Selectors have plenty to ponder for Australia with batting issues, such as whether Joe Root will come in at No3, and a fast- bowling pack lacking varietyThe handbrake on Ashes speculation has been released with the conclusion of the Test series against West Indies. This may not be a good thing but it is inevitable. Even Trevor Bayliss, usually so wary about looking too far ahead, seems eager to enter the fray with observations about who he would prefer to bat at three and the likely provenance of the tour party. After the Lord’s Test he said the squad was likely to comprise only players chosen in the past 18 months, which is bad news for any blind-side runners around...
Job done under minimal pressure for Joe Root’s side at Lord’s, but 16 dropped catches in three Tests against West Indies will perplex coachesThe target was small and the pressure light but it was nevertheless encouraging that a summer of Test cricket dominated by talk of three England batting spots should end with two newcomers, Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley, walking off unbeaten.As the pair strolled up the pavilion stairs at Lord’s to join the dressing‑room celebrations they were replaced on the outfield by Henry Blofeld who, resplendent in a lime green jacket and pink linen shirt, said farewell to just a fraction of the listeners from his 45-year career on Test Match Special, one that has at times made...
Dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Brendon McCullum and Denesh Ramdin are top of the pile for England’s milestone manAnderson’s “second coming” in international cricket began during the 2-1 victory in New Zealand when he removed their first five batsmen on his recall to the side in Wellington. It was cemented in the summer’s follow-up victory at home to the Kiwis with a career-best seven for 43 in the third Test. Among the carnage was the detonation of McCullum’s off-stump – a ball that angled in and then nipped away as the right-hander went to clip it through leg. Continue reading...
Attempt to make Test wicket-taking history held up by West Indies lower-order batsman impervious to an English master at workJimmy Anderson recently explained that fate is what keeps him sane, a crutch that helps him cope with the vagaries of the game. “You have to try to think that way,” he said, “because cricket is a game where you can bowl out of your skin and get no wickets, and you can bowl a pile of rubbish and get five-for.”At 35, he has grown to be pretty phlegmatic about it all but even his faith in the kismet of cricket must have been tested on Thursday afternoon, which he, and everyone else at Lord’s, spent waiting for a wicket which...
Final Test of England’s summer carries greater interest than may have been anticipated, with hosts’ inexperienced batsmen under scrutiny and West Indies’ expectations raised after their Headingley heroicsThe final Test of the summer is upon us on Thursday and, glory be, it is still possible to skip down St John’s Wood Road with a sense of eager anticipation. That happy scenario was beyond most people’s expectation when they first studied the fixture list.The assumption was that all the significant Test cricket would be done by now and the focus would be on the scrap for tour places for Australia. The second tourists of the summer, ranked ninth in the International Cricket Council’s table, would not be able to cope. But, as...