A Familiar Pattern

Three debutants for England and an unchanged side for Australia. But perhaps the biggest surprise was the exclusion of Joe Root. Perhaps Carberry was told he had one more chance - now he might only one have one last innings left to save his place as he failed to trouble the scorers just before the end of play.

England might have thought there luck has changed when they won the toss on a green looking top and had no hesitation in sending Australia in to bat. At 97/5 things were looking good for the visitors but we've been here before. In came Brad Haddin and as he's done all series, proved a thorn in the English flesh. Haddin was eventually dismissed for a sparkling 75 but Steve Smith carried on and completed his 2nd century of the tour.

Yet again Ben Stokes impressed, following his hundred up from the previous test with 6 wickets in this innings. If England can take one positive back with them it will be his performance. Now we're eager to see how the other debutants perform in this match. Rankin impressed in his first over getting sharp bounce which prompted the question once more, "Why was he on the sideline when they played at the WACA?" But he looked at man out of form, out of depth or lack of match practice before leaving the field with what looked like a hamstring injury.

Borthwick didn't cause the batsmen too many headaches neither as the Aussies clearly decided to be positive against him, but he did at least pick up the wicket of Johnson, albeit from one too many aggressive strokes. He did however at times generate sharp turn and bounce - and of course this being on day 1. Australia were all out for 326 at a healthy run rate of 4 an over.

The big test now is whether England can pile on the runs, get a lead and maybe provide an opportunity for Borthwick to become a hero in the second innings. Maybe this will be the day that KP comes off and score a big hundred! Or are we about to witness yet another far too familiar story, where England get skittled out having had the hosts in serious trouble before halfway through day 1 themselves? England finished  the day on 8/1.

Can England avoid a whitewash?

If you'd said to me two months ago that England will be going into the final test at Sydney, starting in a few hours' time, on the verge of a series whitewash, I would have said "get real"!

But it will take either a very brave or stupid man to bet against it being the outcome in 5 days' time or perhaps even a lot sooner. England seems to be in disarray at the moment. It often ends up being the visiting team though. Trott went home soon after arriving on the Australian shores, Swann quit halfway through, Prior, the vice-captain, got dropped, Cook, the captain, is in desperate need of runs, although he's not the only one and the list of problems just goes on and on.

We might well see a few changes in the lineup today. There are talks of Monty struggling with an injury which may well make room for Scott Borthwick. That won't harm the batting lineup and might be a welcoming addition for a team struggling to score 400.

Will we see Boyd Rankin make his debut and wouldn't it be rather ironic if he ends up doing well on a wicket probably least suited to him on this tour? There might even be room for Gary Ballance which could mean 3 debutants for England! Who would have thought! Australia on the other hand might actually go in to the test with the same 11 that started every single test this series, for the first time in their history.

Whatever the outcome of this 5th and final test, England need to regroup. One often forgets the credit due to a team responsible for another's failures, in this case Australia. It wasn't all that long ago when they, themselves, were in a mess and every non Australian thoroughly enjoyed every defeat they suffered. But they stuck with their players and today they're reeping the rewards. 

It will be interesting to see whether England do the same or whether a lot of changes get made. One thing is sure, Swann and Trott's absence, should he not return, will leave a big hole in a team who wasn't all that long ago No.1 in the world.

No Cape Town New Year's Test

Cape Town without a New Year's test is a bit like Christmas in England without a turkey. As most us enjoyed the best part of a week feasting on the latter or reached a stage two days after Christmas of having had enough turkey sandwiches for a year, the same can't be said about the cricket loving public, not only in South Africa but around the world.

How is it possible that the best supported test match of the year in SA get scrapped off the calendar like leftover breadcrumbs? How can the ICC allow it? South Africa was meant to host India in the 3rd Test, but the series was shortened to two tests only due to India's request. 

As mentioned in my previous blog, attendances aren't great during the longer version of the game in SA, but not only does the New Year Test attract huge crowds at Newlands, it's also a long standing tradition.

