Alastair Cook has every right to feel aggrieved.
England’s fourth innings collapse from 100 for no loss to 164 all out against Bangladesh was dramatic. However, it is hardly deserving of the kind of mud-slinging which journalists and former English cricketers have been indulging in for the past few days.
Let’s look at just a couple of these rants.
“England didn’t just lose to Bangladesh. They lost ten wickets in a session to lose to Bangladesh in a museum-quality display of poor batting that should be hidden from the sick, the elderly, the pregnant or those with heart conditions. It was a Halloween horror so gruesome that Quentin Tarantino would censor it for being gratuitously grim”, said George Dobell in his Cricinfo report.
Wow.
“In terms of cricketing disaster, this is right at the top of the tree,” former English bowler Bob Willis told Sky Sports.
Really Bob?
At 100 for no loss, England needed another 173 to win the Test and appeared to be comfortably heading there. That’s about 17 runs per wicket left to get if my schoolboy maths serves me well.
So let’s look at the list of the most dramatic collapses with up to 20 runs per wicket left to win in the fourth innings, and see where this fits.
England appears seven times out of the top 20 on that list, including that collapse over the weekend. And four out of seven times, that collapse was more dramatic than what happened at Mirpur.
At Lord’s in 1888 England went from 29/0 to 62 all out, chasing 124.
At Port of Spain in 1994 they went from 0/0 to 44 all out, chasing 111.
At the Oval in 1882 they went from 15/0 to 77 all out chasing 85.
At Wellington in 1978 they went from 2/0 to 64 all out, chasing 137. It’s worth noting too, that big Bob Willis scored three of those 64 runs, so he probably should not have forgotten that collapse.
Every major Test nation is guilty of such a collapse at one point in time in their long cricketing history.
Australia appears four times in this top 20 list, South Africa appears thrice, New Zealand and Pakistan twice each, and India and Zimbabwe once each.
So yes, it’s not a Halloween horror story, and not even England’s worst performance in such a situation, by far.
What is worrying about this collapse however, is the timing.
It comes just before England start a long, five-Test series in India against a spin attack that is far more potent than Bangladesh can dream of, a batting line-up that most countries in the world envy, and pitches which will take spin, especially when England comes to town.
As Cook candidly admitted at the post-match interview in Mirpur, when teams come to England, the pitches suit the local players, so it’s only fair to expect that when they visit the sub-continent, pitches will suit the local players.
I wrote in a tongue-in-cheek article on The Roar a few weeks ago, Joe Root should be afraid of Ravi Ashwin when he visits.
With Ashwin, Amit Mishra, and Ravindra Jadeja – who all have their tails up after the New Zealand series – there are clearly more long-term problems Cook and the boys have to worry about than a mere batting collapse.
They should be afraid. Very afraid.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Actually you don't need to go so far back. From the 2003–04 Duleep Trophy until 2008, the five original zonal teams competed along with a sixth guest team which was a touring foreign team. The first guest team was England A in 2003–04. That can and should be revived.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Bush - I completely agree. By cutting down on tour games before the tests and replacing them with meaningless T20s at the end of the series (as has become the norm), it destroys the who series and several weeks of cricket for a couple of days of ticket sales and advertising money at the end. The ICC needs to look deep and hard at this one.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Good suggestion regarding foreign players to play domestin cricket. It will help. The IPL wont. Buthaving foreign players to play the proper st class cricket will. There was an experiment 40-50 years ago when 4 big west indian bowlers came to India to play1st class cricket. something like that can be thought of
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Tim - I woke up this morning to see this interesting exchange between you and Ronan. I shall stay away from your Smith analogy as I think you guys have had enough of an exchange on that. Let me focus just for a moment on your comment that I exhibit a lack of cultural understanding of English mindsets regarding test cricket. Its unfortunate you feel that because I lived in England for many years and had enough opportunity to imbibe the local cricket culture. I understand exactly where the reactions from English players and journalists come from, and specifically disagree with these reactions as I have stated here. I believe they (like most of us) tend to lose perspective in the heat of the moment, and m point is they should not. I like Cook the test batsman. I dislike Cook the captain for exactly the same reasons as i disliked Dhoni as test captain of India. They both lack imagination. I just don't think the team should be lambasted for the collapse. As I write, the ensuing Proteas collapse at WACA is no less dramatic. And no I am not demeaning the Bangladeshi spinners. Mehdi is in his first season. He has years ahead of him to show exactly how good he is. This series is an appetiser, but Ashwin's form today is the main course, so they are not comparable. And yes, I maintain that in terms of a spin attack, despite my immense respect for Saqib, who i consider the best all rounder in the world today, England will face an India who will be significantly more difficult to handle. Finally, I have said this time and again in the Roar that I disagree with comments that England will get flayed. They will fight as this team has some good players. they might even have a couple of collapses, but this series will be fought far more tightly than the recent Kiwi series.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thank you Kersi. That's much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed it!
