Tournament review: Pakistan

Continuing our tournament reviews, here is an assessment of how Pakistan did.

An honourable semi-final defeat was better than many had expected of Pakistan – and if they hadn’t given Sachin Tendulkar so many lives, they could well have made the final. Key to their success was their varied bowling attack, with Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul superb until the semi-final. But their batting always looked prone to collapse.

Star man
Shahid Afridi finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, the subtle variations and accuracy of his leg breaks claiming 21 scalps in just eight games. But don’t mention the batting.

Disappointment
It was hoped that 19-year old Ahmed Shezhad would bring much-needed solidity to the top order. Instead he managed 44 runs in five innings.

Prospects
Invariably hard to assess. If they can shore up their top order they will become even more dangerous but, with Younis Khan and Misbah ul-Haq nearing the end, it could get even worse.

Captaincy and the art of batting

I write at lunchtime on day one of the fourth Test at Barbados and the Test Match Special team is busy admiring the change in Andrew Strauss’ batting. The consensus that the captaincy has brought a new dynamism to his strokeplay is hard to disagree with, which again poses the question of how captaincy affects the form of batsmen.

This issue is topical given the recent runscoring feats of skippers Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan (although the conditions they encountered at the Karachi National Stadium means their high scores can hardly be attributed to the responsibility of captaincy).

The sustained good form of Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith since taking on their respective captaincy roles is more telling. Of course both are top class batsmen, but there is little doubt leadership brings the best out of their batting.

Indeed, most current international skippers seemed to have improved their output since taking charge, but statistics tell only part of the story.

Strauss’ transformation from shot-restricted accumulator to fluent stroke-maker is the most marked change of style, perhaps along with MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle’s transformation in the other direction.

Full analysis of Strauss’ new dominating approach when in charge should be delayed until he faces tougher attacks on spicier pitches, but his productivity when he stood-in as skipper in 2006 suggests he likes to lead from the front.

That wish to set an example is what unites all captains, which means the responsibility of leadership often exaggerates players’ individual traits. Mike Atherton and Steve Waugh became more stubborn; Ponting seeks to dominate even more; Jayawardene is fuller of concentration.

It doesn’t always work out that way. The responsibility of captaincy can often weigh heavily, with the implications of bad form exacerbated by the duty of leadership. Atherton at times appeared consumed by his status as most prized wicket by the opposition, whilst Nasser Hussain and Mark Taylor, who generally revelled as their teams’ figureheads, endured horror runs that brought their place in the team into question.

All England supporters hope Strauss stays in the productive captaincy category. He has just lofted Sulieman Benn for six to reach a century in consecutive Tests, suggesting we might have to wait for the introspective spell that threatens most batting captains.

Written by Philip Oliver, an online sports writer who blogs about Test match cricket.

Yorkshire 2007 Season Review

After the surprising turnaround in fortunes last winter, from the depths of Chris Adams coming and going, Michael Lumb leaving and Antony McGrath trying to walk out, to the return of Darren Gough and Martyn Moxon persuading McGrath to stay and Jacques Rudolph to join, most Yorkshire fans were quietly optimistic about the new season. Certainly in Rudolph and Younus Khan, there was the potential for big runs from the middle order.

Also, with the strange set up to the English summer and the domination of the World Cup at the start of the season, Matthew Hoggard was available for a much greater chunk of Yorkshire’s games than he had been previously. This meant that the three main strike bowlers – Gough, Hoggard and Jason Gillespie could boast well over 700 test wickets between them. Backed up by England Lions tourists, Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid, this looked to be a deep batting line-up and a useful bowling attack.

Indeed, consistency was a key to the season. In the Championship, eleven players played in at least ten of the matches, with only Hoggard and Gough not going on to make a century during the season. However, only Jacques Rudolph scored over 1000 runs for the season. Of the five main bowlers, all took more than 20, but no-one got more than 40. Therefore, while Yorkshire were missing a Ramprakash or Di Venuto with the bat, or a Gibson or Mushtaq with the ball, the effort was very much a team one and the make up of young talent (Joe Sayers, Rashid and Bresnan), old pros (Craig White, Gough and Gillespie) and established stars (McGrath, Younus, Rudolph and Hoggard) is a good mix to move the county onwards.

