Nostalgia

On Wednesday morning Lawrence Booth, the editor of Wisden, tweeted (Can you imagine Norman Preston tweeting? No, neither can I.) that watching England slide in Dubai was 'just like the old times', at the same time inviting us not to 'pretend you're not feeling at least a tiny bit nostalgic'.

This struck a chord with me, and, yes, it did feel a bit nostalgic, because I remember the old times. Although this, really, wasn't much like the old times.

This wasn't Qadir in Lahore, turning it square with the worst umpires in history at his shoulder (you can say what you like about Billy B, but Shakeel Khan he ain't), or Kumble and his henchmen mopping up the prawn curry refugees at Chepauk (That was the old times. Sachin made a hundred.). This, somehow, didn't seem to quite have the essence of English humblings in Asia down pat. The stadium looked modern, antiseptic and largely deserted, and, while the Gaddafi Stadium in 1987 was equally empty, the old concrete terraces lent it an air of starkness and brutalism which 'Dubai Sports City' will never match. The air was clear and the ambience calm, with the odd desultory Barmy Army chant replacing the call of the muezzins. The smog and searing heat of old India were enviably absent with some English travellers even complaining that it was too cool in the shade.

Other things were different too. Pakistan looked a smooth, competent, resurgent unit, desperate to atone for past slights and failings. DRS mopped up any loiterers with as much finality as Shakeel and Shakoor used to, but marginally more accuracy. Saeed Ajmal looked the bowler he is - good, not great - with the modern off-spinner's facility to make the ball go in more than one direction, although often the trickery seemed to be confined to the wandering minds of England's ring-rusty batsmen.

But this is hair-splitting. The wider truth is that the game in Asia has always been different from that played in England, or in Australia, or in New Zealand, and it remains so. Pitches are slower, spinners come on earlier and bowl better, with more variation and confidence, than they will ever do again in the world's temperate zones. English teams, even one as successful as this, will always struggle to adapt, especially if they haven't quite had the practice they need and the soft, warm feeling of Christmases and weddings and being 'World No.1' hasn't quite faded. A few hours in the middle against Ajmal and Rehman ought to sort that, but most didn't make it that far, bamboozled either by Ajmal's variations, Gul's persistence or, in Pietersen's case, their own brainlessness.

This is an England team with many qualities. They could come back from this.

In the old days, though, they never did.

The Soft Warm Radiance of Money

It's been a busy, though hardly stressful, time. Shuffling paper in a cool, dark room before emerging into the glorious April sunshine during the working week. Tramping the beautiful streets of Bath in similar weather yesterday, with a rugby match mixed in.

Such pleasures have prevented me from commenting until now on the issue of the moment in cricket. Not the IPL, or even the County Championship, but the ICC's crass and morally dubious decision to remove the incentive of qualification for the 2015 World Cup from its associate members.

All decisions like this show is that, as in so many areas of life, bureaucrats, administrators and climbers of the greasy pole in the world of cricket have a consistent ability to suck the life out of anything that is working well or is being appreciated and enjoyed by millions, just because money and vested interests decree that change is necessary.

The old aphorism which states that people who wish to be elected to political office should be automatically barred from standing for election never seemed more appropriate. This decision shows that those in charge of the world game simply don't understand that unpredictability and the triumph of the underdog are what gives sport of all kinds its lasting appeal.

It might not fit with your profit forecasts but that's tough. If you don't like it, get out. When sport sacrifices romance and uncertainty and instinctive brilliance in favour of the balance sheet (and tries to fix the market in which that balance sheet exists), it ceases to have meaning. The Pakistan Three know all about that, and the ICC wasn't slow to sort them out.

Persuading people who have played the game at the highest level to follow Anil Kumble and move into the corridors of power rather than the less accountable and better paid environments of the world's commentary boxes might just help, but it will never be easy to do. Here again, money talks.

This can be fought. Sign the petition here.

Kumble

Having put it to one side a few days ago, I've finally got round to reading this by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, about Anil Kumble.

The story which opens it is another brick in the wall of tales of Kumble's legendary modesty, and the later stuff about bowlers' tactics offers a valuable glimpse into the mind which made him such a terrific bowler.

Many in the Anglo-Australian cricketing world have probably forgotten about Kumble already, but, in an understated way, he was something very special.

Done and Dusted

With a decent Test series done and dusted and Australia, ultimately, well beaten, India appear well-placed to challenge for the world number one spot.

