It was decided several months ago that on the 29th of April a small group of us would get up early in the morning, pack a picnic and catch a train into London to celebrate the wedding of Kate and William by watching some cricket at Lord’s.
I’m not particularly anti-Royal but there are many things I would rather do than watch a wedding. Cleaning the fridge is one. That said, a lot of other people seem to think it’s all jolly wonderful and that’s great. Popular opinion suggests that most men would like to give one to a young lady named Pippa but that’s probably as much information as I need. Incidentally, I do find it odd when people say the wedding makes them proud to be British, but then I tend to agree with George Bernard Shaw: “patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” So Prince William got married, should that make me proud to be a man with rapidly thinning hair?
So regardless of all that, I do believe that when circumstances give you a Friday off work it is important to spend the day doing something you enjoy, and watching the third day of a county cricket game with Dr Andy and the other Dr Andy seemed to fit the bill.
Unfortunately for us the match wasn’t set up very well. Having allowed Middlesex to amass 445 in the first innings, Surrey were bowled out for just 203 in 56 overs on Thursday afternoon. Following on, they had lost another two wickets (Brown and De Bruyn were the unlucky men dismissed twice in one day) and at the start of play they still needed 208 runs just to make Middlesex bat again.
Now, I must confess that the lovely Mrs Keiwit finds cricket rather boring, and after the two sessions I saw today it is difficult to argue otherwise. Surrey began the day in a dreadful position, reached lunch in a hopeless position and failed to survive until tea – losing by an innings and 42 runs. At no stage was it dramatic or exciting, there were no moments of individual brilliance and the power never shifted away from the bowling side. It was never more than pleasantly engaging - something to focus on while the two-litre bottle of “diet coke” slipped down all too easily.
Opening batsman Gary Wilson began the day on 11 not out, with occasional England wicketkeeper Steven Davies on 20. Both had been dismissed for ducks in the first innings and both seemed to be approaching the second dig with a fair degree of caution – as would I if I saw 6’8” Steven Finn steaming in towards me! At the other end West Indian fast bowler Corey Collymore caused all sorts of trouble, beating the bat on numerous occasions. Runs were hard to come by but neither bowler forced a breakthrough in that opening spell.
It was the second bowling change that brought the day’s first wicket: 23-year-old Toby Roland-Jones may have seemed like a less frightening prospect but he immediately found the edge of Wilson’s bat to end his 83-ball resistance. And 73-3 soon became 73-4 as Surrey skipper Hamilton-Brown went for a duck. Surrey’s second innings was heading the same way as the first.
Now, I don’t favour either of the two sides and I just wanted to see as much cricket as possible, so naturally I was supporting the Surrey batsmen, willing them to stick around and make a few runs. Davies passed fifty and looked solid, but all the way through he seemed to be the only one up for the fight - one after another his teammates reached double figures then gave their wicket away – Maynard 11, Batty 17, Jordan 22, Arafat 16 – all stayed in long enough to get a look at the bowling but none ever quite settled.
I was particularly disappointed when Chris Jordan got out. He’d faced 47 balls and hit four boundaries (including one superb straight drive) before chasing a wide one and edging to the keeper. Come on boy, you’ve got the talent, you’ve done the hard bit, now build an innings!
After Jordan went, Davies seemed to realise his chances of reaching a century were slipping away fast. He clipped one delightful six over mid-wicket off spinner Ollie Rayner and pulled Dexter for four in the next over, but having reached 94 he perhaps got carried away and played onto his stumps, the eighth wicket to fall.
It wasn’t long before Arafat edged to slip to give Roland-Jones his third wicket and leave Surrey 200-9. With four balls left before tea numbers ten and eleven met at the crease, Surrey still needed 42 to make Middlesex bat again and there was still the fourth day to think about. As the two men met in the middle, how do you think the conversation went?
A) Let’s just see out the over.
B) If we take this ten runs at a time we can make this annoying for them.
C) Just have a swing mate – we’ll be in the pub by five.
The next delivery was short and Dernbach tried to hook it, missing the ball completely. Next up he tried the same again, made contact but spooned it straight to gully and the match was over. So, option C it was then. I don’t suppose they really had a choice. What were they ever going to achieve? There was nothing left to fight for, so the young man had a swing. I was really hoping cricket would be the winner, but in the end, inevitably, it was Middlesex.
When I got home this evening I turned on the TV and was met with pictures of the Royal couple kissing on a balcony. I instantly turned over to the Indian Premier League because, frankly, even the worst kind of cricket is still better than a Royal Wedding.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Farley Hill (A) - 24.4.11
Farley Hill 175-8
Carpenter 2-24, Withers 2-25, Stewart 2-29, Zia 2-54
RUASCC 177-5
Eagle 85 not out, Dersh 21
RUASCC won by 5 wickets.
A hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in Farley Hill provided the perfect setting for RUASCC’s first game of the 2011 season. And when Tranter, incredibly playing in his 700th game for the club, did the unthinkable and actually won the toss we knew it was going to be a good day.
In the end it was a comfortable win in which opening batsman Andy Eagle picked up where he left off last season. Zia bowled a typical 18-over spell, the wickets were shared between the bowlers, only three catches were put down and there were no major fights – all things that point to a good afternoon’s work for RUASCC.
Withers and Zia opened the bowling with good support from the fielders. Withers himself showed commendable early-season keenness making a full-length diving stop on the fine leg boundary before Dr Ashman did likewise in the gully, creating a tremor so massive it forced a butterfly to flap its wings on the other side of the world.
Withers picked up the first two wickets (one bowled, one caught by Dersh at cover) and would have skittled out the top three had Carpenter clung onto a sharp chance at first slip. The spill did not prove costly, however, as Zia trapped Blake lbw for 23 in the very next over. Farley Hill had ambled to 51-3 after 19 overs when Withers (2-25) was replaced by Carpenter.
