After all the trashy Twenty20 tourneys and meaningless ODIs, we fans of proper cricket have been spoilt these past few weeks with some intriguing Test clashes. Mind you, the past few days have witnessed some memorable batting performances, mostly I suspect the product of one-day cricket.
First we had Bangladesh debutant Abul Hasan crashing a superb 113 and sharing in the second highest ninth wicket partnership in history. A shame that his day job - opening the bowling - was such a disaster as the West Indies went on the rampage, racing to another 500+ total. Marlon Samuels struck a career-best 260 while Darren Bravo and veteran Shiv Chanderpaul also reached three figures. So far Hasan has conceded as many runs as he scored without taking a single wicket. For all the joyful celebrations after the first day, the home team are facing another disappointing defeat.
Over in Adelaide, Australia raced to their highest single-day score, bolstered by a rapid century from David Warner, another hundred by Mike Hussey and a world record fourth 'double' in a calendar year by Michael Clarke. Not even the Don managed that statistic. Before recovering to grab a five-for today, Saffer paceman Morne Morkel was made to look amateurish and Imran Tahir was left open to ridicule, sending down 23 overs, being thumped for almost eight an over and even conceding several no-balls. For a spinner in Tests that really isn't good enough. Hopefully he hasn't been scarred for life! At least Graeme Smith is demonstrating the toughness required to build a spirited response to the Aussie onslaught, but with Kallis injured, can they bat long enough to save the game?
The first day in India saw no such runfests but with spinners peppering both line-ups, it was the star of the First Test, Cheteshwar Pujara, who again caught the eye. With Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kohli and Dhoni falling tamely to Monty Panesar, the 24 year-old demonstrated the virtues needed to succeed in Test cricket, ending unbeaten on 114. England won't win a match if they can't get him out, reminiscent of Steve Waugh in 1989.
I wonder what Sri Lanka and New Zealand will serve up next week. This week's fixtures have set the bar very high indeed!
