This blogger would never want to appear smug but with Essex boys Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara both chalking up centuries in the Second Test against the West Indies today, the post The Essex factor for England from last week certainly seems to hold some water.
If Cook and Bopara can carry this sort of form through to the Ashes series, Essex players could certainly play a large part in England having a successful summer.
By all accounts, Cook's unbeaten 126 wasn't the prettiest innings you'll ever see but he was due a big score and set about getting one methodically.
Bopara's 108 was a more swashbuckling affair and he's surely now grabbed the number three spot for Test series against the Aussies.
Both players have wildly different styles, but both look assured, comfortable and confident at the crease. Bopara will be particularly pleased to have taken his chance when it came round again after false starts in Sri Lanka and the West Indies over the last two winters.
Indeed, Bopara's century today makes him only the fifth Englishman to score centuries in three successive Test innings, joining a list that includes Herbert Sutcliffe, Denis Compton, Geoffrey Boycott and Bopara's batting mentor at Essex, Graham Gooch.
A doff of the cap to Ravi and Cooky...
Thursday 14 May 2009
Sunday 10 May 2009
The art of banter 1
I'll be writing a lot about cricket and banter soon (as well as cricket and snacks), but in the mean time here's a little something to get your teeth into from Paul Hayward at the Observer http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/may/10/test-match-special-radio-5-live
The case for Fozzie
Geraint Jones. Chris Read. Paul Nixon. Matt Prior. Tim Ambrose.
Spot a name missing from that list of those vying for the England wicket-keeper's job in recent years? Yes, that's right, James Foster, just about the only contender who hasn't been given a crack at the job since Alec Stewart retired from behind the stumps in 2003.
Essex fans have been banging on about the credentials of James Foster as England wicket-keeper for some time and there's a growing feeling in the game that he's the man for the job. But Fozzie hasn't had a look-in since his last Test in 2002 after he broke his arm in a freak training accident.
Many were left bewildered by his continued exclusion from any England squad after his excellent form last season. But Foster has just kept his head down and gone about his job in his usual efficient and effective way.
I happened to be in the Essex press box earlier this season when the topic of debate was the England keeper's job. The man from The Times said that England selector Geoff Miller had tasked Stewart's predecessor in the job, Jack Russell, with travelling round the counties last season to find out who was the best wickie. His answer was Foster. But still he wasn't picked.
No-one has cemented the gloveman's position since Stewart's retirement and the main reason seems to be that England want a wicket-keeper who is a also a big run scorer. This is all very well when you have the likes of an Adam Gilchrist or Brendon McCullum at your disposal. But England don't. Those kind of wicket-keeper batsmen don't come along very often.
Yet surely we shouldn't have to be relying on a keeper scoring runs all the time if our top order is performing properly. And thereby lies the real problem - it hasn't been recently. Out of our top five batsmen, it's rare that more than one has got a big score in an innings recently. And so the onus goes on to the wicket-keeper to make a lot of runs.
But an excellent wicket-keeper who bats well can contribute as much (if not more) to a team than a reasonably decent wickie who scores more runs. The old maxim that catches win matches isn't a hollow one.
Anyhow, it seems to me that Foster has proven himself in the last two seasons on both the batting and keeping fronts. By all accounts, he's improved immeasurably as a wicket-keeper since his last outing for the national side.
I've watched him at Essex many a time and he was impressive again against Lancashire Lightning in the Friends Provident Trophy today. He was an imposing presence behind the stumps, taking two catches and a brilliant, sharp stumping of du Plessis standing up to the pace bowling of David Masters. He also showed his quick hands and a quick mind in the run out of Sajid Mahmood after some good work in the field from Varun Chopra.
Essex made hard work of overhauling Lancashire's total at times and, as has so often been the case in the last year, Foster came to the crease to see his side over the line. In both the long and short form of the game, Foster has shown his prowess with the bat repeatedly. He's a shrewd rather than an extravagant operator with the bat, adapting readily to match situations and doing what's needed for the sake of the team.
Former Essex team-mate and England team director Andy Flower, who kept wicket for Zimbabwe as well as being their top batsmen, knows Foster's virtues well. The current holder of the England keeper's gloves Matt Prior had mixed fortunes in the Caribbean but acquitted himself reasonably well in the First Test against the West Indies last week. But with Foster now called up to the England Twenty20 side, he'll know that the Essex man must be figuring large in Flower's mind as the Ashes draws ever nearer.
