A lot to learn about England from Windies Tests
Roar Guru By art pagonis, 12 Jun 2012 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
I love the management of English cricket. They do things well. Ground management, team management, television coverage, sponsorship, image, grassroots to county systems – everything is in place.
They left James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of their last match against the Windies, and brought in Graham Onions and Steven Finn. The latter took six of the eight wickets to fall.
They dropped a lot of catches and left a lot be desired in the field too (Finn should have had five), but the essence of this game is that England can throw eight or nine quicks at you and make you pay.
Two new balls in a day’s cricket and they stuck to their task on a bouncy, somewhat up-and-down track. Chris Tremlett would have taken six.
Nonetheless, there are weaknesses for Australia to exploit.
Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and the ‘keeper Matt Prior are flagging. Graeme Swann is only a force if you let him attack you, and England’s fielding can be exploited.
Australia needs to pick six quicks to tour England. They have 10 to choose from at least. The ‘keeper’s role should go to Matt Wade. Tim Paine should be his deputy, and should be considered as a bat to replace Ricky Ponting or Mike Hussey if they fail.
There are 12 who can fit into the batting roles. Take your pick.
Jon Holland (left-arm orthodox) and Nathan Hauritz (off spin) should be the spinners for England, with young James Muirhead from Victoria to go to bolster his leg-spinning experience.
The Windies are improving and would be a force with one more quick and Chris Gayle in this side. Sunil Narine fits, the Adrian Barath-Kieran Powell opening partnership is developing nicely, the ‘keeper, Denesh Ramdin, is a great little all-rounder and Windies cricket, while it takes some baths from Mick Holding and co, is strong and developing.
They need some proactive coaching however.
The Ashes journey begins
The Australian cricket team have left Australia to begin their tour of England, with a mission to reclaim the Ashes.
Australian captain Michael Clarke and his teammates were optimistic about their chances before jetting off.
Click here to hear the thoughts of our Australian cricket team as they left for England.
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June 12th 2012 @ 8:12pm
phil kingston said | June 12th 2012 @ 8:12pm | Report comment
An interesting insight Art, Food for thought for the selectors.
Me thinks this: The key to the batting is PONTING/HUSSEY. I think Clarke will perform well as he is the
best player in the side currently, the rest in England are an unknown quantity.
Ponting/Hussey have not dominated in Uk , and at 37 and 38 are up against it with a gr8 challenge next year.
Can they find something against a formidable English seam attack, in the twilight of their career?
BIG,BIG question..
June 13th 2012 @ 12:32pm
Pope Paul VII said | June 13th 2012 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
BIG BIG answer has to be no
June 16th 2012 @ 11:32am
k77sujith said | June 16th 2012 @ 11:32am | Report comment
With due respect to Ponting, he has to go. Hussey is still a big catch I feel. The Aus bowling looks immensely competitive and strong. It’s the batting that’s of prime concern. England looks the more balanced side in terms of batting and bowling. Can’t wait for the Ashes! Thanks.
June 18th 2012 @ 6:38pm
Lolly said | June 18th 2012 @ 6:38pm | Report comment
They haven’t just got more balance, they’ve got far more experience in both batting and bowling. I can’t see where the Aussies can nose ahead unless one of our young pacemen has a bllinder but they need to learn to bowl in England and you can’t necessarily do that on your first tour. Especially as they probably will only have 2 tour matches before the series starts.
I still have the horror memory of Johnson and Siddle bowling all over the place at Lords. Everybody remembers Johnson but Siddle wasn’t much better. Hilfy was the only one who seemed to come to terms with the slope at all.
June 16th 2012 @ 6:30pm
Bob said | June 16th 2012 @ 6:30pm | Report comment
Aussie top order is the worry. Cowan and Warner are inexperienced in the conditions and who the hell is going to bat 3?