Carpenter was driven for four and six in his second over but then managed to take a wicket with his worst ball of the day - a full toss on leg stump was somehow skewed high into the air towards Withers at mid-off who took the catch despite having ample time to reflect upon that chance that Carpenter spilled at slip. The home side upped the run rate to reach 100 in the 28th over but Zia bagged his second wicket, sneaking one through to hit leg stump, and Carpenter (2-24) earned a successful lbw appeal to reign things in a bit.
Pensioner Ken Stewart survived another long, cold winter and he came on to bowl his wily left arm things, occasionally dropping too short and getting heaved away to cow corner by Ditchburn. The Farley captain never fails to reach fifty in this fixture but in a shocking act of jug-avoidance he retired, seemingly unhurt, on 48. Success then came for Stewart (2-29) as he clean-bowled a dancing left-hander as the sloggers tried to hit out. The final wicket to fall came thanks to a comfortably taken catch at long on by Carpenter who by this time had washed the butter off.
Zia (2-54) bowled 18 overs almost unchanged from one end but there was still time for Tranter to bowl the final over and the skipper didn’t disappoint. He certainly didn’t disappoint the home side who got an extra ten runs out of it. 175-8 declared.
TEA - RUASCC need 176 to win
Farley Hill’s opening bowlers were tall and quick but not always accurate and RUASCC were 14-0 before the first run came off the bat, largely thanks to a novice wicketkeeper standing half a mile behind the stumps. Extras were so dominant that the opening partnership had put on 43 when Ward was bowled for just 6.
As Eagle settled in for the long haul, both Dip Patel and Chan Malde were dismissed without scoring. Dip’s first attacking stroke looped up to mid-off, and Chan saw two of his stumps uprooted by a ball that he insisted didn’t move in the air and definitely didn’t beat him for pace. In fact, we understand that the delivery had absolutely nothing whatsoever to recommend it.
At this point RUASCC were 60-3 and in need of a cool head and some solid technique to recover the situation. We had a jolly good look around but couldn’t seem to find either of those things so instead we sent Dersh Patel to join Eagle in the middle. Fortunately this seemed to do the trick and the pair set about building a partnership - with 20 overs remaining RUASCC were 72-3 needing 104 to win.
Eagle used his feet well and found the offside boundary on several occasions and it was another low full toss from Ali which gave him the chance to drive another four to bring up his fifty. Having put on 70 the partnership came to an end when Dersh (21) found the only man on the long off boundary. 130-4.
Carpenter added 13 runs in a fifth wicket stand of 28 (during which time Eagle swept a six into the trees) before trying to cut a delivery from the off-spinner Ali that just came back in and bowled him. Then, just to keep things interesting, with only 18 runs needed for victory Zia and Eagle’s running between the wickets took the form of two men auditioning for the lead roles in a new farcical comedy:
And There’s No Run
Scene 1 – Ext. Farley Hill Cricket Ground.
(Andy Eagle dabs the ball into the offside and sets off briskly for a single.)
AE: Yes, yes, yes!
Zia: (Motionless) No Andy, we can’t. I’m afraid it’s just too dangerous.
AE: But I want to!
Zia: I know Andy, I know. But, you see… well, it’s complicated.
AE: Forget the fielders, forget all about them. This is just about you and me, and I know we can make it work.
Zia: No Andy. The time just isn’t right for us. Go back home, you’ll be safe there.
AE: Shit.
(Andy, halfway down the track, turns with the grace of a two-day old giraffe and just about makes his ground).
With both batsmen having got that out of their system, Eagle hit the first two balls of the next over for four to bring RUASCC to within touching distance of the target and Zia, taking a guard three yards out his crease to avoid an lbw decision, spanked an on drive for four to seal the win by five wickets with two and a half overs to spare. Eagle ended just one run shy of his highest ever score with 85 not out. A great start to the season.
Quote of the Day: “I wouldn’t applaud an Eagle fifty half as much as I would applaud Eagle running himself out on 49” – Dr Ashman.
RUASCC Man of the Match: Andy Eagle for his match-winning 85 not out.
RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle, Dip (wkt), Chan, Dersh, Carpenter, Zia, Tranter (capt), Stewart, Ashman, Withers
Keiwit Stat Fact: My distinctly average 2-25 from nine overs would have been my second-best figures of the whole 2010 season.
Carpenter 2-24, Withers 2-25, Stewart 2-29, Zia 2-54
RUASCC 177-5
Eagle 85 not out, Dersh 21
RUASCC won by 5 wickets.
A hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in Farley Hill provided the perfect setting for RUASCC’s first game of the 2011 season. And when Tranter, incredibly playing in his 700th game for the club, did the unthinkable and actually won the toss we knew it was going to be a good day.
In the end it was a comfortable win in which opening batsman Andy Eagle picked up where he left off last season. Zia bowled a typical 18-over spell, the wickets were shared between the bowlers, only three catches were put down and there were no major fights – all things that point to a good afternoon’s work for RUASCC.
Withers and Zia opened the bowling with good support from the fielders. Withers himself showed commendable early-season keenness making a full-length diving stop on the fine leg boundary before Dr Ashman did likewise in the gully, creating a tremor so massive it forced a butterfly to flap its wings on the other side of the world.
Withers picked up the first two wickets (one bowled, one caught by Dersh at cover) and would have skittled out the top three had Carpenter clung onto a sharp chance at first slip. The spill did not prove costly, however, as Zia trapped Blake lbw for 23 in the very next over. Farley Hill had ambled to 51-3 after 19 overs when Withers (2-25) was replaced by Carpenter.
Carpenter was driven for four and six in his second over but then managed to take a wicket with his worst ball of the day - a full toss on leg stump was somehow skewed high into the air towards Withers at mid-off who took the catch despite having ample time to reflect upon that chance that Carpenter spilled at slip. The home side upped the run rate to reach 100 in the 28th over but Zia bagged his second wicket, sneaking one through to hit leg stump, and Carpenter (2-24) earned a successful lbw appeal to reign things in a bit.
