Paul's Pages » Wisden Trophy

Wisden Trophy is back

paulmthomas — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:08:38 +0000

The English cricket team have racked up a well-deserved 2-0 series victory over the West Indies with a convincing win in chilly Chester-le-Street. James Anderson displayed excellent mastery of the swinging ball to blow away the West Indies’ lower order with a series of deliveries that will have the Australians hoping that he can’t repeat this sort of form. Bresnan chipped in with his first (but could they be his last also) test wickets, and Collingwood took his first catch as wicket-keeper, although I don’t think Prior will be too worried about his place.

It was a shame in this series that the West Indies weren’t entirely committed, and that the authorities thought it necessary to play the games so early in the season, and in the cold weather. That England won in preparation for the Ashes was vital, but they’d have preferred a stiffer test.

So who will turn out for England in the Ashes – assuming Flintoff is fit, here would be my selection, which is not too controversial:

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar

The reason I include Monty is that the Australians are now without any world-class spinner, and if we have turning pitches, then England now have the spin armoury to really attack Australia with spin. Swann is surely now first choice spinner, and is an excellent batsmen to appear at 9 in the batting order. Broad’s seam and Anderson’s mastery of the swinging ball provide a perfect opening pair, with Flintoff the go-to bowler at any time of need. And if one of Panesar or Swann is stuggling, there is always Pietersen’s off-spinners for a change.

Prior should now naturally bat above Flintoff, since the latter’s batting is no-where near the force it once was, and Broad should look to become a competent no. 7 in the future – a test century should be his for the taking in the next couple of years. Swann is also capable of making a test century and England have the longest batting line up in a very long time.

We’ll see what happens in the coming 7 weeks!

Ducks and Centuries

paulmthomas — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:50:33 +0000

Another excellent day’s cricket for England at Chester-le-Street; it’s a shame so few people turned up to watch. Ravi Bopara scored his third century in successive innings and must be feeling that he cannot do much more to cement a place for the Ashes. An interesting statistic about Bopara is that this third successive century was preceede by three ducks in a row (two first ball) in his three previous innings.

This potentially interesting fact, led me to email the commentators on www.cricinfo.com for the first time, asking whether this was a first (no answer), but they posted my comment, including a comment of their own about the “tremendous quantities of geekery”. Finally my reward, and a proud moment. It’s in the 80th over of the first day’s full commentary.

Otherwise, not much to talk about – Alastair Cook continues to score runs, despite looking a little out of touch still, but if he can do so, then all credit; he needs to push on to a really big score tomorrow – his current best of 139* isn’t quite good enough. England will need to aim for 500, and hope the pitch deteriorates, otherwise a boring draw is on the cards.

Cricket time again

paulmthomas — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:58:41 +0000

Since the International cricket season has now kicked off, I should get back to what I like doing, which is pontificating about it! Since I failed to watch any of today’s play (no satellite), I only have the Cricinfo(TM) commentary to go on, so there’s not really very much I can say!

An excellent day’s work from England’s new no. 3 Bopara – some might suggest that Bell’s weight of runs in County Cricket so far, or Vaughan’s reputation should have secured one of them the slot, and I for one would have liked Vaughan to have a final chance to demonstrate his undoubted talent, but Bopara has silenced the critics today, albeit with the help of some hopeless catching. Hopefully he can press on with the tail tomorrow.

At the top of the order, Cook again did the hard work and then failed, and will need to convert at least one start in this series if he is to be a serious contender in the Ashes – although I suspect he’ll play anyway, in the absence of anyone else good enough. The in-form batsman, Strauss didn’t really get going, and KP didn’t get a chance.

Lower down, Broad continues to impress with the bat, and a test century is only a matter of time away. Swann, a man with a first-class best of 183, is a very able no.9, and England for once have an impressively long batting line up.

West Indies, despite being let down by their catching, will be fairly happy with the scoreline at the end of the day, and if Edwards can complete his 5-wicket haul early on the Second Day, they will think themselves in an excellent position.