Guilty

Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have both been found guilty of conspiracy to cheat (unanimously) and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments (by a 10-2 majority). It was also revealed today that Mohammad Amir had pleaded guilty to the charges. Their sentences will be handed down later this week; Butt faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

I am glad to see that they were found guilty; any other verdict would have cast doubt on the ICC’s decision earlier this year. It is also a welcome change from the general dithering that has previously accompanied fixing allegations. I’m not convinced that it is a good idea for the courts to meddle in a case of sport, but in this case it did work out well.

I do hope, however, that the jail sentences are not harsh. I doubt that they will act as a deterrent more than the existing bans would. What I would like is for the ICC to use this to enforce the suspended aspect of the bans, but that does not seem feasible. Hopefully this is the end of the matter and in future we will not have to question every dropped catch. I’m not sure how feasible that is either.

Zimbabwe v New Zealand and Pakistan v Sri Lanka predictions

There are a couple of Tests starting this week: Zimbabwe play New Zealand in Bulawayo tomorrow and Pakistan ‘host’ Sri Lanka in Sharjah on the third.

For Zimbabwe it’s just their third Test since returning to the longer form. They beat Bangladesh to mark their return, but collapsed spectacularly to lose against Pakistan. (Though Sri Lanka have shown that may have had more to do with the Pakistani bowlers than the Zimbabwean batsmen.) Daniel Vettori will play for New Zealand for the first time since the World Cup, having retired from one day cricket. New Zealand have been playing very few Test matches lately, and winning still fewer, but I think they will be too strong for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe are without one of their best batsmen, Tatenda Taibu, and I think they will struggle against Vettori. The pitch won’t help him much, but he’s probably the best bowler that Zimbabwe will have faced and the only one who can bowl long, tight spells to put the batsmen under pressure. He will play on their patience and I don’t think they will be able to keep their nerve. My prediction: New Zealand to win by seven wickets/225 runs.

Sri Lanka need to beat Pakistan in their final test to draw the series, but I frankly don’t see that happening. Sri Lanka have not looked like taking twenty wickets in the first two matches of the series, or in any of the three matches in England. Their bowling has only been at all penetrative at home on a pitch that favoured the bowlers to the point of insanity. Their best hope is to grind out a draw, which they may well do. Despite being bowled out for under 300 three times out of four, they have shown glimpses of competence at various times. Pakistan have had trouble scoring quickly in both matches, and I think Sri Lanka could hold out for a draw in a similar fashion to the First Test. I think that they will, but it might be a close run thing and I would not be surprised to see Pakistan win. My prediction: Match drawn.

Top ten moments of 2011

Twenty-eleven is over as far as English cricket is concerned, so I am getting a jump on the year end reviews. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do a top ten so early, but then I realised that I would probably forget in December. Here, then, are my top ten cricket moments of 2011:

10 – Nasser Hussain v Ravi Shastri. Just the best of all the times over the summer the Indians were cross with Nass over a perceived slight.

9 – MS Dhoni recalling Ian Bell at Trent Bridge. It was a very polarising moment, but I think MS Dhoni did the right thing by recalling Bell. Bell was an idiot, but it wouldn’t have been right to take a wicket like that.

8 – Lancashire force a super over on T20 finals day. Lancashire lost in the super over, but only got that far courtesy of a six off the last ball of the innings to draw the scores level. I include it because it was probably the most exciting moment in a T20 I have ever seen.

7 – KP scoring 200 in the first test against India. In an odd way it was one of KP’s worst innings. He was under some pressure coming into the series after a run of low scores. He did not look comfortable for most of the innings, but once he got to his century he found another gear and slogged his way to 200 before the declaration.

6 – England record their highest ever innings total in Australia. It was a tour of records and one of them was England scoring 644 in the first innings of the Fifth Test. Never before had they scored so much in an innings in Australia, though they had declared on 620-5 at Adelaide.

5 – England complete the 4-0 whitewash of India India fought back well in the last Test, but needing less than 30 to make England bat again with five wickets in hand they suddenly collapsed and England won by an innings and eight runs.

