Set up for Vaughan

The suggestion seems to be that Yorkshire can't win this, so it would be a nice game for Vaughan to score a hundred and win the game! Remember, he starts on 24 not out in his quest for an England place after a wrong decision in the 1st innings! And the state of the Warwickshire game means that Bell is unlikely to get another innings prior to the England squad announcement.

Incidentally, it doesn't sound great for Adil Rashid when the match report says "The legspinner, like most of the Yorkshire bowlers, was inaccurate at the start of his spell, and Andrew Gale at short leg must have felt in danger as one long hop followed another and he did receive one powerful hit on the body, but bravely picked himself up and carried on."

Fingers crossed for the weather tomorrow, both in Durham for the Yorkshire game, and in Steyning for my game!

Cricket net etiquette

Indoor cricket nets are over for another year, for most teams atleast. Discussing nets etiquette with fellow Cricket Burbler Dave McCabe, I decided that there are certain things that a man needs to do to get noticed in competitive nets. By competitive I mean nets where one or two people are observing and your chances of selection rest on how you perform in those nets.

When Dave and I attended Cricketer Cup nets - you remember, the competition in which I went for 44 off 2 overs last year! - we were both keen for the captain and other selectors to see our skills so that we'd be selected. I did my bit by getting out to the part-time bowling of the skipper a few times, thus no doubt putting my selection in even greater doubt.

Dave on the other hand played well, in particular enducing an edge from one of the new potential star players who have joined the squad this year. But the problem with nets is that an edge or enducing an uppish shot off a slower ball gain no credit. Even an LBW rarely gains any creidt. No, in nets, the key to success as a bowler is to bowl people. Only that noise of the stumps falling over attracts any attention ensuring that the coach and manager register your success.

I've never really desired selection enough, but if my life depended on it any LBW shout in the nets would be shouted just as if I were outdoors. And any uppish shot would require a loud "ooh, catch"....and of course, an edge would be followed by me running down the wicket screaming "got him"!

Only by acting like an idiot do bowlers get any credit for their non-bowled dismissals during nets. I wonder if the skipper or manager noticed that Dave had the new opener caught behind?

Vaughan v Bell - the update

Vaughan wasn't even out!!! You know how I feel about the role of luck....he could have been in line for a hundred or more and that poor umpiring could cost him years of playing for England. Interesting that the headline on the big screen at Victoria as I waited for my train said "Vaughan struggles for Yorkshire". In fact his 24 included 5 fours so I don't think he exactly stuggled and the report of his innings suggests he was fluent, plus the fact he wasn't actually out. Small details!

I have to say, I would personally consider Samit Patel for the number 3 Test birth. I'd pick Vaughan every time, but Patel has the advantage that he seems to bowl well in tandem with Swann and if we pick him we can have 4 seamers and two spinners or even play 7 batsmen (including Prior) and 3 seamers.

Bell v Vaughan

Bell 29.

Vaughan 24.

Inevitable heatwave

No-one likes as smart alec but sitting here with the sun streaming in I can't help but remember what I said on 25 March ! Hope it lasts until our first match on Sunday.

Who is fake IPL player?

Hadn't heard about this until I read this article about "Fake IPL player".

Take a look at the Fake IPL player blog.

Nottinghamshire batting order

Interesting that Nottinghamshire bat Swann (County average of 26) ahead of Broad (Test average 29), and Ealham (County average of 31) behind both of them. I would suggest that Swann is the weakest batsman of the three?

It doesn't seem to matter much as they racked up over 500, with Chris Read who seems too weak a batsman to bat at 7 for England, scoring 125 from number 6, higher than all 3 of those mentioned above.

The recurring issues of WAGs

There's never a right answer to how to deal with wives and girlfriends when so much of an international (or even domestic) cricketer's life is spent away from home. But it's interesting to see that the Aussies are taking the issue seriously.

I realise that there are those that suggest that "back in the old days" this wasn't an issue, but that was back in the days when excellence in sport wasn't approached so scientifically. These days, anything that could give even 0.01% greater chance of winning needs to be investigated and optimised.

My particular view on this is that the old "no WAGs" on tour rule is rediculous - there can be no other career other than team sport where employees are owned 24 hours a day to such an extent that they can be denied the right to see their loved ones out of work hours. So the more flexible they can make things to ensure each player is at his best, the better.

