India vs England series Review

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India vs England Test Review

Australia vs Sri Lanka – First Test

DAY 1 - REPORT

A conservative 86 by Phil Hughes and an unbeaten century partnership between Clarke and Hussey ensured Australia took the points after the 1^st day of 1^st test against Sri Lanka. Having won the toss and electing to bat on a slowish wicket, the hosts finished the day on 4/299.

The day started brilliantly for the visitors with Welegedera dismissing Ed Cowan in only the 6^th over for 4 before Warner and Hughes consolidated to have the hosts at 1/86. The partnership was blossoming before a minute of madness on brink of lunch had Warner run himself out on 57.

Shane Watson at his new position battled his way to patient 26 before he edged Welegerade to be caughtly brilliantly by Jayawardena at 2^nd slip.  On the other end, Hughes continued to build his innings by hitting six of Hearth and then driving the paceman down the ground. Just when it seemed like he would reach his 100, Welegedera return to go past the defence and knock over his stumps for 86.

At 4/198 there was an opportunity for Sri Lanka to siege the initiative even further but Hussey and Clarke ensured the balance of the game was tilted in Australia balance. Clarke remained 70 not out at stumps and in the process passed 1400 runs for the calender year.   

DAY 2 - REPORT 

Australian bowlers backed up their captain’s premature deceleration by picking up 4 Sri Lankan wickets. The visitors ended the day 2 on 4/87 still trailing by 363.

On a day marred by rain, Michael Hussey was the hero for Australia, as he notched up his 19^th test century to take Australia to a hefty total of 450. Hussey was unbeaten on 115 and shared a partnership of 146 with Matthew Wade, who also remained undefeated on 68. 

With temporary lights taking over and with still 30 over’s left in the day it was always a daunting task even on a good batting wicket. Karunaratne was first to succumb to Australia’s persistent line and length as he edged local boy, Hilfenhaus behind the wicket.  Next to go was Sangakarra, as he was lured into a loose drive by Peter Siddle for Hussey to take a sharp catch in the gully. Jaywardena was the next to go when he failed to get his pad out of the way of a sharp indipper from Watson and in the last over of the day, Samerawerra cut one into the gloves of Wade of Nathan Lyon. 

The only shinning light for the Sri Lankan was Dilshan. The dashing opener blazed his way to 50no by stumps.  Sri Lanka will need a few more if they are to avoid the follow on.

DAY 3 - REPORT 

Tillakaratne Dilshan belligerent century on 3^rd day of the 1^st test in Hobart ensured Sri Lanka’s deficient was only 114 runs after the 1^st innings.

Resuming on his overnight score of 50no, Dilshan took the attack up to the Australian quicks by playing some scintillating shots to bring up his 100 on the stroke of lunch. Dilshan’s 100 included 16 fours as he was rather savage particular on the Mitchell Starc. He was well backed up by Angelo Matthews (76) as they both rallied to put on a partnership of 161.

The Australian bowlers toiled hard but were proving infective on a good batting wicket as the score progressed to 4/248. It took a probing spell by Peter Siddle to finally end Matthew’s prolong stay at the crease. The wicket opened the window for the Australians and Mitchell Starc was the first to capitalise removing the well set Dilshan for 147.

Prasanna Jayawardena scored a valuable 40 but Peter Siddle was probing spell was simply too good as he polished off the tail with some immaculate bowling. Siddle finished with figures of 5/54 in what could be defining spell of the test match.

The Australian openers had some nervous moments but survived to be 0/27 at stumps.

 
DAY 4 - REPORT

Sri Lanka will need to take a leaf out of South Africa’s book if they are to draw the first test against Australia in Hobart. The visitors were 2/60 at stumps and face an improbable target of 393 set by the Australians.

Australians finished their 2^nd innings at 234 after resuming the day on 27 for no loss. Warner and Cowan added a 132 for the 1^st wicket before Warner edged Hearth behind the stumps for 68.  It was a timely break through as Warner was starting to up the antic. Australia then lost Cowan, Hughes and Watson all in quick succession before Clarke and Hussey put on 56 at a run a ball. Clarke was aggressor as he scored his 50 off just 47 balls before retiring hurt on 57.

Hussey ended up on 31no as Hearth and Welegerda cleaned up the Australian tale. Herath finished with figures of 5/96. 

First innings centurion, Dilshan came out blazing but Shane Watson had him caught behind off his first ball. Starc then returned to yorked Karunaratne to leave Sri Lanka at 2/45.

Visitors face a daunting task to save the test on pitch with plenty of cracks and the pitch playing up and down. If there was any consolation then it would be that their two best batsmen are still at the crease. 

DAY 5 - REPORT 

Australia tasted their first win at home this summer after defeating Sri Lanka in the 1^st test by 137 runs in Hobart. Australian bowlers, led by Siddle and Starc shared 9 wickets amongst them to bowl out Sri Lanka with 10 over’s to spare on a thrilling last day.

Resuming on 2/48 in pursuit of 393 on the final day, the visitor’s realistic chance was to salvage a draw.  Sangakarra and Jayawardena occupied the crease for the first hour before Australia’s premier bowler, Peter 

Siddle, induced the edge of the Sri Lankan skipper.

Siddle returned after lunch to trap Sangakarra plumb in front for 63 before removing Samerawera to a delivery that jagged back sharply off the seam. At tea, Australia still needed to pick up 4 wickets with 30 over’s left in day’s play.

With Siddle out of the attack, Australia needed an inspiring spell and it was left armer, Starc, who stood up. Bowling at searing pace and reverse swing he picked up the last 4 wickets of the match to finish with figures of 5/63.  

While Siddle and Starc deserved all the credit, Michael Clarke also needed to be congratulated for his timely declarations in both innings of the match.

TERRIBLE ADVERITSMENT FOR TEST CRICKET

If test cricket was to be eradicated then the pitch at Nagpur for the 4^th test between India and England, would make an ideal advertisement.  

Not only is it dull but it deviates from all the principles of worthy test match pitch. Ideally, the basics the pitch should have bounce, pace and turn. The pace and bounce tend to disintegrate over duration of the match while the turn becomes prominent.  With all the geographic factors, if we get even one of these basics right then test cricket can still be attractive. Unfortunately, the Nagpur pitch offered none of the basics which would have made most spectators yawn and flick to other channels.

Experts and viewers are quick to criticise a pitch if it favours the bowlers or as it is often the case batsmen and rightly they should, but even watching runs flows still attracts more views rather a barrage of monotonous defensive prods. 

The statistics from Day 1 yesterday showed there were 97 over’s bowled yesterday out of which 80.3 over’s no runs were scored off.  One could argue this was a case because of the defensive field sets, defensive bowling and defensive batting but realistically it was nature of the pitch.

To keep it simple cricket is about batsmen scoring runs and bowlers taking wickets. The pitch in Nagpur, contradicts both the basics of cricket.  Scoring runs is so difficult due to the nature of pitch even the most attacking batsmen are content to defend even harmless deliveries.   When one of the most captivating batsmen in world cricket, Kevin Pietersen manages to score at a scoring rate of 38.82, it confirms the lifeless wicket is appalling for test cricket.

The only way to get a wicket on this wicket is either boring the batsmen out or wait for him to make a mistake. To sum it up, it doesn’t reward the batsmen or the bowlers and more importantly the spectators watching at the ground or on TV.

The pitch could still produce a result over five days and the criticism will vanish but that would take some dreadful cricket or the pitch to deteriorate at an alarming rate. If the latter does take effect one then has to wonder why we weren’t given a dust bowl from Day 1, at least the wickets tumbling would have made it attractive cricket.