It’s late and I’m tired

As I write this it’s just gone past 03.00 CST. I haven’t been to bed yet. It’s Sunday morning so this isn’t too unusual, but I got up earlier than I had planned today so I’m quite tired. South Africa are 255-5 and they are holding my attention well, which is good because I want to see how the day’s play pans out. If the Proteas get another fifty Australia are probably just about out of it. They only got near 300 in the first innings because of Watson and Hughes, but neither of them, nor anyone in the Aussie batting order, can be relied upon to get a score in the second innings.

It’s the run chase to which I am looking forward. Amongst other things it could be the last time we Ricky Ponting play for Australia. As much as I have enjoyed seeing him struggle, especially during the last Ashes, he has had an excellent career and it will be interesting to see if he can prolong it. If he can’t it is always nice to have watched such endings instead of reading about it in the papers the next morning. Even if he fails it may not be his last innings; he has said that he wants to keep playing and the Australian selectors have not had a good year. Other, though slightly less likely possible departures are Brad Haddin, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson. If the new chairman of selectors decides to really wield the axe most of the players that I so enjoyed watching during the last Ashes may be gone. (Though I only really enjoyed watching Hussey bat in the last two Tests.)

I don’t think they will be that ruthless though. Ponting ought to go, though it would not be unreasonable for him to get a farewell series at home. It’s hard to think that a wicket keeper could do much worse than Haddin is currently, but I don’t think Australia have a clear potential replacement for him so he might stay. There is a clear replacement for Johnson though, so he will be lucky to face New Zealand. Ironically given the difficulties Australia have had in finding a spinner, Nathan Lyon is probably more secure in his place than most of his team-mates.

South Africa have lost another two wickets though, so it’s game on. A win for Australia may save a few careers.

Saturday review – 19 Nov

I’ve decided to make it a regular Saturday feature on the blog where I gather my favourite stories from the week. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the media focus this week has been on the deaths of Peter Roebuck last Saturday and Basil D’Oliveira earlier today.

Jarrod Kimbler at Cricket With Balls wrote an excellent piece about Roebuck being the lone dissenting voice in the Australian press corps during their years of dominance and how the manner of his death may affect how he is remembered. (As an aside, I am very glad that CWB is back up, the style is unmatched.)

Peter English wrote for Cricinfo about the irreplaceability of Peter Roebuck.

Vic Marks wrote about both for the Guardian – Roebuck last Sunday and D’Oliveira today. Both are excellent pieces; the Roebuck one is a more personal tribute, whereas the D’Oliveira piece gives some fascinating background to D’Oliveira’s move to England and his role is starting South Africa’s isolation.

Jonathan Agnew wrote for the BBC about D’Oliveira showing that sometimes sport and politics must mix, with a lovely reminder that racism in sports used to be much worse than it is now.

Other things did happen in cricket this week too, and King Cricket wrote about the absurdity of Australia being out of a Test series after only three days.

Calypso collapso

This South Africa v Australia series will probably be remembered for the collapses. After the chaos of the first Test, South Africa collapsed from 241-4 to 266 all out yesterday. Today Australia went from 191-1 to 296 all out. Watson and Hughes both managed to get runs, 88 apiece. The next highest score after that was Mitchell Johnson’s 38 not out. He has done a lot more with the bat than with the ball in this series, but I don’t think that will save him from the axe. It’s true that Australia are in need of batting (and his 38 was enough to give Oz a first innings lead), but it’s far more likely that they will try to find an actual batsman to get the runs. Ponting picked up a third ball duck, once again shuffling across the line and being trapped LBW.

The game is well set up for the third day; I think South Africa are probably on top. Tahir took three of the Australian wickets and he will have a fairly helpful pitch by the time Australia’s run chase starts. Also, whilst none of the batting looks strong, South Africa’s still looks stronger. Australia’s batsmen have still not fired as a unit, and at they won’t be confident of chasing even a very low total. South Africa may struggle again, but if their batsmen get set, as they did in the fourth innings at Newlands, Australia are in danger of losing the plot. Australia will probably not want to chase more than 150-200, so they will have to keep wickets coming at fairly regular intervals. I still think South Africa are favourites to win.