However, any assessment of where they stand now has to be coloured by the fact that they're on the verge of having to rebuild. Kumble and Ganguly are no more, and, while the early signs from Amit Mishra have been good, I'm less than convinced about his future in the side, with Chawla probably a better bet in the long run. Dravid's future must be uncertain, with runs needed against England to prolong his career, and Tendulkar and VVS clearly can't go on for ever. For India, over the next 3-5 years, everything depends on how their replacements shape up, but, with the brilliant Ishant Sharma there and the hugely impressive Dhoni pulling the strings, the future looks relatively bright.

For Australia, on the other hand, the future looks rocky. While the batting still appears strong, too many of the major players are the wrong side of thirty, Haddin is no Gilchrist (who is?) and the attack, for all the individual merits of Lee, Clark, Johnson and, well, Krejza, isn't what it was (how could it be?). Seeing them slide to defeat this morning one had the first inkling for a very, very long time that this was just another side, with strengths, sure, but a number of clear weaknesses which better teams, like India, will exploit.

At this stage England will fancy their chances for next summer too, and, while there's a lot of water left to flow under a number of bridges before then, at the present moment I'd probably back them.

Generational Shift

The now retired Anil Kumble was, in an Indian (and probably a world) context, a great bowler and, just as importantly, perhaps the most mentally-tough Indian player of his generation (although Dravid in his pomp and of course SRT would have something to say about that).

He never seemed to have too much in his armoury at first glance (just ask Keith Fletcher), but to watch him bowl a long spell, especially in Indian conditions with smog and spices in the air and the sun on his back, was to be educated in the art of the spin bowler as water-torturer. Accuracy, repetition, variation, aggression and intensity combined with enough spin as was necessary to ensure that few batsmen were ever completely comfortable against him, whatever they thought. Which was part of his greatness, because, if anyone ever started to think they had him, he would have them.

And now, with Kumble gone, Ganguly on the verge of going, and the bell tolling for Dravid (if not Tendulkar), India are suddenly in the midst of the generational shift which they've been on the verge of for what seems like years. And all at a time when they're looking like the type of united, determined side which can put away an Australian team that still has plenty to offer.

They'll come again. But the catching does need some work.

Borrowed Time

With the sun shining in the south-west of England and places to be (at work and doing what I do most in the English winter, watching rugby), I didn't catch a huge amount of the first Test. However, my impression, based on the odd snatched session, was of an old-fashioned draw from which honours emerged basically even but from which Australia will take a little more. In particular, Ponting's century, full of characteristic class and discipline, consigned his past failures in India to the history books, while no single member of what now seems to be customarily described as the Indian 'big five' stood out, and Kumble really struggled.

On the day before the Test I said that I felt that India looked the more settled side. At the time, in my own mind, I was equating that with them being slightly stronger, but I now think I was wrong to do so. Being settled isn't necessarily a good thing. When you watch the two sides you have a nagging feeling that while Australia have been forced to start to adjust to life after the greats - and are perhaps better off for it - India still haven't had to do so, and, perhaps, are just living a little on borrowed time.

They'll resume borrowing in Mohali on Friday.

Perth and After

With Perth out of the way it's worth considering where Australia and India currently stand. As Peter English pointed out in a slightly over-pessimistic piece on Cricinfo yesterday, Australia had a defeat coming to them. Too many players had been lost and too many consecutive games won for anything else to have been the case. To me, though, even if India go on to draw the series in Adelaide (unlikely, but far from impossible given what happened there last time), Australia remain the team that sets the standards that every other international side has to aspire to and it'll take many more defeats to change that.

However, it's also a good time to be a follower of India; with away wins becoming more frequent, a range of seam bowlers developing rapidly and Kumble captaining the side with inspiration and inclusivity, things look good, even allowing for what happened in Melbourne and Sydney. Indeed, with Pathan, still young at 23 and starting to recapture something of his best form, RP looking to me like an increasingly classy and mature operator and Zaheer to return, the possibility of a three-pronged left-arm seam attack is a tantalising one. And then there's Kumble himself, who looks good to deny Anno Domini for another year or two now that the captaincy is finally his, and Harbhajan to come back in, and I haven't even mentioned Ishant Sharma, who remains raw, but confirmed, with his spell to Ponting on Saturday, that he's a bowler of rare potential.

The batting will require reinforcements soon enough, but, in the short term, India's challenge is to build on this. Another win at Adelaide might show that they're starting to move away from being the type of side that can beat anyone when the mood takes them and towards being the type of side that can simply beat anyone.

Elegance and Time

With India, driven by Ganguly's runs and Kumble's wickets and leadership, wrapping up their series win against Pakistan, I came across this on Cricinfo.

Jaffer's a player I've had a bit of a thing about since his hundred against England at Nagpur a couple of years ago, and I couldn't believe the quality of his Eden Gardens double century.