Pensioner Ken Stewart survived another long, cold winter and he came on to bowl his wily left arm things, occasionally dropping too short and getting heaved away to cow corner by Ditchburn. The Farley captain never fails to reach fifty in this fixture but in a shocking act of jug-avoidance he retired, seemingly unhurt, on 48. Success then came for Stewart (2-29) as he clean-bowled a dancing left-hander as the sloggers tried to hit out. The final wicket to fall came thanks to a comfortably taken catch at long on by Carpenter who by this time had washed the butter off.
Zia (2-54) bowled 18 overs almost unchanged from one end but there was still time for Tranter to bowl the final over and the skipper didn’t disappoint. He certainly didn’t disappoint the home side who got an extra ten runs out of it. 175-8 declared.
TEA - RUASCC need 176 to win
Farley Hill’s opening bowlers were tall and quick but not always accurate and RUASCC were 14-0 before the first run came off the bat, largely thanks to a novice wicketkeeper standing half a mile behind the stumps. Extras were so dominant that the opening partnership had put on 43 when Ward was bowled for just 6.
As Eagle settled in for the long haul, both Dip Patel and Chan Malde were dismissed without scoring. Dip’s first attacking stroke looped up to mid-off, and Chan saw two of his stumps uprooted by a ball that he insisted didn’t move in the air and definitely didn’t beat him for pace. In fact, we understand that the delivery had absolutely nothing whatsoever to recommend it.
At this point RUASCC were 60-3 and in need of a cool head and some solid technique to recover the situation. We had a jolly good look around but couldn’t seem to find either of those things so instead we sent Dersh Patel to join Eagle in the middle. Fortunately this seemed to do the trick and the pair set about building a partnership - with 20 overs remaining RUASCC were 72-3 needing 104 to win.
Eagle used his feet well and found the offside boundary on several occasions and it was another low full toss from Ali which gave him the chance to drive another four to bring up his fifty. Having put on 70 the partnership came to an end when Dersh (21) found the only man on the long off boundary. 130-4.
Carpenter added 13 runs in a fifth wicket stand of 28 (during which time Eagle swept a six into the trees) before trying to cut a delivery from the off-spinner Ali that just came back in and bowled him. Then, just to keep things interesting, with only 18 runs needed for victory Zia and Eagle’s running between the wickets took the form of two men auditioning for the lead roles in a new farcical comedy:
And There’s No Run
Scene 1 – Ext. Farley Hill Cricket Ground.
(Andy Eagle dabs the ball into the offside and sets off briskly for a single.)
AE: Yes, yes, yes!
Zia: (Motionless) No Andy, we can’t. I’m afraid it’s just too dangerous.
AE: But I want to!
Zia: I know Andy, I know. But, you see… well, it’s complicated.
AE: Forget the fielders, forget all about them. This is just about you and me, and I know we can make it work.
Zia: No Andy. The time just isn’t right for us. Go back home, you’ll be safe there.
AE: Shit.
(Andy, halfway down the track, turns with the grace of a two-day old giraffe and just about makes his ground).
With both batsmen having got that out of their system, Eagle hit the first two balls of the next over for four to bring RUASCC to within touching distance of the target and Zia, taking a guard three yards out his crease to avoid an lbw decision, spanked an on drive for four to seal the win by five wickets with two and a half overs to spare. Eagle ended just one run shy of his highest ever score with 85 not out. A great start to the season.
Quote of the Day: “I wouldn’t applaud an Eagle fifty half as much as I would applaud Eagle running himself out on 49” – Dr Ashman.
RUASCC Man of the Match: Andy Eagle for his match-winning 85 not out.
RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle, Dip (wkt), Chan, Dersh, Carpenter, Zia, Tranter (capt), Stewart, Ashman, Withers
Keiwit Stat Fact: My distinctly average 2-25 from nine overs would have been my second-best figures of the whole 2010 season.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Pre-Season 2011 - Nets
The 2011 cricket season is almost upon us and RUASCC, not well known for putting in too many hours of practice, had an almost unprecedented three weeks of net sessions booked in the run up to the first game at Farley Hill on Easter Sunday. Today was the final session and also the first one from which I seem to have emerged unscathed. After week one everything hurt – a group of muscles from my legs and torso felt moved to get together and write a letter of complaint to The Times. Then while batting last week I reacted too slowly to a bouncer from Andy Greenhalf and wore it on the chin, giving me a lovely deep, red seam print and discomfort while chewing for several days. Today, I feel great.
Regular readers of the Keiwit blog will know that 2010 was not a great season for me personally; I averaged less than one wicket per match and struggled to put any pressure on batsmen, bowling very few maidens and far too many four-balls. I ended up bowling more and more defensively, not expecting to take wickets but simply hoping to bowl dot-balls. Batsmen seemed to sense this and go on the attack. In a bid to put this right I did something I’ve never actually done before: I started reading a coaching manual. Specifically I started reading “The Art and Science of Cricket” by the late Bob Woolmer and immediately turned to the chapter on bowling to see what he had to say.
“No, no, no!” screams Woolmer from beyond the grave. “Your grip’s all wrong - you’re holding the ball too tightly.”
“Ah,” I say, not quite knowing where to direct my response. “I did wonder. But I hold it tightly because I can’t control the ball very well. I had problems last year bowling a consistent line, and I couldn’t seem to get any pace.”
Bob shakes his head and taps an area on page 251:
The point is that while a smooth run-up and bowling action are important to the delivery, if you don’t understand and fully utilise the wrists and fingers you lose out on the “subtler, more dangerous variations.” In short, you’re not going to take many wickets.
For example, I thought my stock ball was the pitched-up outswinger on or just outside off-stump – in the past I’ve had success with it, beating the bat regularly and seeing lots of mis-timed drives edged to slip or chipped to the covers. But last season I couldn’t find that consistent line and length outside off-stump and the ball was barely moving off a straight line. Woolmer quotes one of the greatest bowlers of all time, Dennis Lillee:
So immediately I can see where there are flaws in my technique, and I’ve set about trying to correct these in the nets. One thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how I used to be able to bowl tight, economical overs, swing the ball and take wickets without knowing what I have recently learned.
