The Reverse Sweep

Naughty boy nets - 2012 style

Unlike many of his predecessors as England coach, Andy Flower doesn’t inflict naughty boy nets on his charges. Instead, he has the modern equivalent of punishing poor performers by releasing them to play county cricket in chilly April.

Whilst central contracts have played a significant role in the improvement of England’s fortunes since their introduction and eradicated the ridiculous motorway dash as players scramble to get back to their counties at the conclusion of a Test match, many county cricket fans rightly lament the almost total absence of their England stars from their county line-ups. So, perhaps England’s struggles over the winter have a silver lining after all?

Middlesex and Warwickshire fans will certainly be happy that the winter’s biggest dunces Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell will be turning out for their counties this week against Durham and Lancashire respectively.

Over the forthcoming weeks all of England’s winter squad will feature for their counties ahead of the 1st Test against the West Indies on 17 May – even Kevin Pietersen will have to cut short his stay in India to return for Surrey’s game at Worcester, which starts on 9 May; that’s if he can find his way to New Road as it is an awfully long way from Chelsea.

But is it enough? Whilst one can understand why James Anderson for instance needs a decent rest following his sterling efforts over the winter, it is difficult to understand why Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior (especially if he played solely as a batsman) are being held back longer than Strauss and Bell.

Maybe Flower is indeed punishing the biggest failures over the winter with a longer stint with their county - Eoin Morgan may not be so disappointed to be warming the bench for the Knight Riders after all.

Where next?

It's not jealously KP, it's pure and simple indifference

County Championship XI of the week #2

2nd Test: Sri Lanka vs England - England marks out of 10

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Peter Trego and Somerset make us care about the Champions League...for ten seconds

There are many reasons why we are not tuning into the Champions League.

First, it is Twenty 20.

Then there is the fact that as we wrote last week, the whole franchise system and players like Kieron Pollard having a choice of whom to represent makes the tournament a bit farcical.

Finally, the tournament is so heavily weighted in favour of the IPL sides that we are surprised that the other teams aren't required to take the field blindfolded.

So we really couldn't give a monkey's left bollock about the Champions League.

But Somerset's win over Kolkata caused us to momentarily halt our antipathy.

Let's face it Somerset would probably finish second in one horse race, so there couldn't have been much hope for a side shorn of its England players Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler, without its talismanic captain and star batsman Marcus Trescothick and also deprived of the services of the aforementioned mercenary Pollard.

But led by Peter Trego - who may have bagged an IPL contract into the bargain - they did an impressive impersonation of David to beat the Goliath that is Kolkata and their international stars including Jacques 'toupee' Kallis, Brett Lee, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib al-Hasan.

Having been forced to care about something that would feature prominently in our Room 101 list, we are now worried that this might extend itself to other things such as Manchester United, Jordan (no, not the country) and Ed Miliband.

That is quite a frightening thought.

Thanks Somerset.

Where next?

The farcical Champions League and its band of cricket mercenaries

Cricket zeroes: The Harlot (a.k.a The Freelance Cricketer)

Our Top 20 Cricket Blogs

Read all our County Cricket coverage

The A-Z of IPL3 -  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

 

 

IPL half-term report & semi-final tips

As those of you that read this blog will know, this is the first season that I have tuned into the IPL, in part thanks to ITV4 (and that's the only time I will utter gratitude in that direction) but mainly out of curiosity to see if the reality lives up to the hype.

Of course it doesn't live up to the hype, but considering it is promoted more than the second coming of Jesus would be, that is hardly surprising. The television coverage and commentating is awful, there are far too many adverts and the renaming of a six as a DLF maximum is a crime; and a serious one at that. The hyperbole surrounding the tournament annoys me too with Shane Warne's assessment of Yusuf Pathan's 37 ball century against Mumbai Indians as the best ever perhaps being the worst example.

 

But taking all that into account, the cricket itself has at times been undeniably exciting even if tilted a little too heavily in favour of the men wielding the willow. The best aspect of the tournament is the fact that the teams are so evenly matched; apart from two exceptions. Mumbai Indians, with Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga to the fore, are cruising towards the semi-finals having lost only one of their first eight matches. Kings XI Punjab on the other hand are the Bangladesh of the IPL with their only victory coming fortuitously in a Super Over triumph over Chennai Super Kings. Since then they have simply disintegrated with the low probably being the shambolic fielding in their last match, which saw a self-inflicted defeat against Bangalore.

