King of Spain

Ashley Giles returns to the pavilion after scoring 59 and the Ashes are England's. England v Australia, The Oval, 12th September 2005 (Brian Carpenter)

I've been meaning to post something about Ashley Giles ever since he announced his retirement on Thursday.

In truth I thought his great mate and erstwhile skipper Michael Vaughan went a little bit far when he described Giles as one of England's most underrated players. For a good part of his career he wasn't underrated; he simply wasn't very good, but, that said, he did grow into his job and became an essential figure in the England side which won six series in a row in 2004 and 2005, culminating in the most magical day in modern English cricket history.

As someone who was at The Oval on 12th September 2005, I'll remember him best for the innings in support of Pietersen without which the Ashes win would never have been. Giles' cool stoicism that day summed him up; diligent, rational, self-improving and with a genuine love of the game.

Not Bad, But Not Good Either

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

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

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

Now will Dravid enforce the follow-on?

1971, 1986, 2007

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

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

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

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

Another long day in the sun begins tomorrow at 11.

Last Act

As a venue for the last act of what has been a compelling three act drama, The Oval couldn't be bettered. The wicket's usually hard, making life relatively comfortable for batsmen but offering plenty to bowlers of all types and it's a ground which holds great memories for both sides. India the seminal victory in 1971 and the magnificent near miss of '79, England the regaining of the Ashes in 2005 and a host of other dramatic matches, notably the series-levelling win over South Africa in 2003 which seemed to have it all at the time.

Things are evenly balanced and both sides have incentives beyond the game at hand. England have their post-2001 unbeaten home series record to preserve, India the desire to prove that they can win abroad and then avoid their usual collapse.

Sounds great.

Great Things

Yesterday's trip to the small east Devon seaside town of Budleigh Salterton for the trans-Tamar Minor Counties clash between Devon and Cornwall (pictured) was the ideal way to come down after the considerable and lengthy excitement of Saturday's Twenty20 finals day.

I've written before about how much I enjoy the truncated form of the game and Saturday's three matches were no exception. Before the day pretty well everybody would have expected Lancashire and Sussex to contest the final. Instead, thanks to some magnificent batting by Craig Spearman, Robert Key and Joe Denly among others, supported by terrific fielding, it was Kent and Gloucestershire who did so, with Kent coming out on top as a result of some great death batting from Darren Stevens, a player of some class who's never quite done justice to his ability, and a hat-trick from the young South African all-rounder Ryan McLaren.

After the group stages were largely ruined by the June monsoon the final three games and Edgbaston's pulsating atmosphere were a timely reminder of why this competition is the most important thing to have hit the English county game since the 1960s.

On Sunday I had the pleasure of watching a measured and classy knock of 93 from a tall Cornish 17 year-old called Matt Robins. I've got no idea whether he'll make it or not but there must be plenty of people playing county cricket who weren't as good as him at the same age.

If he goes on to great things you read it here first.

Respect

After the Trent Bridge Test ended in a deserved victory for India and a welter of media and blog comment about the antics of both sides I decided to take a few days to let the dust settle before commenting about what went on. On Friday, however, The Times published a piece by Simon Barnes (link below) which summed up just about everything I wanted to say.

The incident with the jellybeans received more attention than it deserved (such as the perenially barking Charles Colvile saying on Sky that 'in years to come this will be known as the jellybean Test match') but it was symptomatic of the attitude that leads England players and coaching staff to embrace a culture that values and encourages the abuse of opponents as a valid means of playing the game, apparently for no very good reason other than that Australian sides have often done it. So what. I didn't like it when Shane Warne and, less subtly, Glenn McGrath were doing it, but they did have the advantage of being able to play the game a bit better than any of England's current players. It's a culture that fails to respect opponents and, more fundamentally, fails to respect the game. They don't realise that the game is bigger, much bigger, than any of them, and its fundamentals require respect; when someone else is batting the pitch is their territory. Don't encroach on it, don't try and tamper with it, don't scatter sweets on it.

The same is true of posturing idiots like Matt Prior, who despite still being wet behind the ears in Test cricket persists in telling people how tough it is. Matt, you've done pretty well so far in your six Tests, but you'd be better off trying to get your keeping up to scratch rather than trying to show people how hard you are. A middle stump knocked several yards back by an RP Singh inswinger looks much the same no matter how tough you are.

Peter Moores has made a good start as England coach, but I was very disappointed with his response to what happened at Nottingham, paying little heed to the jellybeans and then suggesting that the stump microphones need to be turned down so that his players can say whatever they want without anybody off the field being able to tell how stupid and inane they are.

Of course, India, and especially Sreesanth, were also guilty of lowering the tone. After his decision to make shoulder-to-shoulder contact with Michael Vaughan and the bouncer which he bowled at Paul Collingwood from several yards down the pitch, he was fortunate to escape with a match fee deduction. I think a one-match suspension would have been more appropriate. The comments of Collingwood himself after the Jimmy Anderson-Runako Morton incident showed that he was unaware that if there's one thing that cricket definitely isn't, it's a physical contact game. If Sreesanth is under a similar misconception he needs to be shown that he's very, very wrong.

The history of Test cricket is littered with players who started their careers well but took their eye off the ball and disappeared from view as soon as they arrived.

That's something that Prior and Sreesanth would do well to remember.

The Simon Barnes article is here.

Opening Up

Cricinfo has recently been carrying some interesting articles by the former Indian opener Aakash Chopra, written, usually and unsurprisingly, from an opening batsman's point of view.

This week's offering is here.

Winning Away

So India's fifth Test win in England was duly achieved. Like many people, I suspect, I'd lost sight of just how many Tests they've won abroad over recent years.

Dileep Premachandran spells it out at Cricinfo.