4 – England’s spectacular victory in Cardiff. Only 900-odd turned up in Cardiff to watch the end of what looked like a rain affected draw. Instead England blew Sri Lanka away for 82 and won by an innings and 14 runs.

3 – Stuart Broad taking a hat trick against India. After batting England back into contention in the first innings, Broad blew away India’s lower middle order to keep England’s deficit manageable. Admittedly, Harabajan Singh should not have been given LBW, but it was India who refused to use the DRS so I have no sympathy.

2 – Lancashire winning the County Championship. The County Championship went right down to two wire for the second year in a row. Warwickshire couldn’t bowl out Hampshire on the final day and Lancashire thrillingly chased 211 in the last two hours to bring the trophy to the northwest for the first time in 77 years.

1 – England winning the Ashes. It’s the only thing that could beat out the Red Rose to the top spot. A first win in Australia for 24 years topped off by Jonathan Agnew doing the sprinkler.

Honourable mention: VVS Laxman losing his off stump as England marched to victory at Trent Bridge.

Three from three!

It’s not often that I can get a hat trick sporting victories in a day. (To be fair, it’s not often that three of my sides play in the same day.)

England’s men started the morning with a T20 against India. Despite my earlier prediction, they finally found a bit of form and restricted the hosts to 120-9 off their twenty overs, though once again the death overs were expensive. Steven Finn was once again the pick of the bowlers with 3-22. Showing that they had taken the lessons from the ODIs to heart, India opened the attack with spin from both ends. This did tie down England to an extent, but KP was intent on breaking the shackles and did so to awesome effect. He hit 53 off 39 (5×4 3×6) deliveries before being adjudged LBW to a ball that pitched outside leg. By this time the match was all but won, and England got home with six wickets and eight deliveries to spare. Unfortunately England’s women were denied by rain after being well on top in their T20 match in South Africa. They were 15-0 chasing 111 to win and it’s probably the only way South Africa were going to avoid defeat.

Whilst that match was going on, Bath Rugby played London Irish in the Premiership. Bath won 12-13 thanks to a late penalty and some very good stoppage time defending. Bath were probably the deserved winners; ten of their points came from tries. They could have had the match well in hand, but Sam Vesty missed both conversions and a first half penalty. He was still responsible for eight of the points, however, scoring one of the tries as well as the match winning penalty in the 77th minute. The first try was the only scoring of the first half coming after Delon Armitage was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Tom Biggs. It was a very see-saw encounter with Bath coming from behind twice in the second half. The win takes them to fourth in the table.

To cap off the day, Liverpool beat West Brom 2-0 at the Hawthorns. The Reds did not play brilliantly, and showed why they dropped points to Man United and Norwich in the preceding weeks, but West Brom were awful. Their defence was nowhere for much of the first half and their offence only put pressure on the Reds a couple of times. Liverpool took the lead early through a penalty after Suarez was brought down. It’s worth pointing out that although Suarez gets a lot of criticism for diving and going to ground easily he stayed on his feet in the Carling Cup tie against Stoke when he could have had a penalty and made an effort to do so today. The West Brom fans were not happy with him or the referee, but their ire should be directed at their own defence. Despite efforts to put him off, Adam converted from the spot to give Liverpool the lead. Suarez continued to play well; though he still could not get the finishes that have eluded him in the league this year, he set up Liverpool’s second goal just before halftime. Carroll was the scorer, his third for the Reds this year, after Lucas stole the ball in midfield and Suarez put him through on goal. Liverpool’s defence held firm in the second half for just their third clean sheet this season. The only real disappointment for the Reds was Stewart Downing, who came close to scoring his first Liverpool goal, but hit the woodwork.

Let’s get this over with

Now that the World Series is over I can turn my attention back to England’s disaster of a tour to India. The final match is tomorrow, a one-off T20 in Calcutta. England are the reigning T20 World Champions as well as the number one ranked T20 side according to the ICC’s recently unveiled rankings. Despite this, I can’t see England winning. Admittedly, T20s are rather more of a lottery than any other format (as we saw against the West Indies) but England have played so abjectly against India that it will take a huge slice of luck to win. Graeme Swann will lead the side again and once again it will be a very young side.

