Today in the Championship

It's always worth keeping an eye on the Championship. Today we had Andrew Flintoff proving that he still knows how to hold a bat (although he may have forgotten again by next week) and Martin van Jaarsveld making an unbeaten 115 to take Kent to victory over Surrey and go with his unbeaten 114 in the first innings and career-best bowling figures.

That's one Kolpak player who's definitely contributing something positive to the game in this country.

Progress Report

When I started writing this blog, two years ago today, England weren't very good at one-day cricket. Little has changed. Despite some illusory indications of progress in the second half of 2007, the way in which the New Zealand series ended last Saturday carried more than a hint of the type of confusion and inadequacy which have historically been England's closest bedfellows.

Tim at Third Umpire has produced some typically succinct summaries of the players involved and I agree with most of what he says. Of the players he's more critical of I feel that Wright and Bopara are worth persisting with in the long term but they may both benefit from a bit more time in county cricket, especially Wright. Ambrose must be jettisoned (although he deserves, and will get, further chances in Test cricket), and Shah must surely climb the order. Broad's a given, and I always did like Graeme Swann.

While the story in Test cricket is a little more encouraging I think England are going to be tested to the limit by South Africa over the next couple of months, and I'm very dubious about their ability to cope. In fact, I won't be at all surprised if they get a bit of a hammering.

Complete Domination

The weather was decent, the three-sided ground was packed and the batting side massacred the bowling from start to finish. But yesterday's events at Taunton were only marginally fulfilling. A match between a weakened Somerset side and what was very nearly a full strength South African eleven was never likely to be very satisfying, and so it proved. The Proteas scored at will throughout the day and only seemed to be at risk from indecision over whether to hit the ball for four or six or the onset of terminal boredom.

This said, there was plenty to admire. Of course, we had Kallis's unrivalled technical mastery, embellished with some uninhibited flamboyance after reaching his hundred, but I also welcomed the opportunity to watch Hashim Amla bat for the very first time.

Like Kallis he barely looked challenged at any stage, and his combination of functional watchfulness, silky timing and, ultimately, complete domination of the bowling, reminded me strongly of Mohammad Yousuf. The beard is pure coincidence.

In the end only a sharp blow on the elbow from a delivery from Andy Caddick could halt Kallis's progress at 160, while Amla was run out for 172.

As I write, they've declared past 500 and Somerset are 58 for 4. There's only one way the game is going and it doesn't favour the home side.

A strong team is warming up well. England watch out.

Decline

A thought-provoking piece by Peter Roebuck, pushing themes - the decline of English cricket as a product of the decline of the country - he's often written about elsewhere.

After yesterday's confirmation that England are still a poor limited-overs side (false dawns a speciality) there's plenty to think about, but I don't have time now as I'm going up to Taunton today to have a look at the South Africans, a side who are bound to to test England even more.

I'll report back tomorrow.

Paralysis by Analysis

Of course, Paul Collingwood made a particularly crass error of judgement in appealing for Grant Elliott's dismissal yesterday, but he was let off the hook by the fact that New Zealand ultimately won the game.

It seems, however, as though the ICC aren't going to let him get away quite so easily, as he's apparently set to face a suspension for England's repeated failure to maintain an acceptable over-rate in one-day cricket.

With all the time I have for Colly (and that, despite yesterday, is plenty) I think this is great as I have a particular dislike for the way in which modern cricketers seem determined to bowl their overs more and more and more slowly with a complete disregard for the fact that people going to watch Test cricket in particular have paid to see 90 overs in a day and should be entitled to see what they've paid for.

Okay, I doubt if anyone at The Oval was complaining about the late finish yesterday, but that isn't the point. To me, it's all part of modern sport's paralysis by analysis - in cricket the endless culture of team-meetings, video sessions, planning, planning and more planning tends to spill over onto the field, with the result that it takes captains and bowlers longer and longer to set fields and players seem unable to lift a finger without calling for a rehydration drink.

Oh, dear, I'm sounding like Fred Trueman again (or maybe Geoff Boycott). And I don't even come from Yorkshire...

Hitting the Big Time

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of watching (on TV) the most incredible display of hitting I've ever seen at any level of the game, and, unlike a few purists who are knocking around, I don't think it's rendered any less remarkable by the fact that it took place in a twenty over match.

Sure, Chelmsford isn't a huge ground anyway, and the boundaries were apparently even shorter than normal, but what distinguished Graham Napier's unbeaten 152 from so many other big T20 innings was the cleanness, the orthodoxy and the power of the hitting. Few of his sixteen sixes came from slogs, and the vast majority sailed way beyond the confines of the playing arena, and, in many cases, the ground itself. They would have been sixes on virtually any ground you care to name.

As Patrick mentions, Graham Napier's been around a while, and, after playing for England at various junior levels his only representative impression was made as a member of an England A team which had a hard time in India in early 2004. As Patrick also says, perhaps this innings will give him the momentum to become a top one-day player. On balance I think that's unlikely, but, in this changing age, maybe it begs the question of what is a top one-day player?

Napier may once have dreamt of making it into the England one-day squad (and I'm sure he'd still take it), but, these days, would a phone call from an IPL owner perhaps be just as welcome?

Not everyone, after all, is going to get the chance to dip their bread in Sir Allen Stanford's gravy.

Geese Laying Golden Eggs (and other cliches)

When I first read the broad details of Giles Clarke's 'plan' for the future of English domestic cricket on Cricinfo on Friday afternoon my blood ran cold. I've since recovered my equilibrium a bit, but it seems to me that the ideas prompt far more questions than they supply answers.

Now clearly Clarke's major motivation is to make more room in the calendar for Twenty20, which, as we all know, is the goose which is currently laying golden eggs all over the place. This, it is assumed, will include some sort of 'English Premier League' on the Indian model.

So far, so opportunist, but why seek to emasculate, confuse, and, in many people's eyes (including mine), ruin, the County Championship, which, in its current form is working as well as it has ever done (just ask Justin Langer, who's been lavishing it with praise recently)? Surely the way forward is simply to get rid of the far less relevant Pro40 League, which would allow a further expansion of Twenty20 to be easily accommodated.

But no, Clarke seems to have allowed himself to get a bit too caught up in Sir Allen Stanford's vision of the future, in which Twenty20 will take precedence over everything else, including Test cricket, and seems to believe that the Championship can be marginalised. He would presumably argue that the proposed conference system would provide an equally good proving ground for potential Test players as the current two division format, but I disagree. Strongly.

It was also surprising to find Clarke, who's customarily (and quite correctly) described as a 'successful businessman', arguing in favour of measures, apparently including a salary cap and the loaning out of overseas players to 'weaker' counties, to try to balance out the strength of the competing clubs. While aspects of this would be welcome, one's suspicion is that these ideas have been included simply as a means of ensuring the votes of these counties for proposals which most county administrators would otherwise tend to feel uncomfortable with.

The only completely good thing about the proposals is that the crackpot idea of returning to three day matches which was being put about a few weeks ago seems to have been dropped, but, as I've indicated, I'd be much happier if the focus of the plan was turned towards the Pro40 League and away from the Championship.

With reports of reduced crowds in the current English Twenty20 competition there are signs that, perhaps, the goose is already being asked to work a little bit too hard. Everyone involved, from Modi to Stanford to Clarke, needs to be very careful not to kill it stone dead. If this is managed properly, and the right balance between first-class and Twenty20 cricket is achieved, the future of the game can be ensured and enhanced. If it isn't it will be jeopardized, and, while it's very hard to work out what's going on in Giles Clarke's mind, I really doubt if he wants that.

Decision Time

I hadn't bothered to write anything about what happened at Edgbaston on Wednesday as so many people had got there before me, from Ians Smith and Botham ranting away on Sky, to most fellow members of the Blogosphere. As most of them said, it was a 'farce', and one which reflected very poorly on the extent to which modern professional cricketers (and most umpires) appear to have any awareness at all that people have paid money to watch them perform and they have a duty to provide them with as much entertainment as possible.

The ICC's decision to allow umpires in further games in this series to shorten the innings break to ten minutes was remarkable. Not for what it was - as it made the uncomfortable sound of a stable door being shut well after the horse had legged it - but because it appeared to be a definite decision taken by the ICC on a matter of some, albeit transitory, importance.

Issues come and go - Zimbabwe, the ICL, the IPL, Stanford - and you barely hear a word from Dubai. A couple of their umpires cock it up (with substantial assistance from the England team) and they're straight in there.

Still, credit where credit's due. The ruling could come in handy, but, having seen the weather forecast for south-west England (where I'm due to be playing) tomorrow, I suspect there may not need to be an innings break at Bristol as there won't be any innings.

Controlling the Emotions

I thought that this, from Nick Compton's Cricinfo blog was a very interesting piece of writing indeed. If I hadn't known the identity of the author I might have thought it had been written by Compton's county captain, which is about as highly as I can praise it.

An Evening with Sir Gary

I only saw Sir Garfield Sobers play once - in a charity match at The Oval in 1982, when he was an ageing but still brilliant 46 - but it was a privilege to see him discuss his views on the game and answer questions at Blundell's School, in Tiverton, Devon, last night.

