Cricket 38: Ashes Openers Crash and Burns

[Paxter]

Have to hand it to England - that was a good win. The emergence of Sibley is potentially an important long-term development. 

Once again SA's batting just wasn't up to scratch on what was a good wicket. 

[williamjm]

5 hours ago, ljkeane said:

England pull off the win to level the series. I didn't think that was going to happen looking at the situation a couple of sessions into the day. De Kock having a rush of blood against the part time leg spinner looks like the key moment.

It was good resistance from the South African batsmen. No surprise that Stokes ended up making a key contribution by polishing off the tail, he does always seem to be involved when England get a good result in recent times.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing for England might be Dominic Sibley stepping up with a big century. Hopefully he can keep it up so that when Burns returns from injury England might actually have a capable opening pair for the first time in almost a decade.

[ljkeane]

India are in a bit of a hole in the first ODI against Australia.

In the South Africa England series it looks like Wood is the front runner to replace Anderson in the side with Archer apparently not looking fully fit in the nets. Anderson picking up regular injuries now will have to be a bit of a concern for England, although it being a different injury than last time is relatively good news, so having a pool of fast bowlers they can bring in as needed is probably required at this stage. 

[williamjm]

11 hours ago, ljkeane said:

India are in a bit of a hole in the first ODI against Australia.

Looking at the final scorecard I think they may have reacted to being in a hole by doing a lot more digging. I imagine there haven't been many occasions in recent years when they've had a more comprehensive defeat.

In the South Africa England series it looks like Wood is the front runner to replace Anderson in the side with Archer apparently not looking fully fit in the nets. Anderson picking up regular injuries now will have to be a bit of a concern for England, although it being a different injury than last time is relatively good news, so having a pool of fast bowlers they can bring in as needed is probably required at this stage.

It does feel like the England bowling attack is now 'Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes plus whoever is fit this week'.

[Jeor]

11 hours ago, williamjm said:

Looking at the final scorecard I think they may have reacted to being in a hole by doing a lot more digging. I imagine there haven't been many occasions in recent years when they've had a more comprehensive defeat.

Yes, terrible game to watch, doubly so because Warner got runs. But I'm sure India will bounce back.

11 hours ago, williamjm said:

It does feel like the England bowling attack is now 'Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes plus whoever is fit this week'.

Sadly at his age, Anderson just can't be counted on with the injuries. It's a bonus if he's bowling but they'll probably have to plan for him not to. They've got a couple more years before Broad goes the same way, so they'll need to start blooding these new seamers.

[Jeor]

England are batting in a very Tavarean spirit!

118 runs in 58 overs for a run rate of 2.01. I know it's a dead pitch and they're trying to set the table, but those sorts of rates in the first two sessions of a Test match are unheard of in this day and age.

Joe Root's 13 off 34 balls is looking spritely and Glenn Maxwell-esque compared to Denly who's going full Tavare with 13 runs off 83 balls.

[ljkeane]

I agree with the general thinking behind England’s new slowly grind down the opposition approach, they’ve been far too loose in recent years, but it does keep the opposition in the game for a long time. They’ve gotten all the way to the second new ball without really getting on top of South Africa here.

[Paxter]

Finally dispensing with Bairstow makes for a much more solid looking batting order. I don't know why they persisted with him for so long in the middle order when you have someone like Pope (averaging 58 in FC cricket) waiting in the wings. 

With Stokes now looking a lot more like a genuine batsman rather than a Flintoff-style dasher, England's looser batsmen now don't begin until Buttler at 7. 

[Jeor]

England's approach has paid off, Stokes' form continues and Pope gets his hundred. They also look more solid with Sam Curran batting at 8, where is a genuine threat. Still enough time in the game for three more innings.

India got their revenge in the second ODI - I think they'll take the decider as well.

[williamjm]

14 hours ago, Jeor said:

England's approach has paid off, Stokes' form continues and Pope gets his hundred. They also look more solid with Sam Curran batting at 8, where is a genuine threat. Still enough time in the game for three more innings.

The weather does seem to be coming to South Africa's aid a bit, although they're still in a precarious position.

It's impressive that Dom Bess managed to take the first five wickets in the innings, he might be moving ahead of Jack Leach as the first choice spinner when everyone is fully fit.

[ljkeane]

I’ve pretty much missed all of this test due to work and a stupidly long away trip for rugby yesterday but England have gotten themselves into a very strong position. It looks like South Africa will need the weather to help them from here.

Sky have Steve Finn in the studio and he comes across pretty well when talking about bowling. He’s a man that should really be at the core of this England bowling attack now. It’s a shame he fell away so much.

