In recent days I've been frustrated by the disruptive presence on the ESPN Cricinfo website of a large advert proclaiming the virtues of a treatment for painful joints. A painful reminder, too, of Ryan Harris' lengthy battle against his own right knee injury; a battle in which he has now conceded defeat.
There aren't many bowlers in the current game who can boast a tally of 100+ Test wickets with a sub-24 average, which makes Ryan Harris pretty special. He played only 27 Tests for Australia yet he himself admitted that was 27 more than he expected. Let's face it, he is one of those late developers, only making his ODI debut at the age of 29, and in the baggy green for five-day cricket a year later.
A total of 51 internationals across all formats in six years is a paltry number these days, but I'm sure that a fit Ryan Harris would have doubled that tally, so important was he to the Aussie attack marshalled by Ponting, Clarke or Smith. His big bustling frame belied his skill as a fast-medium swing merchant who could not only take wickets but keep top batsmen very quiet. Just over half his 113 Test victims were English, and most were outside Australia, notably in England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
The critics may say that he would have been useless in India, but I counter that he would probably have performed better there than Indian seamers have done in Australia! His Test debut came in Wellington in March 2010, when his six wickets contributed to a ten-wicket hammering of Daniel Vettori's New Zealand. The Sydney contest with India proved to be his swansong, where he was rather less influential. He was left out of the World Cup squad in an attempt to prolong his career at least as far as the 2015 Ashes. Sadly the Kent warm-up match proved to be his last first-class appearance before doctors ruled him out of the series. A cracked tibia was the medical verdict and not even Ryan Harris can bowl with a broken leg! At 35, he clearly felt he had nothing left to fight for, and called it a day.
He could also give the ball a fearsome whack, and boasted three Test 50s to his name. I saw him live only once, at The Oval in 2013, where he thumped 33 in 27 balls as part of a late-order blitz following a long rain delay and Steve Smith's first century. He then proceeded to bowl several consecutive maidens to Alastair Cook. My favourite Ryan Harris statistic is his T20 international scoring rate of 200. OK, he faced just one delivery, from which he scored two runs, but a stat is a stat!
In these times of vicious sledging and unfriendly relations, with fast bowlers particularly prone to indiscretions, Ryan Harris stood out as a good bloke with the right attitude. Maybe it was the knowledge that his career was teetering on the brink as a result of his recurring knee problems but he won lots of friends around the world. WE all love to hate Mitch Johnson and others, but Harris earned a great deal of respect wherever he played.
Starc and Hazelwood starred in the Aussies' victory over Essex this week and Peter Siddle remains an important ingredient in the bowling mix. Pat Cummins has been called up, ironic given his own injuries when a teenage prodigy. Nearly four years after his first and only Test, Cummins incredibly has only six first-class appearances to his name. At least he is only 22 but if he is still playing at the age of 35 and claims a Test bowling average comparable to Ryan Harris, he will do well.
Whatever the outcome of the Ashes this summer, Ryan Harris will definitely be missed.
Showing posts with label Ryan Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Harris. Show all posts
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Friday, 11 April 2014
Five Cricketers of the Year 2014
It's always interesting to find out who Wisden decides worthy to be one of their prestigious Five Cricketers of the Year. By tradition, players cannot be picked more than once, so some years it must be frustrating. What about Dale Steyn? No, he was picked last year. Michael Clarke? No, 2010. Stuart Broad? Same. Graham Onions? Ditto. Ho-hum.
Actually, there were some deserving candidates fulfilling the criteria. Moeen Ali would have walked it in a less busy year, while Ben Stokes, Michael Hogan, Brad Haddin and Jim Allenby must have been considered. Ashes participants occupied four of the places, two from England, two Aussies. Joe Root's name owes more to that 180 at Lord's than anything else. At that point, I was hailing him as the genuine article, an England Test player with the talent and temperament to be a star for a decade or more. Once he puts the winter debacle behind him, I'm sure he'll bounce back.
England skipper Alastair Cook was selected in 2012 but his female counterpart Charlotte Edwards finally makes the list. Aged 34, she has led the England Women to success in all formats, and claimed the multi-format Ashes trophy last summer. Claire Taylor beat her to the title of first female to be one of the famous Five, but Edwards is as worthy as any male cricketer in the 2014 edition.