Overall, Yorkshire still finished in the same place as last year. However, the journey was very different and there is huge promise for next season

In the One Dayers, consistency certainly wasn’t the watch-word. Yorks didn’t threaten promotion in the Pro 40 nor look like qualifying from the Friends Provident. Reaching the quarter-finals of the 20:20 was a shock and probably more a feature of the weather.

Highlights of the season
Essentially the first half of the season showed Yorkshire playing to a successful formula. Joe Sayers, in particular, would set a platform for the more explosive middle order to build upon and with Bresnan coming in at 8, the team batted a long way down. This would then set the platform for bowling the opposition out twice. Starting by winning three of the first four championship matches, Yorkshire were comfortably top of the table, and stayed there or there abouts up to the penultimate week.

Low Point
The Champioship showdown with Sussex was a huge disappointment. The loss of form of Sayers and White, Younus and Gillespie being called back to International duty and Gough pulling out injured at the start of the game meant that much of the consistency had gone from the team. Inzamam looked to be a good replacement, but didn’t get to grips with the situation. Michael Vaughan seemed in holiday mode after a tough test series and even at the time, the selection of Imran Tahir made no sense to anyone. The only positive out of the game was another 50 for Andy Gale, who will have a bigger part to play in the team next season.

Player Ratings
Joe Sayers - a breakthrough season for the Limpet. Reminiscent in so many ways of Geoff Boycott, he was the platform around whom the rest of the batsmen played. His aim now has to be to do it for the whole season 7

Craig White – Once a bowling all-rounder, now an opening batsman. Next season is likely to be Chalky’s last and he will probably see less and less action in the Championship. A great servant over the years, but a poor season by his standards 5

Antony McGrath – From want-away to vice-captain, a fine season after a slow start, although Mags will be disappointed at just missing out on 1000 runs 6

Younus Khan – The big scores were expected, the leg-spin bowling wasn’t. Almost single-handedly forced a win against Sussex at the start of the season which would have had a huge impact at the end. A real team man who seems rejuvenated by his season if his recent performances for Pakistan are anything to go by 7

Jacques Rudolph – A controversial signing, but just the type of Kolpak player that should be coming over as he raised the standard of those around him. Solid if not spectacular, he was the stand out one-day player as well as top scoring in the Championship 8

Gerard Brophy – A huge improvement after a disappointing 2006. Useful runs and solid behing the stumps. Also an effective pinch-hitter in the limited over stuff 6

Adil Rashid – Following his break-though with the ball last season, this year he showed he could bat as well, scoring nearly 800 runs and still finished up as the leading wicket taker. His bowling tailed off as pitches became less spin friendly following the rains, and the emergence of Graeme Swann should put back any international call-ups for the time being. However, it was another season than showed more than just promise. 8

Tim Bresnan – Over 500 runs at nearly 40 with the bat plus a century for the England Lions and 34 wickets at 32 with the ball adds up to another excellent season for Brez, who despite having been around for ages is still only 22. On the fringes of the England One Day squad, next season could be a big one for him 7

Jason Gillespie –He created a lot of pressure for his fellow bowlers but only 23 wickets during the season is a disappointing return for the overseas bowler 5

Matthew Hoggard – Started the season like a train and was a big factor in Yorkshire’s flying start to the season. Less effective when he returned after teh test matches, he's still England’s best bowler and good to have around when fit and firing. 6

Darren Gough – The expectations were for the occasional glory day, plenty of missed matches and reminiscence about how good he was first time round. In reality, he took two 6-fers and 37 wickets at just 23, while only missing two games. His captaincy was almost as good as he said it would be and he has to take a lot of credit for turning the club around 7

The Others
Michael Vaughan played in 6 matches, but was a waste of a place after the test series had finished, when he probably needed to rest.
Deon Kruis played when Hoggy didn’t and only managed 8 wickets in 6 matches
Amjad Shahzad was the next quick bowler in an turned in some promising performances. He is likely to feature more next season
Andy Gale played five games but was a One Day regular. Again he’s likey to feature more next season, with his fifty against Sussex showing what we can expect.