In fact, when trying to bowl outswingers in 2010, just about the only thing I was doing right (according to Woolmer) was to hold the ball with the rough side facing the covers.
I mention this because, in the pub after one of our net sessions, we couldn’t even agree how to bowl an outswinger – some thought it should be the shiny side that faces towards the covers. Admittedly one of them was Dr Ashman who, it must be said, wobbles the ball about more than anyone at the club, so if The Good Doctor wants to take it up with Mr Woolmer I’ll stay out of it.
So, how did all this new-found knowledge fair in the nets? Actually, I think it’s gone pretty well. Several people remarked that the ball was coming on a lot quicker and I’ve found it much easier to put the ball on a good length (typically I err towards the half-volley). This means that when I have bowled people out (and I have!) the ball’s been clipping the top of off-stump – exactly where I’ve been aiming for.
One thing I haven’t really been able to test is the swing. Picking up a twelve-year-old ball indoors on a concrete pitch and getting it to deviate at all can be a hopeless task so I’ve been concentrating on line, length and pace (including a proper slower ball, also using the wrist) and eagerly anticipating the first game outdoors with a new ball and a good cloud cover. With a much better idea of what I should be doing and how I’m going to take wickets, I’m heading into this season full of optimism.
Regular readers of the Keiwit blog will know that 2010 was not a great season for me personally; I averaged less than one wicket per match and struggled to put any pressure on batsmen, bowling very few maidens and far too many four-balls. I ended up bowling more and more defensively, not expecting to take wickets but simply hoping to bowl dot-balls. Batsmen seemed to sense this and go on the attack. In a bid to put this right I did something I’ve never actually done before: I started reading a coaching manual. Specifically I started reading “The Art and Science of Cricket” by the late Bob Woolmer and immediately turned to the chapter on bowling to see what he had to say.
“No, no, no!” screams Woolmer from beyond the grave. “Your grip’s all wrong - you’re holding the ball too tightly.”
“Ah,” I say, not quite knowing where to direct my response. “I did wonder. But I hold it tightly because I can’t control the ball very well. I had problems last year bowling a consistent line, and I couldn’t seem to get any pace.”
Bob shakes his head and taps an area on page 251:
“The ball should rest on the last joints of the fingers with a small gap between it and the cupped palm of the hand. This space is very important – if you grip the ball too tightly, or wedge it too deep in your fingers, it will leave your hand too slowly, and you are also likely to lose a great deal of control over it.”“Oh. That would explain it,” I say, looking down at the floor.
The point is that while a smooth run-up and bowling action are important to the delivery, if you don’t understand and fully utilise the wrists and fingers you lose out on the “subtler, more dangerous variations.” In short, you’re not going to take many wickets.
For example, I thought my stock ball was the pitched-up outswinger on or just outside off-stump – in the past I’ve had success with it, beating the bat regularly and seeing lots of mis-timed drives edged to slip or chipped to the covers. But last season I couldn’t find that consistent line and length outside off-stump and the ball was barely moving off a straight line. Woolmer quotes one of the greatest bowlers of all time, Dennis Lillee:
“The most critical part of swing bowling is the way you let the ball go from the hand. If this is not done with a high degree of precision, the ball either will not swing at all or will swing only a little and too early in its flight to be of any great danger to the batsman… The ball is sent away with a natural under-spin, and I believe the more under-spin imparted on the ball the later it will swing.”
So immediately I can see where there are flaws in my technique, and I’ve set about trying to correct these in the nets. One thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how I used to be able to bowl tight, economical overs, swing the ball and take wickets without knowing what I have recently learned.
In fact, when trying to bowl outswingers in 2010, just about the only thing I was doing right (according to Woolmer) was to hold the ball with the rough side facing the covers.
“The side that is smooth and shiny will present less resistance to the air than the rough side: the resulting low pressure on that side of the ball will pull it in that direction and away from the high pressure. This manifests itself as swing.”
I mention this because, in the pub after one of our net sessions, we couldn’t even agree how to bowl an outswinger – some thought it should be the shiny side that faces towards the covers. Admittedly one of them was Dr Ashman who, it must be said, wobbles the ball about more than anyone at the club, so if The Good Doctor wants to take it up with Mr Woolmer I’ll stay out of it.
So, how did all this new-found knowledge fair in the nets? Actually, I think it’s gone pretty well. Several people remarked that the ball was coming on a lot quicker and I’ve found it much easier to put the ball on a good length (typically I err towards the half-volley). This means that when I have bowled people out (and I have!) the ball’s been clipping the top of off-stump – exactly where I’ve been aiming for.
One thing I haven’t really been able to test is the swing. Picking up a twelve-year-old ball indoors on a concrete pitch and getting it to deviate at all can be a hopeless task so I’ve been concentrating on line, length and pace (including a proper slower ball, also using the wrist) and eagerly anticipating the first game outdoors with a new ball and a good cloud cover. With a much better idea of what I should be doing and how I’m going to take wickets, I’m heading into this season full of optimism.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Australia v England, 5th Test (Sydney) – 3rd-7th January
I’m sitting up at midnight listening to a rain break on the final day of the Ashes series, which is ridiculous because if I wanted to stay up all night NOT listening to cricket there were about 340 other days in the past year that I could have done that.
Obviously this is quite a special night, during which hopefully England will wrap up a 3-1 series win - exactly the score that people like Jonathan Agnew were predicting months before the series started. Yes, confidence was high and rightly so; England have dominated very large parts of the series and plenty of questions have now been answered.
Q: Will England start the series strongly after their thorough preparations?
A: Er, no. Not really. Day 1 of the first Test was nothing special by any means. Strauss was dismissed in the first over, Peter Siddle took a hatrick (and six wickets in total) and England were dismissed for a below-par 260. Australia finished the day 25-0 and went on to post a first innings lead of 221.
Q: So, will England crumble under a bit of pressure (as English cricket teams are wont to do)?
A: No again. England’s second innings was alarmingly different to what we have come to expect. Strauss followed up his duck with 110, Cook practically doubled his 2010 run tally with 235 not out and Jonathan Trott scored his second Ashes ton. 517-1 and Australia looked clueless.