Spot a name missing from that list of those vying for the England wicket-keeper's job in recent years? Yes, that's right, James Foster, just about the only contender who hasn't been given a crack at the job since Alec Stewart retired from behind the stumps in 2003.
Essex fans have been banging on about the credentials of James Foster as England wicket-keeper for some time and there's a growing feeling in the game that he's the man for the job. But Fozzie hasn't had a look-in since his last Test in 2002 after he broke his arm in a freak training accident.
Many were left bewildered by his continued exclusion from any England squad after his excellent form last season. But Foster has just kept his head down and gone about his job in his usual efficient and effective way.
I happened to be in the Essex press box earlier this season when the topic of debate was the England keeper's job. The man from The Times said that England selector Geoff Miller had tasked Stewart's predecessor in the job, Jack Russell, with travelling round the counties last season to find out who was the best wickie. His answer was Foster. But still he wasn't picked.
No-one has cemented the gloveman's position since Stewart's retirement and the main reason seems to be that England want a wicket-keeper who is a also a big run scorer. This is all very well when you have the likes of an Adam Gilchrist or Brendon McCullum at your disposal. But England don't. Those kind of wicket-keeper batsmen don't come along very often.
Yet surely we shouldn't have to be relying on a keeper scoring runs all the time if our top order is performing properly. And thereby lies the real problem - it hasn't been recently. Out of our top five batsmen, it's rare that more than one has got a big score in an innings recently. And so the onus goes on to the wicket-keeper to make a lot of runs.
But an excellent wicket-keeper who bats well can contribute as much (if not more) to a team than a reasonably decent wickie who scores more runs. The old maxim that catches win matches isn't a hollow one.
Anyhow, it seems to me that Foster has proven himself in the last two seasons on both the batting and keeping fronts. By all accounts, he's improved immeasurably as a wicket-keeper since his last outing for the national side.
I've watched him at Essex many a time and he was impressive again against Lancashire Lightning in the Friends Provident Trophy today. He was an imposing presence behind the stumps, taking two catches and a brilliant, sharp stumping of du Plessis standing up to the pace bowling of David Masters. He also showed his quick hands and a quick mind in the run out of Sajid Mahmood after some good work in the field from Varun Chopra.
Essex made hard work of overhauling Lancashire's total at times and, as has so often been the case in the last year, Foster came to the crease to see his side over the line. In both the long and short form of the game, Foster has shown his prowess with the bat repeatedly. He's a shrewd rather than an extravagant operator with the bat, adapting readily to match situations and doing what's needed for the sake of the team.
Former Essex team-mate and England team director Andy Flower, who kept wicket for Zimbabwe as well as being their top batsmen, knows Foster's virtues well. The current holder of the England keeper's gloves Matt Prior had mixed fortunes in the Caribbean but acquitted himself reasonably well in the First Test against the West Indies last week. But with Foster now called up to the England Twenty20 side, he'll know that the Essex man must be figuring large in Flower's mind as the Ashes draws ever nearer.
The Essex factor for England
It may be rather previous to suggest it, but Essex could go a long way to making England's summer successful.
Ravi Bopara's composed, determined 143 not only helped England set the West Indies a total that they just weren't up to, it actually saved Andrew Strauss' men from a rather sticky situation as wickets tumbled around the 100 run mark of the England innings.
The idea that the number three slot for England was a problem seemed irrelevant once Bopara took control and steadied the ship. Numbers one, two, four and five looked more of a problem on the first afternoon of the Lord's test.
The form of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood must be of particular concern to England selector Geoff Miller, particularly KP whose frame of mind has not looked right since losing the captaincy.
Bopara may not be the long-term solution at one-wicket-down for England, but he looks better qualified than the other major contenders, Vaughan, Bell and Shah, at the moment. He certainly has the confidence to take on the Aussies and will bat wherever he is asked to.
England team director (aka coach) Andy Flower knows Ravi well, of course, from his time at Essex and saw early on that Bopara had the three Ts to succeed at international level: technique, talent and temperament.
