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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Posts Tagged: Ian Bell
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Cook shows his mettle in a Ballanced performance
Well done Alistair Cook. OK, so he missed out on making a century, just, but to score 95 when the chips were really down took unbelievable character. The only way he was going to silence the critics was with some runs and hopefully today’s score marks a permanent return to form. The crowd’s reaction when he scored his half century and the ovation when he left the field when speaks volumes as to the support for him amongst the cricket watching public. He’s a good man and didn’t deserve some of the diatribe fired his way.
Geoffrey Boycott has predicted a draw already – and the Rose Bowl pitch looks like it will produce another uninspiring match where the bat rules supreme. How ridiculous. We need pitches that have something on offer for both batsmen and bowlers, one that rewards top exponents of both disciplines. So what if the game is over in four days instead of five? Short term financial thinking risks undermining the entire fabric of the game – and then where will the money come from?… Read Full Article
0India 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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Sachithra 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
1England — just what is up??
What has happened to England? In the last two tests they have been appalling. I can’t think of any positives to take out of either game.
The batting line up has been short of runs for some time now. The bowlers won the Ashes for England last time round, despite the best efforts of the much heralded batting line up to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (the wonderful Bell aside) and now, in Australian conditions, England are really up against it. The batsmen are continuing to struggle but what is most worrying is the way they are getting out – careless and lazy shots and a lack of application. You expect fireworks from Kevin Pieterson early on in an innings but not the others.… 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
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Australia 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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Aussies Tonked — Now to the Future
Firstly an apology for not updating the site much of late – along with the other author for this site I’ve been on a drive through Europe.
We are back now though, so fear not.
So, England wrapped up the Ashes with a barnstorming performance on the last day to well and truly send them packing. A lot has been written already about England’s performance and, in particular, Stuart Broad’s performance. It was excellent, end of.
So I’m going to concentrate on something a little different, a little off-centre if you will.
When Australia were at their peak a few years back (seems so long ago now!) the one mistake they made was not to blood up-and-coming youngsters so they had a chance to experience the highs and lows of test match cricket.… Read Full Article
03–0 to England… what have we learned?
I’ve been away on holiday for the past 2½ weeks and haven’t had chance to write about the cricket. During that time there have been 2 more Ashes test matches and England have extended their lead to 3–0. Having been away from all the talking heads I haven’t heard what they have to say, so here are some of my own thoughts, uninfluenced by the pundits.
“The pink ball appears grey/blue in red/green deficient vision, depending on its severity. I did a simulation with colour blindness…”