After the match England will be able to fly home for a much needed rest until the series against Pakistan in the UAE in the new year. Whilst there will be a lot of questions asked about the performance in India, England have never been all that good at ODIs in India and the focus should certainly be on the upcoming series. Pakistan are playing rather well against Sri Lanka right now, and it is looking like it will be a good contest in January. Pakistan have shown that they have the firepower to bowl England out twice in that series (though they’ll need to improve their fielding). I think this will be the more interesting of the two series. Sri Lanka appear to pose the opposite problem; England found it difficult to bowl them out twice in England this summer and it won’t be any easier in Sri Lanka. England have not actually won a Test match in Sri Lanka since the last match of the 2001 series, but Sri Lanka are a worse side than they have been for some time and England are a much better side. I think England will manage to beat Sri Lanka 1-0, but I’m not sure about Pakistan. It’s going to be a tricky winter and the best thing England can do is get the T20 over with and put the series behind them.

Test match supremacy

It’s been been over two months now since the last time England have played a Test match. It’s a frustrating quirk of this year’s schedule that we have two tour after New Year’s, but none before. (Except the current half-trip to India.) It’s good for the players, as they need time off, but it is frustrating as a fan not to have Test cricket on. One-day cricket isn’t the same. I like it, but it’s not as good. (And I don’t just mean when England are playing.) One-day cricket still takes all day, and despite the best efforts of the ICC still has incurably dull middle overs. And it fails to have the ebb and flow of a Test match; it’s not a true measure of skill. It’s not a Test.

I absolutely adore Test cricket. It, and first-class cricket in general, are far and away the most beautiful, not only of cricket, but of sport in general. Football calls itself the beautiful game, but it isn’t. Test cricket is. There is simply nothing that compares to the rich nuances of a test match. Test cricket is the only sport in the world where subtle tactical changes and gradual shifts in momentum can play a huge role days after the fact. There is nothing in the world as gripping (or as bad for the fingernails) as the slow burning climax to a close Test. The finales of the Edgbaston and Cardiff Ashes tests are burnt into my memory as clearly as if they had happened yesterday.

Test cricket also brings out the tragedy of a lone hand better than any sport. Rare is the footballer who scores a hat trick on the losing side and in a T20 a quick 60 will often win a match regardless of other player’s failings. But this is not true in Test cricket. England’s 4-0 whitewash of India over the summer was full of incredible feats, but one of the most memorable was that of Rahul Dravid refusing to give in as his team-mates collapsed around him. In each of his centuries in England Rahul Dravid stayed at the crease for longer than three football matches back to back, and his team still lost. The only other sport that has something like this is baseball, where a pitcher can perform brilliantly, but still lose. Test cricket is the only sport where you have to maintain complete concentration days at a time, knowing that any lapse could be disastrous.

And the beauty of Test cricket does not lie merely in the knowledge of the match, or the individual heroics of the players. The play itself is often visually stimulating as well. Even those with no knowledge of cricket can appreciate the simple elegance of Michael Vaughan playing a cover drive. You don’t need any background to sense the hostility of Allan Donald bowling to Michael Atherton. (Or to be mildly amused by Atherton’s ‘defiant’ face.) You don’t, or at least very seldom, see such things is the shorter form of the game though. Cover drives take a back seat to slogging and bowlers don’t have time to get stuck into a batsman. A lot of the beauty is lost in favour of big sixes and superficial entertainment. (Like cheerleaders; what idiot decided that a cricket match needed cheerleaders?)

