The Reverse Sweep

England vs Australia ODI series: Why do we feel so underwhelmed?

England versus Australia. Now there's a clash to whet the appetite. Two bitter rivals slugging it out on the cricket fields of England. So why do we feel so underwhelmed about the prospect of the five match ODI series that starts at Lord's today?

Well for a start there are no Ashes Tests to follow the hors d'oeuvre of the coloured pyjama brigade. Worse, the series has been solely arranged for the benefit of mammon and television. Catastrophically, the imposition of this needless series coupled with the Olympics means that the forthcoming Test series with South Africa will be played over just three Test matches.

So forgive our cynicism and negativity about the five match series. England are playing thirteen (or is it fourteen? To be honest we've lost count) matches this summer. No wonder, Kevin Pietersen decided to give this ridiculous schedule a miss.

England-Australia clashes are supposed to be special. This series clearly isn't, and with back-to-back Ashes series next year, thousands more one day games and yet another Ashes series in England in 2015, the ECB and Cricket Australia are in danger of diluting the brand and making England versus Australia as appealing as the prospect of a dinner date with a group of Barclays investment bankers. 

Bob Diamond or Michael Clarke? It shouldn't be a contest but with 30 encounters between the two sides scheduled for the next 18 months, the odious Bob may be preferable come early 2014.

Where next?

Kevin Pietersen's retirement from limited-overs cricket: The case for the defence

The Plan by Steve James | Book review

Hedley Verity - a proper hero with 'no breaking point'

England are playing THIRTEEN ODI this summer. Oh joy...

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Tom Maynard RIP: He'll always be 23...

At the start of the season as we selected our County Championship XI to watch in 2012 we suggested that Tom Maynard was a good outside bet for England's squad to defend the World T20 trophy in Sri Lanka in September. Now we will tragically never know.

The circumstances surrounding his death are still shrouded in mystery, but it seems he was hit by a tube train after running away from police who had stopped his car in the early hours of the morning.

23 is no age to die. Like Ben Hollioake before him, we will never know now how good Maynard could have been and whether he could had the successful international career that his father Matthew so richly deserved.

Maynard hit over 1,000 runs in the championship at 40 in his debut year for Surrey last season after moving from Glamorgan to help his new side to promotion. He already had 525 at 40.38 this season including a phenomenally good hundred at New Road that nearly enabled Surrey to win after following on. But it was as a hard hitting ODI or T20 batsman and brilliant fielder that Maynard was likely to first break into the England side.

We heard Stereophonics 'Local Boy in the Photograph' on the radio this morning for the first time in ages. This was a couple of hours before the terrible news surfaced about Maynard, and it is his fellow Welshmen that perhaps have the most poignant words on this desperately sad day:

"He'll always be 23, yet the train runs on and on
And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph
Today
He's gone away"

Rest in peace, young dragon.

Where next?

An XI of cricketers that tragically died young

County Championship Division 2 XI of 2011

Cricket Heroes: Graham Dilley R.I.P

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England v West Indies - England series marks out of 10

Andrew Strauss (326 runs at 65.20) 9: Redemption at Lord's followed by a second successive hundred at Trent Bridge (to prove that Test match centuries can be like London buses) set up his side's victories in the first two Tests. A touch negative in the field during Samuels' and Sammy's big stand at Nottingham and also when Best and Ramdin caused chaos at Edgbaston.

Alastair Cook (176 runs at 44.00) 6: Failed in the 1st innings of every Test and only made it to 24 at Trent Bridge after being reprieved twice by Roach no balls, but anchored a tricky run chase at Lord's with 79 vital runs and was there at the end at Nottingham whilst looking in decent enough nick.

Jonathan Trott (140 runs at 35.00) 5: Another to look in good touch but could only manage a top score of 58, which was unlike his usual ruthless self. Perhaps he is saving some big innings for his fellow South Africans?

Kevin Pietersen (203 runs at 50.75) 7: Looked in tremendous form at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston but was unable to turn scores of 80 and 78 into big three figure scores. Courted controversy once again by retiring from limited overs internationals but South Africa should beware as KP looks in the mood.

Ian Bell (222 runs at 111.00) 8: No doosra (or Saeed Ajmal), no cry for Bell who eased back into his 2011 vintage with three fifties from four innings with the most crucial coming in the 2nd innings at Lord's when England had stumbled to 57 for four chasing 191.

