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R.I.P. Brian Close

Posted in Cricket with tags , , on September 14, 2015 by telescoper

I heard today of the death, at the age of 84, of former Yorkshire and England cricketer Brian Close. Close was an abrasive character whose personality made him more than a few enemies, but he had a very successful playing career and was a tough but effective captain both on the field an in the dressing room. Above all, he was an exceptionally brave batsman. I can think of no better example than this video of him facing Michael Holding (“Whispering Death”) at Old Trafford in 1976. He struggles to lay bat on ball and is hit several times on the body but he always gets into line. This is from an era in which batsmen didn’t wear head protection; this nearly cost him serious injury, as you will see in the clip. Even with a helmet I would have been terrified. Cricket is not a game for faint hearts…

At the age of 45 Brian Close had been brought in to open the England batting earlier in the series in an attempt to stiffen their resistance to the West Indian attack. He wasn’t the greatest player in the world nor the cricketing world’s most agreeable character, and as you can tell he wasn’t in the first flush of youth in 1976 either, but there is no denying his courage and determination. Here he is enduring a vicious battering at the hands of Michael Holding. One short-pitched delivery in this sequence came within a whisker of hitting him on the head; had it done so the consequences would have been horrendous. As it was, he “only” had to take a succession of blows to his body. He scored 20 runs at Old Trafford, off 108 balls in 162 minutes, and was dropped for the next Test, as was his opening partner John Edrich, although both had stood their ground and defended their wickets (and themselves) manfully.

R.I.P. Brian Close (1931-2015)

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The Last Match

Posted in Cricket, History with tags , , , , , on August 23, 2015 by telescoper

Yesterday (Saturday 22nd August) I took the day off to go to Sussex County Cricket Club‘s ground at Hove watch some cricket and also to watch a play called The Last Match. Here’s a snap I took in the direction of the scoreboard as play commenced, at 11am.

Hove_cricket

As you can see from the picture, it was very sunny yesterday – the high cloud had vanished by the afternoon to leave a perfectly cloudless blue sky. I arrived at the ground already rather hot, having walked from Kemptown (which lies well to the East of Hove) along the seafront and through Brighton city centre to get there. Fortunately, cricket grounds are not short of options for liquid refreshment!

The match going on was between Sussex and Yorkshire in the County Championship. I haven’t seen much County cricket in recent years, but it was good to see a reasonably big crowd there. Many of them were Yorkshire supporters who had presumably made the short trip South from the Midlands to watch the game. Saturday was the second day of a four-day game. Yorkshire had batted first on day 1 and reached 346-6 by close of play, with Gary Ballance not out on 98 and Tim Bresnan not out on 44 (both former England players). No sooner had I settled into my seat than Ballance got his century, but Bresnan took about 35 minutes to get to his fifty. Thereafter the Yorkshire batsman progressed steadily, adding a hundred to their overnight score without losing a wicket but soon after that Ballance was out for 165, clean bowled by Liddle. A few runs later Bresnan was run out in controversial fashion: the batsmen went for a quick single, fielder Chris Nash threw at the bowler’s end whereupon the bowler caught it and fell on the stumps, knocking them all over with Bresnan short of his ground. The umpire’s finger went up, but it should have been not out, because the ball is supposed to hit the stumps at some point. Anyway, the umpire’s decision is final – no reviews in County cricket – so Bresnan was out for 78 with the score on 458-8. Had I been Yorkshire captain I would probably have declared then to let my bowlers have a go at Sussex before lunch. But that didn’t happen.

Six overs later the ninth wicket fell, at about 12.59 (with lunch scheduled for 1pm). Then a rule was invoked with which I was unfamiliar. Apparently in County cricket if a wicket falls just before lunch, so that the batting side is nine down, play continues for up to 30 minutes (or 8 overs) or until the final wicket falls. Thus it came to pass that, possibly for the first time ever in the history of cricket, play stopped Play…

The Play concerned was due to start at 1.15 in one of the function rooms at the boundary of the ground, but the organizers decided to hold back the start until the session of play (in the cricketing sense) had actually finished. As it happened, the last wicket pair for Yorkshire batted about 7 overs and added 35 runs until Plunkett was run out. Yorkshire’s innings closed at 494 all out. Now the Play could start.