Sobers cut an impressive figure, upright and smartly dressed, with a hint of a paunch but the same loose-limbed gait that used to take him to the wicket or back to his mark in his playing days.

In conversation with the former Glamorgan and Sussex batsman Tony Cottey, Sobers revealed a wide range of views, some of which surprised slightly. For example, he felt that Ted Dexter was a better batsman than Peter May (May was vulnerable to the short ball) and Ian Chappell was better than his brother Greg (less style but more grit). Fred Trueman was the best fast bowler he faced. He always knew Lara would be a great player and it's very unlikely that anyone will beat his Test record score (that one was less of a surprise). Among contemporary players there were admiring words for Tendulkar, Kallis, Ponting and Murali, who doesn't, according, to Sir Gary, chuck the ball.

The only part that didn't really work was an over-extended anecdote about batting with Wes Hall against Chandrasekhar in India, but most of the audience - including a good many lads who weren't born until twenty years after he retired - didn't notice as they were hanging on his every word.

Of course, Twenty20 came up, and Sobers came across as a concerned traditionalist - he preferred Test cricket but wondered whether it would be around in twenty years' time.

After a plug for his youth tournament and a marathon autograph-signing session he was gone, into town for a Chinese meal and on to his next engagement.

An evening to remember.

What's the Point?

For sport to really have meaning it has to have a competitive context - usually this is provided by tradition, time-honoured rivalry or a major competition - but, to me, the central weakness of the series of matches announced by the ECB (or should that just be Sir Allen Stanford?) this afternoon is that they have none. In fact, do they have any point at all apart from making the players rich?

Now, although I can easily be mistaken for a cricket purist (probably because, at the end of the day, I am one), I enjoy Twenty20 as much as the next person. But an annual series of what will basically just be exhibition matches? I'm getting bored just thinking about them, let alone watching them.

And who the hell are the 'West Indies All Stars'? I've heard of the West Indies, and I might take some interest if they were playing, but the 'West Indies All Stars'? No thanks, although, with the amount of money available most of the main side's main players are bound to be there, trying like mad to stick their fingers as deep into the pie as they'll go.

This could be good for the game; it could be bad. Until now I've tended towards neutrality and optimism on the subject of the Twenty20 'revolution', but this feels more like boredom and cynicism, coloured with a tinge of distaste.

Calling The Shots (Badly)

I was chatting to my mate Alan over breakfast in Worcester last weekend and we decided that Steve Harmison's Test career was probably over. We also still had our doubts about Jimmy Anderson, and I favoured a return to Matthew Hoggard.

Since then Harmison's taken a hat-trick and a six-for, and Anderson...well, you know what he's been up to.

On this basis I'd like to predict the demise of both Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, in the certain knowledge that they'll both hold their places in the side for the first Test against South Africa and then cream the Proteas all over Lord's.

You never know...

Yorkshire Born

While England were disposing of an insipid New Zealand side at Trent Bridge, I took myself off to one of my regular haunts - the Ian Botham Stand at Taunton - for the first couple of days of Somerset's match with Yorkshire. Although I saw Jacques Rudolph compile an excellent 155 on the first day and had the less pleasant experience of watching Somerset subside on the second, my main motivation was to take a close look at Adil Rashid, a player I've often written about over the last couple of years.

His staccato and uncomfortable innings of 5, late on the first day, didn't show him in a very good light, but he bowled a neat spell of accurate and wristy leg spin yesterday, part of a tight Yorkshire performance in the field which put Somerset on the back foot. Assisted by Anthony McGrath's thoughtful and innovative captaincy, Rashid (pictured above) looked for all the world like a spinner forged in the backstreets of Calcutta or Karachi, rather than Bradford, and I'm absolutely certain that more will be heard of him.

The lastest news from Taunton is that Somerset have hit back with the ball today and Yorkshire are currently 158 for 7, 272 ahead. With the weather set fair for tomorrow, a compelling last day beckons.

Adaptability

On Sunday I was watching Ravi Bopara make a very patient 85 for Essex in a losing cause against Worcestershire; today he scored an undefeated 201 in a fifty over game.

I guess we can add adaptability to his many virtues.

Sad Stats

The West Indies-Australia series has largely passed me by. When it's been on I've usually either been watching live cricket here in England or at work.

A few things have seeped through though, such as the excellence of Lee and Chanderpaul, Stuart MacGill's retirement, and the fact that, certainly in Antigua over the last few days, there's been nobody watching. Although there are fragile signs that the chasm between the two sides is narrowing, the series just doesn't seem to have the vibrancy that either the 2003 or, obviously, the 1999 one did. The absence of Lara doesn't help, but when you turn on the TV and find an apparently large ground like the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium virtually deserted there doesn't seem to be the same incentive to follow the action.

Something I hadn't noticed, which Rob at Cricket Forever points out is the fact that the West Indies went into the last Test with a specialist opener, Xavier Marshall, with a highest first-class score of just 82 and an average in the mid-twenties. The latter may not be unprecedented but the former sure feels like it.

If ever the sad decline of the West Indies can be summed up in a single statistic, that is it.

Worcester Reflections

For me, May ended and June began at the one and only Worcester, where the home county beat Essex in a relatively low-scoring LV Division Two game on a track which, although it settled down a bit in the Saturday sunshine, always gave the bowlers plenty of assistance. Few batsmen from either side coped well with it; the exceptions being Worcestershire's young local opener Daryl Mitchell, the evergreen and always under-rated Ben Smith, whose double of 60 and 71 went a long way towards securing Worcestershire's victory and Ravi Bopara, whose gritty and patient second innings 85 - the innings of a potential Test player - made sure that Essex went down with a fight.

For the bowlers it was largely a matter of getting the ball in the right place and letting the pitch do the rest, especially at the Diglis End, but, while Steve Magoffin was desperately unlucky on the final day and Kabir Ali also bowled well, the stand-out seamer was Simon Jones, who bowled with pace, accuracy and desire to take eight in the game. Bowling like this there's no doubt he'd be an asset to England (and he clearly thinks so too), but he only bowled 18 complete overs and he'll need to adjust to a heavier workload before he's really ready. The signs, though, are very, very good.

Lastly a word about a young cricketer who I talked up a lot two years ago but who's been forgotten amid the attention lavished on Prior and Ambrose since. This may be no bad thing, as Steven Davies needs time and space to develop away from the limelight but, to me, everything he does, both with keeping and batting gloves on, carries an unmistakeable air of class and assurance, even if he isn't cashing in.

I still think he's an England player of the future and, rising 22, he has time on his side.

Unchanged?

While England deserve plenty of credit for what was a creditable comeback, and, ultimately, a comfortable victory, the questions raised by Tim over at Third Umpire yesterday largely remain. While they saw England to victory soundly enough towards the end yesterday, the form of Bell and especially Collingwood continues to give cause for concern and there are bowling issues that need addressing as well.

I'd be inclined to stick with the batting line-up as it is for Nottingham, with the hope that Bell (the player with more potential than anyone else in the side, in my view) can make some runs when the heat's on. Colly probably just about deserves another go as well, although Ravi Bopara increases the pressure on him with every run he makes in what's been an excellent start to the season.

With regard to the bowling, I'm losing patience with Anderson's inconsistency and would go back to Matthew Hoggard (if fit) or give Tremlett (who did little wrong against India last summer) a go.

I'll be very surprised, though, if England don't go in with a completely unchanged side again.

The Jones Boy

After last year's debacle, I'm going up to Worcester for a few days next weekend to see Worcestershire's championship match against Essex. I'm looking forward to seeing Ravi Bopara but the most enticing prospect is that of watching Simon Jones bowl.

It seems he's really starting to get it together again, and I thought his interview with Simon Wilde in yesterday's Sunday Times was impressively mature, percipient and encouraging.

I'll report back.

Aftermath

In the aftermath of a feverish day at Old Trafford yesterday, it's the English batting that's taking the flak, along, it seems, with the team's general approach.

Much of this criticism is fair and accurate, and it's getting to the stage where some tough decisions need to be taken, regardless of what happens today.

This, from Third Umpire, is a typically well-balanced critique, most of which I strongly agree with.

Proving the Rule

Simon Taufel deserves vast credit for going to the third umpire for an adjudication on Vettori's run out yesterday. Very many umpires wouldn't have done so.

I don't think there's another umpire on the international panel who's quite as good (although, in my opinion, Aleem Dar is close), and I'm happy to treat Alastair Cook's lbw decision as the exception which proves the rule.

Throwback

A day's Test cricket yesterday, in two very different parts of the world, which was, in many ways, a throwback to earlier times. On the one hand you had a previously unconsidered Kiwi seamer (no offence, Mr.O'Brien) making life difficult for England (with obvious assistance from his captain) after England's own insipid efforts in the field had matched the slackness of the Kiwis' running. England were also pasted all over the field by a young batsman of unmistakeable promise and class; it's hard to believe now that only a few months ago good New Zealand judges were wondering whether Ross Taylor was going to be any more than a one-day player.