Why should the ICC allow this? Is it helping the survival of Test Cricket? Would any other country have gotten away with it or does the Indian Cricket Board control the ICC. It does make you wonder since they also have a say in refusing to accept DRS to be used when they're playing. Again, the ICC allows them to have the final say!

How can the ICC have one set of rules for 9 test playing nations, and another set when the 10th member is involved? No surprise then that some question whether ICC actually still stands for International Cricket Council or something else.

Take nothing away from Indian Cricket. They're blessed with highly talented players, both present and past, have enjoyed great success on the field, became no.1 in the world in the short and longer format of the game, crowned world champions and brought us the IPL! But other countries including Australia, South Africa, England and the West Indies have all enjoyed spells of dominance through the years.

It remains a great shame that a tour so closely contested between the two best sides in the world should not be over 3 tests or even more. Who knows, if it was, maybe SA would have had a world record test run chase behind their names today.

The Future of Test Cricket

Test cricket seems to be forever under the microscope these days and the question always on the lips of most cricket lovers is "Will this format of the game survive?". One-day cricket began to have an impact on the number of spectators being drawn through the gates of the 5 day format many years ago, but it was the introduction of the 20/20 format which perhaps holds the biggest threat.

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Kerry Packer, the Australian media tycoon started the World Series of Cricket back in 1977. Amazing to think this was 36 years ago now - I was only just born but I grew up falling in love with the sport, appreciating that the real test was contested over 5 days. I still even remember players having a rest day in the middle of the contest. Those were the days.

Who could ever forget the 1992 World Cup down under?! Kepler Wessels, my idol at the time, leading the South Africans out in their first tournament after isolation and beating the hosts and favourites by 9 wickets in their opening game. Rather appropriate perhaps that Wessels should be named man of the match after returning to the shores of the country he represented while South Africa was in isolation before returning to his country of birth shortly before these sanctions were lifted. South Africa seemed to cruise through the competition until rain halted their chase in the semi-final against England and only a bizarre ruling meant that they were left with the impossible task of needing 22 runs with one ball required. South Africa's luck unfortunately never changed in any of the following World Cups.

Then came what many described as a cricket circus. 20/20 cricket. It ended up providing an injection of fresh energy to a game in danger of dying out in some parts of the test playing world, not least South Africa and the West Indies, two power houses of the game during the previous century. People were sceptical of the fact that it would ever take off and saw it as a waste of time and something that would just interfere with the tour schedule. "There certainly wouldn't be any room for spin bowlers in such a short format of the game!" WRONG!!! 20/20 cricket provided everything the sport needed. It sold the game to families, people packed the stadiums, spinners play a vital role and perhaps best of all, it developed players' techniques and style in a way which might cause W.G. Grace to turn in his grave today. These skills have been taken in to the longer version of the game and the outcome is much more exciting test cricket due to a higher scoring rate, flamboyant stroke play and more results within the 5 days. The irony I guess is that more club cricketers have played the 20/20 format of the game on a Wednesday evening than any other format longer than the One-day game, long before 20/20 was introduced on the international or county scene.

There is no doubt that stadiums get sold out whether it's the IPL, Big Bash or the Ram Slam. It brings a festive atmosphere to the ground, a family outing and it doesn't take up a whole day. But I have no doubt that Test Cricket is still well and truly alive. Nothing beats a classy hundred scored by the great Jacques Kallis or a fired up Dale Steyn charging in with a breeze behind him and a fearsome look in his eyes as he sends a delivery flying past the chin of a batsman. That tense finish during the last hour on the 5th day when all three results are still possible. We were unfortunate not to witness and be part of history a week ago when South Africa came within 8 runs of chasing down a world record target of 458. They opted for the second best result, playing out for a draw. A decision justified by them winning the next test and in doing so winning the series. This week we saw a record breaking crowd of over 90,000 at the MCG to watch a day's play at the Boxing Day Test!

I think Test cricket is still alive. The crowd still gather in some parts of the world and the quality of cricket draws others to their television sets. It's up to the ICC to ensure proper schedules are drawn and stuck to. There will always remain room for the shortest format, there'll always be an audience too which ought to provide enough revenue to stage the Tests, providing there's a sensible balance.