Under-prepared England put to the sword by Australia

England received a chastening experience, in the 1st Test in Brisbane writes Christopher Clark, but the England team and management will not be pressing the panic button yet.

Under clear skies on Thursday morning the Australians won the toss, and decided to bat on a pitch which looked flat, ideal for batting, a good toss to win.  After the early loss of Chris Rogers,  David Warner and Shane Watson were making serene progress, until Watson played at a delivery he should have left alone, at lunch Australia were 73-2.
The afternoon session belonged to Stuart Broad, who blitzed his way through the Australian middle order to leave them 132-6.  It took Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson to remind the players that this was a good batting track, and a century partnership added some respectability to the scoreline. It took the new ball being taken to disrupt this partnership and at the end of day one, Australia were 273-8, Broad taking 5 for 65.

Day 2 began with England trying to polish off the Australian tail for under 300, which they duly accomplished.  It was then England's turn to bat on what all ex-pro's were calling a great batting track, and again England were making steady progress until the dismissal of the captain, Cook, to a good delivery from Harris.  England's Mr Dependable, Jonathan Trott was next to the crease, who has been the glue by which many England's innings have been held together by over recent years.  Australia felt that Trott was vulnerable to short pitched bowling, and introduced paceman Mitchell Johnson to the attack.  What followed during Trott's innings was one of the most skittish knock's Trott has ever played and he was dismissed just before lunch to leave England 55-2.
England's innings after lunch totally disintegrated in a spell of 6 wickets being lost for only 9 runs, mainly due to a spell of high class fast bowling from the enigmatic Mitchell Johnson.  England collapsed to 136 giving Australia a lead of 159 on first innings, which Australia duly capitalised on at the end of day 2, to end up 65-0, a lead of 224.

Australia began day 3 on top, determined to punish England and bat them out of the test match.  Despite the loss of some early wickets, brilliant hundreds from the belligerent David Warner, and the Captain, Michael Clarke, set Australia on course for an unassailable lead.  Again some lusty blows from Haddin and Johnson rubbed salt into England's wounds, and Australia felt comfortable declaring on 401-7, leaving England with the sizeable task of getting 561 to win, or batting for two and a bit days for the draw...both near impossible achievements.
England's 2nd inning's got off to the worst possible start, when Carberry was dismissed for 0, which led to Trott coming in, and again Johnson was brought into the attack.  Johnson as in the first innings completely unnerved Trott with a spell of express short paced bowling, and again Trott was found wanting and dismissed, leaving England at the end of day 3 on a disappointing 23-2.

Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen began day 4, needing not only to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but to bat out long periods of time.  Considering the circumstances, Pietersen played a dreadful shot and was out caught in the deep hooking Johnson.  Cook played a captain's inning's but after his dismissal for  65, there was a grim inevitability to proceedings and England were bundled out for a hugely disappointing 179. England suffered a crushing defeat by 381 runs.

England, due to bad weather in their planned warm up matches, did not get the batting practice they required. However, to a certain extent they were bullied by the Australians, who were very aggressive in their play, attitude, and also their press. This is a resilient England team with strong personalities, who have proved that they can immediately bounce back from disappointing performances, and I anticipate a marked improvement in the next match.

There is a long way to go in this test series!

Chris Clark © 2013    @Chrisclark1975

Can England retain The Ashes this November?

Monday, 18 November 2013

By Christopher Clark

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Can England retain the Ashes again after a 3-0 victory over Australia in the summer? It will certainly be tougher than in 2011/2012 when England were at the peak of their powers, writes Christopher Clark

Despite not losing a test this calendar year, England go into the Ashes with a number of question marks over the make-up of their side.  They have not managed to find someone they are comfortable with batting at number 6:  Joe Root started the year batting six, after doing very well in his first tour in India.  However he was promoted to open due to Nick Compton's failures in the series against New Zealand.

Jon Bairstow was then given the opportunity at 6 during the Ashes summer, but failed to impress, and certain aspects of his batting technique were found wanting at the highest level, especially against the bowling of Ryan Harris.