On the other, in Kingston, you had everything going off: Shiv Chanderpaul gets knocked unconscious by a Brett Lee bouncer but gets up to record yet another century and then watches from the field as Edwards and Powell leave Australia rocking at a close score of 17 for 4.

So, just like old times. England struggling, West Indies fast bowlers creating mayhem and reverse swing the king. For all the brilliance of Taylor and Chanderpaul's heroics (how many batsmen have ever sold their wicket more dearly?), the highlight of the day for me was the delivery from Brett Lee which shattered Daren Powell's stumps as the West Indian innings declined.

At about 90 miles an hour it started to reverse in the last third of its flight before torpedoing Powell's middle and leg stumps. Far better players than Powell would have stood no chance at all, and for an instant I felt as though I was right back in the 1990s, with Waqar Younis persecuting a range of helpless England batsmen (Graeme Hick at Lord's, 1996, came to mind immediately).

Bloody magnificent.

Indeterminate

As most observers seem to have been saying, it's difficult to know what to make of an indeterminate game which ended with an indeterminate result, but it's far to say that a few people - myself included, if truth be told - will have woken up to the fact that there's the potential for a reasonable contest over the next few weeks. The Kiwis will, though, need further big contributions from Oram and McCullum, together with Ross Taylor finding some form, if they're to hold off an English attack which ought to get better with more bowling and more help from the conditions.

From an English viewpoint it was obviously good to see Vaughan back in the runs, with some of his onside shots on Sunday reminiscent of his greatest days and a fantastic look of fulfilment and (perhaps) relief on his face when he reached his ton.

It's easy to start to wonder if James Anderson has crossed the elusive consistency threshold, although I'd be inclined to give him a few more Tests before counting any chickens. However, going back to Hoggy (when he's fit) doesn't seem such an obvious move as it did after Napier, and there's always Anderson's superb fielding to enjoy, even if the wickets aren't coming.

Finally, after his promising (and too readily-forgotten) start to his Test career last summer, I'm very pleased to see Chris Tremlett back, although he looks unlikely to play.

A little bit of consistency of selection for once? Well, maybe.

Light Relief

For the first time in a few years I decided not to go to the May Lord's Test this season, and, with the way the weather's gone, it seems I got it about right. I haven't seen much of the game but have been made aware by the media and friends at Lord's that it's been pretty heavy going. Not for the first time (and certainly not for the last), the players have been shooting themselves in the foot (and the game in the head) by coming off for bad light when the justification for it has often seemed a bit limited. It'd be nice if the players would occasionally remember that people have paid to watch them play, but I can't see it happening. Best just to leave the decision to the umpires.

Andrew Miller sums things up typically well here.

The County Game

Over the years, although I've watched a lot of it, I've often been ambivalent about the value, if not the intrinsic qualities, of the English county game. And now, with the usual volley of spring brickbats being fired at it from a range of observers - Scyld Berry, Mike Atherton, Steve James - it feels slightly strange to be writing in its defence.

Yesterday I was at Taunton again. The sun shone all day, and, after Chris Adams' bizarre decision to insert Somerset, there was more assured and at times dismissively brilliant batting from Trescothick, Edwards, Langer and especially James Hildreth, who benefited from two early dropped catches but went on to lay waste to a Sussex attack which kept going well but was always swimming against the tide.

The concerns of James and others (including, apparently, the ECB, although they've done precious little about it so far) about the number of Kolpak players are right on the money. As James said earlier this week, if counties like Northants and Leicestershire can't do any better than stuff their side with South Africans, then perhaps the time has come to wonder whether they're serving any useful purpose at all. Despite the advances in competitiveness and quality engendered by two divisions, I've long bought into the view that there are simply too many first-class sides in England, and the way in which counties are making it more and more evident that there isn't enough English talent to go round only weakens the case for their continued existence even more.

However, one of the supposed 'facts' about County Championship cricket, that 'nobody watches it', perhaps leading people who don't go to matches to think that games are always attended by the proverbial 'one man and his dog', simply isn't, in my experience, true. While yesterday's crowd was unusually large, containing as it did a very large number of Sussex supporters, crowds at Taunton, even in midweek, are usually good (it must have been up over the thousand mark yesterday). Okay, about 90% of the people there on any given day are over sixty, but no matter. As a stripling of 42 it keeps me feeling young, and it's nice to be surrounded by people who know and love the game for what it is, rather than seeing a day at the cricket as an opportunity to make an exhibition of themselves.

It's possible that developments in the wider cricketing world may finally force the hands of the ECB and the counties and lead them towards some meaningful change, and, in many ways, this would be a good thing. However, Jack Simmons' idea of reverting to three-day cricket with 120 overs a day ('revealed' in The Times yesterday) can surely be ignored. Take it from me, Jack, you're not going to get modern county cricketers to bowl 120 overs in a day. They can't even manage 96 in a six hour day now and they're not going to like the idea of their working day being lengthened.

Whatever happens, though, those with the power to decide on the issue must be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, because there are very many things about county cricket which are still, and will remain, great.

A sunny day at Taunton and a Hildreth century are just two of them.

Predictable

Well, Andrew Flintoff's side strain meant that that the England selectors had a slightly easier job than they would have done. I myself felt that Flintoff ought to be left with Lancashire until the South Africa series, and, while he was clearly bowling very well, his total lack of runs with the bat confirmed my view, and I suspect that some of the panel shared this opinion.

So, the team for Lord's is a fairly predictable one, with both Jimmy Anderson and Matthew Hoggard named, and I wouldn't be surprised if they both play, although, if the exceptional weather continues, conditions might favour Monty a bit more.

Nothing Unusual (but still great)

For all the talk of Kolpaks and the damage (or otherwise) they're doing to the English game, a day at the county cricket can still throw up some real pleasures.

Friday at Taunton, was one such day. A typically dead track, to be sure, and Somerset intent on batting all day to make up for a meagre first innings effort against a threadbare Hampshire bowling attack.

There was one good sign, though: Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer were together at the start of the day, and, by the time they were parted in mid-afternoon, they had taken their team's score from a distinctly rocky 83 for 1 to 355 for 2. Neither of them did anything unusual, or, for them exceptional; Trescothick was dominant, muscular and powerful, Langer controlled, determined and acquisitive, but it was great to watch two Test players of the past (it still feels uncomfortable to say that about Marcus but there's no getting away from the truth of it) toying with an attack of tyros.

One shot sticks in the mind. Late in Trescothick's innings, James Tomlinson, with eight first innings wickets behind him, dropped one short, just outside off stump. Marcus swivelled and pulled it for four to the furthest boundary on the ground, bisecting two boundary fielders and sending a clear message to Tomlinson: I've done that to some of the finest and fastest bowlers in the world. Don't bowl there to me and expect to get away with it.

Of course, Marcus, never the confrontational or arrogant sort, wouldn't have put it like that (or even thought it), but that's how it appeared.

I look forward to a few more moments like that over the coming months.

The Best of the Best

After my first day's cricket of the 2008 season at Taunton yesterday, I've been lying low at home today and watching a stirring conclusion to the 'regular' Guinness Premiership season.

However, I always keep an eye on Cricinfo's 'The Surfer', and today it carried a link to this piece in the Daily Telegraph by Simon Hughes.

Even though I belong to the apparently small group of people who feel that it would have been a retrograde step to bring Ramprakash back into the England side in the last few seasons, Hughes's excellent article has many resonances for me. In 1988 I was a Middlesex supporter and was at Lord's for Ramprakash's heroics in the NatWest Final. Indeed I still have a scorecard which he signed for me at a reception afterwards in the Lord's Banqueting Suite.

Those of us who knew what he could do then were among the most disappointed by what came afterwards, but we'll surely be among those who raise a glass highest when the inevitable hundredth hundred comes.

Because, like another undervalued artist who I was watching today (but who may yet get the chance to display his wares on the international stage), James Simpson-Daniel, Ramprakash truly was better than any of his contemporaries.

Wickets Falling

The sun's shining but wickets are still falling all over the country. Lancashire are bowled out for 140, with Durham's Mark Davies, a bowler who has had fitness issues throughout his career but who takes wickets by the bucketload when he's fit, taking 7 for 33. In reply, Lancashire skittle Durham for 114, with Jimmy Anderson and Freddie Flintoff each taking four wickets.

At Taunton, Somerset are shot out for 126 and Hampshire pass their total with ease, KP making a rapid ton.

James Hildreth is out, second ball, for 0.

Another Day...

Another English cricketer says that he's rejected an offer from the IPL. Yesterday it was Ravi Bopara, today it's Sajid Mahmood.

What to make of it? Well, it was inevitable that English players would be offered IPL contracts, and it's even more inevitable that, one day soon, they'll start accepting them. How many of us, if offered, say, five times the money for a fraction of the work, would do anything else? I know I'd be off like a shot, but then I've got no hope of playing for England, and it was good to see that Bopara was more concerned about his potential future in the national side than the amount of Indian cash he could make, at least in the short term.

For a player like Bopara - young, with both plenty of talent and a good temperament, and bang in form, this is how it should be. As for Mahmood, well, with the emergence of Sidebottom and Broad, he's going to have to find some very good form of his own in the near future if he's not to be consigned permanently to the well-filled pigeonhole marked 'former England internationals'. Personally I'll be very surprised if he ever plays for England again, and, if I was him, I'd have gone.