This comes just days after Matthew Hoggard admitted that relationship issues were partly to blame for his (relatively) poor performance in the first Test in New Zealand before he was dropped. With his wife suffering from depression and post-natal depression, and a small son at home, Hoggard told Vaughan during that Test "Vaughany, I think I'm going cuckoo, I'm doing a Tres". Given the background it's not surprising that Hoggard struggled in that match, but it's perhaps even more surprising that the England selectors cast him adrift so mercilessly. Not only a case of poor selection, but poor empathy for a man who deserved far more from his employers.

Incidentally, don't we still have a requirement for a quality swing bowler this summer as 4th seamer alongside Flintoff, Anderson and Broad? We know the Aussies can't play swing bowling. If Sidebottom isn't fit or bowling well, I know who I'd pick....and even if he is, Hoggard should still be well in contention - why he was discarded altogether is almost impossible to fathom.

Hunger strike in "no IPL" Indian jail

It seems that those in Indian jails expect to be able to watch their national sport on TV, even when in jail! I tend to sympathise with them, as this article seems to suggest that the strikers haven't even been found guilty yet!

Imran Khan - the best captain ever?

I've no reason to doubt that Imran Khan was the best captain ever, given that he managed to coordinate a notoriously all over the place but talented team into winning the World Cup. And that is the finding of this attempt to look at the measurable aspects of captaincy.

According to this the best England captains are Ray Illingworth, Michael Vaughan and Mike Brearley, in that order. Any thoughts?

WG's bat up for auction

If you have a spare £30k then you could get your hands on WG Grace's bat with which he scored his 1,000th run in Test cricket in 1896. Apparently, early in the innings in question - where he scored 60 - a ball from fast bowler Ernest Jones went through Grace's beard and unsighted the keeper, resulting in 4 byes (according to The Times yesterday).

The case against Ian Bell

Once again, we're back debating Ian Bell's spot in the England team. And that sums up one of my (and many others') enormous frustrations - he can never quite cement his place in the side, despite the fact that his batting can ooze class. His 199 last summer against South Africa was hailed as a break through for him, after so many other false dawns, but he went on to score 133 runs in his other six innings in that series.

I've tried desperately not to blame Bell for the fact that he was picked ahead of Graham Thorpe for the 2005 Ashes - I watched him score his 70 on debut against the West Indies and, quality innings though it was, there was the definite whiff of easy runs to be had. He then went on to score a huge amount of runs in two Tests against Bangladesh and on that basis was selected for The Ashes ahead of Thorpe, seemingly on the basis that he was young and could hit second rate bowling about a bit. Warne in particular soon showed that it was too early for him, leaving him with an average of 17. You can see Bell's series averages here.

England's management have a problem with number 3 and it would seem like Bell should be the answer. That is, until you look at his results there. He averages 31 in the critical number 3 position and that means, for me, that he shouldn't be considered there again for the forseeable future. It's not like he's been bereft of chances - England need to consider him as a number 5 and select him if he is good enough to see off the others competing for that position.

Bell supporters will no doubt point to Bell's start to the season - 172 on a batting paradise at Taunton, but as Vic Marks pointed out in The Oberver, that score started to look less valuable as James Hildreth racked up a triple century. Next Bell scored another hundred against the same opposition, but this time at Edgbaston. But even in success, more questions were asked - once again Bell's big innings hadn't helped win the match - in fact Somerset won easily by 8 wickets. It's of course not Bell's fault that his colleagues didn't bat better around him, but the suspicion remains that he doesn't win games for his team, or dig in when the going gets tough.

So what to make of Bell's prospects in the future? I think he's England's Damien Martyn - he'll come back to play for England for years and ultimately be successful. But right now he needs to play a season of County Cricket and average 70 or 80 over a season, making scores when his team really need him to and helping them to win matches. I fear that the England management still see him as a number 3, but on the assumption that they decide he's better placed in the middle order, his best bet is to wait until Collingwood gets injured or retires - he's only 32, but his gritty style is such that as soon as his batting goes, it will really go quickly. And that's if he gets through injury-free - he's likely to play for England in all 3 forms of cricket so his body could buckle.

