One test in, England are one-nil down. Well done Pakistan
Having brushed Sri Lanka aside England are in the midst of a much sterner test against an in-form Pakistan. And the visitors succeeded where many others have failed of late, i.e. to expose England’s weaknesses.
Perhaps England’s main weakness is a lack of top quality spinner. Moeen Ali is useful for a good few overs and tends to surprise many batsmen and trick them into a false sense of security. He is, however, a second spinner. If he couldn’t bat would he be in the side? Very unlikely. He’s a backup option, not lead the attack material. How and why England have chosen to ignore Adil Rashid amazes me. Over the decades English selectors have shown a reluctance to pig leg-spinners and Rashid is seen as susceptible of leaking a few runs – but he has proven in ODIs and T20s that he is able to keep it tight. Thankfully they have at least indicated they are willing to put this right by naming him in the 13 man squad for the second test. They must pick him – especially as Old Trafford tends to offer encouragement to the twirlers. England have a bit of a selection dilemma on their hands – I suspect Ben Stokes and Moeen are fighting it out for one place.
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Posts Tagged: Stuart Broad
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Pitch Perfect England Need a Sterner Test
So the first test of the summer is at an end. Well done England for a victory for what was really a match of men against boys.
Sri Lanka are, to use that oft touted sound-bite, a team in “transition” and boy did it show. It must be remembered, however, that they kept a strong England batting line up to a tad under the 300 mark – and half of those runs came from the excellent Jonny Bairstow. Alex Hales did well too with a decent knock and must be kicking himself he didn’t convert it into a ton. Had it not been for those two it might have been a closer run thing. We will never know.… Read Full Article
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No Star Shines Bright for Either Side
So the Ashes are now at end with England the victors and Australia put back in their place. A 3–2 scoreline flatters the green baggied ones a little but in truth the last test was a dead rubber for England. They were never going to play to the same level on intensity as when they were trying to claim the little urn back from our Antipodean cousins.
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India take the initiative into the third test
Two tests in, 1–0 to India. England’s poor summer continued apace today with a shocking (sorry, appalling) collapse after lunch today to hand the visitors the initiative going forward into the rest of the series. On current evidence it would be hard to see past India winning the series.
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0Sachithra Senanayake Mankades (try saying that after a few beers!)
Cricket is a sport in which most followers expect their heroes to adhere to a higher standard of fair play and sportsmanship.
The recent incident of ‘Mankading’ (who on earth coined that phrase?) – when Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake ran out England’s Jos Buttler who had strayed out of his crease at the non-striker’s end at a key point in the final and deciding ODI in the series was disappointing to see and thankfully remains very rare.
The last incident I can remember is when Kapil Dev ran out South Africa’s Peter Kirsten, apparently without warning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzbFy_elb8k
Differing accounts of Tuesday’s shambles say Senanayake warned Buttler twice or just the once. Either way, it wasn’t cricket. The bowler shouldn’t have done it and the captain should have over-ruled the appeal. He didn’t, it happened so we are left to count the cost of a strain on the game.
What I don’t like, however, is England using this unsavoury controversy to shield yet another highly mixed performance during a ODI series.
Sri Lanka are a decent side – but without the wicket taking machine that was Muttiah Muralitharan in the line-up and home advantage you would have expected England to win the series.… Read Full Article
0Ashes to Ashes, England to Dust
For what I am about to say may I be struck down from above…but I am glad that this Ashes series is at an end. Quite simply Australia have played far better than the sum of their individual parts and England have been, for the large part, absolutely diabolical.
As sure as night follows day the Aussies wrapped up a devastating 5–0 series win, yet again bowling England out for a pitiful total not worthy of an international line up. The visitors now need to go back, re-group and pick up the pieces from this potentially disastrous tour down-under.… Read Full Article
0First blow to England
So the Ashes are under way again with no great surprises so far. Australia won the toss and batted, England came out with the ball and made life difficult for a very average looking Australian batting line-up. The man of the day was without doubt Stuart Broad, who should have now silenced all but the most loud-mouthed of his critics.… Read Full Article
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England’s BROADside about resting players
As I sit listening to the T20 freak-show (it marginally beats whatever soap based rubbish the wife is watching) I’ve been contemplating the debate that’s been stirred after England rested five key players for the ODI series.
Captain Cook, Bell, Graeme Swann, Jimmy Anderson and T20 captain Stuart Broad are all putting their feet up and letting a new-look England take on the Aussies for the five match series.
Former Captain Michael Vaughan has had his say and Stuart Broad has fired back. The media have of course jumped on to a healthy debate and stirred it into a bit of a row.… Read Full Article
1Australia hold the upper hand — in a dead rubber match
Two days in and Australia certainly have the upper hand. But so what. The Ashes are won and won pretty convincingly at that. This is a dead-rubber match and is very reminiscent of Ashes series of old when England used to suddenly pull a decent performance out of the hat when the urn was in the possession of the Aussies. Players who time and time again let the team down would suddenly grab a five-for or score a century and their series average to the historic observer would look half-decent.… Read Full Article
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Just plain thoughtless: Darren Lehman
So Darren Lehman, the Aussie coach, has called for the Aussie public to give Stuart Broad a hard time when England go to play the return Ashes series this winter. What do we make of that here at AdoreCricket? Well, let’s start by quoting Lehman accurately.… Read Full Article
“The pink ball appears grey/blue in red/green deficient vision, depending on its severity. I did a simulation with colour blindness…”