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December 4, 2008
Posted 1 day ago in England in India 2008-09
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Kevin Pietersen is trying to unite a wary England as the India tour resumes
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The cricket world is a small world, but wherever you look the picture is a disintegrating one, writes Mike Atherton in his latest Times column. While the omens for a good India versus England are not good, says Atherton, now, more than ever, the game needs something to cheer.
An excerpt:
“Take your PlayStations and your DVDs” was the advice given to this newspaper on Tuesday by a security adviser milking the situation for all it was worth, “because you will not be going out of your hotel of an evening.” If he had his way, you suspect body doubles, lookalikes and food tasters would need to be provided before he deemed it safe to go. Mind you, in Australia two winters ago a member of the England team was seen going to collect his laundry with a security guard in tow. Practise, play, room service; practise, play, room service. It is not much of a way to play cricket - not much of a way to live.
According to Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, England should not have been so eager to go back to India while the hosts should not have been so eager to ask them. Far from being played for the right reasons, says Brenkley, the series is being played for the wrong ones.
A greater cause for concern is the World Cup of 2011, says veteran Indian journalist R Mohan in the Asian Age. The England Test series may be resurrected and run under the tightest possible security cover in what may be termed as safe cities, says the writer, but what will the terror scenario be around an event that is to be held 24 months or so down the road in some of the most volatile places?
When the smoke clears and the dust settles cricket may regret the haste with which bags have been packed and matches cancelled, writes Peter Roebuck in the latest edition of Sportstar.
December 2, 2008
Posted 2 days, 9 hours ago in England in India 2008-09
Writing in The Guardian, Andy Bull believes England should go back to India, and cites the example of the New York Mets baseball team, who resumed playing only weeks after the September 11 attacks, and embarked on a winning run that earned them the nickname "Miracle Mets".
They won, in fact, each of their first six games after 9/11, thrilling their fans and delighting the city as they did so. Back pages were again filled with headlines about the 'Miracle Mets'. Their hitter Mike Piazza commented: "we expect to win every game right now ... because we're playing completely relaxed, even during what should be the most tense of circumstances."
Posted 3 days ago in England in India 2008-09
Pause a moment before calling India's ODI series win against England a triumph for the opposition was a rag-tag bunch with only one class one-day batsman in Kevin Pietersen, writes V Gangadhar in the Outlook magazine.
During his frequent injury-induced absences from the game, Flintoff appears to have forgotten the art of batting. Bell, Collingwood, Owais Shah, Bopara, Prior and the rest made guest appearances at the crease and disappeared. On the bowling front, James Anderson conceded more than six runs per over and after four matches was yet to take a wicket. And he is their opening bowler! ... Add to their troubles the slow turners, sight screens which seldom worked properly, light which faded around 4 pm, the stupid refusal to switch on the lights and get on with the game.
December 1, 2008
Posted 3 days, 23 hours ago in Security concerns
England have returned home following the Mumbai attacks and though the Tests are scheduled to be played it still isn't clear if the team will come back to India. The Times' Simon Barnes feels England have an opportunity to say something important, loudly, triumphantly and publicly, something that is best said in the most robust language possible, and it is this. F*** all terrorists. You're not going to f***ing win.
When you take a big wicket or score a big century, you are not alone because the country celebrates with you. When you fail, when you mess it all up and, say, get drunk on tour and need to be rescued from a pedalo, the country jumps on you. That's the deal: those who are up to it are paid handsomely, and quite right, too. It follows, then, that an England cricketer is not morally entitled to think like a private person. Like me, for example, or you. An England cricketer can't duck out of a tour like a tourist. He has to think bigger than that. That's the job he signed on for. We pay an athlete to inspire us. Flintoff batting in the Ashes series of 2005, Flintoff taking Australia wickets and inflating his chest like a Lilo, Flintoff consoling Brett Lee in England's victory; these things matter to us. They are the sort of things a great athlete does, and at such times we know they are worth every penny of the money they receive.
The Guardian's David Hopps heads to Ahmedabad to see the preparations carried out for the first Test between India and England scheduled to start on December 11.
England will stay in the Fortune Landmark, a 20-minute drive from the stadium which is made quicker when you represent Team England and rush-hour traffic is being cleared by armed police escorts with blaring horns. Behind the duty manager's desk at the hotel today lay a fresh consignment of CCTV cameras, not yet unpacked. While Neerah Gewali, the assistant manager, explained how England would be protected, an Ahmedabad crime prevention unit arrived at the front desk to issue new instructions for all.
November 29, 2008
Posted 6 days ago in England in India 2008-09
Australia is beaten; England demoralised by now. Does this portend cricket's Indian era, asks Rohit Mahajan in the latest edition of Outlook. It would seem, he says, that India are playing the best cricket in the world. But India are not No. 1.
India moved to No. 2, marginally ahead of South Africa, in Tests with the win over the Aussies. South Africa, though, will be back at No. 2 with a certain whitewash of Bangladesh. In ODIs, the Indians need to whitewash England 7-0 to move to the second spot behind Australia. Currently, they're fifth. Most experts are unequivocal in their opinion that while India are on their way up and Australia down, neither has reached the point that alters equations significantly.
November 28, 2008
Posted 6 days, 9 hours ago in England in India 2008-09
At their blog, The Wisden Cricketer magazine's editor, John Stern, calls for greater perspective in the wake of the terrorist attacks in India.
The chances of England returning for the two-Test series in India seems negligible. I can’t believe that there is much appetite among the players to return so unless the ECB force them to go back, which is inconceivable, then the Tests are off.
