Buttler dismissal fair enough

I can't really see any reason why England are so upset with Angelo Mathews for going ahead with the dismissal of Buttler yesterday.   He'd been warned and he was still wandering down the wicket without looking at the bowler, so not the most intelligent piece of cricket ever seen.

I agree entirely with what Jayawardene had to say:

"We gave him a fair chance," Jayawardene said. "Twice. Before the first warning, we told the umpires that he was taking too much of a lead and then he was warned again. We had to do that, because they kept doing it. 

"We analysed our game after Lord's. They took 22 twos in the last 12 overs. Ravi Bopara and him ran riot. And most of the time they were taking starts that are not legal by the written laws. We just wanted to make sure we got a fair chance. We warned them and we warned the umpires, but they didn't listen to us, so we had to take the right steps.

"We always try to play in the right spirit, but if the other team is not playing in the right spirit and not going with the law, then unfortunately we had to take the law into our hands. It was the third time. It is fair enough, I think. We all need to play by the rules.

"If the other sides are not going by the rules, then they're not playing by the spirit, so what can you do?"

I can see England's annoyance, but I wonder how much of it is frustration because Buttler was key to the acceleration they needed at the end of the innings.   In effect his dismissal ended England's hopes of a competitive score, but the issue was with the way the batsmen above Buttler batted, as well as his dozy run out.   The talk around Buttler's run out makes it less likely that people will focus on England's batting shortcomings throughout the series.

How's about this for England's next ODI match?

Cook

Hales

Bell

Bopara

Ballance

Morgan

Buttler

Jordan

Etc?

Last word on the Buttler run out from Jeff Sheldon of Kidmore End (via my Facebook feed) - it certainly inspired quite a few comments!

Jos Buttler isn't ready to keep for England in Tests

I couldn't believe it when I heard Michael Vaughan saying last night on Vaughan and Tuffers that he thought Jos Buttler should be picked for Test cricket if Matt Prior isn't fit.   And he said that picking Foster would be a huge step backwards for England.

As you can tell by the fact that I didn't even include Buttler in the list of possibles for a keeping spot, it didn't even occur to me that he could be in with a shout...his keeping just hasn't been good enough for Test cricket in ODIs and Twenty20s.   And more to the point, the man himself doesn't think he's ready, and his captain doesn't think he's ready.

It's been reported that Peter Moores thinks he's in the frame, but if you actually read what Moores said, it sounds like a coach who simply wants to encourage someone for the future.

“When you look back in history, not every player is perfectly ready when they play,” said Moores. ­“Sometimes they develop in the formats which they go to.
“I think Jos would quite rightly say, ‘I’m not the finished article’ and he wouldn’t be - not many people are. The key is whether it is the right time to introduce him to Test cricket.
“Obviously Jos has been talked about a lot and how he played the other day hasn’t done him any harm - it was a fantastic innings.
“If Matt’s fit he’s a very strong contender. Jos is improving quickly and I thought he kept well so he has certainly pushed his name forward.
“I don’t think you want to be set in stone and you never want to put ceilings on people. People do have moves. He’s improving and it was great to see him play like that.
“If that’s enough to get into the Test team, then we’ll sit down and talk about it.”

So perhaps Buttler should have been on the shortlist but I just can't see him squeezing in.   There is a precedent for "successfully" bringing in a batsman keeper when they weren't ready to keep in Test cricket and for them to improve out of sight....Mark Boucher.   He really was a poor keeper when he started but South Africa stuck with him and he was quality at his peak undoubtedly.   But, although I don't know, I suspect the difference is that South Africa didn't have a James Foster, someone with a legitimate claim to being the best out and out keeper in the world, waiting as a possible alternative.

I will despair if England pick Buttler for the 1st Test!

Your England Test team

It's like going back in time to the 90s at the moment because no-one seems to know who the majority of the Test team will be to play Sri Lanka.   But the fun of that is that we all get to have a go as selectors!