The subject of The Last Match was legendary Yorkshire spin bowler Hedley Verity. I posted about him not long ago so I won’t repeat his life story here, but the point was that the last match he ever played in for Yorkshire (and indeed the last competitive match he ever played in) was the County Championship fixture against Sussex at Hove which took place from August 30th to September 1st 1939. Hence the poem I posted yesterday, which is actually quoted during the play.

The significance of the date September 1st 1939 is that was when German forces began the invasion of Poland, which commenced at 5am UK time. Although Britain did not formally declare war on Germany until 3rd September, the invasion of Poland did lead to various emergency measures being immediately adopted in Britain. One of these was that a plan to evacuate all children of school age from major cities was implemented on that day. On the morning of 1st September the Yorkshire players were told that they should abandon the final day and return home. Verity must have been especially keen to rejoin his family, as he had two young children to think about. Yorkshire had by then already won the County Championship so there wasn’t really that much to play for. However, the players on both sides discussed what to do and decided to play out the match, the main reason being that it was a benefit match for Jim Parks. I’d also suggest that the players probably knew they wouldn’t be playing cricket again for a long time, and wanted to savour the last monents of peaceful normality, much as a condemned man might savour his last cigarette.

It’s probable that the cricketers’ minds were not entirely on the match that day, but what happened was remarkable nevertheless. Sussex had batted first and score 387 all out; Yorkshire managed 392 all out in their first innings. Verity had taken only 2 for 108 off 18 overs in the first innings, which makes the second innings all the more remarkable. Sussex were bowled out for a paltry 33, with Verity the destroyer (6-1-9-7). Yorkshire then knocked off the 30 required to win for the loss of one wicket, and won the match. The Yorkshire players bundled onto their coach and travelled home.

Verity subsequently enlisted in the British Army and, as a Captain in the Green Howards, took part in the invasion of Sicily in 1943. During the Battle for Catania, Verity was ordered to lead his unit in a night attack on a farmhouse occupied by German soldiers. He did so, but he had walked into a trap and they were quickly surrounded. Half his men were killed and he received a bullet in the chest. He died of his wounds in a prisoner of war camp at Caserta, near Naples on July 31st 1943, at the age of 38, but the official telegram informing his family that he had been killed was not sent until some time later; it was dated 1st September 1943..

Apart a brief preamble and some film footage projected at the rear of the stage, most of The Last Match is set in the hospital in which Verity spent his last days and revolves around a conversation between himself (played by Al Barclay) and a fictional character, Francis Watson (played by Daniel Abelson) whose role is to hold a mirror up to Verity. Francis is younger, more cynical and from a wealthier background than Verity who comes across as rather old-fashioned but with a strong sense of personal duty. It only lasts about 35 minutes, but in that short time it touches on a wide range of issues, especially the conflict between freedom and responsibility. It’s a poignant story, well written and acted, although its brevity means that there’s no time to develop the characters fully. It did occur to me watching it that it would work very well as a radio play, and I hear that there has been some discussion of that possibility.

Congratulations to writers Colin Philpott and Kit Monkman for such a thought-provoking piece. It certainly added an interestingly different dimension to a day’s cricket. The production now moves to Yorkshire – it will be at Yorkshire County Cricket Ground, Headingly on 1st September and again on 24th September, and a couple of other venues in between. Do go and see it if you get a chance.

