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of cricket infiltrated to such an extent that to assess the state of the contest and play accordingly is considered an outdated concept?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?
Bakkies
Guest
It will eventually change for SA. Completely leaderless without the 32/33 year old Faf in the 1st Test and de Villiers picking and choosing when to play. Amla must be nearing 34/35 now can't see him lasting much longer. You are already struggling to replace Smith at the top of the order. With the bowlers Steyn and Philander haven't much time left. Morkel isn't getting any younger despite looking ageless.
Bakkies
Guest
Picking both players eats in to their bowling depth particularly in Australia where they will struggle to take wickets with only Broad threatening. Anderson has a woeful record in Australia and about to turn 35. Wood will break down trying to bowl too fast. Reduce his pace and he won't penetrate defences. Stokes accuracy has been dreadful in this series so far.
Bakkies
Guest
Chris it shows the lack of bowlers coming through in England. They haven't had express bowlers since Jones and Harmison. Said it well over a decade ago that there are too many Counties in the comp. 18 is a crazy number filled with dross that will never make it to Test Cricket, make their opponent look better than they are and overseas players who will never play or qualify for England. If the ACB keeps up their attitude I wouldn't surprised to see Hazlewood, Starc and Cummings have County stints next year or as injury cover this Summer to get match fit. The average County batsmen will get a rude awakening. They are already getting found out by Pattinson who is averaging around 17.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Moeen is a quality batsmen, I would think it would benefit England more if he concentrated on his batting and try and tie down the number 6 spot long term. He is a handy spinner but I think he is not a long term front line guy. I guess if there is no other options he should keep tweaking, but a specialist spinner would be my advice to England. Then again I am a big 6-1-4 guy so I am pretty far removed from England's current selection philosophy.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Unfortunately, England don't have a lot of options. I've seen some articles talking about the options to select for them and they are mostly guys around 28-30 years of age with first class averages in the mid-30s. In contrast, Ballance first class average is 49, which is more than 10 points better than the best option being considered. So despite his technical issues that seem to make him a walking wicket at test level, I can see why they pick him anyway, no other decent options!
DavSA
Guest
Sorry Angus I meant that you were correct .
JW89
Roar Rookie
Giri, My point was not that they shouldn't be expected to score runs, as Rellum says they are batsman after all, you said that they are relied upon to score runs every game (the implication being that nobody else will). I agree that there are weakness in the English top order, but I think there are the pieces there for a strong lineup. Root and Cook are fixtures, I like the addition of Westley and possibly Malan, and I like the removal of Dawson. England are short a genuine spinner, but that has always been the case since Swanny left (I would say Moeen is at least as good a bowler as Ashley Giles). Moeen is in the team for his batting primarily, and if you look at recent performances you will see how he has benefited from finally having a permanent position in the order. He has batted every position from opening to number 9, and having found a place at 7 he is now averaging 68.55 in that position with 3 fifties and 3 tons from 14 innings. Rellum - I agree that number 6 should be expected to score runs, I'm all for another batsman coming in for Dawson. Too many all-rounders spoil the scorecard! It does seem that England are trying to let the positive cricket from the ODI & T20 teams feed into Test; no problem with that but there needs to be a recognition of when the conditions aren't right for it. Something the current team need to learn quickly! JW
DavSA
Guest
You are absolutely correct Alex . Sport can be so unforgiving . After the 1st test we here in SA were dubbing the Proteas as hopeless . Forget past track records . Just hopeless . Now after a good win in the 2nd they are being labelled inconsistent . Phew ! Nonetheless if I had to put the turnaround down to any single factor it has to be ...for me at least ....the return of FAF Du Plessis to the fold . This guy has shown his mettle big time as a cricket captain . Having lived for so long in the shadow of AB De Villiers right from school days ( they went to the same high school and in fact were in the same class ) , then having to play under AB as his captain before through default getting the Captains armband he has taken to it like a duck to water and has demonstrated time and again the sheer value of a quality captain in a team . Could this also be the same reason that an Aussie team packed with quality players are struggling to gel and impose themselves on other teams the way we know they should be doing ?