In The Wisden Cricketer, they talk about the Bell predicament using Collingwood as a parallel who digs in when required. But I think Collingwood is too good to be compared with Bell at the moment - he averages more than 3 runs an innings more than Bell and has scored four hundreds in his last 8 Tests, not to mention an additional 96. Come to think of it, should I be concerned that Thorpe scored four hundreds during calendar year 2004, before being dropped? Please England management - don't repeat the wrongs of 2005 again this year. Leave the England 1,2, 4 and 5 as they are, and consider Shah, Key, Bopara and Vaughan (who averages 40 there) for the number 3 slot. You can even consider Bell, as long...as you don't pick him!

Aussies Spin Woes Continue

Australia lost the fourth one day international against South Africa overnight. Chasing 317 for victory Australia were going well with Haddin looking the goods, but when he was dismissed at around the 20 over mark Australia fell in a hole against the spinners. This has been a problem throughout both the home and away series against the South Africans. The batsmen just seem unable to get the spin bowlers away in the middle overs.

I was watching highlights of the third test between New Zealand and India recently and saw a remarkable dissmissal. Rahul Dravid had been playing a few paddle sweeps from Dan Vettori. Brendon McCullum saw him shaping to play another one, and with the ball still only half way down the pitch on its journey to the batsman he took off as quickly as he could down the leg side so that by the time Dravid made contact, McCullum was effectively at a close leg slip position. Dravid paddled the ball straight into his midriff and McCullum held onto the catch. This was obviously a planned move as Ross Taylor, who was at first slip also moved accross and was basically covering McCullum in the event that Dravid missed the ball. It was an awesome piece of cricket.

I briefly wondered wether it was legal, or in the spirit of the game, but provided he doesn't move before the ball is bowled I don't have a problem with it.

Best film about Afghan cricket ever?

Afghanistan are currently playing in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers against teams like Denmark, Bermuda and Holland. Today they were beaten by U.A.E., which means they still qualify for the Super Eights round but are very unlikely to play in the 2011 World Cup. Considering that Afghanistan has practically no organised cricket, no proper pitches and just one bowling machine it is incredible that they have gotten this far, rising through Divisions 5,4 and 3 in the World Cricket League (beating Hong Kong along the way).

It's a heart-warming tale that has inspired a couple of excellent articles on Cricinfo, one with an interview of an Afghan player and another about a group of film-makers who have followed the team over the past 15 months. A trailer for the film, called Out of the Ashes (due out by the end of the year) is below.




Could this be the best cricket movie ever? Aside from Lagaan, I don't think there's much competition. Can Burblers out there recommend any other cricketing blockbusters?

The search for perfection

Summer arrived this morning - my Amazon-supplied copy of Wisden. Might be difficult to get a lot of work done today.
Nice to see their search for complete accuracy is unabated. This year's edition contains an erratum for the 1976 edition and corrects two errata from last years edition - it seems that 'the corrections for 1975 and 2002 should have been for 1976 and 2001 respectively'.
Now setting aside remarks about anoraks and how many quiz marks were lost as a consequence I wonder whether, if people as careful as this had been bankers, we'd be in the current pickle.

Franklin at least 2 positions too high for NZ

We've burbled about New Zealand's batting order many times because to outside observers it seems so absurd that Vettori should bat at 8. And I'm afraid it's even more absurd that James Franklin should bat at 6. Why is it everyone other than the New Zealand coach and skipper who can see that, if they want Taylor and Ryder to bat 4 and 5, then the following players should be McCullum, Vettori and then Franklin, in that order?

James Franklin has some talent with the bat, no doubt - he has a test hundred to his name and Andy Moles clearly has high hopes of turning him into an all-rounder. But a Test average of 20 and a first-class average of 31.5 mean that shoving him at number six in international cricket is asking for trouble. Franklin is not out overnight against India with NZ needing to bat out the last day, and even if he scores a match-saving hundred, he still shouldn't bat above 8 I'm afraid.

Modi on hit list

It seems that Lalit Modi's life goes on generating headlines. This time his name was found on a list found when Indian police arrested a notorious hitman. What can you say? As a convicted criminal (he pleaded guilty to assault and kidnapping back in the 80s it says at the end of this article), he's not exactly squeeky clean himself, so it should probably come as no surprise that there are people in India who would like him dead.