Australia will be a big test for him but with as much elegance and time to play as anyone now operating on the world stage, it's a challenge he's well-equipped to meet.

Bopara and Shah

I haven't been posting much recently, for which apologies. Something to do with spending time rearranging my house, standing on a freezing touchline watching thirty public schoolboys attempt - and largely fail - to play rugby and toasting the past cricket season over several pints of Otter and some food with some mates from my club.

During the past few days, when I've been in, I've had the first India-Pakistan Test on, but never managed to watch much of it, which meant that I was left with a pretty sketchy idea of what went on. It was good to see Munaf back, even if he didn't pull up any trees, and there was penetration with ball and bat from Kumble, Laxman, Ganguly and Jaffer. India looked worthy winners of a tight contest, which augurs well for the rest of the rubber.

England, meanwhile, continue an uneasy build-up to their first Test in Sri Lanka, with the most interesting sub-plot for me being the contest between Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara for the final batting place. While seeing the merits of both, I always felt that Bopara was likely to nudge in front because of his youth and ability to bowl (if not his 'bowling ability'). Having scored 47 to Shah's 26 today and taken two wickets with the new ball after Harmison and Anderson went lame, you have to feel that the deal is all but done, however high Moores' regard for Shah.

Ravi seems sure to be there, but who (apart from Hoggard and Broad, the most nailed-on debutant for years) will do the rest of the bowling?

Contenders

Of course, with Dravid barely out of the door, the discussions start about the relative merits of his possible successors. Off the top of my head Tendulkar seems unlikely and Dhoni perhaps a little premature; there might just be some mileage in the selectors taking a proper look at Laxman or Kumble.

Anand Vasu sums the situation up well at Cricinfo.

Not Bad, But Not Good Either

You wouldn't say that England were categorically poor on another perfect day for batting at The Oval, but they could, and should, have done a lot better.

Cook, although he made 61, is finally being forced to wake up to the fact that Test cricket is a difficult game, and his reliance on his strength, the straight-bat clip through the leg side, is becoming a weakness. Pietersen started well but his eyes lit up a little too quickly when Tendulkar came on. Vaughan was deceived, Collingwood got another bad one from Howell, and Matt Prior is having one of those games. Ian Bell, with positive footwork and, until his dismissal, good shot selection, was England's best player.

India stuck at it all day, relishing their advantage. Zaheer was excellent once again, Kumble was steady, RP was under-used and there were late signs that Sreesanth was getting mind and body together.

Now will Dravid enforce the follow-on?

1971, 1986, 2007

During Test matches I try to avoid commenting until a couple of days have gone. This time yesterday evening there still looked to be a possibility that England could work their way back into the game - bowl India out for 450, say, and then score 600 to put them under pressure. Now, though, after a further day of positive accumulation right down the order on the type of Oval shirtfront that anyone who's watched a lot of Test cricket in England has seen many times before, England are deservedly out of the game and the series with only pride to play for.

Talking of pride, all India can be proud of the consistency and fluency of their batsmen. True, the match is being played on the sort of pitch on which it would have been hard not to make 600, but with the road-crash umpiring of Ian Howell about, as well as the awareness of their own weaknesses when leading in past series, it wouldn't have been a huge surprise to see them make a mess of things. More tons would have been nice, but it was pleasantly surprising to see Kumble get the one that finally came. I can't say I ever thought he had it in him - to me he always looked like a determined but limited number nine who might be capable of the odd fifty but little more. I'm pleased to have been wrong.

For England, a fatal lost toss, two days of persistence from a weakened attack and some very ropey keeping from Matt Prior. From here on, with nothing but honour and a 1-0 defeat to play for, it's going to be difficult.

They're easily good enough to get close to India's total, even with Strauss already gone. One's suspicion, though, is that with the pitch starting to misbehave and Kumble primed to bowl until the cows come home, they won't.

Another long day in the sun begins tomorrow at 11.

Getting it Wrong, Getting it Right

Well, now. I got it a little bit wrong, but India, ultimately, got it very right.

I fell into the trap of assuming that if India were going to bowl a side out in the second half of a Test match to set up a victory, the man to do it had to be Kumble. An indolent reading of history suggested as much but in England? In the monsoon summer of 2007? At a lush Trent Bridge - which has gained an increasing reputation as a swinging ground in recent years - it was always more likely to be a seamer. And, with the way he's been bowling since his first spell at Lord's, it was always likely to be Zaheer Khan.

The fact that they only took a single wicket in the first session didn't matter at all either, with most of the side - Sreesanth excepted - patiently biding their time through a warm afternoon and the majestic quality of Michael Vaughan's century in the knowledge that the new ball could change things quickly. With Zaheer and RP using it beautifully and the below-par Kumble seeing to the tail, it did, and only a further 63 are now needed to secure a deserved victory.