This is a shame. Totally understandable, even inevitable, but a shame nonetheless. On the one hand, sport can seem utterly trivial at times of great tragedy and personal suffering. But on the other, this is when sport can show its best side, it can be a force for good, a symbol of public resilience, of normality, a sign that we will carry on with our lives in the face of vile pressure. Above all, it is a chance to remember why we love this game, its capacity to bring fun, entertainment and excitement into our lives.
I didn’t expect Kevin Pietersen to be standing in the lobby of his Bhubaneshwar hotel saying: “We ain’t going nowhere.” Nor did I really expect Lalit Modi to be saying with such certainty that the Tests would go ahead. “There is no problem with that,” is possibly one of the most glib statements I’ve ever heard from a cricket administrator and (to paraphrase Blackadder) you can imagine there’s some pretty stiff competition. Was it stiff-upper-lip Dunkirk spirit from Modi or was it textbook grandstanding from the man who effectively runs world cricket? I know where my money is.
In contrast, Miles Jupp provides a more whimsical look at a possible England team meeting...
As preparation for the Fifth ODI in Cuttack, England opted to have a team meeting rather than a practice session. The following is a transcript of a tape recording of their meeting in the team room at the hotel made by a private detective.
We can hear talking, laughing and the noise of darts and table tennis being played.
Peter Moores: Excuse me everybody. Excuse me.
There is the noise of more chattering and giggling. Someone is doing what sounds like an impression of Bob Willis.
Moores: C’mon now, guys. Let’s have a bit of quiet. Can you come away from the pool table for a moment?
The chattering gets louder.
Moores: (mildly) Kevin, would you mind getting them all to…?
KP: EVERYBODY SHUT UP.
November 27, 2008
Posted 1 week ago in England in India 2008-09
Just to help those deluded enough to think that like sexual intercourse and Philip Larkin's 1963, cricket only began with the inauguration of the IPL, and that all skills and thinking prior to that were Neanderthal, here is a brief and by no means exclusive list of things that were around in the misty past, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
1. Yorkers Have players not heard of Ray Lindwall, Charlie Griffiths, or the Big Bird, Joel Garner? Have a look at footage of the 1979 World Cup final and marvel. You do not just decide to bowl a yorker and do so: it needs to be felt, as readily as a natural length. The change of length amounts to a third of a pitch. A top bowler should be able to shut his eyes and find a length. The same should apply to yorkers.
2. Slower balls A one-day staple, with increased variety and invention. But bowlers have always used them. Mine was crap, I admit, like Steve Harmison's, but even that has its moments. Three decades ago I was bowled out by Eddie Barlow with something that simply disappeared, while no one has ever bowled a more destructive slower ball than the Barbadian all-rounder Franklyn Stephenson.
The argument that IPL and Twenty20 have taken one-day cricket to a new level and England players are in danger of missing out is a cunning but false one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
It is difficult to understand how the IPL is going to help England to turn around their one-day fortunes. On form, who would be a potential buy for franchise owners feeling the chill winds of recession? Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, for sure, and maybe men such as Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel. Agents may have sore knuckles from knocking on the door of franchise owners, but other clients have not exactly made a compelling case for inclusion this past month.
November 26, 2008
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in England in India 2008-09
Facing yet another one-day humiliation, England's coach Peter Moores knows his time in the top job is rapidly running out, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
A year and a half, in which time Moores has supervised 66 matches in various formats, is an adequate time in which to form a picture and it is not looking too favourable. Brickbats came his way last winter for the boot-camp approach to training and as, one senior player told me at the time, his "in your face" approach compared unfavourably with Fletcher's assertive but considered and unobtrusive style. Moores has been forced to adapt, which is not a sign of strength. In his captain, Kevin Pietersen, he has a dominant personality who was known not to have a close relationship with him and who likes his own way. Moores' influence, already thinning, has been diluted further.
Michael Vaughan is full of enthusiasm as he talks about life with the young England hopefuls who aspire to achieve a fraction of what he has, writes Paul Newman in the Daily Mail.
‘Do you know what? This is exactly what I needed,’ says the former captain who won the Ashes. ‘To be taken back to where I started. There’s no luxury, no staying at five-star accommodation. I’m in a real refreshed state of mind, just looking forward to getting out there and working on my game. I haven’t done that for a while.’
Vaughan is with the England Performance Squad in Bangalore, staying at spartan digs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and looking forward to the rest of his life. It is a life that he insists will include more Test cricket for England. He looks fit, tanned and younger than his 34 years.
November 25, 2008
Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Having a ball: Zaheer Khan
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Not for the first time, a fantastic bowling performance was ignored and the Man of the Match was given to Virender Sehwag in Bangalore when it should have gone to Zaheer Khan. Suresh Menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com says Zaheer's spell, 5-0-20-2 would have been spectacular in a full match, but was incredible considering the game was reduced to 22 overs.
A bad opening spell could have turned the match, but Zaheer allowed no liberties to be taken. It was a wonderful example of accurate bowling in a one-day game, allowing the ball to do just enough to command respect.
It was good to see the authority with which he set the field for Ishant, who, in an interview after the match gave the senior man full credit for instilling in him confidence.
While India have embraced the new challenges of one-day cricket, David Hopps in the Guardian believes England have remained stuck in the past. England seem to have been embroiled in very English discussions about bureaucracy which didn't address the core challenge of producing powerful, aggressive players fit for a rapidly-changing game. A study in contrasts which has led to a horribly one-sided contest.
India replaced Rahul Dravid as captain and Greg Chappell as coach, judging both to be resistant to change, appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an inspirational captain armed with considerable power, and brazenly flaunted their economic power with the advent of the Indian Premier League. England appointed from within to prove that their system was working, shuffled chairs in the corridors of power, and as far as their own Twenty20 league was concerned, lost focus and ambition.