Getting it Wrong, Getting it Right

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everything else comes later.

Advantage India

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

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

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

Good Taste

With the exception of the late dismissal of Dravid, the day couldn't have gone much better for India. England 198, India 254 for 3 at the close, Sachin and Sourav at the crease with considerable power to add.

However, it was the performance of the openers which really stood out. There was luck, true, with countless balls passing the outside edge in the first hour and umpire Ian Howell in an implausibly generous mood, but Karthik, sparky and confident, and Jaffer, patient, restrained and elegant, further confirmed the suspicion that they're starting to grow into a distinctly useful pair with India's first Test opening partnership of more than a hundred in England for twenty-eight years.

I didn't know much about Karthik so Siddhartha Vaidyanathan's piece on Cricinfo this evening was particularly interesting, especially the fact that his boyhood hero was one Graham Thorpe.

Two reactions:

One, he's very young.

Two, he's got good taste.

Holding the Cards

One day gone at Trent Bridge and India appear to hold most of the cards, having bowled well throughout a truncated Friday. Although,if England had won the toss and had bowled as they did at Lord's, India would have been lucky to manage 169-7.

However, with better weather forecast for today and some of the dampness surely out of the pitch, this looks like a pivotal day in the match and the series. India need to knock over the remaining three England wickets, restrict them to less than 200 and then bat long. If the weather allows enough play later in the game a lead of 150 plus for India would make things very interesting.

I'll be watching from home all day and reporting back tonight.

Ruled Out

This afternoon's news that Marcus had ruled himself out of England's winter tours came as something of a surprise. Things have been going so well for Somerset that it didn't seem like a huge leap for him to at least go to the Twenty20 World Cup. That was obviously a glib assumption on my part. He clearly doesn't feel as though he's sufficiently well to undertake even the brief trip to South Africa, and you have to wonder - and not for the first time - if his entire international career has come to a very premature conclusion.

I'd say that this, sadly, is probably the end.

There's Always Something

Aside from events on the field it was an interesting few days - a near monsoon on Friday, with play, amazingly, following a couple of hours later; Ottis Gibson taking ten wickets in an innings on Saturday; and, most impressive and moving of all, RP Singh taking off his cap to acknowledge the applause of the members in the Long Room on Sunday in a gesture at once old-fashioned and deeply impressive.

That's what I like about trips to London (and Lord's). There's always something happening.

A Quiet Classic

In a quiet way, the first Test between England and India at Lord's was a classic. Or at least it looked like that to an English follower starved of competitive Test cricket for most of the summer. The unique brilliance of Shivnarine Chanderpaul can only take a series so far, and it was good to see England back in a battle. A battle in which they won most of the minor skirmishes and very nearly the whole damn thing.

There's simply no getting away from the fact that England look a more positive, united and vibrant team whenever they're led on to the field by Michael Vaughan. And, with the skipper himself refreshed as a result of his extended injury layoff and showing the type of judgement, command and tactical acumen which used to be second nature, they're even better. With a series of bowlers who can all hit the cut strip with regularity and move the ball at will in their different ways, they're better still.

With those bases covered, all you need is runs. They were largely provided by a watchful, often hesitant but deserving Andrew Strauss, the renewed elegance of Michael Vaughan, and Kevin Pietersen, who, in typical fashion, progressed through the gears to the point of total command after lunch on Sunday.

England's bowlers performed with relaxed penetration. It's no more than you expect from Sidebottom and Panesar now, but it was great to see Jimmy Anderson deliver his most complete performance in an England shirt and Chris Tremlett, whose unexpected selection ahead of Stuart Broad almost had me choking on my hotel breakfast on the first morning, justified his place and dropped a few hints for the future.

India started poorly with the ball in favourable conditions on Thursday but turned things around after Friday morning's monsoon. Zaheer hinted at his Worcester form, Sreesanth ran in hard and gained a few rewards from Steve Bucknor, and RP Singh looked like a bit of a find. Runs were harder to come by though, with only Karthik and Dhoni, in the second innings, really doing themselves justice. Dravid was unusually anonymous (but will surely come back fighting), Tendulkar lacked authority (and the jury is out on whether he can find it again), Ganguly flashed with bat and mouth but never suggested permanence, and Laxman's footwork and demeanour looked a bit too diffident for his own good.

England deserved to win and were unlucky not to get the chance to finish the job, although, if they could have stirred themselves to bowl their overs a bit more quickly yesterday morning they'd probably have wrapped the game up way before the rain came. I see from Cricinfo that the otherwise admirable Peter Moores is trying to justify England's slow over-rate by reference to the need for meticulous field-placing. That's as maybe, but they could do a lot better by cutting out their latest piece of modish fielding nonsense which appears to be to throw the ball to the wicket-keeper from anywhere on the field, regardless of whether there's any point to it. If the batsman hits the ball to mid-off and is not attempting a run, then why doesn't the mid-off fielder just throw the ball straight back to the bowler, rather than hurling it to Matt Prior and then getting it back about thirty seconds later via one of the slips (usually Strauss)? Talking of which, I don't think one of the slips (usually Strauss at Lord's again) needs to polish the ball on his backside until his trousers are virtually worn away after every ball. Fifteen overs an hour should be relatively straightforward whoever's bowling, and might show that the players have given some thought to the fact that people have actually paid money to watch them play and have the right to expect to see ninety overs in a day.

India look to be going in the right direction with the ball but will need more runs from all parts of the order if they're going to threaten England at Nottingham and The Oval. And it's up to SRT to show that reports of his imminent demise are greatly exaggerated.

Lord's Thoughts

I'm off to London for the Test in the morning, so there's not much time to produce any very profound thoughts about the game.

