Mark Chilton – LiveCricket.in
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17th
Although it was a disappointing end, Andrew Strauss and his men can hold their heads high after a successful tour of South Africa. To come away with a win in the 1-day series and a squared Test Series is a highly commendable effort. Despite there being areas for improvement i thought the England team showed a lot of bottle and unity against the no.1 rated team in the world. It seems that the Strauss/Flower combination is working really well and they have an exact idea of how they are going to become the best England outfit for many years.
I enjoyed the series and thought it was a fantastic advert for Test cricket, which has come under some pressure recently. The standard of quick bowling in the Final Test was something that hasn’t been seen for some time and even caught the imagination of the Sky commentators who had previously dealt with the likes of Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh, Donald, Pollock etc.
A little break now before England travel to Bangladesh where they will face completely different conditions and styles of cricket. I have to agree with David Gower who wrote that he thought it a shame that Strauss is not going to lead that tour. They had a great opportunity to keep the momentum going that they have created over the last 12 months.
Signing off now but more to follow.
5th
Firstly I must apologise for the absence of Blog material, we have been faced with a few technical difficulties that are hopefully now sorted.
The Ashes now move to Headingley where England have a great opportunity to secure the urn with one test left to play. The series has been evenly matched so far but I think we have just edged it and deserve the 1-0 lead. The England bowling attack has looked more potent than the Australians and I think they are more likely to take the 20 wickets required to win a test match.
Headingley can be an interesting place to play and games can change very quickly depending on the overhead conditions. However, it looks like wickets have been a bit flatter than normal this year with plenty of runs being scored there. It will be another battle of attrition and victory will come to the team that keeps the focus and intensity for the full five days. England will hope that Freddie is fit enough to impact the game, the last two tests have shown how valuable he can be with both bat and ball.
More to follow……….
18th
It has been a while since writing and much has happened. The Pieterson/Moores affair has finally been dealt with but not without consequences. I wanted to get some opinion on how influential a Captain should be, especially at the international level. Should the ECB have given Kevin Pieterson what he wanted or are they the ones that put everything in place and then people learn to work together for the best of the country/team.
Personally i think the Captain’s opinion clearly needs to be sought but too much power can be a dangerous thing and it is crucial when making appointments that these people are happy to work together. Clearly Pieterson had his problems with Moores from an early stage so why was he appointed as Captain? Surely to the people closely involved, the final outcome wasn’t overly surprising.
It is sad that it all happened the way it did and is clearly not ideal preparation for the upcoming tour of the West Indies. Andrew Strauss has a tough job on his hands harmonising, what could be, a difficult changing room. I am sure his aim will be to get the team to be open and honest and try to rebuild some team spirit.
I am backing Kevin Pieterson to score runs in the Caribbean but whether the team will gel together well enough to force some positive results remains to be seen.
14th
Looks like an exciting game ahead but i am still backing our boys. Fantastic effort my Andrew Strauss, i think he becomes only the seventh player in history to score a hundred in each innings on the sub continent and the first England player. He hasn’t played much recently and the preparation for this game was so disrupted that it makes the feat even more impressive.
Straussy has clearly thought long and hard about his gameplan, particularly against the spinners where he looked to sweep on a regular basis but he also played the reverse swinging ball extremely well, playing the ball late and not looking for too many big shots.
Sehwag has played a typically aggressive innings to put India in with a sniff but i reckon Englands attack is well equipped to finish the job off….Flintoff 4 wickets. This would be a huge result for us, India have been in good form and are full of confidence so lets hope the boys finish the job off.
3rd
After the shocking terrorist attacks in Mumbai the England Cricket Team faces a tough decision on whether or not to return to play the two test matches that have been arranged. It is a difficult dilemma for all involved but i personally think they should continue on with the games and try to bring some relief to what has been a dreadful time for the whole of the Indian public. Obviously there needs to be clearance from all the security checks that will be taking place but if that comes back positively then i would encourage the team to tour.
I can understand players concerns and if the tour gets the go ahead they face difficult decisions but hopefully the majority will feel positive about the situation and give the Indian public something to concentrate their minds on after such a terrible time.
Let me know your views, especially you Willo! Englands prospects will be discussed soon.
5th
What a finale….both captains, Ricky Ponting of Australia and Indias golden boy Mahendra Dhoni, have both publicly stated the importance of the final test at Nagpur. After having been comprehensively outplayed in the first three tests, Australia still has a chance to come away from India holding the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
They will be under no illusions though, it will be an incredible result if they pull it off. The pitch will be a huge hurdle for them, all reports suggest a slow, low pitch suited to the spinners….no surprise there then. Australia are still faced with the problem of no Shane Warne, it is time to give Jason Krejza his opportunity. Krejza is relatively unknown but must be there for a reason, he has been selected as the Aussies number one spinner and they have to put some faith in him. Australia have performed well to stay in the series, to follow a huge Indian total of over 600 is never easy no matter how flat the surface and they batted admirably.
Great to see Lancashire new recruit, VVS Laxman, in the runs. He was fabulous in his short stint in 2007 and i am sure we are all looking forward to his arrival. A quick congratulations to him, this will be his 100th match for India….quite an achievement.
My tip….a step to far for Australia. Indian win