That the other six sides are so close in the table is a vindication of the salary cap and perhaps the auction process too. Of these, Bangalore has been the most impressive with a good balance between bat and ball. Jacques Kallis has been imperious, as have Anil Kumble and Dale Steyn, and with Kevin Pietersen and Ross Taylor recently arrived, plus Robin Uthappa scattering bullets, Bangalore look a good bet for the semi-finals.

Delhi Daredevils also look set for the last four and despite a three game losing streak seem to have recovered their poise. Like Bangalore, Delhi look well balanced with the batting strength of Sehwag, Warner, Gambhir, Dilshan and secret weapon Paul Collingwood complimented by Dirk Nannes and Amit Mishra. 

The battle for the final semi-final place is too close to call. Rajasthan Royals looked out of their depth at the start of the competition and likely winners of the wooden spoon, with the failed Damien Martyn experiment seemingly summing up their woes. Despite a recovery of sorts, I tend to agree with Gautam Gambhir's assessment of the Royals as ordinary and predict that they won't make the top four. Reigning champions Deccan Chargers also look off the pace with Adam Gilchrist looking every bit the retired first-class cricketer that he is.

That leaves Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. Both have improved after average starts and both have been reinforced by antipodeans; Doug Bollinger and Brendan McCullum respectively. I've a hunch that Bollinger will continue his excellent form and that consequently Chennai will pip Sourav Ganguly's team for the final semi-final spot.

So it is Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai for the semi-finals for me, but given the closeness of the competition I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with egg on my face. 

Delhi Daredevils' secret weapon

As I've written previously, one of the reasons I decided to support Delhi Daredevils in the IPL was because my favourite England player Paul Collingwood was in their squad.

The fact that all he did last year was carry drinks (see picture), educate his team mates on the wonders (or otherwise) of Sunderland football club and pocket bundles of cash was by the by. I was confident that this year would be Colly's year.

And sure enough, hotfooting it off his flight from Dhaka, Collingwood was pitched into battle today against Kolktata Knight Riders. And he came in to a situation where he thrives as Delhi had slipped to 38/3, albeit off of only three overs.

Colly took to the battle in support of the rampaging David Warner and showed his team mates, the watching supporters and all of the IPL that he has more strings to his bow than nurdling and saving England from desperate situations.

53 off 45 balls isn't a rapid T20 innings, but it was an effective one as Warner blasted 107 off 69 balls at the other end.

I reckon Colly will be getting more gametime this season, and given that Sunderland lost 3-0 yesterday to Liverpool that will please him no end.

The world-beating Angelo Mathews

The first time I saw Angelo Mathews I was surprised that someone with a name that wouldn’t sound out of place in an Australian soap opera was playing for Sri Lanka.

 

My next thought was that he was not quite good enough with either bat or ball to justify his all-rounder tag, but I could see that he was a wholehearted trier. I couldn’t help think that when Mathews was run out for 99 against India in the 3^rd test before Christmas (see picture) that he had possibly missed his best and only opportunity of a test ton.

 

But it seems that when it comes to T20 cricket he is a world beater; well certainly on the evidence of the last few days anyway.

 

First, he hit an unbeaten 65 off 46 balls for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match against the reigning champions Deccan Chargers. Given that Kolkata were 31/4 when he came to the crease, his partnership with Owais Shah was a matchwinning one. He also took 1/27 with his medium pace, which helped reign back Deccan’s reply after the flying start provided by Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman.

 

Then yesterday his 4/19 destroyed the innings of the Bangalore Royal Challengers to set up a second victory for his side.

 

Average test and one day all-rounder, but a world beating T20 player. Maybe there is hope for Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan yet.

Start of IPL3 fails to live up to Lalit Modi hype

"I see the IPL becoming bigger than the NFL, the NBA, the English Premier League."

Lalit Modi

 

The third season of the IPL kicked off yesterday and as befits the most modern of cricket tournaments, I tuned in via YouTube (and ITV4) to see what all the fuss was about. All the hype created around the IPL, mainly by Lalit Modi, suggested that it was going to be the biggest thing since The Beatles. It isn't and as far as I am concerned it is more akin to Kula Shakar then the four moptops from Liverpool.

 

Firstly, supporters plus the global TV and internet audience had to contend with the opening ceremony, which dragged on for an hour. I don't particularly enjoy opening ceremonies and this wasn't the Olympics or the football World Cup; although doubtless Modi feels he can surpass both.

