Meet the Team
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 240
December 2022
Spot the Ball
Glenn Maxwell – Yeah, Birthday Parties.
“We have been bowling round the clock to try to get them to declare.”
“We have been working tirelessly to introduce drinks breaks”
“No expense is being spared to get a flat outfield for all Hard-Working fielders”
. Out and About with The Professor
Whatever happened to “The Leave”? It wasn’t that long ago (…was it?) that the proper and correct response to a good length ball outside off stump, which might be doing a bit off the pitch, was to “shoulder arms” and watch the ball go harmlessly through to the ‘keeper. It could look very accomplished. You might even hear someone say: “Good leave”. I have played with more than one teammate for whom The Leave was comfortably their best shot. There were always, of course, alternatives to the full theatrical flourish; you could play the line and then just pull the bat inside at the last second, a la Banger. Another possibility was to play and miss, pull back a fraction after the ball had gone and pretend that you had left it all along…fooling precisely no one.
But The Leave has gone. It is deceased. It is a victim, like so many things in cricket, of modernity. It has gone the way of home-made thigh pads and pimply batting gloves, of metal boundary markers and (for all I know) Battenberg cake for tea. But we don’t have to search far for the culprit. We have, as we all know, three “formats” of the International game: T20, ODI and Tests. They are so different that they require different captains, different coaching staffs, and different players, employing different techniques. Except, of course, they don’t. Not, at least it seems, for England. All last summer we were getting used to the new Stokes/McCullum “positive” approach and then through October we watched our decidedly positive T20 side become World Champions. Frankly, there didn’t appear to be much variation in approach. The thought that you might play Test cricket like an extended T20 is hardly a novel one, indeed the Jason Roy experiment could be seen as an attempt to emulate David Warner’s success…or Sehwag’s, or anyone else you think fits the description. The problem – as Roy proved – is that there are slips in Test cricket and so a crash bang approach might require, at the very least, a long batting line up. Livingstone due to come in at 8 is indeed some depth in batting, but England’s approach in this Test couldn’t really be described as crash bang; nor, curiously, was it the standard mode of operation in the World Cup. There was, of course, some big hitting in that competition, and with 80-yard boundaries there had to be …although I still fail to see why the boundaries on all the grounds couldn’t (within physical limits) be the same, in the same competition. But the final was comparatively sedate, and England’s highest score in the whole competition was “only” 179. Talk of teams passing 200 proved to be a little exaggerated. What (or so it seems to me) has united the limited over and the “new” Test approach is not so much crash, nor indeed bang; it is that the players leave the ball far less often than they used to. Even if they are not looking to score, the way to show that you are being “positive” is to play every ball. I didn’t keep count (although some poor soul probably has) but I can only recall two or three times on the first day of this Test where The Leave was employed. Pope, in particular - looking more and more like a resurrected Ian Bell - went after anything wide of the off stump. No flourish, no flagging it through… just belt it. Harry Brook’s education at a state school would appear to have been glaringly deficient in that no one taught him The Leave. By the time he got to Sedbergh it was obviously too late. I thought fee-paying schools were supposed to correct the deficiencies in grammar schoolboys. Not so, if you bowl the ball to Brook he hits it. What would Jack Robertson have said?
None of this is new, however. The greatest ever rarely let the ball go by. According to Roland Perry the Australians said that if Bradman had batted as long as Hutton for his record score he would have got 700 never mind 364. It may be true, and it may also be true that the play-every-ball approach will come gloriously unstuck on a difficult pitch. This one seems about as easy as it could be, except for the odd low bounce which is unlikely to involve the slips too much. Can you play at every ball when it is seaming and swinging and going past your ears at 95mph? Who knows? If you don’t, I suspect that you might fail the “being positive” test. In any even there will doubtless be nothing from England but “positive” cricket on view for the rest of the match, and few to mourn the passing, for now at least, of The Leave.
This & That
I have always been in favour of match practice over net practice as preparation for any series but the latest version of England v Lions in Abu Dhabi looks far from pressurized cricket. England batted first on Day One and rattled up 501 from 79 overs. Jennings who has been called up to replace the sedentary Lees found himself batting at number 5 replaced by Duckett who opened. Archer bowled for the Lions but we are told that his participation with the ball would be severely restricted.
When Pope was out for 146 England had reached 331 for 5. Thereafter 170 were added from 22 overs. This is presumably very serious if the second string bowlers cannot control matters as the innings progresses. These bowlers included Ahmed the Leicestershire leg spinner who conceded 73 from just 8 overs. Inexplicably he was then elevated to the test squad. Jacks batted at number 8 and made 84 from 48 balls. None of this seems like good preparation for a test match.
When the Lions batted on Day 2 Anderson, Robinson, Leach and Overton bowled 47 overs between them but thereafter the bulk of the overs were entrusted to Jacks and Livingstone and the Lions added 48 from the final five overs of the day. The Lions had lost nine wickets by this time but still had four left as they were fielding fourteen men in their side.
The England white ball circus made much fuss about having to play a three match ODI series a few days after winning the T20 WC. Of course, it would have all been very different if Australia had won the T20 WC and England had then thrashed them in an ODI series. Apart from Malan’s innings there were no notable batting performances from the England camp. The much heralded depth is suddenly looking very thin. Roy seems to have shot his bolt whilst Vince and Billings did not grab the opportunity to press their claims. The bowling seems in better shape except for the continued poor form of Adil Rashid who is having an extended thin patch.
