England Test Squad
I wanted to discuss the test squad in a little detail. With James Anderson injured, and Nick Compton taking a break from cricket after his test career ended limply and painfully against Sri Lanka, England make two changes to their test squad. There were plenty of big names being thrown around to take the spots: Stokes, Buttler, Borthwick etc. But England opted for Toby Roland-Jones and the return of Gary Ballance. I don't want to discuss Roland-Jones in any depth for two reasons. First, I know nothing about him. Secondly, he probably won't play, as Jake Ball seems to be next in line to bowl pace as a direct replacement for Anderson. There was talk of Stokes coming in for Anderson, but since he's not quite fit to bowl yet, he wouldn't replace Jimmy, as England like to have four pace bowlers and with Moeen and Woakes in the team at seven and eight, they aren't exactly short of batting options.
So Gary Ballance in for Nick Compton then, which is the main source of controversy. I like this move, in fact I like it a lot. I was calling for Ballance to replace Compton before the Sri Lanka series, and I think he's the natural replacement in that middle order. It does look as if England are going to shuffle the middle order, with Root pushed up to three, but with Root, Vince and Ballance at three, four and five, England have options in the middle, especially with Bairstow at six. So here's why I like Ballance, or rather, why I wouldn't take his replacements.
First of all Stokes. Stokes is an international caliber all-rounder. He can bowl, he can bat and he can field and in most games he contributes with either the bat or the ball. But he's not consistent enough with the bat to play in this team as a specialist batsman, although he has the potential to be. Moreover, I'd rather see him be careful with his recovery at county level until he's feeling 100%.
Jos Buttler is the other big name tauted but I don't want to see Buttler in test cricket right now. It's been less than a year since Buttler was dropped from the test side after a truly horrible summer. He made some decent fifties early on, but he didn't make a test century and after going seven tests without even a fifty, and an average as low as Compton's after as many matches, he was dropped. Now no disrespect to Buttler, but he was dropped for a reason. Since then he has been utterly, utterly phenomenal with the white ball. But white ball cricket is not red ball cricket and Buttler hasn't played any red ball cricket whatsoever since being dropped from the test squad, and it would be a spit in the face to the county system if he was picked.
Speaking of a spit in the face to the county system, that's what some people would call not picking Scott Borthwick. Borthwick has, it has to be said, been in sensational form this summer so far, and I did think that he would be the favourite to slot in at three, especially with his leg spin being useful in India and Bangladesh in the Autumn. But I can see why he wasn't picked either, as making the step up from county level to international level has its own problems.
In the end, the ECB made a compromise, someone who has had a decent, though not terrific county season, and has test experience, and has proven himself at test level. I was not a fan of dropping Ballance in the first place. A test average higher than anyone in the current side except Joe Root, four hundreds in fifteen tests and only really four bad test matches, in which he still managed to score a crucial fifty at a key point in the first test against the Aussies. So a run of basically three poor tests and he was out, which struck me as unfair, given how long other, worse batsmen have clung to their places in the side. Yes, there are questions over his technique, but those are questions that he deserves the chance to answer. And yes, before this run of fixtures he wasn't in the best of form for his county, but in his last two county games he has now scored 78 in one and 132 in the other, at an average of over 60. So in short, I am very happy to see Ballance get another chance to prove himself at test level, albeit slightly lower down the order (which can only work in his favour I think).
Wimbledon Update
Federer is out! After a colossal five set match with Raonic, it was the Canadian who emerged victorious, 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. This match was very similar to the Cilic match in a lot of ways. There was only one break of serve a piece in the first three sets combined, with both players serving hard and defending hard and failing to grind out the breaks. It was Raonic who was able to sneak the first set by a solitary break, Federer took the third by the same margin, and in between Federer won a crucial tiebreaker.
But the end of the fourth set felt pivotal. It looked as if it was going to another tiebreaker, which you would have backed Federer to win and take the match. Indeed, by this point it looked as if Federer had to, as he was giving his all but running out of steam. So when Raonic was able to steal Federer's serve off him in the final game of the fourth set, after Federer had been 40-0 up and double faulted twice, it was nothing short of incredible. Federer just seemed to run out of energy, as physically, the toll of playing two huge five set matches in a little over 48 hours was too much for his 35 year old legs. He called for a trainer at the end of the fourth, evidence that he was all but finished, and when he went down midway through the fifth, just before losing a break of serve, it said it all, and he didn't put up much fight as Raonic served out the match.
It's a real shame, but a man of Federer's age and with his career under his belt, you could definitely see something like this coming. He still has the skill and talent to match the younger players on the court, but not the stamina or physique.
And Raonic will be facing Andy Murray, after the number two seed swept aside Berdych in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. 6-3. I missed most of the match because of the T20, but from what I saw, Murray was not significantly better than Berdych over the first set and a half or so, and just was able to steal the crucial games at crucial points, and it did seem as if Berdych just was deflated by that by the end.
So Murray will go into tomorrow's final as the favourite to win his second Wimbledon.
Notts hammer Northants
Speaking of the T20, just thought I'd give a quick overview. It was a very frustrating evening overall. Northants started well, Levi and Rossington were bashing it to all four corners, but wickets were always a problem, and as they started to tumble they never stopped. Samit Patel and Imran Tahir, two exceptional spinners (one arguably the best in the world), just ripped into the upper middle order and Northants were never able to recover, ending up being bowled all out for 122 with three overs to spare.
And this was a total that Notts chased with exceptional ease. Lumb and Christian took their time, but once they reached the ten over mark, Christian played some huge shots, narrowly beating the fielder to take six on three occasions before finally getting caught. As Lumb followed shortly after, the match ended up being drawn out, as 102-2 after 13 slipped to 106-4 off 15, before Notts finally killed the game, Patel coming in to play a couple of big shots. A humbling defeat for Northants, but they remain top of the league.
The Hard and Fast Section
- What do you know, I filled a whole blog.
- Sakho - cleared of all charges. UEFA owe him an apology.
- And Danny Ings is back! What a hero.
- Chris Coleman to step down after 2018. Legend.
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