All posts tagged 'australia'

By @sofa_maxb

This South Africa side should be the first since the great Australians of a decade ago to sit atop the world with no questions asked.

Prizing the pointless and oversized commemorative mace away from England last year has proved to be just the end of the beginning. Going on to win in Australia before eviscerating an admittedly weakened New Zealand at home has rubber-stamped their spot in the sunny uplands while England, Australia, India and Pakistan squabble amongst themselves for second best.

That’s Pakistan who are being blown to smithereens by Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander in the second Test of three at Newlands as this is typed, by the way.

Publicly, at the very least, they've learned from the mistakes of their predecessors at the top of the pile. Since the Aussies’ inevitable wane, the Indians and the English have both planted their flags at the summit and promptly lost the plot. With the former, a cosy arrogance spilled over into laziness. With the latter, it seemed to be more a case of 'now what?'

Neither hubris nor bewilderment afflicts this squad. ‘Focussing on processes’ might have become a phrase more used sarcastically by journalists frustrated by a lack of verbal pyrotechnics from rogue players these days, but the ‘units’ created away from the limelight – and the processes on which they focus – work a charm. That is something they share with England. But they’re much more than that.

Coaches Gary Kirsten and Allan Donald constantly preach humility and the players appear unnervingly serene. Anyone wandering around Newlands before the Pakistan Test would have seen men totally at ease with their hard-earned glory. Whether it was Hashim Amla exchanging pleasantries on his way to the police-escorted minibus after training; or Robin Peterson pottering, unmarshalled, to his clapped out Vauxhall Corsa - this varied lot exude the perfect balance between relaxed and focussed.

Easy to be open and friendly when you're winning, of course. But this batch of Proteas, terrifyingly for the rest of us, carry the air of being far from finished with chewing up and spitting out the rest of the world.

One blot on the landscape could be that of succession. Graeme Smith has been the finest leader of men on a cricket field in years. Reaching an incredible 100th Test at the helm of his country today, he has been supreme for a decade and could be forgiven for basking in the rewards and platitudes that now flow his way.

Having signed a three-year contract to captain Surrey in the English County Championship, he has also mentioned his inclination to see out time at the crease without the responsibility of leading his nation. This should be a couple of years away for the 32-year-old, though. After all, series against India and Australia lurk on the horizon and English fans in particular need no reminder of his arguably unmatched determination.

Other concerns bubble beneath the surface, including the apparent lack of ‘the next Steyn’. But how are you meant to replicate a freak like him anyway? Also, game as Peterson is, the Proteas have still never had a top class spinner but, hey, the great West Indians never needed one. Indeed, it’s a discipline effectively rendered unnecessary by Philander and Morkel and Steyn providing a battery of strengths. Opposing batsmen are simply unable to settle be it against mesmerising accuracy, rising bounce or outright genius. A tour to the subcontinent appears the only way to truly test that theory.

Jacques Kallis may well be the greatest cricketer ever. Smith, Amla and AB de Villiers are outstanding with the bat and the bowling attack needs no further commendation. Are South Africa lucky to have this number of players capable of topping the world peaking in the same era? In part, perhaps, but they are making it count like no one else has.

By @sofa_maxb

This South Africa side should be the first since the great Australians of a decade ago to sit atop the world with no questions asked.

Prizing the pointless and oversized commemorative mace away from England last year has proved to be just the end of the beginning. Going on to win in Australia before eviscerating an admittedly weakened New Zealand at home has rubber-stamped their spot in the sunny uplands while England, Australia, India and Pakistan squabble amongst themselves for second best.

That’s Pakistan who are being blown to smithereens by Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander in the second Test of three at Newlands as this is typed, by the way.

Publicly, at the very least, they've learned from the mistakes of their predecessors at the top of the pile. Since the Aussies’ inevitable wane, the Indians and the English have both planted their flags at the summit and promptly lost the plot. With the former, a cosy arrogance spilled over into laziness. With the latter, it seemed to be more a case of 'now what?'

Neither hubris nor bewilderment afflicts this squad. ‘Focussing on processes’ might have become a phrase more used sarcastically by journalists frustrated by a lack of verbal pyrotechnics from rogue players these days, but the ‘units’ created away from the limelight – and the processes on which they focus – work a charm. That is something they share with England. But they’re much more than that.