But then I'm just about as far from being Sajid Mahmood as it's possible to be, so my perspective on life is bound to be a bit different from his. If he wants to stay here and fight to regain his England place, good luck to him.

As I've said, the attractions of the IPL are obvious and undeniable. And sometimes they're even better than that. Consider for a minute the case of Dimitri Mascarenhas, who at the moment is presumably being paid a very large amount of money for doing absolutely nothing.

I'd take it.

Time's Arrow

Talking of Taunton, it occurred to me over the weekend that it's twenty years ago tomorrow that Graeme Hick made 405 not out there for Worcestershire, a monumental innings which remained the highest first-class score made in England during the twentieth century. In fact twenty years ago today he was just settling in, and he finished the first day unbeaten on 179.

My memories of the day it happened are crystal clear. At the time I was approaching the end of my three years at Warwick University, and, while I'd never, at that time, visited Taunton, I was obsessed with Graeme Hick and thought (didn't everyone?) that he was going to be the greatest batsman of his generation (in the world, never mind England). Having seen his overnight score I was trying to revise for my finals when I heard on the radio that he was ploughing on towards a score the like of which those of us born after the era of Bradman, Ponsford and Hanif Mohammed had never known.

I obviously can't remember exactly how many he had when I heard about it, but it was probably about 370, and I spent the next hour in a state of febrile excitement as I waited to hear whether he'd made it to 400.

At the time, of course, I didn't think I'd ever see anyone else do it, let alone make 500. But then, at that time, few people outside the West indies had heard of Brian Lara.

If you'd told me at the time that he'd still be playing for Worcestershire twenty years later I wouldn't have believed you. But then if you'd told me he'd finish his Test career with just six centuries and an average of 31, I wouldn't have believed that either.

Crucial

I haven't posted for a while. Although the IPL's rocking along in India I haven't seen any of it and it doesn't feel to me as though the season's really begun here. I am, however, hoping to get up to Taunton this week (weather, as always, permitting) for some of Somerset's County Championship match with Hampshire, which begins on Wednesday.

A batsman who I'm looking forward to seeing is Somerset's talented 23 year-old, James Hildreth, for whom this is a crucial season. In common with most other observers down here in the English south-west I have little doubt that he's got what it takes, in terms of basic talent and temperament, to succeed at the very highest level. Owing to a sluggish start he wasn't given the opportunity to really display his wares on the England Lions tour of India during the winter, with the consequence that he won't be lining up with the rest of the hopefuls when the New Zealand tourists arrive in Southampton later this week.

He, however, has already visited Southampton, making 112* to take Somerset to victory, chasing 287, in the Friends Provident Trophy on Friday evening. By all accounts it was an excellent knock and one which should, at least, remind the selectors of his existence.

Some more where that came from, especially in the limited-over game, could lead to Hildreth being the latest player to be introduced to the international scene via the perenially transitional England one-day side, although players who were given more opportunities than him in India and who achieved more (Carberry, Rashid of course) are nearer the front of the queue and will be facing the Black Caps on Thursday, while Hildreth lines up against the even less threatening Hampshire attack.

Disappointing, both for those of us who follow him and, I'm sure, James himself, but, with his real long-term ambition and destiny being a place in the Test side, County Championship runs are vital.

I, for one, hope he can deliver.

Permeating My Indifference

I've had a week off work this week and have been out and about doing things - some mundane but necessary, others highly enjoyable - while the County Championship has slowly cranked itself into gear in its time-honoured way in England and the IPL has hit the ground running (and at a furious pace) in India.

I haven't got access to the channel which is broadcasting the IPL in this country so I haven't seen any of it and inevitably feel a bit detached as a result. I enjoy Twenty20 but only if I can watch it. While I'll always keep an eye on events in Tests which I can't see, I can't be bothered to do the same for the IPL.

A few events and statements have permeated my indifference, though.

This morning all the news seems to be about Harbhajan Singh supposedly slapping Sreesanth. Apparently Bhajji denies it, saying he merely pushed him (I've heard that one before somewhere), but various other people have supported Sree's account. Who knows? I certainly don't, but I can't say I'm surprised. It was only a matter of time before someone took a pop at Sreesanth, and it's just a surprise that it wasn't Andre Nel. As for Harbhajan, well, if this is true he needs to take a long hard look at himself.

I also, of course, heard about the fact that Sir Allen Stanford had suggested that Twenty20 cricket could surpass (Association) Football as the world's most popular professional sport.

I find Stanford interesting - Americans who seem to have got into cricket properly generally are - and he's right that T20 might just make a bit of a dent in the 'American market' - but bigger than football?

Er, no. You and I will be watching Chris Martin make a Test century before that happens.

Still Doing It

Something else made a bigger impression on me than the IPL, though.

I started this blog because I felt I had something to write after I saw Graeme Hick make his 129th first-class hundred for Worcestershire against Somerset at Taunton two years ago.

Two years on he's still doing it. Yesterday's 101 at Edgbaston was hundred number 135, and you wouldn't bet against there being more to come as the season goes on, 42nd birthday or no 42nd birthday.

Just Enjoy

So, the IPL has finally started. And with a bang, Brendon McCullum making the highest score ever in a major Twenty20 game.

It wasn't a huge surprise; as McCullum showed recently in New Zealand, he can do things like that. No, what was more significant was the fact that McCullum's knock, and the massive total it led to, emphasized one of the central weaknesses of T20 cricket - when the side batting first makes a really big score, the side batting second rarely gets anywhere near it and usually collapses in a heap as their batsmen try to score at a rate they simply can't cope with. And if you wanted to be mischievous you could suggest that if your opening pair is Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer (one great player and one rare timer but two players with somewhat uneven records in limited-over cricket) you're probably going to find it even harder.

Still, I'm sure everybody enjoyed it. And a quick glance at the sides illustrates one of the less obvious but more valuable aspects of the league: the fact that the composition of the teams gives young players like Kohli and Saha the opportunity to mix and learn from the likes of Dravid, Kallis, Ganguly and Ponting.

Readers of some of my past posts will know that I have no problem at all with T20 as long as it its hand isn't overplayed. In fact, in an Engliah county context and watched on TV, I love it. I didn't see any of last night's game as I don't have access to the channel which is showing it it here in the UK, but my initial feeling about the IPL is that it won't mean armageddon for the game, it has value and it's here to stay (for a while at least).

Nobody can be entirely sure where it'll lead, so, for the time being, let's just enjoy it for what it is.

Normal Service

Another day, another English cricket season, another quietly dismantled county bowling attack, another Mark Ramprakash century.

Although I fall into the camp of people who don't happen to think it would be a good idea to recall him to the England team - although I could be open to persuasion - I'm increasingly starting to wonder when, since the retirement of the Don in the late 1940s, has anyone made so many runs so consistently, over such a long period and with such inevitability?

I've got some time off work next week so I might do some digging around in the mass of cricket books that stuff my home and see whether I can come up with an answer.

However, by then, he'll probably have made some more runs and the IPL will have started, so we'll see...

Thanks But No Thanks

A bloody brilliant story.

As Ally said, 'life's not all down to money'.

The Real Deal

I only caught the last few hours' play but it seemed to me that India fully deserved their series-levelling win against South Africa at Green Park in Kanpur. On a wearing pitch, Dhoni took the innovative step of opening with Harbhajan and he, along with Sehwag, did the majority of the damage as the Proteas subsided to defeat.

But the bowler who impressed me most, again, was Ishant Sharma. There have been enough false dawns in the Indian seam bowling world to fill a book (Munaf Patel, anyone?), but Sharma, just nineteen, certainly looks like the real deal, with a good, orthodox action, seductive rhythm, and pace which will inevitably increase as he fills out.

At the moment he looks fragile, and it's important that Bhaji, Kumble, Sreesanth and the rest take their fair share of India's overs while he gets stronger. His potential is too great to be sacrificed on the altar of over-work before his international career has really hit its stride.

Very Interesting

After a hard evening in the indoor nets last night (I must have bowled the equivalent of about 15 overs, and my body was aching when I started) I was vegetating on the couch with the latest instalment of West Indies v Sri Lanka when something very interesting happened. Shiv Chanderpaul hit ten (4, 6) off the last two balls of the game to give his side victory.

I couldn't recall when I last got so excited during an ODI, especially at 10.30 in the evening, but it just showcased again the versatility of this wonderful player.

Rob has a great photo of the aftermath here.

Anticipating Wisden

I haven't seen the 2008 Wisden yet, but there seems to be a lot of talk around about some of the comments Scyld Berry's made, together with the choice of Ian Bell as one of the Five Cricketers of the year, alongside the more deserving Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ottis Gibson, Ryan Sidebottom and Zaheer Khan, at least two of whom were absolutely obvious selections.

Having not read any of Berry's comments in full I can't say very much, but I'm pleased he appears to have said something about the possibility of on-field violence and the duty of the ICC to try to prevent it happening. It's something I've been concerned about for a long time, and the events of the Australian winter only reinforced my views. I don't, though, have very much confidence in the ICC's ability to get to grips with the issue before (or even after) something serious happens. That said, they're probably in a flat spin at the moment about the effect which the forces of Indian commerce are threatening to have on world cricket. And if they're not, they should be.