So then it was back to the cricket, sunshine and (I must admit) some beers – Harvey’s mainly! On what seemed to be a good batting wicket, the Sussex batsmen struggled early on against an impressive Yorkshire pace attack (Sidebottom, Bresnan, Plunkett and Patterson; the first three of whom are former England bowlers). Despite numerous appeals, a lot of playing and missing, and more oohs and aahs than you will hear in a Frankie Howerd monologue, openers Ed Joyce and Luke Wells put on 110 for the first wicket before Wells fell to Adil Rashid for 43. A couple of balls later Rashid also dismissed the hapless Machan for a duck. Plunkett trapped Nash lbw for 18 to make it 139-3. Ed Joyce brought up his century with a six off Rashid, and almost immediately departed off the same bowler to make it 175-4, whereupon Sussex sent on a nightwatchman, Oliver Robinson, who was almost out first ball to Rashid but clung on until close of play.

Honours pretty even I’d say at the end of day 2, and this (Sunday) morning’s session having been lost to rain with more bad weather forecast for tomorrow, I suspect this one will be a draw.

So there you have it. War and peace. Life and death. Sussex and Yorkshire. Beer and lovely weather. What more could you want from a day off?

UPDATE: Monday 24th August. Sussex ended day 3 on 493-7 with centuries for Michael Yardy and Ben Brown. No play was possible this morning, the final day, because of heavy rain, so the match does indeed look set to be a draw.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: No play was possible on Monday at all due to rain, so the game did indeed end as a draw.

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The Ashes Regained!

Posted in Cricket, Poetry with tags , , , on August 8, 2015 by telescoper

Well, there you have it. England’s cricketers have won the Fourth Test of the Ashes series at Trent Bridge (in the Midlands) by an innings and 78 runs, to take an unassailable 3-1 lead with one game to play. When I settled down to watch the opening overs of the opening match in Cardiff I really did not think England had any chance of winning the series, and even after England won in Cardiff I felt that the Australians would come back strongly. That horrible defeat at Lord’s in the Second Test confirmed that opinion, but emphatic victories in the Third and Fourth Test have proved me wrong. The amazing first day at Trent Bridge, during which Australia were all out for a meagre total of 60 with Broad taking 8-15,  made an England victory and the Ashes virtually certain. It all just proves how little I know about cricket.

At one point it looked like the game would be wrapped up yesterday, inside two days, but Adam Voges and the remaining Australian tailenders clung on doggedly in the fading light of yesterday evening to end the day on 241-7 in response to England’s first innings total of 391-9 declared. The main question this morning was whether they could accumulate the 90 runs needed to make England bat again.

As it happened, neither Starc nor Hazlewood nor Lyon could cope with the swing of Wood and Stokes. Hazlewood in particular led a charmed life for 10 deliveries, during which he never really looked like putting bat to ball, before finally losing his middle stump to Wood. Moments later, Lyon fell in the same manner. In some ways it’s cruel sport when bowlers have to bat in a futile attempt to save a game that’s lost, but the end was mercifully swift.

Nevill battled well to end on 51 not out, but he might have tried a bit harder to protect his tailenders. No doubt he was hoping a not out score would improve his chances of continued selection.

Commiserations to Australian cricket fans. Their team just wasn’t as good as England, with bat or ball. They have a lot of rebuilding to do, and I think it won’t just be the Captain Michael Clarke who won’t be playing another Ashes series, but you can be sure they’ll be back challenging for the Ashes again before long.

And as for England, there are some interesting questions about the next Test at the Oval. Will Jimmy Anderson return, or should England rest him even if he is fit? Does Adam Lyth get another chance to establish hismelf with the pressure off, or do England try to blood another opener? And although Moeen Ali  is an excellent find as a batting all-rounder, he’s not the kind of bowler that’s likely to bowl a team out at Test level. Can we find a world-class spinner to balance the attack? Answers on a postcard, please.

It’s been an extraordinary series so far, consisting of four relatively one-sided matches (three to England and one to Australia). A far cry from the brilliant Ashes series of 2005 which had so many close games, so I guess it’s not been such a great series for the neutral. But then I’m not neutral, so I don’t mind at all..

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The England Cricket Team – Another Apology

Posted in Cricket on July 31, 2015 by telescoper

Some time I wrote a post on this blog about the 1st Ashes Test between England and Australia at Cardiff which resulted in an England victory. In that piece I celebrated the team spirit of England’s cricketers and some memorable performances with both bat and ball. I also suggested that England had a realistic prospect of regaining the Ashes.