However, taking into account the benign nature of recent Lord's pitches, I'd expect the side winning the toss to bat first, although England could be tempted to bowl given the relative fragility of the Indian top order.

There's talk about the possibility of Dinesh Karthik getting the gloves for India, which would be a pity from my point of view as I'd like to see Dhoni play for the first time. It'd be nice to see Yuvraj as well, though, and it could be a case of one or the other.

England are certain to be without Steve Harmison for the whole series and it looks likely that Stuart Broad will make his debut. I hope so.

I also hope that the weather doesn't ruin the game, but there's a better than even chance that it will.

See you next week.

Pakistan

You can always trust Pakistan cricket to surprise you, and today we had the decisions to appoint Geoff Lawson as coach and to leave Inzamam out of their new list of centrally contracted players.

I was always a great fan of Lawson's commitment on the field and it's good to see someone such as him taking a conscious decision to step away from the commentary box comfort zone to take on one of the toughest jobs in world cricket.

Apparently the Inzamam decision wasn't unexpected for those who follow the Pakistan scene more closely than I do, but it seems, on the face of it, to be a bit ill-judged. Despite the advancing years, his form at Test level has remained quite solid and one wonders if it isn't a simply the product of a desire on the part of the PCB to move on from an era in which Inzamam was perhaps too closely identified with the late Bob Woolmer.

When a new coach begins working with Pakistan (and it seems to happen quite a lot) it's always interesting to see if they can succeed where their predecessors have failed. Lawson will be no exception.

Today's News

With only four overs possible at Taunton today, my attention was drawn to events at Chelmsford, where the three day game between England Lions and India ended in a predictable draw.

Whle India can take plenty from Tendulkar's 171 - and valuable contributions from Yuvraj, Dhoni and Karthik - the profligacy of their bowlers will worry them as they go to Lord's.

From an England (and Middlesex) standpoint it was good to see Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah pass fifty, although only one will be back at their home ground come Thursday, unlike Stuart Broad, who heads in the direction of a probable first Test cap with a five-for under his belt.

Unconditional Approval

After a workmanlike day on Friday, Saturday at Taunton was truly wonderful. As nice a day as you're going to get this summer, a very good crowd and fulfilling yet contrasting innings from Marcus Trescothick, Neil Edwards, Justin Langer and James Hildreth.

Langer could have made his 83 in his sleep, and Hildreth fell to his first misjudgement; Edwards was impressive, if not quite as fluent as on Friday evening; Trescothick was simply magnificent. After easing himself into Saturday morning and occasionally looking ugly and dissonant as his mistiming got the better of him, he suddenly went up a gear and began to take apart an attack which, whatever Lance Klusener's empty bluster, wasn't fit to lace his boots.

He reached his hundred with a straight six off Jason Brown (pictured) and continued to extend Somerset's lead to the point where some unwise innovation led to his dismissal, caught at the wicket off Alex Wakely, who added to the good impression he'd created with the bat with some tidy off-spin.

Marcus, of course, received a moving and resonant standing ovation. A player at home with the unconditional approval of his people, but needing, surely, the greater stimulus which only further international competition will provide.

Whatever. Good, good times.

Letting Go Again

Away from the parochial goings on in the south-west, England 'Lions' made a fair fist of their first day's batting against India at Chelmsford. The young and very promising Kent opener Joe Denly made 83, Stuart Broad 50 and Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan an undefeated 116 by the close out of 379 for 8.

It seems that India, as so often, had the England side where they wanted them but didn't force their advantage home. Homer muses on that here.

A Bit of Luck

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

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

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

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

I'll be there to see them try.

Rough Deal

It's been a fairly quiet week. The only major news stories in this neck of the woods have been India's narrow failure to win their first tour match at Hove, the ECB's decision to order Worcestershire to re-play the Kent game (which was eventually - and inevitably - abandoned), and the preliminary England squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in September.

For what it's worth I think the ECB got it just about right over Worcestershire, although I wouldn't expect the people in charge of other counties who have been badly affected by the weather in this bedraggled season to agree. A ticking-off for what was undoubtedly a major cock-up (New Road was never going to be ready in time and it was deceitful at worst and deluded at best to pretend otherwise) and Friday's Pro 40 game moved to Derby, together with some financial assistance to help with the clean-up.

The news which everyone has grabbed from the Twenty20 squad has been the returns of Marcus Trescothick and, to a lesser extent, Chris Schofield. One after a journey into mental turmoil and the other after a sojourn in Minor County cricket. In truth the selection of Marcus was a no-brainer - the squad has still to be whittled down and he can easily be cut from it if he starts to have doubts about the trip - but I think he'll be there. If he isn't all bets are off for the future of his career.

As for who won't be there, am I alone in feeling that Ed Joyce has had a rough deal somewhere along the line? Okay, his form did fade in the West Indies but this is someone with an ODI hundred against Australia, which is a tad more than Mal Loye (highest score 45) can boast.

(Not) Played in England

I know that cricket is played in England. I've seen it on TV. Indeed, in the last nine days or so I've seen three One-Day Internationals played to a finish.

But can I see any live? Can I hell.

Can I play? Oh no.

On Sunday 24th June I plan to go to Bovey Tracey to see Devon play Wiltshire. However, it's clear from the torrential rain sweeping down my road that there won't be any play. There isn't any on the following day either and the match is put out of its misery and moved to Exmouth, where it's done and dusted in a few hours. I'm at work.

The following Sunday, 1st July, I'm selected to play for my club, the Erratics, against Cheriton Fitzpaine, but the Cheriton ground, a 'secluded' (in other words impossible to find) patch of mid-Devon countryside about the size of the average back garden is so sodden after weeks of virtually incessant rain that the game's called off on the preceding Friday evening.