I yield to absolutely no-one in my admiration for Ian Bell. As I've often stated, if he ever realizes just how good he could be he could become very good indeed (although I'm starting to doubt if he'll ever have the iron confidence which all really great players have, as that's something that's very hard - and probably impossible - to develop), but his achievements last summer don't in my opinion match up with the general standard set for Wisden selections. While acknowledging the quality he showed in the ODI arena (which he hasn't built upon since), he made 417 runs in 12 Test innings with one hundred and three fifties. Good, yes, but hardly briliant for someone with his potential.

Why not wait until he really starts to blossom?

Where We're At

A typically sober and well-balanced assessment of the current state of play in England vis-a-vis the IPL from CMJ.

The only conclusion, though, is that nobody really knows where we're at (let alone where on earth we'll be in a year's time).

Parallels

After posting the piece about Giles Clarke this afternoon, I came across this on Cricinfo.

Greig is right about Clarke's use of WSC as a parallel (Botham was already in the England ODI side before Packer) but I'm less sure about his suggestion that the ECB should start its own rival to the IPL.

Sure, it could be done (and probably will be), but is it going to attract the type of investment that the IPL has in a country where cricket is barely on the radar in terms of levels of interest in comparison with India?

Unlikely, but if someone started a football league...

Wait a minute, that happened in 1992.

A Convincing Canute

Meanwhile, back here in England, Giles Clarke does a convincing impersonation of King Canute as he tries to hold back the inevitable. The bottom line - and Clarke, as a successful businessman, must know this - is that money talks. And the IPL sums are so great that they won't just talk. They'll shout very loudly.

He's right to flag up the 2009 Ashes and his point about the way in which player burnout suddenly seems to have been forgotten about is well made, but if Freddie and KP decide they want to cash their chips in with the IPL before next summer there may not be a lot he can do about it.

The idea of 'freelance' internationals is an interesting one, and it would be equally interesting to see if the England selectors were prepared to be as hardline as Clarke is, and, if they were, what the public will think. My feeling is that English supporters will want to see what they perceive to be their country's strongest possible side playing against Australia next summer and they won't feel that the fact that someone's 'prepared' for an Ashes series by playing twenty over cricket for piles of cash in India should necessarily prevent him doing so.

However, as the old cliche goes, this one will run and run and run...

Ronnie and Shiv

It was great to see West Indies complete their first Test win at Port-of-Spain since 2000 last night, with the majority of the runs scored by the two classy Guyanese occupants of their middle-order, the enigmatic but resolutely classy Sarwan and their rock of ages, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Like every other Windies victory over recent years it probably doesn't mean very much - they remain a side with too many weaknesses to be capable of winning consistently at home, let alone away, but it did bring a few more people into the ground and give an idea of what things might be like if they ever get their act together properly.

Australia, coming soon, will be a much stiffer test.

Earning A Living

Earning a living has been my main priority over the last few days, but I caught some fleeting glimpses of the second India-South Africa Test and even less of the West Indies-Sri Lanka game in Port-of-Spain.

In Motera a couple of things stood out: The continuing excellence of Dale Steyn, the most improved and now the most potent quickie on the international circuit, and the fact that AB de Villiers, a player of obvious and vast potential, finally went on to make a truly significant Test score.

Both players, but especially Steyn, will pose more than their fare share of problems for England this summer, a series which seems sure to be tightly-contested and which I'm really looking forward to.

Someone who has had time to produce a more detailed analysis of what went on is Homer, and he poses a number of legitimate questions about the place in which Indian cricket currently finds itself.

Better than at many times in the past to be sure, but as capable of self-inflicted turmoil as any other entity in the sporting world.

Harsh?

Five years for criticising the Pakistan board? Shoaib's punishment sounds unduly harsh and it remains to be seen whether it sticks. Over at Cricinfo Osman Samiuddin tries to make sense out of the confusion.

Whether or not we see him again, this is what he could do when he was at his best:

Owing Nothing

As I was away last weekend I didn't get an opportunity to comment on Marcus Trescothick's retirement from international cricket. I've written about Marcus many times before, and I can't add much to what I said here, or here, or here.

He owes no-one anything. He was a central, if under-appreciated, figure in England's revival between 2000 and 2005 and is one of the ten men alive who'll always be able to say that they played for England throughout the greatest Ashes series of them all.

I look forward to watching him in Somerset colours for a few more years yet.

Grinding to a Halt

With the first Test grinding to a drawn halt this morning as Neil McKenzie took the opportunity to further improve his Test average, all that can be said is that the Indian authorities need to try to ensure that future Tests are played on surfaces which offer a bit more to the bowlers. Not easy, but necessary.

The Chennai crowds looked respectable, but, with Tests in India under increasing pressure from the encroachment of the ICL and IPL, there needs to be a bit of a contest for people to watch.

There won't be a triple hundred of the speed of Sehwag's every time...

Not Quite

Sadly Sehwag didn't quite make it to the holy grail of 400 and the Test record. It wasn't a surprise; people rarely do.

However, there's just one brief point I'd like to make. I wrote yesterday of his 'eternally risky style', but I thought about it afterwards and realised that while Sehwag's style would be risky for a mere mortal, for him, when he's in the groove, it really isn't. The eye is so, so, good that the feet don't have to be in the right place and the delivery doesn't have to be, as the cliche goes, 'there to hit'.

Unorthodoxy disguised as rashness, calculation disguised as spontaneity. Therein lies the genius of Viru.

True Genius

There were times during Sehwag's exile from the Indian side, when Dinesh Karthik was jogging along in respectable fashion, when my mind strayed to wondering if he'd ever make it back. Maybe the eternally risky style had been found out once and for all, and, even if it hadn't, would he return as a middle order player, away from the stresses of the new ball?

But then true genius writes its own rules. It's hard to think of anyone else who could play like that at the top of the order and get away with it.

If he's not too tired and manages to settle in again early tomorrow, Lara's record beckons.

And after a display of batting that was brilliant even by his rarefied standards, it would be no more than he deserves.

I'll be watching.

Interesting Player

As one Test series comes to an end, so another gets under way, and, with two days gone in Chennai, South Africa have the advantage.

Although it was brought to an end by a dreadful run out, the highlight of South Africa's innings was Hashim Amla's 159.

Interesting player, Amla. I remember his early games against England during the 2004-5 series, when he often looked little more than a walking wicket. However, the South African selectors, seemingly convinced of his class, persisted with him and it seems now as though he's really found his feet, with all those hours spent batting with Kallis doubtless doing him a lot of good.

All that and one of the finest beards seen in international cricket since the great Doctor himself.

Not Losing Sleep

It was rarely easy to see enough of the England-New Zealand series - most of the action took place in the middle of the night here in the UK, and I just can't handle cricket-related sleep deprivation the way I used to - but I saw enough to know that it was an occasionally captivating contest between two relatively mediocre sides. However, the suspicion remains that New Zealand, certainly at Hamilton, played above themselves, while England, at Hamilton and early on in both Wellington and Napier, did just the opposite. Certainly, if England were as good a side as they'd like to think they are (and are probably capable of being) they would have won all three matches without having to lose too much sleep themselves.

In the short term England can congratulate themselves on the way they bowled after the landmark decision to dispense with Hoggard and Harmison was taken. As I've written many times before, Stuart Broad's potential is as outstanding as it is obvious, Sidebottom's resurrection has been remarkable and Monty, despite some shaky days earlier in the winter, still has everything he looked to have in 2006. He needs a bit more - notably in the flight department - but that will come. Anderson, consistent only in his utter inconsistency, remains a problem, and, if anyone's going to allow Hoggard back in it'll be him.

Their batting, despite the multiple late advances in Napier, was often disappointing. Vaughan was poor, Cook underwhelming, Strauss lucky to be there. Pietersen and Bell were largely below their best, although, as his enigmatic career continues to frustate those of us who can't help admiring him, it remains hard to tell what Bell's best really is. The eternally-reassuring Collingwood was often excellent, but he needs to find his way to three figures rather than two. With Broad at eight to extend the tail, he may stand a better chance of doing so in the future.

With Ambrose it's still much too early to tell. He'll start the home series against New Zealand as the man in possession, but let's see where we are when both the Kiwis and the Proteas have come and gone.

For New Zealand, despite the emergence of Taylor and Southee, things look increasingly gloomy. With Fleming's name added to the long list of players they've lost over the last year, their spring trip to these shores is likely to prove a difficult assignment.

These were two sides who were more evenly matched than they ought to have been, and the series was all the better for it. However, if England, with home advantage, don't pull away from New Zealand with ease over here, some serious, and worrying, questions will have to be asked.

Hair's Back

The other big news is that Darrell Hair is back, and is showing a welcome degree of self-awareness.

Now, I tended to favour him more than most after The Oval (while also feeling that he could have handled things much better), but there's no doubt that he needed to give some thought to his inter-personal skills.

From this it looks as though he's doing just that.