In South Africa the Garden Route Badgers had reached 275 for 5 against the Limpopo Impalas when Sean Whitehead joined his captain Onke Nyaku at the crease. They proceeded to add 336 without being separated with Nyaku making 201 not out and Whitehead 155 not out.
The New Zealand v India series has been a bad weather event except for the fourth match in which the Indians scored a respectable 306 for 7 from their 50 overs. In reply the Kiwis were reduced to 88 for3 but thereafter Williamson (94 not out) and Latham (145 not out) added 221unbroken to win with three overs to spare.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has become the first cricketer to hit seven sixes in one over in a limited-overs match. He broke the record in a Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final, playing for Maharashtra against Uttar Pradesh in Ahmedabad. Left-arm spinner Shiva Singh was the bowler hit for seven sixes - the fifth of which came off a no-ball, earning Gaikwad an extra delivery. The 43 runs conceded also equalled the record for most runs off an over. That record was set in Hamilton, New Zealand in 2018 by Northern Districts batters Joe Carter and Brett Hampton, who hit Central Districts' Willem Ludick for six sixes, a four and a single in an over containing two no-balls. Gaikwad scored 220 not out from 159 balls, including 16 sixes and 10 fours which helped Maharashtra to post what was actually a relatively modest 330-5 from their 50 overs.
Meanwhile in Argentina ten players were sent off as Racing Club won a Champions Trophy final that ended early because Boca Juniors had only six players on the pitch. Seven Boca players were dismissed, including two on the bench, with Racing leading 2-1 when the game was stopped. Rules state a match cannot continue if a team have fewer than seven players.
Carlos Alcaraz's 118th-minute winner in San Luis was the flash point for the major incident when he celebrated in front of the Boca fans. The Boca players surrounded him, grabbing him by the ear and throwing the ball at him. Referee Facundo Tello sent off Alcaraz along with five Boca players, including Dario Benedetto, an unused substitute, and Carlos Zambrano, who had been replaced earlier. Jonathan Galvan, an unused Racing substitute, was also shown a red card. Boca's Sebastian Villa and Racing's Johan Carbonero were dismissed in the 95th minute after an argument, while Boca's Alan Varela was shown a second yellow five minutes later.
And in Spain Gerard Pique was sent off at half time in his final match before retirement. Pique, 35, was dismissed despite being on the bench after appearing to remonstrate with the referee. He was angered by the decision to show Robert Lewandowski a second yellow card in the 31st minute. Lewandowski was dismissed for only the second time in his career after he was booked for an aerial challenge with Garcia.
You couldn’t make it up Department. A non-league goalkeeper says he was sent off for reacting to a fan who urinated in his water bottle during an FA Trophy tie. Warrington Town keeper Tony Thompson, 28, squirted the Guiseley fan after drinking from the bottle. It led to him receiving a red card an hour into Warrington's 1-0 home defeat on Saturday. The former Altrincham and Morecambe player Thompson tweeted: "I've been called many names but for someone to [urinate] in my bottle, for me to drink it and then to be told I wasn't allowed to react because I'm a player is outrageous.
Morgan Matters
The Great Man takes us through his month
After losing to Ireland and being rained off v Oz, England are close to elimination from the T20WC, but Moeen says "we've got to tell ourselves four wins and we have got the world cup"! Simon Burnton, in the G, insists that England must bat first against NZ on Tuesday. NZ are top of the group 1 table, but England are second because their run rate (though way behind NZ's) of 0.24 is easily the second best in the group because all the other four are negative!
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Imran Khan (ex-Pak PM) has been shot in the leg during a protest march in the eastern city of Wazirabad.
Gareth Batty is Surrey's "new" head coach after leading them to the Championship title while doing the job "on an interim basis".
T20WC: any sort of win for England over SL tomorrow (in Sydney at 8.00am GMT) will take them through to the semis. Adelaide: Oz struggled to beat Afghan by 4 runs and NZ beat Ire by 35.
T20WC Sydney: SL 141-8 (Nissanka 67, Wood 3-26) Eng 144-6 (19.4) Hales 47 off 30, Stokes 42* off 36, England by 4 wkts and go through to the semis, where they are likely to play India, who play the Zims tomorrow. D Malan picked up a groin injury and is doubtful for the semi-final. SA are out after losing to the Netherlands by 13 runs.
Rs had a dismal 0-1 home defeat to WBA, who are next to bottom. Next up are Huddersfield on Tuesday, who actually ARE bottom... they couldn't lose this one as well... could they?
J Bairstow has given a "pep talk" to Eddie Jones's England RU team: "he was fantastic" said Eddie.
Sri Lanka's Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged with sexual assault on a woman on their first date in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Later Gunathilaka was suspended for rape. SL are enquiring into more "incidents" alleged to have taken place during the T20WC.
D Malan is unlikely to be fit for England's T20WC semi-final on Thur. P Salt is the likely replacement unless they go for an extra bowler like Willey, Jordan or Mills.
Rs had a disastrous 1-2 loss at home to rock bottom Huddersfield, despite taking the lead after 2 mins... and have slipped to 6th in the table.
T20WC semi-final: NZ 152-4 (Mitchell 53*, Williamson 46) Pakistan 153-3 (Rizwan 57, Babar 53) won at a canter by 7 wkts. Eng play tomorrow.