Chris Rogers was plucked from Middlesex to fill one of the problemmatic Australian opener slots for the tour here. Playing the anchor to the more ebullient Warner or Watson, the then 35 year-old justified the decision with three centuries between August and January. Just two years his junior, Ryan Harris also enjoyed a superb year, bustling in on his dodgy legs to take plenty of wickets while conceding few runs. Injury has restricted him to only 24 Tests, yet he has amassed 103 victims at under 23 apiece. That's world class. His current absence from the game may yet become permanent but Harris is surely guaranteed legend status!
The quintet is completed by Shikhar Dhawan. The bejewelled Delhi opener made a sensational debut with his 187 in 174 balls against Australia last March, and proceeded to be one of the stars of the Champions Trophy in the summer. I won't forget being at Cardiff to witness his exquisite hundred against South Africa. It's great to see an Indian who hasn't made the big time on the back of IPL success, and I hope he continues to delight audiences with his strokeplay for years to come.
2013 was also the year of Kevin Pietersen (one of the Five in 2006), Michael Clarke (2010) and the retiring Sachin Tendulkar (1997, but could have been almost any of the past 25 years!). Jacques Kallis had to wait until 2012 before his recognition and of course he has also now departed the arena.
As for 2014, who will make the grade? Virat Kohli is in the box seat, and the likes of Kane Williamson, Angelo Mathews and Sunil Narine are in the frame. IN the end, success in Test cricket should be the prime driver for inclusion so that's an open competition....
Actually, there were some deserving candidates fulfilling the criteria. Moeen Ali would have walked it in a less busy year, while Ben Stokes, Michael Hogan, Brad Haddin and Jim Allenby must have been considered. Ashes participants occupied four of the places, two from England, two Aussies. Joe Root's name owes more to that 180 at Lord's than anything else. At that point, I was hailing him as the genuine article, an England Test player with the talent and temperament to be a star for a decade or more. Once he puts the winter debacle behind him, I'm sure he'll bounce back.
England skipper Alastair Cook was selected in 2012 but his female counterpart Charlotte Edwards finally makes the list. Aged 34, she has led the England Women to success in all formats, and claimed the multi-format Ashes trophy last summer. Claire Taylor beat her to the title of first female to be one of the famous Five, but Edwards is as worthy as any male cricketer in the 2014 edition.
Chris Rogers was plucked from Middlesex to fill one of the problemmatic Australian opener slots for the tour here. Playing the anchor to the more ebullient Warner or Watson, the then 35 year-old justified the decision with three centuries between August and January. Just two years his junior, Ryan Harris also enjoyed a superb year, bustling in on his dodgy legs to take plenty of wickets while conceding few runs. Injury has restricted him to only 24 Tests, yet he has amassed 103 victims at under 23 apiece. That's world class. His current absence from the game may yet become permanent but Harris is surely guaranteed legend status!
The quintet is completed by Shikhar Dhawan. The bejewelled Delhi opener made a sensational debut with his 187 in 174 balls against Australia last March, and proceeded to be one of the stars of the Champions Trophy in the summer. I won't forget being at Cardiff to witness his exquisite hundred against South Africa. It's great to see an Indian who hasn't made the big time on the back of IPL success, and I hope he continues to delight audiences with his strokeplay for years to come.
2013 was also the year of Kevin Pietersen (one of the Five in 2006), Michael Clarke (2010) and the retiring Sachin Tendulkar (1997, but could have been almost any of the past 25 years!). Jacques Kallis had to wait until 2012 before his recognition and of course he has also now departed the arena.
As for 2014, who will make the grade? Virat Kohli is in the box seat, and the likes of Kane Williamson, Angelo Mathews and Sunil Narine are in the frame. IN the end, success in Test cricket should be the prime driver for inclusion so that's an open competition....
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Advance, Australia Fair!
5-0! Even the most patriotic Australian cricket fan could not have predicted such an incredible turnaround in his/her side's fortunes. In England, the home side triumphed 3-0 but the key difference was not overall quality but experience and determination at crucial moments - brilliant sessions by Broad here, Swann there big innings by Bell and Root - together with occasional well-timed weather intervention. There wasn't a chasm between the two nations, but perhaps it was a battle-hardened squad and, yes, home advantage which delivered the Ashes to Cook, Flower et al.