Hugo au Gogo
Guest
Some good points here regarding the all rounders - reminded me of the '90s when England picked a number of them. They were all good, solid county level contributors, but not required standard in either skill. In attempting to pick a team for all eventualities, they weakened one skill to bolster the other. The saying about Jack of all trades, master of none comes to mind.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Number 6 should always be expected to score runs, it is a specialist batting spot, and even if you are wedded to the all-rounder notion you still expect them to score the runs a batsmen would. England seem to be copying the Aus way again, by playing "Positive" cricket. That hasn't worked for us, I can't see how a team of bits and pieces all-rounders will do any better with that mentality.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
The biggest difference about Australia and England is that the Aussie team had 5 specialist batters in the X1. Renshaw, Warner, Smith, Khawaja, Handscomb all of them capable of scoring big runs and 3 of them average 40+ and two of them 50+, compare that with England batting line up, Except for Root and Cook, none of them can be expected to score any runs. Moeen Ali who according to the English coach is a specialist batsman and he has a test average of 35, which means that he is not pulling his weight as a batter for the team. He isn't a specialist bowler as well as he averages close to 39 with the ball. Same with Stokes, averages 33 with the bat, so isn't a specialist batter either. So why play two all-rounders who are not expected to contribute and have a rookie and a walking wicket in the top 5? When you have such a team, crying that they did not block for 2 days is unfair as they are not even capable of doing it.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
I agree that number 6 and 7 should not be expected to score runs but why is Moeen even in the team then? According to their coach he is not their main spinner and according to performances and average he isn't a specialist batsman as well. What is he doing in the test squad? Also when you say top 5 you are using that term very loosely here, it is actually top 2. Bairstow is a wicket keeping all rounder and also not expected to score every game. Root and Cook are the only specialist batters in the X1. Ballance, enough has been said about him and Jennings is a rookie and hasn't played too many games, so cannot be faulted for his failures.
Angus
Roar Rookie
Frustrates me that so many so-called fans claim that England's openers are too slow. That's exactly what was needed in the last innings but obviously it didn't work out. As you say Alec, five days. T20 really is destroying the purist form of the game. People don't seem to appreciate the tactics and style of test cricket these days, but crazy how a couple of weeks changes everything in sport. After the first test, England were "great", now their "shocking". England's attempt to become world beaters in T20 and ODI cricket has been reasonably successful without trophies but has lead to weaknesses that suggest a big challenge is ahead if England want to re-discover their destructive test cricket form.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yeah Philander especially; like how nippy and almost unplayable he was at times down in Hobart late last year when Australia were rolled for 85. It is conditions like that where he becomes a genuine handful for batsmen.
Ozinsa
Guest
Renshaw buckled down despite the negative press he received for dawdling when batting against Pakistan in our summer. It's unreasonable but people did judge him in a lesser light Alec
Savage
Roar Rookie
Root is very inconsistent who always gets out when he is set (btw 50 and 100) and rarely score big hundreds to get his team over the line.Cook on the other hand HAS been great player but in last 2 yrs he only averaged 40.79 with only 2 centuries(last 19 matches).If their best players are'nt doing enough for their team how can we expect likes of ballance,jennings,M ali,stokes etc to do well with bat.The main problem is all of their batsmen(Including root) don't know how to score big hundreds and gets out in 20-30s most of the time.
JW89
Roar Rookie
DavSA, You make a very good point about the Morkel / Philander combination. Having watched them so far this summer I think they are as good an opening bowling pair in Test cricket nowadays - both offering a different challenge but working perfectly in tandem (height & pace of Morkel vs swing & slower pace of Philander). They seem to be a perfect foil for each other, especially in English conditions unfortunately for us. JW
JW89
Roar Rookie
Hi Giri, You make some good points, but surely Stokes at 6 and Moeen at 7 would suggest the set-up isn't that they have to score runs every game? There are 5 blokes ahead of them who you hope would score runs... Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't half the game of cricket hoping / expecting your batsmen score runs? The other half being hoping / expecting your bowlers to take wickets. It's a simply game, when you take it to the basics ;-) JW
DavSA
Guest
I also thought England lacked the requisite patience . Too much limited overs influence creeping in . Philander is not the fittest bloke in world cricket and you need to make him bowl a lot of deliveries .England didn't .... This may not be South Africa's first choice bowling attack but it is not far off either . We may never see Steyn again .. Abbott has made an exit decision , so it is only really Olivier who is probably out of place and he will be replaced by Rabada in the 3rd test anyway . ... The Morkel , Philander combo is an excellent one . They offer something completely different to the batsmen from each end .
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Batting for a day or two to save a test not only requires technique but also temperament. I don't think English batters except for Root and Cook have that. If majority of your batting averages in 30's that means that mostly they aren't scoring big runs. This means that when it comes a time for England to bat for a long time, these batters aren't going to save the game for you. England thinking that Moeen and Stokes are going to bat for couple of days is a joke, because that is never going to happen. Ballance cannot bat for a session, forget about a day. The only batters who can do that is Bairstow, Cook and Root and there is enormous pressure on them. England will never be able to save game with this batting order. Previously they were able to do that because they had Pieterson, Strauss, Trott, Vaughan, Prior, Bell, Root and Cook. Now they don't have that sort of talent or skill. Crying that they are not able to save games is not going to help as the team selection is so poor that England haven't given themselves a chance to bat for longer periods. Remember that game in Chennai? Flat pitch 10 wickets in hand after session one, England got bowled out and Jadeja took 7 wickets on a pitch which offered him nothing. Also the T20/ODI excuse does not hold water as only Moeen, Stokes and Root are regular T20/ODI players. Bairstow played ODI after a long time this year and the others don't play ODI's.