However, he won't be seen within a million miles of a game involving Pakistan or any other Asian country, so he'll probably just carry on as he always did.

Drifting Back

I'm going away for a few days over Easter and will be spending most of my time in a household without Sky, so I won't see as much of the Napier Test as I'd like, but, with the teams gearing up for the series decider, a few interesting things have been happening.

With Kyle Mills out it seems almost certain that Tim Southee will make his debut at the age of nineteen. I haven't seen much of Southee, but, on thinking about the game, I've found my mind drifting back eleven years to the time New Zealand gave a debut against England at Wellington to an eighteen year-old called Daniel Vettori.

He hasn't had a bad career; if Southee shapes up half as well he will have done alright.

Harmison and Hoggard: The Future

Well, in the end, the football injury didn't amount to much and Anderson managed to get through the last day and a bit without any trouble, although he was apparently rattling around the pitch as a result of the number of painkillers he was taking. It didn't matter too much, as Sidebottom and Broad did most of what was necessary and England were worthy winners, moving on to Napier as favourites to win the series.

The news of the day in some quarters seems to be the fact that Moores has pointed out that it'll be hard for Harmison and Hoggard to reclaim their lost places. Stating the obvious, I would have thought, as long as Broad and Sidebottom keep bowling well, although history shows that there's at least as much chance of a vacancy occurring because of injury as loss of form.

Obviously both Harmison and Hoggard will need to be bowling well to put themselves in the frame for a recall, but, if they do, will the selectors want them?

Hoggard: A probable yes, on account of his ability to bring similar qualities 'to the party' (as Duncan Fletcher would have said) as Sidebottom; swing, control, competitiveness, heart.

Harmison: Very possibly a no, based on what's becoming too long a history of technical inconsistency and temperamental vulnerability.

With Hoggard you just know he'll be busting a gut to get back in. With Harmy you can't help but have your doubts. And, if he's not sure how much he wants it, you can be sure that the selectors won't be sure how much they want him.

Bloody Stupid

So, after a solid day's batting, England are in the box seat and should wrap up a victory in Wellington over the next couple of days.

But then comes the news that James Anderson has injured his ankle 'playing football' and is doubtful for the rest of the game.

News like this makes me come over all Fred Trueman. Why the hell do modern players persist in warming up and warming down by playing football and touch rugby when there are numerous examples of players being injured while doing so, in some cases (Mark Wagh) leading to them missing entire seasons?

I just don't know what's going off out there...

Streak Bowler

Two days gone at the Basin Reserve and England, unusually, hold all the aces. However, I'm not going to say anything at all about Tim Ambrose, as:

1. I haven't seen enough live action over the two Tests so far (most of it taking place when I need to sleep) to make any sort of judgement about his keeping.

AND

2. Although he made an excellent ton I seem to remember a keeper called Prior doing the same less than a year ago and what's he doing now?

I'm going to reserve judgement, but the early signs are good; if nothing else he seems a bit less fond of the sound of his own sledging than Prior and that can't be bad.

Jimmy Anderson is different. Everybody's known what he's been capable of since a certain day at Newlands in March 2003, but all the evidence is that he remains a streak bowler. Capable of lacerating any batting line-up when the force is with him but depressingly tame and ineffectual when it's not. After the naive and counter-productive decision to let him bowl himself into form in the New Zealand State Championship, he's hit the ground running this time, his confidence probably bolstered a bit by the fact that he'd been chosen ahead of two far more experienced bowlers on merit.

We've been this way before - most recently in the second half of last summer - and Anderson's challenge now, as usual, is to maintain his form and his place in the side.

Andrew Miller, who has the great advantage over me of actually being there, sums things up well here.

The Axe Falls

I've just woken up to discover that Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard have been dropped by England for the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington. In Harmison's case it was expected, but I'm surprised about Hoggard. He bowled poorly in Hamilton but he was among England's better bowlers in Sri Lanka before Christmas and has been hampered more by injury over the last year than poor form.

With the dropping of Jonny Wilkinson from the England rugby union team for the first time since 1999 yesterday there's the obvious feeling of eras ending.

This may or may not be true; at this point in time I'll be surprised if Hoggard isn't back in the side and bowling well before long, but I'm much less sure about Wilkinson and Harmison.

Time will tell.

A Mess

In an interview on Radio Five Live here in Britain the other day Geoff Boycott was asked whether England were simply an under-prepared side or a genuinely poor one.

He opted for the former, but, with another heavy defeat under their belt, I'm far from sure that the latter isn't the case.

New Zealand must be given full credit for their win; they played throughout with a togetherness, intensity and clarity of purpose which England never matched and their relatively unheralded seam bowlers, Kyle Mills and Chris Martin, drove a stake through England's hearts on the final day.

But, with the exception of their catching, England currently look a mess. Strauss is back in the side for no apparent reason and with no apparent form; Pietersen seems to have retreated into a self-imposed shell within which he finds a range of ways of getting out; the occupant of the wicket-keeping position remains uncertain. Turning to the bowlers, with the exception of Sidebottom and Panesar, they look unprepared, as they seem to do for almost every tour they go on. This is particularly true of Harmison, whose range of mental frailties don't help, but Matthew Hoggard, normally so reliable, looked thoroughly under-cooked in Hamilton.

It's deeply depressing to see England, so vibrant and successful between 2003 and 2005, sliding back towards the bad old days, but, with every series defeat, that's what they're doing.

And, until they start being given proper preparation at the beginning of tours and until one or two people start to realise that they need to both respect their opponents properly and strike a balance between circumspection and forthrightness, that's what they'll continue to do.

A Slow Game and a Revelation

I'd spent the last few days thinking that I really ought to write something about the Hamilton Test this morning, but not really knowing what, other than that it's been, by modern standards, a very slow game, partly due to the pitch and partly because of England's first innings caution.

Having listened to some of the 'action' overnight before it got interesting, I was shocked but pleased to wake up this morning to find that Ryan Sidebottom had taken a hat-trick and that England had worked their way back into some sort of contention thanks to him, Panesar and some excellent catching from Cook (again), Strauss and Hoggard. I find it hard to believe that they'll be able to get very near the total they'll need on the last day, but at least they've got a chance.

With most of England's other seamers - especially Harmison - suffering, once again, through lack of preparation, Sidebottom confirmed what a revelation he's been since he returned to the side last spring. Good fitness, a consistent line, plenty of ticker and both conventional and reverse swing as and when required.

A few years ago I raised my eyebrows when I saw that Mark Ramprakash had named Sidebottom as one of his most difficult bowling opponents. Ryan Sidebottom? That bloke with all the hair who'd played one Test years ago?

Now I can see what Ramps meant.

Nous

So, Smith and McKenzie (both sometime Somerset players, as various people with Taunton connections have enjoyed pointing out) broke the world record, and South Africa beat Bangladesh. It didn't make very much impression on me, though. Although some highlights were shown in the UK I didn't manage to see them, and, for all the intermittent signs that Bangladesh are improving, they remain Test cricket's biggest whipping boys.

However, it's good news for South Africa ahead of their trip to England this summer, and a feather in the cap of a player (McKenzie) who, until fairly recently, had joined my mental 'what happened to him' file. Not bad for Smith either, but then he's a bit more used than most to scoring Test double centuries.

No, for me the most enjoyable and resonant cricket of the weekend encompassed Tendulkar's match-winning ODI ton at the SCG. As the commentators never stopped telling us, he hadn't previously made a one-day century in Australia, and it was clear from very early on that he really wanted this one. Personally I think the small signs of age-related decline have been observable in him for some time now, but only in so far as he bats like a player who is merely outstandingly good rather than apparently immortal. Innings such as yesterday, all command and nous (apart from some of his running), serve to remind you what a great batsman looks like, even if it's one who won't see his 34th birthday again.

This is not something which can be said about Rohit Sharma, who gives off unmistakeable signs of class and temperamental solidity.

I suspect that he'll be around long after Tendulkar has left the stage, but, for now, all that matters is what happens in Brisbane tomorrow.

Young Gilly

It's a truism to say that YouTube is one of the great phenomenons of the age. I recently came across this there.

I think it's brilliant. For all the obvious reasons - a brief insight into what a great player was like when he was growing up and the perceptiveness of Chris Goldie's comments - but also because it reminds me what a twerp Michael Wale (the presenter, whom I grew up watching on London regional TV in the eighties) was.

Sponsorship Deals

A bit different from my usual content, but David Hinchliffe, of Harrow Drive (www.harrowdrive.com) has sent me this.

I think my club is a little too bohemian for anyone to want to sponsor us, but I hope that those a little further up the cricketing food chain will find it useful.

The Day's News

In New Zealand England are stuttering through their one and only proper warm-up match for the Test series, and, in Bangladesh, Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie are really putting Bangladesh to the sword. In all probability Roy and Mankad's age-old record will fall early tomorrow.

There's every chance that England will, in what is now the traditional manner, enter the Test series under-cooked, with a keeper making his Test debut. However, it's encouraging that Steve Harmison is finding the cut strip with regularity and it was good to hear Kevin Pietersen declare this morning that he was only interested in playing for England and all the money in the world wouldn't tempt him away to the IPL.

