Category: Cricket

Kumar Sangakkara proved that even at his age, he is one of the best test batsmen in the world. He was calm, steady and played well timed shots in two innings of pure class in Sri Lanka’s first test against England at Lord’s. Sangakkara hit 208 runs in his two innings including a 147 in the first of those innings. It’s arguable that without his experienced batting, his team may have struggled to come away with the draw.

Take nothing away from Sri Lanka; other team members played pivotal roles in securing the draw. Angelo Mathews hit a century in his first innings. Both Herath and Eranga bowled extremely well to stop an England onslaught in the three lions second innings. Ultimately, they deserved a draw for the hard effort the team made.

For England, it was a positive sign of what’s to come for this relatively new and young fresh team. Robson, Ali and Jordan made steady starts in their test debuts. Robson perhaps had the weakest game out of the three new boys, only scoring one in his first innings for England and only making thirteen in his second. Ali and Jordan hit vital runs when they were required to bat and Jordan also got some big wickets.

Joe Root, who has been moved about countless times in the batting order looked like he was a number 5 when he scored his first double century for England- a joy to watch. He looked calm and collective and steadied the ship for an England team that had lost wickets early. Prior, Bell, Plunkett, Ali and Broad helped the team to a huge 575-9d, the first time they scored over 400 runs since their tour of New Zealand last year.

The second innings proved trickier. As England tried to cement a score that set them up for the win, Sri Lanka made it difficult for the batsman. At one point the score was 102-5 and England looked like they may have blown their chances at securing a 1-0 test series lead. But Gary Ballance hit an unbeaten century to calm the nerves in the home dressing room.

For me the draw was a fair result. On a flat pitch, both teams found it easy to score high at the start of the test match. As the pitch wore, players like Herath and Ali became more important in their teams quest for victory. Everyone who watched the final few overs yesterday will have enjoyed some excellent drama, with England requiring two wickets in the final over. Broad managed to get one with his first delivery, although Herath had his glove off the bat, meaning according to the laws of the game he wasn’t out. Had England of got the final wicket, Herath may have found himself in the shadows of the Sri Lankan dressing room. England thought they had got victory when Broad’s fifth delivery of the final over smacked the pad of Eranga, but the review showed an inside edge on the bat, and celebrations ceased in a matter of moments.

I for one am looking forward to Headingly, the second test should prove to be a lot more entertaining. The pitch I’m guessing will not be as flat as at Lords, making it harder to score as many runs. I hope we see an England win, otherwise it will have been a Sri Lankan dominated summer, and with India to come in July/August, a test series win would be perfect preparation.

“It had started so well.”

The Ashes series has started humiliatingly for England. They werent only just defeated but crushed by the Australians, who won their first test match in nine. A massive 381 run winning margin shows that England must perform better (mostly the bat) before the second test.

Day one was a decent day for England, Australia were on 279-8 at Stumps, with Stuart Broad responding to the criticism and abuse he had to endure leading up to the test match with six wickets.  The only Australian partnership which seemed tricky to stop was Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson.  However this was as good as it got from England.

The Australians controlled the rest of the test after their first innings was over.  Firstly they ripped through the England batting line up with England only scoring a measly 130. Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson took most of the wickets with his troublesome bouncing deliveries which caught almost all the England batsman by surprise. This was just after two days!  Only rain seemed to be the only element which could condemn the test to a draw.

Day three; and Australia knew they were in a commanding position. They had a lead of nearly 150 before their second innings. They used the wicket to full effect and for England- a tough exhausting day laid ahead. Centuries from David Warner and Captain Michael Clarke helped toddle Australia to 407-4 when they declared, England needed 541 to win.

The second England innings was very reminiscent of the first. Only Alistair Cook seemed to be resilient to the pressure put on the England team by the Australian players and public. He made a respectful half century before being caught out by the spin of Nathan Lyon. England were hanging on by a tightrope and finally James Anderson was caught and the game was over.

