All in the game

An exciting game as I have seen in a long time. Read about it here, here and here. For my two cents worth I thought the game was exciting as any and goes to prove that high scoring matches aren’t always the best and can often lead to a conclusion well before the end of the match. I hope England produce such helpful wickets during their test to nullify the threat of Shane Warne and also provide some heat for Harmison.

Also saw the Roger Federer winning Wimbledon for the third time in a row. I think Federer is overated not because he is not a fantastic player - he is skillwise, but the lack of serious competitveness is galling. Also that Andrew Castle (BBC commentator) seems to be trying to win the Federer ass-kissing award of the year, some of the comments are so fawning I was about to puke. I think he (Federer and Castle) is mentally fragile and whenever an opponent is able to match him for skill his character shows up his insecurities and weaknesses. Its just that his skill is far superior to other players out there, some of the shots he played were just not in the armoury of Roddick, who is worryingly no 2 in the world. I think its sad to see no real competition that he has to face. Its more a problem of the lack of proper coaching these days. It seems they just teach youngsters to slam the ball from the baseline rather than a more effective all court game. Almost to a person the player seeming to be produced is a baseliner that will pummel the ball harder and run the baseline faster. Also the two handed backhand has singularly reduced the effectiveness of half the potential greats out there. I think maybe a redesign of coaching is required. Start with kids of 12-13 when they can actually hold a proper tennis racket rather than the oversize monstrosities that kids appear to use. Teach them a all court game with some skill at the net. Then we may see some real tennis rather than ball bashing. In that sense I hope Federer is an inspiration for the game to start producing players with all-court skills.

On the eve of the third one day match between England and Australia, the mood seems to have decidedly turned. Common consensus appears to be that Australia have found their feet and will steamroller England in the remaining matches and eventually the entire summer. What seemed to be the prevailing wind of their waning powers, see Atherton, has turned around to include such ominous quotes as

Having seen a lot of Australia these past three years, I do not buy into the theory that their powers are waning. Personnel have changed but only in Jason Gillespie has there been any discernible ease off the throttle. If there is a difference, it is the way they play. The batsmen score quicker than ever, which brings the entertainer tag along with a hint of vulnerability, but the bowlers frequently resort to long spells of attrition.

by Mark Nicholas in the Telegraph. Though I am a bit wary about his opinion as this could just be an attempt to land another commentating job for the Australian cricket summer. I remember him commentating on the India-Australia series down under. Why?

However, such a turnaround does indicate a certain lack of belief among the media and the public about the possibility of actually defeating Australia. I am still of the opinion that England’s bowling attack is extremely potent and has the capability of doing serious damage in the tests. Remember Australia, especially this batting line-up, haven’t played a decent, sustained and potent pace attack for well over 10 years, since the West Indian pacers were roaming the planet.

On a slightly different note I want to rant on a little about sky sports’ cricket coverage. This is particularly pertinent as from next year all cricket coverage on UK screens will be only available on Sky. Though overall they do a good job in getting the balance of commentary right, there is still some room for improvement. I find Botham, Hussain and Gower are extremely comfortable in front of the camera and seem to have things to add that have some insight and relevance, though occasionally Botham seems to go on some random rant against the ’system’ that can, in equal parts, be confusing and aimless. But special mention must be given to Bob Willis. He has got to have the most boring voice on tv - a cross between a bus droning and an older bus droning. He seems to constantly negative, even seeking to turn good pieces of cricket into bad play by the opposition. When his face is on tv, he often appears as though a dead rat has just died in the room but not before it has had a million babies that have torn into his flesh and are slowly eating his inner organs. To a lesser extent David Lloyd’s commentary can be a bit bizarre, seemingly relying on phrases and statements that have no meaning and perhaps he just made up. As evidence I present the time when in the charity game, between asia and the rest of the world, with the score at something around the 130 mark at the 14th over with 4 wickets lost, he went on to proclaim that asia were in a bit of a ‘dish’ but would easily surpass the 200 mark because the pitch was flat and there was a full crowd in the stadium. But perhaps most bizarre are the times when on an interview panel, like a post match analysis, he often responds to the interviewers question by looking straight into the camera often to the point of turning his back to the interviewer asking the question. Though endearing for short spells this can get extremely annoying over long periods of time. I think Sky have to seriously consider shedding some of the less impressive commentators and poach some of the Channel 4 commentators that are going to be out of work. Atherton would be a useful addition.

As the 2nd England vs Australia ODI is about to kick there appears to be a change of mood across the summer. I remember the ashes summer of 2001 where England failed to win a single ODI match against Australia or Pakistan, this lead to a serious crisis of confidence within the team and they had already lost a couple of tests in the mind. But this time around there appears to be genuine belief within the team about their prospects. Witness this statement by Steve Harmison

“Why would England hide me? Would Australia hide Glenn McGrath or Brett Lee?”

This brims with the confidence of player who has shaken his loss of confidence in South Africa to really hit top gear this summer. However, the caveat has to be that such confidence can turn in a single moment. I suppose that’s why momentum is such a crucial thing in cricket or any other sport. England have serious advantages going into the game. Their bowling appears faster, the batting more powerful (a la Pietersen) and the fielding sharper. I think the worrying thing from the aussie point of view is that I can’t see where they are going to be able to gain on England this summer. Comments have been made about how badly they are playing, and although the batting hasn’t fired like it can do, I can’t see any improvement forthcoming from the bowling department. The addition of Shane Warne will make a difference but if the pace bowlers are struggling to take early wickets and maintain pressure, then his effectiveness will be reduced.

Finally, back to today’s game, I am hoping for an Aussie thrashing, but I really hope that Chester-le-Street provides a fast pitch that allows Flintoff and Harmison to rough up the Aussie batsman. But most of all I hope Flintoff can recapture his batting form and really hurt the opposition with his unique combination of skill and brute force. His batting seems to be going through a bit of an extended slump from the end of the last English summer, when he was just imperious. His form in South Africa and through this summer hasn’t been great, but if he is able to use the next match against Bangladesh and the few ODI’s against Australia to recapture some of the form of last summer, the Aussie could have a serious problem on their hands.