More recently, however, in the light of Australia’s comprehensive victory in the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s during which the England bowlers were ineffectual, their batsmen inept and the team spirit non-existent, I accepted  that my earlier post was misleading and that England actually had absolutely no chance of regaining the Ashes.

Today England breezed to an emphatic 8-wicket victory over Australia in the 3rd Ashes Test at Edgbaston in the Midlands. The manner of this victory, inside three days, and bouncing back from the crushing defeat in the previous Test, makes it clear that my previous post was wrong and England’s bowlers are far from ineffectual, their batsmen highly capable, and the team not at all lacking in team spirit.

Moreover, with England now leading 2-1 with two matches to play, I now accept that England do indeed have a realistic prospect of regaining the Ashes.

I apologize for my earlier apology and for any inconvenience caused.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

P.S. Geoffrey Boycott is 74 not out.

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Verity

Posted in Cricket, Poetry with tags , , , on July 23, 2015 by telescoper

Something rather different from my usual poetry postings. This poem was written in memory of celebrated cricketer Hedley Verity, who was wounded in action in Caserta, Sicily and taken prisoner; he later died of his wounds in a Prisoner-of-War camp at the age of 38. It was a tragic end to a life that had given so much to the world of cricket.

The following is a brief account of his playing career taken from the website where I found the poem. You can find a longer biography here.

Verity was born in 1905 within sight of Headingley Cricket Ground. It seems strange to think that Verity was originally turned down by Yorkshire at trials in 1926, but he was eventually given a chance by the county in 1930 and, of course, became a fixture until the start of the war. He was the natural successor to that other great Yorkshire left-arm spinner, Wilfred Rhodes, whose career drew to a close in 1930 after an amazing 883 games for the county. Verity was never going to get close – Hitler saw to that – but he did turn out for Yorkshire 278 times and in that time he produced some remarkable bowling analyses.

In 1931 he took ten for 36 off 18.4 overs against Warwickshire at Leeds, but incredibly he bettered these figures the following season by taking ten for ten in 19.4 overs against Nottinghamshire, also at Headingley. They remain the county’s best bowling figures for an innings while Verity’s 17 for 91 against Essex at Leyton in 1933 remain Yorkshire’s best bowling in a match. Verity claimed nine wickets in an innings seven times for Yorkshire. He took 100 wickets in a season nine times and took 200 wickets in three consecutive seasons between 1935-37. He ended with 1,956 first-class wickets at an average of 14.9, took five wickets in an innings 164 times and ten wickets in a match 54 times. On 1 September, 1939, in the last first-class match before war was declared, he took seven for nine at Hove against Sussex.

The year after he first appeared for Yorkshire, Verity made his England debut against New Zealand at The Oval, finishing the game with four wickets. After that summer he was ignored until 1932/33, the Bodyline Series, in which he took 11 wickets, including Bradman twice. By the time his career was over, Verity had dismissed Bradman ten times, a figure matched only by Grimmett. As with his domestic career, Verity’s international performances threw up some astonishing bowling figures. He took eight for 43 and finished with match figures of 15 for 104 against Australia at Lord’s in 1934. His stamina was demonstrated during the 1938-39 tour of South Africa when he bowled 95.6 eight-ball overs in an innings at Durban, taking four for 184. By the time war arrived, Verity had taken 144 wickets at an average of 24.37.

During the war he was a captain in the Green Howards. He sustained his wounds in the battle of Catania in Sicily and died on 31 July, 1943. His grave is at Caserta Military Cemetery, some 16 miles from Naples.

Ironically, the poet, Drummond Allison, was also killed in action during World War 2.

The ruth and truth you taught have come full-circle
On that fell island all whose history lies,
Far now from Bramhall Lane and far from Scarborough
You recollect how foolish are the wise.

On this great ground more marvellous than Lord’s
– Time takes more spin than nineteen thirty four –
You face at last that vast that Bradman-shaming
Batsman whose cuts obey no natural law.

