All You Can Ask

After Friday's Tendulkar-fest, yesterday was the day when Australia came face-to-face with what life's increasingly going to be like in the post-McGrath/Warne era.

Just after tea, with Ganguly and Dhoni going well, and Shane Watson and Cameron White bowling, you had the feeling that, for the first time in a long time, an Australian side in the field were toothless. Watson and White are players with many strengths, mostly with the bat (and they're probably nice guys too) but integral parts of a good quality Test attack they're not and never will be.

Okay, Australia subsequently wrapped the Indian first innings up relatively quickly, but today the game went away from them again, to the point where India must be strong favourites to go one-up in the series.

The Indian bowling attack has impressed on a bland Mohali pitch; Zaheer got his rabbit Hayden again with a neat piece of variety, Ishant Sharma oozes promise every time you see him and the new leggie, Amit Mishra, has been cool and threatening, finishing this morning with a debut five-for.

As I said, the Australian attack has looked more limited, but a word for the game's other debutant, Peter Siddle, whose powerful, consistent action, sharp pace and muscular aggression has stamped him as a bowler who'll hurry a few people up on faster tracks.

And there have been people there to watch it. Not huge numbers but enough to give the impression that it matters.

And that, these days, is all you can ask.

Crisis Mentality

I haven't been posting much since the English international season ended in August. It's partly been a product of the desire to do other things after more than two years of crazed writing, partly because there didn't seem to be that much happening, and partly as a result of the type of existential crisis which any blogger can face if he (or indeed she) isn't getting many comments.

However, I'm back, and so too is Test cricket, with Australia and India, both of whom seem as though they might be on the edge of their very own existentialist crisis, gearing up for what promises to be an excellent four Test series.

Australia's issues in the spin department are well-known: with Warne and MacGill firmly consigned to the past, one wouldn't much like to be in the shoes of Jason Krejza or Cameron White over the next few weeks, although, as any Somerset fan will tell you, White could well biff some good runs to make up for any wickets he fails to take. And the lack of either of the two leggies in turn puts additional pressure on the occupants of the seam-bowling berths - sure, Lee, Clark and (possibly) Johnson are big enough to cope, but in India? Well, it'll be a good deal tougher than at home, that's for sure.

With the bat the onus will be on Hayden, Ponting, Clarke and Hussey. Their stats are great (as is the power of understatement), but you just never know; Hayden is getting old, Ponting's never made a run in India, Clarke's been ill and Hussey surely has to have a run of failures sometime. Which could mean that it'll be down to Brad Haddin to chip away further down and prove that he's just a little bit worthy of Gilchrist's mantle.

India, despite defeat in their last series, look slightly more settled and, with home advantage, should be narrow favourites. Although, with Ganguly becoming the first of the middle order to jump ship, it remains to be seen whether his decision is an inspiration or a hindrance, both to him and his colleagues. With the ball I reckon that Kumble and Bhajji will fancy their chances, as will Ishant and Zaheer.

So, for the first time this winter, it'll be a worryingly early start with Charlie Colvile, Ian Ward or whoever else Sky put up. And even if the dreaded Colvile is there,the cricket promises to be great.

But one thing worries the hell out of me. Will anybody be watching at the ground?

A Bit of Luck

After a very frustrating, very wet, month I was due a bit of luck and I got it today. With most of the country again being rained on I managed to see a very interesting 74 overs at Taunton in which Northants were bowled out for 221 and Somerset's left-handed openers, Marcus Trescothick and Neil Edwards, motored to 77 off 13 overs by the close.

All Somerset's bowlers - Andy Caddick, Charl Willoughby, Peter Trego, Steffan Jones and Cameron White - bowled some tight lines in helpful conditions and were supported by some very sharp fielding, with Trescothick at slip, and the young South African wicket-keeper, Craig Kieswetter, taking excellent catches.

Prior to Steven Crook's 60 from number 8, the most interesting contribution to Northants' total came from the England under-19 batsman Alex Wakely, who was making his first-class debut. He was unexpectedly tall but showed good judgement and a broad range of strokes in compiling a patient 38.

With rain forecast for Sunday and possibly Monday as well, Somerset will need to push on tomorrow morning to get a decent lead as quickly as possible and get Northants back in.

I'll be there to see them try.

Still Got It

With nothing happening very fast at Chester-le-Street I took myself off up the M5 to Bristol yesterday to see Somerset wrap up a crushing innings win over Gloucestershire to go to the top of Division Two of the championship.

It was an enjoyable day to be a Somerset fan despite the surroundings. I hadn't been there for a few seasons and I was reminded of what a characterless and charmless ground Nevil Road is. The Bristol public weren't exactly breaking down the gates to get in either, and the crowd - containing a substantial Somerset contingent - seemed small, but then the Gloucestershire side was so appallingly bad that you couldn't really blame them.

I left the day with a few lasting impressions, the first of which was the confidence and team spirit of a Somerset side which, in case anyone is liable to forget, finished bottom of the pile last season. It's incredible what a few weeks of consistent run-scoring from Trescothick, Edwards, White, Langer and Hildreth, knitted together with Langer's positive, typically Australian, captaincy, can do.

