Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 52 i Wisden Cricket Monthly

“There’s an irresistible Catch-22 element to the story of Root the captain – if he genuinely still wants it, and he keeps saying that he does, then surely there must be something wrong with him The more things change, the more they stay the same. Joe Root has now had three tours to Australia, and unless England somehow nick a consolation at Hobart, he’ll still be waiting for his first taste of victory down there in the kiln. He’s unlikely to glean much comfort from knowing he’s far from alone. Since Bodyline, a mere 89 years ago, only five England captains have managed to steal a series in Australia. Variations of failure are the norm, sometimes they just cut a bit deeper, and the deeper we go, the blacker the…

ANDREW MILLER Wisden Cricket Monthly columnist, UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and former editor of The Cricketer @miller_cricket At Brisbane in 2013, Stuart Broad walked into his press conference with five wickets to his name and a copy of the Courier Mail under his arm, in a pointed riposte to a very personal newspaper vendetta. At Sydney in 2022, he repeated the scene in deeds and words, but this time came armed with his manifesto for English Test cricket, as he delivered the most gloriously up-and-at-’em 15 minutes of his team’s doomed Ashes campaign. In a scathing, and thoroughly righteous, rebuttal of pretty much every aspect of England’s recent Test fortunes, Broad demanded that the squad started focusing on “the battle that’s in front of you”, rather than compiling over-wrought visions…

JO HARMAN Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor @Jo_Wisden While Test cricket’s oldest rivalry was following a plot line that we are by now all familiar with, across the Tasman Sea a considerably less-heralded series produced a result which seemed unthinkable. In their 21 years as a Full Member nation, Bangladesh hadn’t managed a Test victory against New Zealand in 15 attempts and had only registered five wins in total on foreign soil. Meanwhile, their hosts, the World Test Championship holders, had become near-enough impregnable at home, reeling off seven series wins on the bounce and going 17 matches unbeaten. To further emphasise the mismatch, Bangladesh were without their greatest ever cricketer, Shakib Al Hasan, who opted to stay at home to spend time with his family, and Tamim Iqbal, their…

ISSUE 52 February 2022 Let’s get this out the way to start off: The Australian media have got to stop using the word ‘firming’ when they mean ‘likely to’. Please don’t make me explain why. Things reached a peak with Scott Boland’s surprise Test debut when ‘firming’ was combined with ‘red-hot form’ and ‘Pat Cummins gives the best Christmas present ever’ to cast a quasi-smutty glow over what should have been a heartwarming story. It was all a bit much to read when you’re trying to enjoy a game of Scrabble back at your mum’s over the holidays. Anyway, onto the real stuff, and the comforting revelation that, no matter how bad things were getting for England, this was all part of the plan. “We do a certain amount of…

It’s hard for me to talk about Mark Wood because of my relationship with him – it’s like when Rob Key talks about Zak Crawley and gets stick off Nasser [Hussain]. I think Wood has been one of the shining lights of the Ashes tour. When he plays for England, they’re a different side. Crazy as it sounds, the likes of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad become better bowlers. Fast bowling sorts out the foot movement of a batsman and Broad and Anderson will capitalise on that. England need somebody as quick as Wood in their side every time they play a Test match. England haven’t managed Wood as well as they probably could have but off his longer run he seems to be more durable and stronger. He looks…

KYLE MAYERS WEST INDIES 210* (310 balls, 20 fours, 7 sixes) Bangladesh v West Indies | First Test, Chattogram, February 2021 West Indies’ improbable victory over Bangladesh at Chattogram, described by Ian Bishop as “one of the most significant achievements” in their history, had even the most diligent of cricket scribes firing up their search engines. Who was Kyle Mayers? The 28-year-old Barbadian had just scripted Test cricket’s highest successful run-chase in Asia, making an unbeaten double-century on debut to steer the visitors to their target of 395 with three wickets to spare. And to look at his cricketing CV, the innings had come from nowhere. Heading into the series Mayers had a first-class average in the 20s, with two hundreds to show for six patchy years on the domestic…