 

But what about the cricket? The opening match saw the reigning champions, Deccan Chargers, taking on the perenniel underachievers, the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. Given that this was a 'home' match for Deccan (security concerns mean that they can't play in Hyderabad), the fact that the ground was 70% full is not too bad I suppose. Although I would guess that the first games of the season for the New Orleans Saints and Manchester United would be sold out long before the actual game.

 

I actually enjoyed some of the cricket. It was good to see Chaminda Vaas show that T20 isn't just about batsmen hitting boundaries by taking two wickets in the first over. I also enjoyed the unbroken 131 partnership between Owais Shah, who surely will be in England's World T20 squad, and Angelo Matthews, which saw the Knight Riders post a competitive 161/4. It was also good to see Adam Gilchrist teeing off - especially as it wasn't against England. But overall the game was a bit of a damp squib with Deccan throwing the game away after the lightning start provided by Gilchrist and VVS Laxman.

 

As my first experience of the IPL, I'd say it was ok but not great. I can understand why the tournament is big news in India where the combination of bollywood razzmatazz, clever marketing and the participation of India's biggest cricket stars makes it an appetising proposition in cricket's biggest market. But as for Modi's global ambitions, I just can't see it competing successfully with the international game over a long period; the Champions League seems the best chance of doing that.

 

Modi reminds me of Tony James, the bass player in Sigue Sigue Sputnik. James created a hype around the band that enabled them to score a massive deal from EMI and masses of press coverage before they had released a record. When they finally did, Love Missile F1-11 was propelled to the top of the charts. Then everyone realised that Sputnik were not the second coming and their fall was as dramatic as their rise. Will the same happen to the IPL?

I will continue to tune in especially to the matches of my adopted team, the Delhi Daredevils, but my overall impression is that test cricket is not as in danger as I thought. Perhaps I should add a caveat to that though given the boredom that is the 2nd day between Bangladesh and England so far zzzzz.

 

 

Who should I support in the IPL?

I didn't take much notice of the first two seasons of the IPL. Being a traditionalist, T20 cricket is not my favourite form of the game. If it was a woman it would be Cheryl Cole - good to look at, exciting even but without much substance and something you would tire of quite quickly. Whereas test cricket is more like Scarlett Johansson. Beautiful too but with depth and mysterious, unpredictable and always fascinating.

But the odd night with Cheryl is not something to be sniffed at and having enjoyed Trinidad and Tobago's progress in the inaugural Champions League, I have decided that I will tune into ITV4 for some of the third instalment of the tournament. But, T&T are obviously not one of the eight teams participating, so who should I support as a non-Indian?

Well if I was a Manchester United fan, I could go down the glory supporter route and simply pick the reigning champions, the Deccan Chargers. But as I regard United and its manager Alex Ferguson as the antichrist that's a non-starter.

Likewise, I also have to rule out the Rajasthan Royals due to the recent 'worldwide franchise' press conference replete with hideous PowerPoint presentations. This is the sort of arrogant move reminiscent of Chelsea. It's a shame in some respects as I could easily follow a side captained and coached by Shane Warne. He may be happy to punt anything nowadays including pants, but the sense of theatre he creates when he bowls is something special. But I hate PowerPoint presentations...

So, what about going down the name route? Unfortunately, most of these are pretty good with the Kolkata Knight Riders in particular standing out. However, this route does enable me to rule out the two worst names of the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians. The former sounds like a pack of cigarettes and the last lacks imagination.

Four down, four left to choose from. Having no particular affinity to any city or region in India means that the final decider will come down to the player roster at each of the remaining sides. The Bangalore Royal Challengers have Dravid, KP, Eoin Morgan and Prince Kumble but also have Boucher and Kallis. Delhi Daredevils have the God that is Sehwag plus his apprentice Dilshan, Paul Collingwood and Dirk Nannes, but also have Andrew McDonald. Kings XI Punjab are captained appropriately by King Kumar, which is nearly a reason in itself. And Kolkata Knight Riders have Chris Gayle.

Deities overcome mere mortals anytime, so for me it's a straight choice between Delhi Daredevils and Sehwag, and Kings XI Punjab and King Kumar. And Delhi shade it for me with their plethora of opening batsmen (Viru, Gambhir, Warner and Dilshan - wow!), the last gunslinger in town in Nannes and my favourite England player Colly.

So Delhi Daredevils it is for me then. I cannot see it becoming a big love like that I have for Liverpool, England and Sussex or even Scarlet Johansson, but a few nights with Cheryl could be good fun. In three days time, I'll find out.