Coaches Gary Kirsten and Allan Donald constantly preach humility and the players appear unnervingly serene. Anyone wandering around Newlands before the Pakistan Test would have seen men totally at ease with their hard-earned glory. Whether it was Hashim Amla exchanging pleasantries on his way to the police-escorted minibus after training; or Robin Peterson pottering, unmarshalled, to his clapped out Vauxhall Corsa - this varied lot exude the perfect balance between relaxed and focussed.

Easy to be open and friendly when you're winning, of course. But this batch of Proteas, terrifyingly for the rest of us, carry the air of being far from finished with chewing up and spitting out the rest of the world.

One blot on the landscape could be that of succession. Graeme Smith has been the finest leader of men on a cricket field in years. Reaching an incredible 100th Test at the helm of his country today, he has been supreme for a decade and could be forgiven for basking in the rewards and platitudes that now flow his way.

Having signed a three-year contract to captain Surrey in the English County Championship, he has also mentioned his inclination to see out time at the crease without the responsibility of leading his nation. This should be a couple of years away for the 32-year-old, though. After all, series against India and Australia lurk on the horizon and English fans in particular need no reminder of his arguably unmatched determination.

Other concerns bubble beneath the surface, including the apparent lack of ‘the next Steyn’. But how are you meant to replicate a freak like him anyway? Also, game as Peterson is, the Proteas have still never had a top class spinner but, hey, the great West Indians never needed one. Indeed, it’s a discipline effectively rendered unnecessary by Philander and Morkel and Steyn providing a battery of strengths. Opposing batsmen are simply unable to settle be it against mesmerising accuracy, rising bounce or outright genius. A tour to the subcontinent appears the only way to truly test that theory.

Jacques Kallis may well be the greatest cricketer ever. Smith, Amla and AB de Villiers are outstanding with the bat and the bowling attack needs no further commendation. Are South Africa lucky to have this number of players capable of topping the world peaking in the same era? In part, perhaps, but they are making it count like no one else has.

By @sofa_maxb

Happy New Year, Sofragettes!

In 2012 English cricket was variously trampled upon by the Olympics, rain, Euro 2012 football, rain, South Africans and rain. But, revived by a first Test series win in India since 1984/5, we’re all settled on the Sofa for a supercharged 2013.

Starting the year in our brand new, top secret Sofa Towers - we begin our *Peter Davison phase, in Dr Who terms, bloodied but unbowed after our Tardis took an eye-opening buffeting from certain quarters late last year.

To briefly further torture the metaphor: Can members of the Test Match Special team climb stairs?

Anyway, everything is building up to the delicious prospect of back-to-back Ashes series against a Mitchell Johnson-inspired Australia.

Oh yes, joy and rapture for England fans as Mitch is back in the Aussie shake-up after his spell in the wilderness. Their unfortunate habit of breaking pace bowlers every three games or so, however, means he'll probably be knackered again, one way or another, by the first Test at Trent Bridge in July.

That's not all from Down Under. Man in a giant mouse costume, Phil 'caught Guptill, bowled Martin' Hughes has also found a way back in to a side still struggling to settle with any permanence since arguably the greatest Test team in history began to disband in 2006. And who is to blame a bit of trial-and-error rebuilding? Following those Harlem Globetrotters is a nightmare task in anyone’s book.

In the midst of this excitement, Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey have also decided that enough is enough this winter - and that no more Baggy-Green defiling Ashes defeats are necessary on their career statistics.

All that - and the wittering that goes with it - lies ahead, but there's plenty to whet the appetite before then.

Two series against ailing New Zealand come first for England, but not before traipsing back out to India for a five-match ODI series this month which is not without intrigue of its own.

Kevin Pietersen is back, re-integration complete, while Joe Root makes the squad for the first time after making his Test and T20 debuts with soothing assurance in the pre-Christmas leg of the tour.

India, by contrast, are in a tailspin after the Test series defeat and their ongoing 50-over humiliation by Pakistan, again on home soil. Whatever happens, a repeat of the 5-0 hammering doled out to England in the autumn of 2011 should exist only in the dreams of the wildest Indian Superfan. And Glenn McGrath.