Can Australia bat?

We’ll find out tomorrow; South Africa were bowled out for 266 today, rather sensationally after being 241-4 at one stage. Australia did reasonably well, but South Africa were a bit brainless at the end. (A cruel person might make choking sounds here.) Australia will be a bit disturbed though that in an innings of only 71 overs they used seven bowlers. (Well, I say ‘bowlers’ but Hussey had four overs.) Clarke was one of them and he took 2-6 at the end of the innings. Part of this was because Watson pulled up in his fourth over, but that won’t make Australia feel much better. Also problematic is that Johnson and Cummins only took one wicket apiece. Siddle, who might have missed out if Harris had been fit, took three and their current spinner, Nathan Lyon, took two.

Still, this does give Australia a good chance to level the series, if they can bat well this time. It’s a big ‘if’ though. Watson is out of form, and carrying a knack now, Hughes hasn’t been in form for a few years, Ponting hasn’t had a big score in some time and may be playing in his last test, Khawaja has only played three tests and hasn’t amazed anyone, Hussey is back to his pre-Ashes form and Haddin clearly doesn’t have the nous to bat in a pressure situation. That just leaves Michael Clarke as the only batsman in the top seven in which Australia can be even remotely confident. He was up to the task in the first innings of the first Test, but failed along with the rest of them in the second innings. Australia cannot rely on him scoring two hundred again, so they will need a few of the other batsmen to step up. There’s really no-one who stands out as being that batsman, however. We’ll see tomorrow if one of them can, but right now 266 looks like it might be enough for a first innings lead.

SA v Oz round II

India are still well on top of what has been a very one sided second Test in Calcutta. As I write this the West Indies are 339-4, following on. They need 478 to make India bat again, but they need there is still over a day and a half to play.

The second Test between South Africa and Australia promises to be a much more exciting one. Australia must try to recover from being blown away for 47 (words I will never tire of writing) and losing the Test after having a first innings lead of 188 (also words I will never tire of writing). It’s a daunting task, but South Africa have a fairly daunting one as well – They mustn’t choke.

Apart from the fire and competitiveness that usually defines a South Africa v Australia Test, this will be notable for some peripheral contests as well. Most notably it may be Ricky Ponting’s last Test. He failed again in the first Test (though everyone bar Clarke failed for the Aussies) and if the new chairman of selectors wants to make his mark for the series against New Zealand he may have an easy target. Khawaja, Ponting’s replacement when the latter was injured last January, is in the side for the injured Shaun Marsh and if he gets a good score it’s hard to imagine the selectors not wanting to see him and Marsh batting together very soon. Clarke has also suggested that time may be up for Mitchell ‘He bowls to the left…’ Johnson if he doesn’t fire in Jo’burg. Certainly the teenager Pat Cummins is likely to come into the side, I would guess for the ‘stiff and sore‘ Ryan Harris. (Which, with Paul Harris possibly returning to the South Africa side, would be a relief for me.) It may then be a bowl off between Cummins and Johnson to see which of them is in the XI for the first Test against the Kiwis. Brad Haddin has the benefit of there not being a strong candidate to replace him, but his shot selection when his country are in trouble is so bad Australia might soon want to try anyone else behind the stumps.

South Africa are rather more settled, though Tahir did not get a chance to show himself at Newlands, so Paul Harris may fancy his chances for a return. Jacques Rudolph, after Yorkshire signed a different overseas player for next season, needs a score to maintain his rather tenuous place in the side.

Between Australia’s batsmen barely knowing which end of the bat to hold these days and South Africa having a history of chocking, there are the makings of some more batting collapses. However, South Africa showed a enough nous in their second innings that I think they can do enough to win.