I believe him. For the time being.

Munaf

This struck a real chord with me.

I too thought Patel looked the business when he made his debut against England two years ago, but it's hard now to see him getting back to where he was. It looks to me more like a case for a sports psychologist than good old Venky or Gary Kirsten.

Here's hoping though.

(Un) easy Ryder

It's been interesting watching Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricket's latest hero, these past few weeks, if only because here was someone who'd obviously ripped up the modern cricketer's training manual and thrown it out of the window in favour of a double helping of pies and a few beers. As David Lloyd said during one of the early ODIs, 'he looks a thirsty lad'.

None of his appearances at the top of the Black Caps' order was complete without commentators referring to his murky past, and that has since become his murky present. He seriously injured his hand punching a window in a Christchurch bar a few days ago and then allegedly gave the hospital staff treating him a mouthful of his accumulated wisdom, including the statement that 'I am New Zealand cricket'.

Well, that's as maybe. It's certainly true that the Kiwis, with Fleming on his way out, Bond off to India and Styris following him, aren't exactly over-burdened with star quality as they head into two Test series with England over the next few months, and it would do them - and him - good to get Ryder sorted out.

He probably won't be fit even for the series in England, but, at just 23, he could have a decent future if he can get his head together.

Not the IPL

Two cracking ODIs in the last couple of days, all or some of which have found their way on to my television screen. As always, the utter mastery of Kumar Sangakkara (well on the way to establishing himself as the greatest batsman Sri Lanka has produced) and the more fragile genius of Yuvraj stood out yesterday, with India eventually coming out on top in Adelaide.

Today England and New Zealand fought each other to a standstill in their tie at McLean Park in Napier, with Jamie How's 139 and the brilliant fielding of James Anderson (the best of any England bowler I've ever seen) the icing on a particularly rich cake.

With the current incessant talk about the IPL, these games were a timely reminder that notable events still sometimes occur on the field of play, and in games where the sides get fifty overs to bat rather than a mere twenty.

Rarely Seen

Many people will know by now that England went on to win the match and hence retain the Ashes, Claire Taylor starring with a match double of 79 and 64 not out. There seems to be a bit of off-field intrigue going on as well, but the result's both more significant and more interesting.

However, this, courtesy of Cricinfo, shows the other side of the women's game.

I'm certainly not poking fun at the efforts of the Bermudan women; it's just that you rarely see scorecards like that on sites like Cricinfo.

Hothouse Flowers

I've never written anything about women's cricket here before, but I reckon England's current women's tour of Australia is worth a mention. Against a side which has historically set the standard around the world, England's women are on top after two days of the only 'Test', and look a good bet to retain the Ashes which they won in England in 2005. They also did well in the earlier ODIs, drawing the series 2-2.

I've never watched any women's cricket live, and I'm only vaguely familiar with a few of the England players, most notably the captain, Charlotte Edwards, who I've seen make a few powerful and stylish runs on TV over the years, but it's good to see aoe England side shaping up so well in the unforgiving hothouse that is Australian cricket.

I'll be following the last two days of the game closely.

Another Life, Another Retirement

Soon it's to be Stephen Fleming. Despite some uneven stats, a fully-paid-up occupant of the New Zealand cricket pantheon.

Class batsman, shrewd captain and one of the easiest and smoothest slip catchers you will ever see. The sort of cricketer I'd like to have been in another life.

Cricinfo has it all here.

Opening Up

This, courtesy of Cricinfo and Peter Roebuck, has a bearing on what I was saying the other day and I can only agree with every word.

The Great Leap Backwards

A few months after an encouraging one-day series win in Sri Lanka and a mere few days after winning both their Twenty20 games against New Zealand with something to spare, England are 2-0 down in the 50 over series. What is more, they were dismantled so comprehensively in Hamilton that redemption currently seems about as far away as the ball which Jesse Ryder hit clean out of the ground this morning.

That's always the way with the England one-day operation: As soon as you think they've taken a few steps forwards, they immediately take a series of huge leaps backwards. Dopey running, fatuous and profligate short-pitched bowling, errant fielding; this 'performance' had it all.

Earlier this winter Paul Collingwood was starting to earn a few plaudits for his captaincy in the one-day arena. The next three games will be a really severe test of his, and his players' mettle.

Three wins? Well, you wouldn't bet on it.

Problems

After the psychological problems which Marcus Trescothick has been confronting over the last two years it's been sobering indeed to read about the similar issues currently being faced by Shaun Tait and Lou Vincent.

A number of writers (most notably David Frith in his ground-breaking studies of cricket suicides and David Foot in his great book about Harold Gimblett) have considered the fact that cricket appears to attract people who are more prone to illnesses of this sort than other sports. Or does cricket, with its protracted nature, mental and physical intensity and harsh statistical verdicts on its participants, lead people down the road of mental torment to a greater extent than other games?

I'm not sure, but with reference to the ceaseless and often devalued treadmill which modern international cricket has become, I tend towards the latter explanation, certainly as far as Marcus and, to a lesser extent, Vincent, are concerned. It doesn't hold good for Tait, who's never really been given a chance to step on to the treadmill, but then nor do the views of Geoff Boycott, who's seemed very unsympathetic towards him.

As regular readers will know, I have the highest possible regard for Marcus, who I've been watching regularly since he was eighteen. I don't think I've ever seen Vincent play in the flesh, but I know him to be an innovative attacking batsman and an excellent fielder. Shaun Tait I have seen, and my lasting memory of him sees him scrabbling around in the Oval dust as Kevin Pietersen opens up against Brett Lee after lunch on 12th September 2005. For his sake it'd be nice to see him do something better at another time.

Good luck to one and all.

Reeve Rides Again

On a less welcome note, England were comprehensively thrashed earlier today by New Zealand in the first of five ODIs between the two sides; that after winning the two Twenty20 games earlier in the week and a rather rash Ramps predicting on Sky that the ODI series would be 'one way traffic' (or something like that).

I've only caught bits and pieces of all the games on radio and TV but one of the most interesting things about the TMS coverage has been the return of Dermot Reeve, last seen retreating from UK broadcasting with his tail between his legs after some cocaine-fuelled commentary on Channel Four when New Zealand last toured England in 2004.

In the interim I'd occasionally wondered what had happened to him. Now I know.

Coming from Behind

As one of those English eccentrics (are there any others?) who always follows the Indian domestic season closely, even when the 'England Lions' don't feature in it, I was pleased to see England's second string finish up with a win over Central Zone after coming from behind.

While many people's attentions will inevitably be focussed on Panesar and the side's baby (and most promising player) Adil Rashid, it was good to see the usually unsung Middlesex seamer Alan Richardson take a number of economical wickets. It's very hard to work out why he was selected, since, at 32, his chances of carving out a prolonged career in the England attack are barely better than mine (well, quite a lot better, actually), but he's been a very useful and typically English operator for many seasons, initially in his native midlands and more recently at Lord's.

And then there's Michael Carberry, on his third county at 27, but just starting to shape up as an opener, with his second innings ton the major contribution to the English victory.

While the one-day circus gets under way again for England in New Zealand there's a bit happening elsewhere; the players are even wearing white.

A Nasty Taste

The other piece of fallout which sticks in the memory is the way in which, ultimately, and rightly, Harbhajan was exonerated. However, many aspects of the saga left a nasty taste in the mouth.

Sometimes I love the thrust and style of Peter Roebuck's writing, many times I don't. This time, though, his piece at Cricinfo chimes with most of what I've been thinking over the past few weeks.

Some of the comments are best avoided, though.

Settling Dust, Opening Issues

With the dust from a fine Test series settled it's possible to think a bit about the fallout from it. And what you keep coming back to is the fact that some things never change: Australia win Test series at home - usually with ease, sometimes with more difficulty - and India struggle to find a reliable opening partnership.

When so many things about the Indian team have started to go right over the last few years, it's confusing and depressing that the establishment of a stable pair of openers still seems a long way away.

In Australia Jaffer started the series on the crest of a wave after his polished displays against Pakistan, but was gone by the end of it, following his erstwhile - and not unsuccessful - partner, Dinesh Karthik, out of the door. At Adelaide they were left with Irfan Pathan and Virender Sehwag to carry the can. Unsurprisingly, one failed and the other succeeded.

It was great to see Sehwag back to something approaching his best, even though his second Adelaide innings lacked the blazing brilliance of his greatest days. He's always liked Australia and, while appearances can be deceptive, he's always been at his best at the top of the order. Also, when he scores, he always scores big.

Viru should have ensured that he's back where he belongs for the time being, but who's to partner him?

As regular readers will know, I'm a strong supporter of Jaffer, although I'm happy to concede that there are technical and possibly temperamental vulnerabilities which may continue to affect his chances of truly replicating his home form outside the sub-continent. However, anyone who can bat as he did at Eden Gardens late last year has to be worth going back to.

It's a persistent headache which India need to sort out, and fast. As I've said before, things currently look sweet on the bowling and captaincy fronts, but they're going to have enough on their plate when the middle order big guns start to retire without having to continue to try to plug up the top of the order as well.