We’re live and unexclusive throughout 2013 for ball-after-ball coverage and the usual interactive, organised(ish) chaos - starting with India v England in the first ODI on Friday January 11th at 6.15am GMT.

So, listeners old, new and even Australian - tune in and tweet us @testmatchsofa with whatever you like - whether we're on air or not - and make the conversation your own.

*The stage of Dr regeneration was sold as fact to the writer by dribbling Whovian, @sofa_dan.

@sofa_maxb

Ignore the tortured, Sandy Denny-inspired headline - England now have two coaches to go with their three on-field captains, as Ashley Giles takes over the stewardship of the ODI and T20 sides from Andy Flower with immediate effect.

Giles is just the man to work alongside the clapped-out team director Flower as the England coaching load is shared: Calculating, obdurate... and successful on the domestic scene at just 39-years-old. 

Since retiring from combat in 2007, the man unflatteringly likened to a wheelie bin in the outfield by Test Match Special’s Henry Blofeld has since ridden Warwickshire of rubbish, leading the Bears to the County Championship and a last-ball defeat at Lord’s in a humdinger of a CB40 final last summer.

Taking on the top job with the limited-overs sides he will ultimately be answerable to Flower, yet trusted to work both squads under his own intuition and shape them in his own image – similar as that may turn out to be to the Zimbabwean. 

Indeed, as England often use pyjama cricket to blood new talent from the County circuit, well travelled selector Giles is arguably in a far better position to make initial judgements than Flower has ever been. At the very least, he will be communicating more closely than ever before with the head honcho and, ideally, generating a tighter bond between the international squads and their domestic breeding ground.

Time may also now be there for Flower to join Geoff Miller in roaming from Taunton to Chester-le-Street throughout the summer and, if that is the case, who is to say his undoubtedly calculated findings wouldn’t benefit the English system for years after his complete departure?

There is no criticism of Flower intended here. After succeeding Peter Moores and kicking on from where countryman Duncan Fletcher left off, he has given absolutely everything to the pursuit of global domination. In the Test arena at least, he hovers on the brink of making it a reality.

He is a man working at his limit and, unlike others less intelligent or more egomaniacal, Flower has recognised the need to share the burden in order to prolong his life in the role and further safeguard his legacy. England are privileged to have a man at the helm who sees the need to put others ahead of his own headlines.

These two could form something of a dream team in the time Flower has left. Giles offers the continuity of a man in touch with the demands of present day, isotonic fluid-swilling Team England and gives the main man time to hop off the treadmill this winter, fully refreshed for the big carrot of tantalising back-to-back Ashes series.

Whilst being ‘in touch’, particularly with more senior members of the squad, the King of Spain now has enough distance from the injury-addled end of his playing days to hold a more intelligent, detached perspective than someone fresh out of the dressing room.

Could his first assignment be any tougher? Not really. England have not won a One Day match in India since 2006 and were battered 5-0 there last year by Virat Kohli et al. 

Only Steven Finn really came home with his reputation enhanced from that tour and Giles needs the Tamsin Greig-alike fit and firing for a 50-over side still very much in their development stage, despite going on to thrash Pakistan in the Emirates later that winter.

It’s hardly wild speculation to suggest this is part of a broader succession plan. Giles has been earmarked for a while in the dusty corridors of the ECB’s ivory tower as Flower 2.0 – just as Alastair Cook served an apprenticeship as Andrew Strauss’ right-hand man before taking the gig at the end of last summer.

Not an appointment to set the pulses racing, perhaps, and ostensibly doesn’t bring any wildly new ideas to the England set up, but it certainly doesn’t set any alarm bells ringing for us carping from Sofas on the sidelines, either.

Continued, steady progress. A hallmark of Flower that we would be daft to do away with.

The ICC World T20 starts today in Hambantota. As a format for a worldwide tournament it has no superior in either cricket or any other sport. Eighteen days of furious action in which pretty much every game will have something riding on it has the capacity to restore cricket to the front pages of sports sections after a pretty dismal English summer.