And then there's the seam attack. The best thing about the day was seeing Andy Caddick clean up the second Gloucestershire innings to finish with twelve wickets in the match. Having taken seven on Saturday he eased himself into his work after his side's mid-afternoon declaration, looking stiff and bowling a little too wide in his first spell, but returning after tea to polish off the innings in conjunction with the equally reliable Charl Willoughby. Even though the most resonant impression was of a man shooting fish in a barrel, it was the sort of afternoon which sent the mind spinning back through the seasons, to the time I first saw him bowl (for Middlesex seconds) in 1989, to his Test debut in 1993, and to the time I stood to applaud him in the Lord's Grandstand as he went through the West Indies in 2000.

At this level, he's still got it (and he had some interesting fields yesterday too).

Raw Pace

Well, Marcus didn't make the 300 (or even the 200), but 182 wasn't too bad, and, with Strauss failing again at Old Trafford, you can see the clamour for his return to the England side starting again soon. It was also good to see Hildreth and White make further tons, and Leicestershire stand on the brink of what's certain to be a very heavy defeat.

At Manchester it seemed like a more even, and therefore more interesting day. The standard half-century from Cook, further signs of form from Vaughan, quality from Bell and some refreshingly raw pace from the recalled Fidel Edwards.

Good stuff, for a change.

More will be Heard

The other week I wrote about the way in which Cameron White was gradually transforming himself from a leg-spinner who can bat into a batsman who can bowl leg-spin. At Taunton today he took another step on the road with 201 not out for Somerset against Gloucestershire, his third championship century of the season. While he's chiefly been known until now both here and in Australia as an uninhibited attacking player, he seemed during his previous hundred against Derbyshire to be embracing a more patient game. If he can continue to do so and make runs with similar consistency at home then his international career prospects - currently shaky - may also be transformed.

Elsewhere, it was also interesting to see Kent's young opener Joe Denly carry his bat for 115 not out out of 199 against Hampshire at Canterbury. Denly had a good record at England Under-19 level and has been quietly notching up the runs so far this season, his first as a regular in the Kent side following David Fulton's retirement. A quick look at his stats revealed that he's currently averaging nearly 53 after 8 first-class matches.

More will be heard of them both.

Great White Hope

I've been away for a few days, recovering from an excess of one-day internationals (at least that's what it felt like) and visiting my family in Derbyshire. On the way up I took in the second and third days of Somerset's championship match with Derbyshire at Taunton.

Of course the match - in which Derbyshire became the second side in consecutive games to total more than 800 on one of the most moribund shirtfront wickets on the planet - ended in a tame draw, but there was plenty of interest going on, notably Cameron White's innings of 138 which was the major contributor to Somerset's first innings total of 501.

White's knock was interesting; for a player usually associated (both in south-west England and, increasingly, in his native Australia) with powerful strokeplay and fast scoring, it was a measured and technically secure knock, although he did send one pull out of the ground in the direction of the Brewhouse Theatre.

Having begun his career as one of Australia's many great white hopes to succeed Warne and MacGill as his country's foremost leg-spinner, he looked in this innings like someone who has accepted that his bowling has stagnated, fallen away, in fact, and who needs to regard himself as a batsman who can bowl a few (or a lot of) overs when required, but not someone who's ever going to be an international spinner or all-rounder.

In the Somerset side he's doing a pretty convincing impersonation of an assured and powerful number five. Whether it will ever be enough to give him a Test career is more doubtful, but, for the time being, everyone at Taunton should be happy to have him, whatever his role.

And, come Twenty20 time, hang on to your hats.

Twenty's Plenty

It seems to have become fashionable for people who despised the very idea of Twenty20 cricket when it was first introduced (to the professional game - us amateurs have been playing it for years) in 2003 to say how much they like it now.

Well, I try to avoid being fashionable in most areas of my life, but, in this case, I agree.

The competition has removed the often tedious middle overs seen in longer limited over games, giving rise to shorter, more punchy, and frequently more exciting matches.

I haven't been to a game and I don't intend to. My nearest county ground is 40 minutes' drive away and I don't feel like driving for more than an hour there and back to see about three hours' cricket. But, when you get home from work and you're happy just to collapse on the sofa and watch some six-hitting, Twenty20 fits the bill very nicely. Also, while most of us expected when the competition started that batsmen would be reliant on slogging, the majority now play in relatively orthodox fashion, and it has expanded many players' awareness of what they're capable of, both individually and collectively.

In the last couple of weeks we've seen superb innings from Justin Langer, Cameron White, Ronnie Irani, Sourav Ganguly and Mike Yardy, and brilliant catches from Arul Suppiah, Tim Phillips and Simon Marshall. Not much bowling there, but, as Angus Fraser will never miss an opportunity to tell you, 'it's a batsman's game'.

It is also genuinely nostalgic, exciting and just a little moving to see such large crowds on county grounds, especially the huge percentage of children. If just a few are hooked (and they will be) the game's future is surely secure.

Another benefit is that counties are using the competition to blood young players. One of the most significant appearances of the week was that of the 17 year-old Middlesex batsman Billy Godleman, who made a self-possessed and stylish 41 against Essex at Chelmsford to emphasize the unusual talent which those who have followed his progress through the England age-group sides have been aware of for a few years. Middlesex's Irish teenager Eoin Morgan was also impressive, confirming the promise he showed when I saw him in Middlesex's recent Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy win over Somerset at Bath.

I confidently predict that a lot more will be heard of them both.