It is not just the series scoreline which has put a strain on Kevin Pietersen at the top. It is the sniping and the second-guessing that habitually surround English sport, which has seen him get a taste of what the England captaincy was like for so many of his predecessors. Simon Briggs has more in the Telegraph.
This winter, England have failed at Twenty20, failed at 50-over cricket and last week they even failed at 49-over cricket. In Bangalore, however, they had an excellent chance to turn their luck around in a Twenty-two22 match. King Cricket in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website outlines a three-point plan to help arrest the decline.
November 24, 2008
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Owais Shah's blitz gave England hope in Bangalore but they fell 19 runs short
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The dash for runs was only a couple of overs longer than a Twenty20 chase. Unfortunately, England's conservatism in the batting order meant that they were always behind the target, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.
The opening partnership of Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara should have been split. Bell is a good foil for a quick scorer - I always thought he would bat well alongside Marcus Trescothick - but not a crackerjack in his own right. And it was asking too much of Bopara - the number eight this time last week - to take on Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel from the start with the required rate standing at nine per over. An experienced hitter should have been promoted.
It took a lot of monsoon and a lot of Duckworth-Lewis to devise England's target. But, however demanding 198 in 22 overs appeared, the disruption was slightly in their favour. They had been severely up against it when the second downpour arrived, India's 106 for one in 17 leaving them well placed for another score in excess of 300, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
England's start had been feeble, repressed and thoroughly demoralising. After every unproductive over, one thought "this must be the low spot" only to discover that another over later there was another. In the first six overs of pace England did not middle a ball and scrambled to 21 for one in thoroughly embarrassing manner. Indians in the crowd laughed. The match felt lost.
England bowed out of this one-day series as they began, outplayed, outwitted, and out of ideas. To lose four games over a seven-match series in India would not be unusual for many visiting teams, but to lose four in a row, even if two of them did involve the arcane Duckworth-Lewis method, suggests a side long on inflexibility and short of solutions," writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.
For many of England's batsmen with ambitions of playing in the Indian Premier League, the run-chase would have been the perfect time to advertise their wares to any watching franchise-holders. But if they began with Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara looking like they were bargain basement and two for the price of one, Shah and Flintoff caught the eye with some superb ball-striking.
In the same paper, Geoffrey Boycott asks: how can you go out to bat for 22 overs, with the required run-rate hovering around nine runs per over, and leave your two most destructive players sitting on their backsides in the pavilion?
Poor weather may have prevented England from clawing their way back in to the seven match series in Kanpur, but it helped Kevin Pietersen’s side here. England’s Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 198 in 22 overs was always going to be tough to chase down, but it was easier than chasing around 350, the 50 over target India looked set to post before rain interrupted their innings, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
November 23, 2008
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Graeme Swann, England's specialist spinner, didn't play the first two ODIs
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Continuing with the formula that worked against South Africa at Lord's on the turning pitches of India is sheer folly, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.
Somehow, England forgot the basics upon arrival and were 2-0 down in the blink of an eye. In India, proper spinners are required. I thought we all knew that. England have one in their squad - Graeme Swann - and for two matches, he carried the drinks. His presence in the third game at Kanpur on Thursday could not change the result, but at least the captain had somewhere to turn.
And so England are 3-0 down in the series. They are improving; of that there can be no doubt. But they are also losing, and brave defeats must be for the romantics only. There are still too many nagging questions about both the composition of England's optimum XI in these conditions and the form of certain players, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.
Paul Collingwood, in particular, worries me. His groping around against the spinners in Kanpur was all too reminiscent of his travails last summer. He is not alone, but he seems at present to be finding Harbhajan Singh harder to read than Dostoyevsky. And while wicketkeeper Matt Prior has no such problems deciphering Pietersen's part-time twirlers, he missed a leg-side stumping in Kanpur and with it, according to Pietersen, a golden chance to win the match. That is a harsh judgment. But Prior does look short of confidence.
Steve James also caught up with India coach Gary Kirsten.
There is quite simply no coaching job like it in cricket. Its last two occupants, John Wright and Greg Chappell, have also been outsiders. And their tenures were not exactly a bed of roses. So is Kirsten worried? Is he heck. And it is not just the Indians' current on-field brilliance that promotes such a remarkable calm. This is Kirsten's nature. He is unflappable. He is confident in his abilities. And while he goes about his work quietly and unobtrusively, India are playing some astoundingly skilful cricket. It is a powerful, if unexpected, mix.
England can keep the series alive today but the jury is still out on Peter Moores, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.
Moores’s relationship with the media was shaped by a desire not to be the man who went before him. Duncan Fletcher had been taciturn and mistrustful of the media, so Moores set himself to be nonconfrontational and upbeat. The strategy has worked. So far he has been given a gentle ride ...
... There is anecdotal evidence, too, of Moores ruffling the players’ feathers. Last month Pietersen let slip that one reason England had not performed well in Sri Lanka and New Zealand was that they had spent too much time on fitness work.
England had Sidebottom's back scanned here yesterday, and sent the results for analysis, which last night confirmed a tear that rules him out of the one-day series. He will remain here in the hope that he will recover fitness for the Test series, but some judges - and there are a few former international fast bowlers among them - suspect his brief, but successful, international career is as good as over, writes David Hopps in the Observer
November 22, 2008
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Yuvraj Singh played crucial innings in each of the first three ODIs
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Kevin Pietersen is facing his first spell of criticism as England captain, with his side three down to India and only four one-day internationals to play, writes Michael Henderson in the Telegraph.