At around the same time, the County Ground at Worcester, one of the most famous grounds in the world, disappears under the lapping waters of the River Severn, something which hasn't happened during the cricket season since 1969.

So, on Sunday 8th July, there's only one thing for it. A trip to Worcester. On the road from Exeter at 8, a quick drive up the M5, park up and walk down to the ground to be confronted by a notice which announces that there will be no play before lunch and that there will be an inspection at 1.15. A polite enquiry to the corpulent and testy turnstile operator elicits the gruff statement that 'There will be no refunds!'. Right. I don't think I'll pay then.

The atmosphere outside the ground is pungent in more ways than one. The hideous stench of raw sewage from the receded floodwaters mingles with the tense imprecations of the punters turning back at the gates. Indeed, one older gentleman is so irate that he conducts a loud and prolonged verbal dialogue with himself about the merits of the club's decision not to move the game to another venue.

Time to meet my friend Alan and go for a walk around the nondescript, seagull-spattered centre of Worcester. After a while the sun begins to beat down and we return with some hope at 1.30 only to find that there will be another inspection at 3, but that play looks doubtful. So it's off across the road to sit by the bowling green where we meet a man who is happy to talk at us for over an hour about subjects as diverse as the batting of Cameron White, the social composition of the population of Budleigh Salterton and what you do if you go to China for two weeks and don't like Chinese food.

At 3 we return to the ground to find that any hope of play has been abandoned for the day, if indeed, there ever was any hope (a member of the groundstaff later tells us that they knew at eight o'clock in the morning that there wouldn't be any play). It's depressing, if predictable, news, but not half as depressing as hearing the strident tones of the Kent supporting woman with a voice like a broken foghorn who's notorious from Canterbury to Taunton.

After a stroll round the ground, one section of which bears a disturbing resemblance to a dried-up river bed, it's time to return home.

In Worcester the weather has been perfect but on the way back I encounter a violent rainstorm in north Somerset which turns the motorway into a river and forces me to stop. However, by the time I'm back in Exeter, some twelve hours after leaving, the sun is beating down so brightly that I can barely see where I'm going. I wearily park the car and look at the dials. Oh dear.

I've driven 285 miles and I haven't seen a ball bowled. I'm hungry and I'm tired. I'm wondering why I bother with cricket.

I'll try again at Taunton on Friday.

Monsoon Season

Meanwhile, India got their tour under way at Hove, with Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid scoring half-centuries.

It's good to have them here, but, unless the British summer monsoon stops, their presence won't count for much.

It stayed dry and sunny today, the nicest day for almost a month, but it looks as though the showers will be back tomorrow. I'm stupid enough to be driving up to Worcester to try to see some cricket and preserve my failing sanity by watching Worcestershire and Kent line up on a ground that was under water less than two weeks ago.

All a bit mad, but that's what English summers like this lead to.

Demolition Derby

One of the English counties I follow is Derbyshire. Not as closely as I follow Middlesex and Somerset, but I tend to keep an eye on what's going on via my father, who lives in Derby and used to be a member of the club.

So my ears pricked up when I heard on the radio this morning that Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe Test captain who's done a lot to improve the club's fortunes over the past few seasons, was leaving the club. My initial suspicion was that it was just another piece of infighting at a club for whom turbulence has been a leitmotif in recent years, but it appears from Cricinfo as though Houghton is going to be Bangladesh's next coach.

They need him, having done much to dispel the memories of their engaging performances in the World Cup by sliding to a predictably ignominious 2-0 Test series defeat to a Sri Lankan side driven by Sangakkara's runs and the wickets of Murali and Malinga.

Not much to say other than to wish Houghton good luck. And tell him to keep working on Mohammad Ashraful, because that boy really has something.

A Kind of Redemption

There were a lot of complaints doing the rounds in the media a few weeks ago about the poor quality of the Test series between England and the West Indies. The West Indians just weren't good enough they said. England had nothing to beat. Ergo it was 'poor' Test cricket.

I agreed that the West Indies were poor - who couldn't? - but I tended to demur from the prevailing opinion that the Test series was worthless just because of that, together with the poor quality of much of England's bowling. If nothing else, the West Indies, and the series, had Chanderpaul, but it was hard, at the time, to see where their next win was coming from.

The Twenty20 and ODI series have been something entirely different, though, culminating in today's game at Trent Bridge, which saw a united and vibrant West Indian side lay waste to England. Their display had everything - positive captaincy from Gayle, high pace and aggression from Edwards and Powell, powerful runs from Morton, brilliant catches greeted with celebrations direct from the carnivals of the Caribbean.

Whether it was the fact that they had the sun on their backs for the first time since Old Trafford or simply that they were playing England at a game which England can't play is uncertain. Equally, who's to know whether this, like The Oval in September 2004, is another false dawn or the start of better times for a team - and a cricket culture - that sure as hell needs it.

Whatever the case, Trent Bridge, Saturday 7th July 2007, looks, from this short distance, like a kind of redemption.

One Year On, One Year In

It's exactly a year since I began writing this blog. After years of writing articles for magazines and journals I'd started to feel frustrated by the length of time it took for anything I'd written to appear in print and I felt that this format would give my work greater immediacy and the opportunity to write about whatever was in my head at the time, rather than what an editor wanted me to write about or what they were prepared to accept.

I'd spent some wonderful hours in the early part of last season watching Graeme Hick bat at Taunton and Worcester and wanted to write something about a cricketer whose career I'd been associated with since he was a youngster and who was nearly as old as me but was still performing with distinction. That piece, still one of the best things I've written, can be found here, and, a year on, Hick is still batting superbly; on Friday evening he made 110 from 49 balls in a Twenty20 game for Worcestershire against Northants.

