England Cricket Blog

Chance to train with Michael Vaughan and England for club teams in the UK

2012-01-29T18:32:00.006Z

In a bid to expand grassroots cricket in England, AEG in association with Super Skills travel will be offering 40 teams in UK a chance to win an ultimate laundry and kit package. The prize includes 12 bespoke Canterburry cricket kits which you will be designing yourself! That means, you will have kits which represent your team, with your logo. An AEG top of the range watching machine is also up for grab.

Here is your shot to watch the England cricket team train, up and close! Also, you can win training days at Lord's where you will be coached by Michael Vaughan, Paul Nixon and many other England legends. They will also pay a visit to your home club.

The competition is open to all teams in the UK. Don't miss this opportunity to shine, visit AEG Grassroots for more information and to apply. The last date is January 30.

Sponsored by AEG.

England lose edge Cook and Trott bestowed on Day 2

2012-01-26T23:28:00.001Z

England vs Pakistan 2nd Test: 25-29 January
Abu Dhabi: England finished Day 2 at 207/5. England clearly looked the better team of the two, bowling Pakistan out for 257. They were in a commanding position, thanks to run machines Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, who have both been breaking records since the Ashes down under began. This was their 6th hundred run partnership. Jonathan Trott is also the highest run getter for England in Tests with no sixes. These two took England to 166/1. Trott made 74 while Cook fell 6 runs short of a century. Trott's dismissal was Rehman's brilliant mind on display. Trott tried to defend it in the way he defended previous deliveries, but this one spun. The day had a perfect ending for Pakistan - Morgan's wicket, who never looked comfortable. Ian Bell is still out there, while Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss went cheaply. It should be noted that poor batting has cost England matches, time and again. In the previous Test as well, England were bundled out for 192 and 160.

The referral system has been an interesting and funny topic ever since it was implemented. It was very funny, when at first, Cook's catch was dropped, and a while later, the Pakistanis appealed for lbw, with all their heart, to no avail. They could not review since they had none remaining. It wasn't out anyway, but they were going crazy because they were thinking, "If, only if we hadn't wasted our reviews earlier, oh we would have Cook out of our way."

The funniest thing about the DRS is umpire's call, it makes sure that there is no use of the system, except for making the players think more, wait and waste more time. I wonder if it has been brought to improve the decision-making of cricketers. In the event I just mentioned, the impact was outside, but the technology showed it as umpire's call. So, while the decision would have stayed not out, even if Pakistan would have reviewed it, it would have been given out had the on-field umpire made a mistake. On numerous occasions in the series so far, we have seen umpire's call to be the culprit. According to it, even if 10% of the ball is on the other side, it is umpire's call. As if the ball is made of cardboard and the whole ball touches the pad. What I suggest is that if the seam is inside, it should be given out, otherwise not out.

I'm sure Pakistan would be the first team to be in favour of scrapping this system. They have had 10 unsuccessful and just 1 successful review. It was no different today as they were left scratching their heads at every lbw shout. They didn't review when Trott was plumb lbw and reviewed twice when you just wouldn't believe they went for it!

One change that I would like to see in this England side is Steven Finn replacing Monty Panesar. Monty isn't so bad, despite being hit for, 5 sixes I think, he still bowled well. But, England just doesn't look ideal with Monty in the side. On the other hand, Finn is the best bowler in the country. The man has 50 wickets in 12 matches, with an average of 26.92 and a strike rate of 41.4, what more could you ask for? Among bowlers who have taken 50 or more wickets, he has the 5th best bowling strike rate, in the history of the game. The top four are Dale Steyn (4), Shane Bond (3), John Ferris (2) and George Lohmann (1).

Catch the action live at 6 am GMT. Until next time, take care. Cheers.

England must address sub-continent flaws

2012-01-22T10:22:00.006Z

Striding into the game as officially the world’s best test side and favourites for victory with the best in play betting markets , England were well and truly humbled against Pakistan in the first test on Thursday.

From a triumphant whitewash of India, a team ranked as the best test side in the world before last summer’s humbling in England, to a test defeat inside three days against a Pakistan team that is no doubt talented but has yet to show it can win at the very top – there are plenty more questions than answers that have emerged from this unpredictable first test.

Having built their success upon a simple formula – a long batting line up and bowlers that posses the weapons to torment batsmen the world over – it was certainly surprising to see England’s top six falter and succumb in the manner they did to Pakistan’s bowling attack.

Ripping pace wasn’t on offer for Umar Gul, a man not exactly noted for his express speed, nor was there a crumbling, turning surface from which Saeed Ajmal to conjure up spin at a right angle, yet English batsmen fell like dominoes for two totals under 200 while Pakistan neared 400 in their solitary effort.

It wasn’t so much demons in the pitch that did for England but in the arm of the bowler, most notably Ajmal, who took ten wickets in the match and became the first spinner to trap seven of his victims LBW in a single match.

Ajmal’s Doosra is a thing of beauty, virtually unreadable from the position of the seam which hints at turn only to go away from the batsman rather than back in at him.

Ian Bell, a noted expert at dealing with spin with a natural talent and beauty, struggled to pick Ajmal’s ‘other ‘delivery, culminating in the Warwickshire man posting two very low scores.

Bell wasn’t the only one caught out of course, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior were all victims at some point in the game, and it is certainly an area of weakness that Pakistan have exposed in an otherwise impenetrable veneer formed by England over the last two years.

Because of their inability to read the ball from the hand, England were forced back into the crease and were caught red handed in front of their stumps, or worse opted for the sweep and became victims that way.

This is not a new problem; England have only won series against Bangladesh on the sub-continent since 2003, but they must do more to negate the problem by playing forward with bat and pad, and stifle the problems that have been the main difference between the sides in the first two tests.

Of course, while there are questions of technique there are also questions of personnel, mostly aimed at Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen’s two innings bordered on shambolic, from the scratchy two he recorded from 29 balls in the first inning to his thoughtless hoik to deep square leg in the second innings, there was little to cheer about for his supporters and plenty for his detractors who believe he is on the wane to sink their teeth into.

Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have built their house upon stone, and have no time for knee-jerk reactions that call for the head of one of their most accomplished players after a single defeat.

However Pietersen needs big performances in the next two test matches, or face testing the captain and coach’s patience more than he would ever care to.

This is a guest post, hence it is not written by blog author jimmymycrushie.

Broad leads the way for England

2011-12-31T01:47:00.000Z

Back in September, it was England player Jonathan Trott who picked up the coveted International Cricket Council Player of the Year Award fro 2011. And it would be hard to argue with that.

But with cricket in 2011 almost done, it is time to move away from casino war to look back and assess who has been England’s shining star of the year.

It would be easy to point to Trott, following his performances against India and Sri Lanka in the summer, but there are plenty of other fine individuals who would almost certainly be in the running.

Ian Bell enjoyed a fantastic year. Ahead of last summer, much criticism was levelled at Bell, and many questioned his right to be in the team. It seems, however, he took that criticism and found a positive out of it.

Though he did not make many huge scores throughout the summer, he always did a solid job when called upon, with a couple of very big scores thrown in.

His most spectacular moment came at the Oval, though, when with England somewhat on the ropes, he produced the innings of a life time, hitting a stunning double century against India, finishing eventually on 235. His half-century at Lords was another key moment.

You could hardly ignore Andrew Strauss either. Despite not making any truly big scores in an England shirt over the summer, it was his inspirational captaincy that guided the side to two series victories, and of course, the world number one ranking.

For me though, there was no one more deserving of the award for England’s best player in 2011 than Stuart Broad.
The Nottinghamshire bowler was a constant thorn in the side of India as England recorded a memorable series whitewash over them. Whether it was with the bat or the ball, he consistently seemed to be the go to man.

It was in his hometown, playing at Trent Bridge that his most memorable occasion came along.

Batting first, England had the perfect opportunity to lay down a marker and set India a big chase. It certainly did not seem to be going that way early on, however. The bowling duo of Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth had England struggling at 117-7 at one point.

Any chance of getting 150 looked unlikely, let alone 200.

But then Broad came to the crease. Primarily a bowler, few expected him to have much of an impact at this stage of the game. Nevertheless, he began to play his shots, and by the time he was dismissed for a hearty 64, England had reached the rather more respectable score of 221.

India always likely to close that score down with ease, but thanks to Broad’s batting, they were unlikely to build an unassailable lead.

Back to the day job, bowling, Broad again took things into his own hands. With India already well past England’s total, and seemingly in cruise control, he bowled a magnificent over, which included a superb hat trick. Within the blink of an eye, India had gone from 273-6 to 288 all out.

A magnificent 159 from Ian Bell helped England build a big lead in the second innings, with Broad making a welcome contribution again, of 44.

India were eventually bowled out in their second innings for just 158, as Broad took a further two wickets.

Strauss queries “strange” test venue

2011-12-08T06:24:00.000Z

England captain Andrew Strauss has admitted he is slightly concerned about playing their upcoming test series against Pakistan in the UAE, saying that playing at the neutral venue will be “slightly strange”.

Those assessing cricket world cup betting note how no touring side has played cricket in Pakistan ever since a ban was imposed following an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009, with the United Arab Emirates as the preferred venue for Pakistan’s home series.

Strauss believes it would be preferable to play the test series in front of the Pakistani fans, but says he understands the decision to play it overseas.

“It’s slight strange playing in Dubai, we haven’t been there before, Pakistan have been playing there recently so I suppose they will still have some advantage in the sense they will know the conditions better than us.” Strauss told BBC Sport.

“It’s not ideal playing in a neutral venue but that’s where we’re at at the moment and it should be a good series.”

Pakistan continue to progress in the wake of the spot fixing scandal that has marred cricket in the country, and won a three match home series against Sri Lanka last month, also in the United Arab Emirates, leading Strauss to believe that Pakistani test cricket is currently undergoing something of a resurgence.

“Pakistan look as though they are in good form, they played well against Sri Lanka and should be a big test for us.” The England skipper commented.

Anyone checking out betting offers will tell you how England have been putting their feet up since returning from their ODI series loss against India in October, with Strauss admitting that he had “enjoyed” a couple weeks of rest ahead of a busy winter schedule.

Vice-captain Alastair Cook meanwhile has been busy during the break, and collected an MBE from the Queen for services to cricket thanks to his record breaking exploits that helped England win the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years.

Speaking after receiving the honour, the opening batsman said: “It’s been a fantastic couple of years for the England cricket team and for me to be here and get the MBE is an honour - I feel very humble to be given it.”

Anderson targets Botham’s record

2011-12-01T23:33:00.002Z

England seamer James Anderson has spoken about his desire to become England’s leading wicket taker of all time in test matches.

Even those looking at mobile gambling sites will tell you that the 29-year-old is the leader of England’s impressive attach right now and in the form of his life to help Andrew Strauss’ men to the top of the world rankings.The Lancashire man has 240 test victims to his name, 140 behind England’s most successful test bowler Botham and he admits that he will have to be on top of his game for the next five years to stand a chance.

Speaking about his future, Anderson said: “I’m excited about the success of our bowling attack, but first and foremost, it keeps you on your toes trying to keep your place in the side. Part of you doesn’t want to get rested for that reason because you know somebody is going to come and step up to the plate. If I’m going to pass Ian Botham’s record then I’ll have to bowl as well as I ever have for the next five years, which is a tough ask. If my body puts up with it then I might have a chance. It’s more a dream than an actual goal. I’m just happy at the minute contributing to a successful team.

Anderson then spoke about how pleased he was to be spending Christmas at home this year – for the first time in two years – although he is raring to go again in 2012. He continued: “I’m going to try and give my first Christmas dinner a go. I can cook a roast potato so I reckon I can cook a turkey. Everything comes with instructions so I think it will be fine. I’m looking forward to seeing my kids’ faces when they open their presents on Christmas morning.

Anderson is pivotal to England’s hopes of staying at the top of the world rankings of course. They face tough challenges in the next twelve months – including test series against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa– and Anderson is a very important figure. Not only is he the go to bowler for Strauss and England’s biggest threat with the new ball, but he is now an experienced member of the time and an important figure for the likes of Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach.Hopefully Anderson – who missed the recent ODI series in India – will be able to rest up over the next month or so before flying out to Abu Dhabi in January to take on Pakistan.

Strauss ready to go again in 2012

2011-11-26T04:32:00.001Z

England captain Andrew Strauss has spoken positively about the tough challenges ahead for his team in 2012.

Strauss hasn’t played international cricket since the 4-0 victory over India in the summer and he will next lead out England’s test team in January in a test series against Pakistan.

This is swiftly followed by a test series against Sri Lanka in March, before the English summer sees England take on West Indies and South Africa.

2012 is the first year that England will begin as the No.1 test team in the world of course and Strauss is ready for the task ahead of his team in the next 12 months.

The England skipper said: “The next 12 months will be the biggest test we've had yet, it's a different mindset being the hunted rather than the hunters. We'll have to retain that desperate desire to improve if we want to stay on top.”

"It's an exciting time for us. I'm certainly very excited about it, but we don't underestimate the size of the challenge. There are a lot of teams below us who want to knock us off our perch.”

Strauss then spoke of how keen he was to look forward rather than back when England take on Pakistan in January, the first time the two sides have met since the spot-fixing scandal.

He continued: “It will be a keenly contested series as they always are and the focus will be on the cricket. It is an opportunity to move on and that's the right way to go.”

Strauss finished by talking about the West Indies, a team he thinks are on the up and will offer a tough challenge for England in the first part of the England summer and South Africa, who are contenders to take England’s No.1 ranking in the future.

“We've seen a resurgence in West Indies cricket in recent times, so that will be a challenge for us. Hopefully early-season conditions will suit us more than them.”

“And we all know about the qualities of South Africa, they've just finished an outstanding series against Australia.”

"They have a very good bowling attack and their record here is very good.”

It will certainly be good to see test cricket return in January. It seems like ages since the India series and with the Ashes underway this time last year, the sport seems a bit empty without an England series at the moment.

As for Strauss, he has had plenty of time off to play texas hold-em and is now raring to go again. Bring it on!

A true legend within cricket: Shane Warne

2011-11-08T20:33:00.001Z

This is a guest post. Hence it is not written by blog author jimmymycrushie.

There have been a lot of great cricket players throughout the years, but one that really sticks out would be Shane Warne. He’s known as a great cricket player, but equally famous for his activities off the pitch.

Today Shane isn’t playing cricket anymore, but playing poker for a poker site called 888. He’s become the team captain for their live poker team they have. The team participated in the WSOP, one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world and Shane participated.

But when Shane played he was known as one of the best bowlers of all time with over 1000 wickets behind him. Warne was born in Australia in 1969 and started playing first-class cricket back in 1991. His premier though was back in 83/84 for his university (University of Melbourne Cricket Club). He has played both in Australia for Victoria as well as for England in Hampshire. Shane retired from first-class international cricket in 2007, but made a small comeback to play in the Indian team Rajasthan Royals in March 2008. With a win in the Indian Premier League, a lot of fans wanted Shane back in international cricket.

Banned from cricket
Back in 2003, Shane was banned from play due to a positive drug test. The test showed that there was a sign of a banned diuretic in the system and Shane was reviewed by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and they imposed a one year ban. During the ban Shane could play in charity matches, a rule that was highly criticized by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Warne returned to international cricket in February 2004. As soon as March the same year, Shane became the second cricketer of the West Indies to take 500 test wickets.

From a personal view
Shane was married to Simone Callahan and they had three children together. In 2010 Shane announced on Twitter that he and Simone are going through a divorce. Lately there have been photos and articles about Shane and Liz Hurley are an item.

There’s a lot to the Shane Warne story and we all look forward to see the next adventure of his amazing life.

England flying high

2011-09-13T11:12:00.000+01:00

England continue to dominate a depleted India squad. A 4-0 whitewash in the Tests, victory in the one-off Twenty20 and now the hosts lead 2-0 in the one-day series, with one to play.

It doesn’t get much better than that. The fact England are using the limited-overs matches to blood emerging youngsters into the side, says a lot about the current regime and how they want to build a strong squad capable of world domination in all formats.

They are at the top in the longest format of the game but in the shorter aspects of cricket, England need to be a lot more consistent. Resting Kevin Pietersen, who has been rumoured to be considering retiring from one-day cricket, for a crucial series that can see England continue their rise up the rankings in the one-day arena, is testament to the players coming through the ranks.

That together with Eoin Morgan’s injury leaves a huge hole in England’s middle order. However, someone’s loss is another player’s gain. Step forward Ravi Bopara and Ben Stokes. The pair now have three more one-day matches to stamp their authority on the team.

Although Stokes is yet to bat, the experience he is attaining is vital and a reward for all his hard work on the county circuit with Durham. A fine start to the season saw him catch the eye of Andy Flower, with only a nasty finger injury stopping him entering the England setup earlier than now.

Those looking at free bets note how rain and England’s convincing victory in the first two Tests has seen the all-rounder’s progress halted but Stokes is seen as England’s next finisher. He could be the new Flintoff, the guy who comes in, clears the ropes and wins games of cricket for England. Even if his chances in this series are limited, he is sure to be used again in the future.

As for Bopara, many people have questioned his continued selection. The fact he has been given the chance to perform in the past and failed has seen him receive some criticism. Now the Essex batsman has the opportunity to come out from Morgan and Pietersen’s shadow and show the English faithful he has what it takes to be a success in international one-day cricket.

Bopara clearly has talent but he has to step up and perform sooner or later or he will end up on the scrapheap like previous players such as Owais Shah, who has slipped out of the pecking order. Bopara is clearly under pressure from Leicestershire’s James Taylor, who is inches away from another call up. Taylor, who was included in Flower’s youthful looking squad for the ODI with Ireland, has to be in the England management’s thoughts following his form for the England Lions, where he scored a 90 and two centuries in recent weeks.

The fact he was named Lions captain suggests England have faith in the 21-year-old and he has been unlucky to miss out on a call up for this series. There still maybe time if Flower decides to add another player to fill the void left by Irishman Morgan, who is to undergo surgery. Although the loss of Pietersen and Morgan weakens England’s team, younger players have the opportunity to take their chance and capitalise to prove there is plenty to look forward to in the future.

Placing a free bet on England to win the 2015 World Cup, might be a decent idea!

India's disastrous tour continues

2011-09-08T04:51:00.000+01:00

England vs India, 2nd ODI played at the Rose Bowl, Southampton on 6 September, Tuesday
England made two changes, Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel came in for Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan (injured). Jonathan Trott was dropped because the game was reduced to 23 overs per side as rain delayed the start. The game began at 7 pm local time. It was pretty much a Twenty20 and England's side was well suited to it. England had 5 bowlers (Broad, Anderson, Dernbach, Swann and Bresnan) and 2 all-rounders (Bopara, Patel). None of the batsmen were reliable. The captain, Alastair Cook, doesn't even have a place in England's Twenty20 side. But Cook has always had the potential to be a good one-day and Twenty20 player.

Tuesday was no different to how this tour has been. India have been exposed. Such disastrous tours are rare for any team, and especially for a side like India. If not Tests, we expected more from India in the shorter formats at least. Indian fans are reading too much into the 1st one-day but a win can never be guaranteed. If the 2nd one-day would also be washed out after the Indian innings, I'm sure Indian fans would say the same. 187 is considered a pretty good score in Twenty20s but England had no trouble chasing it. Alastair Cook, who has been the run machine for a year, carried his form into the shorter format by finishing on 80*. Kieswetter provided a perfect start. One disappointment was Ian Bell's innings. His 25 off 16 were no doubt useful and elegant, his dismissal was a replay of most of his innings. How often have we seen Ian Bell getting caught at cover before 50? It's a classic Bell dismissal following the most stylish batting.

Nasser Hussain fancies Alastair Cook as captain in all three format and I am not completely against the idea. England seems to be doing well at the moment but the three captain theory is certainly a controversial one. Strauss has already retired from one-day and Twenty20s so the day when he quits Tests may not be far. Though given how good of a batsman he is, hopefully he continues for some time. It might seem like captaining all three sides will put too much pressure on young Cook's shoulder but let's not forget, whenever he has been handed responsibility, he has delivered. When his Test place was under threat, he scored more runs than anyone else in the Ashes. He has responded well to captaincy too. Stuart Broad is yet to convince us about his captaincy. If a team has the same captain in all formats, the captain has a bigger platform to practice his captaincy. Not all can handle this, but if someone can, he can learn more about captaincy and sooner than only a one-format captain would.

