not died, its just earned more than inherited.

That Richards should have formed the Outright Foundation to further extend the central desire of cricketers as expressed by his Crusaders, seems poetic, almost beautiful. Here is country which thecricketragics knows well: the desire, damn it the passionate, burning need to ensure it is understood that cricket is more than a set of technical skills and who wins. It is more than a paycheque and the endless greed of business men already fat from gorging with ugly lasciviousness on players conflicted by a short time in the game and a long time in the commentary box or ghost writing for regionals. Such evil men use the word retirement as a threat, luring in even the big fish for fanciful contests between constructs meant to imitate parochial regional rivalries.

The public, doing as they are told, simply dance as the puppeteers pull their strings, unaware that attendance is never the aim. These contests are far less about successful salesmanship to fans - not necessarily interested in cricket - and far more about selling the soul of the game for twenty pieces of TV silver. The IPL is the most outstanding example but let's not delude ourselves, our own Big Bash is a successful facsimile which replaced everything in its path last January. It was still outshone by the Test side thrashing India and the promotional dreams of Ponting's resurgence, Clarke's heavy scoring and the quest by the game's greatest batsman in seeking an unheard of goal.

There is something gloriously fitting, that the architect of this ground up player driven resurgence, intent on defending the real game, should be led by a man with a quintessentially Australian ironic nickname. Only from days standing together in the sun, do cricketers engaged in the real business of the game anoint with such accuracy and somehow manage to utter nicknames with tongue so fully filling cheek. Swan Richards has been known as such for so long, no one knows his Christian name. His moniker derives from eight consecutive elegant ducks made way back in the days of pimpled youth.

For a man noted for flamboyance, there remains something of the mystic about him. Cricketers hold reverence for a man who makes bats.

His Crusaders have moved about the place for some time, playing invitational matches for worthy causes or against schools with young men keen to test their standard against formers with enough cred for that earned respect we spoke of earlier. The OF owes its gestation to them but its intentions are to take the matter much further. Already youngsters are being identified for talent camps leading to five day "Tests". Instruction has begun and has been encouraged by men who married the game long ago and have remained faithful to the old girl, despite the flirtations with floozies. As Baum points out, Test and first class cricketers have become quickly jaded by these meaningless affairs and are privately expressing dissatisfaction whilst being publicly careful not to upset their employer. Baum believes that tacit support for the OF comes from on high among the gods which are Cricket Australia but this, at best, is having your cake and eating it until its smashed all over your face. CA loves its cash cows and will milk the Big Bash for all its worth before turning back to First Class cricket steaks.

Shane Watson,
custodian

The word custodian crops up from time to time in the discussions of sages who gather with one hand on their spreading girth and the other on a condensation covered ale. These men whose faces show lines won from too many summers and whose grey temples have bobbed and weaved to avoid the fastest of bowlers ... these veterans talk their youth up but know with quick instinct that each of us is a custodian of the game. Every player grows into this role and must fulfil the responsibility handed him by wiser others. Its not winning and losing, its how you play the game. More than this, its how you love, cherish and obey its history and the discipleship you exercise over holding it for fleeting years and then passing it on unbroken, polished and ready for the edification of the next generation.

The most important element of Baum's story, therefore, is not what will be done for player skills and competitiveness but rather how the Outright Foundation will play their game. To quote from the article, "There will be instruction not just in the complexities of batting, bowling and fielding but in the history of the game and the meaning of the Baggy Green, for instance. Students will study the psychology of the Test match. Batsmen will be taught the virtues of old-fashioned, but timeless concepts such as patience and playing in the ''V''. Bowlers will be taught about patience and about the cumulative force of dot balls. In Test cricket, sometimes the most important and hardest thing a player can do is nothing. It is the game's essential and enduring charm - and mystery." Instructors such as Damien Fleming, Merv Hughes, Dean Jones, Greg Chappell and "Nancy" MacGill will begin the new discipleship.

thecricketragics sunrise hot cuppa and raisin toast will taste so much better this morning.

Rowdy Swings His Mallett

Ashley Mallet

Its always the perfect way to start an argument which will occupy the front bar of any pub for an hour or so, but Ashley Mallett has taken fifty years to arrive at the five best batsmen he has watched in Test cricket. Probably the best Australian off spinner in the same span of years - another discussion for those bars - Rowdy was a thoughtful player and has been a careful journalist who usually makes sense, so his assessment isn't one to be dismissed so easily.

He has the smallest of advantages in having bowled a handful of balls in first class cricket to at least two on his list and more in practice sessions but its as an observer he has written his assessment "The Best Batsmen I've Seen" in the Cricinfo magazine. He quotes generously to support his argument, invoking Bradman among his credentialed resources. His selection of Neil Harvey, Barry Richards, Garry Sobers, Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar are hard to argue with but its the list of who is left out that is even more imposing.

Of his five, perhaps only Barry Richards is questionable. Ignored by Test cricket because of a right minded political response to wrong minded politics, he had Test appearances, not a career. In the day when we naively and rather ironically believed two ideologies should never mix, Richards was a glorious player who murdered first class attacks. His major crimes against bowling humanity happened on Australian pitches whilst Mallett was his team mate but in reality, the rest of his first class career was merely mortal and no better than many fine players. Its unrealistic to place him in such company based on such a short Test career but its Mallett's list and he has every right to write his impressions and make his claims. They are still substantial.

Having never seen Harvey bat and only seen his work as a selector and a motor mouth against anything sane, I have never featured him strongly in my own calculations of "best of's". Its a serious short fall, given the number of highly qualified judges who do the opposite. He was also short-changed by Bradman and his puppet selectors and should have captained more often, having been ignored whilst first Ian Craig and then Richie Benaud were given the keys to the kingdom. Perhaps its what made him bitter and so quick to judge. His stats are impressive but its more the how and when and under what conditions he made runs that attest to the fact he is deserved another look.

The rest select themselves. Tendulkar is the best batsman of all time, Sobers the best cricketer and Viv Richards the most dangerous. Its enough to say, that if the best five bowlers of all time were lined up to bowl to this list of best five batsman, Vivi would be the scalp they would be hungriest for. The other four would be players they would want to get out but for Richards, they would possess a pathological need to get him out. He was and still is, that kind of guy.

 

As for the alternates ... where would you start? Lara, Ponting, Greg Chappell, Sangakkara or Miandad might easily have been included.

Who would be your top five batsmen of the last fifty years of Test cricket? An interesting twist is to name the best five Test innings you have watched ... but that's for another afternoon at the Imperial.