It's been a crowded and intriguing year for world cricket. I've seen and commented upon the first forfeited Test match and all the controversy that went with it, Australia regaining the Ashes with dismissive excellence and then going on to dominate the World Cup in much the same way (although it's questionable how many people were still awake by the end to see them do it). I've also covered the shockingly sudden death of Bob Woolmer and the retirements of three of the greatest cricketers of this or any era, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. It's been hard work at times, but I'm still enjoying it.

To my regular readers - you know who you are, even if I don't - thanks a lot for dropping by and coming back. And special thanks to Andrew Riley, Simon Orpen, Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Patrick Kidd of The Times, Mark Ray for the photos, Russell Degnan, Homer, and anyone else who's been kind enough to add me to their blogrolls.

The only thing that's disappointed me slightly is that thousands of people read the blog but few comment. I've gone through spells of getting reasonable numbers of comments (usually when I've written something about the Indian team) but things usually go dead again after a while. It's one of those spells at the moment.

So, if you're reading the blog and feel that you've got something to say, leave a comment. It's not difficult and I always reply.

At the last count this site had been visited by people from 62 countries, although a large proportion of those simply wanted to know about the different shades of green. To them, and the people whose searches for 'Guildford Swingers' on Google always lead them to my appreciation of Martin Bicknell, sorry I couldn't help you.

Six Things

Six things which were apparent at Lord's today:

1. Ian Bell needs to work on his running.

2. Fidel Edwards is very quick, and, unusually for a modern West Indies cricketer, has the right attitude.

3. Dwayne Bravo is a quality all-rounder, and, unusually for a modern West Indies cricketer, has the right attitude.

4. Owais Shah, whisper it, is starting to look at home in international cricket.

5. And so is Stuart Broad.

6. Allan Donald is having a positive effect on England's bowlers.

A (Former) Prodigy's Progress

I didn't see any more of the second Twenty20 game than the first, but I did catch the closing stages of England's chase, and really enjoyed seeing Owais Shah bat so well. Those of us who've kept more than half an eye on his progress since he was a Middlesex prodigy in the mid-nineties have felt for a long time that he had a lot more to give than he was allowed to show under Fletcher, and, after failing twice in the summer's first Test at Lord's we wondered when we'd next see him in an England cap. Moores is clearly a fan though, and his presence in the one-day squad is welcome recognition of the way in which he's advanced his over-limit game in recent seasons.

I understand he's also been working hard on his fielding and hopefully this is the start of an extended run in the one-day side. It's obvious that the desire is there, and, with some runs behind him and a bit of confidence, who knows where it might lead?

When interviewed after he'd received the Man of the Match award Owais stated that he'd be prepared to bat at number eleven if England wanted him to.

There's not much chance of that.

One Up

Well, Gayle didn't do a huge amount but the West Indies did. I had to work late and so didn't see any of their innings live, but the way in which they coped with England's superb fightback (with Ravi Rampaul in the box seat) and the joy they showed at the game's end showed that maybe all is not lost.

Somebody pointed out that it was the first time they'd beaten England since the Champions Trophy final at The Oval in September 2004, and the scenes in the grey evening half-light contained resonant echoes of that day.

It's Not Unusual

With things apparently going from bad to worse on the West Indian tour, and everyone settling in for some good old infighting between the players and their masters, Cricinfo carries some purposeful words from Chris Gayle.

Interesting events, but hardly unusual (a bit like a West Indies defeat). But not what's needed to put them in the right frame of mind to compete with England in the one-day series which starts this afternoon with a Twenty20 game at The Oval.

You never know with Gayle, though. Throughout the Test series he looked semi-interested and reinforced his image as a talented waster. This - and maybe even the captaincy itself - might be just what he needs to help him convert a dismal tour into something a bit better.

I'm not putting any money on it, though.

No Brainer

What's been happening these past few days? Well, it's been raining a lot, but Twenty20 has got underway again, in between the showers and in front of the usual fanatical crowds, and England have predictably decided that a brave new one-day world needed a new captain, and have appointed Paul Collingwood.

To me it was a no-brainer: Vaughan has never thrived in limited-over cricket and he needs to save his fragile body for the sterner challenges which lie ahead in the Test arena, and, with Pietersen ruling himself out, Colly - lacking captaincy experience but with every other quality you could wish for - was the logical choice.

With a reshuffled side, including a couple of new foreign-bred debutants in Dimitri Mascarenhas and Jonathan Trott - it'll be interesting to see how things go, even if they are still playing the West Indies, who, unless they can shake off the torpor which led them to defeat by Derbyshire today, won't offer any greater a threat than they did in the Test series.

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.

Reintroduction

With his 284 for Somerset against Northants there seems to be an implication in many parts of the media that Marcus Trescothick should be reintroduced to the England side as soon as possible.

I can't agree, and feel strongly that he shouldn't be considered for England again until he's absolutely certain he's ready, and from all his recent public statements it doesn't look as though that time has come yet.

Perhaps it will have done by the time India are here in July, although Peter Moores and his fellow selectors will have to think long and hard about whether he's able to stand up to the physical and mental rigours of an overseas tour, and, if they feel that he isn't, whether he can be selected for home Tests alone.

It'll all play out in due course, but, in the meantime, we in the south-west can enjoy his runs, not to mention those of James Hildreth, who made a century, and Ian Blackwell, who made 81.

A better season than last year may be in sight for Somerset, although you have to wonder how they're ever going to bowl anyone out twice on that Taunton pitch.

Great White Hope

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wanting More

As the fantastic English weather continues I've been easing myself into the season - a game of my own in the Devon countryside on Sunday and a day at Taunton today, watching Derbyshire pile up 801 and Somerset stutter late in the day to finish on 107 for 4.

Marcus played pretty well for his 32 but he will have wanted and expected more.

The way things are going he'll get another chance tomorrow.