Advance a few months and to the other side of the globe, and that home advantage would again be a factor. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much the same England team which just a short while earlier had been the number one Test side in the world and proud victors over Darren Lehmann's charges. Australia were still relying on thirty-somethings with dodgy knees, shoulders, attitudes and the massive weight of media and fan expectations that sweet revenge would be wrought. It couldn't possibly happen, surely?!
But it did. Commentators, pundits and journalists have pontificated over culpability of the English. Is it Cook's captaincy? Is it just the failure to win tosses? Is it a fractured dressing room? Is it the whole England set-up under Andy Flower? To put it bluntly, Australia were heads, shoulders and moustaches above England in just about every conceivable facet of the game. Their only weakness was arguably in the top five batsmen, so often bailed out by Haddin and the lower order. Yet that top five delivered between them nine centuries. England's top five produced precisely none. Indeed, England's only centurion was the belatedly selected all-rounder Ben Stokes, whose second-innings 120 merely delayed the inevitable defeat at Melbourne.
In six out of ten innings, England failed to muster even 200. No England batsman aggregated 300 runs whereas for the Aussies all bar George Bailey did. So was it all down to the frailties of English batting and/or the illness of Jonathan Trott? I find it hard to accept that recent worldbeaters could all suddenly become useless. No, here the prime factor must be the brilliance of the Australian attack. As skipper Clarke says, it's one thing to have a strategy, but it has to be executed by all team members, and that was carried out to perfection.
Mitchell Johnson was deservedly named Player of the Series, his 37 wickets coming at an average of under 14, but it was the nature of those performances which destroyed English confidence from day one. Fearsome pace, uncompromising attitude and excellent use of the short ball, seam and bounce all did for Cook and co. At first England squealed about the sledging, yet even some of their players admitted that they had done the same thing back in England so 'all's fair....' Australia also had weather on their side and a back-up team able to keep Ryan Harris's body together, David Warner focussed on his job and not extracurricular naughtiness, and everybody's eye on the prize. Johnson and Harris were ably supported by the dependable Peter Siddle, Shane Watson medium-pace and, for once, some accurate spin in the hands of Nathan Lyon. From nowhere, Australia have finally produced possibly the best all-round attack in world cricket!
On the other side of the coin, England's bowlers have slipped from their peak in spectacular fashion. Jimmy Anderson, labelled the world's best exponent of fast-medium swing, captured a measly 14 wickets at more than 40 apiece. Stuart Broad did at least achieve a 'six-for' and series average under 30. Graeme Swann's three-match haul of seven wickets at 80 (80!) not only embarrassed England but also caused the bowler himself to desert the sinking ship and retire immediately. Sydney gave the selectors the opportunity to blood Ballance, Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, as well as restore Bairstow to Matt Prior's once-impregnable wicket-keeper role, but all too little, too late.
The original selection of Rankin, Finn and Tremlett was surely flawed from the outset and the big men were barely used at all, even on pitches supposedly made for their pace and bounce. That alone does not explain the annihilation England suffered in every one of the five Test matches, or should I say mis-matches. It is right that Cook should feel bad about the result, and that a post-mortem should be carried out to cover the whole set-up. I don't agree that Flower and Cook ahould resign straightaway. Nevertheless, the new men at the top must be honest with their appraisal of the situation, from coaching selection and tactics to individual performances.
England will bounce back and have a great chance of maintaining their good record against India this coming summer. Meanwhile, Australia have leapfrogged them into third place and have a real chance of threatening South Africa's current status as top-dogs. Provided the old guard of Harris, Johnson, Haddin and Clarke remain healthy, fit and focussed. Both sides deserve a bit of a rest and it will be fascinating to see how each go forward from what has been an incredible couple of Ashes encounters.
Advance a few months and to the other side of the globe, and that home advantage would again be a factor. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much the same England team which just a short while earlier had been the number one Test side in the world and proud victors over Darren Lehmann's charges. Australia were still relying on thirty-somethings with dodgy knees, shoulders, attitudes and the massive weight of media and fan expectations that sweet revenge would be wrought. It couldn't possibly happen, surely?!
