Houdini Lives Again

For the second time in six months, England has salvaged the first Test of a series, by clinging to a solitary wicket.  We saw it in Wales when they held out the Aussies on the final evening.  Now they have managed an even narrower escape against South Africa.

I say even narrower, because in Cardiff, England had achieved a certain buffer by edging ahead of Australia’s total – Australia needed time for the innings change and to score the winning runs.  In this case, England was still well behind and any of the last 19 balls could have been the last ball of the match.

It was exciting stuff and a great Test match.  Both of the Tests that recently concluded were good contests.  England were mostly outplayed but had their moments.  In fact, one man had most of their moments.  Special mention goes to Graeme Swann, who took five first innings wickets and then saved the English first innings with a swashbuckling 85 from 81 balls.

On a final day when England had no chance of winning, they seemed to have shored up their position.  With 35 overs remaining, they still had seven wickets in hand.  That is when KP, looking majestic on 81, had one of those inexplicable brain explosions so typical of the man.  He ran himself out, with the non-striker not taking so much as a step from his crease.  As is so often the case, a needless run out signalled the tumble of wickets.  England lost 6-46 and it was only the redoubtable Colly saving the day with 26 not out from 99 balls.  I move his nickname be changed to “Lassie”.  Was there ever a more dependable collie?

Over in Perth, the West Indies got themselves within 36 runs of what would have been an astonishing victory.  They lost two key batsmen before the match, conceded 520 first innings runs and then failed to avoid the follow-on (which was not enforced in the end).  They then mounted  such a spirited comeback with the ball and then with the bat, that they seemed to deserve something from the series.  I think it is a great pity that the senior batsmen could not muster a few more runs at the start of the chase.

And three cheers for Chris Gayle.  He finishes the series with his reputation enhanced, which after the first Test, seemed very unlikely.  His brilliant innings in Perth, the fifth fastest hundred in Test history seemed but a cameo compared to his monument to character in Adelaide.  It reminded me of Lara in the Caribbean in 1999 and I’m not sure it was what the situation warranted.  However, with Gayle, I don’t think the giving is necessarily determined by what the situation warrants.

At any rate, welcome to Pakistan.  I think they may cause the under strength, under performing, misbehaving Aussies a few headaches.

F50

No, F50 is not a Ford supercar.  Nor is it a model of Ferrari.  Well it is but not in this case.  It’s my new name for One Day cricket or 50 over cricket.  Or Fifty50, to use the Twenty20 nomenclature.  If last night’s slog fest between India and Sri Lanka was more typical of ODI cricket, we wouldn’t be so bored with that form of the game.  Or perhaps we would if every game was like that.

India posted 7/414 and Sri Lanka fell just three runs short with 8/411.  In fact, Sri Lanka were poised to win with two overs remaining.   They required just 15 runs (less than the run rate required at the start of the innings), had five wickets in hand and two established batsmen at the crease.  A calamity of errors including two run outs saw them fall at the last hurdle.

Why is a total of 400 such an enigma?  400 has been passed only eight times in 2542 ODI matches and only since T20 challenged players to re-think the boundaries.  On four of those occasions, the bowling team was a minnow (Netherlands, Ireland, Bermuda and Zimbabwe) so let’s forget those.  The other four innings came from just two games.  That’s right – in the only real matches where 400 was scored, both teams managed it.

I guess that suggests that the right conditions are required.  Pitch, ground size and outfield all contribute.  It might also mean that necessity is the mother of invention.  Would Sri Lanka have made 411 if they batted first?  Sangakkara’s 90 from 43 balls was maniacal – pure Afridi.  Surely he would not have batted like that if he didn’t know it was required.  And aren’t we glad he did.

The third Test between Australia and the West Indies starts today and for Clint McKay, opportunity knocks.  Who knows, Steve Smith, the biggest outsider since Mark Edmonds, might even experience a miracle call up.  Play begins at 10:30 Perth time, which is 1:30 Sydney time.