Changing Times/Another Great Gone

This morning I was going to write about a few subjects: events in Adelaide, the changes in England's selection panel, India's top-order problems. But all those can wait; the Adelaide game is still taking shape after three days and the other two topics will be around until the cows come home. There's only one story in town this unusually sunny January Saturday morning: the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, announced just a couple of hours ago.

With the probable exception of Warne, Gilchrist changed the game - well, the role of the wicket-keeper/batsman in it, to be precise - more than any of Australia's other recent greats. And he did it with a good-natured, smiling effervesence that belied a typically Australian toughness and a rare, rare, talent.

As Peter English wrote on Cricinfo after Gilchrist had secured the dismissals record a couple of days ago, the cracks, both with bat and gloves, have been starting to show for a while now and, for Gilchrist, there was nowhere to go except down, with only the relatively unimportant and ever more commonplace milestone of a hundred Tests on the horizon. As it is he'll retire with 96, played entirely consecutively, which constitutes a pretty good career.

One personal memory sees Gilchrist keeping on the Taunton square to a practising bowler as the shadows lengthened after a day's play. I'm not sure who the bowler was but something in my mind says Colin Miller, which would place the time as 2001. By this stage Gilchrist was a fixture in the Test side but he worked long into the dusk for his bowler, taking and returning, providing encouragement, chatting and laughing with interested observers (of whom I was one). Before that I knew he was a great cricketer; after that I respected him like no other Australian player of his generation.

The times continue to change for Australia. But for now this can be ignored. When Gichrist walks to the wicket tomorrow the Adelaide Oval will go nuts. And rightly so.

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.

Not Before Time

It was great to see that James Foster has been brought into the England Lions squad to participate in the Duleep Trophy in India, replacing the injured Steven Davies.

He's been ignored for far too long and this is his chance to gain a foothold on the long road back.

One of the Good Guys

With the retirement of Shaun Pollock at the weekend another of the world's best players of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has left the stage, following last year's farewells to Lara, Langer, Warne and McGrath.

With Shaun Pollock I was in at the start, having the (good or bad) fortune to be at Newlands when he ran through England's insipid batting in his fifth Test in the first week of January 1996. Almost everything he did then he continued to do throughout his career, right up to the nip-backer which removed the hapless Runako Morton on his last day in Test cricket on Saturday: Gun-barrel straight run, the highest of high actions, consistent line and length, enough movement to test the very best. The only thing Pollock lost was the extra ration of pace which defined him as a very, very good (if not quite great) bowler, rather than just another seamer.

The other thing worth remembering about Shaun Pollock was that he couldn't half bat when the mood took him. I recall seeing a particularly hard-hitting knock of 62 at Trent Bridge in August 2003 which gave a vivid glimpse of a player with the genetic ability to have become a top-order player if he'd wanted - or needed - to.

Pollock's retirement also signifies a continuing shifting of the guard in South African cricket. He was one of the central components of the teams which set South Africa back on the straight and narrow after isolation with Cronje, Rhodes, Donald, the Kirstens and Wessels, among others. All are long gone and now Pollock joins them, although the older representatives of the next generation down - Gibbs, Kallis, Boucher and Ntini - are still, with the exception of Gibbs, going strong, and will be seen in England this summer, when they'll give England plenty to think about.

The bottom line, though, at a time when all the talk is of international cricketers' behaviour, is that Pollock, emphatically, was one of the good guys.

Murky Waters

I don't know about anyone else but I knew things were about to get even more messy when the perenially oleaginous Malcolm Speed announced that Steve Bucknor was going to be replaced by Billy Bowden.

Okay, Bucknor was struggling and is not the umpire he used to be. But to replace him just because many Indian supporters (if not players) seem to have decided that he has some sort of vendetta against them takes the ICC into very murky waters indeed.

Not that they haven't been there before, mind.

Hitting the Fan

With India having gone the way of every other team that faces Australia, the s*** has really started to hit the fan in Sydney.

From this distance one can only agree that the umpiring throughout the match was poor; Bucknor has looked past his best for a year or two now and Mark Benson probably hasn't reached his best yet. And most of the errors went against India, although Indian fans should be wary of getting too paranoid. Even allowing for the part played by the officials, the Indian batsmen should have been able to bat through the last day, especially when they made such a good fist of the first innings at the SCG. Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke may be many things, but world-class bowlers they're not (even though Clarke's Test average - 15.54 for 11 wickets -suggests otherwise).

As for the other controversy of the hour, well, who knows what was said, although I assumed that the umpires must have heard something and reported it to Procter for the case to have been declared open and shut so rapidly. Now I read that it was the word of Ponting and Symonds against that of Harbhajan and Tendulkar.

Either way, there's too much postured verbal sparring between players going on for my liking. No sooner have we gained an injury-induced respite from the lunatic Sreesanth than Harbhajan's piling in. Not that Australia can complain; they virtually invented 'sledging' and there's more than a few players in the current side who know how to mix it with the best of them. And then there's Nel and Prior (oh, sorry, the England selectors have seen him off for the time being).

Time to grow up, calm down and just play the game.

Round in Circles

I always enjoy listening to what Mike Selvey has to say, and I remember him warning on TMS, very soon after Matt Prior's debut century for England against the West Indies at Lord's last May, that it would be a good idea for everyone to wait and see how good his keeping was before deciding that England's wicket-keeping problems - in response to which the selectors have been going round in circles ever since Alec Stewart retired - had been solved.

Wise words, because, less than a year on, the England selectors have decided that, however well he's batted, Prior's keeping simply isn't good enough to keep him in the side and he's been dropped completely from the England side to tour New Zealand.

It's fair enough with me - I dislike Prior's cliched on-field hardman persona - and I suspect that Ryan Sidebottom, who, used to the support of Chris Read's superior keeping, finally blew his top at Prior in Sri Lanka, won't be losing any sleep either.

As to his replacements, well, it's no real surprise, given his Sussex background, to see Tim Ambrose in there, but James Foster has once again been very unlucky, and, with Phil Mustard also in the party it's certain that England will go into their crucial series in New Zealand next month with a Test match greenhorn wearing the keeper's gloves. A big ask for either of them, I reckon.

Elsewhere in the party Andrew Strauss returns, if only in the hope that his proven record of scoring Test centuries and taking slip catches will shore up two of the areas in which England were most vulnerable in Sri Lanka. He's fortunate to be there, though, having played no cricket since his omission from the Sri Lankan squad, and, to me, a probable and unwelcome knock-on effect of Strauss's return will be to ensure that the harshly-treated Owais Shah will still find it very hard to get into the side despite the dropping of Ravi Bopara.

From a parochial viewpoint it was good to see James Hildreth's selection in the 'England Lions' squad to take part in the Duleep Trophy, and it was also good to see Panesar's inclusion, as any bowling in favourable conditions, however different they are from those he'll encounter in New Zealand, will stand him in good stead. But Mike Yardy as captain?

Not sure about that, but then he too, plays for Sussex. Enough said.

Inevitability

There was plenty of inevitability about Sachin's hundred and now we have a finely poised game.

This sums it up beautifully.

Enigma Variations

Day two in Sydney ended with India firmly in the game thanks to a third magnificent SCG century from VVS Laxman. Meanwhile, in Cape Town, West Indies with their astonishing Port Elizabeth win under their belt, are going toe to toe with the Proteas, a skilled spell of seam bowling from Dwayne Bravo their major weapon.

Two enigmas, VVS and Bravo; the one often flattering to deceive and seemingly perpetually vulnerable, but bang in form at the moment, the other yet to really achieve the consistent results his talents demand.

For both of them today was one of the good days.

Poor Indeed

I wrote the previous post at work earlier today without having seen the highlights. Now I have, and, while everything I said still holds good, it does have to be said that some of the umpiring was very poor indeed. In fact, I can't remember when I last saw a catch behind as routine as Symonds' off Sharma fail to be given out.

India will need to bat well tomorrow.

What Can You Do?

It wasn't a great surprise - quite the opposite, in fact - to see the way in which India capitulated at Melbourne. Indian batsmen and pacy Australian tracks have rarely mixed well, and they went into the first Test of the series with even less practice behind them in local conditions than Fletcher and Flintoff's doomed England side did last year.

Today, though, could have been different. But it wasn't. When Australia are the home team it rarely is. When I went to bed with an hour gone RP had whipped out the openers, but I was woken by the news that Australia had been 134-6 before Hogg and Symonds had brought them round.

That's the thing about Australia. At least one player, often two, will always step up to the plate (as Duncan Fletcher might say); as they flourish the opposition, as often as not, will fall away as they see their early good work disintegrate. It's no good just starting well against Australia; you have to keep a high level of performance up all the time (and receive all the help from the umpires you can get). If you don't you're dead meat, especially if the game's being played in Australia.

Still, at least playing Australia stops weaker sides from getting the idea that they belong at the same table.

What can you do?

Well, it's not Australia's fault that they're this good. All anyone else can do is try to get better.

Happy Christmas

I'm off to the English midlands to stay with my family over Christmas. I doubt if I'll be posting, but I'll be watching the start of the Australia-India series with a lot of interest.

See you in 2008.