Australia will now for the first time, feel confident they can regain the Ashes. It has been a period of dominance by England, but now we are perhaps the underdogs. I originally predicted a 1-2 or 2-2 in the series with England winning the ashes yet again. If that is to be the way this Ashes plays out- we need to be better in the next four tests.

Since 2009, England have dominated the Ashes. As some of the most successful Australian cricketers retired (Warne, McGrath and Ponting to name just a few), England have gained superstars of their own. The England team is now full of quality in every position. With Captain Alistair Cook and Joe Root scoring freely (Carbury is also scoring many runs in the warm ups), Pieterson and Prior steading the ship with the middle order batting and for the latter wicket-keeping at the highest level. Swann and Broad keep the batting going with their improving skills with the bat and also with the ball. And then we have James Anderson, the King of Swing, leading the bowling attack.

Australia hasn’t got the same team they had before. Clarke has struggled to captain a world class cricket side. Their batting isn’t as strong- only Shane Watson the only recognisable danger batsman for the Aussies. This problem is similar in their Bowling line-up. Ryan Harris is their go to man for wickets but with injury problems, he isn’t deemed fit enough to complete what is a tough and challenging Ashes series.

England in the summer produced World Class cricket, destroying the Australians at Lords the most enjoyable memory for an England fan. Australia had some players who put in a good performance in certain games. Who can forget Agar’s debut century in the first test?

This winter though is going to be different for a number of reasons. The Australian coach Lehmann has already tried to get the Australians to get tough and make the tests a tough venue for the England side and especially Stuart Broad, who Australia deemed to cheat when he wouldn’t walk after being given out.  The team obviously also want revenge on England, after the embarrassment of the 2010/11 series which England dominated- and the fact England were comfortable for the majority of the summer series.

Ian Botham believes England will win the series 5-0. I can’t agree with that. Although I am predicting another England triumph come the final test in Sydney. Our squad will be stronger and we have got the better cricketers.  What we need to get to grips with are the pitches and the atmosphere. The pitches will be better suited to fast bowlers with not as much spin as there is in England. The Australian crowd will also be less supportive of the England team.

I predict a 2-1 win for England possibly 2-2. The tests will be closely fought and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rejuvenated Australia. I can’t see the Aussies winning more tests then England so don’t  panic, the ashes will be coming home in the new year.

Well it truly was the Umpire’s call last night. England required 21 runs from 4 overs to win the Ashes series 4-0. The Oval was packed and fans were looking forward to the blockbuster finish, but the Umpires decided to call time on the action due to bad light and although they were following rules and regulations by the ICC, common sense should’ve surely twisted the rule just this once.

It certainly ended an entertaining day’s play as the 2013 Ashes series drew to a close with the final days play. A day which saw England bowled all out for 377. Australia then pushed on before declaring with a lead of 247, in which England had only the evening session to acquire the runs.

The session started positively for Captain Alastair Cook, who hit a early boundary in the first over. However for Joe Root things weren’t as straight forward as the young opener was caught from behind on 13.  The real star of the innings was England’s golden boy Kevin Pieterson who managed to woo the crowd with boundaries here, there and everywhere.

As the wickets tumbled and the runs scoring promptly, things looked to be heading for a magnificent end to a quite entertaining series which England have somewhat cruised to victory, Australia still angry with Stuart Broad failing to walk when being given out in the first test at Trent Bridge which recently was the main outburst from the Australia coach on local radio and resulted in a 20% match day fine. England have played top quality cricket, Ian Bell the main man guiding the three lions to victory with three hundreds in the series, without him England may have found themselves in tougher situations. Another key figure was James Anderson whose swing, pace bowling destroyed the Australian batting line up.

Ultimately England were the better side over the five tests and for now both teams can rest up and prepare for the T20s and ODIs coming up before the return Ashes series begins in Brisbane this winter. For England, more of the same will do nicely and hopefully they can replicate their famous victory down under in 2010/11. Australia need to improve, and on their own turf and home support it won’t be as easy for England in Australia as it was this summer.

