Going Nowhere

Well, I've seen better Test series, but the one which ended in Durham yesterday did serve a few useful purposes. It confirmed that Shivnarine Chanderpaul is an extraordinary batsman. Maybe not genuinely great, but certainly genuinely extraordinary.

Has there ever been another Test series in which one batsman has been so far ahead of all his peers? I don't know, but I doubt it.

Lara usually had Chanderpaul himself, and Sarwan. After Lord's Chanderpaul had nobody, although Bravo, as always, did his best and Gayle and Morton briefly succeeded in spite of themselves. The rest were nowhere.

The series also showed that there surely can't be any further for the West Indies to fall. Their batting lacks technique, their bowling lacks fitness, finesse, pace and variety, their fielding is an abject shambles. Many of their players - with Gayle the worst offender - look as though they just don't care. This really shows in the field, and, until more of their players can acquire the determination, desire and strength of character of Chanderpaul and Bravo (or even Edwards or Sammy), they're going nowhere.

During the Old Trafford Test it was surprising and concerning to hear Tony Cozier say for the first time that he wondered whether the West Indies would benefit from a sabbatical from Test cricket in which they played other countries' 'A' teams in order to give themselves a chance to regroup, perhaps win some games and restore their lost confidence.

Has it really come to this?

Still Got It

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

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

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

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

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

Long Time Coming

I've written more than once about Ian Botham and knighthoods. Once to wonder, as I often had over the years, why he'd never received one, and once, more recently, to welcome the rumours that he was about to do so. Now it's confirmed.

But it all goes back much longer than that. I distinctly remember asking my brother (who was - and still is - a good deal older than me and therefore knew exactly what was going to happen in the world) in the heady days of the summer of 1981 if he thought that Ian Botham would be knighted. He didn't think so and it's taken a hell of a long time - far, far, too long - for things to turn out differently.

As someone who was a young teenager - and a cricket junkie - at the time when Botham was at his best, I have a tendency to go misty-eyed and a bit irrational at times like this, but, as usual, Andrew Miller, whose relative youth probably gives him a bit more objectivity than me, strikes exactly the right note here. I particularly like one sentence: 'Botham has a rightful claim to be England's greatest living sportsman, end of story'.

Rightful claim, Andrew? To some of us it's never been in doubt.

Plenty to Prove

Following the announcement of the Indian team for the forthcoming tour of England and Ireland, the omissions of Sehwag and Harbhajan have made the headlines, but Anand Vasu sums things up well at Cricinfo, indicating that Harbhajan, at least, had it coming to him.

It's interesting to see Ranadeb Bose there, who I've never seen, but have written about previously here, and also Ramesh Powar, who's looked a decent bowler in his ODI appearances but, you feel, has a way to go to make an impression in Test cricket.

Personally I think they could struggle, especially at the top of the order, and the absence of Sehwag (who's surely too good not to come again) could be regretted, while the attack lacks experience and will have plenty to prove.

Winners (and Winners)

There were a number of winners at Old Trafford: England, who finally wrapped up a series they always seemed destined to win, Monty Panesar, who took six more wickets on the way to his first ten-wicket Test match, and Steve Harmison who finally, finally, seemed to be getting back to somewhere near his best. The balls which put paid to Taylor and Edwards were fresh out of his heyday, circa 2004.

But the biggest winner of all, in my opinion, was Chanderpaul. His typically resolute and utterly magnificent century didn't secure victory (do they ever?) but he showed again why he's fit, despite all the illusory rough edges, to be spoken of in the same breath as his nation's greatest batsmen.

He's his own man, though. Not the power of Lloyd, Kanhai or Kallicharran - just heaps of rough-hewn Guyanese technique leavened with timing, dedication and courage.

With Lara gone for good and Sarwan out he's carrying the weight of the side on his tiny shoulders and he's doing it well.

The West Indies lost but the way they came back in the second innings seemed like a victory of sorts, however tiny and irrelevant.

Maybe there's hope.

Raw Pace

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

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

Good stuff, for a change.

Carnage

As the tit-for-tat discussions over what exactly Michael Vaughan did or didn't say continued (I had no problem with any of it, by the way, unlike the rather precious Jim Cumbes), I was at work today and so didn't get to witness any of what must have been some rare old carnage at Taunton. Leicestershire 168, Somerset 357 for 1 off 60 overs by the close with the Cornishman Neil Edwards out for 133 and Marcus still going strong on 153 overnight.

He'll start tomorrow with more than half an eye on 300, never mind 200.

Born to Bat

While I was making this afternoon's contributions to the blog I was watching the Friends Provident Trophy game between Essex and Surrey from the highly impressive setting of Whitgift School in Croydon, on Sky.