Too Long For Its Own Good

Not much time to post this morning as I'm off to play cricket in the wilds of mid Devon, but it won't take long to point out that in the end the World Cup got the final it deserved - one-sided, interrupted by rain and too long for its own good. The farcical scenes at the end, when some of the finest cricketers in the world attempted to play in the dark when they needn't have been playing at all, just about summed up a tournament which has been too long and has lacked the type of verve and drama which used to be synonymous with one-day cricket and West Indian cricket.

It's all been said before about Australia and Adam Gilchrist, but it can, and will, be said again. After Gilchrist's century at Perth during the Ashes series I described him as the finest wicket-keeper-batsman of all time and then spent some time mulling over whether I'd gone too far. I now have no doubts at all.

And, in the end, Australia were just too good for anybody. It's now up to the rest to try to catch up.

End of the Road

So, after about seven weeks (I really can't be bothered to count) and goodness knows how many matches (ditto) it's all come down to Australia and Sri Lanka.

One of the few aspects of the tournament about which one can be unreservedly generous is that its best two sides have ended up in the final. And, if anyone stands a genuine chance of turning Australia over, Sri Lanka do.

That said, Australia are playing so well, are so motivated to win their third consecutive World Cup and to send Glenn McGrath, the competition's outstanding bowler, into retirement on the highest of highs, and are so collectively immune to pressure, that I'll be surprised if they fail to do so.

I hope they don't though, and I'll be backing Sanath, Mahela, Kumar, Murali and the rest all the way.

Prior Engagement

With Australia and Sri Lanka safely in the World Cup final (of which more later) the domestic news was made today by the so-called 'England Performance Squad'.

Of course it's good to see Tres back in there (and Owais Shah), but the identity of the wicket-keepers was its most interesting aspect. Sure enough, Nixon is there, and, after his performances for England over the last two months he deserves nothing less, but he's joined by Sussex's Matt Prior. It's a finely balanced thing but I think Prior will (and probably should) start at Lord's.

With his former county coach Peter Moores in charge and a pretty good England A tour behind him it's hardly a surprise, but it emphasizes again, nearly four years after Alec Stewart retired, how England are still searching for a regular wicket-keeper.

Regular readers will know that I strongly favour Worcestershire's Steven Davies to be the long-term occupant of the role, but I'm happy to see Prior get a chance.

As much as anything else it'll mark the change from Fletcher to Moores, as I'm sure Fletcher would have gone for Nixon.

Maybe Moores will, but I'll be slightly surprised if he does.

Lara at the Last

Long day, yesterday.

For one thing England and the West Indies fought each other to a standstill in the World Cup's best game. The fact that it was a contest between two of the competition's most uneasy and mediocre teams didn't matter as we at last had a match which encapsulated everything which people hoped for from the West Indies' first World Cup but which it has almost completely failed to deliver - noise, atmosphere, colour, vibrancy, brilliant strokeplay from Gayle, Samuels, Vaughan and Pietersen, passionate athleticism in the field from Collingwod and Bravo, further obvious signs of promise from Ravi Bopara.

And then there was Brian Lara. Run out for a staccato 18 in a mix-up with Samuels, unable in the end to stem the tide of England's run-chase, and finally gone for good from cricket in a welter of flash bulbs, autographs and snatched handshakes.

When I woke up on Friday morning and heard that Lara was going to retire I was surprised but also saddened. At the very first it was selfish personal disappointment as I was looking forward to seeing him bat in person for the last time at Lord's in May, but later it evolved into a wider awareness that cricket currently stands at one of those tipping points in its history when a range of pivotal figures slip from the international stage and we're left to wonder who will take their places. In the past few months Warne, Lara, Langer and Woolmer have gone, McGrath has one or two games left and even Sachin's once unimpeachable seat at the head of the game's top table looks vulnerable.

I've written before about how I was always a Lara man. It started with the 375, which I followed on the radio as I didn't have Sky then, went on through the 501, his destruction of Australia in an ODI at the Queen's Park Oval in March 1995, then to Trent Bridge that August and just about the greatest work of genius I ever saw in person. And on to the peerless 1999 series: 213 at Sabina and his finest hour of many, the undefeated 153 in Bridgetown that saw his side to the narrowest of victories. And on to Antigua again, to the world records, to a walk-on part in his team's 418 in the final innings against Australia in 2003, and the 400 not out against England in 2004. And on into retirement.

The essence of Lara can be hard to capture in words, but the inimitable Alan Ross, in Green Fading Into Blue, did better than most:

'He keeps very still at the wicket and is stillness personified. Alert as a gundog, scenting something, giving nothing away. Leaning on his bat between overs he may be dreaming, perhaps doing mental arithmetic.

The bowler approaches and now everything works together in harmony, the bat an extension of the arms, the legs and feet as in the first steps of a dance, abruptly halted.

In defence he is classically correct, body and head aligned, something of the martial arts in his position, pose held just long enough to be admired.

Runs appear to flow from him rather than he make them. He is anticipatory, a sixth sense making him ready, even before the bowler lets go. He strokes not hurts, times, caresses, even in moments of aggression melodious.'

And Rahul Bhattacharya does pretty well here.

I'm not going to say that things will never be the same again as it's the oldest cliche in the book and they probably will be, one day.

But who will take his place?

Fletcher Has Gone

In the end there was no way out. For the best part of seven years he did little but good for England but, from the time he went back to Giles and Jones in preference to Read and Panesar, he was destined to be history if it didn't work out.

The Ashes series didn't and the World Cup was never going to.

A good summary of his life and times by Andrew Miller is here.

Humiliation

The only conceivable surprise about South Africa's slaughter of England yesterday was that it was quite so quick. Let's face it, with a few notable exceptions (Sharjah 1997, Champions Trophy 2004, CB Series 2007), England have been useless at one-day cricket for years and years and years.

