Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Unlikely batting heroes for England!


Move over, Kevin Pieterson, Cook, Strauss and Collingwood. The new English batting heroes are here: James Anderson and Monty Panesar!

Well done, boys. Very very well done indeed! It was a great contest between the bat and the ball and made for a riveting show.

I think that instead of using North, Ponting should have thrown Hauritz along with Hilfenhaus who was clearly one of the best bowlers of the innings for Aussies, at both Monty and Anderson. But what’s happened has happened and the record books have recorded a fighting draw for England at Cardiff.

Paul Collingwood yet again stood like a rock for a long time, I think for a long time now; he has been the Man Friday of English Cricket.

This brings me to yet another important thought on test cricket. Most of the teams have great batsmen in them; very few have world class bowlers. And test matches are not won on runs, they are won on wickets. There is no rocket science here, simple fact: A team that manages 20 wickets in 5 days wins the match. So, it is the teams that have the best bowlers who will be champions and stay champions.

That is why you had WI dominating in the 80’s and then Australians in the new millennium.

Coming back to this game, I think it was an overall a super-credible fighting performance from the Brits on Day 5 at Cardiff to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.
Thank you to both teams for such exhilarating Test Cricket!

2 comments:

Inner Vision said...

I was glad England could force a draw. I was watching it live. After a long time I got to see something which I have always enjoyed, a good cricket match it was There was too much of t20 cricket. Slam bang cricket as it is, I was fed up with it. Well done England. There was a knowledgeable crowd which was around. I really enjoyed the euphoria, watching it on the TV. Every defensive shot played by the number 10 and 11 was cheered. Also well played Collingwood. Ponting was blaming the English cricketers for wasting time. I have not liked it. England has done nothing wrong. It is not cheating. Aus have lost the fire power in bowling now. They could not get the last pair out. The last pair played for more than 10 overs. How can he blame them? He had all the time. His bowlers could not deliver. He should stop crying. I think Pontings Charbi is still not gone. Anyways...this is real cricket and nothing can replace it.

Ranjeet said...

Hi Shiva, Thanks. I agree with you 100%