In the autumn of 2019, Gary Kirsten interviewed for the role of England men’s head coach. He’d been turned down for it once before, but felt that this, his second effort, was the best interview he’d ever done. But there was a sticking point. Ashley Giles was convinced that one person had to do the lot. He didn’t want some job-share, split between two coaches, as had happened in 2012 when Giles himself had been the white-ball coach and Andy Flower ran the Test team. Kirsten, whose family is based in Cape Town, was not thought to be wholly enamoured of the prospect of living out of a suitcase for 10 months a year. And so for the second time, the man who turned India into world champions and took…

“People say that coaching has become ‘too soft’. And yeah, ok. But the thing is, if a player’s not onside with you, you’re f***ed anonymous county academy coach CAMERON PONSONBY Freelance cricket writer @cameronponsonby The dismal performance by England’s batters in Australia has reignited the fiery debate about the role of the coach. And there is very little agreement. While there is room for nuance and understanding, the party lines can still be crudely drawn down the middle. Do you believe in coaching a method? Or do you believe in coaching an individual? To coach a method is to have an end goal, working towards an approximation of perfection within which a player’s eccentricities are framed and contained. But to coach an individual is to work with those eccentricities, incorporating…

PHIL WALKER Wisden Cricket Monthly editorin-chief @Phil_Wisden Bombed-out London Blackfriars, London October, 1945 HARRY TODD A group of workers play cricket on a blitzed site in Blackfriars, London, beneath the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. Guards of honour circa 1945 LOCATION AND PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN England Test cricketers and servicemen Bill Bowes and Maurice Leyland walk out to represent an HM Forces XI in a charity match, flanked by Red Cross nurses. Vale Verity Caserta war cemetery, Campania, Italy Date unknown PAUL POPPER The grave of Hedley Verity, the great Yorkshire and England slow left-armer, who died in a POW camp in Italy after being wounded in battle leading his company, The Green Howards. Just hours before his capture, Verity had been talking to Sussex’s Norman Yardley, a fellow professional who…

At the heart of club cricket NICK CAMPION Freelance writer and club cricket veteran, playing for Walton on Trent in the Derbyshire League @NickScribbler Strong-arm tactics The game, I thought, as a 14-year-old boy scooped me first over fine-leg and then over third-man, has changed. I’m surrounded by people decades younger than me who have more shots, more variations, more stamina, more speed and fewer injuries. So, what next? Pack it in? Await my demotion to the seconds? Take up umpiring or, even worse, golf? These thoughts swirled around during the truncated 2020 season, when we managed a couple of months’ cricket between lockdowns. Hobbling into autumn, I had a chance conversation with Simon Brundish, a renowned strength & conditioning specialist, who happens to live locally. Why don’t you pop…

GOWER’S BACK After a rocky start, BT’s coverage of the Ashes improved as the series went on, in large part due to the triumphant return of David Gower to the commentary box. Gower appeared somewhat disengaged towards the end at Sky, a little straitjacketed by his presenting role, but seeing him play a few shots in Australia, the mischief fully returned, has been a joy. He’s just a quality broadcaster. TMS really should employ him this summer. NO BALLS PODCAST A former colleague of mine, Hen ‘Das Bomber’ Cowen, was a guest on the No Balls podcast last month, hosted by Kate Cross and Alex Hartley. I found it very moving, and I highly recommend it. NASEEM SHAH Gloucestershire will take some beating next summer. After picking up the Aussie…

LAWRENCE BOOTH Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail writer @the_topspin As a new year for English cricket began amid old recriminations, a curious exchange on the BT Sport sofa provided a brief distraction from the efforts of Joe Root’s team in Australia. It involved Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali, teammates once, but now pundits inhabiting different philosophical spheres. If Cook – Sir Alastair – may never shake off his Establishment tag, Moeen remains the stroke-playing outsider, his tongue loosened further by Test retirement. Now, as the pair discussed the nature of captaincy, they unwittingly stumbled on one of English cricket’s favourite themes: the idea, prevalent throughout the Ashes, that there’s no point doing today what you can delay until tomorrow. The banter-cum-bitchiness began when Moeen suggested that Cook had…

1 Quinton de Kock has retired from Test cricket, announcing his shock decision after South Africa’s defeat to India at Centurion. The 29-year-old keeper-batter, who scored 3,300 runs at an average of 38.82 in 54 Tests and effected 232 dismissals, said he wants to spend more time with his family. He will continue to play white-ball cricket for the Proteas. 2 West Indies have appointed Desmond Haynes as their new lead selector for the men’s team, replacing Roger Harper. The legendary opener will be supported by former national captain Ramnaresh Sarwan. “Being a selector is a thankless task, but a critical role in our cricket system and I am honoured to be appointed,” said Haynes. 3 Ross Taylor will retire from all international cricket at the end of the home…