I'm going to take a back seat and let the dust settle for a few days before I say anything else, but most of the British papers seem to be calling for Fletcher's head and, having first done so back in December, I can't see myself bucking the trend now. It's encouraging also that there appears to be widespread recognition that Vaughan's ODI career, never very distinguished, has also run its course. I'm instinctively dubious about the concept of having different captains in Test and one-day cricket, but England simply can't go on like this.

Having seemingly played most of the tournament with only one proper batsman, it was always going to be tough for England when he failed. Throw in a complete inability to take advantage of powerplays in the way that the better sides do, add the consistently inconsistent - and often utterly dreadful - bowling of Sajid Mahmood and Flintoff's range of form and discipline issues and you have a recipe for disaster.

Looking to the longer term, it's difficult at the moment to feel other than that the only good to come out of England's 'campaign' is the feeling that the whole flimsy house of cards has been brought crashing down and that change is now inevitable.

And Ravi Bopara.

Drifting into Life

With England and South Africa readying themselves for battle in Barbados, there's just time to refer to the fact that the English season has drifted into life.

It was good - and unsurprising - to see Alastair Cook begin his season with a big hundred for MCC v Sussex, and even better to see Owais Shah do the same.

While Shah seems to have drifted back to the fringes of England contention since his excellent debut in Mumbai in early 2006, I firmly believe that he could have a lot to offer England in the future. Like a lot of people, though, he probably needs Fletcher to be shown the exit door to get another chance to show what he can really do.

Pace Like Fire

With New Zealand progressing smoothly to the semis at South Africa's expense and England facing the future with uncertainty (Should Fletcher stay or go? Who will be dropped from the Test team to accommodate Vaughan?), it is Shaun Tait who's made the most vivid impression on me these past few days.

I can always remember where and when I saw the best fast bowlers of the past couple of cricketing generations for the first time:

Waqar Younis at Uxbridge, 1990, Shoaib in the World Cup at Bristol, May 1999, Brett Lee at Perth, December 2000. All typifying the sort of raw speed which makes you suck in your breath and wonder (but not too hard) what it's like to face bowling like that from 22 yards away with a stick of wood in your hand.

So it was when I returned from work on Friday to see Shaun Tait ripping out the heart of the Irish batting in Barbados.

If he can get his fluctuating line and length sorted Australia have an interesting and possibly deadly prospect to help their attack adjust to life after McGrath and Warne.

Where Now for West Indies?

No commentator or journalist from anywhere in the cricket world can speak or write with as much knowledge, feeling or authority about their region as Tony Cozier.

To those of us who take any and every opportunity they can get to listen to him, the extent of his disenchantment with the modern generation of West Indian cricketers has been evident for years. This, from the Trinidad and Tobago Express via Cricinfo, sums up his feelings following the Windies' exit from their own World Cup.

For a number of years now it's been two steps back for every one step forward for West Indies cricket.

Where will it end?

At Their Best?

When I heard Michael Vaughan on the radio this morning saying that England (once again) 'weren't at their best' when flopping over the line against Bangladesh yesterday, my immediate reaction was 'well, what exactly is their best?'. Maybe, just maybe, this is it, in which case they're liable to find South Africa a bit of a
handful.

Somebody who would obviously improve their chances is Marcus Trescothick, and, with what I wrote the other day in mind, this, from The Times, made interesting and welcome reading.

Hopefully we'll see him back in England colours before too long, but his return cannot, must not, be rushed, because another relapse would surely mean the end.

High Standards

Although they were a bit below par by their own high standards yesterday, the continuing confidence and competence of New Zealand's displays has cast a penetrating shadow on England's more hesitant efforts. On their current form you'd expect them to push Australia and Sri Lanka all the way and it would be great to see them win it.

Back here in England there's been quite a lot of comment in and around the media about Marcus Trescothick's innings of 256 for Somerset against Devon in a pre-season friendly at Taunton on Sunday.

While it's great to see Marcus back on the field (even if it was one with a very small boundary), it seems to me to be far too early to speculate about what his future may hold. I'd like to think - and I'm sure he would too - that he could have a part to play in the England side at home, but there must be serious doubts over whether he can, will or ought to ever tour again. Meaning, of course, that all will depend on the willingness of Team England to accommodate a 'home only' player, even if they're as good as Marcus. My instinct would be to say that they shouldn't, but that doesn't mean that they won't.

However, even though this would mean that I and my fellow Somerset members would see more of him than we've been able to since the end of the last century, it would be very sad to see such an outstanding player serving out his days in relative obscurity.

Still, much as I admire the Devon bowling attack (see this for example), much sterner tests lie ahead.

Questions, Questions

I think we can say with a fair degree of certainty now that when it comes to England and one-day cricket, normal service has been resumed. The consecutive victories which crowned the CB Series in Australia now look like an illusory mirage when set against the fact that they still haven't beaten a major nation at the World Cup and now require wins from each of their last three Super Eight matches to progress any further.

After some signs of life against Sri Lanka in midweek, yesterday's defeat was a familiar litany of problems - a poor start, encompassing Michael Vaughan's usual failure, a promising recovery which was never built upon, an inept but mercifully brief innings from Flintoff and some patchy fielding and bowling - all of which was never going to be good enough to defeat Australia, even on a poor day.

The only saving graces were that somebody finally made a century (and it was worryingly predictable that it was Pietersen) and that Ian Bell, opening, played a vibrant and occasionally brilliant innings of 77. It was a pity that he didn't progress to a hundred, but one day soon he'll start to realise how good he is and the hundreds will come. As for Michael Vaughan, one wonders where the next run is coming from and there must soon be a reassessment of whether or not England can afford to carry a player whose ODI record is, for a player of his unquestioned ability, shockingly mediocre.