He [Pietersen] started well, and may yet surprise those people who are not entirely convinced by a manner that does its best to conceal doubt. But there are obvious fault lines, and they are becoming more apparent with each loss. The most important player in the side, Andrew Flintoff, has not always cared for his captain. Even the dogs in the street know that. That cannot help Pietersen because Flintoff enjoys the public acclaim that he lacks, for reasons that hardly require amplification. Flintoff, a match-winner in the heroic mould, is manifestly a team man, as was Ian Botham before him. He may enjoy the benefits that come with stardom, but those are incidental.
In the Guardian, Barney Ronay ponders the solution to England's biggest problem on the tour of India so far.
Ian Botham, in particular, seems flummoxed by England's inability to grasp this simple truth. It's as though all along England have been insisting that you've got to get Yuvraj late, or even not get Yuvraj at all. Or they've been putting off getting Yuvraj and doing other things instead, only to realise it's five o'clock in the afternoon and they're still in their dressing gowns surrounded by Irn-Bru cans, eating pickled onions out of the jar and watching Lionel Richie videos on YouTube. With a nagging sense that there was someone they should have got early... Oh dear. Yuvraj.
Until last month Yuvraj Singh was widely regarded around the world as a clean hitter unlikely to contribute when the ball was wobbling around or flying past his nostrils. In short, he fell short of the standard required by those seeking accreditation as Test match batsmen, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.
Sourav Ganguly’s retirement provided an opening for contenders. It was up to them to state their case. At the start of these one-day matches, Yuvraj was an outsider. Badrinath had been the squad’s reserve batsman and Murali Vijay had made an accomplished first appearance in Nagpur. Yuvraj had to produce something special. Fifties and sixes and a few wickets was not going to force the selectors’ hand. Nor could he rely on a single scintillating innings. He had to show consistency and authority. Yuvraj accepted the challenge, pushing his case with two significant hundreds and handy work with the ball.
At the age of 30 and with a decade of international cricket behind him Andrew Flintoff would be forgiven for thinking that it was time his fellow fast bowlers began to share the burden of carrying England's attack in one-day cricket, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
The introduction of a batting Powerplay has removed the slightly more relaxed period from Flintoff's day. As England's best bowler he now bowls when the slog is on at the start, when the slog is on during the batting Powerplay and when the final slog is on between overs 45 and 50. It is little wonder that Flintoff walked off at Rajkot and Indore shaking his head and looking rather flustered. On most days Flintoff will have done well to concede less that 60 runs.
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in England in India 2008-09
There was a four-nation title in Sharjah under Adam Hollioake 11 years ago, and they made the final of the ICC Champions Trophy at home in 2004, but England’s failure to come to terms with the 100-over game is becoming a baffling reality of cricket’s modern era, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express.
November 21, 2008
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in England in India 2008-09
Despite Lalit Modi's encouraging talk, in reality the IPL franchises are likely to bid for a select few of the England team, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
What I find most rib-tickling is the notion that, when or if the all-clear is given, England's finest will be pouring through the door and off down the road to riches. Perhaps in this they, or once again their agents, have been paying too much attention to what Modi has been saying, for he too plays games.
Only a few weeks ago he said he would love to have the English players. On the back of this we hear through Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, that many of the England team have received approaches from IPL franchises. At this point I prefer to suspend belief. On what basis would a franchise owner put in a bid for all but a very select few of the England team? Net fodder? Were I a franchiser and I wanted reinforcements, I would make a start in the Caribbean. Instead, for the idea of multiple approaches look no further than the same agents, whose interest on behalf of their clients is to shout their availability from the roof tops.
The current boom in cricket pricing is the result of the seemingly unending enthusiasm of the Indian consumer, the relative, and often willing lack of competition from other Indian sport and the heady economic situation here, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.
That is what worries me the most. Cricket’s financial ambitions rest on one shaky premise; that India will continue to generate enough resources to finance everyone else. To prevent that from happening, each country will have to generate its own revenues, as they had been doing before mega television deals for the ICC became reality. However, having tasted a gulab jamun they are unlikely to be happy with a dry roti. Expectations are now irrational.
Also in the Guardian, Dileep Premachandran says, "If the English players were allowed into the IPL they might acquire the dash and flair they so badly need."
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Kevin Pietersen talks to the umpires about the fading light in Kanpur
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A reshuffled England fought hard but were again found wanting, their frustration heightened by a farcical finale, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
The match was delayed by 45 minutes for morning mist, but nonsensically the overs were reduced only by one over per side to 49. By 4.30pm, the light was predictably fading, and even though England's spinners were bowling, umpires Russell Tiffin and Amiesh Saheba offered India bad light and victory by the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
The International Cricket Council is always changing its playing regulations, but one rule that it claims umpires can apply at any time is common sense, something utterly lacking in Kanpur, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.
Unsurprisingly, India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting at the time, accepted the offer from umpires Russell Tiffin and Amit Saheba, though England's cricketers quickly surrounded the pair to complain. However, the light, hindered by a pall of smog that had lasted all day (it delayed the start by 45 minutes), was never going to improve, which left the remonstrations from captain Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who had bowled with unstinting pace and aggression, falling upon deaf ears.
The farcical and thoroughly unsatisfactory finish should not detract from the fact that India were the deserving winners for the third game on the trot," writes Jonathan Agnew on BBC Sport.
It was difficult not to have some sympathy for Pietersen and his hard working side as they fell to a third successive one-day defeat to India. When the umpires deemed that heavy smog had made the light unfit India, needing 43 runs in nine overs with five wickets to spare, were favourites to win, but plenty of matches have been lost from such situations in the past, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
The personnel were changed, the batting order rejigged, and the match was closer. But the result was the same. England are now 3-0 down in their one-day series with four matches still to play, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.