Openers

Carberry, Compton, Cook, Chopra, Lees, Robson, Root.

 

3 and 4

Ali, Ballance, Bell, Bopara, Taylor (plus any of the openers for 3)

 

5 and 6

Morgan, Stokes (plus some of those above for 3 and 4)

 

7 - batsman who bowls spin

Borthwick, Rashid or one of the other batsmen that bowl spin above (Ali, Patel, Root)

 

WK

Bairstow, Foakes, Foster, Kieswetter, Prior, Read

 

9

Bresnan, Jordan, Plunkett, Woakes

 

10 and 11

Anderson, Broad, Finn, Onions

 

Anyone you'd add into the mix?   From the above, I'm going for (having changed where people bat a little):

 

Cook

Robson

Bell

Ballance

Stokes

Patel

Ali

Foster

Jordan

Broad

Anderson

 

Onions very unlucky and 12th man, Root the spare batsman.

 

This isn't the team I think they'll go for but I think it would be mine....spin bowling turning the ball in both directions, plus not taking the chance with Prior.   Given Jordan's form in the one-dayers I can't see them not picking him and it will be interesting to see how he goes.   They'll almost certainly pick Root so it will be one of Robson, Patel and Ali who will make way I imagine, with Patel being the favourite.

 

I'd have loved to have found a way to bat Cook at 3 rather than asking him to open, but it doesn't work unless you pick 2 very inexperienced openers which doesn't seem sensible.

 

It'll be interesting to see what direction they go in....I imagine there will be a surprise or two!

Shaky start for Downton

By all accounts, Paul Downton is a good selection for the England Cricket MD position, but I can't say his immediately endeared himself to me in his position.   My memories of his playing days are hazey but in short I remember someone who was picked for his batting rather than his keeping, but generally failed to deliver with the bat.   Of course his playing credentials are irrelevant to his current position, so I was looking forward to seeing how things would go.

The subject that's worried me is Kevin Pietersen.   Not the decision itself, as Pietersen disgraced himself with the whole South Africa/Strauss incident and was lucky to get a second chance, but more the rationale behind the decision.

Downton has said that he went to Sydney for the final game of The Ashes and observed a player that was "disengaged".   I watched a fair bit of it myself and there were a few of Pietersen's colleagues who didn't appear to be 100% either....not a total surprise as they were getting beaten for the fifth time.   Graeme Swann couldn't even be bothered to complete the tour.   But most importantly, I thought the comments from Downton showed a misunderstanding of "ego" players and completely undermined Alastair Cook.   Apparently Pietersen was ok to play when managed by strong people around him, but this was a new team and that was no longer the case.   The inference was that Cook is or was too weak to handle him - not a great statement of confidence in your captain.

I also find it hard to believe that Downton didn't come across players of Pietersen's ilk when playing.   We've all played with them - players who when losing can't be seen to be trying their hearts out because that would imply their best wasn't good enough.   Instead, as it becomes clear they'll lose, those players start to lark about, trying to pass off the inevitable defeat that is hurting them so badly as a trivial event.   It's part of how they manage to stroll out to bat as if they own the stage - when they're at their best they win, they believe.   In club cricket, another trait of these players is their desire to integrate with the opposition after your team has been soundly beaten (and no other time)....it's all part of their attempts not to let a terrible result dent their confidence - they're a winner.

Nevertheless, the decision to sack Pietersen was made and, strangely, a non-disclosure agreement was made between both parties.   At this stage it's difficult to see why that was necessary as Downton says there was no one incident that caused a problem on the tour (it remains to be seen if anything important comes out once the NDA runs out, but Downton appears to be talking pretty candidly despite the NDA).   Pietersen himself has publicly stated that he was not disengaged and has also questioned comments from Downton that he couldn't find one supporter of Pietersen.   Of course, we don't know how the questions were asked as any player wanting an international career was unlikely to say anything that could go against the prevailing attitude and potentially threaten their future selection.   But we do know that two of the players who assumed their international career was over after the tour, Carberry and Tremlett, came out and said that Pietersen hadn't been a problem on the tour.