[Jeor]

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Sky have Steve Finn in the studio and he comes across pretty well when talking about bowling. He’s a man that should really be at the core of this England bowling attack now. It’s a shame he fell away so much.

What's his story? He's still only 30, which is hardly old for a fast bowler in this day and age, so could still be in contention for selection?

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I’ve pretty much missed all of this test due to work and a stupidly long away trip for rugby yesterday but England have gotten themselves into a very strong position. It looks like South Africa will need the weather to help them from here.

England cleaned up the tail quickly so enforcing the follow-on was a no-brainer. Depends how much play they get out of these last two days. I saw a funny comment on cricinfo's feed following Nortje's nightwatchman 18 off 136, something to the effect of South Africa having founda capable fast bowler and consistent middle-order batsman with a superior defensive technique - their replacement for Jacques Kallis!

[ljkeane]

8 minutes ago, Jeor said:

What's his story? He's still only 30, which is hardly old for a fast bowler in this day and age, so could still be in contention for selection?

I suppose it's possible he could have a late career resurgence but it seems unlikely. He didn't look anything like as threatening as he was when he first came into the side the last time he played for England, probably down a combination of injuries and having to change the way he bowled. I don't really follow County Championship cricket, and it's not even on tv to catch the odd game anymore, but apparently last season he got a relatively modest 17 wickets and averaged 32 in Division 2 so he doesn't seem to be particularly pressing his case. 

[Jeor]

7 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I suppose it's possible he could have a late career resurgence but it seems unlikely. He didn't look anything like as threatening as he was when he first came into the side the last time he played for England, probably down a combination of injuries and having to change the way he bowled. I don't really follow County Championship cricket, and it's not even on tv to catch the odd game anymore, but apparently last season he got a relatively modest 17 wickets and averaged 32 in Division 2 so he doesn't seem to be particularly pressing his case. 

Ah, that's a shame. I remember he had some genuine pace, even if he had a maddening tendency to knock the bails off the wicket in his delivery stride...

[ljkeane]

Wood picked up a couple of key wickets with play back on.

A little bit of an odd field when Bess is bowling, the leg slip’s deliberately setting himself down on his knees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

[Paxter]

Urgh...South Africa have really fallen into a hole since that first test. England look way too strong now.

I have to laugh at Australian cricket fans. One of my friends was cock-a-hoop after that first ODI ("Australia in a rich vein of form!"). Then two ODIs later it was: "oh, it's a meaningless series anyway." The truth is that Australia is still not quite there in one-day cricket; I think we saw that plainly enough in the way that they bowed out of the 2019 World Cup. But they are certainly looking much better in the test format. 

[Jeor]

280-odd was never going to be enough on a high-scoring ground away to India. They are masters of the ODI run chase and did it easily, despite being a batsman down in the innings (Shikar Dhawan).

[Paxter]

Just a stray observation on the BBL - it's interesting that most of the top-performing batsmen in the league are Australian players (Stoinis, M Marsh, S Marsh, Maxwell etc.) while a lot of the better bowlers (Rauf, R Khan, Z Khan, Lamichhane, T Curran) are foreign imports. Australia is going to have to produce and select better specialist T20 bowlers if it wants to challenge strongly for the World Cup later this year, home ground advantage notwithstanding. 

[Jeor]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:41 AM, Paxter said:

Just a stray observation on the BBL - it's interesting that most of the top-performing batsmen in the league are Australian players (Stoinis, M Marsh, S Marsh, Maxwell etc.) while a lot of the better bowlers (Rauf, R Khan, Z Khan, Lamichhane, T Curran) are foreign imports. Australia is going to have to produce and select better specialist T20 bowlers if it wants to challenge strongly for the World Cup later this year, home ground advantage notwithstanding. 

I've been following the BBL a fair bit and have noticed the same thing.

It's such a luck-of-the-draw format that performances vary wildly and only a few top-class performers can consistently deliver (generally the ones you've named). In a paradoxical sort of way it makes world-class T20 talent really hard to find. I think most clubs can unearth some random no-names who, on their day, can bash a couple of consecutive sixes, or land some nice yorkers, but to find people who can consistently deliver at that level seems pretty rare.

 

[Paxter]

I know SA are at a low ebb but England can still be pretty satisfied with this series. Away from home, up 2-1 and looking set for another decent-ish first innings score. Ollie Pope just looks like a fantastic find - already averaging over 50 across nine test innings.

And who'd have though that Crawley and Sibley would be enjoying some steady partnerships at the top! No doubt things would have been different if SA still had Rabada in the side, but there are some rays of hope here for England's batting. I think Silverwood has already made an impact - he seems to like "serious" test cricket, while Bayliss encouraged the team to play with flair/limited-overs mode even in tests.