Club v Country

It has been confirmed that Australia’s tour of the West Indies next year will clash with the IPL. Having seen the full schedule, I don’t really mind this. The tour starts before the IPL does, so we won’t have the ridiculous scenario where players fly in two days before a Test match. And it should come as no suprise to anyone that I do not care one jot about the success of the IPL. It will probably raise the question again of whether there ought to be a window for the IPL, though. I don’t think there ought to be, of course. We don’t have a window for County Championship matches, which still form the premier domestic league. We don’t have windows for any other T20 competition either and if we did there would not be any time for international cricket. So there shouldn’t be a window for the IPL.

It would, however, still be best for both Test cricket and the IPL if they didn’t clash. The last thing the Windies need is for their crowds to be watching IPL matches on TV instead of watching the Tests at the ground. And the IPL is more of a draw when there are international stars around. The IPL fancies itself a football league, however, and that provides a possible solution. European football leagues have a hiatus when there are international matches to ensure that the players are available. I don’t see why the IPL could not do the same. There aren’t any six week holes in the calendar, but there are gaps throughout the summer especially if the number of useless ODIs are decreased. (And actually I don’t think anyone would care too much if the IPL clashed with an ODI.) The IPL would probably benefit from spreading out it’s matches anyway; crowds were down last year and this would make it more of an event. Next to abolishing the IPL completely, I think this is the best solution.

Mustn’t laugh, mustn’t laugh…

The fact that Yorkshire were relegated last year still makes me happy. Not as happy as Lancs winning the County Championship, of course, but still very happy. I shouldn’t laugh of course, I don’t want to be too cruel to the White Rose. And it’ll be quite disappointing not having any Roses matches next year. I really enjoyed doing the double over them last year and we’ll have to wait until 2013 to do it again.

Obviously Yorkshire are intent on returning to the top flight in 2013, but the extend of their shake-up is surprising. They’ve revamped their coaching set up and Jason Gillespie is the new first team coach. The biggest surprise for me, however, is that Phil Jaques is rejoining the club as their overseas player next year. I had been under the impression that they still would not be able to afford one, so I’m curious as to where they got the money. From a Yorkshire standpoint it looks like a very good series of moves. Both Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan were involved and it’s hard to imagine any pair with better Yorkshire credentials than that. I think Yorkshire were probably going to be favourites to win promotion next year (though it’s obviously very early and it isn’t clear how their opponents will look next April) and this ought to boost their chances. The lack of an overseas player this year clearly hurt them; Rudolph’s brief appearance was not enough. Their coaching staff was unable to make the most of their homegrown talent in the same way Lancashire did, so this probably addresses their two biggest problems.

My desire for schadenfreude aside, it’s probably a good thing that Yorkshire have gone to unprecedented lengths to ensure that there will be Roses cricket in 2013. They are one of the most historic counties, and the Championship is probably better off with them in the top flight. I still enjoy seeing them lose though.

A deserted Eden

Apparently the crowd for the second Test between India and the West Indies is as sparse as the crowd for the first Test and without the excuse of being in the middle of nowhere. Of course, there are mitigating circumstances. The Indian public have been saturated with cricket this year and may be a bit burnt out. The West Indies are a long way from the force, and thus the draw that they once were, whilst India have not played well this year either. Also, the Test started on a Monday, which is certainly a questionable decision. So there are reasons besides the imminent collapse of Test cricket in India why the turnout might be low.

Still, it’s very troubling. If Indian crowds continue to favour the shorter forms then so will the BCCI and if the BCCI favour the shorter forms then so will the ICC. We’ve already seen that in the postponement of the Test Championship. It may get worse in the future; the Indian team look like they will get worse before they will get better. Without knowing the intricacies of the situation in India I can’t think of a good way to boost interest, but hopefully someone will. India is a big enough market that there must be a fair number of people who still love Test cricket, or would if given the proper opportunity.

