Watson out, English panic and NZ’s low ebb

What are the key points of discussion in the world of cricket over the past week?

England slam themselves and their methods
After England suffered a nine-wicket defeated in the first Test against India in Ahmedabad, their commentators lambasted the “brutal reality” of their poor performance.

Cricinfo asked, “can things get any worse for England? Are wholesale changes to the team the only way to salvage the tour?” Pardon me, but it is only Test one of four.

The Guardian newspaper reported, “England have only won one Test in India in the last 19 years, so there is nothing shocking about the fact that they lost again in Ahmedabad. It was the manner of the defeat that was alarming. Flower and the ‘intelligent men’, as Alastair Cook calls them, in the management team still cleave to the old principles that took them to No1 in the rankings, as they have done all year.”

Basically, expect fan favourite Monty Panesar to be reinstated for the second Test after the tourists picked three seamers and just one spinner in Graeme Swann.

South Africa picks their best version of a Shane Watson
The Proteas may have cursed their bad luck at batsman JP Duminy’s injury right before the first Test in Brisbane. With Shane Watson’s bid to play as a specialist batsman rightfully squashed on match day eve, South Africa has done the ironic thing and named combative all-rounder Faf du Plessis to make his Test debut in Adelaide.

Is this a subtle go at Australia’s lack of genuine all-rounder stocks or an attempt to plug a Watson-like gap in their line-up? Possibly neither, but du Plessis will have a big job to do either way.

New Zealand forget how to bat, again, but the public don’t care anymore
Ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? You know, the one with Bill Murray, where every day he wakes up and lives the same day over and over again? New Zealand captain Ross Taylor is witnessing the film first hand, except he is Murray and everyone else in it is his cricket team.

What was alarming about New Zealand’s ten wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle was that, once again, their young bowling attack gave them a chance to win and, once again, a case of batting amnesia took hold when they had their second innings.

The loss takes the Black Caps’ tally to five Test defeats in a row. Perhaps now is the time to seriously get rid of the ‘Black Caps’ moniker and start afresh. Or have we heard that before?

A few answers to Sri Lankan cricket
Ex-ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has issued a ten-page report about the state of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after completing a short stint as a special advisor. Lorgat raises issues such as their lack of professional administration, lack of transparency, weak financial position and recommended less government interference in the SLC, as there is a perception of this.

He interviewed 42 stakeholders during the review and also advised a re-structure of domestic cricket. Like any administration, particularly a cricket one (not picking out anybody deliberately here), widespread change will take time.

Let’s hope these are followed up for the good of Sri Lankan cricket.

Domestic games on small grounds is still the way to go
Victoria’s mammoth run chase to defeat New South Wales at North Sydney Oval in the Ryobi Cup was just what the domestic one-day game needed. David Hussey and Aaron Finch’s dual scores of 140 propelled the Victorians to 4/352, overtaking their opponent’s record 350 to begin the match.

With Twenty20 still the cool kid on the limited overs block for newcomers to the game, a match of this value for excitement proved you’d be better served in these smaller venues than at an empty Melbourne Cricket Ground.