Broad platform for success
Surrey have an unusually busy press box for a Pro40 fixture, even though it is the last floodlight fixture in London this season.
The odd wag has been observing the finer points of the game against Gloucestershire in a loud voice but of course most people are still digesting the implications of the Ashes announcement.
Although there were no major shocks, what talk there has been has revolved around Stuart Broad.
The 20-year-old would have presented a good story, heading to Australia looking to win the Ashes 20 years after his father, opening batsman Chris, played a key role in doing the same.
Broad has certainly gained plenty of fans with his county performances, displaying bounce and accuracy.
He failed to pull up trees in his five one-day international performances against Pakistan but was arguably put under unreasonable pressure having to open the bowling in his first series.
However, Broad will still be making his way to Australia, likely to arrive in Perth on 15 November with a bulked up England Academy who will provide injury cover.
Under the directorship of Peter Moores they will take part in a 鈥渉igh-performance training camp鈥, perhaps asking Hampshire coach Paul Terry to organize some matches though his local contacts.
鈥淭he emphasis of the Academy has altered from profiling young players to getting the next-best team,鈥 said chairman of selectors David Graveney.
鈥淲ithin the group we鈥檝e got cover for most positions.鈥
Among the first-choice Ashes squad, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison are all recovering from injury.
Should any one pull out, Broad, Jon Lewis, Chris Tremlett and Durham鈥檚 Graeme Onions are fighting to be the next cab off the rank.
Anderson was not part of England鈥檚 plans at the start of the last Ashes tour but joined the one-day squad as an injury fill-in and could have played in the Sydney Test has it been a live match.
If you believe fairytales, don鈥檛 give up on this one just yet.
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nah mate - dont agree!!!
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Given that the academy is supposed to be next cab off the rank what are we to make of the selection of Tom Smith? Only a youngster yes but only bowling in the mid to high seventies. Needed a good season before being picked. I would have picked the Yorks leggies Rashid and Lawson who are developing more rapidly and are likely to be the only top class spin alternative/addition to panesar that will be ready in the next year or two.
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you take a risk on Flintoff for the ashes because he is a match winner, but to risk so many others such as Anderson, Giles, Plunkett and Harmison is a huge gamble. This reminds of the Football World Cup, We might have to have Petersen and Cook opening the bowling if we're not careful!
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I am beginning to wonder if England are going in for some mind-games. The huge fuss about some likely reserves such as Giles and Plunkett is certainly not going to make the Australian's less confident. Similarly, the very public withdrawl of Matthew Hoggard for a minor injury smacks of the same. Andrew Flintoff did not look a particularly worried man at the Oval. He's had a decent rest and looks like he is looking forward to November. Similarly, Steve Harmison will move up two or three gears when he has the Australian openers in his sights (the fact that he could injure himself by being too keen to get at the Pakistan openers again after his 7-for says a lot for his attitude).
If Jimmy Anderson does play for Glamorgan next week it does not mean that he'll be back in the Test side - in fact, it's hard to see where he'd fit in given his well-chronicled struggles in Test cricket over the last two years - but he would give England additional options.
The state of denial in Australian cricket about the reasons behind the 2005 series loss is going to be England's biggest weapon. In that series an ageing side hung on by its fingertips, mostly due to the efforts of Warne and Lee with the bat after the top order had failed time and again. The series loss was blamed on McGrath's injury, but he missed just two Tests and, a side with strength in depth should be able to get over the loss of a bowler who will be 37 before the winter tour ends. That the final result was close was mainly due to the phenomenal efforts of just two of the Australian players, but the truth is that only in the 1st Test were they really ever on top and that only after the first day.
Having players like Giles and Anderson available who are experienced international players may turn out to be a brilliant move (IF it works). It means that if there is an injury to one of the first-choice XI, England can call on a tried and trusted player to step in.