But it did. Commentators, pundits and journalists have pontificated over culpability of the English. Is it Cook's captaincy? Is it just the failure to win tosses? Is it a fractured dressing room? Is it the whole England set-up under Andy Flower? To put it bluntly, Australia were heads, shoulders and moustaches above England in just about every conceivable facet of the game. Their only weakness was arguably in the top five batsmen, so often bailed out by Haddin and the lower order. Yet that top five delivered between them nine centuries. England's top five produced precisely none. Indeed, England's only centurion was the belatedly selected all-rounder Ben Stokes, whose second-innings 120 merely delayed the inevitable defeat at Melbourne.
In six out of ten innings, England failed to muster even 200. No England batsman aggregated 300 runs whereas for the Aussies all bar George Bailey did. So was it all down to the frailties of English batting and/or the illness of Jonathan Trott? I find it hard to accept that recent worldbeaters could all suddenly become useless. No, here the prime factor must be the brilliance of the Australian attack. As skipper Clarke says, it's one thing to have a strategy, but it has to be executed by all team members, and that was carried out to perfection.
Mitchell Johnson was deservedly named Player of the Series, his 37 wickets coming at an average of under 14, but it was the nature of those performances which destroyed English confidence from day one. Fearsome pace, uncompromising attitude and excellent use of the short ball, seam and bounce all did for Cook and co. At first England squealed about the sledging, yet even some of their players admitted that they had done the same thing back in England so 'all's fair....' Australia also had weather on their side and a back-up team able to keep Ryan Harris's body together, David Warner focussed on his job and not extracurricular naughtiness, and everybody's eye on the prize. Johnson and Harris were ably supported by the dependable Peter Siddle, Shane Watson medium-pace and, for once, some accurate spin in the hands of Nathan Lyon. From nowhere, Australia have finally produced possibly the best all-round attack in world cricket!
On the other side of the coin, England's bowlers have slipped from their peak in spectacular fashion. Jimmy Anderson, labelled the world's best exponent of fast-medium swing, captured a measly 14 wickets at more than 40 apiece. Stuart Broad did at least achieve a 'six-for' and series average under 30. Graeme Swann's three-match haul of seven wickets at 80 (80!) not only embarrassed England but also caused the bowler himself to desert the sinking ship and retire immediately. Sydney gave the selectors the opportunity to blood Ballance, Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, as well as restore Bairstow to Matt Prior's once-impregnable wicket-keeper role, but all too little, too late.
The original selection of Rankin, Finn and Tremlett was surely flawed from the outset and the big men were barely used at all, even on pitches supposedly made for their pace and bounce. That alone does not explain the annihilation England suffered in every one of the five Test matches, or should I say mis-matches. It is right that Cook should feel bad about the result, and that a post-mortem should be carried out to cover the whole set-up. I don't agree that Flower and Cook ahould resign straightaway. Nevertheless, the new men at the top must be honest with their appraisal of the situation, from coaching selection and tactics to individual performances.
England will bounce back and have a great chance of maintaining their good record against India this coming summer. Meanwhile, Australia have leapfrogged them into third place and have a real chance of threatening South Africa's current status as top-dogs. Provided the old guard of Harris, Johnson, Haddin and Clarke remain healthy, fit and focussed. Both sides deserve a bit of a rest and it will be fascinating to see how each go forward from what has been an incredible couple of Ashes encounters.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
England surrender to rampant Aussies
Well, who'd have thought it? After the flattering yet nevertheless emphatic 3-0 win in England, a closer contest on southern hemisphere pitches was widely predicted. But 3-0 to Australia? After only 3 matches?! Just about everything that could have gone wrong for Andy Flower's charges has, while Darren Lehmann could happily have written this script for Walt Disney only for it to have been rejected as being too sugary and fanciful.
AFter his superb batting last time out Down Under, expectations were high on Alastair Cook although three years ago he had none of the additional responsibilities of captaincy. Of course, he hasn't delivered and his first-baller to a brilliant Ryan Harris delivery yesterday was he nail in the coffin of England's defence of the little red urn. The loss of Jonathan Trott to a bout of depression was cruel but losing the form not only of the normally reliable opener but also the formerly world-class Matt Prior and Jimmy Anderson in particular suggests it wasn't just England who have been responsible for the hammering in the past three weeks. What on earth would they have done without the 82-page list of dietary requests which so amused the Aussie public?!