JOHN STERN Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-at-large @SternWords It’s six in the evening, though Steve Harmison hasn’t a clue what time of day it is. He’s just woken up after “the longest day in history”. After a full day at Headingley helping his mate Darren Gough as part of Yorkshire’s new interim coaching team, he had a two-hour drive back home to Ashington and then dropped his car off before catching a train down to London for an overnight shift in the BT Sport studio commentating on the fourth Ashes Test. Like his fellow Ashingtonian Mark Wood, Harmison was one of the few Poms to have a decent Ashes. Honest, passionate and insightful, the former England fast bowler is a very good listen, whether that’s on radio with talkSPORT – where…

The Bolton-born Parkinson twins are two of the premier spin bowlers in England: Matt, the box-office leggie at Lancs, destined for the top since he took his first steps on a cricket field, and Callum, the late-blooming southpaw at Leicestershire who’s “trying to shake the ‘brother of’ tag”. He’s doing a fine job of it, too. Having set out on his own path six years ago, leaving Lancashire behind in search of first-team opportunities, Callum is now Leicestershire’s all-time leading T20 wicket-taker, and last summer he became only the fifth English spin bowler in the last 10 years to claim 50 scalps in a Championship season. Meanwhile, Matt’s continued omission from England squads remains a mystery. His T20 record (103 wickets at 17, economy 7.51) is in the top bracket…

“To watch Tom Abell now is to see a battle-hardened batter with an uncomplicated method, happy to scrap his way out of a dire situation. In other words, a perfect fit for the England Test teamBEN GARDNER YAS RANA Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast host Over the last six years, England have handed Test debuts to 15 men aged 24 or younger. Writing ahead of the Sydney Test, only one of the 15 is likely to remain in the England XI by the end of the Ashes. Another is currently absent through injury. In a period where the domestic game isn’t awash with players who are obviously destined for a 100-Test career, there has been a tendency to pick players for what they could become rather than what they are at…

58.48 Sharma’s Test average as an opener Style. It’s a topic that routinely crops up when Rohit Sharma’s name enters the conversation. You can understand it, too: there’s a silkiness to the shapes he cuts at the crease, enough orthodoxy to please the classicists, a ferocity on the pull and hook that reels in the first-time watcher. For the romantics, those who look to the field and see a blank canvas, the 34-year-old stands as one of the game’s most gifted artists. But that shouldn’t mask the cold ruthlessness of his run-making. There have been eight double-hundreds in men’s ODI cricket and Rohit is responsible for three of them. In 2019, he reeled off five tons in nine World Cup innings. No Indian has made as many centuries in T20s.…

AJAZ PATEL NEW ZEALAND 10-119 (47.5 overs) India v New Zealand | Second Test, Mumbai, December 2021 Ajaz Patel insists that he hadn’t given ‘the perfect 10’ even a second thought until, suddenly, he was one wicket away from history. Four balls later, all that changed. In 144 years of Test cricket, only two bowlers had ever taken all 10 in an innings before. And as Rachin Ravindra circled under the high ball, sent skywards from the tailender Mohammed Siraj, he had plenty of time to contemplate that fact. “I felt sorry for him!” Patel tells WCM. “There were a lot of us who were nervous for him. He had a job to do, so was probably just focused on that ball, but it was a long wait before it…

N°1 What English cricket must do next Let’s clear away the mitigation first, for there is some of it. It is not some line used to excuse mediocrity to recognise the toll the virus takes on the psychological wellbeing of our cricketers. Nor is it realistic to be in manageably decent form for Brisbane when your three-week preparation programme has been buffeted by La Niña, you’ve barely hit a ball, and there’s no time to reset once the thing is up and running. And of course no cricket team in the world is stronger for the absence of Jofra Archer, though in his case it could be argued that he’s been managed less than sensibly over the last two years. There endeth the caveats*. There are defeats, and then there…