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Enjoyed your story and your immaculate research, Anindya.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Guilty as charged on this point I get excited by the likes of Barrington/Gavaskar/Border/Cook mainly for we were brought up to never give a chance. i remember as a kid if I even dared to hit a ball in the air rather than keeping it on the ground my coach would drag me out of the nets, give me a clip around the ear and get me to do a few laps of the oval. As for your comparison with Cook, I cannot see the relevance. The main point was the match situation where Smith played that shot. Indeed, Cook might fall playing too defensively when he should be more pragmatic in his approach but i would challenge you to find a dismissal where to a large degree he 'sacrificed' with the accompanying circumstance in the game like Smith did The extension to your point is, the Aussie strength is their attacking mindsets with it in the past intimidating but there is always a line in the sand delving into reckless. The great Aussies never overstepped this mark
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I reckon for a good week after that Test all we heard about here on the Roar was Smith's shot and it still gets brought up all the time. It is an awful looking shot but it's funny how biased traditional cricket fans are against attacking styles of play. If an old-school batsman like Rogers/Cook/Amla hangs his bat way out wide at a delivery begging to be left alone and snicks one it gets forgotten very quickly, despite being a horrendous shot. But when a new-school player gets out being aggressive like Smith in this case, Look Out!, it's a heinous crime. I could line up 6-7 of Cook's dismissals from his form trough which were every bit as bad as Smith's heave, the only difference being that Cook's first thought is "defend" and Smith's is "attack".
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
You’re way off the mark here but digging deeper.- just voicing an opinion as is my right, controversial as you might deem it. There were many on ROAR who did slam it, maybe my condemnation is a tad sterner, hence my outrage :) I still cant fathom that shot decision, 3 months on lol
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Tim I didn't see any Aussie supporters "laugh off" Smith's dismissal at all. Smith got absolutely slated for that shot - look back at the reader comments on the Roar for evidence. You're way off the mark here but digging deeper.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Label it what you will Ronan, but in the 50 years I have watched the game, i struggle to remember a dismissal as irresponsible as Smith's in the game. Made worse by the situation. I might be being dramatic saying he would have been sacked, but there definitely would have been calls for it Because unlike the majority of Aussie onlookers who excused it under the guises of 'Smith being attacking' and laughed it off, English would have looked at the burden of responsibility that goes with being a leader
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"If an English Captain did what Steven Smith did in the first test against SL and the team went on the lose how it did- I have no doubt that calls for him to be sacked would have raged, and he would have got the chop." Sorry Tim but that is a bizarre claim. You're claiming that if Cook had one awful dismissal and then England went on to lose 3-0 in a series in Asia that Cook would be sacked (despite Cook leading his team for runs in the same series, averaging 41 like Smith did)? I find it hard to believe you genuinely think that. Consider this: As skipper Cook went 19 Tests without a ton (for close to 2 years from mid 2013 to mid 2015). He averaged just 31 in this period. During Cook's long, deep form trough as skipper, England were drubbed 5-0 by Australia, incredibly lost a series at home to Sri Lanka, and could only draw a 3-Test series away against the woeful Windies (who Australia absolutely destroyed in the Caribbean weeks later). That's 3 disgraceful series efforts Cook oversaw as skipper in quick succession, all while he floundered with the bat, and yet he never got fired.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