Run up again, as gravely smile as ever,
Veer without fear your left unlucky arm
In His so dark direction, but no length
However lovely can disturb the harm
That is His style, defer the winning drive
Or shake the crowd from their uproarious calm.

by Drummond Allison (1921-1943).

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The England Cricket Team – An Apology

Posted in Cricket with tags , on July 21, 2015 by telescoper

Some days ago I wrote a post on this blog about the 1st Ashes Test between England and Australia at Cardiff which resulted in an England victory. In that piece I celebrated the team spirit of England’s cricketers and some memorable performances with both bat and ball. I also suggested that England had a realistic prospect of regaining the Ashes.

However, in the light of Australia’s comprehensive victory in the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s during which the England bowlers were ineffectual, their batsmen inept and the team spirit non-existent, I now realize that my earlier post was misleading and that they actually have absolutely no chance of regaining the Ashes. I apologize for any inconvenience caused by my ealier error.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

P.S. Kevin Pietersen is 35.

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Cricket, Lovely Cricket – Ashes Victory in Cardiff

Posted in Cardiff, Cricket with tags , , , , on July 12, 2015 by telescoper

Last Wednesday (8th July 2015) I had the good fortune to be in the crowd at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff to see the first day’s play in the First Test between England and Australia of this summer’s Ashes series. I have to say that I was very apprehensive about how the game would go, but as I was in Wales anyway I couldn’t resist being there to watch it. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that it didn’t turn out too badly.

It wasn’t a very auspicious start to the day – light rain was falling as we walked to the ground and at the scheduled start time the England team were still in the pavilion:

England

Play eventually got going about fifteen minutes late, though it could have started earlier had the Powers That Be dispensed with some of the silly preliminaries. It did rain a little before lunch too, but the players didn’t come off. Thereafter the weather steadily improved and we got a full day’s play, closing at about 6.45pm. I even had sunburnt knees as a souvenir, as I had decided to wear shorts for the day and the stand we were in offered no protection from the afternoon sun. Good job I had brought my sunhat.

England had won the toss and decided to bat. The desire to have first use of a good batting pitch must have been tempered in England Captain Alastair Cook’s mind by the likelihood that the overcast conditions would help the Aussie fast bowlers. England struggled early on with the bat, Lyth getting out cheaply playing across a straight one from Hazlewood (who was in the team to replace the injured Ryan Harris) to leave England at 7 for 1. Ballance battled hard at Number 3 but Cook at the other end looked relatively comfortable. Then Michael Clarke threw the ball to offspinner Nathan Lyon to have a go at the lefthanded Cook who seemed impatient to score off him. That proved his downfall as he was out for 20, caught at the wicket, trying to cut a short ball. Ian Bell came, scored one run off a nervous looking lofted drive and was then dismissed leg before wicket by a good inswinger from the excellent Mitchell Starc. At 43-3 England were on the brink, and could have fallen over it a few balls later when new batsman Joe Root played a strange shot at his second ball, a very full swinging delivery from Starc which resulted in an edge that went at a good height to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin diving (somewhat theatrically) to his right. Fortunately for England, Haddin spilled what looked a relatively straightforward chance; having seen the replay a number of times I don’t understand why Haddin didn’t go for it with both hands. At 43-4 England would have been in deep doo-doo, but as it happened Ballance and Root steadied the ship and after a tense morning England reached lunch at 88 for 3.

The ball certainly did swing in that morning session, but the predominant impression I got was that it was a very flat pitch, with very little bounce. Watching from a position square of the wicket to a batsman at the River Taff end, it was noticeable how many balls didn’t carry through to the wicket-keeper. Indeed, Warner’s excellent slip catch to take the wicket of Lyth was harder than it needed to have been because the slips were standing too deep for much of the game. Mitchell Starc was easily the pick of the Australian bowlers; the other Mitchell (Mitchell Johnson) laboured ineffectively on the kind of pitch he clearly doesn’t like to bowl on. He was expensive too. England’s Nemesis of the 13/14 Ashes Tour down under was to finish with 0-111 off 25 overs.