It'll be interesting to see how the IPL goes out in South Africa. I suspect Modi will have thought about how he can get half empty stadiums to look full. Perhaps he will use "Airheads" - the company who create inflatable dolls for crowd scenes in films and recently doubled the number of spectators at a UK rugby match!

Gutted for KP and Bopara

He's said some stupid things lately, but the one thing you can say for Kevin Pietersen is that he doesn't shy away from challenge. When we need him, he scores runs as a general rule - the polar opposite of Ian Bell.

So I'm gutted that from what I can tell (following it online rather than watching it) Pietersen wasn't out and the catch was grounded. A KP hundred would have been the way to answer his critics, and I nearly posted that would happen....but I didn't want to jinx him!

Bopara had the chance to dominate and really play a match-winning innings having got himself in. But once again, he's got himself out after a start. It's so frustrating as a big supporter of his, but I hope England stick with him somewhere in the top 6. He's not an ideal opener but he's an ideal partner to Strauss ahead of Mr Bell, who I've realised that I've just criticised twice in one post! Nothing against him....I just think that Bopara is equally as talented and will prove, ultimately, to go on to bigger scores.

I just hope that Bopara can prove me right in the coming months and years. And that KP can get some loving from his Mrs and then dominate the English summer....

Miandad advises china

If China have had to pay for Javed Miandad as a cricket advisor then it's a waste of money....it's not as if Pakistan cricket, which he's been heavily involved with has exactly strode forward since he's been involved in a non-playing capacity.

If, on the other hand, he's doing it as a goodwill gesture to try to grow the game around the globe, then good on him.

England and NZ ODI batting stats

Interesting analysis of how England, apart from Pietersen, can't get the ball off the square during the middle overs of an ODI innings. And equally interesting, the article goes on to show how New Zealand's opening partnership is their 8th worst on average - not a good reflection on their openers. It also helps to back up Dave Marshall's view that Vettori should be batting much higher as their middle order fares a lot better.

Basic skill will always be the most important thing(!), but it's interesting how the weight tactics carry seems to be every-increasing. Even in victory in the second Twenty20, this reports suggests that there is much for South Africa to improve on as they allowed Australia to bowl 50 dot balls. That's over 41% of balls they faced without a run. They have proved they can make the big hits - if they can continue to do that while also rotating the strike and reducing the number of dot balls, they will be even tougher to beat.

England's longest serving captain

Slightly embarrassingly (alright, very embarrassingly) the quiz team I was in last night called "The Cricketers" couldn't get the following question right:

Who is England's longest serving cricket captain?

Check back in a day or two for the answer.

Adjustment in rain reduced games

We're now all familiar with Duckworth Lewis rules even if we lack the mathematical brains to work them out and adjustments to the number of overs after rain interruptions that each bowler may bowl and in the length of 'power plays'. But why did they have to have a new ball after 14 overs last night as opposed to the usual 34 - it won't have got dirty any faster. Bet Bopara was pleased too-he got out to the first delivery with the new one.

The IPL was never going to be played in England

I could 't agree with Ed Smith more. Today he argues that the only reason why Lalit Modi allowed England to think they had a chance of hosting the IPL was so that they had a decent bargaining position with South Africa. Why the ECB played along is anyone's guess. England in April was never a goer.

What to make of KP's press comments?

I want to be a KP fan, I really do. And being the sad cricket fan that I am, I imagine myself getting along brilliantly with him at a nice pub somewhere were we ever to meet! But is it just me that sees an alternative meaning to nearly everything he says? I think it might be termed "passive aggressive" - non-confrontational mostly but prone to the odd comment that seems out of place, and the odd sly dig. Here's the latest in the long line of KP comments:

"It's been a tough tour because we've only won one game to date and that was only because of a mistake by the West Indies coach. To go through a winter like this is soul-destroying. We all want to play in a winning team and to be beaten day in, day out, is just not good enough."

Meaning: We've been rubbish this winter, and if I'd been skipper we would have done better. (And incidentally KP, you really should have been thinking you'd win the game - it was certainly there for England to take after 2 quick wickets).