India have flattered to deceive many times over the years, but, if they can win tomorrow and repel England at The Oval (and England will really come at them hard there), perhaps we can start thinking about a future in which the side can start to get a bit nearer to fulfilling the perenially disappointed hopes of its millions of followers.

The middle-order is certain to need some re-stocking before long but the bowling looks good. In Zaheer you have as mature and skilled a left-arm swing bowler as there is in the world, in RP Singh as promising a left-arm swing bowler as there is in the world and in Sreesanth as contradictory and potentially dangerous (in many senses) a right-arm seamer as there is in the world. And Pathan and Harbhajan to come back in.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now the onus is on Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning.

Everything else comes later.

Advantage India

Another long day of runs and umpiring errors, culminating with England having to bat for well over a day to make India bat again.

For what it's worth, given the way the pitch has flattened out and the good weather forecast, I think they've got every chance of doing it.

The key is the first session tomorrow; if India take wickets and Kumble finds his rhythm it'll be very difficult for England. If they can reach lunch without loss and go into the afternoon intact the pressure may start to affect India.

Uncertainties

With rain preventing any play at Leeds yesterday I took the first opportunity I've had to take any notice of the Bangladesh-India Test series. Not a lot, mind, as it ended pretty quickly, but it's clear that Bangladesh still have a lot to do to bring their Test performances up to a level where they can consistently challenge the better sides. In their case, more Tests and many fewer ODIs would help them develop, but the market forces of Asian cricket and commerce will probably dictate otherwise.

India are one of those better sides but many uncertainties remain ahead of their tour of England - no coach, the core of the side ageing, continuing uncertainties about their openers and seam attack - but at least they'll travel with a victory under their belt after the disappointments of the World Cup.

At the top of the order Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik have been shaping up well, but you have to have doubts about how they'll do in England, especially if the weather doesn't improve by July. I'd like to see Sehwag back in the side - perhaps reinvented as a middle order player - but I expect to see Jaffer and Karthik walking out at Lord's.

The seam attack could be capable of matching England's if Zaheer, Sreesanth and Patel all show up fit, but how likely is that? It was interesting to see Ishant Sharma, who looked so good on the under-19 tour last year, but his real time will have to wait, while one has to feel that more will be heard from Irfan Pathan. He's surely too talented and still too young for that not to be the case. But what's the key?

And, when it comes to spinners, although you know that Kumble will always be there (at least until he isn't), there's the question of support in a department which will be important in exposing England's vulnerabilities. Powar seems to have done okay in Bangladesh, but a Test off-spinner in preference to Harbhajan? Doubtful.

England have looked good in the first two Tests against the West Indies but they're playing a poor side. India should be capable of much better and it could be a decent series if India get their players fit and their selections right.

We'll see.

Fading Reputations

After yesterday's game at the Queen's Park Oval it now seems almost certain, unless the tournament's ultimate whipping boys, Bermuda, can beat Bangladesh, that India are out of the World Cup.

Homer, at My Two Cents, posted a very comprehensive and thought-provoking critique of the position in which Indian cricket found itself before the Sri Lankan defeat. And the way in which the game unfolded - early promise with both ball and bat falling away in the face of the pressure created by an opposing team full of discipline, focus and, yes, brilliance - won't have done anything to quieten the voices of those who see a painful contrast between the effervescent Sri Lankan side, which looks a genuine title contender at this stage, and an Indian team which has suddenly started to look its age.

Kumble is 36, Ganguly rising 35, Dravid 34, Tendulkar 34 next month. Sehwag is younger, but struggles for form like he never has, Yuvraj consistently flatters to deceive, Harbhajan and Pathan drift in and out, fighting their own demons.

Of those not in the West Indies, Laxman won't see 32 again, Jaffer provides occasional glimpses of class but won't rescue any fading reputations and virtually everyone else remains either unproven or untried.

Only in the seam bowling department do things look at all stable, with Zaheer retaining his discipline, Patel fit again and Sreesanth waiting in the wings for greater Tests.

Trying times lie ahead.

Standing Still

India's second innings capitulation in Cape Town, which led to the loss of the series, showed that, despite the advances made by the likes of Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan, and the continuing excellence of Kumble, they persist in taking about as many steps backwards as they do forwards, and remain one of the most consistent sides in world cricket.

Utterly consistent in failing to make the most of their talent and in falling apart at the first sign of pressure.

Greg Chappell has a lot of work to do, and it remains to be seen how much longer he will be given to do it.

And you were wondering why I think England will beat them this summer?