Brisbane was an unmitigated disaster but maybe that was down to unfamiliarity with a reinvigorated Mitchell Johnson, a lack of practice and losing the sledging battle. Adelaide saw another huge defeat but of course that was down to a lost toss, Trott and a fierce moustache or two. At Perth it would all be different. All England's towering seamers, seemingly picked with the WACA in mind, would extract the pace and bounce required to scare the hell out of Clarke, Warner et al. So what happened? Neither Finn, Rankin nor Tremlett were even considered, and in came the barely-fit, medium-pace ex-talisman Tim Bresnan to give the side a 'better shape'. D'oh!! And to put the tin lid on it, the tiny 6 ft 5 inch Stuart Broad has his foot broken by a Johnson yorker.
Yet the Australians have been absolutely brilliant in almost every aspect of the game. The only slight negative has been Chris Rogers, although he, too, scored a half-century in the Perth second innings while at the other end, feisty David Warner flayed the once invincible English attack to all parts for his second century of the series. Michael Clarke's captaincy hasn't affected his batting in the same way as Cook's and even Steve Smith won the Man of the Match award in the decisive third game. What's more, when you need to go for quick runs and rub Pom noses into the dirt, who better to turn to than Shane Watson and George Bailey who delivered to perfection.
Mitch Johnson has been a revelation, of course, but Ryan Harris has shown what a world-class swing and seam merchant he can be when fit, and the ever-dependable Peter Siddle has put the hex on Kevin Pietersen to such an extent that KP can only hoik the ball unerringly to a fielder. And Nathan Lyon has chipped in, too, unlike the supposedly superior Graeme Swann.
The Aussie fielding has been far better, too, with the wicketkeeping of Brad Haddin particularly impressive, adding eight catches to his tally in Perth. The 36 year-old, in only his sixth year as a Test player, has also excelled with the bat in a mirror image of Prior's decline. He has accumulated 325 runs in five innings, passing fifty four times. Crucially his main contributions have come when the middle-order have wobbled early on during the first two Tests, and he has brilliantly added valuable late-order runs supported by Johnson, Harris et al.
Let's not forget that, for all the Aussie celebrations (and no pissing on the pitch unlike England's infamous drunken antics at The Oval) and Cook's downbeat press conferences, there are still two matches yet to play. Even though the Ashes are lost, Cook's side must fight to restore a little pride. Some of the grit demonstrated by new boy Ben Stokes in his 120 today would be welcome for a start. Jonny Bairstow deserves a starting place with the gloves, not because Prior is finished but because he is dreadfully out of form. The Yorkshire-Durham axis may give England's dressing room a boost, too, and I'm sure Bairstow could give as good as he gets in the banter stakes.
Melbourne and Sydney have been kinder to England on previous tours but psychological and physical recovery from the first three fixtures will be a tough ask. Cook winning the toss with an obvious decision could provide assistance but who would bet against England opting to bat first only for Watson, Siddle and Smith to rip through them by teatime? Just as the teams of Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting would have done, Clarke's squad will not rest until they have achieved a whitewash. This is payback, and humiliation of the old enemy - and the inevitable Test retirement of KP - will be the icing on the cake!
AFter his superb batting last time out Down Under, expectations were high on Alastair Cook although three years ago he had none of the additional responsibilities of captaincy. Of course, he hasn't delivered and his first-baller to a brilliant Ryan Harris delivery yesterday was he nail in the coffin of England's defence of the little red urn. The loss of Jonathan Trott to a bout of depression was cruel but losing the form not only of the normally reliable opener but also the formerly world-class Matt Prior and Jimmy Anderson in particular suggests it wasn't just England who have been responsible for the hammering in the past three weeks. What on earth would they have done without the 82-page list of dietary requests which so amused the Aussie public?!
