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Huffington Post (UK) Journalism Sport

The Two Things England Need to Do at Old Trafford

This sports journalism piece was first published on Huffington Post (UK) here.

The second Test between England and Pakistan beginning tomorrow (July 22) at Old Trafford has acquired a strange tension, which is vastly more intense and different from the buzz surrounding the crowd reaction to Mohammed Amir’s return to the stage where he had let the cricketing world down.

The ill feeling, amazingly, has nothing to do with what happened on the pitch for a fluctuating four days, at the end of which Pakistan won by 75 tension runs. What got England’s goat was the visitors’ showmanship after the fall of the last English wicket, in front of thousands of English supporters. The reaction to the act from the host gallery was swift – especially from pacer Tim Bresnan and captain Alastair Cook, who said it would work as a motivation for his team.

But giving the post-match box-office fireworks a miss, one of the reasons why Alastair Cook & Co. lost was because they never believed they were going to lose the test – neither at the beginning of the match nor when they were given a target of 283 to chase in the fourth innings.

And there was a good reason for the confidence. They had just routed Sri Lanka in an easy series win. Add to it their impressive home record in tests this decade.

But they lost – to their own “naive batting”, as Cook put it, and Yasir Shah, in that order. Unless they make a few changes, the result could be repeated.

Play Yasir Positively; Play Seamers Aggressively

There is a difference between ‘going after’ a spinner and playing a spinner with the ‘best foot’. So, the case of Moeen Ali’s horrendous dart at Yasir and Gary Ballance jumping on the sides and getting bowled behind the legs are both prime examples of how not to play a spinner. Jonny Bairstow going to the back foot and getting bowled to a flipper by Yasir is also a form of going after the bowler – because the underlying assumption is that the batsman has got the bowler on the mat and that he can cut the bowler any time.

And yet, the idea is not the opposite – to try to block Yasir away. That was the other extreme that was tried by the English batsmen during the course of the match. Unfortunately for them, they found out that it can’t work for a period spread over 40 overs in an innings.

The best way to play a spinner, as any batting coach would tell you, is to rotate the strike. Yes, with many men around the bat, it isn’t always the easiest of things to do. But that’s when footwork comes into play – something that you ought to possess in a decent amount if you are deemed good enough by your country to face wrist or finger spinners from the Indian subcontinent. A decent footwork allows a batsman to move about the crease while, importantly, covering the stumps in such a way that LBW is taken out of the equation.

Pace bowlers need rhythm to succeed; spinners need that, and a lot of space.

Yasir aside, there is no need to give undue respect to the seam bowlers. If England has to succeed, the batsmen would have to tackle Pakistani pacers aggressively. It should not be impossible for a team that is more used to the mix of pace and swing than most Test-playing nations.

In other words, play Yasir positively and the Pakistani seamers even more so.

Unlock the Resources

James Anderson, who was the world’s number one Test bowler before Yasir Shah overtook him with his exploits at Lords, and Ben Stokes are expected to walk straight into the side after their time out due to injury – replacing Jacob Ball and Steven Finn respectively.

But England needs to bring Adil Rashid in for Moeen Ali – and not just for the ‘that’ shot by the latter in the second innings. Pakistan is filled with right-handers and therefore leggie Rashid offers a much better option than Moeen. Also, Rashid has the confidence of rattling the Pakistani batting line-up once, barely six months ago in Dubai. And he can bat a bit too.

On the other hand, with the pitch at Old Trafford traditionally being receptive to spin bowling, there is a case for playing both of them – at the expense of, perhaps, James Vince. In all honesty, it is a toss-up between Vince and Gary Ballance. But left-handed Ballance should be a better counter to the leg spin of Yasir. Also, he has a better record of the two.

But the most vital part of managing the above resources is the need to unlock – or unclutter – the resources.

Alex Hales, in all fairness, is not going to play for four sessions of a test match in this series. Give him the freedom to express himself without self-doubts about his role as an opener.

The same for Joe Root. He got so bogged down under the pressure of expectations after the departure of Cook in the second innings that it ultimately led to his dismissal. It’s time to remind him that he alone is not expected to win it for England.

On top of that, England will have to fight fire with fire when it comes to expressing it on the field. Get into the Ashes mindset and give it back to the opponent. Most English players would be able to do more push-ups than their Pakistani counterparts. Let it show in the middle.

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Huffington Post (UK) Journalism

English Cricket is Losing the Plot

The article first appeared on The Huffington Post (UK) here

It would have been okay if it were just about losing a test match to India at Lords Cricket Ground after 28 years. What should worry the mandarins of the game in its country of birth, however, is the complete lack of purpose and direction of the current team.

Saddled with a captain who is trying to stay put on a slippery slope, the current English team represents everything opposite to the adrenaline-pumping romance of the ‘class of 2005’ that beat the mighty Australians – in what was clearly the best Ashes series of this century, and one of the best series played between any two teams of all times.

Is Moeen Ali the best spinner that England has got – in a series involving the master players of spin no less? If yes, then they might as well play with no spinners, at least against India. But then, he is actually a batsman too. So, is he a middle-order batsman who can either single-handedly save or win the match for England?

And Ben Stokes? If he were into playing cards, three ducks together might have been a good dig. Or, wait; is he in the team for his bowling? Some say he can be a poor man’s Paul Collingwood. Is that the vision?

Similarly, was Michael Atherton right in saying that “a significant English career might have come to an end”, when Matt Prior departed after playing that rather aimless pull shot – of a ball way outside the off stump? Atherton didn’t even mention the 36 byes that Prior let slip through and about his gloves. Did the ECB anticipate such a development so early in the series?

At the beginning of the series, only the ECB and God knew the answers to all of those questions. Now, only God knows.

The point is not about the performance of those two. It may not even be about the approach of ECB towards filling those key slots. Because it would be safe to assume that the English board would not have any reason to go for these players but for the belief that that’s the best it has got.

That, I’m afraid, is the scarier part. There are three more tests to go. Senior pros like Anderson, Broad and Bell – and who knows, even Cook – can still crank up a notch and win something for the team.

But that would merely be putting a blanket over the less than adequate other half portion of the team.

How did things come to such a pass so drastically soon? Wasn’t this the number 1 test team till very recently?

There are either no easy answers or many obvious answers to every crisis question.

English cricket is not sure what it considers cricket! Though England won a T20 World Cup, it neither celebrated it (contrast it with the mind-numbing excess after India’s victory in the inaugural T20 WC), nor built upon it. The lesser said the better about its approach towards the 50-over version of the game. People here in India believe that England does not even want to play the shorter version. And no, the feeling has got nothing to do with the clash of boards about IPL.

But test cricket is its thing. And yet, it is letting itself down on that front too – primarily because of abysmal handling of players. So while a precocious talent like Pietersen is out “because of attitude problems”, players have been leaving the game because of psychological stress. No offence meant, but ask an Indian player what pressure is. Or closer home to English cricketers, ask what Wayne Rooney, John Terry feel like.

We are not even talking about the abrupt retirements of Strauss and Swann.

Where is the player management?

The immediate task for England is simple – do not allow India to win any more tests in the series, and win at least one for itself. However, the bigger challenge would be to prepare a team that wears its heart on its sleeve – just like in 2005. With or without import of talent from South Africa.

Unless Jim Laker would forever be proved correct for his words, “The aim of English cricket is, in fact, mainly to beat Australia.” In that case, be ready for MS Dhoni and his men heap further misery on this English team in the tests ahead.