Does India hold an edge in the shorter format?

2011-08-27T15:31:00.002+01:00

By William Taylor
England have every right to boast about being the best test cricketing side in the world right now, after their emphatic 4-0 series win over India this summer. However, in the shorter form of the game they are still a long way short.

The test series will live on in the memory of cricket fans for a long, long time, with many calling it a bigger achievement than the series win in Australia over the winter. But one-day cricket is a whole different game. The endurance factor that makes a test match so tense and intriguing will be put aside and be replaced by the thrill a minute excitement which comes with limited overs cricket.

Both England and India will be going all out to win the series – England to cap what has been a magnificent summer, and India to regain some pride before returning to see the reaction of their compatriots. Ok, England did win the Twenty20 World Cup last year, but very few punters will be using their Bookmakers Free Bets to back England in the ODI series. Instead they will probably be backing India, who won 2011 World Cup.

It may be a surprise to know that England are just about favourites for the series – with many bookies expecting them to take advantage of India’s poor form and low confidence.

But taking on the world champions at their own game is a daunting prospect in any sport, and there have been few sides as thrilling and explosive as India on the one-day stage in recent years. On their day they can tear anyone apart – no matter how good they are. With Sachin Tendulkar at the forefront, as well as the likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni, it is clear they have one of the most formidable looking sides in the shortened form of the game. Amit Mishra showed in the test series that he can score quickly lower down the order – as did Praveen Kumar. Both will be hoping that they can repeat that, as well as improving their bowling performances.

But first up is the T20 series, which despite the fact that England rightfully are the World Cup holders, many Free Bets Bet365 customers may choose to back India. Not only does the fact they are considered outsiders mean any potential winnings are far greater than they would be if they were to back England, but the fact that India are such a good one day side has been somewhat brushed under the carpet. It will be an exciting series – one totally different from the Test series, and it will be great to see how it all eventually unfolds.

England demolish World No.1 India by 319 runs

2011-08-02T02:09:00.000+01:00

India tour of England
The much awaited encounter between England and India has brought excitement but so far, the two Tests haven't been hard fought. England couldn't have asked for a better showdown. The clash between these two teams was exaggerated because this will decide whether India will stay on top of ICC Test rankings or if England will overtake them. But, what we have seen at Lord's and Trent Bridge so far has been far from an epic battle of best teams.

India's casual attitude
At Lord's, while England declared in both of their innings (474/8 and 269/6), India were bundled out for 286 in the 1st innings and 261 in the 2nd innings. India have failed to reach 300 in these two Tests. But you don't even need figures to tell you. India's body language has been as if they are thinking, "We just had to come here because we had to. Let's just survive this and hopefully the one-dayers will be here before we know it. We'll get through this. Hopefully the critical Indian fans will be as laid-back as us. Hopefully they'll enjoy their life for once and let us enjoy ours. Our performance shouldn't be taken too seriously, we don't even know how we are the No.1 side when we don't even want to play Tests, we had to lose this spot anyway"

The centre of attention - Kevin Pietersen
However, England's faults cannot be overlooked. Declaring at 474 as soon as Kevin Pietersen reached 200 was an early declaration. Pietersen was in full flow and England would have benefited from his swashbuckling style of batting. England had to come out and bat again, 474 were certainly not going to be enough at Lord's. The difference between scoring the runs in the 2nd innings and the 1st innings is that as KP was at his best, he would have scored the runs in no time. From a spectator point of view, it's always good to see the man score as he entertains as much as anyone can. But this knock also provided relief and happiness. Although, he made 72 and 85 against Sri Lanka earlier this summer, its the double centuries which make us proud of him and prove that he can bat in any way he wants. Sure he performs every now and then, but it's hard to be satisfied with the success of someone as flamboyant and as talented as him. He has the backing up of Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss thus it was great to prove them right.

Of Cook and Broad
This series has seen a turnaround of form as Alastair Cook, who was unstoppable for 10 months prior to this, has seen a slump in form. And the blonde, Stuart Broad, whose inclusion in the Test side has always been met by my fury and curiosity (I could never understand why he was picked!), has been the star of the series. Quite appropriately, Kevin Pietersen was awarded the Man of the Match at Lord's and Stuart Broad at Trent Bridge.

Another attention getter - England's substitute fielder
Another interesting sight was Scott Elstone, England's substitute. Most teams have a 12th man who is close to being picked but not England. Elstone has only played 9 List A matches and 15 Twenty20s for Nottinghamshire. He is 21, but looks no more than 12. He played a role in England's victory by taking two catches. If you are wondering why I'm talking about him, it's because he got a lot of attention as apart from taking two catches, he also dropped one, Praveen Kumar at 1. Alastair Cook and Matt Prior consoled him, which caught Saurav Ganguly's attention, who is an improving commentator.

The controversy which won Dhoni applause
One thing which cannot be neglected about this Test is Ian Bell's dismissal at Tea on Day 3. He assumed it's Tea before the umpire called so, and started walking off but since ball was still in play, the Indians took the bails off. Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell waited near the boundary rope as the on-field umpire handed the decision to the 3rd umpire. He was declared out. The English were hit by a jolt when all was going well and obviously were not happy. There was a clear air of despair in the England balcony. During tea, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower went to the Indian dressing room and requested the Indian captain MS Dhoni and coach Fletcher to withdraw their appeal. And their request was not turned out by Dhoni. Having seen the circumstances on TV, I do think what Dhoni did was incredible. But, in my view, Bell should have been given out as it was his fault. After tea, there was a lot of confusion as the commentators and the crowd did not know who took the decision to call Bell back. It could have been the umpires.

There is a lot of time for the 3rd Test, which starts on August 10 so we have time to ponder upon these selections, performances and the controversies. See you later!

England embarks on home glory

2011-07-17T11:53:00.001+01:00

Sri Lanka tour of England 2011
After most of the Test series was spoiled by rain, England took on Sri Lanka in shorter formats. The Twenty20 was a flop show for England but the one-day series provided some entertainment. Although, Alastair Cook had captained England before, this was his first stint as a full-time captain.

1st ODI, The Oval: The first one-day was reduced to 32 overs per side because rain decided not to spare cricket even after the Test series. England's innings was interesting, with 4 batsmen firing up. England finished with 229/8 at a run rate of 7.15. Sri Lanka's innings was a complete wipe-out as England won by 110 runs.

2nd ODI, Headingley: The second one-day was the opposite to the first. Sri Lanka batted first and beat England by 69 runs. Also, in the first game, Alastair Cook went cheaply but scored 48 in the second. That's the thing about being a captain, you aren't happy if you don't perform or if your team loses.

Alastair Cook showed he has a captain's mind with his brief stints as captain earlier but now, it's clear that the man leads from the front. Whether England are batting or fielding, you can always tell who the captain is. He stays more involved in the game than England's Test captain Andrew Strauss and his authority shows. And he is calm and cool, unlike Stuart Broad, who looked anxious during the Twenty20 defeat. Cook can take loses sportingly and knows how to come back. His strategies are hard to understand though. His bowling changes unpredictable.

3rd ODI, Lord's: The third one-day was Sri Lanka's show. The only positives for England were the century by Alastair Cook and Pietersen's smashing 41. From the time Pietersen arrived to the time he went, 49 runs were scored including extras. He came, stole the show and lofted a sweep into deep mid-wicket's hands. Another interesting sight was Angelo Mathews' batting, who made a shocking 21-ball 1. No wonder he drove the Sri Lankans, especially captain Dilshan crazy on the balcony. Also, he was only given one over earlier in the day so that suggests all is not well between him and the management.

4th ODI, Trent Bridge: The teams kept the rivalry interesting by squaring the series at 2-2. The 4th one day was the most one-sided game of the series. All England bowlers and the openers, who didn't let other batsmen bat, were impressive. England's captain ended with 95*. The victory would have so much more sweeter with another century by Cook but the captain only cared about one thing - winning. When England needed 8, he needed 6 and took a single and Kieswetter smacked Kulasekara for a six!

At the presentation ceremony, Cook was asked if asking the groundsmen to leave some grass on the pitch was a right thing to do, to which Cook replied aptly,

The home advantage is there in all sports so you can use it.

It certainly doesn't seem unfair after what Sri Lanka gives us when we go there. They got a taste of their own medicine and should learn to adapt to English conditions. England and Sri Lanka's rivalry has heated up this year, with Sri Lanka sending England home from the World Cup, England making Sri Lanka toil in the Tests, Sri Lanka winning the Twenty20 with no struggle and England winning the one-dayers by 3-2.

5th ODI, Old Trafford: I heard the final game was a rocker. Yeah, I barely watched it. Somehow, I wasn't interested in cricket on that day and slept after England took a few wickets. Stuart Broad should be dropped though. He is a gem England found for one-day and Twenty20 but damaged his confidence by giving him a permanent place in Tests. He is someone I want to see in the shorter formats in the future but not in Tests.

Whatever I've heard or seen of Jade Dernbach has impressed me and I think he is capable of being a member of England's Test squad. Though, he is also a drama queen like Broad.

Sri Lanka's tour of England had been cited as a preparation for the showdown, which will start on July 21. England v/s India is always an exciting battle so hopefully we'll get our summer dose of entertaining cricket through it. For now, this is Sanya Batra, signing off. Cheers!

The many amusements ECB provides us

2011-06-28T15:29:00.000+01:00

England vs Sri Lanka 1st One-day International: 28 June 2011

Kennington Oval, London: At the time I'm writing this, England are 35/1. I was sleeping until 13:00 GMT. So, when I switched the TV on, it was raining. However, that isn't what I focused on. I saw the scoreboard and after seeing Alastair Cook in the team, I wondered if this is some old match. Then I saw Ian Bell and I was more doubtful about some old game's scoreboard. The, Bresnan and I was almost certain it's an old match. Then, I saw Dernbach and I realised this is today's match. Oh yeah, I had forgotten Alastair Cook has been made captain. I was just figuring how many changes they have made to the team which Stuart Broad captained on Saturday. And I was thinking they have over taken Pakistan in amusing us.

This does raise questions about my memory, but more than that, it asks us, would Alastair Cook be in the team had he not been captain? Well, he hasn't played a one-day game in a year and the last one came in Bangladesh, where he captained. Prior to that, he hadn't played in a year either. So, I'm guessing no, Alastair Cook only plays in shorter formats when England want to try him as captain or when they don't want anyone else as captain. Like, he did in South Africa in late '09. If he would have been gifted a place in the side in the Word Cup for being unstoppable in the Ashes down under, that would have made sense, but this doesn't.

Let's go back to the game on Saturday and the blonde one. England had some hope until Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan were batting, after that they played for formality. This isn't the first Twenty20 International in which they didn't have victory in mind, so it wasn't a surprise. Paul Collingwood, who retired from Tests, has been left to the sidelines. Stuart Broad was chosen as captain, ahead of the one who captained England to their first ICC tournament victory. Perhaps they are thinking too much about the future rather than the present. He wasn't included in the one-day squad either, so ECB must have put an end to his career. The Englishmen usually depart from the team like this, with no farewell, facing the ECB's brashness.

Here are the changes England made to their Twenty20 side (comparing to the side which starred against Australia in January: Bell, Davies, Bresnan, Yardy and Shahzad dropped for Lumb, Bopara, Patel, Broad, Dernbach. Of course England hadn't dropped Broad in January, they just can't do that, he was injured. In my opinion, Bell and Davies were doing their job fine so they shouldn't have been dropped. And then, Bell has been in a sublime form lately. Bopara hasn't been among the runs for a while and Patel failed to impress me on Saturday. His run out was an embarrassment and his bowling had nothing special. I was excited to see Dernbach in, who turned out to be England's most inexperienced, yet best bowler in this game.

The only Twenty20 International on this tour, was played after a Test series, in which England dominated expectedly, but one which failed to generate much interest, due to being spoiled by rain. There were six changes made to the Test XI to make the side more "suitable" to the Twenty20 game. But, as emails to the Sky commentary team suggested, the Test would have done a lot better than this side so playing the same team wouldn't have caused any harm. One big positive a lot of people and the media is deriving from the game is the comeback of Kevin Pietersen into form. However, in my post The Preview: Sri Lanka hopes for turnaround; England aim to continue domination, I had stated that he is already in form and there is nothing to worry about. The difference is that, he announced himself on the stage in this Twenty20 so ruthlessly that he made everyone against him know that there is no point in questioning the man, who is as talented as anyone can hope to be. The truth is far from him being in the team for his past record.

So, much to talk about and so little time! Anyways, post your views in the form below or on twitter (@jimmymycrushie). Hopefully, we'll see some cricket today. For now, take care. Cheers.

England keep Sri Lanka on a short lead

2011-06-19T16:43:00.000+01:00

In spite of the English rain which continued to keep in check both the progress of the game and the momentum of the Sri Lankan first innings, Andrew Strauss’s men have been able stifle any resistance form the touring side – who did little to help themselves with an array of wayward shots to gift wickets to the English attack.

With less than 90 overs played across two rain drenched days, England’s bowling pack, who had come in for some heavy criticism after their insipid display on a flat Lord’s track, realigned their sights on day two of the third test at the Rose Bowl to restrain Sri Lanka with a period of bowling that used the overcast conditions to its advantage nicely.

Rain has been the most prominent factor in this series.

It was ironic Chris Tremlett, the man who struggled to impose himself on the game during his days with the Rose Bowl’s current occupants Hampshire, was able to produce a hostile spell that cramped and hurried Sri Lankan batsman; his three wickets in twenty minutes as the second day got underway was a testament to a man who had found an inner-belief in his abilities.

Having taken the first ever wicket at the Rose Bowl when the ground opened in 2001, he now has the honour of being the first man on the honours board; plenty more accolades seemed destined to be coming his way as he establishes himself as the sharpest point of England’s attack.

The return of Jimmy Anderson will also hearten Strauss and coach Andy Flower, however the form of Stuart Broad will be a concern. The T20 captain hasn’t taken a five wicket haul since 2009 – and his position in the test squad is coming increasingly under scrutiny – especially with Steve Finn waiting in the wings.

Without Dilshan meanwhile, Sri Lanka looked directionless as they prodded around under the grey sky, with Prasanna Jayawardene the sole obstacle in the way of a convincing 2-0 series win for England. Any side whose top four batsman can only compile 28 runs between them will always struggle, so when Jayawardene and to a lesser extent Thilan Samaraweera resistance did come, it had an air of ‘too little too late’ about it.

With a series draw all they could aim for before the third test, they are now staring in the face of a series defeat and must now deal with the problems that hinder their progress. Sri Lanka have only won overseas series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh this century despite being graced with some of the finest players in the world. They are a side in crisis at the moment, at least in the test match form of the game, after losing their captain and selectors board after the world

A result looks possible – although the rain continues to dampen the atmosphere – but both teams have already taken what they need from the series. But both England and Sri Lanka are heading in opposite directions at the moment, and for the time being there is little the visitors can do about it.

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Is Anderson the right man to lead England’s bowling attack?

2011-06-16T17:35:00.000+01:00

England have named James Anderson in their squad for the third npower Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

The Lancashire paceman, who missed the draw at Lord’s after picking up a side strain in the first Test at Cardiff, is the sports betting favourite to return to the side at the expense of Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn.

Anderson, the leader of England’s attack, will shore up the bowling options at captain Andrew Strauss’ disposal after a wayward display at the home of cricket. The bowling attack offered plenty of height, but with the slope causing problems, the bowlers were wayward and not as aggressive as first thought which helped Sri Lanka bat out the Test for a draw. Strauss’ decision to declare when he did was seen to be too conservative against a side who were without injured captain Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second innings.

This Test is significant for England, not just because it’s the first five-day game held at Hampshire’s home ground, but certain players need to show signs of form heading into the biggest series of the summer against India.

That starts with the captain and opening batsmen Strauss, who has struggled for runs in this series so far. Much has been said about Kevin Pietersen’s flaws against left-arm spin but Strauss, who has looked a little off the pace at the top of the order, is also having trouble with left-arm seamers which was also apparent during the tour of Australia.

Strauss’ form needs to show an upturn soon as fellow opener Alastair Cook continues to pile on the runs and re-write the record books. To say his place in the England side was up for debate heading into the Ashes, his transformation is astounding. His minor criticism is the way he scores runs and after been named England one-day captain, Cook will need to go up the gears and score at a faster rate if he is to succeed.

Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell have cemented their places within the side during the last 12 months and the Test at Lord’s was significant for Pietersen, who looked like he had returned to for with a textbook 72 in the second innings. If England are to become the best side in the world, they need KP to fire and score runs quickly.

Matt Prior, fresh from windowgate, needs a better game after his patience was tested thanks to some wayward bowling down the leg-side from the England bowlers and to add insult to injury, his run out in the second innings as he tried to move the score along.

The bowling attack is up for debate as Stuart Broad’s wicket-taking ability seems to have dried up. Finn looks to be the bowler sacrificed for the returning Anderson, but should he after taking wickets at Lord’s. Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann will continue to make up the four-man attack.

Sri Lanka fought hard and were put under enormous pressure when batting out 58 overs following their 82 all out in the first Test – a result that looked so unlikely sports bets punters were offered odds of 100-1 on a win for either side at one point. The tourists will rely on Kumar Sangakarra, who is set to captain the side as Dilshan’s inclusion looks unlikely as he continues to nurse a broken thumb.

Ambitious England aims for formidable victory

2011-06-07T17:14:00.003+01:00

England have given an interesting turn to 2nd Test, declaring at 335/7 with a lead of 342. England have 58 overs to bowl Sri Lanka out. They would be more optimistic about winning than usual, having won the last Test in a similar scenario, the difference being England winning by an innings at Cardiff, which is not possible now. Earlier today, setting a target of 350 with 60 overs remaining seemed appropriate to me and England came to close to that so I agree with their decision.

Alastair Cook, who made 96 in the 1st innings, struck yet another century. 18th for him. At 26, he is not too far away from scoring most centuries by an England player, 22. One notable positive aspect is Kevin Pietersen's 72. He must not be satisfied and it wouldn't shut up critics but it's always good to see him among the runs. I don't think his critics know, but he averaged 41.55 last year and 60 in Ashes 2010. The former is good for a batsman and the latter great. Though nothing less than the consistency of Alastair Cook (Ashes and this series) and Jonathan Trott (in England and Australia) will be enough for a batsman of his calibre in the eyes of the audience.

England's run rate in the 2nd innings was 4.28, which closely matches their 1st innings run rate of 4.30. In the last decade, 21 matches have been played at Lord's, out of which a win has been obtained in 13 of them. But, either Lord's has witnessed victories by huge margins or draws. During this time, England and Sri Lanka have faced each other twice, both resulting in draws. Though some England fans are positive Sri Lanka won't survive without Dilshan, who had his thumb injured by the bowling of Chris Tremlett, who struck the same area twice during Dilshan's 193, the second time being 192. Tremlett hit the same spot at Cardiff as well.

At the time I'm writing this, 32 overs are left. So the series will probably be levelled at 1-1, the decider will be played at The Rose Bowl.

Earlier, I had to tweet about my blog posts again and again or to different people manually but at least that task has been made easy by scheduling tweets through socialoomph. Apologies to anyone who has been annoyed by this practice of mine! If they are too much to tolerate, do let me know!

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The Preview: Sri Lanka hopes for turnaround; England aim to continue domination

2011-06-03T04:21:00.001+01:00

Pietersen on the verge of big runs

Unlike the media, Andy Flower isn't too concerned regarding their star batsman's form. For my take on it, read on...

Sri Lanka's confidence has sunk to its lowest in a long time, with their bowlers being written off before the start of the tour and their batting having collapsed for 82. Tilakratne Dilshan wants his team to forget about this match while Jayawardene only wants to forget Day 5. Fair enough. While Suranga Lakmal and Thisara Perera are not established, with only a few Tests under their belt, Maharoof has a bowling average of 62 and a batting average of 19.10. Mendis was regarded as the new sensation of Sri Lankan cricket, but has averaged over 38 on each year, except his first year in cricket. In all of his Test career, he has struggled everywhere except while bowling in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lankans are masters, but only at home as Herath too, averages over 45 on foreign soil.

