Cricket

[DownSouth]

It's been reported today that the young Indian U23 rising star Ankit Keshri, has died in hospital three days after colliding with a teammate in the field and taking a hit to the head. Source.

RIP young fella, hope your opening partnership with Hughesy goes well.


Our thoughts must also go to his teammate who would be absolutely stricken, I imagine there's only one other cricketer in the entire world who would know what he is going through right now.

Not many continuing newspaper headlines for the recall of Pietersen today, after his magnificent innings against a team of amateur university players he fails in his first 2nd division innings against the mighty Glamorgan

More effort and results required I believe

Ah, so it would appear Steve Waugh was trying the old reverse psychology move when he said today that England should stay away from picking Kevin 'FIGJAM' Pietersen for the Ashes.

County players to watch for this year in the Championship imo:

opening batsmen - Hales ...

I agree that it will be interesting to see if he can follow David Warner in converting from a T20 slogger into a genuinely viable opening batsman for all three forms of the game.

 

[Whistler40145]

Hopefully young Liam Livingstone will have done enough to at least get into Lancashire's OD squad?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Another matter of note this weekend was that 23 year old Kate Cross, a seam bowler of the England Women's test match squad became the first female player to play in the Central Lancashire League, where she played for Heywood against Clifton.

She returned figures of 3-18 and also had a catch dropped off her bowling...by her own brother, who also plays for Heywood.
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In the County Championship match at Derby, Lancashire in their second innings had built up a lead of 269 when the ninth wicket fell, but then Alex Davies and Kyle Jarvis added another 100 runs for the tenth wicket which is a record stand for the 10th wicket in Lancashire matches against Derbyshire.

 

[Whistler40145]

Great win by Lancashire, let's hope it continues throughout the season. Kyle Jarvis's bowling in the 2nd Innings was excellent.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

England 373-6 (124 overs)

Cook out for 76
Trott out for 59
Perhaps lessons have been learned by these two opening batsmen from their dismal performances in the first Test Match.

Good batting then followed from Ballance (out for 74 with 1 x 6 / 8 x 4) as first wicket down, than a solid innings by Root of 118 not out (2 x 6 / 13 x 4) built up the momentum.

Day three ended with England leading by 74 runs, with two full days left to play.
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Great win by Lancashire, let's hope it continues throughout the season. Kyle Jarvis's bowling in the 2nd Innings was excellent.

Considering that last season in the top division, he only played two County Championship matches for Lancashire in which he took just two wickets at a total cost of 201 runs, his second innings bowling performance was indeed one to note, bowling nine overs in which he took five wickets for only 13 runs.

 

[Busaholic]

Two statistics from the England innings, one good, one not so. Cook has now gone 34 innings as an opener without scoring a century, which puts him second only to Mike Brearley with 41, without ever scoring one in his case. Now if only Cook could captain like Brearley! Root has equalled the England record for most consecutive half centuries, held jointly with Cook and a handful of others.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Braithwaite certainly chose a good time in the West Indies second innings to post an unbeaten century in his position of opening batsmen but early today, he was dismissed by Anderson

For those who have in the past have decried the Test Match bowling returns of Anderson, he has not proved expensive and his bowling returns so far in this Test Match are:-

1st innings.....24-10-47-2

2nd innings.....17-5-30-2

 

[ExRes]

For those who have in the past have decried the Test Match bowling returns of Anderson, he has not proved expensive and his bowling returns so far in this Test Match are:-

1st innings.....24-10-47-2

2nd innings.....17-5-30-2

And now 19-7-30-4, not bad for a Lancashire bowler I suppose ......

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

And now 19-7-30-4, not bad for a Lancashire bowler I suppose ......

Now four wickets, two catches and a run out in this second innings to his name

 

[DownSouth]

It still looks as if all three results (and the draw) are still real options for this Test.

If the Windies can survive the first few overs after lunch (England still seem to be unable to run out a full session when they aren't getting regular wickets) and then go on to add another 40 or so runs, they'll set England a target of about 160 from about 50 overs. That's the sort of fourth innings target where they could benefit from confusion and indecision as the English batsmen would be caught in two minds as to whether they bat for the win or block for the draw.

 

[gswindale]

So, a first away win since Dec 2012.

Hopefully a confidence booster; but still some selection issues.

Trott is not an opener - but should he be in the team at all? If so, who should make way?

 

[Whistler40145]

Hmm that's a tricky one, could Joe Root or Ian Bell open with Jonathan Trott moving to his normal position?

 

[Phirstman]

Hmm that's a tricky one, could Joe Root or Ian Bell open with Jonathan Trott moving to his normal position?

