The Week in Cricket

Well this week has been quite a quiet one in the world of cricket with only a few things to talk about but they are exciting things that are to be talked about including the return home of Marcus Trescothick, the big question of who is going to sign Matthew Hoggard up for next Season and of course the Champions League Twenty/20 is reaching its conclusion.

Firstly it was no surprise when I turned on my TV and saw that Marcus Trescothick had succumbed to the same mental injury that had forced him to retire from International Cricket and unfortunately he has now said that he will never go abroad again to tour with cricket. This really was no surprise as if he couldn't do it for his Country why did they think he would be able to leave his family here and go back to India with his county? although in the end it didn't matter much as Somerset won just once and were soon knocked out of the competition as their batsmen failed game after game.

Next came the departure, from Yorkshire, of Matthew Hoggard (former Ashes winning England Bowler) and after a bitter battle of words between both the player and his former county all yes have now turned to see just which county is going to stump up the wages and the length of contract that Matthew wants, with Leicestershire already said to have offered him a 3 year deal. This is a shame for both Hoggard and Yorkshire though as he had previously played for only them throughout his whole career but it appears that they just did not have the financial means to offer him a good enough contract.

Finally the inaugural Twenty20 Cricket Champions League is beginning to draw to a close with one of the finalists already decided and the other one being decided today and then progressing to tomorrows final. Already in the final are the New South Wales Blues (who have the likes of Simon Katich, David Warner, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Phil Hughes in their side) and they will surely be favourites to win the title, but should face some stiff competition in the final where they will meet the winners of today's clash between Trinidad and Tobago Vs Cape Cobras.

So until next week lets hope that the Aussies don't win the Champions League and i know that I for one am hoping that Trinidad and Tobago can upset the odds :)

England Tour to South Africa

So after a long summer of cricket that included the Ashes Test Series, the Hectic 7 match One Day Series between Australia and England and then the ICC Champions Trophy tournament England will be hopping on a plane and jetting off to South Africa for a long tour that will last from the 1st November to the 18th January.

The squads were announced back earlier this month and there were a few surprises in both squads with Liam Plunkett and Luke Wright being included in the Test Squad and also Sajid Mahmood and Alastair Cook being included again in the One Day format of the game, the full squads are below:

Test squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), Alastair Cook (Essex - vice captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

One-day squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Joe Denly (Kent), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

So what i'm going to look at is my 2 sides that would play from these squads if they all remain fit and explain why I have chosen the 2 sides.

Test Team
1 - Andrew Strauss
2 - Alastair Cook
3 - Ian Bell
4 - Kevin Pietersen
5 - Jonathan Trott
6 - Matthew Prior
7 - Luke Wright
8 - Stuart Broad
9 - Graeme Swann
10 - Jimmy Anderson
11 - Graham Onions

The reason I have gone with the above team is because I think that Ian Bell although not always performed at his best is easily one of the technically best batsmen in the world and let us not forget the magical 199 he got last time he played the South Africans and for me Trott is a better pick than Paul collingwood who has barely scored any runs in the Ashes and can no longer do a good enough job at number 5. The only other place in dispute is the number 7 spot and I would go for Luke Wright as he is young, a good striker of the cricket ball and bowls at a brisk pace and can be a handy back up for the other 3 main seamers.

One Day Team
1 - Andrew Strauss
2 - Joe Denly
3 - Ian Bell
4 - Kevin Pietersen
5 - Paul Collingwood
6 - Eoin Morgan
7 - Matthew Prior
8 - Luke Wright
9 - Stuart Broad
10 - Graeme Swann
11 - Jimmy Anderson

I have gone for the above team as you have the longer batting order and if you were worried about the bowling you could exchange Luke Wright for Tim Bresnan however i think that in the One Day format then you should have enough bowlers especially if you were willing to use Kevin Pietersen as a part time spinner as he does turn the ball a lot.

I am sure that these above teams will not be the ones that walk out to the middle to start the series but in my opinion if the England management want to be seen to be making a go at competing in the One Day arena as well as the Test arena then they have to make changes from the past series that have gone and the above team could well do that.

Australia Retain their Trophy and England Fluff it Again

Well the England cricket team seems to enjoy making us think that they could actually become a good One Day team, just to then throw in a ridiculously poor performance and get knocked out of the competition despite beating both the pre-tournament favourites of Sri Lanka and South Africa.

It all started badly against New Zealand as we lost the last group game which meant that we would have to face the Winners of the other group and after Australia beat Pakistan in their last group match it meant that after a 7 match series, which we lost 6-1, again we had to face Australia.