Therefore England, it would appear, are prepared to give the Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry an opportunity to open the batting, and push Joe Root back down to 6 again.  Carberry appears a very adept one day batsman, whether he has the temperament to bat at test level remains to be seen. 

The third seamer slot appears to be open to three players, Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn and Boyd Rankin.  All three have their qualities: they are tall bowlers, who will extract more bounce on the hard Australian pitches, but they also have their problems.  Tremlett, who bowled excellently two years ago in Australia, has not played much due to injury, and when he has played his pace appears slower.  Finn, whilst he has the potential to be one of the top bowlers in the world, appears to have confidence and technique issues, which plague him from game to game.  The outsider is Boyd Rankin who again is tall and powerful, but is untried at this level, I would be surprised if he is given the nod in the first test.

Australia, on the other hand, go into this series high on confidence and the questions around their side centre on whether can they keep their best players fit. Captain Michael Clarke has struggled throughout his career with a persistent back injury, but I would expect him to play all this series.  Shane Watson the allrounder, will not be able to bowl in the opening test, due to a hamstring injury, but after a magnificent 160 not out in the final test of the Ashes summer, he will bat at number 3.  Ryan Harris who was the best bowler of the summer on both sides, is very injury prone, and whilst he will play in the first test there are doubts if he will play in all 5 matches.

I anticipate both sides, barring injuries to line up as follows on November 21st at the Gabba.

England
Alistair Cook
Michael Carberry
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Joe Root
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad   
Graeme Swann
Chris Tremlett
James Anderson

Australia
Chris Rogers
David Warner
Shane Watson
Michael Clarke
Steve Smith   
George Bailey
Brad Haddin       
Mitchell Johnson
Peter Siddle
Ryan Harris
Nathan Lyon

Looking at the two sides above, I would anticipate a closely fought series, and predict a 2-2 drawn series with England retaining the Ashes.  However any injuries to key players for England, Pietersen, Swann, Anderson and Australia, Clarke, Watson and Harris will tip the balance in the other team's favour. Roll on the 21st November!

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Published on Country Life online:
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Chris Clark © 2013    @Chrisclark1975

Will Spurs evolve without their Player of the Season?

SATURDAY, 21 JULY 2012 10:46 TOTTENHAM LATEST

It can be argued that Scott Parker was Spurs most influential player last season, and one of the factors in the teams loss of form at the end of the season, was due to Scott’s exhaustion, from the manager’s lack of rotating his favourite players.

However as the new season is upon us with AVB in charge, a lot of pundits are predicting a midfield 3 without Parker involved (Sandro / Modric(Moutinho) / Sigurdsson)

Can this be true, a player who was nominated again for players player of the season in 2011/2012 has now been phased out.  If AVB wants to play a more progressive pressing game then Redknapp did, then surely no-one is better suited to this than Parker.  However AVB will want Parker to do more with the ball than Redknapp did.

So do Parker’s positives outweigh his negatives.

Is closing down players and putting their body on line, enough to hold down a regular place in a side wanting to play expansive football.  Why many fans appreciate Parker is that he is a throwback to an old-style of football, when every team needed a hard man.  However look at the Euro’s, in which are a good guide for how football is progressing, there was not much evidence of what Cantona used to a call ‘a water carrier’ apart from Parker himself!

Parker is an excellent team man, and his closing down of players in front of the back 4 is second to none in the Premier League.  However his lack of penetrative passing and his tendency to dwell on the ball could cost him a starting place in AVB’s starting eleven.

Also Spurs cannot halt any longer Sandro’s progress.  Sandro has the potential to be one of the most dynamic all round midfielders in world football, and you got the impression under Redknapp, that Sandro would only be picked if Scott was not available.  Unfortunately football moves on, and Sandro’s time is now.

Is this too harsh on Scott, or will he have to accept that Spurs will have to evolve under AVB.

Written by Christopher Clark  Published on Tottenham Live

http://tottenhamlive.com/blog/494-scott-parker-role.html #thfc 

Chris Clark © 2013    @Chrisclark1975