Nope. Leave them where they are. If Trott is struggling then Lyth or Robson should be blooded/reblooded this summer in the #2 slot.

Ballance, Bell and Root have done well at #3, #4 and #5 and shouldn't be changed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It still looks as if all three results (and the draw) are still real options for this Test.

If the Windies can survive the first few overs after lunch (England still seem to be unable to run out a full session when they aren't getting regular wickets) and then go on to add another 40 or so runs, they'll set England a target of about 160 from about 50 overs. That's the sort of fourth innings target where they could benefit from confusion and indecision as the English batsmen would be caught in two minds as to whether they bat for the win or block for the draw.

Now that the result is known, how do you view the batting application, especially from Ballance, in the England second innings...144-1 in 41.1 overs.

The West Indies must despair at losing their remaining 8 wickets, when they did on the final day, which allowed matters then to proceed as it did.

 

[DownSouth]

Now that the result is known, how do you view the batting application, especially from Ballance, in the England second innings...144-1 in 41.1 overs.

The West Indies must despair at losing their remaining 8 wickets, when they did on the final day, which allowed matters then to proceed as it did.

They knocked off what turned out to be a really easy chase without a problem, certainly nothing to write home about.

The hope that it might be a viable target to defend really needed the Windies drawing it out for another 20-30 runs and ten overs.

I agree with the posts saying that Trott has not justified his position.

I would also like to suggest that Stokes has not justified his position as an all-rounder either - his batting average is below 30 and his bowling average above 30 (the wrong way around), he has never scored more than he's conceded in a Test, and he doesn't take enough wickets to justify his place on the basis of his bowling. He probably needs a couple of years back at domestic level to hone his technique before he's viable as a long-term player (a bit like Phil Hughes was doing with a view to returning for Australia at the World Cup before going on to the Frank Worrell Trophy and the defence of The Ashes) otherwise he'll turn out to be just another flash in the pan who never reached his potential.

The West Indies must despair at losing their remaining 8 wickets, when they did on the final day, which allowed matters then to proceed as it did.

The worst thing for England will be if they take too much confidence from that. None of Anderson's day five wickets were miracle balls, it was all about the opposition cracking under pressure.

NZ and Australia won't crumble so easily.

 

[Busaholic]

The worst thing for England will be if they take too much confidence from that. None of Anderson's day five wickets were miracle balls, it was all about the opposition cracking under pressure.

NZ and Australia won't crumble so easily.

From what I've read, he certainly managed to get life from a lifeless wicket. Broad apparently put the extra effort in too, but to no avail. The rest of the fast(ish) bowling remains a problem. Stokes is no Flintoff with the ball, and probably never will be: Jordan leaks runs and only looks the part occasionally. You could say the same about the injured Woakes, but he does seem to have a magic touch occasionally, especially in one day cricket and he can bat, which is more than Broad is able or willing to do now - the first Test centurion to become a permanent no. 11? Finn must be rehabilitated, and fast, or another bowler sought. Surely Plunkett is not the best we can come up with?

Lyth should be given a chance to open in the next test, then against NZ. Can't see Robson getting another crack against the Aussies: Chris Rogers will have batted with him enough times at Middlesex to pass on his weaknesses to team members. Perhaps Robson should reconsider his allegiance and seek to replace Rogers in the Aus team?!

 

[DownSouth]

Perhaps Robson should reconsider his allegiance and seek to replace Rogers in the Aus team?!

No thanks, we have standards here.

In any case, the last time we saw him it looked like he'd be hard pressed to get a game for the NSW seconds, let alone for NSW which could probably beat all but the top four Test teams if they had all their top players recalled from national duty.

From what I've read, he certainly managed to get life from a lifeless wicket. Broad apparently put the extra effort in too, but to no avail.

Anderson did do all his damage with the second new ball, so you should hope he was able to get a bit of movement given that the West Indies is the only international board other than the ECB to select the Duke ball for home Tests. The Duke ball swings a lot for the first 7-8 overs when it's brand new but never goes reverse, which is contrast to the Kookaburra which swings less but for about 5-6 overs longer and then goes reverse from about 65 overs onwards.

... and he can bat, which is more than Broad is able or willing to do now - the first Test centurion to become a permanent no. 11?

Jason Gillespie suffered a fate worse than that - he scored an unbeaten double century and never played for Australia again!

Interestingly, he's just signed a two year deal to return to Adelaide Oval as the head coach of the Adelaide Strikers team in the Big Bash League. That means you can put to bed any thoughts of him being the next one to take the poisoned chalice when Peter Moores departs after 2015 sees him adding two consecutive home Test series losses to the World Cup first round exit.

