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Watching England’s demise at Trent Bridge in the second Test against South Africa, it didn’t require the predicting ability of Nostradamus to see what was coming.
The torrent of criticism, vitriol and bile, which doesn’t take too long to gather an unstoppable momentum until finally running out of steam when the next issue deemed worthy of getting disproportionally outraged at has the audacity to show its face, was as predictable as it was deflating.
It started when Keaton Jennings had his defences breached by Vernon Philander in the first over of the day, probably reached peak levels of apoplexy when Jonny Bairstow (admittedly playing an appalling shot) dragged Keshav Maharaj to mid-on before directing its collective ire at county cricket in general, the selectors, Trevor Bayliss and, come to think of it, anything with a passing link to English cricket.
Some was justified, after all it was a pretty meek capitulation by players who should really know better, but plenty was absolute dross and was unnecessarily hysterical.
All was right with the world a few days earlier when the tourists had been brushed aside with minimal fuss at Lord’s – and now all is wrong.
As always, and this goes for all sports, it’s rarely as good as people make out and it’s rarely as bad. It can’t really be as black and white when such vast swathes of grey areas exist, but in the age of instant and often anonymous opinion that’s the way of the world and it isn’t going to change.
Yet while a good pinch of salt should be taken when assessing most of the comments, one that is unarguable is the playing of the situation.
Teams get bowled out cheaply and in a short space of time – hardly a new phenomenon – and credit certainly has to go to those doing the bowling, however easy it is to take aim at the batsmen responsible.
(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
But England’s efforts hinted at a wider issue, that of age-old methods and practices going the way of the dodo. They are not the only team to whom this has happened and with the way the sport is evolving they definitely won’t be the last.
Has the mantra of playing a positive ‘brand’ – the unfathomable buzzword of choice – of cricket infiltrated to such an extent that to assess the state of the contest and play accordingly is considered an outdated concept? You would think so if you took England’s second innings as a case in point.
Forget the world record-breaking total they would have had to amass to claim victory and concentrate purely on the time aspect.
Faced with two days to bat, or around 180 overs if you want to take an alternative view, they didn’t even use a third of either. It could be that they simply weren’t up to the task, or maybe that the South African attack were too good.
Perhaps they felt it was an unclimbable mountain or that the only way to even contemplate success was to attack and attack some more.
But it’s one thing to go about your business in a positive fashion and another entirely to eschew any other approach. If you don’t even give yourselves a chance then what hope have you got?
And this is road down which Test cricket is heading. Not completely as there are some – Hashim Amla’s a fine example – who still adhere to mantras that have proved successful for over a century, but the scales are surely tipping towards those who pay little heed to the fact the game is scheduled over five days.
It really isn’t a punishable offence to apply an element of circumspection, to defend deliveries that demand care and attention and to let the odd ball pass harmlessly by. And, would you believe, nobody judges you in a less favourable light.
No doubt it’s entertaining to see the ball consistently fly to the fence and the pavilion gate given a good workout by a steady stream of those outgoing and incoming, but providing an engaging spectacle isn’t tied to such an attention-free raison d’etre.
Those who criticise so heavily when their team fail, even though there are some who wouldn’t be offering praise regardless of what happened, would much rather see a successful outfit on the field and if that means having to watch a more attritional approach then so be it.
While Test cricket exists, it isn’t doing anybody a disservice to play it for what it is and as it was intended.
So a simple question. You’ve got five days, why not use them?