Despite that, the selectors have resisted the temptation to go back to players who have played a lot of Tests, but ultimately not delivered the sort of results that the side needs to win consistently (particularly Butcher and Ramprakhash - Butcher had barely averaged 30 in his last 15 Tests and Ramprakhash who averaged just 27.3 from *52* Tests). It doesn't matter how good their county returns have been in 2006, it would be suicidal to drop a 23 year-old for a failed 30-something.
With a couple of extra matches in the programme now (the initial tour schedule was ridiculously light) and Australia still not addressing the issues from the 2005 series, one can start to feel a little more confident. We're hearing the usual bombast from Australia and that can only be good news.
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It鈥檚 a strange moment in cricket at the moment. Not that such moments are uncommon, but this is unusual by any standards. For normally it鈥檚 the national team that provides the excitement and razzamatazz while the domestic game supplies a kind of dependable, ever present, even dull back-drop against which international cricket shines ever brighter.
But just momentarily, the roles seem to be reversed somehow.
The England squad announced last week was probably the dullest in living memory. No wild-cat selections, no-one plucked from obscurity bound for fame and fortune down under, not even Stuart Broad made the squad although he鈥檚 played well all season for Notts and well enough to hold his place for all five ODI鈥檚 against Pakistan in the late season NatWest series. You might regard picking Ashley Giles as a kind of wild selection, because indeed, picking someone for an Ashes series who hasn鈥檛 played for as long as Giles hasn't, is something of an risky choice. But it isn鈥檛 the kind of inspirational selection that sets the imagination racing with thoughts of what success might be achieved with the new ball at the WACA.
The best that might be said for the Ashes squad revealed this week is that the selectors have been consistent. They鈥檝e gone for players who鈥檝e all been tried before, and this isn鈥檛 necessarily a bad thing. Sajid Mahmood has shown on occasions this year that he might have what it takes with the ball, and he can be useful with the bat on occasions too, so dropping him now would have done untold damage to his confidence at this critical stage of his development.
So perhaps the most exciting selection is that of Monty Panesar. Much has been written about the slow left armer in recent weeks and how he has captivated the hearts of English cricket fans if not always the England team coach. Let鈥檚 hope the progress he showed under Andrew Strauss鈥檚 captaincy continues now that there鈥檚 another Andrew (usually known as Freddie) in charge on the field.
Which brings us back to the county game, at the moment providing the real excitement for all of us cricket followers. The oldest county competition of them all, the Liverpool and Victoria County Championship this year, is holding our attention right down to the last week of the season. You never know, it might go down to the last day or even the last session of play before we know who the winners are and who鈥檚 staying up. Will Sussex beat Notts to clinch the title or will Lancashire steal it at the last? And at the bottom of Division One, Yorkshire鈥檚 win this week over Notts ensures there鈥檚 a head-to-head between Yorkshire and Durham to decide who stays up and who goes down (and technically Notts are still in the drop zone too).
As another season draws to a close, for a moment, county cricket has the spotlight centre stage with the England set-up providing a rather dull, yet dependable back-drop. How refreshing.
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That "technically Notts are still in the drop zone" was a great hedge: how did Notts manage to get relegated? It will go down as one of the most inexplicable chokes by a side in cricket history. One fears that Notts will find life tough in Division 2 too.
My money would be on Middlesex and Essex to get promoted next season, although Essex's ageing attack must be a worry. Middlesex have signed Charmindar Vaas who could be a good signing, or a disaster. He looks at first sight to be a brilliant signing, but 9 wickets @ 78 in 6 Tests in England are a warning that he may not be the strike bowler that Middlesex need.
If Gloucestershire have some luck with early season weather they may well be in the dust-up at the end of the season, although they will need an effective overseas bowler and both to see more of Jon Lewis (by the time that he got back from England bowling net duty the opposition were usually out of sight) and for the bowlers to give him more effective support.
Division 1 is going to be very strong indeed. Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Lancashire will go hammer and tongs for the title, although some of Surrey's side are beginning to age and they will not find life so easy next season with the big boys. One suspects that Durham, Yorkshire and Worcestershire will be off the pace, but Yorkshire could just spring a surprise if they can bring their spinners into play.
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