Once again Alastair Cook was making runs (125 of them) and it occurred to me that here is someone who, very simply, was born to bat. Cook, like I always used to feel when I was watching Richard Hill play rugby, is a complete natural.

Many people have this type of talent but Cook seems to have all the conceivable temperamental bases covered as well, and all at the age of 22.

It's too late now to form any real judgements about how or why, so that can wait for another day.

Because there will be many more.

Natural Causes

It's seemed likely for some time, but Cricinfo is currently carrying a story which indicates that the Jamaican police are about to acknowledge that Bob Woolmer did, after all, die of natural causes.

As I say, things have been heading this way for a while, so it won't come as a great surprise to anyone. Of course, the effects on the Jamaican police will - should - be severe, but aside from that one can only hope that his family can reconcile themselves to the fact that there was less to his demise than was initially apparent to the police.

Another One to Watch

As a former member of Middlesex and a member of Somerset since 1996, I've been keeping a close eye on events at Lord's over the past few days. At the moment it looks as though Somerset are on top in the Friends Provident Trophy game today, but Middlesex won the championship match with some comfort after reducing Somerset to 50 for 8 on the first morning after which Justin Langer declared.

However, I was especially pleased to see that the young Somerset batsman James Hildreth had made a century. It doesn't seem three years since he burst onto the Taunton scene with a composed maiden century against Durham, and he hasn't managed to kick on with any consistency since.

He is, though, a compact, talented and stylish player, who's often reminded me of the young Mark Ramprakash.

It's early days but there have been some good signs for Somerset so far this season; if James can finally go on and produce a haul of runs to match his ability it will be a sweet return indeed.

Out Cold

After their performance at Lord's it was disappointing, even sad, but nevertheless predictable, that the West Indies, now without Lara, Chanderpaul and Sarwan, their three best contemporary batsmen by a mile, should have folded to their worst defeat in nearly eighty years of Test cricket in the frozen wastes of Headingley. The only player who seemed up for the fight (and not for the first time) was Trinidad's excellent Dwayne Bravo. As Andrew Miller said on Cricinfo, this is the worst collection of players ever to represent the islands, and it showed.

England were as efficient and competent as they needed to be in the face of the negligible threat posed by a team with a weak attack and an even weaker batting line-up, supported by weak fielding.

The batting (minus Andrew Strauss) is firing from top to bottom, the re-selection of Ryan Sidebottom, inconceivable under Fletcher, was, in retrospect, a masterstroke, and the entire side looks a different unit when Vaughan's in charge.

They look good, although, against this West Indian side it would be hard not to.

As Stephen Fleming said, when asked how you recover from the type of beating which England took in Australia, 'Play someone else'.

Uncertainties

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll see.

Not Before Time

With England laying waste to the West Indies at Headingley and India doing much the same to Bangladesh in Mirpur (of which more in due course), Cricinfo reports that Ian Botham is in line for a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours next month.

I've written about this before here. I've always been mystified as to why Botham hasn't been recognised before, especially when you take into account his record both as a cricketer and a charity fundraiser (if not a commentator).

I'm not a great fan of the British honours system generally, but when you look at some of the other people who've received them over the years Botham looks a deserving candidate to me.

If it does happen - and there were some similar rumours going round a few years ago which came to nothing - it'll be a very good thing.

Vaughan Again

With the dust barely settled after the release of the Schofield Report (and it remains to be seen how much dust will gather on its cover before some of its recommendations are implemented), the current England team did its best to prove one of its points by hurrying back into Test match action today after only three days off.

Like many other people I was having my doubts about the swiftness of Michael Vaughan's return to the side - very good captain, sure (but not great); very good batsman, yes (but not great); but worthy of walking straight back into the side after only a handful of matches in the past eighteen months? Perhaps not (is what I would have said at eleven o'clock this morning).

However, writing this evening with all the doubts banished by Vaughan's balanced and commanding innings of 103, there's a bit of a feeling that normal service has been resumed in the England side, even if Flintoff and Fletcher are nowhere to be seen.

Vaughan always was a batsman of the very highest pedigree and it's no surprise to find that he still had the reserves of mental toughness to take him past all the doubts and on to an innings-defining hundred which should set him firmly on the road to the second half of his career without a backward glance.

For England normality is also increasingly defined by a Kevin Pietersen century. Anything else and there's something not quite right.

Time for him to push on past 158 tomorrow and show the world what he can really do.

Just as his captain did today.

More will be Heard

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

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

More will be heard of them both.

A Name from the Past

It probably won't mean much to younger readers (are there any?), at least in the UK, but anyone who remembers India's comprehensive defeat of England in this country in 1986 will recognise Maninder Singh's name.

