Remarkably,
it proved correct. That amazing evening of July 19th, it wasn’t just
Jofra Archer’s pace, Eoin Morgan’s captaincy, Jos Buttler’s cool head or Ben
Stokes’ hot head which overcame Kane Williamson’s Black Caps after a tied match
and tied Super Over; it was slice after slice of astonishing good fortune.
That
luck kept on coming during the Ashes series. OK, so Jimmy Anderson’s injury
ruled him out and the Aussies depended heavily on runs from the brilliant Steve
Smith. But the entire series swung on that glaring run-out failure by Nathan Lyon
at Headingley and Jack Leach’s glasses, the assiduous wiping of which wasted so
much time that England survived for a draw.
The Ashes could not be prised from the Aussies’ grasp but the victory at
The Oval in September did at least tie the series 2-2.
Across
the year, England won 14 out of 20 completed ODIs and 6 out of 9 T20 internationals,
along with yet another tied contest with New Zealand. However, it was in Tests
that we struggled. Excluding the inaugural one-off against Ireland, which
England so nearly contrived to lose, we failed to win a single series, defeated
in the Caribbean, New Zealand and, this week in the First Test, South Africa.
Almost
inevitably the focus on the World Cup was to the detriment of the Test squad,
of whom only Joe Root, Stuart Broad and, arguably, because of his advancing
years, Jimmy Anderson are world class. The fast-tracked Bajan Jeffrey – sorry -
Jofra Archer proved to be first among equals not only in the five-day arena but
also at the global 50-over tourney, where judicious use of the fast bouncer
proved decisive in a host of fixtures.
Ben
Stokes’ bowling remains fierce if expensive, but when the spotlight shins
brightest he’s a match-winner (or saver) with the bat. Jos Buttler has tried to
tone down his T20-style strokeplay with limited success and Jonny Bairstow also
has his moments. Elsewhere, consistency is somewhat lacking. Chris Woakes is
under-used, Mark Wood is injury-prone, the Curran brothers too up themselves and
Moeen Ali desperately short of form. At least his T20 Blast heroics for Worcestershire
must have restored some self-confidence.
Popular
as he is down in Somerset, Jack Leach isn’t quite the finished article while colleague
Dom Bess can’t even hold down a county place. Surrey’s Rory Burns is doing his
darnedest to replace Alastair Cook, but Joe Denly still looks like a so-so
stopgap until either Crawley, Pope, Sibley or even Malan consistently step up
to the plate. Nevertheless this set of players gave Australia a good run for
their money last summer and may yet turn the tables on South Africa in the New
Year.
However,
2020 sees the return of the Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup and launch of the accursed
Hundred so I fear the ECB will be encouraging hoiks over cow corner and hordes
of young leggies. Great in the biff-bang formats but a rapid 30 and bowling figures
of 4-0-29-0 don’t hold much sway in Test cricket. India may be well ahead in the
ICC rankings and favourites for the World Test Championship yet England could
advance to second place by defeating Pakistan and West Indies, ranked seven and
eight, respectively next summer. Pakistan’s strength is in the T20s and the
Windies are currently dreadful in any format. Whoever England field I wouldn’t risk
booking an advance ticket for days four or five…
I sincerely hope there is a World Cup ‘bounce’ to
entice more youngsters into the sport but I fear that once the Ashes were over,
the big-money inducements of Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea were always going
to send the pendulum swinging back to football. Ben Stokes may have won the BBC
Sports Personality of the Year Award but how many boys today know that previous
winner Andrew Flintoff was a cricketer, rather than a bloke who prats around with
cars or on comedy quiz shows? England need to get off the rollercoaster, dispense
with the lows and reach consistently.Next on the agenda is my review of the best players of 2019 but for now I wish you all a very happy New Year and a happy, healthy and exciting 2020!