It faintly annoys me that there should even be a cause to defend Test cricket. The fact that it is the best form of the game ought to be self-evident. It is fuller, richer and more exciting than any other sport on the planet. Twenty overs of slogging (with or without an additional thirty overs of knocking the ball around the corner for a single) cannot possibly compare to a full five day Test of a cricketer’s ability. And yet, some people think there is no need for Test cricket! They call it ‘antiquated’ like it’s a bad thing. Test cricket is antiquated in the best possible sense of the word. Test cricket is antiquated in the same way that Elgar and Tchaikovsky are antiquated. Their music is still performed and sold to this day because it is the best there is. It will still be performed in another hundred, but today’s pop music won’t be. Test cricket is the gentleman’s game, it is fair play made corporeal, it is cricket!

What it isn’t is ‘boring’. How anyone without the excuse of not knowing how the game is played (every game looks boring if you don’t know what’s happening) could possibly claim that it is baffles me. (Here the comparison to classical music comes again; both are called ‘boring’, but by only those with no concept of beauty .) In India, supposedly the biggest cricketing nation on earth, limited overs matches are more popular! India has had a considerably negative impact on Test cricket, from insisting that the IPL be given priority over everything to scuppering the DRS. With India’s financial might there is a danger of players, especially from the smaller nations, eschewing Test cricket in favour of more lucrative T20s. It would be a great shame if this happened. Testing Times is a great idea; the ICC need to give more financial support to Test cricket. Whilst I don’t think that Test cricket will ever disappear, (at least not whilst Australia and England still play cricket) the prospect of a return to the days of only three nations playing test cricket (or to the current set up in women’s cricket, where Tests are few and far between) is one to be avoided at all costs.

The TV’s been off

I was planning to write this morning about how either the Texas Rangers had won the World Series with substandard pitching or how the Cardinals had forced a Game Seven for the first time (in the World Series) since 2002. But instead the game was postponed mid afternoon as it was clear that it was going to rain all day. Well worse things have happened in Bangladesh.

I couldn’t stay up to watch Pakistan play Sri Lanka, but so far the match is following much the same course as the first test with Sri Lanka bowled out cheaply in the first innings and Pakistan on course for a big lead after the second day. Also like the first match, Pakistan are scoring at under three an over. They’ll probably need to get a move on.

I couldn’t watch the England Women’s T20 against South Africa because it wasn’t on, but England won comfortably again. South Africa posted 128-6 off their 20 overs, with Alison Hodgkinson making 51 off 37 balls before being run out. England chased down the runs with almost three full overs to spare. Laura Marsh was out for a duck, but Charlotte Edwards scored 49 off 46 and Sarah Taylor made exactly fifty off just 33 deliveries. Those were the only three to fall for England, who now lead the three match series 1-0.

Recap

Some brief thoughts on occurrences today:

The England men collapsed from 129-0 to 176 all out. It was pretty spectacular, even by English ODI standards, but there is little to be said about the match that has not been said on the tour already. The loss hands England a 0-5 whitewash. England can try to salvage a bit of face in a one off T20 before having two months off preceding the series against Pakistan in the UAE.

England were on the good side of a whitewash in South Africa though, as the women beat South Africa by five wickets to secure a 3-0 whitewash. A good bowling performance ensured that they only had to chase 182 to win and despite the early losses of Charlotte Edwards and Danni Wyatt they got home with a full seven overs to spare. Lydia Greenway top scored with 63, (and won Player of the Series) and Heather Knight won Player of the Match for her unbeaten 55 with the bat and 2-15 with the ball. England now have a three match T20 series to conclude the tour.

Bangladesh drew their rain ruined Test against the West Indies in Chittagong. There was never going to be a result, although the Windies were bowled out for 244 (a deficit of 106). Bangladesh were the better side and will take heart from debutant Elias Sunny who took 6-94 in the first innings. Two full days were lost to rain, although it was all overnight rain. The groundstaff could not get the outfield dry and days two and three were completely lost. It was something of a farce and should not happen on a test match ground, even in Bangladesh. The Windies have not had a great tour thus far; they won the ODI series 2-1, but were bowled out for 61 in the last match and this performance was a pretty poor one. There is one match left in the series and they will need to up their game considerably to avoid a humiliating defeat.