Brisbane was an unmitigated disaster but maybe that was down to unfamiliarity with a reinvigorated Mitchell Johnson, a lack of practice and losing the sledging battle. Adelaide saw another huge defeat but of course that was down to a lost toss, Trott and a fierce moustache or two. At Perth it would all be different. All England's towering seamers, seemingly picked with the WACA in mind, would extract the pace and bounce required to scare the hell out of Clarke, Warner et al. So what happened? Neither Finn, Rankin nor Tremlett were even considered, and in came the barely-fit, medium-pace ex-talisman Tim Bresnan to give the side a 'better shape'. D'oh!! And to put the tin lid on it, the tiny 6 ft 5 inch Stuart Broad has his foot broken by a Johnson yorker.
Yet the Australians have been absolutely brilliant in almost every aspect of the game. The only slight negative has been Chris Rogers, although he, too, scored a half-century in the Perth second innings while at the other end, feisty David Warner flayed the once invincible English attack to all parts for his second century of the series. Michael Clarke's captaincy hasn't affected his batting in the same way as Cook's and even Steve Smith won the Man of the Match award in the decisive third game. What's more, when you need to go for quick runs and rub Pom noses into the dirt, who better to turn to than Shane Watson and George Bailey who delivered to perfection.
Mitch Johnson has been a revelation, of course, but Ryan Harris has shown what a world-class swing and seam merchant he can be when fit, and the ever-dependable Peter Siddle has put the hex on Kevin Pietersen to such an extent that KP can only hoik the ball unerringly to a fielder. And Nathan Lyon has chipped in, too, unlike the supposedly superior Graeme Swann.
The Aussie fielding has been far better, too, with the wicketkeeping of Brad Haddin particularly impressive, adding eight catches to his tally in Perth. The 36 year-old, in only his sixth year as a Test player, has also excelled with the bat in a mirror image of Prior's decline. He has accumulated 325 runs in five innings, passing fifty four times. Crucially his main contributions have come when the middle-order have wobbled early on during the first two Tests, and he has brilliantly added valuable late-order runs supported by Johnson, Harris et al.
Let's not forget that, for all the Aussie celebrations (and no pissing on the pitch unlike England's infamous drunken antics at The Oval) and Cook's downbeat press conferences, there are still two matches yet to play. Even though the Ashes are lost, Cook's side must fight to restore a little pride. Some of the grit demonstrated by new boy Ben Stokes in his 120 today would be welcome for a start. Jonny Bairstow deserves a starting place with the gloves, not because Prior is finished but because he is dreadfully out of form. The Yorkshire-Durham axis may give England's dressing room a boost, too, and I'm sure Bairstow could give as good as he gets in the banter stakes.
Melbourne and Sydney have been kinder to England on previous tours but psychological and physical recovery from the first three fixtures will be a tough ask. Cook winning the toss with an obvious decision could provide assistance but who would bet against England opting to bat first only for Watson, Siddle and Smith to rip through them by teatime? Just as the teams of Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting would have done, Clarke's squad will not rest until they have achieved a whitewash. This is payback, and humiliation of the old enemy - and the inevitable Test retirement of KP - will be the icing on the cake!
Sunday, 25 August 2013
England's Ashes but Aussies can hold heads high....-ish
After bad light brought a promising series finale to a ludicrous and disappointing anticlimax, the urn may have been presented to Alastair Cook but Australia can take some heart from the 2013 Ashes. A 3-0 defeat sounds pretty emphatic, and the score was fairly predictable given the sides' respective rankings and recent performances. However, despite the change of regime in mid-tour, there are soe groumds for optimism in the Lehmann camp.
Michael Clarke and Shane Watson rediscovered the art of scoring big hundreds and I commend the skipper's courage to turn a near-certain rain-affected Oval draw into a thrilling series climax. Chris Rogers showed the skill and patience of an old-school opener that had been missing in the T20 era, and Steve Smith's first Test century, which I witnessed at first hand on Thursday, will dampen criticism of his Test credentials. Brad Haddin contributed a few important fifties and broke Rod Marsh's world record for dismissals in a Test series.
With the ball, Ryan Harris proved conclusively, in spite of the many young pretenders, he is Australia's premier fast bowler by taking 24 wickets at under 20 apiece. That's McGrath-esque! Seeing his line and length should prove a lesson to Starc, Bird and Pattinson. I remain a fan of Peter Siddle, at least in English conditions, and Nathan Lyon probably justified his place as his team's main spin option.