Alternative formats for the Test Championship

The ICC today confirmed what had already been very strongly expected, that the inaugural Test Championship would not take place before 2017. I blogged a month ago about the stupidity of the decision, and I stand by that. It is a blow to the purest form of the game and reminds us that the ICC are impotent at best.

It does mean, however, that there is now time to alter the format of the Test Championship, which I never liked. The current plan is to have four teams play a semi-final and a final in England. The first problem with this is the time. Even if the semi-finals are not held concurrently that is only three weeks and three matches, which is a bit short for something of the stature that they want. I think it will be hard to make people properly care about something that short. The second problem is that one match a side leaves more room for fluke results. Upsets themselves are not bad, but these would not be the giant killings of the FA cup. A side coming to England for at best two test matches will have a hard time warming up and getting acclimatised to the conditions. With that in mind, I think people will have trouble viewing the Test Champions in the same way as the World Cup winners. More broadly, I don’t think the current format would do a lot to add meaning to Test series; England, South Africa and India don’t look like slipping out of the top four anytime soon. Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, New Zealand and the West Indies don’t look like breaking into the top four anytime soon. The only battle is between Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia for fourth place.

So I think the ICC need to spend the next six years looking for a better format. If the goal is to add context to other Test series then I think there needs to be a clear benefit from being ranked number one or two. Right now there isn’t so England, South Africa and India have nothing for which to play. It would also help if lower level teams had a decent chance of playing in the knockout. Both those problems can be solved in one go, however. Instead of just semi-finals and a final there should be a qualifying round where the top two teams have a bye. With the current tables that would be India v Pakistan and Australia v Sri Lanka in the qualifying round. The lowest ranked winner would then play England in the semi-final and the highest ranked would play South Africa. I would also like just the final to be at a predetermined venue. If it could be fit into the schedule (no guarantee), the qualifiers and semi-finals should be three match series hosted by the higher ranked team. This would decrease the likelihood of a fluke result and would provide a strong incentive to have a higher ranking. The final would still be a one-off match at Lord’s, but would then be the result of a proper tournament (albeit one spread out over the course of a few months).

If the goal is simply to have a knockout tournament, however, I think something along the lines of the FA cup would be best. The associates ranked 3-10 would play each other in the first round and the winners would be drawn with the top two associates and the bottom two full members in the second round. The winners from the second round would be drawn with the full members ranked 5-8 and the top four full members would come in at the fourth round/quarter-finals. This does not fix the problem of travelling to a country to play one Test match, but it would allow the knockouts to run alongside the existing Test series, so it would not have the same scheduling problem as the above proposal. It would also help the associates, as at least one would be able to play a money spinning match against a Test side. Anyone who read the comments on my piece about the importance of Test cricket will recognise this as being part of that plan. On the whole, however, I prefer the first one.

It is, of course, unlikely that the ICC will review their format, as we have already seen how much difficulty they have in doing anything. We’ll have six years to discuss it, however.

Weekend roundup

Here are some of my favourite articles from around the web this week:

– There is nothing big or clever or grown-up about wallowing in other people’s misery King Cricket produces a graph of Australia’s recent batting performances which doubles as an inverted graph of the levels of schadenfreude experienced by English cricket lovers.

– Yorkshire sack three coaches in shake-up after Division One relegation Keeping with the schadenfreude theme (at least for those west of the Pennines), the Guardian report on the ongoing repercussions of Yorkshire’s relegation.

– West Indies have flubbed their best chance Harsha Bhogle on the West Indies failure to press home their advantage in the first Test in India and how the West Indies must get out of their losing mindset.

– Flower’s fears for the future Andy Flower spoke to the Independent about his fears for the future of Test cricket.

– Finally, a sad note: As I was writing this the news broke that journalist and former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck had died. One could do worse than spend some time re-reading some of his articles.