Flower, a man known for his lack of bluff and bluster, says he was wowed by Bopara the first time he saw him at the County Ground, Chelmsford: "As soon as I arrived at Essex... the first time I saw him in the nets. He would have been 17."
"I rate him very highly," Flower said after the first Test. "This is just a start for him... it was a lovely innings to watch. In the way that you watch an artist, he painted a lovely picture."
Fulsome praise from a man not known for hyperbole.
And Bopara seems to be taking it all in his stride. He had a tough induction to Test cricket with three ducks in Sri Lanka the winter before last and was dropped for tactical reasons despite scoring a century in the fourth Test in Barbados earlier this year.
But Bopara has a strong self-belief and always backs himself to succeed, which is something the England dressing room needs right now. Indeed, Bopara, who has just turned 24, is so keen to play cricket that he returns to Essex to play in the Friends Provident match against Lancashire at Chelmsford today.
Bopara's Essex team-mate Alastair Cook won't be turning out for the Eagles but will be hoping to build on some decent innings in recent weeks when the second Test starts at Chester-le-Street on Thursday.
After missing the beginning of the season with a fractured finger, Cook looked in good nick in Essex's friendly match against the West Indies at Chelmsford two weeks ago and will now look to get beyond the 30s and 40s and post a big score for his country.
If him and Bopara are playing well, England will be well set for a confidence boosting series win against the Windies before the Ashes.
And don't count out the return of James Foster to the Test fold just yet either. Widely regarded as the best gloveman in the country, he's shown good form with the bat already this season and has already been selected for the England Twenty20 World Cup squad.
Andy Flower, a wicket-keeper batsman, knows Foster's abilities only too well. Matt Prior, watch your back...
Ravi Bopara's composed, determined 143 not only helped England set the West Indies a total that they just weren't up to, it actually saved Andrew Strauss' men from a rather sticky situation as wickets tumbled around the 100 run mark of the England innings.
The idea that the number three slot for England was a problem seemed irrelevant once Bopara took control and steadied the ship. Numbers one, two, four and five looked more of a problem on the first afternoon of the Lord's test.
The form of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood must be of particular concern to England selector Geoff Miller, particularly KP whose frame of mind has not looked right since losing the captaincy.
Bopara may not be the long-term solution at one-wicket-down for England, but he looks better qualified than the other major contenders, Vaughan, Bell and Shah, at the moment. He certainly has the confidence to take on the Aussies and will bat wherever he is asked to.
England team director (aka coach) Andy Flower knows Ravi well, of course, from his time at Essex and saw early on that Bopara had the three Ts to succeed at international level: technique, talent and temperament.
Flower, a man known for his lack of bluff and bluster, says he was wowed by Bopara the first time he saw him at the County Ground, Chelmsford: "As soon as I arrived at Essex... the first time I saw him in the nets. He would have been 17."
"I rate him very highly," Flower said after the first Test. "This is just a start for him... it was a lovely innings to watch. In the way that you watch an artist, he painted a lovely picture."
Fulsome praise from a man not known for hyperbole.
And Bopara seems to be taking it all in his stride. He had a tough induction to Test cricket with three ducks in Sri Lanka the winter before last and was dropped for tactical reasons despite scoring a century in the fourth Test in Barbados earlier this year.
But Bopara has a strong self-belief and always backs himself to succeed, which is something the England dressing room needs right now. Indeed, Bopara, who has just turned 24, is so keen to play cricket that he returns to Essex to play in the Friends Provident match against Lancashire at Chelmsford today.
Bopara's Essex team-mate Alastair Cook won't be turning out for the Eagles but will be hoping to build on some decent innings in recent weeks when the second Test starts at Chester-le-Street on Thursday.
After missing the beginning of the season with a fractured finger, Cook looked in good nick in Essex's friendly match against the West Indies at Chelmsford two weeks ago and will now look to get beyond the 30s and 40s and post a big score for his country.
If him and Bopara are playing well, England will be well set for a confidence boosting series win against the Windies before the Ashes.
And don't count out the return of James Foster to the Test fold just yet either. Widely regarded as the best gloveman in the country, he's shown good form with the bat already this season and has already been selected for the England Twenty20 World Cup squad.
Andy Flower, a wicket-keeper batsman, knows Foster's abilities only too well. Matt Prior, watch your back...
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