On a pitch that was supposed to be the best batting pitch of the whole tournament England won the toss and batted first and after a poor start reached 100 for the loss of 6 wickets, only Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright managed to get any runs and in the end we could only muster a score of 257 All Out, Bresnan the highest scorer with a composed knock of 80 of 76 balls.

Hope was there as Graeme Onions removed Tim Paine in the first over but from then on it was all Australia as both Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting hit centuries as they chased down the target finishing on 258-1 with over 8 overs to spare. In the other Semi Final things were a lot closer as New Zealand edged out Pakistan by 5 wickets to progress through and meet Australia in the final.

The final again was a one sided affair with New Zealand posting a meagre 200-9 off their 50 overs with Australia chasing it down whilst losing only 4 wickets, with Shane Watson again the hero hitting 4 maximums in a brilliant innings of 105 Not Out off 129 balls, although he was dropped by Wicket Keeper Brendan McCullum when he was on just 15 which could have made all the difference.

So that brings us to a break in the Cricket Season with the next England game being the tour to South Africa which starts on the 20th November with the First One Day International, but I will still be blogging and next week we will be looking at the winners and losers of the County Cricket Season 2009.

WOW: England show that they can play cricket

I may have to stop making predictions on England's cricket performances as for some reason whenever I say that they are going to lose they seem to respond. Firstly at 4-0 down to Australia I said that I thought they would lose every game and the series 7-0, they then went on and won the 7th game to lose the series 6-1, then just last week I said that they would lose every game at the ICC Champions Trophy before the promptly beat Sri Lanka and then knocked out the host South Africa just a few days later to qualify for the semi finals.

It is the game against South Africa that I want to focus on today as I thought it was a fantastic game and really underlines just how good 50 over cricket can be and why we as fans of the sport need it. So with Andrew Strauss and Graeme Smith walking out to the middle to do the toss in front of a large South African crowd and everyone was saying that whoever won the toss would have to bat first on a pitch that was full of runs.

So England won the toss and batted first and after a mediocre opening stand both the openers were back in the dressing room with the score on 59-2 and it looked as if we could once again fail to use a brilliant batting wicket, until Owais Shah was joined in the middle by Paul Collingwood and the 2 combined to put on a stand of 163 at just over a run per ball. What was good about this was not the amount of runs that were scored but the manner in which they were scored. One of the main criticisms of England over the past few years is that they haven't cleared the boundary enough but within this partnership was 7 maximums of which Shah hit 6 of them and it was unfortunate for all of us when he departed for a brilliant 98.

That dismissal however only bought Eoin Morgan to the crease and what happened next was the stuff of legend as he elevated the score from 222-3 to 323-8 at the end of the innings with himself clearing the rope 5 times in a brilliant 67 off just 34 balls, although it was a shame that his strike rate fell just under the 200 mark. But with his late impetus, especially in the powerplay overs we were able to post a score of over 300, a score that England had never before been able to defend.

so with 323 on the board England came out feeling pretty confident but a fantastic innings of 141 from Graeme Smith almost threatened to snatch the victory from England but with wickets falling regularly at the other end (the next highest South African score was 36 from AB De Villiers) and 3 wickets each for both Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson South Africa eventually finished on 301-9 and they were out of the competition.

So with England qualifying for the semi finals thanks to New Zealands win against Sri Lanka it means the last game of the group, England vs New Zealand, will only determine who joins them in the Semi Finals with both New Zealand and Sri Lanka still able to make it. So with England already through and both Pakistan and Australia looking as if they will qualify from the other group I hereby predict that England will not win another game in the competition and definitely will not make it through to the final (lets hope I'm wrong again).

The Champions Trophy in South Africa

I want to first start this blog with an admission that I was wrong, get used to it I don't admit that I was wrong often, last week I predicted that England would lose the One-Day series to Australia 7-0, however in the last game of the series they managed to scrape a win and eventually only lost the series 6-1 (a huge comfort to all England supporters I am sure)

So back to business, yesterday I settled down in front of the TV to watch the first game of the 2009 Champions Trophy and I was hoping for a classic match, full of entertainment and between the 2 big favourites to win the competition outright: South Africa (the hosts) and Sri Lanka. On paper they both have very good sides but what we actually saw was a one-sided encounter that was oddly reminiscent of England getting thrashed by Australia just a few days ago.

Firstly Sri Lankas batting was magnificent to behold with Tillekeratne Dilshan continuing his fine International form with a quickfire 106 off just 92 balls. The other 2 main contributors were Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene who both hit 50's in a huge total of 319 - 8 off 50 overs which amazingly only included two 6's. Unfortunately where there is a lot of runs and individual high scores there is always a bowler whose figures look very bad and yesterday was a bad day for young Wayne Parnell who took 10-0-79-3, with all 3 of his wickets coming in his last 2 overs.