As always with England in the one-day arena, yesterday's game threw up far more questions than answers. South Africa, West Indies and, perhaps especially, Bangladesh, will ask a lot more before the month is out.

Relative Genius

I think I was a bit too cynical and dismissive the other day when I described the World Cup as a 'disaster'. It's been a disappointment, yes, but there's still time for it to redeem itself.

Bangladesh's win over South Africa set the ball rolling very nicely yesterday, confirming the progress which Dav Whatmore's team are finally making and bringing England and West Indies back towards contention for the semi-finals.

Bangladesh have hit upon a nice blend of the solid experience of Habibul Bashar, Javed Omar and Mohammad Rafique and the vigorous seam bowling of Mashrafe Mortaza, the impudence of Mushfiqur Rahim, the hitting of Aftab Ahmed and the relative genius of Mohammad Ashraful. Their fielding's not bad either, and would put that of India and Pakistan to shame.

It's Easter Sunday and the weather in England is beautiful. I'm going out walking today but I'll take a radio to keep in touch with today's game between Australia and England. If England can pick up where they left off against Sri Lanka and draw on the confidence which their frequent wins over Australia at the end of the CB Series gave them they've got a chance. One's suspicion, though, is that Australia are now just playing too well.

Staggering On

So, the World Cup staggers on.

Dull, rain-interrupted games; semi-deserted stadia; a schedule which stretches into the distance with little sign of conclusion, but which will probably just end with Australia winning.

While England's narrow defeat to Sri Lanka earlier in the week was an enjoyable exception - a taut and exciting game in front of what looked like a reasonable crowd, in which Ravi Bopara put his hand up as a potentially significant discovery for England - it's the exception which proves the rule.

Throughout the web and the written media, the ICC is taking some fearful stick. I can't find the piece which Cricinfo was carrying yesterday by a World Cup volunteer, but this by Tim de Lisle, will do just as well.

With the inquests continuing in India and Pakistan (and Chappell gone) the biggest and most-needed inquiry of all - into how this tournament became such a disaster thanks to the ICC's stupidity and greed - should start as soon as the competition has ended (if it ever does).

Optimism, Pessimism

Kumar Sangakkara, one of the finest cricketers on God's earth, sounded sanguine and optimistic when interviewed immediately after Sri Lanka's comfortable victory over West Indies in Guyana. He pointed to the versatility of his team's bowling attack and the quality of their batting, and was right to do so.

West Indies, though, have a lot less to be happy about, as their third consecutive defeat brought them even closer to elimination from their own World Cup than they were before (and that was pretty close).

This, by Simon Wilde, indicates that the side's poor form on the field isn't all that those with the future of West Indies cricket at heart need to be concerned about.

Having never been to Antigua or any of the other countries which make up the 'West Indies' I don't know what it used to be like and I don't know what it's like now. But, if Wilde's piece is an accurate reflection of what's going on on the island which gave us Richards, Richardson, Roberts and Ambrose, it's very sad indeed.

Shiv

I've always been a big fan of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Far more so than other more fashionable West Indian batsmen, apart, of course, from Lara.

I'm not totally sure why, but it's got something to do with the contrast between his dissonant, ugly technique and the fact that, when you look past it, he's one of the classiest operators you could ever wish to see.

A particular personal memory is of seeing him leaving the Lord's pavilion after his memorable double of 97 and 128, both undefeated, in West Indies' defeat there in 2004. Close to, he looked like a lost schoolboy, the smallest and slightest professional sportsman I think I've ever seen, yet capable of spending most of the match seeing off Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, Jones and Giles.

With West Indies currently struggling to contain Sri Lanka in Chanderpaul's home country, Rahul Bhattacharya's typically erudite account of a visit to Chanderpaul's family at Cricinfo makes interesting reading.

Things Can Only Get Better (Can They?)

Three weeks in (or is it longer?) and I'm still not totally sure what I think of the 2007 World Cup. Certain themes are starting to emerge, though, and it's hard to escape the feeling that the organisers should be a bit concerned about how things are going.

To start with, the coach of a major nation has been murdered. Hardly a great way for the tournament to get under way, and, despite the fact that the World Cup has continued (a decision I was completely in favour of, given that it's surely what Woolmer would have wanted), there can be little doubt that, ultimately, that is what the competition will be remembered for.

Also, two of the highest profile sides in the tournament were eliminated at the first hurdle. Okay, it was nobody's fault but their own, but the Super Eight would be looking a bit more interesting now if India and Pakistan were still around.

Then there's the weather. There's been a lot of rain around and this has detracted from the continuity of the tournament and the visual impression created by it. How many games so far have been played under blazing skies in front of packed houses? Not many.

Which brings me to the question of crowds. Hardly any of the matches - even those involving the West Indies - have been watched by large audiences and it's becoming clear from the media that a number of the decisions taken by the organisers, from building new stadiums in unsuitable locations downwards (coupled with the standard ICC over-regulation of spectators' habits) have created the impression that this is a competition which the people of the region aren't completely sold on. And unless the form of the West Indies improves pretty quickly, things aren't going to change.

On the field it's looking more and more as though Australia are the team to beat, with South Africa, Sri Lanka and especially New Zealand looking like the only sides that can stop them. Ireland and Bangladesh have surely come as far as they're going to, West Indies are staring down the barrel and England give the impression of limping along, untested, unproven and unconvincing, with their old nemesis Jayasuriya and friends awaiting them later this week. In some ways it's reassuring that normal service has been resumed in the one-day world - Australia on top, England faltering, and the rest somewhere in between - but it doesn't make the World Cup any more interesting.

One can only hope that things will get better.

They need to.