The England team is Buttler, Hales, Salt, Stokes, Brook, Moeen, Livingstone, Curran, Woakes, Jordan and Rashid. England won the toss, chose to bowl first and restricted the Indians to 168-6 (Pandya 63, Jordan 3-43) and Eng strolled it by 10 wkts. They needed only 16 overs to reach 170-0 (Buttler 80* off 49 with 3 sixes and Hales 86* off 47 with 7 sixes) to win by 10 wkts with four overs to spare. This must have been one of their most convincing wins ever in T20: should I start taking it seriously? Eoin says England were "mind-blowingly good". The final is on Sunday.
The T20 World Cup final will be shown live on C4 on Sunday (13/11), dunno what time it will start though. Mark Wood is struggling to be fit for the final.
Rules are being changed re the Men's T20 Cup Final in Melbourne. With plenty of showers forecast for both Sunday and Monday, 2 hours have been added to allow play to continue late into Monday evening.
T20 World Cup Final: Pak 137-8 (S Curran 3-12, Livingstone ct 3) England 138-5 (Stokes 52*) off 19 overs and won by 5 wkts. Campiones del Mondo! I wish I could be a bit more enthusiastic really. S Curran was the T20WC's Player of the Tournament.
Glenn Maxwell (Oz) will miss the ODI series v England after breaking his leg at a friend's birthday party... great party!
The G is the Newspaper of the Year according to the Football Supporters Association.
England's first Test in Pak for 17 years could be set to move from Rawalpindi to Karachi because of political unrest. England have a training camp in UAE, then fly to Pak on 26/11 and the location of the first Test needs to be agreed soon as it is due to start on 1/12.
Alex Hales has been "reprimanded" (but not actually punished) "for a historical social media post that showed him appearing in blackface".
First ODI Adelaide: Eng 287-9 (D Malan 134 off 128, A Zampa 3-55, P Cummins 3-62) but nobody else got more than D Willey's 34* at no 9 and (Oz 291-4) strolled it by 6 wkts with more than 3 overs to spare (D Warner 86, S Smith 80*, T Head 69). In the G, Geoff Lemon praised Malan's effort saying it was one of his best innings. The England team was a fairly strange looking Roy, Salt, Malan, Vince, Billings, Buttler, Dawson, Jordan, Willey, Wood and Stone. None of the England bowling figures were especially impressive with Stone's 10-1-50-0 the most economical.
Former England seamer Jon Lewis (16 caps across all 3 formats) is the new head coach of England women. He is adamant that having no experience of women's cricket will not prove a barrier to success.
IPL: Pat Cummins and Alex Hales have withdrawn from the 2023 tournament.
Oz clinched the 2nd ODI v England by 72 runs @ Sydney: Oz 280-8 (S Smith 94, Labuschagne 58, M Marsh 50, Rashid 3-57) England 208 a/o. England were 0-2 in the first over and never recovered despite Billings (71) and Vince (60) putting on 122 for the 4th wicket. Zampa 4-45, Starc 4-47.
Pakistan pace bowler Shaheen Afridi is out of the England Test series through injury and has also now undergone appendix surgery.
Middlesex seamer Max Harris (21) has signed a one-year contract extension: if he is any good he should get a longer contract than that!
The G has a long article on Essex seamer Sam Cook who is now trying to make sure that he gets his chance in the Tests against Pak.
The Napier T20 was declared a tie when NZ's 160 a/o (Conway 59, Phillips 54, A Singh 4-37, Siraj 4-17) was apparently matched by India's 75-4 off 9.
Melbourne ODI: Oz 355-5 off 48 (Head 152, Warner 102, Stone 4-85) England 142 a/o (Zampa 4-31). DLS thinks that Oz won by 221 and it was certainly a thumping victory. The MCG was described as being "empty" and "deserted"!
Former Sussex and Eng allrounder Luke Wright has been appointed England's men's selector. He will take on the role in March after completing his coaching job with Auckland and he will be responsible for squad and team selections for the senior teams, the Lions and the Young Lions. This role was abolished by A Giles but has been reintroduced by men's cricket managing director R Key. Several players (and others) are complaining about England’s packed playing schedule and are saying that things have to change
Kandy ODI: Afghan 294-8 (Zidran 106 off 120, Gurbaz 53, Rahmat 52) SL 192-6 off 31 (Nissanka 85) need 103 from 19... and they did not make it, a/o for 234 (de Silva 66, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4-49) Afghan by 60.
The December Cricketer tells us that:
England's "spin guru" Jeetan Patel apparently believes he has the players who can take the game to Pakistan: Leach (with whom Patel has apparently "struck up a close bond") is the only specialist spinner with any Test caps (29), Rehan Ahmed may also be a specialist but he is 18 years old and is three matches into his career while the other two "spinners" are batsmen Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone!
England will play an "aggressive brand of cricket" in the 3 Test series in Pakistan says coach B McCullum.
Glasgow Rangers have stolen "our" Rangers manager Mick Beale "undoubtedly one of the most sought after young managers in British football" and who was previously assistant coach to Steven Gerrard at Glasgow Rangers.
B Stokes has announced that he will donate his three match fees from the Pakistan Test series to the Pakistan flood appeal.
Shoaib Akhtar tells us that "had I stayed fit I would have been the greatest ever" (braggard?).
Azeem Akhtar is the new chair of Essex, succeeding chief exec John Stevenson who has served as interim chair since the resignation of John Faragher in November '21.
