One of the ‘joys’ of being an England cricket fan is the frankly, breathtaking unpredictability of the side. Brilliant some days, bloody awful on others. (Think of Jimmy Anderson as a microcosm). I always convince myself that we England supporters are the only ones who are put through this particular mill on such an alarmingly regular basis – why do we have to suffer so many collapses and dropped catches, Steve Harmison’s, entertaining and creative interpretation of line and length, batsmen-wicketkeepers (or is that wicketkeeper-batsman?) who don’t quite understand the job description and so on and so forth. Whilst this is true about the England boys, it is also true of every other team as well.
This was brought home to me in a thunderously entertaining 109 mins, courtesy of the Indian test side. Opting to bat on a green, but not exactly overly threatening wicket, the Indians wilted like a daffodil at the mercy of a blowtorch. Apart from the absolute ripper of a ball that got Dravid, the Indians simply handed their wickets to the South Africans, gift wrapped. MS Dhoni’s dismissal was probably the most stupid of all. With your side at 55-5, might it be a good idea to rein in one’s attacking instincts, a bit? Or, shall we go merrily-a-thrashing? Well, he opted for the latter, wafting at a nothing ball from Morkel and got what he thoroughly deserved.
India’s 76 all out isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, I’m sure England will show us, in probably not the too distant future, who the real masters of the batting collapse are.
In reply, South Africa kicked ass and chewed bubble gum with much aplomb. India’s bowlers were generally poor, with the exception of Harbhajan and Sreesanth (who, wasn’t that good, but I’m ‘looking for some positives’). RP Singh, who I used to rate highly and Pathan were, if you’ll excuse my French, fucking appalling, you’d see more commitment, willing and guile from the dead. No offense to the man, but if AB de Villiers is plundering double centuries against you, you really are in trouble.
India’s problem seems to be, that they are always ‘the next’ cricketing power-house, they’ve always got the talent, but then you would or at least struggle not to, in a cricket-mad country of 1 billion people, but never quite have the delivery. Certainly they win things on occasion, like the Twenty20 World Cup, but never with any consistency. Just as much as you can imagine them handing out a beating to Australia, you can always see them losing to Bangladesh. It is a bit unfair to pick on India, but a side that has boasted the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble and Dravid, really should have done better in the last 10 or so years.
Anyway back to the match...
The Saffers put on 494-7d, the Indian’s had a slightly better attempt at playing test cricket, with 328, but still lost by and innings and 90 runs, inside 3 days. Back to the drawing board chaps.
Two other quick items on the agenda. It was good to see the Windies win another test match, (2 this year and counting!) and with it square the series against Sri Lanka. This was jolly good news for two reasons, 1) it’s been depressing watching a rubbish West Indies side over the last few years, I know I’m an England fan, but I’m also a fan of the game as a whole, test cricket needs a strong West Indies. I hope they’re starting to turn the corner. 2) Sri Lanka now slip below England in the ICC rankings, which will have every Sri Lankan worth his salt choking on his tea!
Second, and most importantly of all, Warwickshire have just chased down 217 against Worcestershire in just 22 overs, in a pre-season friendly – let’s hope it continues when the season gets underway next week!
Over and out.
This was brought home to me in a thunderously entertaining 109 mins, courtesy of the Indian test side. Opting to bat on a green, but not exactly overly threatening wicket, the Indians wilted like a daffodil at the mercy of a blowtorch. Apart from the absolute ripper of a ball that got Dravid, the Indians simply handed their wickets to the South Africans, gift wrapped. MS Dhoni’s dismissal was probably the most stupid of all. With your side at 55-5, might it be a good idea to rein in one’s attacking instincts, a bit? Or, shall we go merrily-a-thrashing? Well, he opted for the latter, wafting at a nothing ball from Morkel and got what he thoroughly deserved.
India’s 76 all out isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, I’m sure England will show us, in probably not the too distant future, who the real masters of the batting collapse are.
In reply, South Africa kicked ass and chewed bubble gum with much aplomb. India’s bowlers were generally poor, with the exception of Harbhajan and Sreesanth (who, wasn’t that good, but I’m ‘looking for some positives’). RP Singh, who I used to rate highly and Pathan were, if you’ll excuse my French, fucking appalling, you’d see more commitment, willing and guile from the dead. No offense to the man, but if AB de Villiers is plundering double centuries against you, you really are in trouble.
India’s problem seems to be, that they are always ‘the next’ cricketing power-house, they’ve always got the talent, but then you would or at least struggle not to, in a cricket-mad country of 1 billion people, but never quite have the delivery. Certainly they win things on occasion, like the Twenty20 World Cup, but never with any consistency. Just as much as you can imagine them handing out a beating to Australia, you can always see them losing to Bangladesh. It is a bit unfair to pick on India, but a side that has boasted the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble and Dravid, really should have done better in the last 10 or so years.
Anyway back to the match...
The Saffers put on 494-7d, the Indian’s had a slightly better attempt at playing test cricket, with 328, but still lost by and innings and 90 runs, inside 3 days. Back to the drawing board chaps.
Two other quick items on the agenda. It was good to see the Windies win another test match, (2 this year and counting!) and with it square the series against Sri Lanka. This was jolly good news for two reasons, 1) it’s been depressing watching a rubbish West Indies side over the last few years, I know I’m an England fan, but I’m also a fan of the game as a whole, test cricket needs a strong West Indies. I hope they’re starting to turn the corner. 2) Sri Lanka now slip below England in the ICC rankings, which will have every Sri Lankan worth his salt choking on his tea!
Second, and most importantly of all, Warwickshire have just chased down 217 against Worcestershire in just 22 overs, in a pre-season friendly – let’s hope it continues when the season gets underway next week!
Over and out.
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