Finn must be rehabilitated, and fast, or another bowler sought.

Not if it's the ECB's High Performance nerds with their laptops who have been attempting to rehabilitate him.

You know who he needs to work with? Shaun Tait. If there's another fast bowler who has a better knowledge of what it's like to work his way back from being physically and mentally ruined I would love to know who it is.

England desperately need at least one bowler with real pace, even if the laptop geeks flap their arms and squawk whenever they see an Eagle Eye analysis without a huge cluster on the traditional fourth stump line. Pace causes indecision and forces wickets.

 

[ExRes]

So I think Collingwood has made the case for his recall to the England side. Five wickets and then a century? Who needs youth when the old guys are doing things like this

Seems the Collingwood magic has temporarily lost its shine, Sussex have recovered from 171-9 to a current 335-9 at tea thanks to youth, Ollie Robinson 110* on his debut in an unbroken stand of 164 with Matt Hobden in his 11th match

 

[Busaholic]

Jason Gillespie suffered a fate worse than that - he scored an unbeaten double century and never played for Australia again!

Against Bangladesh on a wicket in the Northern Districts prepared for a timeless test, I seem to remember.
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No thanks, we have standards here.

In any case, the last time we saw him it looked like he'd be hard pressed to get a game for the NSW seconds, let alone for NSW which could probably beat all but the top four Test teams if they had all their top players recalled from national duty.

.

I'd like to see a game between a full-strength NSW and a similar Yorkshire side, maybe without the injured Aaron Fitch. For fairness, one innings per side should be played at Headingley and one at Sydney.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

I'd like to see a game between a full-strength NSW and a similar Yorkshire side, maybe without the injured Aaron Fitch. For fairness, one innings per side should be played at Headingley and one at Sydney.

Oddly enough, I was thinking of something similar the other day whilst watching the test, there was an era when the great Yorkshire side could have successfully competed against the cricketing nations as could New South Wales at one time, but surely the Barbados team of, I think, the late seventies/early eighties was the best...(and, for this purpose, in case anyone points it out, I'm thinking of Barbados as a constituent country in the WI...not as a nation itself). If I have the time and inclination I'll check it out...but I'm sure Down South will be able to name the great NSW side!

 

[Busaholic]

Oddly enough, I was thinking of something similar the other day whilst watching the test, there was an era when the great Yorkshire side could have successfully competed against the cricketing nations as could New South Wales at one time, but surely the Barbados team of, I think, the late seventies/early eighties was the best...(and, for this purpose, in case anyone points it out, I'm thinking of Barbados as a constituent country in the WI...not as a nation itself). If I have the time and inclination I'll check it out...but I'm sure Down South will be able to name the great NSW side!

I'm not looking any of this up, as my brain needs the stimulation at my age, so a couple of the names may be wrong and I'm probably leaving out a crucial player, but the players I recollect from Barbados from the fifties and sixties were the 3 Ws (Weekes, Walcott and Worrell), the fast bowlers Hall and Griffith, the stonewall opener Conrad Hunte and the incomparable G.S. Sobers. In the 70s and 80s add Greenidge, Haynes, Garner and Malcolm Marshall, plus the great county stalwarts Keith Boyce, John Shepherd (my joint-favourite player ever), Wayne Daniel and the fearsomely dangerous Sylvester Clarke.

 

[DownSouth]

Against Bangladesh on a wicket in the Northern Districts prepared for a timeless test, I seem to remember.

For a player with such an awful batting technique to watch, anything was a win

He also had two other Test fifties and a bunch of scores over 40, the most memorable being the 54* he scored against New Zealand while Glenn McGrath scored 61 at the other end in a partnership worth 38 runs more than the entire NZ second innings.

Ten years on, it's probably fair to look back and say that he actually turned out to be one of the leaders in advancing the quality of lower-order batting in the Australian team to the point we're at these days where it's normal for at least 100 runs to come for the last four wickets of a Test innings.

I'd like to see a game between a full-strength NSW and a similar Yorkshire side, maybe without the injured Aaron Fitch. For fairness, one innings per side should be played at Headingley and one at Sydney.

Not fair to include Finch, he's a guest player whose true allegiance is to Victoria.

The ideal NSW First XI would currently be along the lines of...
David Warner
Nic Maddinson (thought to be one of those in line for Rogers' spot)
Steve Smith (C)
Michael Clarke
Moises Henriques
Shane Watson
Brad Haddin (W)
Nathan Lyon
Three of Pat Cummins, Sean Abbott, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc (tough choice)

It wouldn't be a good enough team to send to England or India for an away Test series without Mitchell Johnson (WA), Mitchell Marsh (WA), Ryan Harris (Queensland) and Chris Rogers (Victoria) but that's still a pretty good international-quality team in my book. Six of that group were in the XI that played all five Tests against England to take back the Ashes last summer, eight of them were part of the squad which took back the World Cup a month ago and only Nic Maddinson has not played for Australia at full international level.