After a successful start to their summer, the English don't have much to worry about. Their only concern is the injury to the leader of the attack, James Anderson. In the 2nd innings at Cardiff, England had to bowl without him, but Swann and Tremlett's 4 wickets each, followed by Stuart Broad's wrapping up of the tail, didn't let England miss him. In a perfect world, any two of the three paceman - Finn, Dernbach and Onions would be brought in and Broad would be out. Nevertheless, Surrey's 25-year-old Jade Dernback has been called up as cover for Anderson in the twelve man squad but it's Steven Finn who is expected to take his place. I love Finn but Dernbach sounds like an exciting prospect. Though Lord's being Finn's home ground, he holds an advantage over Dernbach.

For Sri Lanka, it would be obvious to attack, there is no way they are coming back in the series without triumphing at Lord's. After being bundled out for 82, it would take nothing less than a satisfying victory to gain momentum. England will look to push Sri Lanka down further below. If England go for Finn, they will have a pace attack, Sri Lankans will 'look up to' as Finn, standing at 6'7", will add to Stuart Broad, 6'6" and the giant Chris Tremlett, 6'8". They will be among the tallest of all time. Strauss indicated Dernbach's inclusion is not out of the question as he will bring variety. Among these bowlers, Stuart Broad has played the most number of matches, 35. But, considering his performance at Cardiff, Tremlett, will lead the attack, despite having played fewer Test matches than even Finn.

Kevin Pietersen's form has been cited as another issue by the media, but England don't have to do too much in that case, as the man knows what he has to do. It should be kept in mind that the Ashes down under was a successful tour for him. Although left arm spinners have been troubling him but even though they have taken his wickets, he has shown he can smack them around as well. All great batsmen face such challenges and I'm sure he'll overcome this hindrance the way he has tackled others throughout his career. The good thing is that the coach and captain are behind him.

The show begins at 10:00 GMT, June 3 live from Lord's, London. Watch out!

England Continues to Shock in 2011; Wraps Lanka for 82 to clinch 1st Test

2011-05-31T09:03:00.002+01:00

Thanks to a double century by Jonathan Trott and centuries by Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, England amassed 496/5. After adding just 5 runs to their overnight score, England declared to give themselves a herculean task of bowling Sri Lanka out cheaply. The reason to bat on Day 5 was obvious, Ian Bell needed two runs for his century. But, it not only meant England batted for 2 overs, it also meant a loss of 2 overs. In the end, England managed to win by an innings and 14 runs but if Sri Lanka would have managed to keep 1 or 2 wickets in tact, questions would be raised about whether a century is more important or a victory. And we all know what the priority should be. So, yeah I don't agree with their decision.

Though they don't deserve much flak after their unbelievable victory. Before the Test, I did expect England to win, despite the ground being Sophia Gardens, where England and Australia stocked up 1361 runs for the loss of 25 wickets together in the Ashes '09. Sri Lanka escaping a Test defeat in England just doesn't make sense. But only 298.2 overs were bowled in this Test (450 overs are bowled if a result is not achieved). A result was achieved here, but the rain delayed start of play on almost all days. Here is a quick recap:
Day 1 - Four and a half hours
Day 3 - Three and a half hours
Day 4 - Four hours
Day 5 - Four and a half hours

Here is what Blake from Australia sent Cricinfo before the start of Day 4:

How can England become #1 in the world when they don't believe they can clean up a team in one day?" asks Ryan. "Remember what Australia did to them at Adelaide in the 06/07 Ashes?

That's ridiculous. You don't have to clean up a team in a day to be world #1. The top teams should be able to survive a day and world #1 only means being the best, better than all other teams. The way Sri Lanka batted in their 2nd innings, it seemed as if England were bowling to Bangladesh. I wonder what Blake has to say now.

Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott carry winter dominance into summer

2011-05-29T14:45:00.003+01:00

Day 3 proved to be England's day self-evidently as the runs galore. Run machines Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott carried their winter form into the summer. It was a privilege to watch them pile runs with ease. The Sri Lankan bowlers not only struggled, but had no options, no plans left. Sri Lanka's opening bowler, Lakmal wasn't effective, in fact, he was probably practising his bowling. This is his third Test by the way.

Cook and Trott were unstoppable. Let me remind you, Cook was the highest run scorer (with a whopping average of 127.66!) in England's Ashes victory down under. But, Trott wasn't too far behind, as only Hussey & Cook preceded him. These two just won't give their wicket away. They don't just stay on the field and wait for the runs. They are no Kevin Pietersen, but the stylish Cook knows how to maneuver the field and make the opposition surrender. He may not play attacking shots as often as he can, but announces his supremacy by dictating the terms. There were some shots which no one ran after - as they were out of reach the moment they left his blade.

You might be interested in knowing that the 26-year-old 'Chef' has now scored 17 hundreds for England. He is possibly on his way to scoring most hundreds for England, as he is at No.10 on the list. Cowdrey, Hammond and Boycott are all at the top, with 22 centuries. From the current lot, Andrew Strauss has scored 19 tons, while Kevin Pietersen has exactly as many as Cook.

The play has just begun on Day 4, three and a half hours after the scheduled start, England are 292/2. I hope you are enjoying it as much as me. Bye for now!

Read Captain's Diary 2008: A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20 by Ricky Ponting here.

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India finally get their man; England keep theirs

2011-05-05T13:03:00.003+01:00

It was a tale of two Zimbabweans this week as their respective teams got their house in order ahead of a clash that will go some way to deciding who the best test team in world cricket currently is – and the fact Duncan Fletcher and his successor Andy Flower will go head to head will only add spice to an already engrossing contest.

But while England only ever had eyes for Flower, Duncan Fletcher was eventually appointed Gary Kirsten’s replacement after a lengthy and at times damaging recruitment process.

Kirsten stepped down following a successful stint in charge of the cricket mad nation, and he left them in rude health; with the World Cup tucked safely under their arms and sitting atop of the test match rankings.

It would be a difficult act for anyone to follow, but the fact that Kirsten is a protégé of Fletcher’s only serves to set the former England man up for a fall, especially given the success Kirsten enjoyed during his time with India.

“He became one of the greatest influences on my life and career” said Kirsten of Fletcher in his autobiography, and the Zimbabwean has been accredited with transforming Kirsten’s career when the pair met at the University of Cape Town.

But now the roles have been reversed and it is Fletcher who is following in the path of his young charge, and must prove himself in a job which it became apparent he was far from the first choice for.

In fact, it was Flower himself who the BCCI turned to when their overtures of South African Graham Ford were rejected for the second time (Ford turned down the job back in 2007).

The younger of the two coaches was said to be tempted by the offer - who could blame him when the money on offer was more than double that of his wages with England – and for a while there was a real possibility that he could leave the job that he had gained following the fallout of Peter Moore’s acrimonious departure.

Although the former batsman publicly refused to comment on his future, little should be read into his unwillingness to pin his colours to the mast. Flower is nothing if not stoic and stubborn, unwilling to leave anything to chance – much like the technically minded Fletcher – and was always unlikely to comment unless he fully understood his options.

The main one of which was his reluctance to tour while he has a young family at home. Already a vocal critic of the international calendar, Flower was able to name his demands and present the evidence of an Ashes win and a Twenty20 World Cup victory as enough to convince the ECB that his demands must be met to secure his services for another three years.

And now both have made their beds and must lie in them, the prospect of a battle of the wits between the pair has been set up.

An already enthralling summer of cricket has just been turned up to 11.

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New Flower deal could mean missed tours

2011-04-26T17:33:00.002+01:00

When rumours began to circulate that Andy flower was a target for the BCCI to replace Gary Kirsten as the coach of India following the departure of the South African after the World Cup earlier this year the ECB were forced into action and offered the Zimbabwean a three-year deal.

But it has now emerged that for Flower to ignore the overtures of India and to sign a new deal with England will come at a price.

While the ECB are determined to keep hold of Flower and not let him slip through their grasp and into the hands of their rivals, it is rumoured that for the former Essex batsman to put pen to paper, the deal would have to include a condition allowing him to reduce his schedule to stay with his young family by sitting out lengthy tours abroad.

With a trip to India pencilled in for later this year and visits to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in early 2012, Flower, could conceivably miss out on the tour to India after a hectic summer which sees both Pakistan and India tour England.

While sports betting never suggested Flower would leave his post, he was vocal in his disapproval of the packed international calendar which saw his side go straight from their Ashes tour in Australia over the winter to the World Cup in Asia with some players given just a few days break – covered a period stretching from October 2010 to March this year.

Now spurred on by his refusal to commit his long term future to England after the Ashes – Flower said: “Personally I don't look much further forward than a few months.” – English cricket’s governing body look set to bow to his demands in order to keep him away from the lure of doubling his salary with India.

The duration of the three year deal would take in two Ashes tours but not the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The deal would be unprecedented amongst English coaches but would follow in the footsteps of captain Andrew Strauss, who sat out the 2009/10 tour of Bangladesh, while players such as Steve Finn and Stuart Broad have also benefitted from prolonged breaks from the international circuit.

But how the England set up would work without flower present remains to be seen. Once the best batsman in the world, Flower is seen as instrumental to the success England have enjoyed of late, which includes winning the Twenty20 World Cup last year and winning the Ashes for the first time in Australia since 1986/87.

What the ECB’s managing director Hugh Morris will have to figure out is whether it is worth having Flower on a part-time basis or not at all. Morris will also be concerned that the team may suffer to motivate themselves in Flower’s absence, and finding it difficult to give it their all while their coach is at home.

Michael Vaughan expressed his fears over Flower’s future earlier this year, and believes he could suffer because of the hectic schedule.

I do fear for Andy," said Vaughan. "The last thing you'd want is to risk him passing on the reins because the job involves so much time away. It's important to keep him fresh.”

“But you look at the guys with young families and they are the ones who are going to be affected. I couldn't do the touring they do now." He added.

Meanwhile, India continue their search for a new coach, with former New Zealand batsman Stephen Fleming the new front runner according to sports bets.

The end of an era?

2011-04-06T06:31:00.000+01:00

This is the season of captains bidding adieu. On March 23rd, we heard Cricket Australia denied any chances of the controversial Aussie captain Ricky Ponting's retirement. On 29th, he resigned. The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that Ponting, 36, was likely to face stiff opposition at boardroom level to retain his job for next month's tour of Bangladesh. Australian Cricketers' Association chief Paul Marsh said it was "gutless" and "irresponsible" for a Cricket Australia official to forecast the axing of the Australian captain so close to the team's World Cup clash with India. What does that tell us? Are CA and Ponting not on good terms? The resignation has come when Ponting has failed to hit an International century for 13 months. Ponting has had major highs and lows.

Ponting's last words as captain:

It’s funny how we talk about losing the Ashes series three times.
Playing on three World Cup winning teams doesn’t come up very often, winning 16 consecutive Test matches doesn’t come up very much, winning 30-odd consecutive World Cup matches doesn’t come up very often.

So right. He has experienced extremes, from losing to Bangladesh in the summer of '05 to winning World Cups. The one dream which will remain a dream is winning the Ashes in England, something Ponting himself referred to, as a dream. After losing the Ashes '09, he said he'd like to come back here in 2013 and accomplish his goal. Captains like him are rare. I personally hold a lot against him, he's annoying, too quarreling, extremely arrogant. He wants to win, by hook or by crook. But it's all for Australia. Not many are as patriotic and win hungry as this guy. Following him, Sri Lanka's Sangakkara has resigned as one-day and Twenty20 captain. Daniel Vettori has retired from Twenty20 cricket and resigned from one-day captaincy. He said he's almost sure that he won't captain NZ in Tests either. However, Tests are a big part of why he plays the game so he'll continue to do so. He has had to bear many disappoints as a captain. The most prominent being the whitewash by Bangladesh.

Rumours of England captain Andrew Strauss stepping down have been doing rounds ever since England went home from the World Cup. There is also word from the coach that his future as the one-day captain is being discussed. There are 2 and a half months to go for England's first ODI against Sri Lanka so Straussy has a lot of time of think.

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What do England need? Changes or something else?

2011-04-01T23:28:00.003+01:00

After fulfilling one of their earnest dreams, winning the Ashes down under, losing to the Aussies by 6-1 in a no one gives a damn series and their teetar-totter World Cup campaign, the English winter has finally come to an end. The players are relaxing back home.

Paul Collingwood's daughters were not too ecstatic by the prospect of reaching semi-finals. Here is what they said:

We hope you lose tomorrow, daddy. Then you can come home.

While, their families are relieved, the cricketing fraternity is full of criticism. With not much happening in English cricket, the media is discussing who should be the next captain. The ones in contention are Stuart Broad and Alastair Cook. Yeah, you heard it right, Stuart baby dramatic Broad. Suggested by Michael Vaughan, who refuses to stop giving his senseless suggestions. He has a history of countless comments against Kevin Pietersen, ranging from saying the big bloke is insecure to reckoning he should be replaced by Eoin Morgan as an opener to citing his technique as a reason for his downfall. Stuart Broad is a winner, he is a fighter, but god knows if has the mind of a captain. He is 24, over-dramatic. Generally, when a player loses his composure, the captain confronts him. It will be the opposite if Broad will be the captain. If Strauss does step down as captain, which he should, Cook is my man. But hey, we are talking about one-day captaincy here and he wasn't even picked for World Cup! But if anyone can choose their captain before choosing the side, it's England as Strauss wasn't a part of the squad before he was chosen as captain. So he went from being a nobody during England's one-day series against South Africa at the end of the summer of '08 to captaining England in the Caribbean next year.

So, what after World Cup for England? Before their success in '09 and '10, they used to make changes every now and then. Probably because they have too many good players and only a few spectacular players. But the reason my mates, is rarely only one. The English are inconsistent and suffer from too many injuries. But that doesn't make them unlucky. Keeping themselves fit is part of their job. This year, too, the XI and even the 16 men world cup squad. They need solidification which can only be achieved with stability. So, no more changes!

England defy all odds to blast Windies in electrifying encounter, reach quarters

2011-03-17T17:04:00.001Z

England needed to win today and they did it. The last few overs have almost wiped my memory of the rest of the game. England continues to amaze all of this. This was by far their most entertaining match. A while ago I thought I'd have to write something like..."England's campaign comes to a miserable close." The moment was the "catch" Trott didn't take. It's still not clear whether it was a six or catch but the umpire gave it a six. Trott indicated he caught it. Russell was the man, West Indies needed 40 runs to win before the six. I've seen one such instance earlier and the fielder was believed at that time. But nevertheless, all is well that ends well. When West Indies needed 22 runs, Tredwell sent Russell packing, which brought hopes back. I can't tell how degrading that six was and how ecstatic the victory has made us all, the players and English fans. A lot of bloggers and writers think England don't deserve to go through, including Russel Arnold. Are they kidding me? True, Ireland and Bangladesh beat England but South Africa, India and West Indies couldn't. Now, England moves to the 3rd spot in Group B. The only way they could go out is if West Indies defeat India and Bangladesh defeat South Africa. Cheers!

Anderson, Collingwood axed, Wright, Tredwell, Tremlett in as England bat first

2011-03-17T09:05:00.003Z

Shahzad is out with a stomach bug, Strauss and Swann have recovered. All these was already all out on twitter, though there were also rumours of Wright opening, but that isn't happening. West Indies, meanwhile, have Chris Gayle back in place of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and legspinner Devendra Bishoo makes his ODI debut, in place of Nikita Miller. England won the toss and opted to bat first.

England team:
A Strauss
M Prior
J Trott,
I Bell,
E Morgan,
R Bopara,
L Wright,
T Bresnan,
G Swann,
J Tredwell,
C Tremlett

Related post: Road to Quarterfinals: England face Windies hurdle...

Road to Quarterfinals: England face Windies hurdle in a must win clash

2011-03-17T07:08:00.002Z

Today is the day when many expect to witness a thrilling battle. Why? Because, England, the most erratic, entertaining and engaging team of this World Cup takes on the degrading West Indies. England have to win today, to avoid the embarrassment of being ousted in the first stage. And, of course, also to give themselves a chance to make history, which comes once every 4 years. If England don't make it through, they will be missed immensely, not just by English fans but even by the fanatics who have some hatred against England. For, they are the team which has produced the most thrilling contests.

England started with a win against Netherlands, followed by a tie against India, a loss to Ireland, thrilling win against South Africa and finally, losing to Bangladesh in a see-saw battle. So their campaign reads like this - win, tie, lose, win, lose, which indicates today's clash is going to be a tie or an England win. At the moment, West Indies and Bangladesh have 6 points each, England 5. Today's win will take England's tally to 7, a tie to 6 points. Bangladesh and West Indies can still send England packing by beating South Africa and India respectively, but as we all know, it is unlikely. Also to be noted, West Indies have a net run rate of +2.206, England +0.013, Bangladesh -0.765. So, in case these teams finish on equal points, Bangladesh will not qualify.

I expect England to triumph comfortably, unless the games comes to a halt due to reasons like rain. England towers over West Indies in each game they play, in all formats. The match will be held at Chennai, where England succeeded in defending 171 against South Africa earlier this month. Ajmal Shahzad is doubtful while Strauss and Swann are recovering well from illness so they are likely to play. News of James Anderson's exclusion have been doing the rounds, but in case Shahzad doesn't play, Jimmy certainly will. He is a key player, not because he is expected to perform but because, though he has bowled well at times, he tends to give shed loads of runs at other times. At Chennai, vs South Africa, he took 2/16 in 6 overs, so there is a good chance he'll have a role to play. I seriously hope Strauss attacks if England manage to trouble Windies.

Andrew Strauss is upbeat despite suffering from a stomach bug:

We have been on the road for a long time, but fatigue is the last thing on our mind. Potentially we have got four more nice games to play before a nice, long break.

Shoaib Akhtar all set to retire
After a career filled with injuries, drugs, fiery bowling spells, heroic performances, indiscipline, ban and many other controversies, the colourful character has announced retirement from International cricket after the World Cup.

That's all I had to say for now, tune in to England vs West Indies at 02:30 pm IST (09:00 GMT). Cheers.
Related posts:

Bangladesh seals emphatic win, England in dismay

2011-03-12T11:30:00.003Z

Hello there. Welcome to the report of the 28th match of the World Cup - England vs Bangladesh.
Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong: England went for Prior as an opener, fighter Morgan made a comeback, Collingwood replaced Bopara. I wasn't happy to see Prior as an opener. Either Trott or Bell should have been given a chance at the top. For it to happen, Morgan would bat at No.3 or 4 and since he seems to be adaptable, this isn't a bad idea. The question is whether Trott or Bell would be more successful batting where they do now. But England lack an opener and needs to take this risk right in the middle of the World Cup. As soon as Trott comes out to bat, the run rate drops, at times even his partners catch his tortoise approach to batting. But he provides foundation and it's better to bat at a low run rate in the start than to lose a few wickets. If Strauss could flourish with Trott by his side, it could well provide England the consistency they need. Kevin Pietersen is a big loss, because the opening partnership of Strauss and KP was beneficial in the tournament, except for the clash against South Africa.
As the action began...
Bangladesh won the toss and choose to field. Soon, Prior was stumped, rather foolishly, especially for a wicket-keeper. Rahim, the Bangladesh keeper, failed in his first attempt to stump, but Prior was lazy in his return to the crease. So Rahim took the stumps out of the ground with the ball and that was the end of Prior. After 16.4 overs, England was struggling at 53/3 with Strauss, Prior and Bell back in the pavilion, as Morgan made his way out. Trott and Morgan were again the heroes as England sailed to 162. Jonathan Trott is England's Mr.consistent with an average of 54.61 in one-day, 86 in Tests and 57.80 in World Cup 2011. Though he bores me to death! Paul Collingwood was sent at No.8, which made me wonder if he was in the team just for the sake of being in the team. There isn't much use of his batting if he bats so low and he shall not just play to bowl economical overs.
How the Tigers chased it down...
After being 73/3, opener Imrul Kayes and captain Shakib took it forward to 155. Bangladesh almost gave the match away as the wickets started to tumble. They lost their 4th wicket at 155 and the 8th at 169! When it looked like England may pull this one off, Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam showed what they are made of. Strauss has raged me in a lot of matches because of his defensiveness. It looks like he always has the 50 overs planned and never changes his plan, no matter what the situation is. Even if the opposition loses 8 wickets, he aims for economical overs. England rarely wins before the 49th over. Take my advice folks, if you want value for money in this World Cup, England's matches are the best. And if you want to be stunned, Pakistan isn't a bad bet either! In my last post, Another jolt in English cricket: Kevin Pietersen out of the World Cup, I asked my readers, "Will England lose to Bangladesh and defeat West Indies by 200 runs or 10 wickets?". It could prove to be right! England must defeat West Indies. For both England and Bangladesh to reach the quarters, England must beat Windies, Bangladesh must beat South Africa and Netherlands, which is unlikely.