As soon as officials announced a 9.45am start with as many as 49 overs a side, anyone who had been in Kanpur during the previous two afternoons could have predicted an unsatisfactory end to this contest, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.
I always assumed that Frank Keating had embellished the nickname (yes, I know, it was cruel even to imagine it for a minute) but in Indore I realised otherwise when I really was asked: "Where is Mr Iron Bottom?'' It is good to know that in the rapidly changing world of cricket some traditions never change, writes David Hopps in his tour diary for the Guardian.
It was in Indore against Central Zone in 1981-82 that Ian Botham bludgeoned 122 from 55 balls with 15 fours and seven sixes — said to be the best piece of hitting ever witnessed in the city. It was especially brilliant as it had the desperation of a man with a terrible hangover, half wanting to succeed, half wanting to get out and go and have a lie down.
Frank wrote in The Guardian the following morning about how that night he had been drinking with the man that Indore knew as Iron Bottom until dawn was approaching and that he had marvelled at his pulverizing of the Central Zone attack a few hours later. I've just tried to look up Frank's wondrous prose on Google but can't find it. Until I can the internet is not quite perfect after all.
November 20, 2008
Posted 2 weeks ago in England in India 2008-09
'The England captain's blinkered view has not served his side well in the opening two one-day internationals in India,' says Mike Atherton in his piece in the Times.
Now the inference is clear: spinners, in the world according to the England captain, are allowed to play a role, but only in so far as they are there as fodder for batsmen. It is almost as if they are a subspecies. Why should spinners not be important in one-day cricket?
November 19, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 1 day ago in England in India 2008-09
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Monty Panesar could be called up if Graeme Swann's inclusion does not change England's fortunes
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In today's Guardian, David Hopps says that England will accept the inevitability of India and choose a specialist spin bowler for the first time as they seek to recover from 2-0 down in the seven-match series. Though England have opted for Graeme Swann's offspin, don't be surprised if Monty Panesar gets called over to India, says Hopps.
The belated realisation that England cannot prosper in India without a specialist spin bowler begs the question about what is actually taught on the History GCSE syllabus. And if history makes no impact, then you might wish to consider current affairs instead: in the last Test played in Kanpur, against South Africa in April, India prepared the pitch to favour spin, then saw their spinners take 14 wickets in the match. Harbhajan Singh even took the new ball in the second innings.
Panesar, who flies out to India this week with the England Performance Squad, purportedly to prepare for the Test series, is England's finest spinner for a generation yet has been overlooked for the one-day squad in the belief that he should be regarded as a Test specialist. The irony is that he has been sounded out to play Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League.
L Sivaramakrishnan, in the Hindu, feels India's captain has taken his chances and come out successful. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is quick to think on his feet, feels the writer, giving his team an edge.
November 17, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago in England in India 2008-09
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan,and RP Singh's trip from Rajkot to north-eastern Maharashtra for the inauguration of a local cricket tournament, before the second ODI against England, incurs the ire of Sharda Ugra in her blog in India Today, where she criticises the BCCI for allowing the players to attend the event in the midst of an ongoing international series.
It is not known whether the team protested in any way, made their displeasure known.
If they didn't, they should have. Either protested or leaked (which they can do quite expertly) in order to cause an uproar. If, however, they believe it was alright to toodle off to Bhandara, then maybe they do deserve to have all manner of dignitaries marching into changing room and grabbing seats in their viewing areas as used to happen.
If they did and were over-ruled, it is only a reflection of what the BCCI and its current bosses think of cricket. That they don't think of cricket at all.
November 16, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 4 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over
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Humiliation is calling too often. Three times in the past fortnight England's one-day cricketers have felt its shame and embarrassment, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.
We sensed this was a distracted side, and now stronger and stronger evidence is unfolding before our very eyes. This is a sensitive issue among the team and its management. They resent such insinuations. Indeed, coach Peter Moores was defiantly denying them again yesterday. But he should know there is only one sure way of knocking them stone-dead: by his team performing in the middle. Tomorrow in Indore would be a good place to start. Six matches remain in the series and much can still be achieved.
England players' minds may be elsewhere amid exotic charms of India but pace attack lacking spice must stand tall with new ball, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent on Sunday.
One-day cricket is all about momentum. England had it at the end of the summer when they were thrashing South Africa, then ranked second best in the world, 4-0. Time away can cause the commodity to be diluted, and England's players had a six-week break between the final game against South Africa and travelling to Antigua.
But it is more likely that focus was lost in the preparation for the match against Stanford's Super Stars. Few sportsmen have the chance to earn $1m for a night's work, but the constant questioning the England players faced about money and the integrity of the game they were about to play must have led them to wonder if they really wanted to win it. To go into a match where so much is at stake with such an attitude would be a unique experience, and England could still be trying to come to terms with these emotions.
Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over - Stanford, Mumbai seconds and Rajkot have seen to that - and it is a moot point as to whether his personal crisis is bigger or smaller than Ricky Ponting’s, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times. Ponting lost the plot tactically in defeat in Nagpur and got himself run out in the process. The same can be said for Pietersen in Rajkot, where he inserted India, only to see them post the highest ODI total against England. Pietersen once admitted that he was hopeless at reading pitches; he is going to have to learn fast.
More than sheer poetry or sublime timing, there was another quality, a very important one, that stood out in Yuvraj Singh's monumental blast on Friday afternoon: anger, writes Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India.
There is a lesson, a story, behind this anger. Cricketers in India are often placed on such a lofty pedestal that it won't be inappropriate to say they are 'high'. Sadly, some of them get so carried away by their own popularity that they don't know what to do when the inevitable 'tripping' begins. Lulled by a few successes, intoxicated by the adulation and accompanying riches, some of them slip into a state of complacency. Sooner or earlier, they start believing they are infallible, even untouchable; some think they just need to turn up on the ground for the magic to flow.
