Joe Root failing to convert?

One of the great things about cricket is the statistics – no matter what you’re arguing for or against, the stats don’t lie… although they’re always open to interpretation!

Coming into this Ashes series most have acknowledged that neither the Australian nor the English teams are ‘great’ sides, nor in particularly dominant form. Both have inexperienced top order batsmen and while the Aussies have the youth and intimidation in the their pace attack, in Anderson and Broad the Poms have experience and bit of guile.

So most of the focus has been on the stand-out batsmen in each side. The hosts have world number one ranked Steve Smith, backed up by David Warner. The English have Joe Root, backed up by the vastly experienced Alastair Cook. That both talismans are also leading their teams makes it even more interesting.

Smith and Root are often spoken about as two of the four leading young batsmen in the world at the moment – along with Indian skipper Virat Kohli and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. All four have played a similar number of test matches for their country and bat in the top order.

Teams’ best batsmen generally bat at 3, 4 or 5 in the order. The ability to influence the result more that others through an innings is what sets the greats aside from the very good. These innings are often hundreds, or big hundreds. Test teams that have players who are able to regularly score 100s, opposed to 50s and 60s, are the ones that are able to regularly post the runs needed to put pressure on opposition and give their bowlers something to defend.

I though it would be interesting to do a small comparison of some of the numbers of the top players at the moment, and for interest’s sake a few of the more recent batting legends of the game.

For the sake of this data I looked at runs scored batting at 3, 4 or 5 in the order.

The main thing that jumps out, with an eye on the Ashes, is Joe Root’s poor conversion rate. He goes past 50 at a similar rate to Smith – approximately 45% of all innings. (This in itself sets the two of them on another level compared to their contemporaries). However while Smith goes on to a hundred more than half of the time, Root’s conversion from 50 to 100 is just 29% – significantly lower than any on the broader list. Kohli, on the other hand, gets past 50 less frequently, but when he does his conversion to 100 is over 60%.

While England continue to rely on Root as the one to consistently turn matches their way with the bat, it is going to become more of an issue if he is not able to score the big hundreds his team needs. It’s a lot of pressure and while Steve Smith has blossomed with the burden of captaincy on him, it remains to be seen if Root with be able to do the same.

Note: Data provided by cricinfo and correct as of 26 November 2017

My Proteas’ team for the second test against Australia

This is the side I’d pick for the second test against Australia starting in Port Elizabeth tomorrow.

1. Graeme Smith
2. Alviro Peterson
3. Hashim Amla
4. AB De Villiers
5. Faf du Plessis
6. Dean Elgar
7. JP Duminy
8. Wayne Parnell
9. Vernon Philander
10. Dale Steyn
11. Morne Morkel

The Port Elizabeth pitch looks like it’ll favour the pace bowlers, so I’m happy to have JP handle a few overs of spin if required.

Parnell adds some variation being left arm and is apparently bowling at good pace at the moment. Robin Peterson should pack his test whites away.

Last chance saloon for Alviro Peterson at the top of the order. Other option may have been to have Elgar at the top of the order but I’m not keen on two left handers opening against Mitch and his mo’.

I don’t think it’s necessary to play Tsolekile in order to free AB from the gloves. They don’t seem to be holding him back and he’s the kind of player who benefits from being involved in the game.

Robin Peterson should not be playing test cricket

So the Proteas have selected their T20 squad for the Aussies and then for the T20 World Cup.

I have very little interest in T20, but felt compelled to comment on this for one simple reason. I am not a big fan of Robin Peterson as part of the current Proteas test cricket set up and believe he should not be in the team. That being said – I find it very odd that he is not included in this squad, for a version of cricket where his ‘skill set’ can actually be valuable.

Have the selectors got it really wrong here? Peterson is a decent limited overs option for South Africa. I can only hope that they’re not planning on persisting with him in the test side – inexplicably seeing that as his strongest suit.

Proteas squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

The Mitchell Johnson aura

Mitchell Johnson is the bowler of the moment in world cricket right now. Does it make him one of the greats? No of course not. Not yet. 

He’s been inconsistent in the past and needs a season or two of these type of performances to really etch his name into the history of Australian cricket. 

But one thing is for sure – there’s nobody as intimidating as Johnson right now.

Watching the last rites of a hapless Proteas performance in the first test at Centurion Park today, one thing really stood out. The Aussies are by no means a one man show. But seeing the swagger of an rather average bowler like Peter Siddle – brought on by the confidence that Johnson’s performances have given this team – further underscores his value. 