Man of the Match: Imrul Kayes
Brief scores:

Eng 225 all out in 49.4 overs (Trott 67, Morgan 63, Islam 2/29, Razzaq 2/32, S Hasan 2/49)
Ban 227/8 in 49 overs (Kayes 60, Iqbal 38, S Hasan 32, Shahzad 3/43, Swann 2/42)

Until next time, take care. Cheers!

Another jolt in English cricket: Kevin Pietersen out of the World Cup

2011-03-07T12:18:00.005Z

KP: Out of World cup and IPL due to soreness after bowling 8 overs during SA vs England

After a series of injuries, a tie against India, a loss to Ireland, a close win against South Africa, England have added another shock in their 2011 book. The team is now threatening Pakistan's long held most unpredictable side title as it keeps us all on toes. The media and experts inform me a lot of times of "The darkest day in English cricket", which was the innings defeat to West Indies in '09 (England were all out for 51), the ICC World Twenty20 '09 loss to Netherlands, the recent loss to Ireland and many others. I've not been too bad at taking these losses, I am more distraught when England loses from winning position or doesn't win because of rain/duckworth-lewis. So yeah, victory gives me a lot more pleasure than the dullness losses give. I can't be disappointed when they don't try (6-1 losses to Australia, one day, after Ashes '09 and '10) or when they are never in command.
Coming back to the current scenario, as opposed to what a lot of people are criticizing - the pitch at Chennai (England vs South Africa), I'd like to say that we need variety, all 300+ games will bore us. Not only that, low scoring games can be a lot more competitive because it's no longer mainly a matter of runs, it's about both runs and wickets.
England's matches have been some of the most enjoyable ones this World Cup. It's because of England that Group B is wide open. And now that KP, who opened for the first time for England at the start of this tournament, England have applied to play Eoin Morgan. They are also in search of a new opener, once again. Knowing them, I can say anyone may open. Ravi Bopara has already failed as an opener so I hope at least it's not him. I was disappointed to see England without Paul Collingwood. Strauss has shown an unbelievable faith in Yardy. Months ago England lost 2 early wickets in a game against Australia and Yardy was sent. Strauss has given him a chance to take wickets in batting powerplay and he also bowls a lot of overs. But, all in vain. Even Sussex doesn't give him so many opportunities. England must do away with him. For one moment I thought Strauss has given away the game by preferring Kevin Pietersen and Michael Yardy over James Anderson and Stuart Broad when South Africa had only 3 wickets remaining. Anderson and Broad have been superb throughout the tournament. Anderson has given away some, but he has mostly bowled well, at times fortune was against him.
Will England lose to Bangladesh and defeat West Indies by 200 runs or 10 wickets? To find out, watch the drama unfold: England vs Bangladesh, Chittagong, March 11, 08:30 GMT and England vs West Indies, Chennai, March 17, 09:00 GMT. Today, due to the stretched World Cup schedule for a reason which only BCCI could understand, only Canada vs Kenya is in progress. Kenya 181/8 (45.1 overs).
Related posts:

My dream World Cup 2011

2011-03-02T22:11:00.001Z

Firstly, here is how I want the world cup to go:
Quarterfinal 1: England beat Australia
Quarterfinal 2: South Africa beat Netherlands/Ireland
Quarterfinal 3: Pakistan beat India
Quarterfinal 4: Bangladesh beat New Zealand
Semifinal 1: England beat South Africa
Semifinal 2: Pakistan beat Bangladesh
Final: England beat Pakistan

I decided all this without considering the groups and obviously this isn't possible since South Africa, Ireland and Netherlands are in the same group. Thus, South Africa would beat Sri Lanka. I don't like Sri Lanka but too many minnows in quarters may make matches one-sided and thus, boring. In fact, in Group B, I only really like Pakistan and New Zealand. But at least, Australia is lively and has a great rivalry with England. Pakistan is far better than New Zealand because they have got more skills, passion and unpredictability. New Zealand is a side which has only shown potential for years and disappointed, their inferiority complex makes their cricket dull. I have no love for Canada, Kenya or Zimbabwe but at least I've no hatred for them. So I wouldn't mind if they crush Sri Lanka. Here's how teams need to stand in the group stage:
Group B
South Africa
England
Bangladesh
India
Group A
Pakistan
New Zealand
Australia
Canada/Sri Lanka

The reason for choosing Bangladesh as a semifinalist is that their players and fans are very enthusiastic. And the world cup is being held at their home too. They'll cherish every win. India will be humiliated to finish 4th in the group stage. Losing to arch rivals Pakistan, to whom they have never lost a world cup game, will be an icing on the cake.

England's WC Campaign: Dramatic so far

2011-03-02T19:40:00.001Z

Hello there, it's right after the Ireland game. It's that time when the cricketing fraternity is soaked in a pool of thrill. It couldn't ask for more cricket. Since England began their campaign, it has kept media, experts and everyone else puzzled. Before the India-England tie, Bangladesh could advance to the quarters by beating West Indies or England, according to Indian newspapers. It was the highly anticipated game and did it live up to the expectations? Well, it couldn't have been better.

An Indian fan with the name of England's new opener painted on his arms

India vs England
Scoring 338 gave India an edge. Sailing smoothly made England favourites. Everyone has been referring to Zaheer Khan's 3 wickets as the turning point. But in reality, the 42nd over, in which England only managed 2 runs, turned it all around. The wickets were just the presentation of it. Before it all happened, I thought they need not take the powerplay as opposed to what Sunil Gavaskar suggested. Wickets have been lost a lot of times in the batting powerplay. You just don't need to change anything when everything is going your way. It's not only that the struggling 42nd over prompted England to take the powerplay. It was more like England scored only 2 runs because they were going to take the powerplay. Anyways, it was an even battle and losing for any team, wouldn't have been anything less than humiliation. But now, England shall be more satisfied. Why? Because they didn't let India defend 338, that too at home. And in the end, when it seemed like England's boat was sinking, it was the three 6s by Swann, Bresnan and Shahzad that turned a loss into a tie. That does give you a lift.
England vs Ireland
All 3 matches England has played so far, have been hard fought. The India one was the most thrilling and against Netherlands, though they gave a fight, England was never going to lose it. And today England's performance was disappointing and the result, shocking. From 111/5 in 24.2 overs, needing over 8 runs per over, Ireland came back to stun England. Every World Cup has it's fair share of upsets and this was one of it.

Are England back to old ways or better than ever?

2011-02-20T08:20:00.001Z

What they are about
Being beaten 6-1 against Australia after the Ashes triumph didn't come as a surprise. At a time when many one-dayers seem meaningless, the team which has undervalued this format for years, certainly does so after soaking themselves in Ashes glory. By the loss which resembles the one day series lost at home after Ashes '09 (that too, 6-1 apparently) more than anything else, England are indicating to the ECB and ACB about the need to change schedule. People need not be explained why they lost. They have just, done it again. This isn't the first time England didn't care about what happened. Moving on...

Prior to the World Cup
Marred by injuries, England are set to try their luck at the World Cup, once again. Do the English have more hope this time than the previous cups? Of course they do. Having beaten Australia 3-2 (July '10), South Africa 2-1 (Dec '09) and Pakistan 3-2 (Sep '10), England come in with confidence. In the past few months, there's been news of someone getting injured in the England camp every now and then. The most notable is that of Eoin Morgan, who has played a big role in England's transformation into one of the best sides in one day. He, along with Swann and Broad deserve much of the praise that has been garnered on England in the past 2 years. Now that Swann is cleared for drunk-driving, playing superman to save his cat, apparently, England won't begin their campaign without him. But he hasn't been with the team for quite a while. He was in the long list of injuries, which prompted the media to wonder whether England will run out of men and if 42 year old Andy Flower will entertain us again, this time wearing the three lions badge.

Kevin Pietersen as opener?
Flower is the strategist of the side and being his unpredictable self, he has made Kevin Pietersen open. This is a ploy which could lift England's spirits and make them fearless. Or it could sink them deeper. But knowing the showman Kevin Pietersen, I know he'll make it work. The guy loves challenges, his world revolves around him, he gets all the attention and he loves it that way. He knows a lot will be expected and he is not among those who succumb under pressure.

The squad

Looks promising, talented, some big players. Paul Collingwood's spirit seems to be fading though his bowling still delivers. Michael Yardy is only 'handy' and Luke Wright continues to disappoint. Should have opted for Alastair Cook, who was the best man in the Ashes, performs better under pressure, never disappointed in one-day. Steven Davies and Craig Kieswetter could have also been given a chance. England showed faith in Kieswetter but then dumped him in such a way that it seems like they are not going to consider him any time soon. But that is most appropriate for Owais Shah, who is 32, ECB and Middlesex seem to have forgotten him, perhaps forever. Stuart Broad is someone who can perform anywhere. His earlier performances in Asia suggest, he could be the bowler of the tournament.

England continues to Reign Down Under

2011-01-13T18:11:00.002Z

The English played like 20 year old reckless beings

Kudos to Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood. To Alastair Cook, for facing the challenge and coming out as the top performer of the Ashes 2010 by quite a distance. And to Paul Collingwood, for quitting Test cricket. England were reluctant to drop him and he had his chances but the continuity of his tough times have been too long in recent times. He has made it easy for himself and for England. Many cricketers want to end their career on a high, so as to be remembered. And not just remembered, but remembered as successful. But this was the right time to go. He is 34 and will continue to be England's captain in the shortest format and play in One day Internationals and IPL.

The Indian Premier League is a funny thing and provides a lot of stories for the media. Recently, the auction for the 4th edition. Kevin Pietersen (previously Royal Challengers Bangalore) will play for Deccan Chargers, Stuart Broad (IPL debutant) for Kings XI Punjab, Eoin Morgan (previously Royal Challengers Bangalore) for Kolkata Knight Riders, Paul Collingwood (previously Delhi Daredevils) for Rajasthan Royals, Owais Shah (previously Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders) for Kochi, Dmitri Mascarenhas (previously Rajasthan Royals) for Kings XI Punjab, Michael Lumb (previously Rajasthan Royals) for Deccan Charger. The list of the unsold is obviously long. But some unknown players have been 'bought' for huge amounts while Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara, Chris Gayle, James Anderson etc. have gone unsold. And in this bid for humans, it is a humiliation for the unsold. Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara have also gone unsold but I don't think there is anything wrong in ignoring past heroics. James Anderson is a must-have in Tests but not in Twenty20s. The schedule of the English and ego-clashes of BCCI and ECB must have also been considered.

Meanwhile, in the cleaner form of cricket, England have made a record of winning 8 Twenty20 Internationals in a row, overtaking Pakistan and South Africa. The last time England lost a Test series was in Feb-Mar '09, one day series/tournament in Sep-Oct '09, Twenty20 series/tournament in June '09.

Other posts:

England set for 3-1 Ashes victory

2011-01-05T18:35:00.002Z

It had been a while since I stopped enjoying this Ashes, but watching Cook and KP bat reignited the fire. Alastair Cook is having the time of his career. He is the one who was being considered for making the way for someone else, before Ashes, but rose to the challenge, quite magnificently. He's been itching the Aussie eyes. Australia's new "discovery" Michael Beer almost got Cook out. But almost is an important word. After he was given out Billy Bowden doubted that it might be a no ball and so it was. Cook was walking away and it was nice to see KP call him back. Bell, too scored a ton and continued his tradition of almost never scoring a century when no one else did before him in the innings. It's been only once when his century came when no one else reached 3 figures. That happened earlier this year, against Bangladesh. But not like he has always only capitalised on opportunities, there's been 70+ scores when runs were badly needed. And his ton in '05 against Pakistan came when England were 39/2 and he shared a partnership of 154 runs with Kevin Pietersen. KP, Cook, Bell seem to bat well with one another.

Meanwhile, at the SCG, England are in command and winning the Ashes by 3-1 seems likely. I'm not much concerned with an innings defeat. For me, 3-1 is more than enough. It's Down Under, it's against the ex-World No.1, it's the Ashes.

Some interesting stats about the hot Cookie

Alastair Cook has spent the most time ever in a 5 Test series, over 36 hours at the crease. Cook is now the 2nd highest English series scorer with 766 runs behind Wally Hammond's 906.
He is engaged to former glamour model, Alice Hunt. I heard she is 33 and was among the England WAGs involved in Allen Stanford fiasco.

Brief scores after Day 3:

Aus 280 (Johnson 53, Watson 45, Anderson 4/66, Bresnan 3/89)
Eng 488/7 (Cook 189, Bell 115, Strauss 60, Prior 54*, Johnson 3/97)

Year End Specials: Highest Wicket Takers in 2010

2011-01-01T22:36:00.000Z

Click on the image for full size view.
Tests M W Ave SR Win % D L

Graeme Swann (Eng)

25.96

54.0

64.29

Dale Steyn (SA)

21.41

39.0

45.45

James Anderson (Eng)

22.96

48.7

58.33

Morne Morkel (SA)

24.06

47.4

45.45

Zaheer Khan (India)

21.97

39.8

66.67

Steven Finn (Eng)

26.23

39.7

66.67

Harbhajan Singh (India)

40.69

85.3

50.00

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

34.17

57.1

54.55

Mohammad Amir (Pak)

22.33

45.7

28.57

Mohammad Asif (Pak)

27.36

55.1

25.00

Glossary:
Win % = Percentage of the team winning when the player took 4 or more wickets
D = No. of matches drawn when the player took 4 or more wickets
L = No. of matches lost when the player took 4 or more wickets
SR (Strike rate) = Balls per wicket. For e.g., if a bowler took 10 wickets and bowled 50 deliveries, his strike rate would be 5. The lower the strike rate, the better it is. Not to be confused with batting strike rate.

One Day Internationals M W Ave SR

Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)

26.00

32.4

Ryan Harris (Aus)

15.17

19.6

Shafiul Islam (Ban)

31.56

30.1

Stuart Broad (Eng)

24.86

28.6

Abdur Razzak (Ban)

32.00

42.4

Doug Bollinger (Aus)

23.39

32.1

Ashish Nehra (India)

31.96

33.2

Graeme Swann (Eng)

18.67

26.3

Clint McKay (Aus)

19.59

24.4

Kevin O'Brien (Ire)

21.68

30.4

England retain the Ashes in style

2010-12-29T21:23:00.002Z

So, this is a special day for England cricket fraternity. England have taken an unbeatable 2-1 lead in Ashes 2010. It's special because it's Ashes but even more special because it's in the land of the rivals, the kangaroos. It's been 24 years since England retained the Ashes last time. This is the first time Australia have lost twice by an innings in a home series. Quite remarkable. It's only the third occasion that a visiting team has averaged over 45 in a series (minimum three matches) in Australia. I'd say England has had it easy. It seems like they have won easily I mean even though Australia won at Perth (3rd Test). In the other 3 matches, the kangaroos have looked like chickens. Picking Bresnan has worked. But I didn't quite enjoy this Test. At times, I switched on the TV but got bored. Thus, did other things while watching it. Both the batsmen and the bowlers did their job. But not all. Paul Collingwood has averaged 28.55 this year with one ton, against Bangladesh. He is a fighter but needs a break. The Aussies must be tired of Shane Watson's starts, who has only scored 2 centuries in his 26 matches. He has 15 half-centuries by the way.

Brief scores:

Aus 98 in 42.5 overs
Eng 513 in 159.1 overs (Trott 168, Prior 85, Cook 82, Strauss 69, Pietersen 51, Siddle 6/75, Hilfenhaus 2/83, Johnson 2/134)
Aus 258 (Haddin 55*, Watson 54, Bresnan 4/50, Swann 2/59)

KO: England hammers Australia, gone in 2 sessions

2010-12-26T19:51:00.001Z

England vs Australia 4th Test: 26-30 December
Day 1
England continued Christmas celebrations by crushing the Aussies at Melbourne on Day 1. I, surprised by the selection of Tim Bresnan, wasn't expecting this. England for Bressie over Finn, a mistake in my book. Prompted by the dismal performance of English batsmen, Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss picked Bresnan for a longer batting order. The batting should be stronger, not longer. When they fall, they do. True, the batsmen are good but falter under pressure. So work needs to be done on their mental attitude rather than tail-enders' batting. England already has Swann, Tremlett, no need for another bowler who can bat a bit. Tail-enders' usually only contribute when there is no pressure. And it isn't Finn's job to take wickets and score runs too. And my mates, you shall remember, Finn was the leading wicket-taker of the series before this Test.

Nevertheless, England seamers knocked up old rivals at the MCG in front of a near 90,000 witnesses on the Boxing Day. Jimmy Anderson, Chris Tremlett with assistance from Tim Bresnan have set the path for a 2-1 lead in the Ashes with one Test to go. Australia's 98 is their 2nd lowest total on this ground. Their lowest being 83 against India. This is also Australia's 4th score below 120 since 1990 in home Tests. Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss are now 4th on the list of opening pair with most century stands. They have had 10 so far. The ones above them are the pairs of Greenidge and Haynes, Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Hayden and Langer. They are tied with Chauhan and Gavaskar, Gambhir and Sehwag, Slater and Taylor for the 4th position. James Anderson is now the leading wicket-taker in the series with 16 wickets.

Paul Collingwood has saved England quite a few times but he also goes on a spree of runless matches. And England cannot afford that. However, finding a replacement isn't easy. Carberry and Morgan are in reckoning. I'd go for Carberry, looks determined.

Brief scores:

Aus 98 in 42.5 overs
Eng 157/0 in 47 overs (Cook 80, Strauss 64)

Australia on the way to leveling the Ashes

2010-12-18T11:20:00.001Z

England vs Australia 3rd Test: 16-20 December
Day 3
This Test has been exciting. 35 wickets have fallen in 3 days. Tremlett has been a real star, he has taken 8 wickets in the match, all of which were among the top 7. There is been a bit of drama. Collingwood was given out on a referral, overturning the decision of the on-field umpire in the 1st innings. I didn't watch it live, though it looked out in the replay much later. It was unexpected. The height and whether it was struck outside off were in question. To me, height didn't seem a problem though. There have also been word exchanges. Johnson and Anderson have liked chirping up. Today, Watson, on 95, was given out and he referred it straight away. He was stunned when the 3rd umpire too, gave it out. Showed his bat to the umpire. We have seen naked pitch invaders in the past and it happened today as well. The second time at WACA in 2 years. He only started to undress after invading the pitch and was carried off by authorities. The Aussies were busy laughing, didn't mind the delay!

When Australia posed a target of 391, I thought both teams have an equal chance of winning since the highest successful run chase at Perth is 414/4 by South Africa against Australia in December '08. Last time England toured Australia, England managed 350 in the 4th innings but lost. But now that England have lost 5 wickets for 81, it's needless to say who has a better chance. The icing on the cake for Australia was getting Collingwood out on the last ball of the day. England sent Jimmy Anderson when the 4th wicket fell. Why do they always send a nightwatchman? Now with Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Trott, Collingwood back in the dressing room, England are in trouble. And Australia couldn't ask for a better chance to level the series. And remember, there are still 2 days to go.

Until next time, take care. Cheers.