To what extent is county cricket to blame for England’s performances in the Ashes? AH: I think it’s too simplistic to blame county cricket. Historically the domestic game always comes under scrutiny following a series in Australia or the subcontinent and it’s really important that we don’t have a knee-jerk reaction and that we actually take the time to take the emotion out of things and review how we’re operating. It’s healthy that domestic cricket is reviewed consistently and we make sure that it’s as effective as it possibly can be. IS: First and foremost, I think the team have been unlucky in the preparation they had for this trip. History suggests Australia is a really difficult place to go, and that’s not just for England. The combination of Covid…

Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor @Jo_Wisden A Test tour of the Caribbean may no longer be the marquee event it once was, with the West Indies sitting a lowly eighth in the ICC rankings, but the three-match series in March has taken on greater significance in the wake of England’s Ashes defeat. They desperately need a win, having lost four series on the bounce (the final result of their home encounter with India still pending) and with just one victory from their last 13 Tests heading into the dead rubber at Hobart. Joe Root’s captaincy might well depend on it – if he even still wants the gig – and, less pertinently, there are World Test Championship points at stake. England currently sit bottom of the WTC table. But there…

STRETCHING: It may come as a shock to find out that stretching is probably not doing you any good at all. Warming up should be about activation, not static stretching. It has no proven benefits before exercise. If it really does make you feel good and ready to play, then carry on – but try and make the stretches dynamic, not static, and do them in the middle of your warm-up, not the beginning or end. RUNNING: Many club cricketers will hit the streets as April heaves into view in the belief that a few runs will get them ready for the season. They won’t. If you’re a regular runner, fine – carry on. However, most non-regular runners will go running because they believe it will raise their aerobic fitness…

WIN! 1. 5 years ago... On February 25, 2017, India suffered their first Test defeat at home for five years, losing to Australia by 333 runs at Pune. Which Aussie was named Player of the Match after taking figures of 6-35 in each innings? 2. 10 years ago... On February 6, 2012, Pakistan completed a 3-0 whitewash of England with a 71-run victory at Dubai. Which English batter, playing the last of his 16 Test matches, made scores of 10 and 31? 3. 15 years ago... On February 20, 2007, New Zealand sealed a 3-0 ODI whitewash of Australia, chasing down 347 at Hamilton. Who finished on the losing side despite scoring an unbeaten 181? 4. 20 years ago... On February 24, 2002, Australia thumped South Africa by an innings…

PETER OBORNE My Golden Summer The celebrated author and journalist recalls his first summer of love Aged eight I arrived at Eagle House preparatory school in the autumn of 1965. There were 99 boys and the fees – I remember this vividly because my father complained that he couldn’t afford them – were £100 per term. That first autumn we played rugby which was cold, wet, frightening and unpleasant. In the freezing spring term – this was the pre-climate change era of rock-hard, icy outfields – hockey was the school sport. I have never understood why any school should choose to play hockey rather than association football. Then came the summer term. Warm breezes, sunny days, the smell of freshy cut grass and – linseed oil! The cricket field was…

ADAM COLLINS Wisden Cricket Monthly Australia correspondent @collinsadam “We’re on TV and that’s all that matters.” Day one at Sydney, with the rain falling, my eyes rolled to the back of my head when overhearing this gem from a Cricket Australia functionary. A new year but the same depressing attitude from an organisation too often tone deaf to their broader responsibilities to the game. But by the end of the gripping fourth Test, there were reasons to be more upbeat about the thinking of those further up the chain at CA and, just as importantly, from in the dressing room. The isolationist tendencies that have prevailed through the pandemic look set to subside in 2022 with three Australian men’s Test tours to Asia, beginning in March with a return to…

Occasional teammates for England, regular colleagues at talkSPORT, Darren Gough and Steve Harmison are close. “Look, he’s my best mate,” says Harmison. (Has anyone told Flintoff or Key?). “I’d go to the ends of the earth to help him.” When Gough pressed pause on his media career to take up the reins as director of cricket at Yorkshire, he told Harmison he would need to call in a few favours while the club went through a rigorous recruitment process. “And he said, ‘Unfortunately mate, you’re the first favour!”’ Along with Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Boon, the former England under-19 coach, Harmison has kicked off the new year by putting Yorkshire players through their paces in readiness for the new season. “Coaching wasn’t always high up on my agenda but I’ve…