The G tells us that Marcus Rashford's 2nd strike v Wales brought up England's century of WC finals goals and lifted him among the nation's greats who have scored the most: 10 G Lineker, 6 H Kane, 5 G Hurst, 4 R Charlton and M Owen, 3 D Beckham, S Gerrard, R Hunt, N Lofthouse, D Platt and M Rashford.
T10 Matters
The T10 from Abu Dhabi has looked a better bet than the poor-quality fare on offer from the World Cup in Qatar. This is the sixth version of this tournament and this time it features three back-to-back matches each day. This isn’t as overwhelming as it perhaps sounds since in total there are only just over half the overs of an ODI.
It would be easy to imagine that such an event would feature old lags and a sprinkling of fresh faced youths but it is attracting players from across the spectrum. The only constraint on availability appears to be any clashing with international series. England has a test series starting later this week but I have already noticed the following participating: Alex Hales, James Vince, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adil Rashid, Tom Helm, George Garton, Adam Lyth, Adam Rossington, Dawid Malan, Dan Lawrence, Ross Whitely, Olly Stone, James Fuller, Adam Hose, Joe Clarke, Luke Fletcher, Benny Howell, Tom Banton, Moeen Ali, Jordan Cox, Sam Cook, Lewis Gregory, Jake Lintott and the hapless Jason Roy who still can’t find a score. Oh yes and Eion Morgan is also playing and has played two match winning innings.
The West Indian big hitters seem to all be present and there are a staggering number of them even without Chris Gayle. This lot guarantees some endless ball fetching: Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Sherfane Rutherford, Rahkeem Cornwall, Evin Lewis, Kennar Lewis, Odean Smith, Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran, Johnson Charles, Brandon King, Andre Fletcher and Shimron Hetmyer. The smallest and slightest of these, Nicholas Pooran, had been the most successful of this bunch until Rovman Powell saw his side home with 76 not out from 28 balls in an innings which included nine sixes.
Most of the veterans are in the coaches enclosure but Harbhajan Singh turned out for the Delhi Bulls. Budgie, who played in the last century, is now 63.
The highest team score this year is 140. Morgan with 87 not out, Iftikhar 83 not out from 30 balls and Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 82 not out from 33 balls are the highest individual scores.TK-C also has the highest score, 96, in the history of the event. Luke Fletcher bowler the final over of Match nineteen with the Delhi Bulls requiring 39 to win. Tim David hit the final four balls for six. Earlier on that day Jordan Cox pulled off one of the greatest outfield catches of all time. The ball was hit hard to his right at Mid-on, he sprinted to his right dived full length and clung on to ball a yard to his right and behind him.
The commentators include the ebullient twins Danny Morrison and Graeme Swan and I was a little surprised to hear Nick Compton with them. It is always hard to assess the quality of the wickets but the bowlers seem to be getting the upper hand. Anyone who uses pace gets clobbered but the “pace off” boys seem to be very hard to hit.
Each bowler, in theory, gets only twelve balls per match but most of them have found extra ways to stay in the limelight by bowling wides. In the Delhi Bulls innings the Deccan Gladiators conceded 17 wides but I suppose they thought that this was justified as they were in the process of successfully defending 140.
The dot ball stat is used a lot in this format and I suspect we will hear a lot more of it in all formats of white ball cricket. Alex Lees had better hope that it is not referenced in red ball cricket.
A feature of this tournament is the stumps and bails. Whilst bowling Andre Russell hit the base of the stump quite hard but the bails were not dislodged. In a separate match Jason Roy played on only to watch hit the base of the stump and the bails to remain in place. This feature of modern white ball cricket will have to be addressed. Apparently, the technology embedded in the stumps and bails to facilitate their tasteful flashing is quite heavy and therefore requires more than traditional dislodging.
Alvin Nienow
I heard the sad news from Bob Peach that Alvin Nienow had died recently. Alvin was a very big figure in the academic scientific world as well as being a more than useful cover point. His family were inundated with communications from across the world and decided to hold a small and private funeral. It is anticipated that a memorial and celebration of his life will be held in due course. In the meantime, I would welcome any reminiscences and tributes and will print them in the next edition.
Barnet Matters
Umair Ali is a Pakistani who plays for the UAE. He has inexplicably dyed his closely cropped hair an orangey pink. His head looks like an unlikely paint swatch for Dulux.
Marc Cucurella, the expensive Chelsea reserve full back, has shoulder length curly black hair. He looks quite ridiculous on a football pitch, would be more at home in a second rate 70’s rock band and could easily double up as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Kalvin Phillips appears to have spent his entire recuperation period since injury in a range of hairdressers in Manchester who have each attempted to impose their own style on him. None have succeeded and the result is a bigger debacle than before.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
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James Sharp
Broad Lee House
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tiksha@btinternet.com
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 240
December 2022
Spot the Ball
- Interviewer: That looks nasty. Have you boys been following dangerous pursuits?
Glenn Maxwell – Yeah, Birthday Parties.
- The ECB have appointed anew coach to cover interviewing techniques when players and officials are being hounded by the media. Here are some of the responses they have been taught to use:
“We have been bowling round the clock to try to get them to declare.”
“We have been working tirelessly to introduce drinks breaks”
“No expense is being spared to get a flat outfield for all Hard-Working fielders”
. Out and About with The Professor
Whatever happened to “The Leave”? It wasn’t that long ago (…was it?) that the proper and correct response to a good length ball outside off stump, which might be doing a bit off the pitch, was to “shoulder arms” and watch the ball go harmlessly through to the ‘keeper. It could look very accomplished. You might even hear someone say: “Good leave”. I have played with more than one teammate for whom The Leave was comfortably their best shot. There were always, of course, alternatives to the full theatrical flourish; you could play the line and then just pull the bat inside at the last second, a la Banger. Another possibility was to play and miss, pull back a fraction after the ball had gone and pretend that you had left it all along…fooling precisely no one.
