The best team won!

16/12/12

Sunday morning and I’m rolling out of bed in the dark.  Kettle on, quickly tune the radio in to catch up with the match while I get ready for a mornings fishing.  By 8am I had two rods fishing for Pike and two ears listening to TMS.

Catch up…India batted for an hour for only 30 runs then declared 4 runs short of England’s total.  Since then England had ground out a couple of partnerships but Cook got another poor umpiring decision 48-1,  Compton got a strange decision but done well for 34 and it’s 81-2.  After tea the KPego leaves a straight one 94-3..  A few dodgy moments, spice on the field with angry India upset at decisions but the important stat is 161-3 at the close.  Bell stayed with Trott for an unbeaten partnership of 67 which we’d definitely have settled for.  Just as I was settling down to listen to Aggers’ & Sir Geoffrey’s summary I was disturbed by the only Pike of a bright, mild winter morning.  Can’t see England letting it slip from here.

17/12/12

When I woke up this morning, Trott & Bell were still batting.  I can’t remember the score but that wasn’t important, the series was ours!  Both batsmen passed 100 and the partnership was worth 206 when Trott was finally out for 143.  Root came out and scored a few then England declared and the series was clinched 2-1.  A tame draw in the end but this pitch was just useless.

The first test was an Indian steamroller but with hindsight the England recovery began with their second Innings in that match.  Since then it’s been all England who have stomped all over India by outplaying them in every aspect of the game.  Firstly we batted better, Cook (man of series) & KPego stand out but all the batsmen chipped in.  Prior was superb with both bat & gloves and we were by far the better team in the field, three run outs testimony.  Panesar, Swann and Anderson were the most threatening bowlers on either side.  It’s nice that at some point in the series just about every member of the squad made a crucial contribution.  The only ones who were below par were Broad and Bresnan, who both looked unfit.  This is a massive achievement for England even though India is definitely a team on a slide.  Things might get worse before they get better.

Next up is New Zealand in February so the selectors will have a lot to think about.  If any member of this squad should be threatened it might be Samit Patel who did nothing at all wrong.  He hardly bowled on this tour and if he’s not going to bowl in India he won’t get many over in New Zealand.  Perhaps the selectors will feel a quicker bowling all rounder would be more useful?  Alastair Cook's England has a bright future.

Can England clinch it??

4^th Test

England won the toss and batted first on the slowest pitch ever.  Early wickets, Cook got a dreadful LBW decision.  Trott and the KPego steadied the ship but another cluster of wickets brought Prior & Root to the wicket.  The experienced player in good form and the youngster on debut made it to the close, honours even.  The pitch is not fit for test cricket with no carry and a run rate barely over 2 per over.

Day two was all England.  Prior & Root took their partnership to past 100, both passing 50.  After Prior fell, Swann joined in scoring his first 50 for three years, in his fiftieth test.  Root was the star, eventually out for 73.  India batted and Jimmy removed Sehwag 3^rd ball but Gambhir & Pujara dug in.  Great bowling from Anderson and a lucky wicket for Swann and its 87-4 at the close.

Day three, another twist.  Dohni & Kholi batted for two sessions, grinding out the runs to bring India back into the game.  Kholi gets a century but soon departs, LBW to Swann, he and Anderson share wickets then Cook runs out Dhoni for 99!!  At the close India are 33 runs behind and have 2 wickets left.

With two days to play all 4 results are possible and it could be a nail biter but England are slightly ahead, especially as they’re bowling last.  They are confident and I think they’ll bat for long enough to clinch the series and maybe the match too.

It's got a bit milder here in the east, I might go fishing tomorrow.

2-1 to the Engerland!!

09/12/12

 Thanks to another big hundred from the captain and 50+ scores from all of the top four along with useful runs from 6&7 England batted all of the third day.  Cook was brilliant again for 190, Trott next best with 80+.  Worryingly only Bell failed.