"I don't know how we're made to play five one-dayers in three weeks after we played back-to-back Tests. What's that all about?"

Completely agree with him here....what is that all about? But why is he voicing concerns to the press? It's that passive aggressive streak - I wonder if he's raised that with the people who made the decision....

(After talking about missing his wife) "I'm at the end of my tether now. I'm ready to do a Robinho and disappear back home."

Why would you say that with the ODI series hanging in the balance? And allow your team mates to know you didn't want to be there? It's all about the team winning, right? Not you personally.

"It's brilliant what happened to Samit Patel. We come away to hot countries and maybe sometimes we don't go on to big enough scores or struggle to bowl teams out because we're not fit enough. I think Samit is a fantastic cricketer but there were guidelines which I gave him when I was captain that he didn't adhere to, and he didn't adhere to what was recommended for this trip either."

Brilliant? Really? How will Patel feel when he reads that? Is he really having a sly dig at his current team mates who can't seem to get enough runs or wickets in the hot conditions in WI? It's difficult to tell. I wonder if he'll feel the same when he's 35 and has all the talent in the world but isn't quite as athletic as he used to be, a la Tendulkar. I suspect when he's asked then, it will be all about talent. And even if you do think it's "brilliant", keep it to yourself as it's not going to help your relationship with anyone to say that.

There must be a reason why KP says what he does to the press....unless it's simply that The Mail offered more money for more juicy quotes and he needed to make up a small part of the £150k he lost because the IPL was pushed back a week? It can't be that surely!? Or was it that he felt he was fading into the background and wasn't happy to do that quietly? Unfortunately I think we'll probably never know....

Imagine the conversation....

...between the two Hussey brothers. David is batting well and Mike comes in. Mike plays his first ball to short fine leg and David calls him through for a tight single. Despite diving, Mike is short of his ground at the bowler's end....run out after facing one ball for 0.

But given he went on to score 88 at a strike rate of 200, I don't think David will be given too much grief from the rest of his team mates, whatever his brother thinks....

Just how bad can it get in an hour or so?

Go away for a meeting and get back to 43-5. Oh dear.

The ability for England to collapse never ceases to amaze me! But it makes me feel better about the limitless club cricket collapses I've been a part of. Pity Bucknor marked one of the last, if not the last, appearance he'll make as an international umpire with another wrong decision (Collingwood).

Latest score 68-7, Prior has just gone. Oh dear, oh dear.

McLaren F1 drivers vs Shane Warne

Apparently Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen have been preparing for the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend by dispatching a series of long-hops and pies lobbed up by a certain Shane Warne. I'm not seeing many high leading elbows in the drivers' techniques, but they seem too good for the ageing Warney!

The video footage can be found here.

IPL not coming to UK

The decision process about bringing, or not bringing, IPL to the UK raised a number of discussions including whether it would actually draw the crowds bearing in mind that this would be the most spectacular players in world cricket but that they'd be playing in matches of limited significance to much of the population. Bearing in mind the size of the crowds last year (averaging 58,000 against 'Premiership' football's 35,900) I wonder why they didn't just move the date of the Indian election - surely it would have been a vote winner.

Of course we all know now that, since the weather in April in The UK was the decisive factor, we are in for a heatwave. Bring it on but let's make some early season fixtures for ourselves too.

Aldworth's place in history

Interesting to see that The World Cup's leading runscorer Claire Taylor attributes part of her success to the distraction of playing the violin for Aldworth's Philharmonic Orchestra. Now Aldworth is a village well known to most fellow burblers and if you visit its ground on Google's satellite photo you can actually see players on the pitch (not in position so probably just about to start play). I haven't found any other pitch with players on it yet.

Why would you want the IPL played in England?

It seemed amazing that anyone might consider England to host the IPL after the BCCI came round to the idea that they couldn't hold the IPL at the same time as the Indian elections. But if you believe the press, they did consider England strongly until today, when South Africa has become the frontrunner.

Yes, England has a number of grounds well capable of hosting matches, but the weather had to be a show-stopper. Afterall, what would those poor cheerleaders do? Rather than their normal atire....

....they'd be forced to wear this sort of thing....