Sub-continental fans may argue that cricket never went away, but in the former powerhouses of England, Australia and the West Indies there hasn’t been much to cheer about. That could all change over the next few weeks as a uniquely wide open competition promises to deliver excitement, close finishes, and plenty of staring at the skies in a desperate attempt to keep the regular October monsoon at bay.

The shortest format of the game increases the likelihood of upsets, and with Afghanistan and Ireland seasoned practioners at T20 the opportunity for someone to make a name, and maybe a big franchise contract in the IPL, Big Bash or even some as yet unconfirmed US All Stars World and Universe Series Melee, beckons.

It is a widely held belief that this fourth edition of the ICC World T20 is the most wide open yet. But I’m going to stick my neck out and predict that Zimbabwe, Ireland, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and New Zealand don’t have it in them to make it through to the knock out stages.

The holders England are thought to be in turmoil with problems off the field and a poor record on the sub-continent. But the loss of Kevin Pietersen may well be no more significant than the continued absence of Marcus Trescothick who could genuinely have challenged Chris Gayle as the undisputed king of T20 had his health not kept him out of international cricket for the last six years. In Alex Hales, Johnny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan and Joss Butler they have enough power up the order to set challenging totals. Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach could yet prove the most potent new ball pair around.

The problem for England lies in their approach. It is no coincidence that their ODI and T20 matches over the last year have almost all been walk overs by one side or the other. The batsmen are encouraged to play without fear which sounds fine, but tends to result it either match winning totals or pitiful collapses. They won’t retain their trophy but they have it in them to make the semi-finals.

Australia find themselves vying with Ireland for 9th spot in the rankings, but Hussey and Warner are formidable and experienced players. Who could forget Hussey’s dismantling of Pakistan in the semi-final of the last tournament? In addition, they have excellent potential in the seam bowling department. Mitchell Starc is a T20 star on the verge of enormous riches and Cummins is genuinely rapid. But they have no spin bowlers and unless Warner fires repeatedly they won’t make the semis.

South Africa should challenge but we say that every time. Amla, Kallis and De Villiers may be the modern day answer to the three W’s, while Steyn and Morkel know their own games inside out, but I don’t think they know their best combinations elsewhere in the team and de Villiers may just be a little too inexperienced to captain his side to victory.

For me the winners will come from either West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or India. Sri Lanka have four star performers in Dilshan, Sangakarra, Malinga and Jayawardene. Mahela had an astounding tournament last time out in the Caribbean. He was the only batsmen to master the slow, tedious surface in Guyana and at home I expect him to play more than one match winning innings. With support from Mathews the Lankans could spring a surprise.

Pakistan possess in Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal the two most effective T20 bowlers around. It pains me to repeat the cliché, but they are the most unpredictable side in world cricket, at least in limited overs formats. As long as they pin none of their hopes on the increasingly pointless Shahid Afridi, however, they could make the final. Or they may crash out in horrendous circumstances way before then.

Which leaves as serious contenders India and the West Indies. A lot of smart money is being put on the Windies. Trinidad & Tobago have impressed hugely at the Champions League and with Pollard, Narine and both Bravos supporting the magnificent Chris Gayle they have the chance to make T20 their own. But counting against them is a recent history of failure. Can they make it over the line? I’d love it if they did, but last ditch heartbreak looks more likely.

So, India. India, India superpower. We all know everything there is to know about this side packed with multi-millionaire superstars. What is more sensual than Sehwag playing a front foot cut for six over cover, or Kohli placing his sweetly timed drives and flicks past the agonized outstretched arms of humiliated infielders spitting the unforgiving Sri Lankan dust from their mouths? They have spinners to die for, a wicket keeper batsman who likes nothing better than a perfectly orchestrated last gasp run chase and Zaheer Khan. It was arguably the left armer Ryan Sidebottom who made the most significant bowling contribution in the Caribbean for England. Left armers have been winning T20 matches around the world for their teams, and in the final reckoning I expect a mop topped, snarling Zaheer to snatch victory from the distraught Windians. By one run. Off the last ball.

You can catch every ball of every game (with the exception of Australia v Ireland and South Africa v Zimbabwe) live on www.testmatchsofa.com starting today (September 17th) with Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at 1445BST.