Brief scores:

Aus 268 (Johnson 62, Hussey 61, Haddin 53, Anderson 3/61, Tremlett 3/63)
Eng 187 (Bell 53, Strauss 52, Johnson 6/38, Harris 3/59)
Aus 309 (Hussey 116, Watson 95, Tremlett 5/87, Finn 3/97)
Eng 81/5 (Harris 2/22, Johnson 2/28)

Tremlett & co make Australia falter

2010-12-16T07:08:00.000Z

England vs Australia 3rd Test: 16-20 December 2010
Day 1, just before tea
England won the toss and elected to field first at WACA, Perth. Despite Stuart Broad's injury, Finn didn't get the new ball. Thankfully, England went for Tremlett. The other options were Shahzad and Bresnan. Though they probably didn't consider Shahzad. I have heard writers and commentators describe Twenty20 as 'blink-and-miss'. Well it has just been like that today at Perth. The pitch was bouncy, as usual and made use of it. There was also just a little bit of movement. There are talks of England being the new Australia. Well, England is certainly winning more than they have in a lot of years and even dominating down under. The UDRS actually helped today, in two decisions, it saved Watson in the very first over of the match, bowled by Anderson. It got England the important wicket of Hussey. Australia made quite a few changes to the side. Katich (injured), North, Doherty and Bollinger made way for Hughes, Smith, Johnson and Hilfenhaus. North wasn't scoring runs and I think Hilfenhaus is good. Johnson has the power to swing the match either side. The Aussies were aggressive today but that didn't help as they lost their 5 wickets for 69. Currently, they are 163/6. Cheers.

Australia butchered by England!

2010-12-07T13:39:00.000Z

It's the best day for England. They came out like tigers and crushed Australia. It took England 20.1 overs to take 6 Australian wickets. There is a storm of anger, criticism and sadness in Australia. This is Australia's biggest defeat to England at the Adelaide Oval in 118 years. Also, England's 100th Test win over Australia. The last time Australia was beaten by an innings was in 1993, by West Indies. It has been 24 years since England took the lead in an Ashes series in Australia. Before the series, former cricketers had regarded this Ashes as the best chance to beat Kangaroos at home and that seems true. Ricky Ponting has lost 2 Ashes already, will this be the third? Not many Aussie captains have achieved that! I don't expect Australia to bounce back. Kevin Pietersen may have observed Australia as wounded animals before the Ashes but they are not rebels, not revenge-takers, they are like those fast bowlers, who become losers once they go for runs. Australia were on a winning streak for a long time. It's time for the reverse. Since England arrived in Australia, everything have gone their way. The media reckons Stuart Broad's injury as the only loss in this Test, but it may be a blessing in disguise. Sure, Broady was bowling well but not taking wickets. Bring Tremlett or Shahzad and please, no Bresnan this time!

I'm sure more records were broken and I'll take a look at them later. For now, let me sink in the victory. Big cheers to England fans!

Man of the Match: Kevin Pietersen

Brief scores:

Aus 245 (Hussey 93, Haddin 56, Watson 51, Anderson 4/51, Swann 2/70)
Eng 620/5 dec (Cook 148, Pietersen 227,Trott 78, Bell 68*, Collingwood 42, Harris 2/84)
304 (Clarke 80, Watson 57, Hussey 52, Katich 43, Swann 5/91, Finn 2/60 Anderson 2/90)

Rain a concern as England aim to take lead in Ashes

2010-12-06T19:48:00.002Z

Thanks to Kevin Pietersen, England are much ahead in the game after Day 4. The entertainer didn't only hit a double ton but also took the crucial wicket of Michael Clarke on what turned out to be the last bowl of the day. It's been 4, no, I shall say just over 3 days because many overs on Day 3 and 4 were washed out. And Australia's over rate doesn't help either. I'm certainly very pleased with KP's success, I was even against it when he was dropped from one-dayers against Pakistan in summer. I said it out loud here, I'm with KP, are you? He's massive, so is his ego and ambitions. The guy rises against challenges, like playing against South Africa, who didn't pick him over racial quota or rivals, Australia. Most of this series so far, things have gone England's way. Now, after declaring on a massive 620/5, England need to get 6 Australian wickets for less than 136 more runs.

Steven Finn is the leading wicket-taker in the series but I don't think Strauss knows it. Or does he know it and believes in saving runs? With such a huge lead in the kitty, I don't think Strauss needs to worry about that and when the wickets fall, no one gets going! Finny has taken 8 wickets in the series, followed by Anderson, Siddle, Swann (6 each). With 2 wickets, Stuart Broad is the lowest wicket-taker among the main bowlers who have played in both the Tests. Shane Watson has also taken 2 wickets and bowled 46 overs but he is the opener. Mitchell Johnson has been the biggest disappointment but wasn't picked for the ongoing Test.

Only Sachin Tendulkar has hit more centuries (19) than Alastair Cook before the age of 26. Don Bradman struck as many centuries as Cook has hit (15). Also, Sachin hit 21 50s before turning 26, while Alastair has already struck 23. Bradman lags behind with six 50s before 26. But Cook still has the chance. He'll turn 26 on December 25. The 3rd Test will begin on December 16, Perth.

Brief scores:

Aus 245 (Hussey 93, Haddin 56, Watson 51, Anderson 4/51, Swann 2/70)
Eng 620/5 dec (Cook 148, Pietersen 227,Trott 78, Bell 68*, Collingwood 42, Harris 2/84)
Aus 238/4 (Clarke 80, Watson 57, Hussey 44*, Katich 43, Swann 2/72)

Another ton by Alastair Cook puts England on top!

2010-12-04T14:33:00.001Z

England vs Australia 2nd Test: 3-7 December
Day 2
Seems like England carried the momentum of the Gabba to Adelaide. After getting Australia out for 245, Alastair Cook continued his innings of 235*. At the end of Day 2, he is on 129*, along with star batsman Kevin Pietersen. There were question marks over the places of both before the Ashes began. Day 2 started in a dramatic fashion with the wicket of Andrew Strauss. But that was all for Australia. Australia bowled 88 overs after that and could only take one wicket - Trott (78). Alastair Cook is having a great series. He was under pressure when it began and the action has been around him. If Day 4 of the 1st Test was about his and Strauss' ton, Day 5 was about his double ton. He has been on the field for most of the series so far. In my post, England ends on a high as 1st Ashes Test drawn I've mentioned exactly how much time he spent on the field. He is young, he is sexy and he is selectors' favourite. Ali Cook will turn 26 this Christmas. He has struck 15 centuries so far.

The weather forecast says it will remain mostly cloudy at Adelaide with chances of shower at times. But then, it predicted thunderstorm for today as well. Rain has the best chance of saving Australia, followed by Hussey, Ponting and Clarke. England shall declare at 600 and aim for an innings defeat. Lastly, I would like to congratulate Ricky Ponting for his 150th Test. What a game it's turning out to be for him.

Brief scores:

Aus 245 (Hussey 93, Haddin 56, Watson 51, Anderson 4/51, Swann 2/70)
Eng 317/2 (Cook 136, Pietersen 85,Trott 78)

Australia tumbles as Anderson rumbles!

2010-12-03T18:26:00.001Z

England vs Australia 2nd Ashes Test: 3-7 December
Day 1
I woke up when England had already taken 5 Australian wickets. Though later, I did see the wickets. Their celebration made me as jubilant as the score did. Actually, more. They were running all across the ground. The wonderful thing was taking 3 Australian wickets for just 2 runs. How often do you see any team at 2/3? And that too, Kangaroos at home? Can it get any better?

The Australians brought Harris and Bollinger in place of Johnson and Hilfenhaus. I would have kept Hilfenhaus, by dropping Doherty. It's not a rule to have a spinner, is it? So, when your faster men are way better than your spinner, why keep him?

The star again was Jimmy Anderson. He did not take as many wickets as Finn in the 1st Test but he was equally good. Today, he must have been tremendous. Stuart Broad has struggled for wickets in the Ashes so far. This is not something new, I expected this to happen until he took wickets against Pakistan and in the warm-ups. Broad and Finn picked up one wicket each today. Graeme Swann is going to take some wickets, as he is a spinner, bowls a lot of overs and he's good, especially against left handers. But I don't expect him to do what he has been doing since he debuted - rip off the opposition. The UDRS brought controversies today as well. It may fail to serve justice but it sure brings the drama. The man at stake was Ryan Harris and he kept referring from the dressing room after been given out.

I was unsure about writing this post, not having watched most of the day's play so I kept it nice and short rather than stretching it out. Hope you are enjoying the Ashes as much as me. Until next time, take care. Goodbye from jimmymycrushie.

Brief scores:

Aus 245 (Hussey 93, Haddin 56, Watson 51, Anderson 4/51, Swann 2/70)
Eng 1/0

England vs Australia 2nd Ashes Test: The Preview

2010-12-01T21:47:00.002Z

Kevin Pietersen is furious at the pitch curator of Adelaide Oval, Damian Hough. He expressed it in person and then on twitter. England were forced to practice indoors due to rain which frustrated KP. He tweeted when it was about 4pm in Adelaide (5:30 am GMT):

What should a groundsmen make sure he does 2days out from a test match????

Cover the nets when it rains maybe???

PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To which, Cricket Australia replied,

SACA has put out a statement re rain 2day, 1st priority was to protect Test track, practice wix [wickets] then covered, normal practice 2moro.

Guess where they replied? Twitter of course. Soon, it will replace media conferences too.That time is not far away when team will be announced via twitter.

The England team will probably be unchanged unless there are last minute injuries. The Australian media suggests it's almost finalised that Johnson will miss the 2nd Test. It doesn't come as a surprise, since he got for duck, didn't take any wicket and dropped a catch too, at the Gabba. Reports say that Johnson missed Australia's practice session following a brawl with Aussie selectors who told him he wouldn't be playing at Adelaide. Though no wonder Michael Clarke denied it. Bollinger is likely to replace him. And Ryan Harris, notched his pace up during the practice session to impress the keen-eyed selectors.

Although Johnson was the highest wicket-taker in both Tests and ODIs last year, has a good record in Australia, I personally don't believe in him. His bowling is many times wayward and either he gets 5 or none. Johnson averages 27.61 in Australia, with a strike rate of 52.7. The only places he fares up better in, are New Zealand and South Africa. His worst average is against England, 41.05 while his career average is 30.08. That is an enough reason to drop him. During the 1st Test, we could see how sunken his body language can get.

I received a tweet from Adrian Duell (@RedL1on), an Australian, which said:

@shadds_criclova @Jimmymycrushie only England would be happy and upbeat because they didn't loose.

To which I'd like to say that the one who comes out of a hole is victorious. Sometimes, a draw is like a win. Obviously, this wasn't as much of a triumph as the Cardiff Test (Ashes '09) was but it proved to be quite a thumping for the Aussies. Most of the Aussie side and fans looked mashed. Aussie fans were a rare sight on Day 5 and the Australian team was down in the dumps in the field. Except, a few, like Ponting.

An English journalist, reports from down under, how the Austrlian media and fans are keeping up and it's a must read, Interview with the man down under: 1st Test

Cheers.

Related posts:

England ends on a high as 1st Ashes Test drawn

2010-11-29T15:02:00.001Z

It was a record breaking day at the Gabba. Alastair Cook continued from his overnight score of 132* and scored his first double hundred. Till his 173 against Bangladesh, he used to get out soon after completing his ton but when he got out against Bangladesh, he was in distraught. Alastair Cook is liked by most. England have wanted him to be the permanent opener. He has never been dropped in Tests. He is the king on flat pitches and his concentration is hard to match. In this Test, he stayed on the field for 1705 minutes (over 28 hours), 1302 runs, 402.1 overs. Whoa! Not many players must have spent so much time on the field in a match. In England's 1st innings, it took him 168 balls to score 67, when he got out, England were 197 and were bowled out for 260. He stayed on the field for Australia's 481. Opened in England's innings, England declared on 517/1. And lastly, stayed on the field for Australia's 107/1. Alastair Cook's 235* is the 2nd highest by an Englishman in the last 30 years.

When Strauss declared, I didn't think he did the right thing. The pitch was flat and he posed a target of 297 in 40+ overs. But England's attitude assured me that from no way would England lose from such a situation. Throughout the Test, England did well, whether they were fielding, batting or bowling. Though 260 in the 1st innings was below par, a catch was dropped, overthrows were given during Australia's 2nd innings. England have certainly never been so good in Australia. They dominated the warm-ups, bowled superbly and came back after being 200-odd behind. Though the pitch should take most of the credit. Strauss, Cook (235*) and Trott (135*), Ponting (51* off 43) cashed in.

Man of the Match: Alastair Cook

You would rarely see such a Test where: the pitch helps bowling in the start and slowly becomes flat, one team rattles behind by 221, then declares at 517/1. By the way, this was only the 6th time in history when a team reached 500 with only one wicket down. The instances of 500/1 are listed below.

West Indies against Pakistan, 1958
Australia against West Indies, 1965
Sri Lanka against India, 1997
Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe, 2004
South Africa against Bangladesh, 2008
England against Australia, 2010

But these kinds of records don't help the team much. It may help in managing to draw but usually, when one team scores so many, so does the other, unless it's a minnow side.

The 2nd Ashes Test starts on December 3 at Adelaide Oval at 00:00 GMT. Until next time, take care. Cheers.

Related posts:

Centurians Cook, Strauss and flat pitch get England out of trouble

2010-11-28T13:58:00.002Z

England vs Australia 1st Ashes Test: 25-29 November
Day 4
After surviving the last hour on Day 3, England started Day 4 on 19/0. Andrew Strauss smacked the ball all around the park and Alastair Cook batted with such determination as if he would never get out. His place was under scrutiny against Pakistan where he scored a ton to retain his place. But I, and many experts, doubted if he would succumb against Australia. England have been a good team for long, they have had the good players, they have been hard working. But now, they are also finding winning ways and are more consistent. There have been quite a few series in which all Ali Cook did was scoring a ton. In the 1st innings of this Test, he made 67 and is not out on 132 in the 2nd. That's a total of 199 runs. On his previous Ashes tour, he made 276 runs, though he still struck a ton at Perth. I reckon times are changing because of his determination and 67. The pitch was flat and on top of that, Australia dropped a few catches. Mitchell Johnson dropped Andrew Strauss when he was on 69. Siddle, Clarke also dropped catches. Clarke dived and almost caught it but couldn't hold on, Trott was the batsman.

It's probably going to be a draw but a result is possible. Australia would need to get England out very early and England would need to get to 500 quickly, declare and get Australia out in about 50 overs. Both are unlikely though. The highest successful chase at this ground is 236. The pitch helped the bowlers on Day 1 and slowly became flat.

Brief scores:

Eng 260 (Bell 76, Cook 67, Pietersen 43, Siddle 6/54, Doherty 2/41)
Aus 481 (Hussey 195, Haddin 136, Katich 50, Finn 6/125, Anderson 2/99, Swann 2/128)
Eng 309/1 (Cook 132*, Strauss 110)

Aleem Dar and Hussey leave England wrecked

2010-11-27T14:09:00.000Z

Yesterday, Michael Clarke was out, caught behind off Finny Steve. Aleem Dar didn't give it out. England referred but to no avail. Snicko suggested there was a nick, hot spot didn't agree. Finn and Prior were in dismay. I do remember English commentators talking about hot spot against Pakistan this summer. They did say that it works better in cold conditions. As far as I know, Australia is a hot place. Also, it can be deceived to a degree by stickers, Vaseline and even by keeping your bat in the fridge before you come out to bat. I have seen it working well at times but doesn't always work, right? Snicko works quite well I think. Even though the information to judge a decision is double this time, because of new technique of cameras, it still doesn't help much. I've said it before and I'd say it again, UDRS only helps when a blunder has been made, not close calls. And now, it can't even overturn the decision when there is an edge. It's a waste of time and reduces excitement. When Siddle got a hat-trick, Broad referred it and it looked out but we still had to wait. Teams also consider a lot of times whether to refer or not. The on-field umpires need to improve in their job. Umpiring standards must be raised. And if an umpire wants, he can check with the 3rd umpire or the 3rd umpire can interfere when he thinks the on-field umpire has made a mistake.

Day 3 has left England in a turmoil. Australia started Day 3 at 220/5. The first session was very frustrating. Actually, the whole day.Early today, before Hussey reached 100, he was plumb lbw off Jimmy the hottie. The ball flicked both of his pads. The double noise is the only thing Dar can say in his defence. Despite the English putting in a superb effort together, Australia finished on 481. Now, that's a lot really. When Australia were 248/5, I was wondering what Hussey and Haddin are still doing there. Haddin was struggling like a tail-ender and the ball was zipping around their stumps. The man in black pants changed the game. James Anderson was superb all throughout the innings and Finny, on his Ashes debut grabbed 6. After bowling so well, England are in such a position that winning seems like a distant dream. England can just hope that the sun will be shining bright till tea, Day 5 and the pitch would help bowling afterwards. England have managed to draw a few times since Ashes '09. It started at Cardiff, when Collingwood, Jimmy and Monty showed their resilience. Happened again against South Africa, twice. They must have learnt from it but in all those times, they were not required to survive so much of time. Rain and bad light are wanted.

Brief scores:
Eng 260 (Bell 76, Cook 67, Pietersen 43, Siddle 6/54, Doherty 2/41)
Aus 481 (Hussey 195, Haddin 136, Katich 50, Finn 6/125, Anderson 2/99, Swann 2/128)
Eng 19/0

Other posts:
Ashes 2010 gets underaway: England thumped on Day 1
England fights back on Day 2: The game is on!
England on top as Ashes about to roll
Anderson And Panesar Save The Day!

England fights back on Day 2: The game is on!

2010-11-26T13:46:00.004Z

Day 2 turned out to be wonderful for England. At the start of the day, the battle was on, the bowlers won some, lost some. Jimmy Anderson was amazing. Early on, Alastair Cook missed a run out chance. But things turned around after lunch. Jimmy Anderson grabbed 2, Finny 2, Swann 1. Yesterday, I was worried Jimmy's bowling may be a hindrance to winning Ashes. I wanted him to perform for my personal liking over him but most importantly, for England. I'm most interested in Finn at the moment but the bowling and looks of 'The Burnley darling' (as Ian Chappel remarked today) have stimulated me for years. I expected Stuart Broad to take 1 or 2 wickets, Finn to perform and didn't expect Swann to excel today. Broad didn't take any wicket but bowled well, Finn was good and Swann took one but not many. After Day 1, I had suggested that England and especially Broad must bowl more at stumps. Not like my idea couldn't work, but Broad did well even with those predictable short balls. This tells us that he is really good at it. Finn didn't fall during his follow through today and caught a good one of his own bowling.

England's plans worked and the discipline showed. This was great. England's bowling is becoming more consistent, Ian Bell is finally getting out of the classy 40 mode and England have the potential to be the best now. It's our time now. Australia will bat last, which is a good thing. Though England need to set a target of at least 300. If they get Oz all out for 300, they'll need to score 339 at least. Looking forward to Day 3.

Brief scores:

Aus 220/5 in 80 overs (Hussey 81, Katich 50, Anderson 2/40, Finn 2/61)

Goodbye from jimmymycrushie for now, post your comments below and hope you enjoy the Ashes!

Other posts:

Ashes 2010 gets underaway: England thumped on Day 1

2010-11-25T18:20:00.001Z

Day 1 belonged to Australia. When Straussy got out, I thought Cooky would score because usually he does if Strauss goes before him. I fell asleep at lunch and woke up after about 2 and a half hours only to find Bell and Cook batting. I had seen KP reach 23 and heard he went for 43 and was in a good flow. Belly and Cooky looked good at the crease. Cook played patiently and his pulls were as good as ever. Until Cook got out, things were looking good for England. Siddle changed the course of the game by taking a hat-trick - Cook, Prior, Broad. Bell was looking to score big but was running out of partners, ended up landing a catch to Watson. Doherty got his first wicket in Test cricket as Ian Bell and his dad was rather overjoyed, he must have been waiting for this moment. Jimmy Anderson didn't show any faith in No.11 Steven Finn which I didn't appreciate. He played sweeps and reverse sweeps and got out for 11, 4 balls after Ian Bell went. Siddle, the birthday boy, was the man of the day, taking 6 wickets. If Australia wins, lots of credit goes to him.

England didn't do much with the ball. James Anderson and Stuart Broad shared the new ball while Steven Finn waited on the boundary, but wasn't given a chance. Whenever I had thought about how good England would be down under, I worried about Jimmy Anderson who may bring back memories of Ashes 2006. His 3 overs went for only 5 runs but the bowling wasn't impressive and obviously, Australia wasn't thinking about banging Jim straight up, they were just looking to survive the remaining overs of the day. Stuart Broad did have 1 or 2 chances of taking a wicket but as expected, most of his deliveries were short. I don't except Aussies to fall in his trap, being so predictable won't work . And if you don't ball at stumps, you take out 2 ways of taking a wicket - bowled and lbw. Swanny bowled the last over and this time, he couldn't get a wicket first up. I'd say they must have tried Finn. He is awesome and the Australians have never faced him. He is attacking, doesn't rely on swing like Jimmy Anderson and doesn't bowl short like Stuart Broad. True, it would have been risky, but then, playing him in Australia is risky enough. If you give someone the chance to play for England, you also have to give him enough chances to excel.