He was another in the long line of Indian cricketers who seemed to have the world at their feet before fading away and there's some slightly sad news about him on Cricinfo.

Good Enough

There's been a lot of talk about the inclusion of Ryan Sidebottom in the England squad for the second Test. It did come as something of a surprise (and it remains to be seen whether he'll actually play), but he's not the worst candidate - his career figures stack up and I remember reading an interview with Mark Ramprakash in which he named Sidebottom as one of the county bowlers who impressed him most.

Ramps isn't a bad judge and his opinion is good enough for me.

Images of Lord's (again)

A few shots from the five days at Lord's, ranging from Alastair Cook on his way back to the pavilion on Friday morning, 105 to his name, through Matt Prior cutting Chris Gayle for four to reach his century on Friday evening, to England's first innings score and the grim scene on Monday...

Talking Heads

It's been a while since I've posted, largely because I've been away at the Lord's Test for most of the last week. I'll try to make up for it over the next few days.

As most of the talking heads in the media have been saying, the West Indies will have taken more from the outcome of the first Test than England. The tourists went into the game with hardly any practice behind them and ultimately made a fair fist of competing at Lord's, although they were helped by England's bowling, which, with the exception of Panesar, was wayward and insipid. They can take a lot, though, from the defensive certainty, in both innings, of Daren Ganga, and the more exciting lower-order contributions of Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin which enabled them to avoid the follow-on. The bowlers still need work, and they'll surely get it at Headingley.

England's batting was consistently excellent, with the only discordant notes struck by the twin failures of Strauss (whose place must be in doubt if both Flintoff and Vaughan return) and Owais Shah (who's already gone, but is hopefully not forgotten). However, I was extremely dubious about the tactic of batting Shah at three. Bell did relatively well there in Australia, and, even though the place seems to have been ear-marked for Vaughan it would surely have been better to keep Bell there and give Shah the chance to bat under less pressure at six. As it was Shah looked nervous and hesitant and so may not have done much better at six, but we'll never know.

Cook was Cook, Collingwood was Collingwood, Bell was Bell and Pietersen was Pietersen. Matt Prior, however, was outstanding, and his powerful hundred against a tired attack and tidy keeping may indicate that England have finally found a worthy successor to Alec Stewart. I hadn't seen him play live before and I was hugely impressed. My old favourite Steven Davies might have to wait a bit longer but that's no bad thing.

England's bowling was poor. Monty did all that could have been expected in largely unhelpful conditions with the assistance of Asad Rauf, but Plunkett was a random mixture of the very good and the very bad, while Harmison was just bad, looking once again like a bowler devoid of form, desire or confidence. It was instructive that he had taken some good wickets at a low average for Durham, though, so perhaps he's just developed a mental block about Test cricket, which would explain a lot.

At the moment Harmison's form represents Peter Moores' biggest challenge. It's one he needs to meet - perhaps by appointing a new bowling coach - as soon as possible.

Predictability

The England squad for the first Test against the West Indies, announced earlier this morning by David Graveney, was quite predictable, even though it contained a couple of players who I'm sure wouldn't have been there if Duncan Fletcher had still been in charge.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I always had a feeling that Matthew Prior would secure the wicket-keeper's spot ahead of Paul Nixon, chiefly because of his past links with Peter Moores. In a sense it's hard on Nixon, who did everything that could have been asked of him (and more) during his short time in the side, but, at 36, he was never going to be there for very long. Of course, there are no guarantees that Prior will do any better than any of the other glovemen who've been tried over the last four years but he probably deserves a go, if only on account of his first-class career batting average which nudges a heady forty. I've seen very little of him - and nothing live - so I'll be interested to see how he goes at Lord's.

As a break with the past it's also good to see Owais Shah in the squad, although he'll only play if Pietersen isn't fit. While his stilted ODI career has been a largely hesitant affair, both with the bat and especially in the field, he's always been a potential Test player of quality, something which he fully demonstrated in Mumbai last year. It's nice to know that Moores recognises his quality in a way that I don't believe Fletcher did.

Liam Plunkett takes the fourth seamer's position ahead of Anderson and Mahmood, which will do for the time being. Mahmood in particular looks like someone who could do with playing a bit more county cricket (perhaps a whole career's worth) and there are still doubts over Anderson. However, Plunkett himslef needs to start producing his best with a bit more regularity if he's to prevent the selectors looking towards Broad and Onions.

I'll be at Lord's for the game and if the weather allows enough play I expect an England win well inside five days. The West Indies will be lacking practice against the red ball (they're not goung to get any play at Taunton today as it's pouring down) and they usually seem to lack motivation these days. Harmison and Hoggard are both bowling well and England also have plenty of batsmen in form.