So with such a huge total to chase down all eyes turned to the South African batting line up and what a good line up it was full of quality players such as Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers and Mark Boucher. This was one batting line up that you thought might actually have a chance of chasing down such a total, however it wasn't to be with Graeme Smith making the only 50 in their innings and a batting collapse seeing them go from 90-1 to 113-4. A lot has to be said about Ajantha Mendis's spin bowling as even though he has been around 18 months now people still cannot pick him and are still unsure of what ball he is bowling which is why he finished with such good figures of 7-0-30-3.

However in the end it was the rain that had the final say as Sri Lanka won by 55 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method and Sri Lanka registered the first win of the tournament. Unfortunately for England these 2 are definitely the best teams in the competition and as they are both in our group I don't see us winning a game unless we can sneak one against New Zealand who themselves are a very good One-Day International team.

So with 1 game down and another 14 to go, and the prospect of Pakistan vs West Indies later today, I must bid you goodbye.

Mid September with Rain Around

So with 2 weeks left to go of the English Cricket Season pretty much every competition would have been settled by now with the exception of who is going to top the Pro 40 Championship of course and Durham having wrapped up back to back County Championship titles for the first time in their history mainly without Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions for long periods of the year as they were both away on international duty with England.

And talking of England, with 3 games to play in their One Day International Series against Australia they are already 4-0 down and don't look as if they could beat Kenya convincingly at the moment. Which is exactly what everyone else seemed to think would happen when both Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff came down with injuries, and the fact that England have already won the ashes can't be helping them put in their best performances.

But with the darkness of winter coming and the rain already flooding my local pitch my attention is turning to the champions trophy which starts in 7 days time and will feature the best 8 sides in the world (so i don't know how England are playing in it) as they do battle to become the champions of 50 over cricket. With England having to play South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in their group they must be wondering how on earth a team that has looked so outclassed against Australia can face 2 of the best 3 teams in the country and be expected to take at least 2 wins out of those 3 games to get through to the Semi Finals.

So in about a months time i predict that we would not have won a single One Day international against Australia (I won't predict 7-0 because of the weather that is currently around with the 5th match starting later today) and also that we lose all 3 games in the Champions Trophy. Maybe once this has happened and people begin to realise that we are far far away from being a top side in International One Day cricket.

Until then I've just bought a new cricket bat (Newbery Gt335) so that I have plenty of time to knock it in before next season comes around and I really must get back to hitting it with the ball on a stick I got with it, I can't really be bothered to do it but maybe if I teach myself to spend 2 minutes on it every time England face a dot ball in their remaining One Day matches then it will soon be sufficiently knocked in.

Winter is coming and the bails are off

After a long summer, and definitely not a barbecue one, the cricket season has entered its final month and after winning the ashes back from the Australians the England team have put in some lacklustre performances in the One-Day arena and now find themselves 2-0 down with 5 more to play. Yes I know what you are saying, 7 One-Day Internationals at the end of a long summer when we've already won the ashes, yes even my thoughts are not entirely on this series.

What I cannot understand is that we appear to have a world class One-Day squad and yet we consistently find ourselves struggling to compete with the top teams from around the world and I believe that it shows up just how much of a gap there is between One-Day Internationals and One Day County Cricket. We have what is regarded as the second best County Set-Up in the world (second only to Australia) and yet the people we are producing and bringing through seem to struggle to step up when they are up against really class teams such as Australia, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka (currently the 4 teams above us in the ICC One-Day Rankings.)

Players such as Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright have been outstanding for their counties this year, both in County Championship and One-Day games, and yet they seem to find the step up to the international arena a big one with Ravi failing in the Ashes Series and Luke Wright having some problems with his batting when faced with the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson running in hard. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of pure pace bowlers in County Standard Cricket, apart from Saj Mahmood at Lancashire and a few of the Durham Bowlers there are not enough bowlers that can get the ball up to the magic 90mph mark and even less people that can do it consistently meaning that when the step up is taken the players end up facing quicker than they have done before and maybe just being found out a bit by the world class bowlers bowling to them.

So my plan would be to crank up the bowling machines and get the boys used to facing extreme pace of 90mph or more because they are definitely going to need it this winter when they are out in South Africa for their 4 Test Match and 5 One-Day International tour later this year, and with people like Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell bowling at 90+ the boys that want to be on that touring party had better get used to facing this and get used to batting normally against it and more importantly scoring big runs. If they can do that then just maybe we can continue the good work in the Test Arena and maybe start to become a good One-Day Team.

For now I have about 4 hours to kill until the 3rd One-Dayer between England and Australia and I may just go and take a nap before the start. Come on England!!