Being bowled out for 260 wasn't exactly the start England was hoping for, but the Aussie batsmen aren't in their best form. So England stand a chance, given Jimmy doesn't bowl crap and Finn is supported enough. When I had heard the probable Aussie squad many days ago, I was surprised to hear that Siddle might not play. Both Hilfenhaus and Siddle bowled well in Ashes 2009 and Siddle proved his mettle today.

Brief scores:

Eng 260 in 76.5 overs (Bell 76, Cook 67, Pietersen 43, Siddle 6/54, Doherty 2/41)
Aus 25/0 in 7 overs

England on top as Ashes about to roll

2010-11-24T12:51:00.002Z

England began their Ashes tour with grandeur by beating Western Australia by 6 wickets. England winning their 1st tour game in Australia is a rarity so this was an absolute delight, which Andrew Strauss expressed as well. England's mainstream bowlers James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Steven Finn were impressive in the first 2 tour matches, against Western Australia and South Australia. The 2nd tour match was drawn.
Here is how these fared in the 2 matches:

James Anderson (58 overs)

6 wickets

All batsmen

Stuart Broad (49 overs)

6 wickets

5 batsmen

Steven Finn (53 overs)

5 wickets

3 batsmen

Graeme Swann (71.3 overs)

9 wickets

3 batsmen

In the 3rd tour match, England gave Tremlett, Shahzad, Bresnan, Panesar a chance while the best bowlers practised in Brisbane, the venue of the 1st Ashes Test. Australia A batted first, were bowled out for 230 which set the foundation for victory. All bowlers did well with Monty being the least successful. Tremlett flourished the most, followed by Bressie lad. Though I strongly recommend not playing Bresnan except perhaps when England plays 5 bowlers. The batsmen were the same and batted superbly except Trott I guess. Every England batsmen averaged above 50 except KP and Trott (excluding Prior). Bell is still in the form of his life whose 192 against Australia A was among his best for sure. Collingwood and Bell got England out of trouble who were struggling at 137/5. The bowlers finished their job by routing Australia A for 301.

Alastair Cook coming out for good was a an important positive for England, who have shown complete faith in him. He scored 111* against South Australia. A special mention of Paul Collingwood, who not only scored runs but also provided the breakthrough and broke a partnership of 87 runs, produced a run out against Western Australia (1st innings) and substitute Eoin Morgan (run out, Western Australia 2nd innings).

So, England have done quite well so far but the real test lies ahead.

The highlights of the tour games are available on skysports.com. The Ashes begins on November 25, The Gabba, Brisbane at 00:00 GMT. Until next time, take care. Cheers.

Other posts:

Wallpaper: Sexy England Cricketers!

2010-11-05T15:49:00.008Z

Click on the image for the 1024x768 size view. Ah, I'm knackered, never spent so much time on a wallpaper!

Currently, I'm reading Coming Back To Me: The Autobiography of Marcus Trescothick. The best thing is that he has been totally frank and honest while writing the book. Unlike Gibbs, he has not tried to make it dramatic. It's just dramatic because of how his life has been. He has mentioned a lot of cricketers but Jimmy Anderson has been mentioned the most!

Earlier, I had to tweet about my blog posts again and again or to different people manually but at least that task has been made easy by socialoomph.

Other Wallpapers:

All Out Cricket Goes Digital - video interviews and more...

2010-10-27T09:59:00.001+01:00

You'll no longer miss out on All Out Cricket since you can have it, right here, on your computer! The 14 page 4th issue will give you insights on the PCA Awards, pictures from the boot camp that I hadn't seen before, video interviews with technically sound Ian Bell and hotties Steven Finn and Stuart Broad. And also the chance to buy bats and other cricket accessories for a less than usual price.

Check it out here!

You can win a track day with Jaguar, the official vehicle supplier of the England team, if you are over 18. However, participants at the track day must be 28 or over. You must also be a resident of UK. So I cannot enter the contest, not like I'm into cars anyway.

Click here to enter the contest!

Win a bat signed by the England team

International 2011 tickets on sale!

Click here to watch Maximuscle Steven Finn Video Interview

Steven Finn has taken over James Anderson in my heart. By the way, Stuart Broad is on twitter (@stuartbroad8) and Matt Prior (@mattyp635) had joined twitter but left after just one tweet.

Watch Stuart Broad Maximuscle Stuart Broad Interview

Remember, you heard it here first! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so that you don't miss out on things like these in the future!

Related Posts: Stuart Broad Wallpaper
England cricketers off the field
England cricketers on twitter!

Stuart Broad Wallpaper

2010-10-23T16:53:00.002+01:00

Click on the image for the 1074x645 size view.
Other Wallpapers:

How KP fared up at SA and who knocked out Jimmy Anderson

2010-10-20T17:00:00.004+01:00

Much to England's adversity, Kevin Pietersen's bad form continues. A 48 ball 36, after which he said that he is "feeling like he used to play" was followed by a second ball duck. But he always faced challenges, battered the best so I still expect him to come out good in the Ashes. Many had felt that he used to be good, blah, blah...I think he is still good, just struggling at the moment. Though it was still good to hear that he was feeling like he used to play because let's face it, he was a basher back then. And it might have to do something with things other than his batting, like the change in his personality, hairstyle, attempt to play a long innings and helping England draw Tests. Though as far as I can remember, he hasn't really helped much when it comes to draws.

I was a bit confused about South African domestic cricket until I did my research today. I had heard there are only 6 teams in their domestic cricket, like Australia, but there are different competitions and different teams play in them. Like, 13 teams play in CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge and One-Day Challenge but yeah, 6 teams in SuperSport Series (4-day matches), MTN40 and Standard Bank Pro20 Series. I had read that KP will play for Kwa-zulu Natal some time ago but he actually played for the Dolphins.

John Buchanan, who is working with England this Ashes series, has said Pietersen "has the potential to be fragmentary and an individualist" and could be a "major problem". As you may have imagined by my past comments, I don't agree with this and whether or not he is true or not, I've never appreciated someone criticising its own players. It's good to tell someone personally what's wrong with them so that they can improve but since Buchanan is working with England, speaking publicly like this is not ideal. Strauss on the other hand, said:

Kevin Pietersen has never been a problem for the England cricket team. Buchanan is off the mark to say that - I'm sure Kevin will come to the party.

He also said that there is no chance of dropping Kapes for the 1st Ashes Test, no matter what happens in the warm up matches.

Despite Jimmy Anderson's injury, he defended the boot camp saying that they gained a lot from it.

We weren't expecting injuries and the guys taking the course were told to make sure that did not happen, but things do happen. We are professional sportsmen and you are going to get injuries, whether it is in the nets, the gym sessions or on one of these camps.

Andrew Strauss on James Anderson acquiring an injury during the boot camp in Germany.

Yeah we all know sportspersons can get injured even when they are not playing, like Nel was at his own home when he opened refrigerator and then a water filled bottle fell on his toe. He got injured so much that he could not play that series. But we shall do our best to avoid injuries, shan't we? Chris Tremlett was the one Jimmy was boxing with. Oh, that's a good way to make his way to the team but he might have to injure other bowlers too. Just joking.

Cheers.

Other posts:

Blow to the Ashes - Jimmy Anderson to miss first 2 Tests

2010-10-15T09:03:00.001+01:00

Just as I was busy tweeting people about my post, What causes more death than war?, @Ellaw638 informed me that James Anderson has broken his ribs. I freaked out a bit and wondered how it could have happened since England are on a break. How it happened? Well...on the boot camp in Germany. In my post The 'Secret' Bonding Camp I wrote that this wasn't the right time for a boot camp. After a long, tiring (both mentally and physically) controversial summer, the last English cricketers needed was boxing, hiking and abseiling. Jimmy hurt his ribs while boxing and is almost certain to miss the first 2 Tests. Yorkshire's Ajmal Shahzad, whom I reckon should have made to the team, is likely to replace Anderson. If Shahzad plays in any of the first 2 Tests and succeeds, England will have to choose between Anderson and the other bowlers who would play in the first 2 Tests. There have been quite a few times when someone, doing well in county cricket, was selected for England 16 member squad but didn't play any match. I hope they don't do that to Shahzad, he would be better off with the Performance squad, rather than sitting on the sidelines in Ashes. Swann, Broad, Finn will be the obvious choices for the 1st Test so England would have to choose between Bresnan, Tremlett and Shahzad. I so deeply hope they don't play Bresnan.

15:14 (BST)
Turns out that Jimmy Anderson might actually play the 1st Test and the injury is not as serious as it was reported to be. I thought it might prove to be a blessing in guise if Shahzad plays or England might lose/fail to win from a good position if Bresnan plays. I've always doubted Broad's ability to take wickets in Tests and although he has improved, I'm not too sure about him so I would go for Jimmy, Finn, Swann and Shahzad but England probably doesn't agree with me. Earlier today, newspapers and top sites like Dailymail reported that Anderson is almost certain to miss the first 2 Tests. Bizarre.

Until next time, take care. Cheers.

What causes more death than war?

2010-10-15T07:12:00.003+01:00

Water scarcity is an issue you must have read about in your school books but you can't imagine how much it effects the world. On 11th October, I received the weekly newsletter from change.org, a site which raises awareness about important causes and empowers people to take action. I came across change.org when I was searching about Jimmy Anderson's photoshoot for gay magazine Attitude. When I started reading the newsletter, there were some shocking revelations, it said,

more people die each year from contaminated water than all forms of violence and war combined.

The newsletter also notified me about Blog Action Day 2010, held every October 15th. The goal of Blog Action Day is to take a single day out of the year to focus the world's attention on one important issue. 13,000 bloggers took part in it last year. The United Nations voted recently to make access to clean water a human right. But it will take some time and effort for this to be implicated. What we can do, is generate awareness on this issue.

90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are to children under five years old. Many of these diseases are preventable. Clean water alone can reduce water-related deaths by 21%. Sanitation alone can reduce water-related deaths by 37.5%. Handwashing alone can reduce water related deaths by 45%. These numbers are staggering but just talking and shocking will not be enough. This calls for a need for good hygiene. People often ignore washing hands after using the toilet, before and after eating, before touching their eyes or using eye drops. These are the basic hygiene guidelines.

1 in 8 of us lack access to clean water

True, alone we cannot provide water to nearly 1 billion people worldwide who rely on bacteria-infested water. But together by making small contributions, we can change the current scenario. Developed countries use far more water than poor countries. In the United States alone, on just one average day, more than 500 billion liters of freshwater travel through the country’s power plants—more than twice what flows through the Nile.

Why water is important.

According to a report dating back to 1999 and sponsored by the UN Development Program, fighting over limited resources as the scarcity of water, over the next 25 years, will possibly be the leading reason for major conflicts in Africa, not oil.

Relieving hunger in Africa has to begin with access to clean water. It may seem simple, but we forget that without water, food is impossible to grow and difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food.

As a blogger, I've taken this opportunity to enlighten people, here is how you can contribute:

Register your blog or website if you read this on October 15th, register and write about water crisis or Blog Action Day 2010.

Sign the petition: Together with US Fund for UNICEF, change.org is helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations. Help grow this movement by adding your name.

Raise funds for water: Raise money to provide clean drinking water to those in need through charity: water, which allows you to create a fundraising page to raise money to build wells in Africa, or Water.org, where a $25 donation provides clean water for a lifetime for one person.

If a 7-year old can build a well, why can't you donate $25?

Alastair Cook Wallpaper!

2010-10-13T07:57:00.005+01:00

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Not The Most Conservative Sport Anymore?

2010-10-10T05:55:00.009+01:00

Some regard baseball as the most conservative sport next to cricket, others settle for golf or tennis. All of them are changing and so is cricket. Called as the "Gentleman's game", cricket consisted of whites, sun and hard work for fast bowlers. The change started with one-day cricket and became more prominent with the birth of Twenty20 cricket. One-day cricket brought the colours, day-night games and most importantly, the reduction to 50 overs from 450 overs. Twenty20 brought in the moolah, popularity, a prospect of exposing non-playing nations like US to cricket. I like all these changes, including the one I'm going to talk about, except Twenty20. One thing which has really bashed conservatism in cricket is nudity. Yes, nudity. Not many cricketers have posed nude but Jimmy Anderson is someone who has done it thrice so far. The first time he did it, it was for Cancer charity, with fellow England cricketers Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad. The second time, he was supporting Give Up Clothes for Good, a TK Maxx, HomeSense and Cancer Research UK campaign for children’s cancer research www.tkmaxx.com. Have you shopped for clothes in TK Maxx? Well, they’d rather go naked...

The third time, he posed for gay lifestyle magazine, Attitude. Here's what he said:

There's a perception of lots of committees and old men being quite prim and proper, but I think the game is moving with the times.
I think doing this could be fantastic for cricket. Hopefully this will attract a new sort of fan.
If there are any gay cricketers, they should feel confident enough to come out, because I don't think there is homophobia in cricket.

And also said that his model wife, Daniella Lloyd and her friends encouraged him for this shoot.
The magazine's editor, Matthew Todd, praised the bowler for his decision, which he said would send a 'strong, playful signal that sportsmen can be comfortable with homosexuality among team-mates and fans.'

Inspired by There's No Homophobia in Cricket?

Buy ATTITUDE MAGAZINE ** JIMMY ANDERSON SPECIAL ** OCTOBER 2010 from amazon

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The key to the Ashes: Steven Finn

2010-10-08T08:17:00.000+01:00

ICC Awards 2010 were held in Bengaluru, India on 6th October '10. I didn't really enjoy the ceremony much though. The positives were Finny getting the emerging player of the year award, Swanny, Jimmy being named in the ICC World Test XI and Broady, Colly being named in the ICC World ODI XI.

Finn emerged on the scene when Jimmy Anderson was rested for the tour of Bangladesh. He played in both the Tests as Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Onions struggled with fitness. Bangladesh isn't a great place for a fast bowler to make his debut. He wasn't spectacular but showed pace and bounce. The moment I first looked at him, he was sitting in the balcony, looked good and I loved his attitude and poise. Finn rocked the Bangladesh batting line-up in the following summer, bagging 9 wickets in his home debut Test at Lord's and 5 in the 2nd innings at Old Trafford. However, he played down talks of comparisons with Glenn Mcgrath and Curtley Ambrose. He also commented that he is not targeting the Ashes. He said:

I'm not going to kid myself. I've had fun in this Test match and I'm loving playing for my country at the moment, but it'll be a lot of hard work for me, because there are guys to come back in who are ahead of me in the pecking order.
Fundamentally, it's up to me to make it difficult for the selectors to drop me, whether I do that playing for England or through consistent performances for Middlesex throughout the season. If I keep taking wickets, my name will be there or thereabouts, but it'll be a lot of hard work.

That's quite modest I shall say. After taking the wickets at Lord's, he blamed himself for going for too many fours and said that he'd like to change that. He was very impressive against Pakistan too, taking key wickets. But I reckon he was under used by Strauss. Finn bowled 79 overs in the series as opposed to Anderson - 140.3, Broad - 113.5. Finn's career bowling strike rate is an amazing 36.9. In the history of the game, the best career strike rate is 34.1, followed by 37.7. He is a wicket-taker and wicket-takers are the guys who win you Tests. And that is why he is the key to the Ashes.

PS, this post was originally going to be about ICC awards but I just couldn't resist the temptation of writing and researching about Finn. I've never agreed with ICC Rankings and awards and this time it was no different. Absurdly, Eoin Morgan wasn't shortlisted for Emerging Player Of The Year Award so Finn easily beat Umar Akmal, Angelo Mathews and Tim Paine.

Related Post: Steven Finn Wallpaper!

Other posts: Chinese Zodiacs Of English Cricketers
   England cricketers on twitter!
   Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires
   England cricketers off the field
   Life As a Cricketer

Steven Finn Wallpaper!

2010-10-06T05:06:00.003+01:00

Click on the wallpaper for the 1024x768 view. Took me 4 & a half hours to create this one!

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The 'Secret' Bonding Camp

2010-10-04T04:38:00.001+01:00

The England team went for a boot camp just a day after the last one-day against Pakistan on September 22. It was a team bonding camp held in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. The destination wasn't revealed beforehand. The players were asked to leave their cellphones in England so they went off twitter for a few days. Apart from Finn, all of them try to be cool on twitter. And now, they have started replying to a few fans. To get a reply from them, you don't have to say something noteworthy or special or funny. After all this, I think ECB would be doing them a favour by banning them from twitter.

They must have enjoyed themselves at the camp, indulged in boxing, hiking and abseilling. I think it was great but I'm not sure if it took place at the right time. After the long summer, they should have spent time at home, resting and with family. This was a pre-Ashes bonding camp but there are still 52 days to Ashes (from 4th October).

The Boot Camp in Pictures>>>

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Chinese Zodiacs Of English Cricketers

2010-10-02T04:11:00.003+01:00

A good way to know a bit about English cricketers would be through chinese zodiac. Most of you must be thinking that this kind of stuff is fun but inaccurate. Well, this is not like western zodiac and I've found it to be mostly true. It probably isn't 100% accurate, one reason being that people change. And you don't know where the original theory is written because it's somewhat different on websites, books, newspapers.

Rat
Forthright, tenacious, intense, meticulous, charismatic, sensitive, intellectual, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, artistic, shrewd. Can be manipulative, vindictive, self-destructive, envious, mendacious, venal, obstinate, critical, over-ambitious, ruthless, intolerant, scheming.

Alastair Cook

Ox
Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

Luke Wright
Tim Bresnan
Ravi Bopara
Ajmal Shahzad
Liam Plunkett

Tiger
Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous. Can be restless, reckless, impatient, quick-tempered, obstinate, selfish, aggressive, moody.

Steven Davies
Eoin Morgan
Stuart Broad
Joe Denly

Rabbit
Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.

Craig Kieswetter

Dragon
Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.

Paul Collingwood
Adil Rashid

Snake
Deep thinker, wise, mystic, graceful, soft-spoken, sensual, creative, prudent, shrewd, elegant, cautious, responsible, calm, strong, constant, purposeful. Can be loner, bad communicator, possessive, hedonistic, self-doubting, distrustful, mendacious, suffocating, cold.

Steven Finn
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Strauss
Ryan Sidebottom

Horse
Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile—mentally and physically, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded. Can be fickle, arrogant, childish, anxious, rude, gullible, stubborn.

Owais Shah

Sheep
Righteous, sincere, sympathetic, mild-mannered, shy, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate, understanding, mothering, peaceful, generous, seeks security. Can be moody, indecisive, over-passive, worrier, pessimistic, over-sensitive, complainer, weak-willed.

Graeme Swann
Michael Lumb

Monkey
Inventor, motivator, improviser, quick-witted, inquisitive, flexible, innovative, problem solver, self-assured, sociable, artistic, polite, dignified, competitive, objective, factual, intellectual. Can be egotistical, vain, arrogant, selfish, reckless, snobbish, deceptive, manipulative, cunning, jealous, suspicious.

Kevin Pietersen
Michael Yardy
Michael Carberry
Mark Davies

Rooster
Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado.

Jonathan Trott
Chris Tremlett
Sajid Mahmood

Dog
Honest, intelligent, straightforward, loyal, sense of justice and fair play, attractive, amicable, unpretentious, sociable, open-minded, idealistic, moralistic, practical, affectionate, sensitive, easy going. Can be cynical, lazy, cold, judgmental, pessimistic, worrier, stubborn, quarrelsome.

Ian Bell
Matt Prior
James Anderson
Monty Panesar
James Tredwell
Graham Onions

Find your and other English cricketers' Chinese Zodiac, see how you match!