Australia held a first-innings lead in four of the five matches yet they contrived to lose twice and draw twice. That is where they were out-fought and perhaps out-thought in the second half of games. England played to the bitter end, and their bowlers were simply too good for the Aussie batsmen when called to arms for a second time. If it wasn't Jimmy Anderson, it was Stuart Broad or even Graeme Swann who ended up the leading wicket-taker from either side with 26. Tim Bresnan, too, proved his worth as a supporting act to the big three before injury presented Chris Woakes with his opportunity at The Oval. The latter's time may yet come again, but it will take a lot to allow Onions or Tremlett to add to their Test appearances. Steve Finn is a more credible alternative on conducive pitches.
England's batsmen did not enjoy a particularly successful series, with the notable exception of Ian Bell. He was a revelation. If he doesn't now get the recognition of being a world-class willow-wielder, I don't know what else he can do. Apart from Woakes in the single game he played, Bell was the only one on the home side who averaged 40+. Pietersen and Root made some telling hundreds but more than half of the young opener's 339 runs came in a single innings. His list of failures is more worrying, although selectors should definitely persevere with him. In the absence of any credible competitor, he should be retained as partner to Cook, whose moderate aggregate of 277 was one of the Ashes surprises.
So congrats to both teams on making the 2013 Ashes a closer contest than I had feared, even if the 3-0 result suggests otherwise. My combined team of the series reflects this:-
Rogers (A), Root (E), Pietersen (E), Bell (E), Clarke (A *), Watson (A), Haddin (A), Broad (E), Swann (E), Harris (A), Anderson (E)
Michael Clarke and Shane Watson rediscovered the art of scoring big hundreds and I commend the skipper's courage to turn a near-certain rain-affected Oval draw into a thrilling series climax. Chris Rogers showed the skill and patience of an old-school opener that had been missing in the T20 era, and Steve Smith's first Test century, which I witnessed at first hand on Thursday, will dampen criticism of his Test credentials. Brad Haddin contributed a few important fifties and broke Rod Marsh's world record for dismissals in a Test series.
With the ball, Ryan Harris proved conclusively, in spite of the many young pretenders, he is Australia's premier fast bowler by taking 24 wickets at under 20 apiece. That's McGrath-esque! Seeing his line and length should prove a lesson to Starc, Bird and Pattinson. I remain a fan of Peter Siddle, at least in English conditions, and Nathan Lyon probably justified his place as his team's main spin option.
Australia held a first-innings lead in four of the five matches yet they contrived to lose twice and draw twice. That is where they were out-fought and perhaps out-thought in the second half of games. England played to the bitter end, and their bowlers were simply too good for the Aussie batsmen when called to arms for a second time. If it wasn't Jimmy Anderson, it was Stuart Broad or even Graeme Swann who ended up the leading wicket-taker from either side with 26. Tim Bresnan, too, proved his worth as a supporting act to the big three before injury presented Chris Woakes with his opportunity at The Oval. The latter's time may yet come again, but it will take a lot to allow Onions or Tremlett to add to their Test appearances. Steve Finn is a more credible alternative on conducive pitches.
England's batsmen did not enjoy a particularly successful series, with the notable exception of Ian Bell. He was a revelation. If he doesn't now get the recognition of being a world-class willow-wielder, I don't know what else he can do. Apart from Woakes in the single game he played, Bell was the only one on the home side who averaged 40+. Pietersen and Root made some telling hundreds but more than half of the young opener's 339 runs came in a single innings. His list of failures is more worrying, although selectors should definitely persevere with him. In the absence of any credible competitor, he should be retained as partner to Cook, whose moderate aggregate of 277 was one of the Ashes surprises.
So congrats to both teams on making the 2013 Ashes a closer contest than I had feared, even if the 3-0 result suggests otherwise. My combined team of the series reflects this:-
Rogers (A), Root (E), Pietersen (E), Bell (E), Clarke (A *), Watson (A), Haddin (A), Broad (E), Swann (E), Harris (A), Anderson (E)
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Player of the Week: Malcolm Waller
Two completed Tests, five ODIs and the concluding match of the mini-tour of India by England his week, long with some competitive first-class games in South Africa and Australia in particular.