It doesn't take long for the bubble to burst though. But then, thankfully, there is a perfect remedy for this disease: the boot. More often than not, it works; once these thick-headed stars are thrown back into the system and confront anonymity, they realise their follies and try and catch up on lost time. Yuvraj, despite his love for the high life, may not fall into this category of players. But the exit from the Test squad, even if it was for just one series, has obviously helped.
When Yuvraj bats the way he did at Rajkot on Friday, a comparison with Richards may not be out of place. He has the same disdainful swagger, the same audacious stroke-play, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.
The major difference is that while Richards can and did a Rajkot very often, in the best and worst of conditions and in both forms of the game, Yuvraj has lacked consistency and his Test failures are too galling for anyone to accord him the status reserved for the best. If one were to write his epitaph today, he would be summed up as a batsman who could destroy any attack, but in conditions favourable for batting. What must trouble Yuvraj is that long before Dhoni arrived, he was the chosen king. He is 26 now and even the vice-captaincy has been taken away from him.
November 15, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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Geoffrey Boycott is of the opinion that Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff should bat at higher positions
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I would bat Pietersen at three and Collingwood at four. Who opens is a problem that, thankfully, I don’t have to solve, but perhaps England should look at pushing Flintoff up front, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Telegraph.
I have been saying for a long time that England have not got their top three right. Matt Prior is a very average batsman to be going in first for England. Ian Bell is a touch player who needs to have runs behind him and for his confidence to be high if he is going to be successful up front at international level ...
... As for Owais Shah, well anyone who believes that he is a No 3 for England wants his head testing. He is a good player in the lower middle order against the old ball. But if you have a borderline batsman who struggles to get in the team, why bat him at three in front of arguably one of the best two or three batsmen in the world in Pietersen and one of the best one-day batsmen in Paul Collingwood? It doesn’t make sense.
First came the Stanford jolly that all went terribly wrong. Next an embarrassing defeat in a warm-up against a Mumbai 2nd XI. To complete the hat-trick, England were trounced by India in their opening one-day international by 158 runs, conceded their highest total in an ODI, and succumbed to surely the most astounding innings ever produced by a man with a bad back, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
In his tour diary for the Guardian, Hopps writes, "India, of course, is not ''a third-world country''. India, as we have all been taught, is a ''land of contradictions.'' It is a land that can pay Hayden US$375,000 to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League then irritate him when it takes half-an-hour to move a sightscreen."
Several records were broken this morning in Rajkot but those that fell only increased England’s embarrassment as their tour of India began in disastrous style, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
Stellar names may be missing from the India side, but there can be no doubting the talent and professionalism of a team in transition. They were also better than England in areas such as running between the wickets and fielding, which have been key weaknesses in the past, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.
Here's Hobson's comment piece in the Times.
Anybody questioning how a side who thrashed South Africa 4-0 at the end of last season can have played so limply yesterday is bound to look at what happened in between. The conclusion must be that England lost more than the chance to win $1million a head on the Stanford mission. They forgot that playing cricket is a pleasure rather than a moral burden or a chore; that they are part of the entertainment industry and paid to put on a show.
November 14, 2008
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago in England in India 2008-09
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The one-day and Test series in India will be Kevin Pietersen's first overseas assignment as England captain
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Kevin Pietersen and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the centre of attention as England prepare to tackle India, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
Dhoni and Pietersen are the team's sexiest and most flamboyant players. They are entertainers, the type of cricketers fans here flock to see, and India's insatiable media cannot get enough of them. Each has the ability to thrill, combining the power, skill and daring needed to play an endless array of breathtaking strokes. They happen to be the captains of the two teams too. Each is inexperienced and over the next six weeks it will be fascinating to watch how they cope with the pressures that come with leading a team.
This is likely to be the biggest test Kevin Pietersen will face as England captain," writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail. It is all very well winning against South African players he knows well in English conditions, but a tour of India will tell us whether he is maturing as a leader heading for the Ashes - or is about to receive a major setback.
Graham Thorpe, Surrey's new batting coach, claims that success in India is all about playing the right angles, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.
"The angles are different out there [in India]," he says, echoing a theme expounded in these pages yesterday by Duncan Fletcher, who presided over Thorpe's self-denying masterpiece at Lahore eight years ago. "Sometimes you can be playing on a pitch that doesn't turn much, so your angles are down the ground. But if the pitch does turn, the angles change. If you're looking to hit through midwicket then you almost need to be aiming through mid-on because the ball turns at such a sharp angle.
For a big fast bowler capable of bullying the world's best batsmen with his 90mph lifters, Steve Harmison cuts a nervous presence in Rajkot's Imperial Palace Hotel as he prepares for England's first one-day international against India, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.
There are many who say that Sourav Ganguly couldn’t have timed his retirement better, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Hindu. However, personally speaking, I think he still had quite a bit of Test cricket in him. I think he should have played against England and then toured New Zealand, too, but then I’m no one to comment on his personal decision.
This is a team [India's] of mostly raw youngsters, which gives England its best chance to win a couple of quick games at the start of the series. While these young players may turn out to be excellent prospects for India, I’m not sure all of them have the ability to fill the very large boots left vacant.
November 13, 2008
Posted 3 weeks ago in England in India 2008-09
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Kevin Pietersen has to be careful about the way he motivates his players
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While Australian dominance over the past 13 years has been based, like West Indies before them, on a happy confluence of a number of great cricketers in one generation, Australia's strength as a cricketing nation over a longer period of time has been systemic, which should ensure that its recession is a relatively shallow one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
Top-class batsmen and fielders, unlike great bowlers, can be mass-produced and the strength of Australian school, club and state cricket will ensure such a production line continues. Excellence in batting and fielding has become, as Ian Chappell once said, institutionalised.