Q: Will Kevin Pietersen rediscover his match-winning form?
A: After a promising 43 in Brisbane, KP came to the crease at 176-2 in Adelaide and was eventually dismissed with the score on 568, having notched a Test best 227. The majority of this innings happened to coincide with my one night of watching the live coverage and I can confirm he looked happy out there. His dismal failure at Perth (0 and 3) was followed by a fluent 51 in Adelaide that was very helpful at the time. Pietersen hasn’t proved to be the England match-winner but he really hasn’t needed to be.
Q: Will this be Swann’s Ashes?
A: Certainly not, but as with Pietersen it hasn’t mattered that England’s spinner hasn’t been at his devastating best. The form of Anderson, Bresnan and Tremlett has taken the pressure off him. Swann took 5-91 in the second innings at Adelaide to finish off the match but apart from that he’s only taken the odd wicket here and there. At one point in Melbourne he had figures of 22 overs for 23 runs, demonstrating his usefulness as a containing bowler. His 36 off 26 balls (mostly from Mitchell Johnson) in this Test match was wonderfully entertaining.
Q: Is Mitchell Johnson really that bad?
A: Not quite. His first-innings spell in Perth (6-38) was a superb show of fast, threatening swing bowling and even though he’s spent almost every other session trying to prove that it was a fluke it’s clear there is talent there, somewhere. The Barmy Army have got after him, his confidence looks shot, I still think his low, slingy action lends itself to wide half-volleys BUT I don’t think he can be written off yet.
Q: Will England win their first series in Australia since 1986/87?
A: A very convincing yes. Three Test match victories, each one by an innings; the highest score by an England team in Australia (644); four totals over 500 – the records tumbled like Australian top-order batsmen. A lovely statistic just revealed is that Ponting and Clarke had a lower combined series average than Peter Siddle. History is being made as I type and there’s a part of me that wishes some of the matches had been a bit closer, but the fact is England have batted, bowled and fielded better and fully deserve their crushing victory.
BANG! Played-on. Tremlett picks up his third wicket and it’s all over. It’s now 1am and time for me to get some sleep. Well done England.
Obviously this is quite a special night, during which hopefully England will wrap up a 3-1 series win - exactly the score that people like Jonathan Agnew were predicting months before the series started. Yes, confidence was high and rightly so; England have dominated very large parts of the series and plenty of questions have now been answered.
Q: Will England start the series strongly after their thorough preparations?
A: Er, no. Not really. Day 1 of the first Test was nothing special by any means. Strauss was dismissed in the first over, Peter Siddle took a hatrick (and six wickets in total) and England were dismissed for a below-par 260. Australia finished the day 25-0 and went on to post a first innings lead of 221.
Q: So, will England crumble under a bit of pressure (as English cricket teams are wont to do)?
A: No again. England’s second innings was alarmingly different to what we have come to expect. Strauss followed up his duck with 110, Cook practically doubled his 2010 run tally with 235 not out and Jonathan Trott scored his second Ashes ton. 517-1 and Australia looked clueless.
Q: Will Kevin Pietersen rediscover his match-winning form?
A: After a promising 43 in Brisbane, KP came to the crease at 176-2 in Adelaide and was eventually dismissed with the score on 568, having notched a Test best 227. The majority of this innings happened to coincide with my one night of watching the live coverage and I can confirm he looked happy out there. His dismal failure at Perth (0 and 3) was followed by a fluent 51 in Adelaide that was very helpful at the time. Pietersen hasn’t proved to be the England match-winner but he really hasn’t needed to be.
Q: Will this be Swann’s Ashes?
A: Certainly not, but as with Pietersen it hasn’t mattered that England’s spinner hasn’t been at his devastating best. The form of Anderson, Bresnan and Tremlett has taken the pressure off him. Swann took 5-91 in the second innings at Adelaide to finish off the match but apart from that he’s only taken the odd wicket here and there. At one point in Melbourne he had figures of 22 overs for 23 runs, demonstrating his usefulness as a containing bowler. His 36 off 26 balls (mostly from Mitchell Johnson) in this Test match was wonderfully entertaining.
Q: Is Mitchell Johnson really that bad?
A: Not quite. His first-innings spell in Perth (6-38) was a superb show of fast, threatening swing bowling and even though he’s spent almost every other session trying to prove that it was a fluke it’s clear there is talent there, somewhere. The Barmy Army have got after him, his confidence looks shot, I still think his low, slingy action lends itself to wide half-volleys BUT I don’t think he can be written off yet.
Q: Will England win their first series in Australia since 1986/87?
A: A very convincing yes. Three Test match victories, each one by an innings; the highest score by an England team in Australia (644); four totals over 500 – the records tumbled like Australian top-order batsmen. A lovely statistic just revealed is that Ponting and Clarke had a lower combined series average than Peter Siddle. History is being made as I type and there’s a part of me that wishes some of the matches had been a bit closer, but the fact is England have batted, bowled and fielded better and fully deserve their crushing victory.
BANG! Played-on. Tremlett picks up his third wicket and it’s all over. It’s now 1am and time for me to get some sleep. Well done England.
Monday, 27 December 2010
Australia v England, 4th Test (Melbourne) - 26th-? December
I love Jonathan Trott.
Currently unbeaten on 141, his Ashes average is 96.33 and in 17 Test matches he averages about 63. Earlier today he had me struggling to remember the name Ravi Bopara.
He says it's down to hard work and is happy to admit that he's not the most exciting batsman to watch:
And it's not just Trott. I find myself feeling incredibly happy for Matt Prior - for so long all we heard about was wicketkeeping clangers and finding a keeper-batsman worth his place in the side. Well, Chris Read, Geraint Jones and Tim Ambrose can look forward to a bit more County cricket because now we can watch a performance including six catches and 75 not out and there's nothing particularly surprising about it.
I'm a bit worried about Collingwood though. Now is definitely the time for his place-saving 150 but it doesn't look like he'll get a second dig in this match. The selectors must be tempted to give Morgan a go in Sydney, especially if we've already wrapped up the Ashes.