Who would be in Yorkshire's current best XI?

Oddly enough, I was thinking of something similar the other day whilst watching the test, there was an era when the great Yorkshire side could have successfully competed against the cricketing nations as could New South Wales at one time, but surely the Barbados team of, I think, the late seventies/early eighties was the best...(and, for this purpose, in case anyone points it out, I'm thinking of Barbados as a constituent country in the WI...not as a nation itself). If I have the time and inclination I'll check it out...but I'm sure Down South will be able to name the great NSW side!

NSW were pretty good in the late 1990s (Taylor, Slater, Waugh x2, Bevan, Lee x2, Miller, MacGill, McGrath) but it was only around the mid 90's that I started following domestic cricket so I wouldn't know if their greatest team was earlier than that.

Certainly back in the 90's it was not the done thing in Australia to shift between different states, where these days players shift around like footballers and the state associations are not above a little bit of poaching. This has caused NSW to struggle with converting their large talent base into domestic cricket success - because a full-time spot playing for a team such as Tasmania is quite attractive to a NSW player who has just had a season of getting demoted to grade cricket whenever the internationals are available.

Over the long term as opposed to looking at a single season, my guess is that NSW would probably be the world's best domestic side. This is simply because the Australian domestic structure is set up for depth instead of breadth, and of the six Australian state teams they have an overwhelming advantage thanks to a state population much larger than the whole of New Zealand.

 

[ainsworth74]

Seems the Collingwood magic has temporarily lost its shine, Sussex have recovered from 171-9 to a current 335-9 at tea thanks to youth, Ollie Robinson 110* on his debut in an unbroken stand of 164 with Matt Hobden in his 11th match

Quality wins out in the end though as Durham record a six wicket victory of Sussex after a very entertaining game. Plenty of runs, plenty of wickets, tail end heroics and the right result in the end )). What's not to like?

 

[ExRes]

Quality wins out in the end though as Durham record a six wicket victory of Sussex after a very entertaining game. Plenty of runs, plenty of wickets, tail end heroics and the right result in the end )). What's not to like?

Scott Borthwick was definitely offside in the second innings, Sussex should be given the points I reckon

 

[Johnuk123]

Trott out for a duck, how unusual.

 

[Busaholic]

Trott out for a duck, how unusual.

But Cook a century, also unusual these days, but to be fair his 26th at test level so well done him. If Windies batting wasn't so weak, they might even be expected to beat England.

 

[Phirstman]

Massive for Cook heading into the summer to get the century tag off his back. He's looked in good order in this series to be fair to him.

240-7 may not be as bad as it seems on this pitch - shame we don't have a front line spinner in though.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Massive for Cook heading into the summer to get the century tag off his back. He's looked in good order in this series to be fair to him.

240-7 may not be as bad as it seems on this pitch - shame we don't have a front line spinner in though.

Do we have a better spinner than Moeen Ali? I think that he has considerably exceeded expectations since his debut. Certainly has the knack of picking up wickets! (26 at an average of 27) Swann could not be replaced instantly, look how many spinners Australia tried after Warne's retiremnet before they settled with Lyon...and, let's face it, he is no Warne (and why should he be?)

 

[Busaholic]

If Trott can't open, there is really no place in the side for him. Fitting Hales in could be problematic if England don't want to 'risk' him opening. Looks like Lyth and Cook for the tests against NZ at least. How accommodating of us to be playing Voges into form too, as well as confirming Guptill's World Cup double century wasn't just a one-off.

 

[DownSouth]

England's position as the third-ranking Test team in the world is safe for now, thanks to Pakistan drawing their one-off Test against Bangladesh.

If Trott can't open, there is really no place in the side for him. Fitting Hales in could be problematic if England don't want to 'risk' him opening. Looks like Lyth and Cook for the tests against NZ at least. How accommodating of us to be playing Voges into form too, as well as confirming Guptill's World Cup double century wasn't just a one-off.

Voges isn't being played into form, he is already in great form as he is coming off a great season as the top run scorer in the world's best domestic cricket competition, while the local players are coming off six months on the couch eating Christmas pudding and watching Downton Abbey.

Food for thought - only one of the top five County scorers so far did not spend time in the English winter playing in either the BBL or the World Cup. Just goes to show that you can't keep up match awareness in the indoor nets.