Wallpapers: Jimmy and Belly Wallpaper!
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The Ones Who Blossomed In The County Championship 2010

2010-10-01T03:43:00.007+01:00

Highest Run Scorers

Mark Ramprakash (Surrey) - 1595 runs
Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) - 1509 runs
James Hildreth (Somerset) - 1440 runs
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) - 1397 runs
Michael Carberry (Hampshire) - 1385 runs

All the batsmen played 16 matches.
Ramprakash (aged 41) has been scoring loads of runs for years. Adam Lyth, nicknamed "Peanut" is a good future prospect. He celebrated his 23th birthday on 25th September and was the best young player this season. James Hildreth was described as "an extraordinary talent" by Justin Langer, who captained the Taunton side Hildreth played for. But his county career has been as disappointing as Luke Wright's International career. Till '04 (the last year of his age-group career), a lot was expected from him. He did show he is good by scoring 303* against Warwickshire but has been inconsistent. Carberry has played one Test for England and in case any batsman fails, he is the next in line. Tresco, is the best English batsman but retired in March '08 and before that, returned home from a few tours. He has been asked to play International cricket quite a few times but refused due to personal problems. Andrew Strauss called him up to play in the ICC World Twenty20 2009. He can't handle the travelling and though England would let him play for England only in England, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. To let Tresco play only in England, England would have to ask a batsman to play only during tours and it will be hard to settle the team in that case.

~Fire and Ashes by Geoffrey Boycott, Ray Illingworth, Michael Vaughn, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard

Highest Averages

James Hildreth (Somerset) - 65.45 (16 matches)
Mark Ramprakash (Surrey) - 61.34 (16 matches)
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) - 58.20 (16 matches)
Steven Davies (England Lions, Surrey) - 57.36 (14 matches)
Jonathan Trott (England, Warwickshire) - 57.05 (12 matches)

Most Wickets

Andre Adams (Nottinghamshire) - 68 (14 matches)
Gemaal Hussain (Gloucestershire) - 67 (15 matches)
Steven Finn (England, Middlesex) - 64 (13 matches)
James Harris (England Lions, Glamorgan) - 63 (14 matches)
Chris Woakes (England Lions, Warwickshire) - 58 (14 matches)

Charl Willoughby took as many wickets as Woakes but played 16 matches.

Best Averages

James Anderson (England, Lancashire) - 18.41 (10 matches)
Murali Kartik (Somerset) - 19.60 (11 matches)
Glen Chapple (Lancashire) - 19.75 (14 matches)
Corey Collymore (Sussex) - 19.87 (14 matches)
Chris Tremlett (Surrey) - 20.18 (12 matches)

None of these players played all the matches for their counties. Claude Hendersen has the best average (21.05) in the bowlers who have played all matches. Among the highest wicket takers, Chris Woakes has the best average.

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   Eoin Morgan Wallpaper!

Eoin Morgan Wallpaper!

2010-09-27T12:15:00.012+01:00

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Best Times For English Cricket?

2010-09-25T15:42:00.008+01:00

Since 1st July '09, England have only lost one series, to Australia in England (6-1). Apart from that all one-day, Tests and Twenty20 series have either been drawn or won by England. During this time, England also reached the semi-final of Champions Trophy and won their first ICC Tournament - World Twenty20 in the West Indies. England have encountered Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh and different teams in ICC Champions Trophy (Defeated Sri Lanka, South Africa, lost to New Zealand and Australia) and ICC World Twenty20. This summer has been amazing too. This season, England have played 29 matches and won a staggering 21 out of them and lost 7 games. England have never won so many matches in a season before. The only low was losing their first match to Bangladesh. England played 20 matches in the winter and won 12 of them, lost 6. This year, England have played 38 matches so far, winning 27 and losing 9 of them. In the last 10 years, the win/loss ratio hasn't been so good in any year.

Shah was the most impressive in the Champions Trophy and Swann and Morgan have made a lot of difference. Morgan has played a big role in some chases. England used to be crap at chasing, they are better but still win more when they defend. The bowlers are exciting. No England spinner has been as successful as Swann, now regarded as the best spinner in the world. And the fast bowlers have been doing their job very well. Hoggard, Harmison were dropped for Broad, Anderson in New Zealand. And I was very critical of playing Broad in Tests but he is good enough now. Harmison did come back, thanks to KP, but went out again. Sidebottom was great in Tests in '08 but he was dropped later. He has been the most successful in county but England have under used him and thus, he retired. What some people and ECB don't understand is that it's not necessary to play the same bowlers in all or even 2 formats. Wasn't right to bring Broad into Tests, Bresnan into Tests, Yardy in one-dayers. They realised that they need to drop Jimmy from Twenty20s, that was so right, just at the wrong time. Sidebottom and James Anderson are much better in Tests than the shorter formats. Andrew Flintoff played a big role in the start of this new era - in the Ashes '09 but he retired this month. Sidebottom retired too. The future of fast bowling is bright, with Steven Finn, Ajmal Shahzad, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Liam Plunkett, Chris Tremlett and Chris Woakes.

England vs Pakistan one-day series posts:

1st one-day: Pak's carelessness pays off as England defeat Pakistan in 1st ODI
2nd one-day: England triumph in tight clash
3rd one-day: Pakistan win thriller to come back in the series
4th one-day: Superb Bowling and Razzaq Routs England, Series Levelled
5th one-day: England Drubs Pakistan to Finish Summer On A High

Other recent posts (As on 25th Sep '10): Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires
Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar picked for Ashes

Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar picked for Ashes

2010-09-23T16:26:00.000+01:00

The squad for Ashes has just been announced. It is as follows:

Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott

I don't see why Davies should play unless Prior is injured. Prior has always done well with the bat and his keeping has improved incredibly. I guess they just never want him to feel that his place his secure. His place has always been threatened. Other keepers are good too but he was doing well in one-dayers. England change their keepers often in one-dayers and thus, the openers. Chris Tremlett's selection is a bit of a surprise since he played his last Test in Aug '07 and last one-day in June '08. I like his bowling. In fact, when Broad was brought into Tests, England could give him a chance. Now, Broad is good in Tests too but Tremlett could have also excelled with support. He has only played 3 Tests (all against India) and averages 29.69. Bressie has been picked too, ahead of Shahzad, the wicket-taker. I have been frustrated by his bowling in the one-day series and he is even worse in Tests. Seems like either the staff of ECB or Flower or Strauss are good friends of him. There was doubt over who would be picked as a 2nd spinner. Monty wasn't good in Ashes 2009 and Yardy is only successful in Twenty20s. The other options were James Tredwell and Adil Rashid. It's hard to decide between these 3 but I'd have gone with Rashid or Tredwell since Monty has already disappointed me. Signing off, jimmymycrushie.

England Drubs Pakistan to Finish Summer On A High

2010-09-22T23:58:00.005+01:00

England won the toss and choose to bat first. England lost a few wickets and Collingwood had to go off the field because he was having a migraine. He tried to stay, the physio was called twice but it was just unbearable. I was thinking that he should go. Was struggling to concentrate so it was hard to bat well anyway. Could return when he would feel better. He was batting with Belly and Morgan and Wright were yet to bat. The worst that could happen, is England losing a one-day. It wasn't worth risking his health. Looked all right when I saw him in the balcony shortly after he had gone off. Colly came back as soon as the wicket fell. Belly always plays classy shots and usually gives his wicket away after an impressive start. But he was a bit unlucky to be bowled like that. Morgan was amazing. Loved watching him bat, like his other 80s and centuries.

Pakistan's openers smashed England all around the park in the first 9 overs (except the 4th over by Anderson and 5th by Broad). The first wicket was the most important in the match, the turnaround. Broady took it and Collingwood took a stunning catch, showing us that no matter how old he is, he is still athletic. Collingwood was the world's best fielder but his fielding has dipped down in the past few months or so. All wickets are important but breakthroughs are important because the opposition needs partnerships. Pakistan got off to a flyer and if Akmal and Hafeez would continue to hit in the same fashion for a while, the stage would be set for Pakistan to win. Akmal and Hafeez were quite upset by each other. On one occasion, Hafeez (at the running end) wanted a run but Akmal (the striker) didn't, it wasn't a run, Hafeez was sent back and Akmal was furious. A ball before Hafeez got out (the first wicket), Akmal kept standing, Hafeez was the striker and wanted a run. It's harder for the batsman to make it so I reckon Akmal wasn't right there. When Hafeez got out, he stared at Akmal, as if saying "Wouldn't have happened if we had taken that run, you increased the pressure." We saw a few other confusions while running between the Pakistani players. The 9th wicket (Ajmal) was a run out by Moggy, who was ecstatic, ran onto the field and hugged Broad tightly. Seemed like they couldn't be separated. Lol. Wright played in place of Yardy, who is ill. I wanted Yardy to go out anyway. Wright did pretty well with the ball. No need to play 5 bowlers, Colly bowls too. Not to forget, Pakistan's bowling was magnificent again in the death.

Man Of The Match: Eoin Morgan

Man Of The Series: Andrew Strauss

Hard to chase under lights and England are better at defending anyway. Before Moggy came into the side, England used to try to preserve wickets and lose wickets as soon as they would try to accelerate and usually fall short of 10-20 runs. Old school cricket. But Morgan made a difference, won England games while chasing.

Delighted to see England win. Always great to finish season or tour with a win. Morgan, Broad and Swann were the stars of the match. England couldn't have done it without these. England-Pakistan matches in England are always exciting and this tour too gave us some thrilling clashes. England will have a boot camp before their first practice match against Western Australia on November 5. They will play 2 more practice matches - against South Australia and Australia A before the 1st Ashes Test on November 25. I don't mind this long break. I think it's good for the players. The summer was very long and the Ashes is very important. Hopefully, it will be exciting and they need to be in the best state of mind before it. After a long summer, they will look forward to spending some time with their family, which is good. This tour was tough, given the allegations and other off-field controversies.

Until next time, take care. Cheers!

Wallpapers: Jimmy and Belly Wallpaper!
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                          James Anderson Wallpaper

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Superb Bowling and Razzaq Routs England, Series Levelled

2010-09-21T13:00:00.009+01:00

England went with Ian Bell, fresh from winning the trophy for Warwickshire and Paul Collingwood, who didn't play in the 3rd ODI due to a virus. Playing these guys was the right thing to do, but not in place of Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara. Bopara hadn't been bad but England had to drop him to bring in the in-form Ian Bell but Wright shouldn't have been dropped. He should have played, instead of Yardy. Ajmal Shahzad should have replaced Bresnan. These changes can still be made, since an ODI is remaining in the series, the last of the summer. Or Fall I shall say.

Pakistan won the toss and choose to bat first. Jimmy Anderson started well but failed to pick up any wicket. Bresnan wasn't too bad either but he too, couldn't take a wicket. Anderson gave only 8 runs in his first 3 overs but was taken out of the attack by Strauss. But no for too long, as he replaced Bresnan. Broady, the wicket-taker provided the breakthrough. In his last 21 games he has taken at least a wicket in all matches except for the one against Scotland. Swann took a wicket in his first over - again! And got Yousuf in his 2nd over. Swann fetched 2 more wickets to put England in a good position. But I'm not sure Fawad Alam's wicket was good for which team. He made 29 from 52 deliveries. He just tries to take a single on each delivery. And man, how many times does he succeed at that? He always fails to accelerate. Failed in the 1st Twenty20 too. Cannot say the same about the 2nd Twenty20 because Pakistan didn't even last long enough to accelerate. Coming back to yesterday's game, till the 48th over, it looked like the target wouldn't be more than 235 but Pakistan, who scored only 13 runs in their first 3 overs of batting Powerplay, smashed Anderson and Bresnan for 42 runs in 2 overs! The figures of both the bowlers were not bad until their last over.

It seemed like England should win this one, after being 77/0 in 10 overs and 107/0 in 19 overs. But as soon as Davies got out (when England were 113), it started going downhill. Trott failed to score runs, even though he tried and made 4 from 16 balls. Strauss, the top scorer (68) went soon. Bell looked promising as he lasted for just about an hour, 41 balls. But he had to hit, the required rate and the pressure were increasing. Yardy and Bresnan, England's 'all-rounders' failed. And that put all the pressure on Morgan, as he too got out, trying to hit. Bresnan has usually done well with the bat but Yardy has failed with both the bat and the ball in one-dayers. Teams are not using the batting Powerplay well. Some, like Pakistan, just don't take it and hence it is forced on them, in the last 5 overs. England should have taken it when Belly and Moggy were batting. Ian Botham always talks about this but I disagreed with him on this in the 3rd ODI, you don't always need to take the Powerplay early. When the required run rate is low, as it was in the 3rd one-dayer, you don't need to take the Powerplay. Powerplays don't just let you score runs but may also take your wickets. The bowling was fab, 7 of the 10 batsmen were bowled. Ajmal, Gul, Akhtar were all amazing.

MOM: Abdul Razzaq

I don't know how much England will consider this series in choosing the team for the next one-day after this series, which will be played in Australia after the Ashes and the Twenty20s. If they consider this series, they may drop Collingwood, which they may do in the last one-day of the on-going series too. I don't think they should do this though. In this series, they may do it to bring Wright in. In the next one, they'll need to bring KP in. None of the current batsman is bad, but Trott is a bit slow and if anyone, then he shall be dropped.

Kevin Pietersen during the 4th one day at Lord's>>>

In a shocking press statement, Ryan Sidebottom has announced his retirement from International cricket. England have not picked him in Tests in the near past and I guess, that's what encouraged Sidebottom to retire.

England play Pakistan in the last match of the summer, on September 22 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton at 13:30 GMT. Until next time, take care. Cheers!

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                             Astonishment at its best, daring ECB drops Kevin Pietersen

Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires

Ban the guilty and get on with the game

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Everything Goes The Notts Way And Not So Surprisingly, Freddie Retires

2010-09-19T12:50:00.001+01:00

In terms of one-day cricket I probably haven't played better than that. I grew up watching Warwickshire. I was lucky enough growing up when they were winning a lot of trophies. I feel very lucky to captain Warwickshire, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time - especially to lead the side out at Lord's.

Ian Bell is overwhelmed at winning the Clydesdale Bank 40 title.

The end of the domestic English cricket season was exciting. Ian Bell, who was in the form of his life when he got injured, is showing that he is still in form. Captain Ian Bell lead the way as Warwickshire chased 200 with 6 balls remaining to win the Clydesdale Bank 40 title. It was a hell of a knock which encouraged ECB to bring Bell back to International cricket. I'm so glad this happened. The series will be more exciting now. Ian Bell is the best against Pakistan. Against Pakistan, he averages 66 in ODIs, 66.80 in Tests, a whooping 93.75 against Pakistan in Tests in England.

Nottinghamshire had to take six wickets if they would fail to reach 400 in a rain marred match against Lancashire. They were 390/9 but Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson ensured that they reach 400 and thus would have to take 3 wickets, which they did. Ryan Sidebottom and Andre Adams did the miraculous job of taking 3 wickets in 4.4 overs. Nottinghamshire's win was nothing less than a fairytale. Even on the last day, the start was delayed due to rain. Somerset's Trescothick is gutted at being 'trophyless' after being close to winning the trophy in all 3 formats.

Freddie Retires
Andrew Flintoff has bid adieu to all forms of cricket. The last time he played for England, was in the Ashes 2009. At that time, I didn't know we would never see Fred play. I was just thinking that England need him more in Tests than one-dayers and he is retiring from Tests. But I moved on, and so did the England team. England have got a good lot of fast bowlers and Freddie's batting had been declining anyway. But he was still the star, the hero. He gave us some memorable moments. He was exciting to watch, got the love and the attention. He starred in Ashes 2005 and Ashes 2009. England couldn't have done it without him. He didn't play in the only Test England lost in Ashes 2009. He was England's best bowler, unplayable at times. Stats won't tell you that. He performed when needed, when it mattered. His enthusiasm will be missed. A few months ago, I was thinking about whom he would replace in case he comes back for the one-day series against Pakistan. But during this series, I wasn't thinking about him. Last I heard, he was hoping to play Australian domestic cricket in January.

Pakistan win thriller to come back in the series

2010-09-18T16:03:00.007+01:00

The gap between the 2nd and 3rd one dayer was so long that it felt like I'm watching a whole new series. Half an hour before the toss, Collingwood went for a fitness test and after having a conversation with Strauss, Flower and the team's physio, decided not to play. He is said to be suffering from a virus. But England didn't have a batsman for back-up. England had Wright (batting all-rounder who has disappointed in Internationals), Ajmal Shahzad (young fast bowler), Ryan Sidebottom (Left arm swing bowler) so it was obvious to go for Wright. Even though England are playing at home, they announced the squad for the whole series. This doesn't give players the chance to make their way into the team. The possibilities are endless. Kieswetter, Prior, Cook, Bell, Malan, KP, Shah, other keepers could replace Collingwood. The line-up for the 3rd ODI only had 4 batsman (Strauss, Trott, Bopara), a batting all-rounder (Wright), 4 bowling all-rounders (Bresnan, Swann, Broad, Yardy), a pure bowler (Anderson) and a wicketkeeper batsman (Davies). England paid the price for not playing enough pure batsman. I reckon playing 5 pure batsman, a batting all-rounder and the bowlers can contribute to batting but their bowling should be considered more than their batting while picking them. It's good to have 2 or 3 bowlers who can contribute to batting in case you need 20-30 runs but you don't need all bowlers to be good with the bat. When wickets tumble, usually they all do. There are some all-rounders in cricket who take 1 wicket, score 20-30 runs and that is not good enough. Despite long batting, England failed to score 242. It was evident that England had gone with weak batting.

England don't need to play Yardy and Bresnan has never looked better than the ones sitting out. Yardy's bowling average in the series is 44.66 with an economy rate of 6.09. James Anderson has been superb in the series but he doesn't always take a wicket in his first spell and that's where Shahzad can be useful (he just needs to improve his catching, otherwise he fits the bill). Shahzad must replace Bresnan. Bresnan did pick 3 wickets but mostly luckily. The ball on which he bowled Kamran Akmal, was going down the leg side but just flicked the thigh pad and went to the stumps. I liked Atherton's remark when the ball went for four in Wright's first over,

Anderson couldn't get there. And if he couldn't, no one could.

England have got some brilliant fielders. Yardy must be the worst, followed by Swann I guess. Swann is good in the slips though. Umar Akmal kept the wickets as bro Kamran got injured. He did well I think. Afridi brought in the drama, by being run-out off his own bat. He was looking at Swann when Swann threw it and still he was just walking and as he was putting his bat down, the ball hit his bat and went on to hit the stumps. He was casual, he didn't even know England were gonna appeal. Lol.

Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul (thanks to his 6/42 in this match) are the leading wicket-takers of the series followed by Jimmy, Bressie and Broady. Jimmy has been amazing in all 3 matches and has the best economy rate (3.34) out of everyone who has bowled in this series. Shoaib Akhtar is the 2nd best in the economy rate (4.61). I must say he has surprised me by bowling beautifully. When I saw him in the squad at the start of the series, I thought Pakistan are clinging on to the past and Akhtar's career is over. He has been hit by controversies, drugs and bad fitness, or else he would have been far better.

Superb Deliveries Of The Day
Quite a few stupefying deliveries were bowled in this match. The first by Jimmy Anderson, to fetch the wicket of Mohammad Hafeez. Akhtar bowled an unplayable one to remove Trott. And Umar Gul produced some dumbfounding deliveries, notably the ones which sent the stumps flying out of the ground.

Hats off to Wright for trying so hard. Apart from his debut, ICC World Twenty20, this was his best batting display. He believed in Anderson, rightly so. You have to believe in tail-enders because it's really hard to score all the runs all by yourself. And even if you are a far better batsman, you can still get out. It's also important to believe in the tail-enders to improve their batting. I almost couldn't believe when Anderson was bowled, I thought the match would go closer than that. Jimmy needs to learn some leg-side shots. Straussy, Morgan and Wright were the only ones who got going.

England look to wrap up the series at Lord's, London on September 20 at 12:00 GMT. Watch out for it! Cheers!