With the ball Tremlett is having a field day on these hard bouncy wickets, Anderson looks to have recovered from his tired third Test and even Bresnan's come in to take two wickets while Finn rests up. Swann may not have been the match-winner we expected but we've had so many others that it doesn't seem to matter.
I'm staying up for the 3rd day's play tonight. I fancy Prior, Bresnan and Swann to throw everything at it and push the lead up to 500. Then if there's any swing at all we could be 4 or 5 deep into the Aussies again by the close.
Too confident? Maybe. We all saw what happened in the 3rd Test. But this is an England team with confidence and, possibly for the first time in my lifetime, more quality than the Australians.
Currently unbeaten on 141, his Ashes average is 96.33 and in 17 Test matches he averages about 63. Earlier today he had me struggling to remember the name Ravi Bopara.
He says it's down to hard work and is happy to admit that he's not the most exciting batsman to watch:
"I think it's important I don't over-rev when I'm batting and try to look to over-hit the ball.I'm happy to admit that I'd rather watch Trott build a big hundred than get the quick fix of a Pieterson 50 (although both have their place, obviously).
"I try to be calm and patient and play my natural game, which is to obviously just accumulate here and there and let the other guys hit the boundaries and sixes."
And it's not just Trott. I find myself feeling incredibly happy for Matt Prior - for so long all we heard about was wicketkeeping clangers and finding a keeper-batsman worth his place in the side. Well, Chris Read, Geraint Jones and Tim Ambrose can look forward to a bit more County cricket because now we can watch a performance including six catches and 75 not out and there's nothing particularly surprising about it.
I'm a bit worried about Collingwood though. Now is definitely the time for his place-saving 150 but it doesn't look like he'll get a second dig in this match. The selectors must be tempted to give Morgan a go in Sydney, especially if we've already wrapped up the Ashes.
With the ball Tremlett is having a field day on these hard bouncy wickets, Anderson looks to have recovered from his tired third Test and even Bresnan's come in to take two wickets while Finn rests up. Swann may not have been the match-winner we expected but we've had so many others that it doesn't seem to matter.
I'm staying up for the 3rd day's play tonight. I fancy Prior, Bresnan and Swann to throw everything at it and push the lead up to 500. Then if there's any swing at all we could be 4 or 5 deep into the Aussies again by the close.
Too confident? Maybe. We all saw what happened in the 3rd Test. But this is an England team with confidence and, possibly for the first time in my lifetime, more quality than the Australians.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Australia v England, 1st Test (Brisbane) – 25-29th November
Nocturnal Cricketers
At the end of each Test Match the vast majority of cricket writers cobble together a hastily scribbled “marks out of ten” piece, a quick and easy guide to the best and worst performers and a perfect way to generate thousands of ill-informed opinions from the general public.
Obviously I would be delighted to do the same, however I’m afraid I find myself at a slight disadvantage when it comes to reviewing the First Test: like many people in the UK I didn’t watch a single minute of it.
I don’t have Sky TV and I do have a day job so staying up to watch all or some of the action is out of the question. Instead all I can do is go to bed full of optimism, with an idea in my head of what would be a good outcome, and wake up to hear Jonathan Agnew’s report on the Radio 4 Today programme. It’s not ideal because this means you have to take in a whole day’s play in just a few seconds - one minute play hasn’t started, the next minute it’s time for stumps. Cricket is a slow-boiling game of concentration and building partnerships; you can’t just hear the score and feel satisfied.
The First Test
On the night of the first day (if that makes sense) I went to bed, I didn’t know who would win the toss, but I decided that if England batted they would probably be 270-7 when I woke up. What is more, I had the last two wickets falling in the last fifteen minutes of play – a perfect example of Boycott’s “add two wickets to the score” scenario. When I woke up I heard that England were indeed batting but that is was actually slightly worse: 236-8. But I didn’t know that Pieterson had looked promising in his 43 or that Ian Bell (76) is finally becoming the batsman we know he should be. I missed Siddle’s hatrick for crying out loud – six wickets including a hatrick in an Ashes Test on your 26th birthday! Crikey. What am I doing with my life?
A lot of the excitement is lost when you’re not engaged in the action. At the very least you simply want to be able to see what’s going on as it’s going on, but ideally you would have all of the following things in place:
* Live coverage on the TV
* The sound turned up so you can hear the commentary and crowd noise
* People around you who understand and enjoy cricket
* Some sort of carbonated or fermented liquid in a glass
On the morning after the second day’s play I got to work and tried to at least generate some cricket-based discussion. We may have all missed the action but there must be some talking points. I asked my colleagues:
The answer was no, of course - completely the wrong audience. My colleagues know absolutely nothing about cricket. They think a late cut is what happens when you go to the hairdressers after work.
I realised I needed something to soften the news in the morning, and once I discovered it, I started using the ECB (England Cricket Board) highlights for the last couple of days. Each session is summed up in a couple of minutes and you at least get to see the wickets fall and a few boundaries.
http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/page/Video/AshesHighlights201011UK
Then only two wickets fell in the last two days and it finished in a draw. Try explaining that to my colleagues.
Results
My need to hear information first-hand extends beyond cricket – I never like to be the last to know.
In my other life as a football fan I support Watford and I always want them to win, but when I was younger a goal always meant more to me if either a) I was there at the match to see it, or b) I was the first person to notice the score change on Teletext. Hearing about a goal or a result second hand takes a lot of the thrill out of it – I don’t want to come back from the bathroom to find out something everyone else in the room already knows.
It’s the same with The X-Factor. No, hear me out here please. As a man, I find the result of the X-Factor vote the most important part of the show. Well, you wouldn’t watch it for the music would you. I can’t watch the live performances and then miss the Sunday night verdict. I wouldn’t watch a football match till the 80th minute then walk out of the pub.
The Second Test
To bring this back to cricket, as I write this we’ve already had the first day of the Second Test and I woke up this morning to hear some good news from Mr Agnew: Australia 245 all out and at one point they were 2-3! And I missed it again. Boo!