Jonathan Bairstow (38 runs at 12.66) 3: Started promisingly with a brief cameo of 16 at Lord's but was all at sea at Trent Bridge against the short ball. It is harsh to judge him on four brief innings, but an in-form Ravi Bopara is clearly a better bet against South Africa's daunting pace attack.

Matt Prior (35 runs at 17.50) 5: Whilst his work with the gloves was its usual high quality, he for once failed to cash in against his favourite opponents where in two innings he was bowled through the gate each time.

Tim Bresnan (12 wickets at 33.00; 39 runs at 39.00) 6: Disappointing at Lord's but back to his bustling best at Trent Bridge with eight wickets and an important 39 not out. if Edgbaston is anything to go by, he is far better as a third seamer than the leader of the attack. Winning run ended on 13 by the rain in Birmingham.

Stuart Broad (14 wickets at 21.71; 35 runs at 17.50) 8: Opened up with a career best eleven wicket match haul at Lord's and since the start of the India series last summer has 54 wickets at 18.88 and a batting average of 32.27. That is world-class in any language. Rested for Edgbaston but was still the leading wicket taker in the series.

Graeme Swann (6 wickets at 47.00; 31 runs at 15.50) 6: The pitches offered him scant assistance but took the vital wickets of Bravo and Chanderpaul as West Indies fought hard second time around at Lord's. Should come into his own against the South Africans in the summer's main event.

James Anderson (9 wickets at 26.88; 6 runs at 3.00) 8: Bowled better than his figures suggest, beat the bat countless times and is now the personification of consistency as he barely wastes a ball. Wasn't happy to be rested for Edgbaston where England missed his skill with the ball and nous as the attack leader. His forthcoming dual with Dale Steyn should be fascinating. 

Steve Finn (1 Test, three for 109; 0*) 5: The 'next cab off the rank' came in at Edgbaston as Anderson and Broad were rested and mixed up some unplayable deliveries with several balls - especially in the record last wicket partnership - that were lacking in line or length.

Graham Onions (1 Test, four for 88; DNB) 7: England's decision to rotate their seamers handed the Durham bowler his first Test cap for two and a half years after a serious back injury. He was the pick of the attack with four wickets and may have moved ahead of Finn now in the pecking order. 

Where next?

England v West Indies - West Indies series marks out of 10

2nd Test marks out of 10: England and West Indies

1st Test marks out of ten: England and West Indies

The Plan by Steve James | Book review

Kevin Pietersen's retirement from limited-overs cricket: the case for the defence

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep 

England v West Indies - West Indies series marks out of 10

Adrian Barath (114 runs at 22.80) 3: Battled through the first sessions at Lord's and Edgbaston but then promptly gave it away each time after reaching 40. A Test average of 23 doesn't lie, but the talent is there as his hundred on debut against Australia at the Gabba as a teenager proved. Needs to bat with an experienced opening partner - yes, we're talking about you Chris Gayle.

Kieran Powell (71 runs at 14.20) 3: Despite the odd cracking drive, is clearly not an opener and would be far more at home at five or six.

Kirk Edwards (8 runs at 2.00) 0: The vice-captain started the series with a Test average in excess of 50, but he simply didn't have a clue in English conditions against the moving ball and the immense skill of Anderson, Broad and Bresnan. Will probably need to lie down in a dark room for a while.

Assad Fudadin (1 innings, 28 runs) 4: Made his debut at Edgbaston and battled away at number three - making eight more runs than Edwards managed on the whole tour. Worth another look.

Darren Bravo (81 runs at 16.20) 3: A top score of 29 doesn't even go close to justifying his talent and pre-tour billing. Came in too often when his side were not a lot for two and was therefore exposed to the new ball. Will do better next time.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (235 runs at 78.33) 7: Inspired his side's fightback at Lord's although personal glory eluded him with scores of 87* and 91. Less impressive at Trent Bridge where he was exposed and defeated by the new ball in the 2nd innings, before being ruled out by injury at Edgbaston.

Marlon Samuels (386 runs at 96.50) 9.5: It looked like more of the same from Samuels after he was dismissed for 31 after an airy waft in the 1st innings at Lord's after doing all the hard work. But thereafter he reeled off scores of 86, 117, 76* and 76 to suggest that after 12 years, he has finally arrived on the Test stage. 