This week Essex will hand new signing Monty Panesar a debut in their County Championship Division Two match, just a couple of weeks after the spinner was included in the England ashes team for the fourth test against Australia. But since then Panesar and former county Sussex have fallen out over a nightclub incident resulting in the spinners contracts being terminated in the summer and a instant loan move to Essex.

Panesar had allegedly urinated over a nightclub bouncer in Brighton, triggering a misconduct element of his contract with the south coast county. Panesar has apologised for his actions stating he is “disappointed at letting the club, fans and colleagues down”.

A club spokesman from Sussex confirmed a investigation had taken place since the 5^th of August which concluded yesterday, and as of 27^th September, Monty Panesar will become a free agent.

Essex have revealed they are over the moon to sign a world class bowler for the remainder of the season and may even considering offering Panesar a full time contract in the summer; and he will make his debut against Northants on Thursday.

Panesar has vowed to bounce back from this off the field incident and is excited about playing for Essex and trying to push for Promotion to LV Division One.

After last week’s 1^st Investec Ashes test, I think Australia showed the nation and the world that they are not a test side that will be walked over and humiliated  as some of the  press had made it sound in the months building up to this ashes series.

The performance of the Aussies was terrific and it made the match exciting to watch- especially on the final day. Obviously the stand out player for the team from down under was the 19 year old Ashton Agar who scored an impressive 98 in his first innings and bowled effectively. He is a star in the making, maybe not as prolific as Shane Warne, but he can reach superstardom if he continues to perform as he did at Trent Bridge.

The Australia camp however isn’t as united as again portrayed by the media. Former Australia coach Mickey Arthur is suing Cricket Australia for unfair dismissal and is demanding a hefty £2.4 million. This had outraged some greats of the Aussie game such as Shane Warne, who simply stated that Arthur is “out of order”.

It took a press conference from Australia captain Michael Clark, who insisted that the wallabies camp is united and are ready for the 2^nd test at Lords which commencing tomorrow. However, some of the body language of other cricketers, most noticeably Shane Watson, seems to contradict Clarke and show that the team are not communicating or united.

Whatever happens, England will know they have a tougher job of retaining the Ashes as many had predicted, even if the Aussies are quite happy bouncing kangaroos.

India defeated a brave England by 5 runs in the final of a rain affected ICC Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston. Play didn’t commence until four o’clock due to the horrid weather, which reduced the game to 20 overs but with 50 over rules.

England won the toss and decided to field first, and this proved a decent decision to begin with as Broad bowled Sharma on 9 runs to make it 19-1 off 3.5 overs. A short rush of wickets tumbled as India were standing at a measly 66-5 off 12 overs. A late partnership built between Kohli and Ashwin as England struggled to find their sixth wicket. Eventually Anderson managed to find his maiden wicket of the match to break the India resistance and make it 113-6. Ashwin was run out late on as India finished with a reasonable score of 129-7 of their 20 overs.

England should have believed this was a relatively easy chase to win, and many would have perhaps considered the hosts favourites for victory, But the England innings began slowly and it wasn’t long before Captain Alistair Cook was gone, with the score just 3-1. Jonathan Trott was looking in good form until he was stumped magnificently by Dhoni. Root and bell soon followed and England, very much like India in their innings, looked in trouble at 46-4. The brilliance of Bopara and Morgan did settle the ship and England all of a sudden look comfortable, after 17 overs the side only needed 26 runs to win.

But the 18^th over changed the concept once again as the pendulum of glory again swung back towards the visitors. Sharma’s second delivery was smashed for 6 by Morgan so the India field moved in closer and this worked in their favour as Sharma not only get Morgan out, but also Bopara next ball.

England looked all over the shop, two new batsmen at the crease that aren’t known to well for their batting ability. Both Buttler and Bresanan however failed to contribute much and the 19^th over ended 115-8, with England needing 15 to win their maiden one day trophy. Tredwell and Broad managed to give England fans some hope with a couple of boundaries. England needed a six off the final delivery and unfortunately poor James Tredwell gave it a swing and a miss.

India and all their support (the majority of the stadium) could celebrate yet another competition triumph and to be honest were the best side in the tournament. For England, the hunt for one day glory goes on…