Overnight in England, Australia again found themselves piling on the runs against Essex making 6-440 off the mandatory 90 overs. Although the game has been dominated by the Aussies thus far it has been overshadowed by the injury to fast bowler Ryan Harris.
I wrote in an article earlier this week that it would be negligent not to play Harris in the first Test in Cardiff.
The chances of this happening now seem to be slim at best. This will leave a hole in the attack and will make it difficult to take the 20 wickets needed.
The stocks of Australian bowlers over there are good enough to play a role for the first few matches, however. Peter Siddle and Josh Hazlewood are the two men fighting for the spot and Hazlewood has the points on the board from the Windies tour. He should get the nod over Siddle, who had a productive stint in the English County Championship before heading to the 12th man duties in the West Indies.
This unfortunate injury has opened the door for the young quick to stake his claim for the future and along with Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson retain the Ashes for Australia.
The loss of Harris also loses an element of control for Clarke and the comfort in knowing that the runs will be dry from one end and that they can attack at the other. This job will now have to be played by Nathan Lyon and hopefully Mitchell Marsh. They have the ability to do this job but whether they can do the job to the suffocating best of Ryan Harris remains to be seen.
In the island nation of St Kitts this morning the battle between first and second in the Caribbean Premier League was underway. St Lucia Zouks and Barbados Tridents put on a good match that I feel wasn’t quite as entertaining as the previous morning, but in saying this there was some very good cricket played.
Hobart Hurricanes disappointment Shoaib Malik continued his great form in the CPL with 51 off 34. The Zouks then made 133 from their 20 overs, just falling short. These Zouks need to rethink their whole batting line-up if they want to win the CPL. They have the tools with Kevin Pietersen and Ross Taylor as well as Darren Sammy and Andre Fletcher but they need to have a genuine reshuffle of their order.
Fletcher and Henry Davids should open the batting. Davids, an opening bat in the South African first class setup and dangerous attacking batsman, should be given the opportunity. Combining him with Fletcher will make for a seriously dynamic partnership.
Kevin Pietersen and Johnson Charles should play at three and four. They are both dynamic in their stroke play and play some brutal shots. As we know KP is one of, if not the best Twenty20 batsman in world cricket at the moment and should really be in England preparing for an Ashes campaign. However he is needed badly by the Zouks to contribute for the rest of the CPL.
Taylor and Sammy should follow at five and six. We are all aware of the brutal strength of Sammy, hence the nickname ‘Hurricane Sammy’, but he needs to perform at the level expected of a captain. That means a move up the order for him. Taylor has been out of form and I feel he takes a while to get himself settled. This may become an issue later in the tournament but we all know what kind of a player he is.
Kyle Mayers and Nathan McCullum would hopefully not be required for them later in the innings but with the ball McCullum will be crucial.
Then the bowlers in Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards (who should be in the West Indies Test attack but that’s for another time).
If the Zouks are to win the CPL this is the team to take them there, although the form of Mitch Marsh right now would be handy for them as well.
Happy watching. There is a day off in the CPL tomorrow with the Amazon Warriors and Patriots on Saturday morning.
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