Outside the Long Room: An Ashes Twenty20 Finale

Well our resident cricket writer Jimmy Drew is back again with another edition of the 'Outside The Long Room'. After previewing the World Twenty20 in his last post, Jimmy reviews the tournament in the lead up to the final and speaks about the domestic cricket scene as well. Anyway less from me and over to Jimmy

The ICC World Twenty20 has certainly lived up to expectations so far, and with only the final left to go, there has already been lots memories that will stay with us for many years to come.

England have definitely been the surprise package, and although many pundits tipped them to get to the semi’s, many will be surprised in how they’ve performed in their matches and played with such control, power yet grace so far. It’s also pleasing to see that virtually all the team have chipped in with match winning displays at some stage of the tournament. Bresnan, Sidebottom and Broad provide a good mix in the seam department and this is complemented with the variety of right and left hand finger spin in the form of Swann and Yardy.

Batting wise, although skipper Collingwood himself has struggled so far (maybe he’s saving his runs for the final though!), Kieswetter, Lumb, KP and the ever improving Eoin Morgan have provided England with an explosive top-order which is incomparable to any previous England one day line-up that I can certainly think of. Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan have also chipped in with useful runs too, and fielding wise, we’ve been as good as any other side in the competition.

The inclement Guyana climate at the start of the tournament almost saw England knocked out in the group stage, with messers Duckworth and Lewis playing a pivotal role in both of their matches. In fairness, this would have been difficult for the players and fans to swallow, especially after their fine batting display against the hosts (West Indies), even if their innings against Ireland was just as memorable for different reasons!

Both South Africa and India, in my eyes, are the two teams who will be most disappointed by their performances in the competition. Home to the IPL, the Indians never really got going, with the only highlight that stands out coming from our friend SK Raina who smashed his way to 101 off just 60 balls against South Africa in the initial group stages. As for South Africa, I commented previously that they looked one of the strongest teams going into the tournament on paper, though their game plan let them down and too few many players stepped up to the mark and as a team they didn’t seem to gel at the crucial moments, especially when batting second in games.

As for the Ozzies, then the semi-final I’ve just witnessed says it all about them. Their “never say die” attitude was clear for all to see in this game, and with 4 or 5 overs to go they looked dead and buried. Mike Hussey (pictured top) has once again proved that he’s one of the best players who can adjust his game accordingly to the task in hand. Many a time has he played the anchor role down the middle order in test matches, but unlike so many talented international batsmen, he has that knack of knowing how to build an innings in whatever the context of the game requires. 18 needed off the final over, and with Mitchell Johnson taking a single from the first ball, what odds would you have got on Hussey swatting the following four balls for; 6, 6, 4, 6 to win with a ball to spare and against Saeed Ajmal who’s bowling has been very impressive in the comp, unlike his fielding though.

So, Sunday afternoon sees the love / hate relationship rekindled for what promises to be a great encounter between the old rivals of England and the Ozzies. 20/20 can be so unpredictable, though I’m going to stick my neck on the line and say that if England win the toss and bowl first then the trophy will be heading home to blighty, as we sneak past the ozzies total (which I’m not going to guess what this will be), with 5 wickets in hand and 2 overs left to spare!

Domestically, my tip for the division one crown (Durham), have continued to struggle since my last blog, with Notts over taking Yorkshire at the top of the table and becoming the form team in the LV County Championship (Div 1). This week saw Notts beat the current champions (that’s Durham remember) by a comfortable innings and 62 runs. Despite Broad, Swann and Sidebottom all being in the Caribbean, Notts still managed to bowl Durham out twice, with Pattinson, Shreck, Franks, Patel and Mullaney all getting a share of the wickets.

I remember saying that Notts would be pushing Durham all the way for the title this season, though it’ll be interesting to see how they cope with being top of the table so early on in the season. Have they got the strength in depth and ability to maintain top spot until mid-September?!? Only time will tell I guess.