So while Pietersen's sacking was to a certain extent inevitable, and his performances in Australia certainly did him no favours, Downton's handling of things to date have made me concerned for his potential to be successful in his role.   And while he keeps saying things that are opinions only, Pietersen will continually respond publicly and the team won't be able to move on fully.   It's a pity he appears to be doing his media training on the job rather than before taking such an important role.

Worth all the effort

 

Up to now all the Middlesex games at the school have been on the old School First XI pitch but on Sunday we saw T20 cricket on our own pitch and judging by what we saw it's as much a road as we clubbies find it. Very proud and the culmination of 15 years of committee meetings and architects and accountants offices. With a bit of luck the rain will stop in the next three days and we'll be a first class ground. "Where are we playing on Saturday?" "on the County Ground". Only complaint? Doombar! Even better photos than mine, by Jay Blanche here.

Life in Kent (2)

............and the bar's quite nice, too! Also helps that one of the team is a brewer.

Life in Kent

So we're starting to plan retirement which means finding a new cricket club (only for odd games until we actually move in a few years time). Would you go for the club that said "come to the nets and we'll have a look at you" or the one that said " have a pint, this is the Second XI skipper who you'll be playing for"?

No brainer, but interesting that the more upmarket club call themselves the Village.

First game in and the oppo. have two aged slow bowlers (one injured) - feels familiar and we win (great stumping to start my tally).

Second game and we've got a mismatch. All out 30 so the oppo who are very serious "give" us 190 runs so they need 221 in 40 overs and get them. I think they have batsman who practice a very flash leave in the mirror. I've never played handicap cricket before and we only saw two bowlers and 4 batsmen . Fortunately our skipper was shrewd enough to resist the heavy hints at the toss to insert them. But very pretty, as you see.

I think this is going to be fun and Kent Village Cricket League Division 7 starts next week.............

And back...

 

OK, so after a (relatively) brief interlude caused by a combination of work and parenting, I'll be trying to get back to my previous levels of burbling.   So there's a quantity aim, but as anyone that's read Cricket Burble in the past will know, there's no guaranteeing quality.

It's tricky to read too much into England's selections for Twenty20 and ODIs so far.   A lot of people seem to have turned against Michael Carberry - or perhaps that's just the pieces I'm reading - but I'm not sure why.   I'm all for players being given an extended opportunity to show if they can be successful.   If they're not then by all means drop them.   Carberry's been in and out of the ODI team, had one chance at Twenty20 and was no failure at Test level while his more experienced colleagues were failing all around him.

Carberry haters will all be pleased to see that he's not selected in today's ODI.   But it remains to be seen if a top 4 of Cook, Bell, Ballance, Root will have enough quality, dynamism and sheer strength to match Sri Lanka's top 4.   I can't help feeling that England go in a little bottom heavy, given that 5-7 are Morgan, Buttler, Bopara.   I'd much rather see Bopara and Root swap in both Twenty20 and ODI cricket.   

In contrast, Sri Lanka's top 4 looks pretty daunting, but interesting to see that they've gone with 6 bowlers + Dilshan, and they still haven't included Ajantha Mendis.   I can't quite see the logic, but I'm sure it will become clear!

Prediction: Sri Lanka to win with 5 overs to spare by 5 wickets.

Got the name wrong again

 Some time ago I was banging on about how Saracens was an inappropriate name for any County team but probably more so for Middlesex with its cosmopolitan following and it took some time before the penny dropped and the T20 side became Panthers with a ridiculous looking logo.

Now Kent, formerly The Kingdom of Kent, land of my fathers ( and mothers etc.), is a very proud county William the Bastard ( we don't call him The Conqueror, because he wasn't and didn't) had to go round the county to get to London through the puny South Saxons and we added the word Invicta, meaning unbeaten, to the White Horse. The good marketing people of KCCC have clearly missed this and so the T20 mascot this year is to be called Victa, meaning beaten. Brilliant ! 

