Winning but not convincing. South Africa vs England 2016

England have won a series in South Africa, yet end a successful comeback from the woes of UAE with a humbling defeat in the final test. There is nothing strange about this – sides that win a test series early, often lose the last one; Australia kept English hopes alive for years by letting us have a victory in the 6^th test. However, the manner in which this game has played out exposes old problems that England still haven’t resolved. South Africa, losers in the series, can feel like they are the ones moving forward.

Reflections on the Ashes 2013 so far from Chester-Le-Street

I was lucky enough to have very good seats for days 3 and 4 of the 4^th Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street last Sunday and Monday. It gave me a chance to assess properly how these teams are doing at the moment, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on the matter.

 

Australia

 

Kevin Pietersen

Surry vs Nottinghamshire, The Oval, Day 3 Sep 6^th 2012

 

Two balls from Fletcher. Kevin Pietersen is 9 not out. The first is a standard seam bowler’s back of a length delivery on off or middle-and-off. KP skips down the wicket to get to the pitch of the ball and, in trademark one-foot-skanking style, he on-drives with the hard crack of a thick bat, perfect timing and strong forearms to the mid-on boundary for four.

Pakistan vs England, 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi, 25th-28th Jan 2012

For the sake of the contest in the third test, it’s a shame England couldn’t finish off this test match that they had so nearly managed to win, but you can’t begrudge Pakistan a series victory after all they’ve been through recently and there’s nothing like thrashing your opponents 2-0. They’ve got a great captain in Misbah Ul-Haq, who makes all the right calls in the field and leads from the front with his batting, and even without their two incarcerated fast bowlers, their bowling attack was still too much for England’s uber-successful batting line-up. England lost chasing Pakistan’s meagre second-innings lead of 144, something they haven’t done since 1902. Obviously, as Michael Vaughan said on the BBC, “This England team has a problem against spin”.

Beyond a Boundary – C.L.R. James

What a brilliant book. What a brilliant man. Perhaps I’m particularly moved to think this because the fact of one of the 20^th century’s greatest intellectuals discussing cricket like it matters justifies all the hours I’ve wasted watching test matches and county championship games. Stylistically, however, the book is a great work of art (as James argues cricket can be too); and for those who think sport merely a distraction, there are some serious arguments that need to be dealt with. I’ll try and outline them.