And this is why Saturday night will be our Ashes All-Nighter. We’ve found a man with Sky TV and we’re going to join in. In an act of desperation we are giving up sleep just so we can say “we saw it happen WHEN IT HAPPENED... even if it’s just the third day of the Second Test Match – the eighth day of a 25-day series”.
Until then, we have the second day to negotiate - I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and just have the score fed to me. As a cricket blog I suppose it’s my responsibility to make a prediction here, so I’ll be brave and say I expect us to be in the lead with five wickets down. Come on England!
At the end of each Test Match the vast majority of cricket writers cobble together a hastily scribbled “marks out of ten” piece, a quick and easy guide to the best and worst performers and a perfect way to generate thousands of ill-informed opinions from the general public.
Obviously I would be delighted to do the same, however I’m afraid I find myself at a slight disadvantage when it comes to reviewing the First Test: like many people in the UK I didn’t watch a single minute of it.
I don’t have Sky TV and I do have a day job so staying up to watch all or some of the action is out of the question. Instead all I can do is go to bed full of optimism, with an idea in my head of what would be a good outcome, and wake up to hear Jonathan Agnew’s report on the Radio 4 Today programme. It’s not ideal because this means you have to take in a whole day’s play in just a few seconds - one minute play hasn’t started, the next minute it’s time for stumps. Cricket is a slow-boiling game of concentration and building partnerships; you can’t just hear the score and feel satisfied.
The First Test
On the night of the first day (if that makes sense) I went to bed, I didn’t know who would win the toss, but I decided that if England batted they would probably be 270-7 when I woke up. What is more, I had the last two wickets falling in the last fifteen minutes of play – a perfect example of Boycott’s “add two wickets to the score” scenario. When I woke up I heard that England were indeed batting but that is was actually slightly worse: 236-8. But I didn’t know that Pieterson had looked promising in his 43 or that Ian Bell (76) is finally becoming the batsman we know he should be. I missed Siddle’s hatrick for crying out loud – six wickets including a hatrick in an Ashes Test on your 26th birthday! Crikey. What am I doing with my life?
A lot of the excitement is lost when you’re not engaged in the action. At the very least you simply want to be able to see what’s going on as it’s going on, but ideally you would have all of the following things in place:
* Live coverage on the TV
* The sound turned up so you can hear the commentary and crowd noise
* People around you who understand and enjoy cricket
* Some sort of carbonated or fermented liquid in a glass
On the morning after the second day’s play I got to work and tried to at least generate some cricket-based discussion. We may have all missed the action but there must be some talking points. I asked my colleagues:
“Did anyone else switch on the radio this morning and get excited when you heard that Australia were 143-5 at tea but then have your hopes dashed because it turned out Hussey and Haddin added an unbroken 77 taking them to within just 40 runs of England’s first innings total?”
The answer was no, of course - completely the wrong audience. My colleagues know absolutely nothing about cricket. They think a late cut is what happens when you go to the hairdressers after work.
I realised I needed something to soften the news in the morning, and once I discovered it, I started using the ECB (England Cricket Board) highlights for the last couple of days. Each session is summed up in a couple of minutes and you at least get to see the wickets fall and a few boundaries.
http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/page/Video/AshesHighlights201011UK
Then only two wickets fell in the last two days and it finished in a draw. Try explaining that to my colleagues.
Results
My need to hear information first-hand extends beyond cricket – I never like to be the last to know.
In my other life as a football fan I support Watford and I always want them to win, but when I was younger a goal always meant more to me if either a) I was there at the match to see it, or b) I was the first person to notice the score change on Teletext. Hearing about a goal or a result second hand takes a lot of the thrill out of it – I don’t want to come back from the bathroom to find out something everyone else in the room already knows.
It’s the same with The X-Factor. No, hear me out here please. As a man, I find the result of the X-Factor vote the most important part of the show. Well, you wouldn’t watch it for the music would you. I can’t watch the live performances and then miss the Sunday night verdict. I wouldn’t watch a football match till the 80th minute then walk out of the pub.
The Second Test
To bring this back to cricket, as I write this we’ve already had the first day of the Second Test and I woke up this morning to hear some good news from Mr Agnew: Australia 245 all out and at one point they were 2-3! And I missed it again. Boo!
And this is why Saturday night will be our Ashes All-Nighter. We’ve found a man with Sky TV and we’re going to join in. In an act of desperation we are giving up sleep just so we can say “we saw it happen WHEN IT HAPPENED... even if it’s just the third day of the Second Test Match – the eighth day of a 25-day series”.
Until then, we have the second day to negotiate - I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and just have the score fed to me. As a cricket blog I suppose it’s my responsibility to make a prediction here, so I’ll be brave and say I expect us to be in the lead with five wickets down. Come on England!
Monday, 22 November 2010
RUASCC Review 2010 - The Bowlers
In the final part of my RUASCC team roundup, it’s time to turn our attention to the people who do the damage with the ball - those who like nothing better to see the stumps scattered all over the park, but can’t remember clearly the last time it happened.
Jagesh Navik
18 wickets @ 17.56
Jagesh finished the season as RUASCC’s second highest wicket taker despite only playing in 8 of the 20 completed fixtures. The highlight was undoubtedly an astonishing spell of 5-36 against Frieth which almost led to the successful defence of a rather mediocre total of 112 (Jag had already top-scored with 21 not out that day). Jagesh’s aggression and barely-concealed hatred for all batsmen were never more in evidence than in the match at Highmoor when one of the openers had reached 49 and looked in no trouble at all when Jagesh’s bouncer sent him to hospital for half a dozen stitches over the left eye.
A bowler who can usually be relied upon to take a couple of wickets each time he bowls, Jagesh also had the honour of bringing the season to a satisfying conclusion at Warborough where he clean bowled the number 11 batsman to seal the win. He was quickly brought back down to earth, however, when he was forced to take the bus home afterwards.
