I wrote reviews of all the International Games that involved England last summer. I never quite completed them. However, it is interesting to look back at the end of last summer in the light of the Pakistan series.
I must confess that I did not get to much of the International Cricket this summer – I only got to the 2 One Dayers at Old Trafford. I should have been at Day 2 at the Oval, which did not take place, and Day 4 at Old Trafford but the game did not go that far.
However, I have followed it quite closely and I enjoy going back and looking at it all at the end of the men’s summer. However, it has to be broken down into sections as it is too much for one article.
- Test Matches against New Zealand and India
- One Day and T20 series against India and South Africa
- Test Matches against South Africa
South Africa Test Matches
We expected England’s Test Match challenges to get sterner as the summer went on. New Zealand were undercooked and India could not hope to reach maximum intensity in a single game. However, South Africa had had a good run and possesses good bowling stocks. It initially looked like South Africa could challenge England, but the challenge vanished as quickly as it came.
It is hard to assess the quality of the cricket we saw. It saw some moments of brilliance, but also some pretty awful batting. People talk about exciting test matches – but none of these games went to 4 days, let alone 5, and the last game contained a certain element of farce as it only just made it into 3 days of actual cricket – but should have been completed in 2 if we could only apply some common sense to the policy around bad light.
First Test Match: England v South Africa – Lords
South Africa win by an innings and 12 runs
This one felt like it was all over when Stokes was walking back after another poor shot at 100/5 after 25 overs. That England got to 165 was thanks to 73 from Ollie Pope, who was perhaps lucky to get that far. One feels that a really top class number 3, like Jonathan Trott, would have ground out a few more runs and perhaps dragged England to 200, which would have been enough to put South Africa under pressure. England’s long tail looked long, and they never had enough runs.
Saying that, South Africa should not have been able to rocket to 85. Sarel Erwee and Dean Elgar are no Gordon Grenwich and Desmond Haynes – England bowled poorly and once again Stokes had to drag it back. He very nearly did, but Marco Jansen (48), Keshav Maharaj (41) and Anrich Nortje (28*) dragged South Africa up to 326.
England flopped again and were bowled out for 149. Alex Lees looked ok, but both he and England needed 135 rather than the joint top score of 35 with Stuart Broad, scored in typical fashion. England were thrashed, and some thought that ‘Bazball’ was over.
Second Test Match: England v South Africa – Old Trafford
England win by an innings and 85 runs
Sometimes, people and teams make very odd decisions. Surely whoever won the toss would bowl first. England love to bat last, and South Africa’s bowlers had just decimated England’s batters. For some reason, Elgar chose to bat first. It felt like South Africa made decisions before they looked at the pitch, based on old history. At Old Trafford you bat and play two spinners. Not in the crazy summer of 22.
It was another game that was all over after 30 overs when Anderson took the wickets of Simon Harmer and Maharaj in 2 balls and it was 92/7. Not long afterwards, Broad snaffled Kyle Verreynne. Kagiso Rabada found his way up to 36 to drag his team up to 151.
It was peculiar how much fuss was made about Zak Crawley’s 38. It was important that he kept Stokes in the pavillion until the next day, along with Jonny Bairstow. But whilst Bairstow had a lot of credit in the bank, Crawley could have done with big score. Rabada and Nortje were brilliant again in reducing England to 147/5 – but of course, that was pretty much parity. For once, Stokes dug in and scored an excellent 103 – his strike rate of 63 low for Stokes, but excactly what was needed. Ben Foakes needed runs and got them with a really good 113 not out.
South Africa were out of it, but perhaps could have dragged the game into day 4. However, they were all out on day 3 for 179. Keegan Petersen and van der Dussen put up a fight, the latter with a broken finger. Ultimately though, a couple of 40s was never going to be good enough, and once Anderson and Ollie Robinson got hold of the second new ball, they bowled England to victory. It was good to see Robinson back, looking trim. He has potential to be a very effective England bowler.
A fine victory for England, but another very one sided game.
Third Test Match: England v South Africa – The Oval
England win by 9 wickets
We must be mindful of the circumstances under which the game was played. After Day 1 was rained off, Day 2 (which I should have been at) was cancelled following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The cricket authorities were quite right to cancel this day of cricket. With hindsight, it might feel like the game could have gone on, but those days were unprecedented days for so many of us. We saw the impact of a game being cancelled ‘on the day’ at Old Trafford last year when India did not want to bother, so it was good to see a clear decision being made the night before, within hours of the announcement about The Queen.
When the game finally started on Day 3, the atmosphere was sombre and full of respect. I think it was Jonathan Agnew who said ‘you could here a pin drop’. Laura Wright’s singing of the National Anthem and the way in which is was received, was the highlight of the game. What a moment. And we must recognise the role of the South Africans here – it was difficult for England, but also very difficult for them. The South African players were totally right to refuse to stay an extra day – they have families too – and, quite predictably, 3 days was more than enough.
When it comes to the actual cricket being played, it was dreadful. Stokes did not repeat Elgar’s Old Trafford toss suicide and made the obvious decision to bowl first – play to your strengths. For the third time in three games, the team batting first almost failed to make a hundred. This was the worst of the lot though, a first innings score of 118 was woeful, recalled Marco Jansen top scored with 30. South Africa had to make changes, the two-spinner policy was wrong anyway and they had injuries. However, the batting resources look incredibly thin, to say the least. Robinson and Broad bowled well, but it was never a 118-all-out pitch.
It was a-3 match series, locked at 1-1, and England wanted to win and knew they had limited time. The right approach here was to get a lead, look to bat once, and have time to bowl South Africa out again. However, England went with recklessness, and Stokes again chucked his wicket down the drain. Pope played well for 67, but he could do with more hundreds. Harry Brook on debut was slightly unsure of how to approach test match cricket and got out caught in the outfield – in a T20 he would have belted that ball out of the ground. England’s tail fell away and it was 158 all out. A lead, but small enough to let South Africa into the game.
For a while, it looked like South Africa were going to take the chance of setting England a difficult last-day target. They managed an opening stand of 58, Stokes the partnership breaker once again after a poor start by England’s bowlers, Erwee gone for 26. The Elgar Erwee partnership has potential but failed to put on that really big stand in this series. Petersen raced to 23 before Anderson and Broad came on and turned on the pressure. Nobody was willing to admit it, but these 2 warhorses rolled back the years and gave South Africa nothing to score off. It soon paid – a reminder that, whether batting or bowling, aggression is not always the only option. South Africa collapsed again and it was 169 all out.
Alex Lees and Crawley quickly proved that this game ought to have been a 3 day draw – the pitch was fine. They raced to 108 within 20 overs before Lees was out to Rabada – a summer where he has not done quite enough. Crawley was majestic and has done enough to keep his place, as has Pope who had to come in to finish the job and take England up to 130. Rabada had a game to forget here, but in the second innings, the South African team knew the game was up.
However, we had to have one more bit of madness before the end. While Lees and Crawley were smacking 90mph bowlers all round The Oval, the umpires took the players off for bad light when only 33 more runs were needed. It could be argued the match officials were just ‘following the rules’, in which case, the rules are stupid. My view is that they got it wrong on Day1 and went off for bad light before they needed to – but that set the benchmark. In either case, cricket needs to stop this madness. Turn on the gigantic flood lights and….PLAY THE GAME. Particularly when a team is going at over 5 an over and only 33 more runs are needed.
England finished the job on Day 3 but it was a poor end to a low-quality test match. A great summer for England, but I am not sure how safe the future of Test Matches is, or if this approach will work for England next year. Tougher challenges await ‘Baz-Ball’.
Cricketed 