After lunch the sun came out and the character of the play changed. Root and Ballance completed partnership of 153 before Ballance fell for 61 with the score on 196 for 4. This ushered in the belligerent Stokes who didn’t have it all his own way – he got into a tangle trying to hook a Mitchell Johnson bouncer, sending it high over Haddin’s head for six – but Root at the other end had ridden his early luck and made an excellent century. Root is currently in unbelievably good form and it says something for his temperament that he looked bitterly disappointed when he eventually got out for a superb 134, shortly followed by Stokes who made 54. The score was then 293 for 6, by no means enough runs on a good batting pitch but a good recovery from 43-3. Buttler and Moeen Ali added another 50 partnership in quick time until Buttler fell nearly at the end of the day’s play. I was particularly impressed with Moeen’s batting late on and it was he who produced the short of the day for me – a magnificent sweep into the stands for six off the bowling of Lyon. Broad survived a torried couple of overs to leave England on 343-7 at the close of play.

I couldn’t help recalling that the closing score on the first day of corresponding fixture in 2009, which ended famously in a draw, was 336-7. On that occasion, England’s tail wagged brightly the following morning (when I was in the ground) to take their score to 435 all out. As things stood, I felt that the match was evenly poised. If England could do something similar to their feats of 2009 on the second day of this match then they would have a good chance of winning, but if Australia could take quick wickets they would have the edge.

Unfortunately I only had tickets for the first day so I ad to keep up with the rest of the match on the radio and via Twitter. On Day 2, England’s tail did wag – Moeen scoring an excellent 77 – to finish on 430 all out. So far the pattern remained similar to 2009, but that was about to change. Australia got a much better start to their first innings than England had, but lost wickets at the end of Day 2 to close on 264-5 – a far cry from the 248-1 which was their position at the end of Day 2 in 2009. The following morning they were all out for 308, a deficit of 122. England batted again on Day 3 and, not without moments of alarm, accumulated enough runs to build an imposing lead; they were eventually all out at the end of Day 3 for 289. Australia needed to score 412 to win with two days left, though the forecast for Day 5 was for heavy rain.

Clouds had returned to Cardiff for Day 4 (Saturday) and the Australian batsmen were in all sorts of difficulties against the swing on Anderson and Broad. Rogers fell cheaply, Warner was having trouble laying bat on ball, and the runs had dried up. Then Alastair Cook made I think his only tactical mistake of the match: he brough Moeen on to bowl too early. Warner seemed to relax and played some good shots. Moeen was withdrawn after just two expensive overs. The momentum had been handed back to Australia, who began scoring freely. In the last over before lunch they were 97-1, with two batsmen at the crease who were both perfectly capable of posting big scores. Then Cook brough Moeen back for one over before lunch, whereupon he trapped Warner lbw for 52. It was just the fillip England needed. After lunch Smith, Clarke and Voges fell in quick succession to leave Australia in the mire at 106-5. Neither Haddin not Watson stayed around long and Australia were soon 151 for 7. Mitchell Johnson batted defiantly in difficult circumstances, adding 72 for the 8th wicket with Mitchell Starc until their partnership was broken by none other than Joe Root, who as well as being a superb batsman is a spin bowler with an uncanny knack of taking important wickets. Root also took the catch, off the bowling of Moeen Ali, that sealed the game. Australia were all out for 242 about an hour after tea. England had won by 169 runs. Man of the Match: Joe Root, obviously.

So, first blood to England. Of course there are another four Tests to go, starting at Lord’s on Thursday where the pitch may well be much more helpful to the Australian quick bowlers, but this result is better than I imagined at the start of the game and if England can keep it up they at least have a chance of winning back the Ashes. Don’t expect the Aussies to roll over, though. They will be stung by this defeat, and I full expect them to come back hard.

P.S. This was the weather situation in Cardiff earlier today, which would have been the fifth day.

Cardiff_weather

Had Australia batted through to the close on Day 4, it is quite possible that there would have been no play on Day 5, which means the game would have ended in a draw. Now I understand why this Test started on a Wednesday!

