Changing Times/Another Great Gone

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

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

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

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

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

Perth and After

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

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

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

Not Before Time

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

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

One of the Good Guys

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

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

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

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

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

Murky Waters

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

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

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

Hitting the Fan

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

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

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

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

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

Round in Circles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inevitability

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

This sums it up beautifully.

Enigma Variations

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

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

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

Poor Indeed

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

India will need to bat well tomorrow.

What Can You Do?

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

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

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

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

What can you do?

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

Happy Christmas

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

See you in 2008.

Timeless and Understated

The Galle rains - and some characteristically obdurate batting from the superb Alastair Cook - saved England from a 2-0 defeat, but the truth of the series - that England were more than a little outclassed - wasn't so easily obscured. Michael Vaughan, Peter Moores, and the rest of the 'Team England' hierarchy have a lot of thinking to do before New Zealand.

The player who impressed me the most in the last two Tests was the timeless and understated Chaminda Vaas. A couple of games after his obituaries were being written he was slicing through England with a perceptive combination of low pace, conventional swing and the most finely adjusted line to left and right-handers this side of Glenn McGrath's retirement villa.

Vaas, 33, should now grace Test cricket for a while longer. And, let's face it, if you played in the same side as the great Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, wouldn't you fancy taking the new ball?

Crashing Down

Touring Sri Lanka is tough, and England have been holding themselves together - often by the skin of their teeth - since Kandy. Today, though, it all came crashing down and there appears little hope of salvage over the next two days unless there's a hell of a lot of rain.

The England bowling attack, apart from Harmison, has looked insipid, although Hoggard is probably short of maximum fitness and Sidebottom has continually been let down by fielders in general, and Prior in particular. The batsmen can make fifties but can't go on to big hundreds in the way that is second nature to Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The fielding is shoddy; all the side's best specialist close fielders - Trescothick, Strauss, Flintoff - have gone from the team and we're left with the ageing (and never reliable) Vaughan, the coltish and mystifyingly poor Cook, and, of course, Prior.

When this game is wrapped up it's back home for Christmas and then off to New Zealand, by which time a few more players might find themselves out of the team.

Radio Days

With two rain-shortened days gone in Galle, England have forfeited any chance they may have had of squaring the series with a lacklustre display of bowling and fielding. I've been too heavily occupied with work and Christmas preparations to see very much of it, but I did get to listen to Test Match Special for a very interesting couple of hours before I left for work this morning.

Readers outside the UK may not appreciate this (although I'm sure there are overseas equivalents), but if you've followed cricket in England over the last fifty years or so, Test Match Special or 'TMS' will have been an important part of your life. You'll have your favourite commentators or summarisers, those you can't stand, and your favourite moments. Sometimes it really hits the mark, other times it misses it like a Steve Harmison wide shooting down the leg side.

This morning was one of the former. During the lunch interval Jonathan Agnew interviewed two former Harrow schoolboys who were playing on the Test ground in Galle when the tsunami struck three years ago; their depth of experience, modesty and articulacy made it a wonderfully informative exchange, and one of the best things I've heard on TMS in a long time. I also enjoyed hearing Christopher Martin-Jenkins (always my favourite commentator) ripping into England's moronic and repetitive habit of throwing the ball at the wicket-keeper from anywhere on the field, with the apparent purpose of trying to intimidate the batsman but with the unwittingly obvious result that their over rate gets even more slow and, as this morning, overthrows can easily result. I first became aware of this during the Tests at Lord's last summer and I've hated it ever since; it's good to hear more people criticising it but if such criticisms find their way into the Team England 'bubble' they're more likely to persist with it than abandon it.

C'est la vie...

Elegance and Time

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

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

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

Treading Water

After a couple of days of tracking down the Colombo close scores in the internet cafes of New York City I returned home to see the second Test played to its ultimately rather dreary conclusion. Peter Moores sounded optimistic this morning - it's one of his strong points - but, although England were good value for their draw in the end, they look to me like a team that's treading water. Enough batsmen are in form but the hundreds (with Bell, as usual, especially culpable) won't come, and the bowling attack is solid but lacks penetration. If they can get Hoggard back for Galle it will help, and, with the wicket expected to take spin, Graeme Swann's name may be discussed. You also have to wonder about the selection of Bopara when he's doing hardly any bowling.

So, for Galle it has to be a won toss, hundreds from any two of Cook, Vaughan and Bell, and some penetrative spells from Harmison, Hoggard and Panesar.

Should be easy...

Moving On

For the past few days I've been preparing for a short trip to New York - I leave in about an hour - so I didn't see very much of the last couple of days of the Kandy Test. Ultimately Sri Lanka were worthy winners, and, unusually, they didn't rely completely on Murali on the final day. Although, when I left my house an hour after lunch, the TMS commentators were talking about his longest spells without a wicket. When I returned nearly five hours later he'd all but wrapped up the match by removing Matt Prior and Ian Bell, England's points of greatest resistance, with the new ball. Asad Rauf (whose appalling triggering of Sidebottom marred what was otherwise a good performance) and Lasith Malinga did the rest.

Having made the running so well on the first day England must be disappointed by their defeat, no matter how close they got to getting away with it. There are problems with the attack - Harmison or Broad for Anderson looks likely for Colombo - and in the field, and there were a few soft dismissals around, not least Collingwood's on the last day, although he can be allowed the odd one as he normally sells his wicket so dearly. As now seems customary, Bell was excellent in both innings, but he still needs to go on and turn his regular fifties into hundreds if he's going to fulfil his huge potential. I think it'll come.

As for Sri Lanka it's hard to look past Kumar Sangakkara, now unquestionably one of the world's greatest batsmen. This typically outstanding piece by Andrew Miller sums up where he's at just now.

So, the players go to Colombo and I go to the USA.

See you next week, when I'll try not to attempt to give my views on a game I haven't seen at all.

709 Up

After yesterday's rain this was an interesting and even day in Kandy; England gained an unlikely lead, Sri Lanka countered to put themselves in an excellent position with the valuable and possibly definitive advantage of bowling last to come.

Of course, the day was all about Murali and the record. Personally, I find it hard to get very excited about the mere attainment of a numerical target which has been inevitable for years, but, if we're talking numbers, I'm more impressed by the 61 five-wicket hauls than the 709 wickets.

There's little to be said about him that hasn't been said before, and I'm happy to leave the last word to another of the country's greatest players, Murali's long-time colleague Sanath Jayasuriya, whose last Test this is.

Interviewed in the current issue of The Wisden Cricketer, Jayasuriya touchingly sums up the respect with which his fellow Sri Lankan players treat Murali:

'Everywhere we go there is pressure on Murali from other teams. We see him as our unique bowler, our special one. We decided very early on to always give him full support.'

Immaculate Control

I don't know why I got it into my head the other day that Stuart Broad was 'nailed on' to make his Test debut in Kandy. He wasn't and he isn't, although I did get the bit about Ravi Bopara right. England, though, did very well without him, their disciplined bowling and fielding performance on the first day being firmly based on Matthew Hoggard's immaculate control of line and movement and tidy contributions from all the other bowlers.

It looks a benign track with plenty of potential runs in it, but then no pitch is ever truly benign when Murali is bowling on it, and he'll be doing a lot of bowling tomorrow.

Worth getting up early for, I reckon.