Some good names

 The England U 19s have a Hammond and a Rhodes and with a Compton at Somerset and a Cowdrey at Kent it's going to feel like deja vu soon ( not that I remember Wilf. or Walter). Who else?

Back to No. 1 already

 If South Africa is No. 1 in the world and lose to Australia by 281 runs as we did in the last Test that must make us No. 1 too. Doesn't it ?

Not long to go now................

We should by now be starting to get excited about the next Ashes series - it's only 17 months away ! But in the meantime the non- cricketers will have to endure, England's players will need to play and we can enjoy 12 Test Matches, 28 ODIs and 8 T20s ( not counting the ICC T20, the Champions League and the ICC World Cup).

We'll soon get over this debacle.

An England win!

How refreshing to wake up, check Cricinfo, and see that England have won!!   I had a momentary panic at 5:20 this morning when I read the top headline referring to England men's battering in the latest ODI before realising that wasn't the women's result.   Thank goodness for that....I was worried when Australia came back from 30odd for 5 in their 1st innings to gain a 1st innings lead, but a great partnership in the 2nd innings between Lottie Edwards and Jenny Gunn and some inspired bowling led to a 61 run victory.

Now to consider the men's ODI team which the terrible headline on Cricinfo was referring to.   Watching the start of the match was painful from an England perspective - yes early wickets happen but Root got stuck as if in a Test match.   Those that knock Pietersen should consider what the result might have been had he been batting 3 rather than Root.   (I agree with this piece from Tom Moody saying how much England need Pietersen.)   With the squad they're allowed to pick from (i.e. missing Pietersen/Broad) for the next match I'd be going for Carberry at 3 if they insist on that balance to the side or, ideally, to drop Root for Briggs or Tredwell.   If they're worried about the batting they could drop Rankin for Woakes to ensure they bat down to 8 with Bresnan and Jordan to follow, plus the spinner.   But unless he simply can't hit the cut strip I'd give Finn a go at Rankin's expense- he can't do much worse!

England seem to have settled on the number 6 slot for Bopara in ODIs but he's an option at 3 if England rejig the order and feel there's no one else for 3.   I didn't agree with any of the pre-match chat from the commentators/experts that England were a bowler light on the weekend - Bopara is a bowler in ODIs....his record compares well to Stokes and Bresnan (although in Bresnan's case he had to bowl in powerplays, and Stokes is very light on games played, but you get my point).   Bopara's bowling stats also compare well with Woakes incidentally.

Maybe a little of the resilience shown by England women can rub off on the men - I'm not holding my breath but it would help if they picked the best side.

Early season form will be critical

As you'd expect there's been loads of debate about the make up of England's team when they next get back to playing Tests in June.   Alastair Cook, quite rightly, has not given any assurances to anyone about their position.   But nevertheless I'm with Alec Stewart in as much as I wouldn't cull all the senior players.   As the likes of Tufnell, Harmison, Hughes and Vaughan have indicated, there's a few positions up to grabs depending on who hits early season form.   So any predictions made now are likely to change but for what it's worth, here's mine:

Carberry/Compton/Root/Lees/Robson/Ali (depending on early season form)

Carberry/Compton/Root/Lees/Robson/Ali (depending on early season form)

Cook (c)

Bell

Pietersen

Stokes

Prior (although I'd be keeping a very close eye on Foakes with England Lions)

Borthwick (which makes it more likely that Root or Ali will be picked as opener to bowl some overs)

Broad

Anderson

Onions

There's plenty of others who could pressure their way in though which is what makes it interesting.   The likes of Bopara, Morgan and Buttler will be thinking that a few decent ODI performances could put them in contention.   Bresnan isn't out of the mix, and Taylor will want a few early season hundreds to force himself into consideration.   Equally, pretty much all English spinners are in with a shout - Rayner, Rafeeq, Ansari and Rashid must all be hoping for a slot.   And in the pace department Jamie Overton and Chris Jordan will be hopeful.