Narsingh Deonarine (1 innings, 7 runs) 2: Hard to judge on one brief innings, but impossible to rate higher than two out of ten after the way he chased a wide one from Onions when his side needed him to dig in. 

Dinesh Ramdin (163 runs at 40.75) 6: After a battling display in the 2nd innings at Lord's, he looked off the pace at Trent Bridge as noted by Viv Richards. His subsequent riposte of a second Test hundred at Edgbaston was as impressive as the note he displayed to King Viv on reaching the milestone was crass.

Darren Sammy (6 wickets at 48.50; 201 runs at 40.20) 7: Incongruously unlikely hundred at Trent Bridge brought perhaps the biggest cheer of the series, grabbed the odd useful wicket and led his battling but well-beaten troops with charm and determination. A cricketer whose whole is fr greater than the sum of his parts.

Kemar Roach (8 wickets at 34.25) 6: Gave West Indies hope at Lord's with a fierce spell as England chased 191, but his habit of bowling no-balls cost him dear at Trent Bridge where he twice would have snared Cook but for stepping over the line.

Fidel Edwards (1 Test, one wicket for 112) 2: Disappointing at Lord's where if he could have offered support to Roach on the final morning, West Indies could have won a stunning victory. Didn't feature at Trent Bridge or Edgbaston. 

Ravi Rampaul (4 wickets at 35.50) 7: The pick of the West Indies seamers at Trent Bridge where his control and penetration brought his side back into the game on the third morning. Carrying a bit of extra timber after a recent illness meant he was a deadringer for Masood from Eastenders - or so the wife tells me.

Shannon Gabriel (1 Test, 4 wickets at 21.50) 6: Came in for his debut at Lord's and did reasonably enough to warrant another chance before he succumbed to injury.

Tino Best (1 Test, two for 37; 95 runs) 9: Bowled consistently at over 90 miles per hour and scored the highest score in Test history by a number eleven batsman. Mind the windows indeed, Tino.

Shane Shillingford (1 Test, one for 138) - 1: It was too cold for his hands to feature at Lord's and his bowling hadn't warmed up much by the time he came in at Trent Bridge where he was dealt with ease by England's batsmen.

Sunil Narine (1 Test, none for 70) - 2: There wasn't much mystery with Narine at Edgbaston, but let's wait before we dismiss his credentials in the longer form of the game just yet.

Where next?

England v West Indies - England series marks out of 10

2nd Test marks out of 10: England and West Indies

1st Test marks out of ten: England and West Indies

Guantanamo Cricket Club and an opening bowler named...Stalin

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County Championship of the week #10

Chris Rogers (Middlesex) - We've said it before and doubtless we'll say it again but it's criminal that the Victorian has played just one Test. His 173 against Somerset at Lord's emphasised his classy batsmanship once again.

Joe Denly (Middlesex) - Rogers' accomplice in a 245 run stand for the 2nd wicket continued his renaissance since arriving from Kent - his record in the championship in 2012 is 557 runs at 61.88.

Nick Compton (Somerset) - The batsman of the season continued to shine with 275 minutes of defiance for 69 to prevent Middlesex from securing the victory their dominance deserved. 

Luke Wells (Sussex) - Scored his second hundred of the season against Surrey to rescue his side from 87 for six and instead secure a winning position at Horsham.

Ravi Bopara (Essex) - Whilst Jonny Bairstow continued his struggles in the Test series against West Indies, Bopara put on a batting exhibition against Northants with 174 for his second ton of the week.

Liam Dawson (Hampshire) - Finally passed fifty for the first time in a disappointing season and promptly turned it into a fine unbeaten 134 not out against Kent.

James Foster (Essex) - Completed the 18th first-class hundred of his career in the rain-affected clash with Northants as he and Bopara added a mammoth 294 for the fifth wicket.

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) - Continued his impressive belated start to the season with seven wickets and 29 runs at Durham where a washout on the final day ruined what looked set to be a tremendous finish between the sides at the top and bottom of the table.

James Anyon (Sussex) - Fine all-round match at Horsham with four 1st innings wickets, a career-best 64 not out and then two of the final three Surrey 2nd innings wickets to fall as Sussex won in the final half hour. 