Clearly it's not a goer, and that's before you consider the ECB's relationship with Setanta and the BCCI, despite the fact that it's improved a bit recently.

The sun of South Africa and a board that gets on well with the BCCI seems like a far more attractive and sensible option.

NZ 75-5

New Zealand are struggling in the Women's World Cup Final. Come on England!

Dangerously bad light?

It has been argued before on Cricket Burble that the amount of protective equipment available to the modern batsman means that they are never truly in danger in the way that the batsman were in pre-helmet days. And that is what makes the regular stopping of play for bad light such a farce.

As many observers have pointed out after West Indies chose to go off for bad light yesterday because they mistakenly thought they were winning on the D/L method, what does it matter whether they were ahead or behind? The only reason for going off is the potential danger to the players, and that doesn't change based on the state of the match.

Perhaps this could actually be a blessing showing up the bad light law to be what it is - something that one side uses to gain tactical advantage. Bad light should be something to be endured like heavy cloud cover allowing the ball to swing. On that most club cricketers are agreed, having played through "bad" light most weeks for their careers. When will things be changed? Anyone's guess.

New Zealand make women's final

The good news is that Australia won't be in the final to play against England in the Women's World Cup after New Zealand scored of massive 373 against West Indies and won by 223 runs. The bad news is that England lost comprehensively to Australia, after being bowled out for 161.

They key to Sunday's final? It's all about how the top order fares. If England don't get early wickets, New Zealand have shown they can post big scores. And likewise New Zealand will know that if they can get past England's top order, in particular Claire Taylor, then England's middle order looks a little fragile.

Fingers crossed!

O'Brien admits stupidity

You no doubt read about how Ian O'Brien got himself out stumped when Jesse Ryder was on 98 and closing in on a century. I always think it's interesting the way these things are reported - it's always with a huge focus on the guy who is looking to make a hundred. What about his team mates? After all, they're in the middle of a Test match and looking to get over the 300 mark - the last thing they want is their number 10 wandering down the pitch and getting stumped, whoever he is batting with for the 9th wicket and whatever score they're on. And that still stands even though everyone other than Vettori and Ryder failed themselves!

Anyway, these days some players have blogs themselves and Ian O'Brien has been the first to admit to his mistake on his blog. He describes it as "the dumbest thing I've done on a cricket field". Fortunately, Martin hung around for Ryder to get his hundred so all's well that ends well. Although for New Zealand, with India poised to go well past their first innings score, it may still end in a loss. And that has to be more important than a personal milestone - even if it is a first Test century.

Vettori

I don't understand why Dan Vettori doesn't bat in the top six. He is clearly a better batsman than the majority of his team mates. He's just scored a brilliant century against India coming in at 6/60. I guess he and the team management are concerned about his workload given that he also carries the bowling attack, but I really think its worth a try. NZ are not strong enough to bat one of their better players at number 8.

South African Changes

I just thought I'd add to a previous post regarding the South African changes. I too am surprised McKenzie was dropped, especially given that Smith will be out. Having dropped him, however, I would not have opened with Prince. Why not bring de Villiers up to open (he's done it before) or move Amla and Kallis up one slot each. As for Morkel, he is undoubtedly talented, but his performances in the last two tests certainly warranted him being dropped. He has just been so lethargic. His bowling has lacked energy, he is a poor mover in the field, and he seems to disengage his brain whenever he picks up a bat.

England women lead the way

It's great to see the England women do so well so far in the Women's World Cup - I hope burbling about their success to date doesn't curse them (I was holding off until I felt sure they'd reach the final!). So far they've seen off Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and most recently New Zealand. And, possibly crucially, Australia are struggling to make it out of the super six stage and into the final - there are no semi-finals, it's just the top 2 that reach the final. Australia's loss to India, a side they beat 5-0 only in November, puts them under a lot of pressure and they may potentially have to settle for the 3rd/4th playoff.

England's latest win against New Zealand was their closest fought to date and could well be a reharsal for the final. The spinners showed the way with Holly Colvin and Laura Marsh (who shook off learning that Mark Davis has a crush on her very professionally) leading, more than ably supported by Charlotte Edwards who followed up her 57 with the bat with 4-37 with the ball. It's great to hear that on of the reasons for England's success so far has been electric fielding - so often fielding is underestimated as a match-winning skill behind batting and bowling. Not that either of the other suits are weak - Claire Taylor averages 94 and Caroline Atkins averages 77 with the bat, and Laura Marsh is top wicket taker and second most economical bowler.