Jagesh held onto two catches this season and also managed to beat his own record for number of minutes spent on the phone during RUASCC matches.
Keith Withers
13 wickets @ 43.77
Withers played in 18 of the club’s 20 matches this season (including one as substitute fielder), his work with the scorebook was tireless, he wrote match report after match report and he even found time to make the tea for one game at Leighton Park. It’s that sort of contribution that will earn someone the RUASCC Club Award 2010.
On the pitch, he took 7 catches and contributed to 2 run outs despite possessing the weakest throwing arm outside of the Ethiopian Anorexic Centre for Female Landmine Victims. In the game at Stonor he carried his bat for the entire 40 overs making just 18 not out – an innings which may have saved a draw but could have lost a fixture. On the 9 occasions that he batted he was only dismissed twice, but on seven of those occasions he didn’t score more than 1 run.
Withers’ performance with the ball is best summed up by his spells at Peppard (0-40), Hambleden (0-47) and Stonor (0-62).
“OK, have a rest there Keith.”
Ben Koslicki
11 wickets @ 24.55
Koslicki’s haul of 4-40 in 11 overs at Peppard was the best return from his seven RUASCC matches this season, while several other useful bowling performances deserved more than they got. He picked up wickets against Britwell, Braywood and Highmoor among others and in the game at Stonor he took the catch that gave RUASCC our only wicket of the day.
Ben can be rightly proud of the fact that all of his 20 runs this season came from boundaries (two fours at Farley Hill; three fours at Britwell). Let’s hope he doesn’t have to work too many Sunday afternoons during the summer of 2011.
Andy Ashman
8 wickets @ 32.13
Dr Ashman is the only RUASCC player to finish the 2010 season with more wickets (8) than runs (7). He is also undoubtedly the only RUASCC player to have umpired more overs than he spent batting and bowling put together. In 12 matches he bowled just 39.1 overs achieving a strike-rate of under 30.
His best bowling (3-48) helped a winning cause at Hambleden. He also took wickets at Portsmouth (removing their key man for 85), Stonor (our only one!) and with his first ball in the return match against Hambleden at Leighton Park. After his slow, short, wide loosener was hacked horribly to Carpo at slip, Ashman stated that his aim had simply been to not bowl a wide.
With the bat he was involved in RUASCC’s highest 10th wicket stand of the season – an unbroken 9 with Jagesh at Frieth. He contributed 0 to RUASCC’s lowest team total of 96 at Woodcote and he finished 0 not out in the final game at Warborough where he didn’t face a ball but still managed to run Withers out.
His work as both Club Treasurer and Club Conscience should never be under-estimated.
Jagesh Navik
18 wickets @ 17.56
Jagesh finished the season as RUASCC’s second highest wicket taker despite only playing in 8 of the 20 completed fixtures. The highlight was undoubtedly an astonishing spell of 5-36 against Frieth which almost led to the successful defence of a rather mediocre total of 112 (Jag had already top-scored with 21 not out that day). Jagesh’s aggression and barely-concealed hatred for all batsmen were never more in evidence than in the match at Highmoor when one of the openers had reached 49 and looked in no trouble at all when Jagesh’s bouncer sent him to hospital for half a dozen stitches over the left eye.
A bowler who can usually be relied upon to take a couple of wickets each time he bowls, Jagesh also had the honour of bringing the season to a satisfying conclusion at Warborough where he clean bowled the number 11 batsman to seal the win. He was quickly brought back down to earth, however, when he was forced to take the bus home afterwards.
Jagesh held onto two catches this season and also managed to beat his own record for number of minutes spent on the phone during RUASCC matches.
Keith Withers
13 wickets @ 43.77
Withers played in 18 of the club’s 20 matches this season (including one as substitute fielder), his work with the scorebook was tireless, he wrote match report after match report and he even found time to make the tea for one game at Leighton Park. It’s that sort of contribution that will earn someone the RUASCC Club Award 2010.
On the pitch, he took 7 catches and contributed to 2 run outs despite possessing the weakest throwing arm outside of the Ethiopian Anorexic Centre for Female Landmine Victims. In the game at Stonor he carried his bat for the entire 40 overs making just 18 not out – an innings which may have saved a draw but could have lost a fixture. On the 9 occasions that he batted he was only dismissed twice, but on seven of those occasions he didn’t score more than 1 run.
Withers’ performance with the ball is best summed up by his spells at Peppard (0-40), Hambleden (0-47) and Stonor (0-62).
“OK, have a rest there Keith.”
Ben Koslicki
11 wickets @ 24.55
Koslicki’s haul of 4-40 in 11 overs at Peppard was the best return from his seven RUASCC matches this season, while several other useful bowling performances deserved more than they got. He picked up wickets against Britwell, Braywood and Highmoor among others and in the game at Stonor he took the catch that gave RUASCC our only wicket of the day.
Ben can be rightly proud of the fact that all of his 20 runs this season came from boundaries (two fours at Farley Hill; three fours at Britwell). Let’s hope he doesn’t have to work too many Sunday afternoons during the summer of 2011.
Andy Ashman
8 wickets @ 32.13
Dr Ashman is the only RUASCC player to finish the 2010 season with more wickets (8) than runs (7). He is also undoubtedly the only RUASCC player to have umpired more overs than he spent batting and bowling put together. In 12 matches he bowled just 39.1 overs achieving a strike-rate of under 30.
His best bowling (3-48) helped a winning cause at Hambleden. He also took wickets at Portsmouth (removing their key man for 85), Stonor (our only one!) and with his first ball in the return match against Hambleden at Leighton Park. After his slow, short, wide loosener was hacked horribly to Carpo at slip, Ashman stated that his aim had simply been to not bowl a wide.
With the bat he was involved in RUASCC’s highest 10th wicket stand of the season – an unbroken 9 with Jagesh at Frieth. He contributed 0 to RUASCC’s lowest team total of 96 at Woodcote and he finished 0 not out in the final game at Warborough where he didn’t face a ball but still managed to run Withers out.
His work as both Club Treasurer and Club Conscience should never be under-estimated.
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