Player of the Season
Tricky. As I said at the top, it’s currently a team without stars and the contribution came from everyone. Runner up is Jacques Rudolph, who showed that there would be runs without Darren Lehman. However, the winner is Adil Rashid for his all round effort.

Championship Team of the Season

As regular readers will be aware, I have been awarding a Player of the Week during my Championship reviews during the season. With the exception of the wicket-keeper, these are the only players to be considered for my squad for the Team of the Season. Five batsmen, an all-rounder, my wicketkeeper of the year, three pace bowlers and a spinner make up the team.

Marcus Trescothick
Englands’ loss was Somerset’s gain. The only double winner of the Player of the Week, he scored 1300 runs at over 60 with four centuries, albeit on a helpful Taunton wicket. He also took an incredible 33 catches. If he’s still on duty for Somerset next season, then they will be in the mix for honours.

Mike Carberry
A thousand runs, 5 tons and the reason that Hampshire put in a late run to challenge for the title. Particularly in the second half of the season he ran into a rich vein of form which he’ll be looking to continue in to next season.

Mark Ramprakash
2000 runs, averaging over 100. The difference between Surrey finishing 4th and being relegated. No other Surrey player managed 1000 runs or averaged over 50. Another awesome season and many people’s player of the year

Younus Khan
Got very close to being a double winner as his leg spin bowling backed up his batting prowess. Indeed his bowling average was less than his batting average of nearly 50. A good club man for Yorkshire, he was missed at the end of the season as he went back to Pakistan.

David Hussey
Edges out his club captain Stephen Fleming for the number 5 spot, with 1200 runs and an average of over 90.

The other batsmen to miss out on the final selection were Ben Smith, Mark Stoneman, Travis Birt and Ronnie Irani.

Adil Rashid
The first player of the week, he scored nearly 800 runs at an average of 46, scoring his maiden ton in the process. With the ball, despite the unhelpful weather this summer, he took 40 wickets (with three 5-fers) at less than 40 to confirm his immense promise as a cricketer. It’s a measure of his ability that some still see this as a disappointing return. The England Lions tour (hopefully) beckons and full recognition won’t be far away.

Rashid beats Alex Gidman to the selection

Chris Read
The only wicketkeeper to average above 50 in either division, he is also the best gloveman in the country. He hit his maiden double hundred this season and was a major factor in Notts promotion this season. He beats off the challenges of Nic Pothas, Tim Ambrose and Paul Nixon.

Stuart Broad
Although he spent most of the season carrying the drinks for England, he took his frist 5-fer in county cricket and smashed an unbeaten 91 in the same match, taking him to the top of Leicester’s batting averages. As he showed for England, he’s a potential all-rounder with bags of promise and first division cricket with Notts next season should see him progress further.

Ottis Gibson
The only real competition for Mark Ramprakash as player of the season. Cricket365 use his success as a reason that the Championship is a weak competition. To me it shows how much younger bowlers are able to learn from experienced campaigners and the progress of Liam Plunkett and Graeme Onions at Durham will be interesting to see. 80 wickets at just 20 for the season including all ten in an innings, he also chipped in with over 500 runs.

Andrew Caddick
He probably still feels hard done by every time the England team is selected without him, but he is another reaon why Somerset will be a welcome addition to Div 1 next season. 70 wickets at 24 playing half of his matches at Taunton is a great return.

The pace bowlers to miss out were James Harris, Yasir Arafat and Mark Davies

Mushtaq Ahmed
The final winner of the award, he edges out the evergreen Robert Croft by spinning Sussex to the title again. Not as dominant this year as last, he still took 90 wickets at 25

Championship – Week 13

More and more rain affected draws, although summer does appear to be just around the corner. A good week for both leaders, even if it was only in the scramble for bonus points in Div 1.

Div 1
Starting at the top, where poor weather and a flat Scarborough wicket meant another draw was always likely. Kent batted first scoring 486 with the impressive Joe Denly getting another ton. Adil Rashid took 5-fer on the ground where it all started last year, with Tim Bresnan taking 4. Kent used ten bowlers in the Yorkshire reply of 550 for 9 declared, Anthony McGrath continuing his recent run of good form with a ton and Younus Khan getting an unbeaten double hundred. Kent managed 17 in the time that was left and it finished in a tame draw

Sussex’s charge towards the top of the table came to an abrupt halt at Hampshire as they were bowled out for just 145, James Bruce taking 5-fer. John Crawley carried the reply scoring an unbeaten 113 in the Hants total of 250 with Rana Naved taking 5 wickets. Second time round, Sussex had seen off the deficit for the loss of four wickets. However, too much time was lost out of the game and it ended in a draw.