Monty Panesar (Sussex) - Helped Anyon add 80 for the final wicket and then produced a high-class exhibition of spin bowling to send Surrey spiralling to defeat - his 2nd innings analysis was 32-21-33-3.

Tim Groenewald (Derbyshire) - Whilst Tony Palladino's hat-trick stole the headlines it was Groenewald's five for 29 that looked to have helped his table-topping side create a winning position against Leicestershire before the rain intervened.

Where next?

Read our previous County Championship XI's of the week

We Need To Talk About Durham - we really do

Guantanamo Cricket Club - seriously, we're not kidding...

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We Need To Talk About Durham - we really do

We were reminded last weekend by an amused Lancashire supporting friend that we predicted Durham would be County Champions prior to the start of the season.

Given that his tottering champions had just registered the first victory of their faltering campaign at Chester-le-Street of all places to leave my tip languishing at the bottom of Division 1 he was particularly sarcastic and downright irritating in his sanctimonious baiting.

But we grudgingly did concede that he had a point. Our prediction was up there with Neville Chamberlain's on his return from Berlin in 1938 when he confidently declared 'peace in our time' after supposedly securing guarantees from Adolf Hitler that he had no intention of invading any other territories in Eastern Europe.

So, the trials and tribulations of Durham's puzzlingly disastrous start to the season seemed as good a topic as any for our latest piece for All Out Cricket's sparklingly good website.

Of course since then Durham have had the better of a tight clash with the previously indestructible Warwickshire and given good weather and a strong final day could finally register their first win of the season. Durham's position has been created by two typically battling innings by Paul Collingwood - a player whose struggles we highlighted in our piece and a five wicket haul from Chris Rushworth - a bowler we failed to mention.

Irrespectively, we still believe that We Need To Talk About Durham.

Where next? 

The Plan by Steve James | Book review

Cricket heroes: Paul Collingwood

County Championship XI of the week

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Guantanamo Cricket Club

 

No, we didn't believe it either. The story became even more incongruous when we learnt that the name of Guantanamo Cricket Club's opening bowler is (can you guess?) Stalin.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Uncle Joe (surely that MUST be his sobriquet?) didn’t take too kindly to his LBW appeal being rejected in Cuba’s first ever match against an England XI, although thankfully the umpires weren't taken to a gulag the next day.

The tale of Guantanamo Cricket Club is just one of the wonderful stories described in a new book 'Third Man in Havana - Finding the Heart of Cricket in the World’s Most Unlikely Places' by Tom Rodwell.

The self-penned book describes - as the video above outlines - how over a six year period Rodwell, Chairman of The Lord’s Taverners, helped run cricketing programmes from Cuba to Zimbabwe, attempting to soothe the world’s ills with the curiously English balm known as cricket.

As well as the unlikely yarn of a cricket club in Guantanamo, we also learn about Israel’s Be’er Sheva Cricket Club, whose pavilion is a converted nuclear bomb shelter, which is pretty damn useful when Hamas’ regular rocket attacks temporarily stop play.

We'll certainly be trying to blag a copy; or failing that clicking on the picture below to buy one.

Where next?

The Plan by Steve James | Book review

Chasing Sachin by Adam Carroll-Smith | Book Review

Jack Hobbs by Leo McKinstry | Book review

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The Plan by Steve James | Book review

With England taking the field at Edgbaston later today as the number one Test side it would be conveniently easy to forget that it hasn't always been milk and honey for the team's loyal supporters.

The 1990's were the decas annus horribilis of English cricket. From being crushed in every Ashes series to a host of horrific batting collapses and a haphazard selection policy, the last decade of the twentieth century was not a good time to be an England cricket fan.

The last year of the millenium when England were knocked out of their own World Cup a day before the official song was released and a Test series was lost at home to a poor New Zealand side to slip to the bottom of the rankings - below even Zimbabwe - thankfully proved to be the nadir.

The Plan by Telegraph scribe and former Glamorgan and England opener Steve James describes how English cricket rose from the canvas and describes the pivotal roles that the two Zimbabweans Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower played in the renaissance.

James writes from a unique perspective. As the former batting partner of ECB managing director Hugh Morris, a player under Fletcher at Glamorgan and Flower's closest confidant in the press corps, James is able to both relate and analyse the reasons behind the rise.

He is also a very good and engaging writer; as we perhaps should expect from a contemporary and fellow Cambridge blue of that doyen of cricket scribes Mike Atherton.