I think it's brilliant the way the women's game is developing and it would be great to see England go on and win the World Cup after they retained The Ashes last year. (Should that be a capital T on "The Ashes"?) The current table shows that England are dominating and they will inevitably have 8 points after they have played West Indies on Tuesday as they are really struggling without a super six point.

Even assuming Australia beat Pakistan in the next match of the tournament, it could be impossible for them to get through now - Cricinfo describe their World Cup defence as "virtually over". New Zealand still have to play India and the winner of that match still has a further match against one of the two bottom sides - West Indies and Pakistan, so the highly likely result is that either New Zealand or India will finish on 8 points - enough to see Australia out of the tournament.

From an England point of view, here's hoping.

KP reckons he would have done a better job

Kevin Pietersen is, as expected, hardly glowing in his praise for Andrew Strauss as captain in the recent series in the West Indies:

"I love the way we played the last Test match. I enjoyed the way we batted and I enjoy the way we attacked with our bowlers. I really liked the way we played over the last five days. We played some positive cricket and that's the way I would have played this series if I had been captain."

Ouch. So Strauss was too defensive and we would have won the series if you'd been captain KP? I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that.

Cook wants correct referral decisions

Following on from the previous Burble about referrals, interesting to see the way Alastair Cook's comments have been reported in The Metro this morning. The title of the article by Cook says "Referral system just isn't working, so let's scrap it". He goes on to say:

"If the third umpire cannot use the full range of technology then the referral system should be scrapped."

That's a whole different comment and one that I've burbled about before - it's clearly insane to allow TV viewers access to technology that the 3rd umpire can't look at. But that's a problem of implementation - Cook isn't stupid and I don't think he would really think you can scrap the use of technology for good. It will keep coming back until it's eventually implemented properly.

Again, repeating previous Burbles the "human error" factor can be eliminated all together from LBWs - use Hawkeye or similar to show where the ball would have hit and then allow for a suitable amount of error. So for example, you might only give a batsman out if no part of the ball is outside of the outside of the off or leg stump, or over the top of the bails.

The ICC seem to have caught up with the correct objective - reducing the number of wrong decisions. They have belatedly realised that they can use technology to reach that objective. How long will it take them to come up with the right implementation plan? On current form, many years.

I've fallen in love with an off spinner !

Laura Marsh (bit sad for an old man!)

South Africa reverse captaincy decision

Just 24 hours after I posted about Ashwell Prince coming from outside the starting XI to captain South Africa in the next Test because of Graeme Smith's injury, it seems the board over in SA have changed their minds. They now want Jaques Kallis to captain the side.

I can't think of any possible justification for this - either it was a massive mistake originally, or it was a massive mistake subsequently....it seems that South Africa have the same board problems as we have in England! It would be interesting to know what triggered the change of mind - perhaps there was a media outcry in South Africa?

Another ICC shambles

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse from the ICC, they have now decided to move the Champions Trophy from Sri Lanka to South Africa. What is the reason for this, you may ask? Threat of terrorism? Infrastructure not in place? No, this time the ICC has decided that it is because the Sri Lankan board cannot guarantee their will be no rain during the tournament!

The ICC are saying that due to the short window of 12 days that the tournament is scheduled for, they can't afford reserve days. If there isn't time for reserve days in the schedule, surely there isn't enough time for a professionally-run international tournament at all? Even if you did see the argument, what has changed since the tournament was originally awarded?

Yet again it shows that the game's administrators are a bunch of amateurs pursuing the cash at the expense of the image of the game and ending up lurching from one self-made crisis to another.

Looks like county cricket in April is on thin ice.....

Man of the match

Now those who know me understand that I don't approve of the idea of a man of the match award in team games in principle. Very often it goes to the footballer who scores the winning goal or the man who runs in the most spectacular try whilst ignoring the member of the peloton who's put in all the graft.