The bottom two teams clashed at Guildford in Worcestershire’s first match for quite some time. Surrey batted first an reached 369 largely due to yet another Mark Ramprakash ton. Worcester couldn’t quite reach the follow on target scoring 217, but batted much better second time round and the game finished with them on 307 for 5, Phil Jaques scoring a ton and Harbajan Singh taking all five of the wickets to fall.


Div 2
The only positive result came at the top of the table as Somerset and Derbyshire contrived a rather one sided result. Somerset opened up scoring 340, despite Ant Botha getting 6 wickets. Derby then declared on 94 for 2 and with Somerset declaring in return on 84 for 3, Derby were set 330 to win. However, with Charl Willoughby taking 4 for 12, Derby were bowled out for just 52 and Somerset are well clear at the top of the table.

Northamptonshire opened up with 366 against Nottinghamshire, four players getting to 50, but no-one above 60. In reply Notts took a big lead, with Stephen Fleming and Mark Wagh getting tons as they declared on 526 for 9. Then having reduced Northants to 18 for 3, Notts must have thought they had a chance. However, no more wickets fell and the match was drawn. Notts remain comfortably 2nd, even if Somerset are beginning to pull away at the top.

Just a day’s play was possible at Gloucestershire, with Essex making sure of maximum bowling points as they dismissed the home team for 184, despite a ton for Chris Taylor, Andy Bichel taking 5-fer. In reply Essex had made just 129 for 7 as time ran out.

At least Gloucester and Essex got some play in. Glamorgan and Leicestershire just had to watch as the rain game down and the Welshmen remained stranded at the bottom of the table.


Player of the Week
The weather was the main factor again this week. However, bearing in mind that he could have won the award in week 3, for his second double hundred of the season, this week’s Player of the Week is Younus Khan.

The international backlash

Knock county cricket all you like - and, after any England debacle, people invariably do - but a curious phenomenon has recently emerged. International players still playing for their countries have begun to place county before country.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Younis Khan, none of whom have retired from ODIs, all rejected the chance to play in the frankly irrelevant Warid Cricket Series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan; and, although all but perhaps Khan should be there, none are playing in the Afro-Asian Cup.

It is an unlikely turn of events, but what does it prove? The theory about players playing too much cricket is only partially true. It is not that they are unenthusiastic about playing but that they have little appetite playing in tournaments that will barely register in most cricket-lovers' consciousness. Clearly, they believe too much international cricket is being played in too many places; and, happily, it seems that money is no longer enough to keep them unfailingly on the treadmill.

They will, of course, earn a not insignificant sum playing for their counties. Although the county game is something of a treadmill itself, matches have a greater significance than the plethora of ODIs. The players also clearly want to make a real impact at their counties, devoting themselves to their county’s cause and not continually jetting off to some far-flung location mid-season. In the county game, they will experience a wide array of charming grounds; they will test themselves in a number of conditions against more than 150 players; and they will have the chance to impart their knowledge on younger players. When you add in the fact that pressures are almost entirely cricketing, for the seasoned international it is not much of a contest.

This latest trend is ultimate proof that players are sick of the indecent quantity of international cricket being played today. Players, rather than playing palpably meaningless series, would rather immerse themselves in county cricket, develop a genuine affection for their county and help them to be successful.

Championship – Week 3

A good week for wicketkeepers but another bad week for the Champions. And the same old story down at Taunton.

Div 1
Warwickshire go to the top of the table with an innings victory over neighbours Worcestershire. Batting first, the Bears declared on 610 for 6, with Jim Troughton and Tim Ambrose both getting hundreds, Ambrose scoring an unbeaten 251. Worcester could only manage 288 and 209 in reply, despite Ben Smith and Graeme Hick getting two half centuries apiece. Dale Steyn weighed in with 8 wickets.