This article shows a lack of cultural understanding of English mindsets on cricket where test cricket is King and taken very seriously. I will give you this analogy: if an English Captain did what Steven Smith did in the first test against SL and the team went on the lose how it did- I have no doubt that calls for him to be sacked would have raged, and he would have got the chop. How they lost against Bangladesh was truly unacceptable and responded to in kind. The other point here is the lack of respect shown to Bangladesh by the majority of onlookers. They are a very dangerous team in home conditions and would beat all Western oppositions and I think would be more than a match for SL at home. Only India and Pakistan would handle them easily. Of interest was you somewhat demeaning their spinners calibre by comparing them to India's tweekers. Admitedly ashwin is lightyears ahead of Mehedi at this point. But, how the youngster bowled was a top shelf, making me reminisce of the beautiful traditional style of Harbhajan when he first started. Shakib is every bit as effective as Jadeja looking forward to the series in India. Most are expecting the English to get flayed after being pantsed by the Tigers but they will fightback. The one joker in the pack for them is Kuldeep Yadav, India would be well served to insert him in the series for England with plan rigorously for the style of Ashwin/Jadeja but would be thrown out by the unorthodox style of Kuldeep The youngster is a very fine bowler as well
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
This is Bob Willis on Gary Ballance 2 days ago - “Is Gary Ballance’s goose cooked? It certainly should be. He should never have been picked for the tour, he should have been dropped after Chittagong. He and Rashid should be on a charter flight back to Leeds-Bradford airport as soon as possible.”
Stephen Martin
Guest
Naresh may know better, but the only exploit of Ballance's that has impressed "entire England" is his success in getting picked despite his consistently terrible form. Hats off to Bangladesh for their victory, but you only have to look back 12 months to England's defeat to Pakistan in the UAE to be reminded of how vulnerable England are to spin. If one set of fans are cocky going in to this series, it isn't England's.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thanks Chinmoy. Very good point. Amit Mishra with his excellent googlies will be a handful with his tail up after the ODI series. Ashwin we have spone about and Jadeja is a handful although I am not sure he will be specially troublesome for the left handers. Two exciting test matches back-to-back. The Aussies v Proteas finishes and India v England starts. Stock up on your popcorn folks!
Chinmoy Jena
Guest
Timely Anindya and now it no more concerns Root only but the entire English team.I had pointed out earlier that England have far too many left-handed batsmen who fell to the rookie Bangladeshi off spinner Miraz(19 wickets in his first two tests!In 2011 they had Trott,Bell and Pietersen,Compton,Prior apart from Cook.Apart from Cook the rest were right-handed which was an advantage as they negotiated the spinners better.Now apart from Root most are left handers which allowed Miraz to toy with them.Ashwin,along with Jadeja and Mishra,will be difficult to handle.They also do not have bowlers like Swann and Panesar too.I sense the English team will be routed.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thanks I missed that "Have to go back to 09/10 a win in Bangladesh for their last away win against another nation." comment.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
On a separate note, this is also the first time India will be using the DRS in a test series. Should be interesting given the reticence so far. Another change reflecting how the new captain thinks.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Yup a few dollars on India for that 2018 series is on! As far as the stats you quoted are concerned, you know the disclaimer they put when you buy Mutual Funds? The one that goes... "past performance is not a reflection of future returns......", well thats what I say about England in England against India in 2018. I think India will have a mature strong team to rival anything we had with Ganguly, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble and Zaheer, by the time that series comes along. I do think the team will also do well in South Africa. In fact I think the Indian batsmen find it easier to handle SA conditions than English conditions. Both series will be close in my opinion. I have been known to keep lots of Wasabi handy to eat my words in the past, but willing to take that chance this time!