India skittled England out quickly on the fourth morning then their openers made hay right up until lunch when the counter attack brought then to 86-0.  However, first ball after lunch Swanny bowled Sehwag and after that our bowlers ripped through the top order taking six wickets in the session, Finn & Anderson taking the paudits..  Three more followed after tea but at the end Ashwin held England up and took the match into the final day.  Jimmy got his 7^th wicket of the match 10 balls into the 5^th morning and an easy England win looked sure thing however at 8-3 things looked a little sticky.  Compton stayed fast and Bell found a bit of fluency to lead England to a seven wicket win.

England were dominant winners without a major contribution from the KPego, which is reassuring.  Man of the match was Cook for his 190 but all four of England’s bowlers made big contributions in this match.  In fact every member of the team stepped up at some point in the match, including Samit Patel who has done little wrong in these matches but still must be most vulnerable to a change.  I’ve said it before, if we’re not going to use his bowling then we could get more runs from number 6 by picking a better batsman.

India have responded by dropping three players from the squad, have we seen the last of Harhajan, Zaheer & Yuvraj in tests?  I can see India improving in this next match but not enough to prevent England clinching the series.

So we wait the final test with England holding an unassailable lead and hoping to win the series.  Who would have predicted that?  Oh yea…..

3rd Test days 1 & 2

05/12/12

An hour or so into my work day I suddenly remembered there was a test match, a quick fiddle with the phone revealed we’d lost the toss and were in the field, pisser!  However Jimmy & Monty had wickets each and India were 200-4 with Tendulkar steady at the wicket.  Playing catch up, Sehwag run out. England’s bowlers keep chipping away, Sachin out for 76 Jimmy getting him for the 8^th time in tests and equalling Murali’s record.  Swann gets one too.  At the close India are 273-7 with Dohni & Zaheer together.  Definitely England’s day!  Meanwhile we’ve had the first snowfall of this English winter in East Anglia.

06/12/12

Another good day!!!  Over breakfast the radio told me the story, Monty & Finn polished off the tail leaving India 316 all out.  Cook & Compton were still together with the score at 60.  By the time I reached work it was nearly 100!  Cook passed 7000 test runs then broke the record for English test centuries & marched on.  Compton recorded his first 50 in tests eventually falling for 57.  This brought Trott to the wicket and he kept the captain company to reach 216-1 at the close.  All England today! 

So after two days England hold all the aces.  If they can bat all day tomorrow they’ll be in a great position, can Cook score a double hundred?  If we’re still batting after lunch for a bit on the 4^th day, that’ll be even better.  From this position they should win the test match.  England’s bowlers continue to look better than India’s

Back home another snowfall last night.

Great! Great, thanks, see ya

03/12/12

It occurred to me that we’re only a day away from the third test and I’ve yet to make any comment about the last one.  A thumping England win!  Who would have predicted that?  Well I did, see below. 

There were great performances with the ball from Monty and Swann, along with another century from Cook and an innings of genius from the KPego.  Hopefully this will be the beginning of a great run of form for him and who knows we may forgive him yet. As two mornings play fell on my weekend I was able to keep in touch with TMS and watched Monty rip the top order to shreds in the second innings, brilliant stuff!  How can England ever even think about leaving him out of a test on the sub continent?

So on to the next match.  I expect the team to change very little, Bell will probably return so if Patel isn’t going to bowl it may as well be him miss out.  I’d like to see Finn in the side too but I can’t believe they’ll drop Broad.  My prediction?  Another good performance from England and another win.

Elsewhere in the world, South Africa have retained their No.1 ranking with a 1-0 win in Australia.  I didn’t see much of it but from reading the reports the series and matches swung to and fro.  The difference in the end being another great innings from Hashim Amla.  Can’t argue with South Africa’s top ranking after that.  This series also saw the retirement of Ricky Ponting.  Without doubt modern day great batsman, if not the most likeable Aussie captain we’ve ever seen.  Even though he’s never been a player I’ve enjoyed watching bat for too long I’m honestly disappointed with Ponting’s retirement.  I was really hoping he’d be a hole in Australia’s middle order for the next Ashes series.