But The Leave has gone. It is deceased. It is a victim, like so many things in cricket, of modernity. It has gone the way of home-made thigh pads and pimply batting gloves, of metal boundary markers and (for all I know) Battenberg cake for tea. But we don’t have to search far for the culprit. We have, as we all know, three “formats” of the International game: T20, ODI and Tests. They are so different that they require different captains, different coaching staffs, and different players, employing different techniques. Except, of course, they don’t. Not, at least it seems, for England. All last summer we were getting used to the new Stokes/McCullum “positive” approach and then through October we watched our decidedly positive T20 side become World Champions. Frankly, there didn’t appear to be much variation in approach. The thought that you might play Test cricket like an extended T20 is hardly a novel one, indeed the Jason Roy experiment could be seen as an attempt to emulate David Warner’s success…or Sehwag’s, or anyone else you think fits the description. The problem – as Roy proved – is that there are slips in Test cricket and so a crash bang approach might require, at the very least, a long batting line up. Livingstone due to come in at 8 is indeed some depth in batting, but England’s approach in this Test couldn’t really be described as crash bang; nor, curiously, was it the standard mode of operation in the World Cup. There was, of course, some big hitting in that competition, and with 80-yard boundaries there had to be …although I still fail to see why the boundaries on all the grounds couldn’t (within physical limits) be the same, in the same competition. But the final was comparatively sedate, and England’s highest score in the whole competition was “only” 179. Talk of teams passing 200 proved to be a little exaggerated. What (or so it seems to me) has united the limited over and the “new” Test approach is not so much crash, nor indeed bang; it is that the players leave the ball far less often than they used to. Even if they are not looking to score, the way to show that you are being “positive” is to play every ball. I didn’t keep count (although some poor soul probably has) but I can only recall two or three times on the first day of this Test where The Leave was employed. Pope, in particular - looking more and more like a resurrected Ian Bell - went after anything wide of the off stump. No flourish, no flagging it through… just belt it. Harry Brook’s education at a state school would appear to have been glaringly deficient in that no one taught him The Leave. By the time he got to Sedbergh it was obviously too late. I thought fee-paying schools were supposed to correct the deficiencies in grammar schoolboys. Not so, if you bowl the ball to Brook he hits it. What would Jack Robertson have said?
None of this is new, however. The greatest ever rarely let the ball go by. According to Roland Perry the Australians said that if Bradman had batted as long as Hutton for his record score he would have got 700 never mind 364. It may be true, and it may also be true that the play-every-ball approach will come gloriously unstuck on a difficult pitch. This one seems about as easy as it could be, except for the odd low bounce which is unlikely to involve the slips too much. Can you play at every ball when it is seaming and swinging and going past your ears at 95mph? Who knows? If you don’t, I suspect that you might fail the “being positive” test. In any even there will doubtless be nothing from England but “positive” cricket on view for the rest of the match, and few to mourn the passing, for now at least, of The Leave.
This & That
I have always been in favour of match practice over net practice as preparation for any series but the latest version of England v Lions in Abu Dhabi looks far from pressurized cricket. England batted first on Day One and rattled up 501 from 79 overs. Jennings who has been called up to replace the sedentary Lees found himself batting at number 5 replaced by Duckett who opened. Archer bowled for the Lions but we are told that his participation with the ball would be severely restricted.
When Pope was out for 146 England had reached 331 for 5. Thereafter 170 were added from 22 overs. This is presumably very serious if the second string bowlers cannot control matters as the innings progresses. These bowlers included Ahmed the Leicestershire leg spinner who conceded 73 from just 8 overs. Inexplicably he was then elevated to the test squad. Jacks batted at number 8 and made 84 from 48 balls. None of this seems like good preparation for a test match.
When the Lions batted on Day 2 Anderson, Robinson, Leach and Overton bowled 47 overs between them but thereafter the bulk of the overs were entrusted to Jacks and Livingstone and the Lions added 48 from the final five overs of the day. The Lions had lost nine wickets by this time but still had four left as they were fielding fourteen men in their side.
The England white ball circus made much fuss about having to play a three match ODI series a few days after winning the T20 WC. Of course, it would have all been very different if Australia had won the T20 WC and England had then thrashed them in an ODI series. Apart from Malan’s innings there were no notable batting performances from the England camp. The much heralded depth is suddenly looking very thin. Roy seems to have shot his bolt whilst Vince and Billings did not grab the opportunity to press their claims. The bowling seems in better shape except for the continued poor form of Adil Rashid who is having an extended thin patch.
In South Africa the Garden Route Badgers had reached 275 for 5 against the Limpopo Impalas when Sean Whitehead joined his captain Onke Nyaku at the crease. They proceeded to add 336 without being separated with Nyaku making 201 not out and Whitehead 155 not out.