Previous leaders Yorkshire were held up by title favourites Hampshire. Batting first, the Tykes scored 299, with Younus Khan scoring a hundred as recompense for running out the impressive looking Michael Vaughan,who had scored 72. Hants finished three short on first innings, with Mike Brown scoring a ton. The pitch then suddenly got a lot easier, and Yorks declared on 439 for 4, with a double hundred for Younus and a ton for Gerard Brophy (and 61 for night-watchman Matthew Hoggard). A flurry of wickets to Younus Khan’s leg breaks had Hants worried, but they got home for the draw, eight wickets down, thanks largely to Nick Pothas’s second unbeaten 70 of the match.

Champions Sussex’s disappointing start to the season continued. Batting first, Kent amassed 368, with tons from Matt Walker and old boy Yasir Arafat being the highlight, Robin Martin-Jenkins getting a five-fer. That was more than enough as Arafat left Sussex reeling at 26 for 4, with scores of 102 and 160 (six wickets for Simon Cook) meaning Kent got home by an innings and 106 runs.

Surrey got off to a good start at Lancashire, before collapsing to the spin of Gary Keedy for 284. Lancs edged passed that, thanks to a ton from Stuart Law and despite five wickets for Neil Saker. Having started their first innings so well, Surrey’s openers faced one ball between them in the second innings to leave them 0 for 2. They never recovered, scoring 120 and Lancs got home by 7 wickets. That’s three losses out of three for Surrey now, and both this season’s new boys to Division 1 are struggling.

Div 2
Notts continued their march back to Division 1 with a comprehensive victory over Glamorgan. Batting first, Notts scored 475, with tons for Jason Gallian and Samit Patel. That was more than enough as the Welshmen scored 262 and 205 (six wickets for Charlie Schrek) and Notts ran out winners by an innings for three wins out of three.

Essex’s challenge stumbled somewhat at Northants. Despite another ton from Ali Cook, Essex scored 334. Northants took a handy first innings lead with 416 and then Jason Brown took for as Essex collapsed to 190, allowing Northants to knock off the runs for a six wicket victory.

Another big score without a century maker came at Leicester where visitors Gloucester scored 507, before bowling the home team out for 376. Gloucester declared their second innings on 249 for 4, with Marcus North scoring 106 off 77 balls. However, there wasn’t enough time to secure a results and Leicester finished on 218 for 7.

Finally to Taunton, where the balance between bat and ball has never been tilted so much in the favour of the batsmen. Derby declared on 801 for 8 (which seems about par) with hundreds for Simon Katich (221), Ian Harvey, Ant Botha and David Pipe. Somerset replied with a disappointing 530 (hundred for Cameron White and five wickets for Graham Wagg). The game ended with Somerset on 309 for 4 (hundred for Justin Langer) and assorted bowlers cursing the Somerset groundsman.

England watch
Back from the Caribbean, a few of the squad were back in action for their counties. Michael Vaughan looked in great form until run out in the first innings for Yorkshire. Then he broke his finger in the second innings and the injury curse continues. Ali Cook’s run of form continued with his third century of the season. Marcus Trescothick will be disappointed with 32 and 24 on the Taunton wicket.

Monty Panesar got a couple of wickets for Northants, although he was overshadowed by his spin partner, Jason Brown. He did well with the bat though, scoring 33. Also more effective with bat than ball was Matthew Hoggard, scoring 61, but only one wicket in the game.

On the wicketkeeping front, there were hundreds this week for David Pipe, Gerard Brophy and Tim Ambrose, while Nic Pothas scored 150 runs in two innings without getting out. However, for the potential England keepers, Steven Davies got a pair of 1s, Chris Read scored 34, James Foster 0 and 17, Paul Nixon, 30 and 15 and Matt Prior 4 and 35 (in just 25 balls, but probably not what Sussex needed in the context of the game). I thus declare this to be a draw and all must do better.

Player of the week
Two contenders this week. Younus Khan scored a hundred, a double hundred and then took more wickets with his leg-spin than Shane Warne or Adil Rashid, However, it wasn’t enough to force the victory, so my player of the week is Kent’s Yasir Arafat for his hundred and then ripping through the Sussex top order and setting up a comprehensive victory.