England’s record-breaking, unbreakable new-ball partnership has held firm for 10 years at the top but they will be under the microscope in New ZealandExactly 10 years ago to the day England started a Test match in New Zealand with what was to prove a lasting and very successful change in personnel. The second Test in Wellington was seen as crucial for England and their captain, Michael Vaughan, coming as it did after seven without a victory and with the team facing the prospect of a series defeat with a game to spare, and some personnel changes were inevitable.Though the batsmen had been misfiring – being bowled out for 81 and 110 in successive Tests – it was the bowlers who...
A new challenge could revitalise Alastair Cook, wildcards in squads can help find the X-factor and the exits of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad must be staggeredThe search for Alastair Cook’s opening partner has overshadowed an even greater need to fill the most important batting position of all. James Vince, for all his seductive talent, is the antonym of a Test No3. There will be more calls for Joe Root to move up, though few captains have had long-term success in that position – Ricky Ponting is a spectacular exception – and there’s a reason why Steve Smith and Virat Kohli bat No4. Dawid Malan has the temperament and adaptability, though exposing him to high-class new-ball bowling might kill the...
Broad’s dismissal of Australia’s Usman Khawaja ended his wicketless spell at 69 overs as the under-fire England bowler demonstrated some much-needed threat at the MCGStuart Broad had pitched up at the MCG this week in something of a funk. The big-game Ashes hunter had left Perth more burned than the supporters who had roasted on the hills at the Waca after a career-worst performance that had turned him into a 6ft 5in lightning rod for much of the ire about England’s failed defence of the urn.Boxing Day, when 88,172 supporters flooded into this cricketing colosseum but had very much dispersed to around half the amount by the end, was not an opening of the floodgates for the 31-year-old. To expect...
Broad’s powers are waning but he remains competitive and one of those giddy bowling spells of his will surely come again. The Ashes would be just the stageA theory has been doing the rounds in my household about the Indian pace bowler Varun Aaron. Which is fine. You take what you can get with kids. Using a knife and fork, respectful attention to elders. There’s work to be done here. But theories about the careers of mid-rank Indian quicks are a definitive strong point and this one suggests Aaron, who hasn’t played international cricket since 2015, is an advanced Terminator android sent back in time by some future Indian cricket administration to end the top-level batting career of Stuart Broad.The...
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...