Bowling wise, Durham have less bonus points than any of the other 17 counties, though with Steve Harmison now back in the team, surely it’s only a matter of time until their fortunes change, though as the saying goes, it’s tough at the top and the sides who have played them so far have settled a few scores on them from over the past couple of seasons. Like Notts and Yorkshire, Lancashire also remain unbeaten and if these teams can continue like they’ve started, I reckon the champions will be one of these three counties.

At the other end of the table, Hampshire’s draw against Somerset stopped their rot of defeats, though with 4 defeats from 5 matches, it could be a long hard season for them. Performance of the week has got to go to Sean Ervine (pictured left) of Hampshire who came in at number 7 with the team struggling on 123-5….a few sessions later and with good support from Nic Pothas and the tail, he produced a career best 237 not out. I’m happy for Sean, but also happy that I brought him into my fantasy team the previous day when he was on 75 not out at the close of play!

Moving onto division 2, Sussex remain top, and after starting the season so well, the East Midlands counties of Derbyshire and Leicestershire have struggled of late, which has resulted in Glamorgan, Gloucester and Middlesex all climbing the table and producing convincing victories in the week just gone. The table is tight though, with just 22 points separating 2nd place and 7th.

One day wise, then the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition is also starting to take shape. Sussex, Yorkshire and Warwickshire top each of the three groups, and there have also been impressive starts for both Somerset and Surrey whilst Worcestershire, Northants and Hampshire are the only three teams who have played matches and are yet to register any points on the board yet. Our friends the Netherlands and Scotland haven’t played any of their matches yet, and it’ll be interesting to see if either cause many upsets over the next couple of months.

On a more local level, the team I play for (Breadsall Cricket Club) have had mixed fortunes so far. The first team have won two and lost one of their league matches so far, though they have also progressed in the cup with a win against Alfreton last Sunday. The seconds meanwhile haven’t started as well, with one wining draw, one losing draw and one defeat so far, plus they are out of the cup. The newly formed 3rd team have only played one league game so far, which they won, so it’s probably too early to pass judgement on them just yet, though we’re hoping they make it two from two this weekend.

Our club website details all of our senior and junior results throughout the season, so why not keep track of our fortunes during the summer of 2010 yourself at www.breadsall.play-cricket.com Lots of info such as as our fund-raising events can also be found on our site.

Junior wise, then our under 14’s narrowly missed out in progressing further in the National Collard Dawn Cup Competition, losing out to Ticknall on Bank Holiday Monday, though with more and more of our under 17’s and under 15’s now playing senior cricket in either the 2nd or 3rd teams, the future is looking rosy for the club as these younger players continue their development.

Off the pitch, works continues on our new changing facility, which will incorporate home and away changing rooms, a score-box, umpires room as well as a garage for storing our ground equipment. Photos of the development can also be viewed online too.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks time, though in the meantime, good luck to England on Sunday and I’m hoping that by the time most of you read this blog we will be World Twenty20 champions….for one year at least!

Why 'Dead' Sub-Continent Pitches Maintain Test Cricket's Negative Undertone!

After being bored to death watching two test matches between India and Sri Lanka over the last week or so, it got me thinking about how lifeless pitches and bore-draw results are not good for the game. In the last few years due to the rise of the IPL, Twenty20 cricket is now probably the most popular form of the game with lots of people claiming Test cricket is too ‘dull’. With that argument comes another view that if cricket is to have a future that Test cricket will slowly be phased out with more One Day cricket being played.

Although I’m a fan of Twenty20 cricket and the fact that it makes batsmen have to play their shots and that its all action every ball, I do feel that Test Cricket on its day is still the best the game can offer. Why would I say this? Well firstly test cricket requires a lot more concentration and tactics than the ‘bash-bash’ version of Twenty20. It’s also the purest version of the game and requires different kinds of play according to the game situation. Of course we love to see fine centuries and teams getting 350 runs on the first day of the test, but equally there’s something mouth-watering about a team trying to save a test match.