So it actually makes early-season weather-affected County games important which will be interesting...but, as Ed Smith points out, freshening up the approach doesn't mean a team of youngsters necessarily.

Prior stops man killing himself

It looks like something good has come from England's tour down under at least!   Matt Prior talked a man down who was planning on jumping off a bridge to end his life, and then he and Stuart Broad stayed talking with the guy until police arrived.   No - it wasn't one of their England colleagues or support staff!

Getting better !

It almost feels comfortable to be reading again about England batting collapses but, of course, there was improvement during the series. We got within 281 of them last time, which is a better by precisely 100 on the first attempt. Or was that just the dead rubber effect? I said it was a good tour for Compton, Onions and Robson.

 

"We have to accept the fact that they are better " said The Chairman of Selectors. " I don't think that I have ever seen a team in any sport seek out to destroy another with such deliberate intent. There was a cold brutal anger about the way Australia went into this series. Revenge is too poor a word." said Simon Barnes in The Times....................also in 2006/7.

Incidentally we lost this time by a total of 1,030 runs and 8 wickets , as opposed to 582 runs and 26 wickets 7 years ago.

England play Ballance, Borthwick and Rankin...drop Root, Bresnan and Panesar.

Can't say I'd have gone for the team that's been selected but there we go - when a team's losing badly there is always a huge clamour for changes.   If they hadn't and still lost badly they'd have been even more heavily criticised.   Bringing Ballance in was likely and I've no problem with that - given that Borthwick has been selected, I'm surprised they didn't keep Root in rather than Carberry as he can support with his bowling (and definitely not because he's much younger which is a terrible reason that's been quoted by some of the Sky commentators - Carberry is hardly over the hill!).   But having said that the pitch is apparently so green that England may have felt Root wouldn't be needed to bowl anyway.

Assuming he's fit I'd have played Panesar - it's lovely to have Borthwick's extra batting but his first class bowling stats just don't warrant a call up for his bowling.   However he's a great talent and England will hope he can raise his game for the occasion.   My fear is that Borthwick could be more of a Steve Smith than a Shane Warne - we'll see.   We know Australia will target him so fingers crossed he has a far more successful debut than Kerrigan had at the end of last English summer.

Rankin's also a strange one.   Although a decent performer at County level he hasn't shown to date that international players have too much to fear from him.   Rather than play a tall bang it in bowler on a green wicket that seems likely to offer sideways movement, I'd have played Bresnan.   No Bresnan hasn't played brilliantly in his two matches in the series to date, but I'd argue that he'd be more likely to do well given the conditions.

Cue a great match for Borthwick and Rankin!

Given England's selection issues, interesting to see that Geoff Miller was awarded a OBE for services to cricket in the New Year Honours.   His selectorial capabilities are just part of what he has done, but I still find it interesting to see how a consensus view gets formed about someone.   Miller has overseen some decent consistency of selection for which he and his colleagues need a big pat on the back, but at the same time he was also key to Kevin Pietersen being made captain.   He and his team also couldn't seem to work out who they wanted to replace Paul Collingwood at number 6, or who they wanted to open with Cook once Strauss retired.   They went for Compton which was a surprise to many, and then having made that decision, they jettisoned him despite some decent returns for someone in his early career.   Miller's got some witty anecdotes, is clearly well liked, and I'm certainly not begrudging Miller his honour.   I just find it fascinating how perceptions of selectors and - for that matter - coaches, are often rose-tinted or unfairly harsh.

Still waiting for Rankin to bowl as I type...wide long hop to start!

South Africa get their tactics wrong at the end of brilliant run chase

Interesting to see the aftermath of the great Test match in SA where South Africa ended up 8 runs short of chasing 458 with 7 wickets down.   Both sides asking why the other wasn't more attacking....I've got to say I have more sympathy with India's viewpoint given that when du Plessis got out South Africa needed 16 off 19, and given that India bowled 91 overs in the day, one more than they needed to.   