Sussex It’s been a busy month at Hove, with the club moving quickly to replace Ben Brown, the long-serving wicketkeeper and former captain who has been released from a contract which still had two years left to run. The 33-year-old is seeking a new challenge after being axed as skipper midway through last summer. Brown’s departure would have no doubt caused concern among Sussex supporters as he followed Phil Salt and Chris Jordan out of the exit door, but the announcement of a boxoffice signing only a few hours later provided a welcome boost. Mohammad Rizwan [below], the brilliant Pakistan keeper/ batter, will be available for “the majority of the 2022 season” in both Championship and T20 cricket, joining up with his new teammates in early April and departing in…

An alternative prize will be provided if the winner is aged under 18, or if requested SIR IAN Botham WINES LETTER OF THE MONTH The game’s governance puts the brakes on radical change Is the ECB fit for purpose? In its own words, that purpose is ‘developing and supporting all areas of the game – from elite through to recreational level’. This at a time when English cricket is clearly in crisis, but it may be worse than that, because the problem is not just the performance of the Test team but also problems with racism at county level and a dependence on increasingly stretched volunteers at recreational level. But what if the ECB cannot actually fulfil that purpose? Who is to bring about radical change? The ECB is ‘owned’…

Even by Pakistani selection standards, for a player to score 168 on Test debut and then be dropped for 11 years after playing just three matches was remarkable. Many would have lost faith, but Fawad Alam is made of sterner stuff. “I kept on working hard in the hope that one day I would receive a recall,” the 36-year-old tells WCM. “The aim was that whenever that second chance came, I had to grab it with both hands and not let go.” Continually overlooked despite piling on the runs in domestic cricket, Fawad says each disappointment made him more determined in his quest to return to the Test arena. “When Test squads were announced and I had been doing well in domestic cricket and my name wasn’t included, it was…

28 Tests 10 wins 12 defeats (including nine in 2021) 14 centuries (of which Joe Root has made seven) 54.6 Root’s average, over 27 matches; next best is Stokes at 39.53 32.15 Rory Burns’ average – the highest of all players bar Root and Stokes, and one of five players to average more than 30 54 the number of noughts in 2021, equalling the world record 24.13 England’s average per wicket in 2021, the lowest in any year in which they have played at least 10 Tests Stats correct up to and including Jan 12…

Run-scoring in county cricket has fallen through the floor, and pitches get shoved to the top of the blame list. As faceless culprits they make for comforting targets: no one gets sacked, everyone gets to be appalled, and the batters who keep getting their front pads blown off can deflect from their own deficiencies. Partly as a consequence, a kind of omertà hangs over the groundsmen fraternity. They plough away in the shadows, their expertise rarely acknowledged, their dedication taken for granted, and only when they produce an iffy deck – and what makes for a bad pitch is a point of debate in itself – do they become the story. As this series of articles shows us, no single issue sits apart from the others. Blurred lines are everywhere.…

Number 57 David Snellgrove Scott Oliver profiles a club legend from Lancashire whose trophy-laden career still has distance left to run Becoming the first player in the Liverpool & District Cricket Competition’s (LDCC) Premier League era to reach the double of 10,000 runs and 500 wickets barely begins to tell the story of David Snellgrove, one that starts with him learning the ropes from his father Ken, who spent a dozen years on the staff at Lancashire, and ends up with him skippering England Over-50s. Snellgrove Jnr made his first-team debut for Ormskirk in 1983, aged 15, moving to Leyland in the Northern League in 1986 and playing alongside Dad, who had been pro there in the early-80s. In 1988, with Snellgrove Snr still in the ranks, David himself became…

Jonny Bairstow’s 113 at the SCG was the 52nd century by a visiting player in Australia batting at No.6 or lower. The score was 36-4 when he came in – the lowest total at the start of any of those 52 centuries. At the start of the SCG Test, Usman Khawaja’s average in home Tests was 52.9. By the end, it had been silkenly elevated to 58.1, after he became only the ninth player in Ashes history to score two centuries in a Test. The others include Denis Compton and Arthur Morris in the Adelaide Test of 1946/47, a series in which Australia averaged 52.7 runs per wicket as a batting team, 21.9 runs per wicket more than England, which remained a record margin of runs-per-wicket supremacy in an Ashes…