The New Zealand v India series has been a bad weather event except for the fourth match in which the Indians scored a respectable 306 for 7 from their 50 overs. In reply the Kiwis were reduced to 88 for3 but thereafter Williamson (94 not out) and Latham (145 not out) added 221unbroken to win with three overs to spare.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has become the first cricketer to hit seven sixes in one over in a limited-overs match. He broke the record in a Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final, playing for Maharashtra against Uttar Pradesh in Ahmedabad. Left-arm spinner Shiva Singh was the bowler hit for seven sixes - the fifth of which came off a no-ball, earning Gaikwad an extra delivery. The 43 runs conceded also equalled the record for most runs off an over. That record was set in Hamilton, New Zealand in 2018 by Northern Districts batters Joe Carter and Brett Hampton, who hit Central Districts' Willem Ludick for six sixes, a four and a single in an over containing two no-balls. Gaikwad scored 220 not out from 159 balls, including 16 sixes and 10 fours which helped Maharashtra to post what was actually a relatively modest 330-5 from their 50 overs.
Meanwhile in Argentina ten players were sent off as Racing Club won a Champions Trophy final that ended early because Boca Juniors had only six players on the pitch. Seven Boca players were dismissed, including two on the bench, with Racing leading 2-1 when the game was stopped. Rules state a match cannot continue if a team have fewer than seven players.
Carlos Alcaraz's 118th-minute winner in San Luis was the flash point for the major incident when he celebrated in front of the Boca fans. The Boca players surrounded him, grabbing him by the ear and throwing the ball at him. Referee Facundo Tello sent off Alcaraz along with five Boca players, including Dario Benedetto, an unused substitute, and Carlos Zambrano, who had been replaced earlier. Jonathan Galvan, an unused Racing substitute, was also shown a red card. Boca's Sebastian Villa and Racing's Johan Carbonero were dismissed in the 95th minute after an argument, while Boca's Alan Varela was shown a second yellow five minutes later.
And in Spain Gerard Pique was sent off at half time in his final match before retirement. Pique, 35, was dismissed despite being on the bench after appearing to remonstrate with the referee. He was angered by the decision to show Robert Lewandowski a second yellow card in the 31st minute. Lewandowski was dismissed for only the second time in his career after he was booked for an aerial challenge with Garcia.
You couldn’t make it up Department. A non-league goalkeeper says he was sent off for reacting to a fan who urinated in his water bottle during an FA Trophy tie. Warrington Town keeper Tony Thompson, 28, squirted the Guiseley fan after drinking from the bottle. It led to him receiving a red card an hour into Warrington's 1-0 home defeat on Saturday. The former Altrincham and Morecambe player Thompson tweeted: "I've been called many names but for someone to [urinate] in my bottle, for me to drink it and then to be told I wasn't allowed to react because I'm a player is outrageous.
Morgan Matters
The Great Man takes us through his month
After losing to Ireland and being rained off v Oz, England are close to elimination from the T20WC, but Moeen says "we've got to tell ourselves four wins and we have got the world cup"! Simon Burnton, in the G, insists that England must bat first against NZ on Tuesday. NZ are top of the group 1 table, but England are second because their run rate (though way behind NZ's) of 0.24 is easily the second best in the group because all the other four are negative!
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Imran Khan (ex-Pak PM) has been shot in the leg during a protest march in the eastern city of Wazirabad.
Gareth Batty is Surrey's "new" head coach after leading them to the Championship title while doing the job "on an interim basis".
T20WC: any sort of win for England over SL tomorrow (in Sydney at 8.00am GMT) will take them through to the semis. Adelaide: Oz struggled to beat Afghan by 4 runs and NZ beat Ire by 35.
T20WC Sydney: SL 141-8 (Nissanka 67, Wood 3-26) Eng 144-6 (19.4) Hales 47 off 30, Stokes 42* off 36, England by 4 wkts and go through to the semis, where they are likely to play India, who play the Zims tomorrow. D Malan picked up a groin injury and is doubtful for the semi-final. SA are out after losing to the Netherlands by 13 runs.
Rs had a dismal 0-1 home defeat to WBA, who are next to bottom. Next up are Huddersfield on Tuesday, who actually ARE bottom... they couldn't lose this one as well... could they?
J Bairstow has given a "pep talk" to Eddie Jones's England RU team: "he was fantastic" said Eddie.
Sri Lanka's Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged with sexual assault on a woman on their first date in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Later Gunathilaka was suspended for rape. SL are enquiring into more "incidents" alleged to have taken place during the T20WC.
D Malan is unlikely to be fit for England's T20WC semi-final on Thur. P Salt is the likely replacement unless they go for an extra bowler like Willey, Jordan or Mills.
Rs had a disastrous 1-2 loss at home to rock bottom Huddersfield, despite taking the lead after 2 mins... and have slipped to 6th in the table.
T20WC semi-final: NZ 152-4 (Mitchell 53*, Williamson 46) Pakistan 153-3 (Rizwan 57, Babar 53) won at a canter by 7 wkts. Eng play tomorrow.
The England team is Buttler, Hales, Salt, Stokes, Brook, Moeen, Livingstone, Curran, Woakes, Jordan and Rashid. England won the toss, chose to bowl first and restricted the Indians to 168-6 (Pandya 63, Jordan 3-43) and Eng strolled it by 10 wkts. They needed only 16 overs to reach 170-0 (Buttler 80* off 49 with 3 sixes and Hales 86* off 47 with 7 sixes) to win by 10 wkts with four overs to spare. This must have been one of their most convincing wins ever in T20: should I start taking it seriously? Eoin says England were "mind-blowingly good". The final is on Sunday.
The T20 World Cup final will be shown live on C4 on Sunday (13/11), dunno what time it will start though. Mark Wood is struggling to be fit for the final.