P.P.S. Only three members of the current England team played in the 2009 Ashes Test in Cardiff: Anderson, Broad and Cook.

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Cricket Quiz

Posted in Cricket, History on June 13, 2015 by telescoper

Too lazy to do a proper post today, I though I would try a little cricket quiz. This legendary cricketer featured in today’s Independent Prize Cryptic. Can you put a name to the face?

image

Answers through the comments box please!

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Another Lord’s Day

Posted in Cricket with tags , , , , , on May 24, 2015 by telescoper

Just time for a quick post to record the fact that yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to Lord’s Cricket Ground to watch the third day’s play of the First  Test between England and New Zealand.  On previous occasions I’ve had to make the trip from Cardiff to Paddington and back to take in a day at the Test, so had to get up at the crack of dawn, but this time I was travelling from Brighton which is a significantly shorter trip, so I only had to get up at 7 or so. Anyway, I got to the ground in time to have a bacon sandwich and a coffee before play started, with the added pleasure of listening to the jazz band as I consumed both items.

England had batted first in this game, and were on the brink of disaster at 30 for 4 at one stage, but recovered well to finish on 389 all out. Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali all made valuable runs in the middle order. Their performance was put into perspective by New Zealand, however, who had reached 303 for 2 at the end of the first day. It’s hard to say whether it was New Zealand’s strength in batting or England’s lacklustre bowling that was primarily responsible. I suspect it was a bit of both. Talk around the ground was if and when New Zealand might declare. I didn’t think I would declare on a score less than 600, even if tempted to have a go at the England batsman for 30 minutes in the evening, but that speculation turned out to be irrelevant.

Anyway on a cool and overcast morning, New Zealand resumed with Taylor and Williamson at the crease and England desperately needing to take quick wickets. The first breakthrough came after about 40 minutes, with Taylor well caught by wicketkeeper Buttler off the bowling of Stuart Broad. That served to bring in dangerman Brendan McCullum, who promptly hit his first ball for four through the covers. He continued to play his shots but never looked really convincing, eventually getting out to a wild shot off England’s debutant bowler Mark Wood, but not before he’d scored 42 runs at a brisk pace while Williamson at the other end continued to his century in much more sedate fashion.

Light drizzle had started to fall early on in the morning and shortly after McCullum was out it became much heavier. The players took an early lunch and play did not resume until 2.45pm, meaning that over an hour was lost. During the extended lunch interval I took a stroll around the ground, bought an expensive burger, and noted the large number of representatives of the Brigade of Gurkhas, who were collecting money for the Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Here are some of them making use of their vouchers in the Food Village:

Lords_Ghurkas

When play resumed, England quickly took another wicket, that of Anderson, at which point New Zealand were 420 for 5. Wicketkeeper Watling (who had an injury from the first innings) came to the crease and look all at sea, frequently playing and missing and surviving two umpire reviews. He led a charmed life however and ended up 61 not out when the New Zealand innings closed at 523 all out.

One interesting fact about this innings was that “Extras” scored 67. Quite a lot of those were leg-byes, but the number of wides and byes was quite embarrassing. Wicket-keeper Buttler did take a couple of fine catches, but he wasn’t as tidy as one would expect at Test level. England also dropped three catches in the field. New Zealand only added 212 runs for their last 8 wickets, which wasn’t as bad as it could have been for England but it could have been better too. I wasn’t impressed with their bowling, either. Neither Anderson nor Broad looked particularly dangerous, although both took wickets. Wood was erratic too, straying down the legside far too often, but he did improve in his second spell and managed to take three wickets. I think Moeen was the steadiest and most impressive bowler, actually. He also took three, including that of Williamson whose excellent innings ended on  132.

I took this picture from my vantage point in the Warner Stand  just a few minutes before the last New Zealand wicket fell:

Lords_NZ

You can see it was still quite gloomy and dark. My mood was sombre, thinking about Donald Trump’s forthcoming victory in the 2016 United States Presidential Elections.