Philander (who has just become number 1 bowler in the world ahead of Steyn) is an excellent lower order batsman and Steyn can certainly strike a few, so Steyn needed to take the risks when on strike with the field in and Philander should have dealt in singles (seeing as there were 9 fielders around the boundary), looking to push for twos if at all possible.   Having got so close, it doesn't seem sensible to pull out, even if you have an injured player and a very poor batsman to come.   If they really felt that concerned about Morkel and Tahir, perhaps they should have sent one or both of them in to have a swing before Steyn, rather than Steyn simply blocking out the third from last over, and then Philander refusing singles in the penultimate over (view the ball-by-ball text commentary here).

Still, both sides played their part in a brilliant game so credit to both.   What a pity that there's only one more match to go....it doesn't even constitute a series to be honest!

What to make of Swann's retirement?

To be honest it makes no sense to me.   Whether he's bowling better or worse than before his elbow op early in the year, there's no doubt he deserved to be on the tour.   The vast majority of observers would still have him down as the best spinner in England, even before considering his catching at 2nd slip and his batting down the order.   None of that has changed in the course of 3 matches.

In those 3 matches Swann's figures have been very poor, but there's always the little nuances to consider.   Swann's wickets have been the top order batsmen or Mitchell Johnson (Clarke x 3, Warner x 2, Rogers, Bailey, Johnson).   And unfortunately his team mates haven't helped him out - Root dropped Clarke when he was on 18 in the first innings at Adelaide before he went on to score a hundred, and Prior sadly missed two opportunities to stump Warner in the 2nd innings at Perth.   So things aren't quite as bad as the numbers suggest given that one of the world's best players of spin has succumbed 3 times and also been dropped of Swann's bowling.

That's not to say that he should necessarily have been picked for the MCG - his place quite rightly was in question.   It's possible he would have been dropped, but that was the case for a number of England players.   They all took the decision to be part of the Ashes squad and unless they are medically unfit to play (i.e. Trott), they should be there for the duration.   It's obvious that retiring mid-tour will have huge pick up in the press and completely destabilise the side.   So I can't work out Swann's decision - it can be described as selfish, the actions of a quitter, gutless, etc.

Interesting then to see that his decision has been defended by the likes of Vaughan and Boycott.   Vaughan says that he's not being selfish because he's given up 9 months money rather than seeing out his contract.   And Boycott says that's "it takes a brave man" to do what he has done.   What a load of b***sh*t!   He's a rich man anyway and doesn't need the money as he'll walk into another highly paid line of work.   What would be fair to say is that if, as David Lloyd says in the same piece, Swann is all about the team, then he's made a big mistake.   Mistakes are part and parcel of life, and can be forgiven, but to try and pass off a mid-tour retirement as anything other than entirely detrimental to the team is lunacy.

I heard Jonathan Agnew giving an interview in which he suggested that the management team had given Swann the nod that he would be dropped and therefore given him the opportunity to retire first.   I wouldn't rule that out, but if Swann was as much of a team man as everyone says he is, then the response would have been to continue and to support Panesar and the rest of the side by helping them prepare for the MCG.   Not cause a commotion, tell the press that you'd like to see Scott Borthwick selected (which is really going to help Panesar as he prepares for the Boxing Day Test) or say anything that could be twisted by the media to be a criticism of his ex-England team mates.

Frustrating really - such a great player for England but he's not handled the retirement process at all well.   England need to learn from this - before Clive Woodward took the 2003 World Cup winning rugby team to Australia they discussed the retirement issue as a number of players were at the end of their careers.  They agreed as a team not to announce retirements, or discuss them, until after the tournament.   How Flower must be wishing he'd had the same foresight to agree the handling of retirements pre-tour as Woodward did.

 

Cricket is a religion?

No doubt the sledging will be vicious when the Anglican church take on the Vatican cricket team this summer...