Statistics-based games like cricket, however, are often different since you can quantify the runs and wickets (although in the last match Collingwood must have improved his chances with those two wonderful catches). Nevertheless it does beggar belief when the man of the match award goes to the man who creates a new record for conceding byes ! (although he does bat really well, doesn't he?)

Referrals and reviews

Sadly what we are going to remember from this series is mostly poor - a ground fit for a donkey derby, a collapse to 51 all out, injuries to Flintoff, Harmison and Sidebottom and farcical decision making.

We are all agreed that we want better decision making but the current system is taking the spontaneity of the game away and replacing it with unimproved decision making. The excitement of the fall of a wicket is now tainted by a delay whilst players decide whether to call for a referral and then possibly a delay when a second decision is made armed with some but not all of the technology available. Additionally the third umpire is looking for 'evidence' (funny word that - 'evidence') that the first umpire was wrong so that we move from the batsman getting the benefit of the doubt to the umpire getting thebenefit of the doubt. Not only is the system error prone but on the basis of what we've seen in this series the operators are also error prone.

Coupled with that we get the ridiculous sight of players trying to persuade the umpires to review their own decision so that they don't use up one of their precious referrals. That would all be bad enough if it led to more accurate decisions but we've seen even more errors caused by obscure criteria.

My solution would be to put all decisions in the hands of the umpires again armed with the best available technology - a team of say four working together constantly in communication and asking the correct question - it works really well in rugby.

Fortunately it won't affect those of us who play proper cricket.

Ruthless South African selection

My gut feel is that South Africa are being overly ruthless in dropping McKenzie and Morkel following their loss in the first two Tests against Australia. Morkel is young and looked really talented when the Saffers were over here last year. But in particular I'm not sure I like the tactic of using Prince as a makeshift opener alongside a debutant in Khan. Yes, McKenzie did a great job of converting from the middle order to open the batting, but that doesn't mean that everybody can.

McKenzie averages 24.2 in the series away to Australia that South Africa won. The reason that I feel a little sorry for him is that in a series that lasts only 3 games you only get 6 innings and one hundred in that time wouldn't be a bad success rate. In the 2nd Test, McKenzie was going well on 59 not out when South Africa won the game, depriving him of the chance to complete what might have been his big innings of the tour.

In the return series in South Africa McKenzie averaged 25.5 in the first two Tests which doesn't make him the worst South Africa batsman, with Amla narrowly less than that. But if England dropped players after such a brief run of poor form then Bell, for example, would have been discarded after the 2005 Ashes. The South African selectors seem to have felt that they were rightfully the best country in the world and, riled at not making this a reality, have reacted like a school kid would when they didn't get their own way. Courtney Walsh used to say that the West Indies loved touring England because if they won the first couple of matches they found themselves playing the England 2nd XI by the end of the series and I fear the South African selection has a whiff of that. Presumably Morkel will pretty rapidly come back into the squad, but McKenzie will struggle given his age - doubly so as Graeme Smith has openly talked about that and said it will be tough for him.

So when Smith is fit again, it will be interesting to see who gets the other opening slot - it's only a minor selection point but two left-handers is not preferable to a right and left combination. If one or both of the new openers do well then it will be seen as a great decision, but it's high risk and knee jerk - those sort of decisions rarely come off. If they wanted to boost the batting, I would have considered using AB de Villiers as keeper and dropping Boucher. Considered it....and then rejected it, realising that just because South Africa lost it doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't their best team playing.

One last point of note in the South African situation is that Prince comes back into the side as captain. I wonder how many times that has happened? Somehow I doubt we'll see the same from England if Strauss gets injured, no matter how much people like me might want to see Vaughan's captaincy skills at work again.

Strauss' declaration

Personally I'd like to see Strauss declare when England score 250ish and then have massively attacking fields. But when Strauss will declare is a debatable point....this blog post predicting 224 for the declaration made me chuckle.

I fear for Monty

No, not because he isn't England's number 1 spinner any more. Because when he does play it seems that the ICC are keen to clamp down on his massively over-excited appealing.

This is a guy who doesn't know the laws of the game (clearly given the way he frantically appeals for LBWs that can't possibly be out), and has proven that he can't work an umpire to save his life.

From here on in, I'd be counting on taking home 75% of any future match fees if I was Monty....