Incidentally, the Warner Stand is to be knocked down at the end of this season (in September 2015) and rebuilt much bigger and snazzier. I’ve got used to watching cricket from there during my occasional trips to Lord’s so I feel a little bit sad about its impending demise. On the other hand, it does need a bit of modernisation so perhaps it’s all for the best. The first phase of the rebuild should be ready for next season so I look forward to seeing what the new stand looks like in a year or so’s time.

England came out to bat with play extended until 7.30 to make up for the time lost for rain. Lyth faced the first ball, which was short. He played a hook shot which he mistimed. It went uppishly past the fielder at short midwicket for four, but it was a very risky shot to play at the very start of the innings given England’s situation and it made me worry about his temperament. He hit another couple of boundaries and then departed for 12, caught behind. Ballance  came in, faced twelve deliveries and departed, clean bowled, without troubling the scorers. At that point England were in deep trouble at 25-2, still needing over a hundred runs to make New Zealand bat again. With the weather brightening up considerably, Bell and Cook steadied the ship a little and no more wickets were lost before the close of play. I had to leave before the close in order to get the train back to Brighton but the day ended with England on 75-2.

I think New Zealand will win this game, for the simple reason that their bowling, fielding and batting are all better than England’s.  The biggest worry for England is their batting at the top of the order, which is far too fragile, but the bowling lacks penetration and the fielding is sloppy.  It doesn’t bode well for the forthcoming Ashes series but more immediately it doesn’t bode well for Alastair Cook’s position as England captain. But who could replace him?

UPDATE, 7pm Sunday. Contrary to my pessimistic assessment, England played very well on Day 4. Cook batted all day, ending on 153 not out but the star of the show was Ben Stokes who scored the fastest century ever in a test at Lord’s (85 balls). With England on 429 for 6, a lead of 295, any result is possible. England need to bat until about lunch to make the game safe, and only then think about winning it.

UPDATE, 5.38pm Monday. The morning didn’t go entirely England’s way. They only reached 478 all out, a lead of 344. However, New Zealand were in deep trouble straight away, losing both openers without a run on the board. They were in even deeper trouble a bit later when they slumped to 12-3 but then staged a mini-recovery only for two quick wickets to fall taking them to 61-5. There then followed an excellent partnership of 107 between Anderson and Watling who at one point looked like wresting the initiative away from England. Then both fell in quick succession and were soon followed by Craig and Southee. As I write this, New Zealand are 200 for 9. England need one more wicket and have 15 overs left to get it, with two tailenders at the crease.

UPDATE, 6.03pm Monday. It seemed to take forever to come, but Moeen has just caught last man Boult off the bowling of Broad. New Zealand all out for 220 and England win by 124 runs, a victory I simply could not have imagined when I left Lord’s on Saturday. I’ve never been happier to be proved wrong!

This has been one of the great Test matches and I’m really happy I was there for part of it – even if it was only one day! Well played both teams for making such an excellent game of it. Long live Test cricket. There’s nothing like it!

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Uncovered cricket pitches: the degree syllabus

Posted in Cricket, Education with tags , , , on April 12, 2015 by telescoper

Interesting proposal from Keith Flett for a new module for university students on uncovered pitches in cricket. My own view is that the syllabus on this fascinating subject should also discuss the physics behind the variable bounce and turn such pitches produced.

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Uncovered pitches: the degree Syllabus

cricket pitch

In its issue of 21st January 2015 the Times Higher reported that the University of the Highlands and Islands is to offer a degree in professional golf.

I responded that it was surely time to offer a degree in cricket too (28th January 2015).

Subjects covered could well include the Laws of Cricket, the history of the game (a very substantial subject in itself) Gentleman v Players and class in cricket, Race and Imperialism in cricket. There is also scope for modules on cricket management and coaching and like many degrees no doubt students would select those areas of most relevance to their interests and future careers.

One area that must certainly should be covered however is that of Uncovered Pitches.  To mark the start of the English cricket season and indeed the start at nearly the same time of a West Indies…

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