Optimism

21/11/12

The first test came has come and gone and as most people predicted, India comfortably beat England.  Before the match I actually stuck my neck out and predicted an England series win and even though we are now one down, I’m sticking with that guess…why??

Well firstly I don’t think England could possibly play that badly again.  We only had one good day out of five and all of us that follow the team know we are better than that.  Secondly I don’t think England will get the selection as badly wrong again.  The whole world suspects England are suspect against spin so we can expect turning pitches in India, Monty Panesar has to play, along with Swanny and two front line seamers.  Jimmy Anderson will be one and I expect Broad to be the other even though he’s been totally inconsistent of late or should that be inconsistent for his entire career?  He’s a frustrating player, just when you think he’s settled down and showing the form that will make him genuinely world class he goes missing again.  Stephen Finn is still unfit so it’s odds on that Broad will get the nod over Bresnan.  The batsmen are frustrating too.  Both Trott and Bell have had a poor 2012 and with the latter flying home for the birth of his child, Bairstow should surely get the nod?  If he gets runs will he keep his spot?  You have to hope so.  Then there’s KPego who made little contribution in the last match, maybe another poor game will see him losing his place when Bell returns.

I’m expecting a much better performance in this match and I think England are capable of beating this Indian team.  Maybe I’m a little optimistic to expect a series win but we’re well worth a draw!

My XI for the 2^nd Test;

Cook, Compton, Trott, Peitersen, Bairstow, Prior, Patel, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Panesar.

Since I last blogged something on here they’ve re-elected Barack Obama in the US.  I try to avoid politics at all costs but you have to feel the world is a safer place with a democrat in the White house.  While I’m talking politics, I recently read Hunter S.Thompson’s “Fear & Loathing on the Campaign trail ’72”.  Although not as insanely funny as ‘Las Vegas’ this was still a damn good read in the typical Thompson style.  We all know politicians are corrupt (should I insert an ‘allegedly’ here? ), but it shocked me just how long it’s been going on.  The campaigns to elect the candidates are crooked along with the main event!  I must be naïve.

American novels

01/10/12

I can’t get emotionally involved when England are playing ODI cricket and I haven’t found much interest in the current T20 world cup.  I expect I would have done if England had progressed but they didn’t and I suppose the end result will be a return for KP…  The test series in India will be more my thing, England will start as underdogs and going into an Ashes year I’d make Australia favourites for that right now.  We’ll see.

As usual I’ve been reading constantly and I’ve gone through a series of books by American writers.  I re-read “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time around.  Mix drugs with a motor race, add more drugs and a DA’s narcotics convention then marinade in loads more drugs.  Manic, hilarious, mad, love it.

Norman Mailers’ “The Naked and the Dead” is billed as ‘the best war novel to come out of the United States’.  I’m not sure about that.  Set in the Philippines towards the end of World War 2 it charts the progress of a platoon of US marines through a campaign to capture an island from the Japanese.  I have mixed feelings about this book, it’s gritty and real and does not celebrate the ‘heroism’ of war but the narrative is constantly interrupted by flashbacks charting the protagonists pre-war lives.  If these flashbacks are designed to make the reader care about the characters then for me it failed and the book would have been a better read with these edited out.  Overall it’s a good enough read with some vivid descriptions of skirmishes and the author manages to convey the fears and suffering of the soldiers.

Last week I finished the classic “Catcher in the Rye” by J D Salinger.  This is the story of teenager Holden Caulfield who is from a life of privilege in New York society and has been thrown out of the state’s best schools.  Caulfield despises the world of wealth he dwells in and the story is of him undergoing some kind of mental breakdown.  The story is told in the first person but we never who he is telling his tale to.  The obvious guess is he’s talking to a counsellor of some kind.  Sorry but I didn’t find it very interesting and to me it is only a “classic” on the over-rated shelf.

Following “Skagboys”  I re-read a few of Irvine Welsh’s early books and I’ll type a bit about that another time, maybe.