In the Super Sport series, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas struck an unbeaten 161 at almost a run a ball as well as taking six catches as the Cape Cobras thumped the Titans. In the Sheffield Shield, Ryan Harris demonstrated again why he is the man for the Australian national side, claiming match figures of 9-83 for Queensland against a Ponting-less Tasmania. At 32, he may be a late bloomer but he has a career first-class bowling average of only 28 and he has made an excellent start to Test cricket in the past year or so.
On the international stage, Harris' ODI rivals wrapped up a 2-1 series win over South Africa but it was the home side's players who took the individual plaudits this week, especially Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel. In India the two spinning Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja looked accomplished one-day and T20 bowlers, while Kohli, Raina and Dhoni excelled with the bat as the home nation completed a whitewash of England in the 50-over series. In today's T20, Kevin Pietersen escaped an early reprieve from a dropped catch to strike a match-winning 53.
In Dubai, Saeed Ajmal looked the pick of the bowlers as Pakistan got the better of Sri Lanka. He took 8-113 in the Second Test, conceding only two runs an over as SRi Lanka battled to stay in the game, a fight they eventually lost despite dogged defending by Paranavitana, Sangakkara and Mathews. Rain prevented a result in the First Test between Bangladesh and the West Indies and it's looking close in the Second.
However, my Player of the Week performed in Zimbabwe's exciting win in a high-scoring one-day international in Bulawayo against New Zealand. Ross Taylor and Kyle Williamson each slammed centuries and shared a 195-run partnership on the way to a formidable total of 328-5. However, Zimbabwe kept up with the run rate and it was left to their number six, Malcolm Waller to steer them home brilliantly. As the tail collapsed around him, he managed to hold on and strike the winning run off the penultimate ball with just one wicket remaining. He failed by just one run to register his first ODI hundred but as compensation he wins my award. In first-class cricket, the 27 year-old has made three figures five times, led by the 174 he scored for the Rhinos just three weeks ago. His average stands above 40 but his occasional off-spin has proved more successful in the one-day game. Nevertheless he could be pressing for a Test place at some point soon.
In the Super Sport series, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas struck an unbeaten 161 at almost a run a ball as well as taking six catches as the Cape Cobras thumped the Titans. In the Sheffield Shield, Ryan Harris demonstrated again why he is the man for the Australian national side, claiming match figures of 9-83 for Queensland against a Ponting-less Tasmania. At 32, he may be a late bloomer but he has a career first-class bowling average of only 28 and he has made an excellent start to Test cricket in the past year or so.
On the international stage, Harris' ODI rivals wrapped up a 2-1 series win over South Africa but it was the home side's players who took the individual plaudits this week, especially Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel. In India the two spinning Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja looked accomplished one-day and T20 bowlers, while Kohli, Raina and Dhoni excelled with the bat as the home nation completed a whitewash of England in the 50-over series. In today's T20, Kevin Pietersen escaped an early reprieve from a dropped catch to strike a match-winning 53.
In Dubai, Saeed Ajmal looked the pick of the bowlers as Pakistan got the better of Sri Lanka. He took 8-113 in the Second Test, conceding only two runs an over as SRi Lanka battled to stay in the game, a fight they eventually lost despite dogged defending by Paranavitana, Sangakkara and Mathews. Rain prevented a result in the First Test between Bangladesh and the West Indies and it's looking close in the Second.
However, my Player of the Week performed in Zimbabwe's exciting win in a high-scoring one-day international in Bulawayo against New Zealand. Ross Taylor and Kyle Williamson each slammed centuries and shared a 195-run partnership on the way to a formidable total of 328-5. However, Zimbabwe kept up with the run rate and it was left to their number six, Malcolm Waller to steer them home brilliantly. As the tail collapsed around him, he managed to hold on and strike the winning run off the penultimate ball with just one wicket remaining. He failed by just one run to register his first ODI hundred but as compensation he wins my award. In first-class cricket, the 27 year-old has made three figures five times, led by the 174 he scored for the Rhinos just three weeks ago. His average stands above 40 but his occasional off-spin has proved more successful in the one-day game. Nevertheless he could be pressing for a Test place at some point soon.
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