What is does also show, is that when the day comes that Johnson is not on his game, the Aussies will need to dig deep and prove that they’re an attack that benefit each other, not simply benefit from Mitch and his mo’.

Graeme Smith and the Proteas will be praying that day comes soon. At the moment it looks as though they have no answer. 

Crazy criticism of top cricketers

I am always baffled by the criticism that is levelled against some cricketers.

Jacques Kallis is the ultimate case in point. So-called fans and experts have often criticized Kallis for his ‘slow’ scoring and what they perceive as a selfish approach. When people criticize a player like Kallis for those reasons it tells you a lot about what they understand of cricket and how much they’ve bought into the ridiculous hype around twenty over cricket. He’s the greatest all round cricketer to have played the game, and purely as a batsmen would be up there with the greatest of all time.

The latest criticism that I read has been levelled at the South African born English top order batsman Jonathan Trott. This has surfaced after the third One Day International between India and England, which saw MS Dhoni’s men take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

England scored 298, which they were unable to defend thanks in no small part to the poor performances of two other South African born players, Kieswetter and Dernbach.

Trott got to the wicket  in the 4th over and finished unbeaten on 98, off 116 balls (a strike rate of 84.5). That’s a great innings. It’s a perfect performance from a number three, anchoring the innings and allowing the other batsmen the freedom to play a few strokes. If England’s bowling and fielding had been up to scratch Trott would most likely have been the Man of the Match.

There is a place for players like Trott, Kallis and Dravid in the limited overs game. When the overnight heroes who have been created by the commercialised hyperbole of 20 over cricket have drifted from our memories (as quickly as they arrived on the scene) it will be the real cricketers that we’ll remember.

Trott happens to the be the current ICC Player of the Year. By the way.

Trott averages 53.15 from 38 matches at a strike rate of just under 80 runs per 100 balls. I’ll take that in my team any time, thanks.

 

Jonathan Trott ICC Player of the Year

The International Cricket Council just dished out its annual gongs for the top achievers in the past year. South African raised English batsmen Jonathan Trott picked up the top award.

Trott’s average of 65.12 over 12 tests has helped England rise to the top of the world test rankings. While the team has not been as successful in the limited overs game during the same period, Trott has still averaged 48.36 over the 24 One Day International matches that he played. That’s over 1000 runs in each format of the game, and a well deserved award. The other players in line for the top award were team mate Alastair Cook, Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa’s hirsute Hashim Amla.

Other awards on the night:

Test Cricketer of the Year: Alastair Cook (England)

ODI Cricketer of the Year: Kumar Sangakarra (Sri Lanka)

People’s Choice Award: Kumar Sangakarra (Sri Lanka)

Spirit of Cricket Award: MS Dhoni (India) for calling back Ian Bell (A bit of a lame award if you ask me, but I supposed the ICC couldn’t get away with not giving an Indian something.)

Emerging Player: Divendra Bishoo (West Indies)

Affiliate player of the year: Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)

Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

Women cricketer of the Year: Stephanie Taylor (West Indies)

Bring on the cricket!

It would be unfair to allow India’s insipid performances to detract from England’s rise to the top of the test rankings. The English team is the finest around at the moment, as I have already chatted about in a previous post. Should we really expect anything other than the completion of the 4-0 whitewash by the end of the week?

In addition to the teams battling for the top of the ladder, the past couple of weeks have seen some equally entertaining and inspiring action at the other end of the rankings. Zimbabwe’s winning return to test match cricket has been followed up with two comfortable One Day International victories and the most successful start to an international bowler for one Brian Vitori.

With all the action taking place I am looking forward to seeing the Protea’s first cricket for the season. Captains Graeme Smith (tests) and AB de Villiers (ODI/T20) will be working under ex-India coach and Protea legend Gary Kirsten. The South African’s have a fairly short summer international itinerary but will be firmly set on overtaking India to reclaim second place on the test rankings and possibly challenging England for the top spot. It’s very disappointing that the Australians will only be playing two tests in South Africa.

However, irrespective of the rankings over the next few months you’d have to say that the real decider will have to wait until July and August 2012 when the Proteas tour England (and then move on to Australia). The England side are still getting better and it seems unlikely that they will not be top of the rankings when South Africa arrive.

Upcoming South African international cricket fixtures:

South Africa vs Australia – October/November 2011

• 2 T20s, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests

South Africa vs Sri Lanka – December 2011 / January 2012

• 3 Tests & 5 ODIs

New Zealand vs South Africa – February/March 2011

• 3 Tests, 3 ODIs & 3 T20s

Dear Tamim Iqbal

On the 7th of August 2011 – Tamim Iqbal had the following comments on the Zimbabwean opening bowlers after the fourth day of their test match, which the Bangladeshis went on to lose:

On Kyle Jarvis: “He’s just ok, nothing special.”
On Brian Vitori: “He’s ordinary.”