England triumph in tight clash

2010-09-15T10:06:00.001+01:00

Pakistan won the toss and choose to bat first. Jimmy Anderson and Bresnan started the bowling. As Bresnan was leaking runs from one end, Anderson kept it tight. One way of taking a wicket is to create pressure from both ends so that the batsmen get frustrated and try to hit. The first 6 overs went like this - 6 runs - 4 runs - 9 runs - maiden - 12 runs - 2 runs. After this, Broady replaced Bressie. Jimmy Anderson gave only 18 runs in his 6 overs before he was taken out of the attack, impressive. But his fielding wasn't so impressive. England failed to break the opening partnership until Collingwood came to bowl and that must be a bad decision by the umpire. But that didn't stop Pakistan, they continued to flourish. Pakistan lost their 2nd wicket in the 26th over and 3rd wicket in the 39th over. Pakistan took the batting Powerplay at the end of over 44, just to tell England they are not afraid. They lost 2 wickets in the 45th over. Umar Akmal struck Broad for three boundaries in a row but Broad proved that he is not someone to target as he got Akmal on the very next ball, back of a length delivery, thin edge to Davies, just like the Yousuf dismissal. England and especially Broad conceded some runs but got the wickets as well. Broad finished with 4/81 in 10 overs, the most wickets but that's just too many runs. Jimmy (1/36 in 10 overs) had the best economy rate followed by Swann (1/43 in 10 overs). Bresnan (1/53 in 9 overs) and Yardy (0/43 in 6 overs) struggled. Wickets are so important and yet Strauss had only one slip till over 6 and no slips after that! Pakistan set up a very good target of 295 and I had my doubts over England winning this match unless Morgan or Collingwood get going.

But Strauss was the main man in this chase. Strauss and Trott shared a partnership of 146 runs. Trott was a bit slow as usual but that was needed. A big parnership makes it easier to chase big totals. Davies smashed a quick 26 in 21 balls. When Trott and Strauss were batting, it seemed like England would win it easily but England made it exciting by losing a 2 wickets. Colly and Moggie only scored about as many runs as they did in the 1st ODI. Bopara went for 16 off 13 on the 1st ball of the 49th over. At this stage, England needed 13 from 11 deliveries. The next ball was a wide and Bressie struck a boundary on the 3rd ball of the over. At the end of over 49, England needed 6 from 6 deliveries. And Umar Gul lost steam and bowled a wide after the 1st ball. Bresnan hit a 4 on the 2nd ball and this was enough, single on the next ball to finish it off. England must have enjoyed winning this one day much more than the Twenty20s and the 1st one day.

I don't regard Bresnan as anywhere close to being one of England's best bowlers. I know that he bowls better than I'm a fan of his bowling and not as good with the bat as much as I like his batting. Broad is better as a first change bowler but not when England play Bresnan. No idea why they play him. Why not give Shahzad/ Sidebottom/ Wright a chance? England were not good in the field except about the last 10 overs. I don't think I've seen them field so badly in the past few years.

The gap between 2nd One-day and the 3rd is too long. The 3rd One-day will be played on September 17 at the Oval at 12:00 GMT.

Sorry for posting late about this match. I've not been at peace in the past few days. One reason being waking up late. I like doing more serious work in the morn.

Pak's carelessness pays off as England defeat Pakistan in 1st ODI

2010-09-11T16:31:00.010+01:00

England vs Pakistan 1st ODI: 10 September
Although I enjoyed the Twenty20s, some people complained that they were both one-sided games. Well, how many of England's Twenty20 matches this year have not been one-sided? And are those people happy now that Pakistan, didn't still beat England but at least lost by only 24 runs? Well, at least I'm happy.

The match was reduced to 41 over per side due to rain. Pakistan batted first in both the Twenty20s, losing the toss in the 1st Twenty20 and winning the toss in the 2nd. This time they won the toss and decided to field first. They played far better than the Twenty20s but that wasn't enough. None of the England batsmen disappointed with the openers getting to a flying start. Steven Davies blossomed the most. Strauss smashed the ball all around the park (41, three 4s, two 6s). Trott played almost till the end and did a good job by scoring 69. Collingwood came out to bat in the 25th over and when he needed to press on, he did, struck a boundary and a six before getting out in the batting powerplay. Morgan hit 2 boundaries (13 off 11). Bopara was innovative and magnificent in his 35* off 27 hitting 3 sixes! Perfect finishing. England finished with 274/6 which was better than scoring 300 in 50 overs since this was a 41 over game. Pakistan were rather casual in the field, as usual. Their giraffe, Mohammad Irfan, 7'11" debuted in this match and had to dive to pick up balls while fielding in the out field. And later, he suffered from cramps and went out of the field after bowling 3 balls in his 6th over. This led to a funny moment as Afridi, who bowled the rest of the Irfan's over, came to bowl the last over the innings but the umpires denied him saying that his those 3 deliveries will be counted as an over. Lol.

Pakistan were not that bad with the bat. Kamran Akmal actually managed to score 53 runs and Pakistan lost their first wicket (Hafeez) at 62. Anderson and Bresnan failed to get an early breakthrough. Though there was a close lbw shout off Anderson's delivery, which the hawk-eye suggested as hitting the stumps. And yet, even if the review system was in use, it would have stayed with the umpire's decision since only half the ball was hitting the stumps. The spinners got the first 3 wickets. Bresnan gave away runs but fetched Alam's wicket. Nothing special in the delivery, Alam just failed to hit boundaries, as he did in the 1st Twenty20 too. Umar Akmal provided some entertainment and hope for the Pakistan fans (43 off 33) but the hopes faded as he tried a paddle-scoop but sent it straight to Davies' hands off Broad. Afridi tried not to lose his wicket, scoring 19 off 25 but he had to hit boundaries as the required rate was soaring high. He gave a catch to Swann in Anderson's over (38th over), the ball went high but not too far. Pakistan's new batsman, Asad Shafiq, playing his 2nd ODI, came out to bat at No.7. He provided last hopes of Pakistan winning as he struck Timothy Bresnan for 4 boundaries in a row! At this time I was thinking, I've always wanted Bresnan out of the team and this time he may actually make England pay for choosing him. But his show wasn't going to last any longer as Yardy bowled him in the next over. Smart. Umar Gul tried his best, hit a six but later hit it straight to Moggie, the birthday boy, now 24, on a slower ball bowled by Jimmy Anderson. I wonder if umpires will have to change their thinking for Mohammad Irfan regarding lbw, his pads were as tall as the stumps. Stevie D bagged the Man Of The Match award in his 2nd ODI. Good day for England.

The 2nd One Day is on September 12, Sunday at 09:15 GMT at Leeds. Come back here for the interesting bits of the 2nd ODI. Bye for now!

The worst Twenty20?

2010-09-09T11:25:00.001+01:00

Kevin Pietersen has opted to play for KwaZulu-Natal in October as the county season ends on September 18. Pietersen used to play for them before making his way into the Nottinghamshire team and later to the England team. He has expressed his desire to play as much cricket as possible before Ashes. And South Africa will provide the ideal preparation for it. But he won't be paid for it. Owais Shah, who was in form when he was dropped from the England side after last year's Champions Trophy, will play for Cape Cobras after being released by Middlesex.

Referring to my post, I'm with KP, are you?, I would like to say that even though most people don't agree with me, I stand by my opinions. Pietersen was not performing but I think that Twenty20 and one-day would have been ideal to bring him back to form. To those who think Pietersen did not deserve a place in the side, he couldn't have been worse than Bopara and before the 2nd Twenty20, I'd have said Kieswetter too. The Tests are a lot different, they really test you, put you under pressure. I understand that ECB dropped him to let him play county cricket for a while and also because England are beating Pakistan easily. None of Pakistan's Tests have been drawn in recent times, given their inexperienced batsman and inconsistency. Twenty20 and one-day does provide them a chance to finish the tour with satisfaction because it's easier to win in shorter formats.

England vs Pakistan 2nd Twenty20: 7 September
But that hasn't happened on this tour yet as Pakistan lost another Twenty20 without causing any trouble. From the first ball to the last, it never seemed like Pakistan has any chance of winning. They made one change to their side, bringing in Mohammad Hafeez in the place of Wahab Riaz. Bizarre. How many batsmen do they need for a 20 over game? Their opposition, England played 5 bowlers in both the matches and they played Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal along with Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Razzaq. The exciting thing in the match was Umar Akmal vs Graeme Swann. On the 4th ball of the 9th over, the first ball which Swann bowled to Akmal, he hit it for a six! In Swann's next over, (11th over) Hafeez faced the first ball, on the 2nd ball, Akmal again hit it for a six. But this wasn't going to last long as Swanny, the cunning witch, bowled him on the very next delivery. Dumbfounding. And this was it, Pakistan were left struggling at 44/5 and England never looked back. Pakistan were bowled out for 89. England bowlers shared the wickets with Sidebottom, Broad, Swann taking 2 wickets each, Bresnan 3 and Yardy being superb again conceding only 10 runs off his 4 overs.

I had criticised him in my last post but Kieswetter looked impressive but was ran out by Umar Akmal. I wouldn't give Akmal much credit, Kieswetter shouldn't have tried to take a sneaky single. There is not much to talk about England's batting. Collingwood didn't score much but still top scored with 21 and Morgan and Yardy finished it. David Lloyd has regarded this Twenty20 as the worst Twenty20 match he has ever seen. There wasn't much crowd but I think I have seen a worse Twenty20, England vs West Indies on England tour of West Indies last year. It seemed like England played only for formality. No fun.

Related posts: World Twenty20 Champions beat Pakistan effortlessly
I'm with KP, are you?
Astonishment at its best, daring ECB drops Kevin Pietersen

World Twenty20 Champions beat Pakistan effortlessly

2010-09-07T10:49:00.008+01:00

England vs Pakistan 1st Twenty 20: 5 September
Amid all the controversies, a week after a 4 Test series, England took the field against Pakistan, who were without Amir, Asif and Butt. It took me a while to start enjoying the game. Not because of the match fixing but only because I had got accustomed to watching them in whites. I started enjoying when Swann came to bowl, in the 7th over and the fun did not end there. Swann took 2 wickets in his first 2 overs. What Twenty20 brings is Collingwood and athletic fielding. Have always loved the way Colly captains the side. Uses the bowlers well and doesn't put much pressure on anyone. He is never tensed himself and inspires with his scintillating fielding. On the other hand, there were quite a few changes to the Pakistan side which played at Lord's. Shahzaib Hasan (the centurian against Somerset), Fawad Alam (scored 97 against Somerset on Thursday), Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul replaced Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Salman Butt, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif. Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan will join the team for ODIs. England went with their strategy of ICC World Twenty and dropped James Anderson. Broad is a fiery bowler in Twenty20 and ODIs so it was obvious to pick him. Swann has been very successful in all formats and looks promising. So it comes down to Jimmy, Shahzad, Sidebottom, Bresnan if Yardy plays as he did on Sunday, rightly so. Jimmy and Sidebottom are both swing bowlers but Jimmy goes for some runs. I remember Collingwood used to do an excellent job in using Jimmy. When Jimmy would go for some runs, he would take Jimmy out of the attack and bring him back when the pressure would be on the opposition in both Twenty20 and ODIs. Anderson is better than Bresnan but Bresnan isn't too bad in Twenty20 and One-day since he is economical. Shahzad, Anderson, Sidebottom, Broad, Swann are all wicket-takers so it helps to have Yardy and Bresnan along with them. I think England also consider Bresnan's batting but in Twenty20 bowlers can't do much with the bat. Even Afridi (No.6) couldn't do much as he went for 16* and Razzaq kept waiting. You don't need 10 batsman for 20 overs, hard to score when wickets fall anyway.

England won the match rather easily with Morgan top scoring with 38* and Yardy doing well with 35*. Davies batted brilliantly for his 33. The guy looks nice and calm and he is good behind the stumps too. Kieswetter shouldn't have been playing in International cricket now. He needs a break from the pressure of the Internationals and must go back to Somerset. Shoaib Akhtar bowled pretty well, didn't look fit though. He was tired after bowling 3 overs. Surprisingly, England dropped a few catches. They were good in stopping the boundaries but Bresnan and Wright dropped one catch each. Broad dropped a difficult chance off his own bowling so he cannot be blamed for that.

Match fixing
There has been too much talk on this issue. Former cricketers, cricketers who still play, everybody has been commenting on this issue. Media, bloggers and websites have been busy covering it. They got news. But I reckon there are better things to do. The fans should rather concentrate on cricket. The last thing I read was Vettori calling for a life ban. The last notable thing I read was Pakistan’s high commissioner in London Wajid Hasan saying that he sensed a conspiracy in ICC’s decision to suspend the players. He said the players had opted out of the rest of the tour and ECB chairman Giles Clarke was happy with it. He said that after ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and ICC president Sharad Pawar talked, they prepared a 5 page notice, handed it to the players and they were suspended. Now, we don't know what the truth is here but I did hear about the players opting out before hearing about the suspension. I don't like Sharad Pawar, don't know which fools wanted him as president. Remember, he is the one who was pushed off the stage by Ponting. I wonder if anyone involved with ECB or any former player can be pushed off the stage. Pawar got no respect.

Wouldn't be wrong if Pakistan is banned from cricket, their own players like Yaseer Hameed and Rashid Latif are speaking out against their team mates. Some suggesting that "they do it in every match". PCB are still trying to save the players though. Gross. I don't wish to talk about this issue anymore. I am, therefore, burying this topic.

Twitter Tirade
Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen and Dimitri Mascarenhas have both been fined by ECB and Hampshire respectively. I don't think there was a need to fine KP since he already apologised for it. Mascarenhas has also apologised now. Take a look at his tweet:

Chairman of selectors came to Liverpool and didn't even come and say hi.. what a p****.. Doesn't take much to say hello does it?

England vs Pakistan 2nd Twenty20: 7 September
Preview
Fielding has been a big difference between these two sides over the years. On Sunday, Pakistan's fielding was as usual, say, bad, that's the least I can say about it. England did a good job in ground fielding but were unlike themselves when the catches came. Kieswetter will play as the only ones who missed out on Sunday were fast bowlers Ajmal Shahzad and James Anderson. There is a long time for the next Twenty20 (after the Ashes) so Kieswetter will go and play for Somerset for a while anyway. Since they dropped KP and Ian Bell will play for Warwickshire before returning to International cricket, the only option in my view was to play Prior as a batsman, wouldn't have been a bad idea. Pakistan's batsmen could not score enough runs even though they only lost 4 wickets so Afridi and Razzaq must move up the order.

England take on Pakistan at 17:00 GMT tonight. Cheers!

I'm with KP, are you?

2010-09-04T10:31:00.000+01:00

ECB didn't needed to drop Kevin Pietersen. He knew he wasn't performing and he was trying. If they wanted him to get some time in the middle, he could play for Surrey while England would play Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan and return to the team for the ODIs but even that wasn't needed in my view. After all, he is Kevin Pietersen, the guy who reached 1000 one-day runs in just 21 matches, holding the world record with Viv Richards. He is 2nd in the list of batsmen scoring most runs in first 25 Tests, only behind Don Bradman. He was among the heroes of Ashes 2005. But dropping him would still work. ECB is preparing him for the Ashes. Somehow, they thought dropping Cook will not work but dropping KP would bring out the best in him. They wanted Cook to prosper and come back to form while playing for England and KP to score some runs in county cricket before the Ashes. KP has been treated differently also because he had feuds with Hampshire and Surrey signed him on a loan after taking permission from Hampshire. He needs a permanent county. If everything goes well for him this season, Surrey will probably sign him for a few years. And if he wouldn't be dropped, Surrey's money would go waste. ECB have been criticised for the tight England schedule, which doesn't let England players to play for their county teams.

The way people have reacted to Pietersen's twitter goof up is disheartening. It was just one tweet about him being dropped and being signed by Surrey. He didn't tweet against any player/coach or ECB. He just got angry at being dropped. Is that something a player cannot say? When Jimmy was dropped earlier this year, he didn't tweet about it but commented in the media that "first he was rested, then dropped. Hats off to the selectors." The only blunder here was that he tweeted before ECB announced the squad officially. But he deleted the tweet and later apologised for it.

In the first 3 days of the 4th Test, I was thinking about what I'll post after the series, stats, pictures, the ones who blossomed and the failures and perhaps even a video compilation. But posting these after the series would mean nothing since people were left talking about how match fixing has affected cricket over the years, how it should be stopped and later about KP being dropped. Some sent him tweets saying that ECB have done the right thing since he was not performing, others abused ECB and told KP, they are with him.

Astonishment at its best, daring ECB drops Kevin Pietersen

2010-09-01T10:29:00.005+01:00

Yep..Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too..Its a f**k up!! Surrey have signed me for 1 ..

Kevin Pietersen shows his frustration at being dropped via Twitter, a while before the squad was officially announced

Pakistan may amaze us by banning their players, doing drugs, indulging in match/spot fixing and more but ECB and English cricketers are not too far behind. The big difference is that the jolts given by ECB and English cricketers are not disgraceful or unethical. Regarded as one of the best batsman by many, Kevin Peter Pietersen has been dropped. Yes, dropped. And the ECB did not even play safe by using the word 'rested' here. While cricket fans were still absorbing the spot-fixing scandal, ECB took a bold decision. England cricket fans can now take their minds off the spot-fixing. ECB has hit KP's ego, similar to what South Africa did, when they overlooked him and preferred Graeme Smith because of the racial quota system. KP will probably hit a few centuries and point the bat to Geoff Miller if he comes to watch KP play for Surrey.

Though I find his Twitter revelation very funny. Since when do cricketers need social networking/micro-blogging websites to take on selectors? He deleted the tweet in a few minutes but that doesn't change anything. There is a need to put some hold on this. Let me remind you that it's been 10 days since England cricketers were banned from using twitter and facebook while on England duty. The coaches, the selectors and Andrew Strauss do not support using twitter but the cricketers just don't learn. Andrew Strauss' captaincy has not impressed me much but he is a good one, for he dislikes twitter and Twenty20 and yet called Marcus Trescothick to ask him to play for England in the ICC World Twenty20 even though Strauss wasn't playing himself!

Another bit of bewilderment was provided by not calling Matt Prior back to the one-day side. Craig Kieswetter has been dropped from the one-day side but not the Twenty20 side. Steven Davies has been picked for both of the formats and will keep the wickets in both. Matt Prior, 28 year old, has been in great form and averages 42.13 in Tests and 25.38 in ODIs. Steven Davies is 24 and has only played an ODI (Oct '09) and a Twenty20 International (Mar '09) for England. Prior has more potential and I expect him to prosper in one day cricket as well.

Ian Bell, recovering from a foot injury, will play for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire on Saturday, September 4. I missed Bell in the Test series and will miss him in the Twenty20s and ODIs too. He smacked Pakistan's bowlers all over the ground when Pakistan last toured England in 2006. Belly loves to play against Pakistan and would have made the series more interesting.

Middlesex provided the last bit of shock by releasing star batsman Owais Shah. Shah was in form, scoring more than any England player when he was dropped from the England side and now he has been ditched by Middlesex and in search of a county team. Absurdly, Eoin Morgan, who now plays in all formats for England, has been retained by Middlesex. Don't know their criteria of contracting a player but it's very different from mine.

One of the best England bowlers, Ryan Sidebottom is all set to leave Nottinghamshire. Sidebottom had commented a while ago that he wanted to end his career with Nottinghamshire but Notts have a policy of not offering more than a 2 year contract for a 32 year old player. But they have offered Sidebottom a performance based 3 year contract in addition to an unconditional two years but Sidebottom stated that this is the last contract he will sign so he wants a longer contract for the best interest of his family. Sidey does not expect England to renew his central contract since they rarely pick him for Tests. He will be welcomed by fans and counties with open arms since he is the most performing bowler in the county circuit. He is likely to join Lancashire, Hampshire, Somerset or Surrey. He will join the England team for the Twenty20 and ODI series against Pakistan.

Twenty20 squad Paul Collingwood (capt), James Anderson,Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Steven Davies, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

One-day squad Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Eoin Morgan, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

I'll try to absorb all the shocks till Sunday (spot fixing, KP dropped, Prior still not picked, Shah released). I was not a serious cricket fan until Feb 2006 so I read about all the match fixing which has taken place over the years on Sunday and Monday. Earlier, I had just heard about Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (not sure about Jadeja) being banned, Shane Warne indulging in match fixing, Hansie Cronje being questioned in India, Pakistan fixing the 1999 World Cup final. But obviously, it did not affect me at that time and I didn't know that it had been going on such a large scale. I had not expected cricketers to be so unethical. No idea what people are going to do with so much money and why some cricketers don't care about their team or country pride. Signing off, jimmymycrushie.

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