As such The Plan is a hugely enjoyable and engrossing read and comes highly recommended. It is the perfect book to teach an alien (or an American) about how English cricket rose to the force it is today demolishing India at home and winning two successive Ashes series. The latter would have been unthinkable before Fletcher took the reins of a demoralised side in 1999.

At the end of the book, James ponders who is the best coach between of the two. We won't spoil your enjoyment by revealing here the conclusion James reaches. If you want to find out who gets the vote you’ll have to buy the book.

Where next?

Chasing Sachin by Adam Carroll-Smith | Book Review

Cricket heroes: Andy Flower and Duncan Fletcher

Kevin Pietersen's retirement from limited-overs cricket: the case for the defence

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County Championship XI of the week #9

Paul Horton (Lancashire) - Whilst Joe Root's hundred at Northampton was a more classy knock, Horton carried his bat in a 225 minute rearguard for 49 not out, enabled others to play around him and secured his side a lead that finally led to the reigning champions breaking their duck for the season.

Michael Thornely (Leicestershire) - Overcame the disappointment of missing his maiden first-class ton by three runs in the 1st innings to secure it second time around to frustrate Glamorgan at Cardiff.

Nick Compton (Somerset) - The weather may have prevented him from reaching the Holy Grail of 1,000 first-class runs by the end of May, but achieving the milestone just one day late with his fourth ton of the season was still a mightily impressive feat for the grandson of the Brylcreem Boy.

Marcus North (Glamorgan) - Sublime hundred helped Glamorgan - the Australian's sixth county - top 550 at Cardiff even if it did provide an impressive template for Thornely and Eckersley to emulate shortly after.

Alex Gidman (Gloucestershire) - The captain stroked 129 as high-flying Derbyshire were surprisingly downed at Bristol.

Ben Stokes (Durham) - A first championship ton of the season set up a tremendous match at Chester-le-Street and demonstrated that the talented youngster's star is going in the other direction from that of his rapidly fading bottom of the table side.

Ned Eckersley (Leicestershire) - A career best 137 not out saw the keeper add 245 in 88 overs with Thornely and earn his side a draw at Cardiff.

Will Gidman (Gloucestershire) - Why settle for one Gidman brother in the XI when you can have two? Will took four for 29 to skittle Derbyshire for 95 and then after Alex's hundred followed up with four more in the 2nd innings at Bristol.

Luke Proctor (Lancashire) - A maiden first-class five for saw Durham shot out for just 102 in the basement battle at Chester-le-Street. Three more when the home side batted for the second time helped the champions finally record a first win of the campaign.

Kyle Hogg (Lancashire) - Grabbed four wickets as the support act to Proctor and as he did several times last season added vital runs with the bat - 33 in the 1st innings to earn a decent lead and a quickfire 13 not out to beat Onions and the clock in the nick of time as the match came to a tumultuous end.

Graham Onions (Durham) - A career best eleven for 95 was still not enough to foil Lancashire, but his season record of 34 wickets at 12.61 and a strike rate of 29.7 plus the fact he is a more like-for-like replacement for the rested Anderson means he could earn his first Test cap for two and a half years at Edgbaston later this week.

Where next?

The Holy Grail, Nick Compton, Indiana Jones and the dastardly Graeme Hick

Read our previous County Championship weekly XIs

Read our Division 1 previews: Durham, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire and Worcestershire

Division 2 previews: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northants and Yorkshire

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The Holy Grail, Nick Compton, Indiana Jones and the dastardly Graeme Hick

So in the end God’s only way of preventing Nick Compton from drinking from the Holy Grail of 1,000 first-class runs by the end of May was to send the rain clouds to Worcester. Compton was playing himself in and had reached nine not out – just 50 runs short of the landmark – when the deluge arrived and play was abandoned for the day.

We’re pretty sure Graeme Hick had an influence somewhere. The last man to sup nectar from the legendary grail accomplished his feat at his beloved New Road in 1988. God and Hick obviously decided between them that for Compton to have the temerity to try and emulate the former Worcestershire batsman at the same ground was too much.

So Nick Compton is no Indiana Jones after all then.

Where next?

Nick Compton and the Holy Grail

Kevin Pietersen's retirement from limited-overs cricket: the case for the defence

Nick Compton: runs and jokes at Kevin Pietersen's expense

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