12 August:
Bangladesh 184 all out. Zimbabwe win by 4 wickets.
Brian Vitori: 5/30 in 10 overs.
Tamim Iqbal 4 – caught Chigumbura, bowled Vitori

14 August:
Bangladesh 188 all out. Zimbabwe win by 7 wickets.
Brian Vitori: 5/20 in 9.3 overs.
Tamim Iqbal 3 – caught Price, bowled Vitori

Dear Tamim,

If Brian Vitori is so ‘ordinary’ that doesn’t say very much for you and your fellow batsmen. Perhaps it would be better if you spent a bit more time working on your own game and dominating a few decent bowling attacks before you’re so quick to write a bowler off.

Brian Vitori is by no means a world beater yet and still has a lot to learn, especially against better opposition. But the Bangladeshi’s have a strange arrogance about the way that they play cricket, and seem to think that they’re a lot better than they actually are. Irresepective of how the rest of the series goes, hopefully the visitors will respect the game (and their opponents) a bit more in future.

Great to see the young (and not so young) Zimbabwe team really enjoying their cricket. That’s how the game should be played.

Image source: Mid-Day.com

England path to the top test spot seems assured

England’s cricketers are preparing for the third test against India after two comfortable wins against the number one ranked test team.

The third test starts on Wednesday in Birmingham and India have confirmed that Zaheer Khan, Harbajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh will play no further part in the tour. These are three big players to lose, especially for an Indian side that has looked flat so far.

There are some talented players coming into the squad but these injuries have made England’s chances of taking the top spot on the rankings much more likely. Andrew Strauss’ team will be without Jonathan Trott for the third test, as a result of his shoulder injury picked up in the field. He has been replaced by Ravi Bopara.

England need to win the series by two clear matches to move to the top of the Reliance ICC test rankings. With three big names out of the Indian side the top spot is clearly in sight and the prospects of a 4-0 whitewash are seeming more likely.

England cricket setting the test benchmark

I watched quite a bit of the 2nd England vs India test match from Trent Bridge, which was completed yesterday. England won convincingly, to take a 2-0 lead in the four match series.

India looked pretty flat and hopeless at times. Yes, they were missing Zaheer Kahn and Virender Sehwag but as mentioned in a recent post, if they’re really the best test nation in the world they should have the depth to get around that. Over the first test on a flat lifeless track at Lords and the second in good conditions for the pace and swing bowlers, India have been badly shown up.

As a South African supporter there are plenty of sideshows around the England team. From the Trott and Pieterson issues of nationality to the classic battles of the past. I believe that the Proteas can work their way to the top of the rankings in the next year or two, and was very disappointed when we weren’t able to drive home our advantage in the recent series against India.

But watching England play there is little doubt in my mind that they are the best side in the world at the moment. Of course they are not the finished article, nor do they have the aura of a side like Australia did in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. But they are playing the game with a confidence and swagger that pisses you off enough to know that they are doing something right.

They have depth too, especially in the bowling department. This is one area where India seem short and the same could be said for South Africa. If the Proteas lost Steyn and Morkel we’d be looking a bit thin.

England have four bowlers in the top 10 of the Reliance ICC Test Championship ratings: 2) Anderson 4) Swann 7) Broad and 9) Tremlett with Finn at 18 and Bresnan at 25. The fact that a guy like Tim Bresnan scored 90 in the second innings and had match figures of 7 for 98 and is likely to be dropped for the third test says a lot.

On the batting front the English captain could do with some runs but has proved his mettle in the past while his opening partner Cook can produce incredible innings or average moments. But the English middle order has shown up the heroes in the Indian middle order. Again looking at the ICC rankings, the English have Trott (4th) and Bell (5th) as well as a resurgent Pieterson (15th) and the ever improving and aggressive Prior who is now at 21 in the table. Even England’s number 9, the petulant Stuart Broad is at 44.

This gives Andy Flower the opportunity to persist with young Eoin Morgan while he finds his feet in test cricket.

The difference between England and the likes of South Africa and India at the moment seems to be the hunger and self belief that the players have. There is great competition within the team and it is bringing out the best in the players. It was a similar phenomenon that created the invincible Aussies under Steve Waugh.

Let’s hope that the Proteas’ new chapter under Gary Kirsten will put them in a position to challenge for and usurp the title of the world’s best test nation. Either way – it’s only good news for test cricket in general.

Image source: CricInfo