Zimbabwe won a historic victory against New Zealand. They chased down 329 to win by just one wicket and with one ball to spare. It was their highest ever successful run chase. Malcolm Waller won a deserving Man of the Match after scoring an unbeaten 99 off 74 deliveries and hitting the winning runs (though he was dropped twice in the last over). The Kiwis still won the series 2-1, but this does add something (I’m not sure what, exactly, probably some sort of spice) to the one off test match next week. Hopefully it will be a good match.

Not today, but on Sunday South Africa (men) levelled their series against Australia, inflicting an 80 run defeat on the tourists. Australia won the first match by 93 runs (D/L) so it’s been a pair of hammerings, but in opposite directions. The ODI series concludes on Friday and I am not even going to try to predict how that will go. A tie would probably be most fitting.

Fixing a hole where the rain gets in

The spot fixing trial is nearing it’s conclusion. It’s been interesting to watch as the defence lawyers a) tried to explain away some fairly damming evidence and b) turned on each other in so doing. Asif has accused Butt of swearing at him to try to coax an unwitting no-ball and Butt has accused Asif (and Amir) of organising their own fixes without his knowledge. I’ve been trying to decide which one seems less likely. It’s a tough call, neither sound overly plausible. For Asif not to have been involved Butt would have to be confident that a man with over a hundred Test wickets couldn’t add an extra yard of pace without overstepping. For Butt not to have been involved someone must have been exceptionally confident that Asif would bowl a long spell. (Which is what Asif’s barrister has argued.) One or both of them is clearly lying and the simplest explanation is that they’re both lying.

The judge in the case, Justice Cooke, has instructed the jury to assume the guilt of Majeed and Amir which all parties agree is the case. I can’t see how this could be a good thing for either Butt or Asif though. Especially for Butt; if it is given that there was fixing and that his agent was involved, then… The only thing Asif has in his favour is that none of the marked money was found in his hotel room, but that’s hardly conclusive.

I can’t see how either of them could be found Not Guilty. The notion that Asif could have bowled his no-ball at the right time, but without knowing what he was doing is laughable. The notion that Amir, Asif and Butt’s agent could all have been involved in fixing without Butt’s knowledge is more likely, but it’s still decidedly far fetched. The simplest and most reasonable explanation is that all four were involved.

It’s almost over

England’s ill-advised ODI series comes to an end tomorrow in Calcutta with England looking to avoid a 5-0 whitewash. On form, the match is more likely to be rained off than England are to win. What we’ve learnt from the series so far is that England’s ODI bowlers still struggle to take wickets on slower surfaces. They’ve not done a bad job of keeping things tight early on (though it’s not been anything about which to write home either), but India have had wickets in hand and been able to put up big runs in the late overs. We’ve also learnt that England’s ODI batsmen still struggle on slow surfaces against spin. The normally sharp fielding has also been dreadful this series, meaning that England have bowled poorly, batted poorly and fielded poorly. It’s pretty much exactly what India did in England over the summer and we are seeing the same results. The sooner England can get it over with the better.

I don’t think it forecasts any extra difficulty in the Test series next year, however. England’s ODI side have always been a mercurial (or just an outright shambles) even when the Test side has done well. (Example: The post Ashes ODI series.) Including the current one, the last three tours of India have seen England win one out of fifteen completed matches. In the five accompanying Test matches, however, England have performed rather creditably. They drew the 2006 series 1-1 and had the better of the drawn match. They lost 0-1 in 2008, but the loss was that famous Chennai test in which England played quite well. It should also be remembered that those two sides were hardly world beaters. In 2006 they had come off a 0-2 loss in Pakistan and would go on to draw Sri Lanka 1-1 at home. In 2008 they had come off a 1-2 home loss to South Africa and would go on to be bowled out for 51 by the West Indies. In both cases, their Test performance was better in India than in the preceding or subsequent series despite losing badly in the ODIs. It’s impossible to know in what condition the Test side will be in a year’s time, but right now I’d back England to win the Test series in India.