Of course in both situations you can have dire periods of play with there being nothing in the pitch for the bowlers and the batsmen being more worried about what variety of drink they’re be having a the next drinks break rather than worrying about the pace of the bowler. Equally it can also be dire to watch a team that has no chance of winning a game, just making sure that they don’t get out – only playing defensive shots when they need to. But still if the situation requires that, then credit to the batsmen for putting it in action, it’s not pretty but it’s effective..

Going back to the India/Sri Lanka test series that has been going on over the last week or so. The first test started well for Sri Lanka and they were on top early on grabbing 4 early wickets early on in first day’s morning session. Good batting from Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni got India back to terms with a score of 426 in their first innings.

Sri Lanka then went out and scored a mammoth 760 in reply with Tillkeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and the lesser known Prasanna Jayawardene hitting centuries. India’s response was good and they saved the game by scoring over 400 as the match was called a draw.

The second test started great for India this time, and they had probably their best ever first day of a test match as they scored 417-2 wickets with both their openers Gambhir and Sehwag hitting centuries followed up. It was pretty easy batting for the hosts as they treated the likes of Murali and Ajantha Mendis - 2 of the best spinners currently in cricket – as if they were batting against my gentle off-spin in my back garden!

There was little in the pitch for either bowler and incredibly Herath grabbed 5 wickets as the Indian batsmen ‘collapsed’ at the end losing 6 wickets in the space of no time. It wasn’t a collapse as of such, as with the score over 600 there was basically no chance of a Sri Lanka win so the pressure was firmly of the Indian tail enders. At the time of watching the end of the Indian innings, I really couldn’t see the point of them batting as surley it would have made sense for Dhoni to declare as soon as the team reached 600 and try and get more time to bowl against the Sri Lankan batsmen who I feel wouldn’t struggle on the pitch.

To my surprise I was wrong as the pitch suddenly came to life with the Sri Lankan batsmen playing some poor shots and after being dismissed for a poor 229 followed on and lost the game with Harbajan Singh amongst the wickets. However even with this test having a ‘result’ unlike the boring last one, I couldn’t help but feel cheated with the state of some of the cricket pitches on the sub continent.

There was a little bit of criticism this summer during the decisive Oval test of this year’s Ashes series. Some Australian’s felt that it was slightly unfair that the usual flat batting-track pitch at the Oval was slightly ‘over baked’ in the sense that the pitch was set up in order to get a result. Whether that was the case or not, i don’t feel that England did anything wrong in that situation because they wanted the game to end in a result, and not just a bore-draw which is usually the case. Yes the pitch was a lot more difficult than it could have been, but that’s what test cricket is about – testing batsman out in conditions which they shouldn’t find easy. Making them work for their runs, according to my dad and the same should apply for bowlers..

..Which is sadly the case in some of the pitches in the sub-continent which have been doctored for batsman and the game only comes to life if you’re lucky by the fourth day of the test. It’s not just on the sub-continent in Asia where there some pitches that are dead, it’s in the Caribbean as well and there have been some really lifeless pitches, which has been highlighted in some ridiculously high-scoring draws in recent memory.

Cricket gets bad press because some periods of play cannot be exciting and Twenty20 obviously is great because it’s fast paced and you only have to wait a maximum of 3 hours to get a result. However it has been argued that there has been too much Twenty20 cricket played and where it was a nice luxury to have, in some situations the longer form of the game is being targeted because of poor games of cricket. It was good to see Sachin Tendulkar come out the other week and say that for him test cricket is still what motivates him.

Hopefully the future of the sport which is being heavily influenced from decisions made from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be marked and controlled by the ICC, will make sure Tests are still valued highly. ODI’s and Twenty20 forms of the game do have their place and it’s good for the game to expand into other countries and make the sport stronger. The ICC need to keep the standards of the game up and the only way of doing this is to make sure that there are rules in place that kill these dead pitches once and for all.

Posted by Adam Dennehey - SportTrades Report Manager