CB Series Eng Vs NZ 6th Feb 2007

That England won such a close match last night against New Zealand is remarkable enough after their recent run of disastrous form. That they did so with Liam Plunkett’s early emulation of Steve Harmison is nothing short of a miracle.

Plunkett steadily improved with each spell, but his opening stint made for decidedly uncomfortable viewing and it begs the question of how an undoubtedly fine bowler can splay wides with such alarming and obvious lack of control?

It is credit to Plunkett that he regained his composure and his line, but the ridiculous amount of extras England are capable of conceding must be brought under control if there are to have a chance of a result in the CB finals.

At last England posted a victory against Australia on this fated tour, and it was delivered via the broad Dublin brogue of Edmund Christopher Joyce.

I had lost all hope and most of my interest in watching England play, I found it too depressing, but I was delighted to watch most of Joyce’s innings.

He will have certainly booked himself on the plane to the Windies and I hope he continues to perform for England. He is a class act.

England are bad

England are very very bad

It’s painful to watch them

‘cos they’re so bad

They make me mad

And a little sad

That they’re so bad

What’s going on with Marcus Trescothick I wonder? 

His absence/illness has slipped from the headlines recently and I haven’t heard much reported about whether/when he is likely to make a return to cricket.

The last entry on his official website runs with the headline “I’ll make Oz trip” so clearly hasn’t been updated for some time.

His website is managed by his agent firm, International Sports Management, so perhaps their lack of updates to the site could be interpreted as reflective of how likely they feel Tresco is to be an ‘earner’ for them in the immediate future.

Ooh the cynicism!

Freddie Flintoff is England captain once more……oh dear! Despite the brutal lessons dished out by the Australians over the last few months it is clear that the selectors have learned little when it comes to captaincy selection.

Flintoff is a world class cricketer. On his day he is arguably the leading allrounder alive, but his destiny as a great skipper does not await.

England secured their most recent victory with Vaughan as captain and Flintoff on form with the bat. The latter being England’s salvation in a match they won in the most wobbly of fashions. Whilst it was a delight as an England fan to see Freddie get a decent score in a winning game, I fear his form is at risk the moment that the Kryptonic rock of captaincy is chained around his neck.

With Vaughan’s geriatric legs having blown another, albeit different piston, an opportunity had been created to give Strauss another turn at the helm. Where captaincy diluted Flintoff’s potency I sense that it may well have been the catalyst for Strauss’s form to re-ignite.

Alas, for this game at least we shall never know.

I can scarcely believe it but England have won a game of cricket. One ball to spare at Hobart and England finally dust the cobwebs off and see themsleves home.

The albatros of captaincy that flew over Flintoff’s head has at last buggered off over yonder ocean.

The Ashes 2006/7

I had a choice last night. Option 1 was to watch the inevitable defeat of England in the final Test at the SCG. Option 2 was to watch a 2 hour documentary on David Hasselhoff. I never thought that I would write these words but……I chose the Hoff.

The Ashes 2006/7 3rd Test WACA Day 1 - Lunch break

Welcome to Ashes cricket Monty Panesar. A straight ball that did nothing other than carry the hopes of English cricket fans, struck Justin Langer’s off stump and gave Panesar his debut Ashes wicket. He jumped for joy like a seven year old on Christmas morning and I jumped with him. He bowled a studious first over that landed six balls on a sixpence that belied the beads of sweat clinging delicately to his brow. Good on ya Monty, you even have the Aussie’s believing the hype.

At 69 for 3 the morning belonged to England. It’s early doors of course, but 69 for 3 is a damn sight better than 100 for nought and it looked at one stage like that’s where the scoreboard was heading.

Harmy looks a new man and despite the fact that I still believe his pace and bounce deserves first use of the new ball. His confidence looks to be on a path of recovery along with his line.

Plenty of work to do today still but it’s a promising opening session.