But he goes on to say that while Australia are scrapping rather than dominating, India and England are the likeliest candidates to commit themselves to producing the kind of sustained excellence that West Indies and Australia managed over a long period.
India have a potential champion in Ishant Sharma, the first home pace bowler to win a man-of-the-series award in India since Kapil Dev in 1983, along with a decently stocked fast bowling cupboard and good spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. England, too, are not short on firepower. It was more than just wicket-taking ability, though, that brought West Indies and Australia their periods of dominance. Each had something extra in their leaders and group of senior players: hunger, passion, desire and single-minded drive to succeed whatever the cost. Neither India nor England have yet shown enough of that, which makes the forthcoming series such a tantalising prospect.
In an interview with the Times of India, Gautam Gambhir is optimistic about India's chances of beating England.
In the Guardian, Duncan Fletcher lists out two challenges that Kevin Pietersen will face in India.
He has to be careful about the way he motivates the guys, he has to find a balance between overdoing it and not doing it enough to keep them going. They don't want to have to say "Get off my back, captain". He also needs to get used to the different field settings required in India. Depending on the line and length you bowl, fields need to be squarer than they are in England as the ball comes on to the bat so slowly That means it's harder to hit down the ground in India and shots you think are going through, say, mid-on end up going through midwicket instead.
November 12, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago in England in India 2008-09
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Will Steve Harmison put India on the back foot?
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Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, reveals a ten-step guide to succeed in the subcontinent, a task that awaits England in India. South Africa have won series under Arthur in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the past 12 months, and also drew a three-Test contest in India earlier this year.
Two of the ten factors he highlights in the Times:
7 Use your bouncer
Don't be scared to bowl bouncers. It's the seam bowlers' one weapon in India to stop their batters lunging forward all day long and that is why Stephen Harmison is crucial. None of the Indian batsmen pulls, they prefer to cut. You bowl your bouncer to keep the batsman in his crease for your next ball.
10 Play with field settings
We always say that in India “caught cover” is as good as “caught second slip” in our part of the world. Seam bowlers don't like getting wickets caught at cover but they need to change their mindset. Having catchers in front of the wicket is the Indian equivalent of second and third slips.
Any visiting team should be able to outfield India. Whereas Steyn might dive to stop a boundary at fine leg, Ishant Sharma will stick a boot out and it will go for four. India's fielding has improved but they're some way off most teams .
November 11, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago in England in India 2008-09
The taxis in Mumbai are part of the city's heritage, and in a quirk of Indian contradiction, are all the same, yet each different in its own way. And it is this distinctness which shows that individualism and creativity thrives in a city where it would be so easy to blend in and just become a population statistic. Alison Mitchell in her blog on bbc.co.uk drives home the point.
Drivers take great pride in their yellow roofed vehicle, and every single car has a stamp of individualism about it, whether it be the red hub caps, the decorative mud guards over the rear wheels, the swirling pink letters painted onto the side, the fully carpeted interior or the colourful stickers adorning the bonnet.
November 9, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago in England in India 2008-09
After their Stanford debacle, England face some serious challenges during their tour of India, writes Vic Marks in the Observer. They are up against a strong Indian batting line-up that has been particularly harsh on overseas spinners, and the captain-coach relationship between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores is still far from ideal.
Since his appointment Pietersen has not shied away from being the main man. So how influential is Moores now? He did not appear to be proactive in Antigua, merely recognising afterwards that there were lessons to be learnt. How well does he dovetail with his captain? There is no evidence yet that he is capable of building a truly fertile relationship in the way that Duncan Fletcher did with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan. That captain/coach relationship is crucial. Pietersen cannot do everything.
In the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James says England still have much to prove in one-day cricket, especially away from home and they must be wary of more big-money issues in India.
Kevin Pietersen's single-handed renaissance of England's one-day cricket at the end of last summer is already a distant memory. Now a chap called Distraction appears in England's line-up. He is a man of money. And he will be in India.
The Indian Premier League was at the core of the ill-conceived Stanford decision, despite what the ECB will have you believe, and, although chief executive David Collier is off to India to negotiate with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, it is the reason why the players have signed only tour contracts and not yet committed to their full central contracts.
November 6, 2008
Posted 4 weeks ago in English cricket
Alan Tyers casts his cynical, satirical eye over Peter Moores' would-be diary, reflecting on the Stanford Super Series at The Wisden Cricketer's blog:
As I said, the most important thing about Stanford was not the money but actually getting the players tuned up for India. One of the key skills about an England tour to the sub-continent is having your moaning in really tip-top order, so that when you arrive, you’re ready to hit the ground complaining.
“Bang… The hotel’s not up to scratch… bang… That bloke’s looking at my missus… bang… This foreign muck don’t half play havoc with my guts…”
At the same blog, Miles Jupp questions the excuses England gave for their performance in the Stanford money match:
Peter Moores said it was all about attitude, and that our thinking had all been wrong. He even implied there might have been too much thinking (which sounds dangerously like bollocks). It is hard to imagine anybody being able to use that excuse convincingly anywhere. “Your honour, although my client’s actions may appear thoughtless, the truth is in fact quite the opposite. At the very moment he took the staff of that depot hostage he was, if anything, thinking too much…”
The idea that England allowed themselves to think too much about the nature of the game and the contradictions it threw up seems far-fetched. Moores made it sound as if each and every member of the team went out to bat and immediately suffered an existential crisis. As if someone as happy-go-lucky as Paul Collingwood would suddenly raise an arm during the bowler’s delivery stride and howl plaintively “Oh never mind the cricket - what are any of us actually put on this world for?”