Rules are being changed re the Men's T20 Cup Final in Melbourne. With plenty of showers forecast for both Sunday and Monday, 2 hours have been added to allow play to continue late into Monday evening.
T20 World Cup Final: Pak 137-8 (S Curran 3-12, Livingstone ct 3) England 138-5 (Stokes 52*) off 19 overs and won by 5 wkts. Campiones del Mondo! I wish I could be a bit more enthusiastic really. S Curran was the T20WC's Player of the Tournament.
Glenn Maxwell (Oz) will miss the ODI series v England after breaking his leg at a friend's birthday party... great party!
The G is the Newspaper of the Year according to the Football Supporters Association.
England's first Test in Pak for 17 years could be set to move from Rawalpindi to Karachi because of political unrest. England have a training camp in UAE, then fly to Pak on 26/11 and the location of the first Test needs to be agreed soon as it is due to start on 1/12.
Alex Hales has been "reprimanded" (but not actually punished) "for a historical social media post that showed him appearing in blackface".
First ODI Adelaide: Eng 287-9 (D Malan 134 off 128, A Zampa 3-55, P Cummins 3-62) but nobody else got more than D Willey's 34* at no 9 and (Oz 291-4) strolled it by 6 wkts with more than 3 overs to spare (D Warner 86, S Smith 80*, T Head 69). In the G, Geoff Lemon praised Malan's effort saying it was one of his best innings. The England team was a fairly strange looking Roy, Salt, Malan, Vince, Billings, Buttler, Dawson, Jordan, Willey, Wood and Stone. None of the England bowling figures were especially impressive with Stone's 10-1-50-0 the most economical.
Former England seamer Jon Lewis (16 caps across all 3 formats) is the new head coach of England women. He is adamant that having no experience of women's cricket will not prove a barrier to success.
IPL: Pat Cummins and Alex Hales have withdrawn from the 2023 tournament.
Oz clinched the 2nd ODI v England by 72 runs @ Sydney: Oz 280-8 (S Smith 94, Labuschagne 58, M Marsh 50, Rashid 3-57) England 208 a/o. England were 0-2 in the first over and never recovered despite Billings (71) and Vince (60) putting on 122 for the 4th wicket. Zampa 4-45, Starc 4-47.
Pakistan pace bowler Shaheen Afridi is out of the England Test series through injury and has also now undergone appendix surgery.
Middlesex seamer Max Harris (21) has signed a one-year contract extension: if he is any good he should get a longer contract than that!
The G has a long article on Essex seamer Sam Cook who is now trying to make sure that he gets his chance in the Tests against Pak.
The Napier T20 was declared a tie when NZ's 160 a/o (Conway 59, Phillips 54, A Singh 4-37, Siraj 4-17) was apparently matched by India's 75-4 off 9.
Melbourne ODI: Oz 355-5 off 48 (Head 152, Warner 102, Stone 4-85) England 142 a/o (Zampa 4-31). DLS thinks that Oz won by 221 and it was certainly a thumping victory. The MCG was described as being "empty" and "deserted"!
Former Sussex and Eng allrounder Luke Wright has been appointed England's men's selector. He will take on the role in March after completing his coaching job with Auckland and he will be responsible for squad and team selections for the senior teams, the Lions and the Young Lions. This role was abolished by A Giles but has been reintroduced by men's cricket managing director R Key. Several players (and others) are complaining about England’s packed playing schedule and are saying that things have to change
Kandy ODI: Afghan 294-8 (Zidran 106 off 120, Gurbaz 53, Rahmat 52) SL 192-6 off 31 (Nissanka 85) need 103 from 19... and they did not make it, a/o for 234 (de Silva 66, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4-49) Afghan by 60.
The December Cricketer tells us that:
- the ECB has advertised for five new roles on the board; Alec Stewart has declined the chance to become Eng's new head selector and will remain as director of cricket at Surrey;
- Pak former prime minister and Test captain Imran Khan was shot four times in the leg in Wazirabad;
- Jonny Bairstow and Nat Sciver were the PCA Players of the Year;
- Wasim Akram confessed to a cocaine addiction "after his playing career";
- Adil Rashid's 60 Test wickets is more than any other legspinner has managed since the days of Tich Freeman (1924-29) and Doug Wright (1938-51);
- a team photo of Woodburn cricket team features Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Dave Gilmore and Rick Wright;
- Gary Lineker "loves Test cricket";
- Midd;esex "legend" Roland Butcher received the Freedom of the City of London in a ceremony at the Guildhall;
- Dom Sibley opted out of England Lions duty overseas to work on his own game for the second successive winter;
- George Dobell tells us that Ed Smith's book "Making Decisions" never attempts to grapple with the possibility that he lost his job because they wanted to be rid of him;
- Richard Hobson informs us that Graham Barlow's book "Better Than He Knew" avoids the trap of being sheer hagiography, but still gives it only two stars;
- Paul Weaver's obituary of Robin Marlar calls him a "uniquely splenetic but intelligent off-spinner, captain, journalist and administrator”.
- James Coyne's interview with Brian Ward reveals that after leaving Essex, Ward emigrated to South America, represented Argentina in the 1979 ICC Trophy and has lived in Uruguay for many years.
England's "spin guru" Jeetan Patel apparently believes he has the players who can take the game to Pakistan: Leach (with whom Patel has apparently "struck up a close bond") is the only specialist spinner with any Test caps (29), Rehan Ahmed may also be a specialist but he is 18 years old and is three matches into his career while the other two "spinners" are batsmen Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone!