November 5, 2008
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago in England in India 2008-09
Derek Pringle, writing in the Telegraph, believes England's cricketers have a tremendous opportunity to make amends for their Stanford debacle during their upcoming tour of India, including a chance to impress IPL's fixers and agents ahead of the tournament's auction in January.
The biggest (incentive) involves India's cricket board, the BCCI, the most powerful and wealthy in the game and intent on total world domination. Until now, they have never really had a team to match that, though the present one, captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni following Anil Kumble's retirement, are getting close. What a coup for England, and by extension the England and Wales Cricket Board, were they to thwart those ambitions by beating them in front of their adoring fans, a result that would surely neutralise any sour taste left by the Stanford match.
..............
The chance to present one's credentials ahead of the Indian Premier League's auction in January will be overwhelming for Pietersen and Co. Wanting to impress the IPL's fixers and agents should suit England's immediate aims as well, though other motivations exist.
October 3, 2008
Posted on 10/03/2008 in England in India 2008-09
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Geoffrey Boycott wants England's bowlers to get the ball into Virender Sehwag's ribs
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The pace of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison will be England’s biggest weapon, because the senior batsmen should all be vulnerable early on to quality fast bowling, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Telegraph.
Kevin Pietersen must tell his quick bowlers to go after Virender Sehwag, who so often gets India off to a flier. Sehwag scores fast and lifts the whole spirit of the team when he is firing. England have to get up his nose. Don’t try to bounce him out, because Indian pitches give batsmen more time to play the hook shot, but get the ball into his ribs. Get him tucked up and in a tangle. The key is to deny him the room to play shots.
September 30, 2008
Posted on 09/30/2008 in England in India 2008-09
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Duncan Fletcher: "It's up to Vaughan how long he decides to rest now. You don't really need more than a month to six weeks' break as long as you're training during that time"
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It's a big blow for England that Michael Vaughan doesn't feel in the right frame of mind to tour India. People will wonder what I mean when they look at the difficult season he's had but I believe they will be in for a nasty shock if they really think he'll be easy to replace out there, writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.
Successful batting in India requires skill, character and patience - the three qualities Vaughan demonstrated so superbly when he made a match-saving hundred on a turning pitch against Muttiah Muralitharan at his peak in Kandy a few years ago. Who else of the current side can play an innings like that in the heat and humidity they're likely to encounter in Ahmedabad and Mumbai? It's a bit of a worry.
Reports of Michael Vaughan's cricketing death, however, may be exaggerated. If anybody can return from this humiliation it is Vaughan. He spent 18 months stubbornly overcoming a knee injury which came within the width of a cartilage of terminating his career, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.
I don't have any problems with England's squad, but I do like to see consistency of selection, writes Nasser Hussain in his Sky Sports column.
Peter Moores has known Prior and Ambrose for a long time now since their Sussex days and it's just time to work out which one is the better one - and stick with him. For me I would have gone with Prior and I would have gone with James Foster - if they don't believe Ambrose is the right choice - and I am not one just to stick with Ambrose just because he played this summer. I think Foster and Prior are the best two but the selectors have seen it differently. All I would call for is some consistency.
Dullness and consistency of thought are good attributes for selectors since stability is a key foundation stone of any successful team, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. But with the omission of James Foster comes the troubling feeling that the selectors have failed to recognise performances that, over the past couple of years, have rarely fallen below outstanding.
September 29, 2008
Posted on 09/29/2008 in England in India 2008-09
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Is Adil Rashid ready for an England call-up? Or is he too young?
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Yorkshire allrounder Adil Rashid's bright future should not be jeopardised in order to give him unnecessary experience in India, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
Any thoughts of including the young Yorkshire allrounder Adil Rashid to give him experience should have been shelved. A single warm-up match in Baroda, in which presumably the projected Test XI will play, is all the cricket outside the Tests in Ahmedabad and Mumbai so there would be scant opportunity aside from assimilating a little dressing-room atmosphere, for which there will be time aplenty in the future. He is barely out of his teens and with astute handling may provide the fulcrum of England's spin attack for a decade in the future. He must not be rushed. For now his progress has flattened off and his development will be served better on the Lions tour.
In the Independent, Angus Fraser, however, is of the opinion that Rashid deserves a place in the squad to India.
Rashid is certain to be named in England's winter performance squad but the selectors could do worse than pick him for the full squad. Sooner or later they need to find out whether or not he is good enough and history suggests that a legspinner is more likely to trouble India's star-studded batting line-up than an offspinner.
The manner of Michael Vaughan's exclusion is strange - after all, cricketers do not often sit down with selectors to discuss the merits or otherwise of their selection as Vaughan appears to have done - but the decision [to leave him out of the squad] is the right one, writes Michael Atherton in the Times.
September 28, 2008
Posted on 09/28/2008 in England in India 2008-09
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Graeme Swann: In line for a Test debut?
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With Michael Vaughan out of the India tour, Vic Marks writes in the Observer that the England selectors' task of picking the fifteen is more straightforward. He thinks Matt Prior will be the first-choice wicketkeeper and Graeme Swann the second spinner.
The trickiest decision will be which of the young(ish) batsmen to take. Owais Shah played his best Test innings in Mumbai three years ago. Ravi Bopara has the class for international cricket and, making a late run, is Samit Patel. Soon we may be able to celebrate five cricketers of Asian origin in the same England team.
And Scyld Berry writing in the Sunday Telegraph says that with only one warm-up match before the Tests, the selection will be weighted towards players who are in India for the one-dayers. He wants James Foster and Matt Prior to be the two wicketkeepers making the trip.
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