England will play an "aggressive brand of cricket" in the 3 Test series in Pakistan says coach B McCullum.
Glasgow Rangers have stolen "our" Rangers manager Mick Beale "undoubtedly one of the most sought after young managers in British football" and who was previously assistant coach to Steven Gerrard at Glasgow Rangers.
B Stokes has announced that he will donate his three match fees from the Pakistan Test series to the Pakistan flood appeal.
Shoaib Akhtar tells us that "had I stayed fit I would have been the greatest ever" (braggard?).
Azeem Akhtar is the new chair of Essex, succeeding chief exec John Stevenson who has served as interim chair since the resignation of John Faragher in November '21.
The G tells us that Marcus Rashford's 2nd strike v Wales brought up England's century of WC finals goals and lifted him among the nation's greats who have scored the most: 10 G Lineker, 6 H Kane, 5 G Hurst, 4 R Charlton and M Owen, 3 D Beckham, S Gerrard, R Hunt, N Lofthouse, D Platt and M Rashford.
T10 Matters
The T10 from Abu Dhabi has looked a better bet than the poor-quality fare on offer from the World Cup in Qatar. This is the sixth version of this tournament and this time it features three back-to-back matches each day. This isn’t as overwhelming as it perhaps sounds since in total there are only just over half the overs of an ODI.
It would be easy to imagine that such an event would feature old lags and a sprinkling of fresh faced youths but it is attracting players from across the spectrum. The only constraint on availability appears to be any clashing with international series. England has a test series starting later this week but I have already noticed the following participating: Alex Hales, James Vince, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adil Rashid, Tom Helm, George Garton, Adam Lyth, Adam Rossington, Dawid Malan, Dan Lawrence, Ross Whitely, Olly Stone, James Fuller, Adam Hose, Joe Clarke, Luke Fletcher, Benny Howell, Tom Banton, Moeen Ali, Jordan Cox, Sam Cook, Lewis Gregory, Jake Lintott and the hapless Jason Roy who still can’t find a score. Oh yes and Eion Morgan is also playing and has played two match winning innings.
The West Indian big hitters seem to all be present and there are a staggering number of them even without Chris Gayle. This lot guarantees some endless ball fetching: Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Sherfane Rutherford, Rahkeem Cornwall, Evin Lewis, Kennar Lewis, Odean Smith, Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran, Johnson Charles, Brandon King, Andre Fletcher and Shimron Hetmyer. The smallest and slightest of these, Nicholas Pooran, had been the most successful of this bunch until Rovman Powell saw his side home with 76 not out from 28 balls in an innings which included nine sixes.
Most of the veterans are in the coaches enclosure but Harbhajan Singh turned out for the Delhi Bulls. Budgie, who played in the last century, is now 63.
The highest team score this year is 140. Morgan with 87 not out, Iftikhar 83 not out from 30 balls and Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 82 not out from 33 balls are the highest individual scores.TK-C also has the highest score, 96, in the history of the event. Luke Fletcher bowler the final over of Match nineteen with the Delhi Bulls requiring 39 to win. Tim David hit the final four balls for six. Earlier on that day Jordan Cox pulled off one of the greatest outfield catches of all time. The ball was hit hard to his right at Mid-on, he sprinted to his right dived full length and clung on to ball a yard to his right and behind him.
The commentators include the ebullient twins Danny Morrison and Graeme Swan and I was a little surprised to hear Nick Compton with them. It is always hard to assess the quality of the wickets but the bowlers seem to be getting the upper hand. Anyone who uses pace gets clobbered but the “pace off” boys seem to be very hard to hit.
Each bowler, in theory, gets only twelve balls per match but most of them have found extra ways to stay in the limelight by bowling wides. In the Delhi Bulls innings the Deccan Gladiators conceded 17 wides but I suppose they thought that this was justified as they were in the process of successfully defending 140.
The dot ball stat is used a lot in this format and I suspect we will hear a lot more of it in all formats of white ball cricket. Alex Lees had better hope that it is not referenced in red ball cricket.
A feature of this tournament is the stumps and bails. Whilst bowling Andre Russell hit the base of the stump quite hard but the bails were not dislodged. In a separate match Jason Roy played on only to watch hit the base of the stump and the bails to remain in place. This feature of modern white ball cricket will have to be addressed. Apparently, the technology embedded in the stumps and bails to facilitate their tasteful flashing is quite heavy and therefore requires more than traditional dislodging.
Alvin Nienow
I heard the sad news from Bob Peach that Alvin Nienow had died recently. Alvin was a very big figure in the academic scientific world as well as being a more than useful cover point. His family were inundated with communications from across the world and decided to hold a small and private funeral. It is anticipated that a memorial and celebration of his life will be held in due course. In the meantime, I would welcome any reminiscences and tributes and will print them in the next edition.
Barnet Matters
Umair Ali is a Pakistani who plays for the UAE. He has inexplicably dyed his closely cropped hair an orangey pink. His head looks like an unlikely paint swatch for Dulux.
Marc Cucurella, the expensive Chelsea reserve full back, has shoulder length curly black hair. He looks quite ridiculous on a football pitch, would be more at home in a second rate 70’s rock band and could easily double up as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Kalvin Phillips appears to have spent his entire recuperation period since injury in a range of hairdressers in Manchester who have each attempted to impose their own style on him. None have succeeded and the result is a bigger debacle than before.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
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