England: Consistently inconsistent

Finally, the humiliation is over. If you are an England fan, you will be relieved that the game didn't go to fifth day. It was almost comforting. The whole batting looked like a comedy show. Dean Elgar said last night that Proteas didn't want an easy win. Maybe England heard them. As if they were so desperate to prove him wrong, they didn't show any fight at all. Total surrender. Complete submission.

England have been amazing in terms of inconsistency for the last two years in test cricket. Since 2015, this is the 8th occasion on which they have lost a test match in the very next match after pulling off a victory. They have now lost 6 of their last 8 test matches. In this match, their combined two innings spanned for 96.1 overs, while South Africa's first innings stretched for 96.2 overs. You don't win many games by batting for less than 100 overs. They didn't last 2 sessions in second innings. Everyone talks about how much talent is there in this England's side. It annoys me a lot. Brutal fact: They don't deliver when it matters.

Their team selection is comical. Let me highlight more over this.

According to coach Trevor Bayliss, Moeen is England's 2nd best and Dawson is the best spinner in the country. (I doubt even Dawson's mum will agree with that). Moeen has picked 14 wickets and won Lord's test for his country. Dawson got a pair there. Dawson doesn't look threatening with ball, that is totally fine. He was picked over Rashid as he is miserly in giving away runs. The problem is : In both the tests, he gave away too many vital runs. His batting was bonus, which ran out of luck against world class Proteas attack. (He got 66* on debut against India, which led to his preference over Crane and Rashid). Sometimes, I wonder what would a team with 11 Dawsons look like (Imagine the 12th man is Dawson too). What in almighty God's name they are gonna do? Can't bowl. Can't bat. Fields at innocuous positions. By his reaction on the field, it seems as if even he has no idea why he is getting picked.

Coming to Gary Ballance. He has no idea what he is doing in the middle of a ground with a wooden thing in his hand. There is no doubt that he earned his England recall by scoring oodle of runs in county championship. (For the record, he was averaging almost 100 when he got picked). But, on international arena, he is just so clueless. His technique continues to betray him. He doesn't know whether to go forward or on back-foot. He was standing almost pacific ocean deep in his crease even when Vernon was pitching the ball so full. By the time he makes a decision, a whole parliament session is over. His weak craftsmanship against full balls were exposed dangerously in 2015 Ashes by Australian pair of Mitchells. He has already been dropped twice for his poor technique, I doubt there will be any way back for him to live this dream once another sack happens. He needs to pull up his socks and if he is lucky enough to be included for Oval test, that will be probably his last chance. He needs some vital runs if he wants a ticket for Brisbane later this year.

Opening pair: I can write a whole romantic novel over Cooky's long search for true love in the form of opening partner. Ever since Strauss retired, England have tried 11 openers (if my memory serves me right in this old age). Still everyone comes, hangs out for a while and then Cook is left frustrated. It is not that the openers England have tried have not been given long runs. Just the mere fact that the gap between County championship and international cricket is proving out to be too much to adjust. I liked young Hameed. It just disappoints me so much that he got injured when he was in sublime touch against India. This county season, his form has been abysmal. I really adored Keaton Jennings. From Durham. Good mates with Woody, Stokes and Collingwood speaks highly of him. His father has been an amazing influence over his cricket. He looks good when he bats. Getting a ton in your first game on Indian soil is something not many players achieve. Sadly, even he is turning out to be just another heartache. It is not that he has played very badly in this series. But, he seems to be getting too many unplayable balls, which indicates that he is not international quality yet.

Mark wood is proving out to be too one-dimensional. In white ball cricket, he is the go-to bowler for Eoin Morgan. He can run, bowl fast and reverse swing the old ball. A perfect weapon for any captain. But, I doubt he is yet ready for the rigors of test cricket. He last played a test in 2015 and has never played two tests back to back. He is averaging 197 in this series. One wicket in two games. That wicket too of JP Duminy. It is simply not good enough. Perhaps it was a mistake to include him for Trent Bridge. Maybe Toby Roland Jones should have been given his debut here. Well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Everything looks so clear when we look at things in retrospect. Ah!

Another issue which is hampering their progress is : There are just too many all-rounders in this England team. Once Woakes returns, there will be 8 players in this line-up who can ball and 10 players who have got a first class hundred. It is certainly nice to have this cushion of skill in your team, but right now it is backfiring for England. Moeen doesn't know what his role is. He was not given the ball till first 45 overs in first innings and later he was the one who picked 4 wickets in second innings. Either he is doing too much, or nothing at all. Stokes: normally a helluva cricketer when on song. This series, he has not done justice either with bat or ball. He is bowling too many release balls at the moment. Bairstow, Root, Cook, Anderson and Broad have looked good, but haven't found much support from others.

This defeat won't be hard for any England's cricket fan to swallow. After all, they have been doing this for a while now. They are getting used to this. Anyway, tomorrow we have England and South Africa ODI game in Women's world cup. I can only expect that Knight's team haven't watched the highlights of this game and put on a better show.

Well. Enough already. Like it is: With England cricket, happiness is a rare episode in the general drama of pain. Let us await what unfolds in Oval.

Shine Joe Shine

Joe Root on 99. He gets a full ball on leg stump from Maharaj. If you are playing at Lords, you are generally so desperate to get a 100. You will either flick through your pads near square leg and sprint a single. Joe Root chose to paddle sweep it to fine leg for a 3. Here it was! The helmet comes off. Punch in the air. Moeen Ali hugs him and congratulates him. The whole atmosphere is electric. The applause doesn't stop for almost forever. Everyone is at their feet giving standing ovation. His father, grandfather and son all are there to watch. All 4 generations of Roots on the same ground at the same time to cherish the most beautiful moment in their family history.

This is what dreams are made of. First test as captain at Mecca of Cricket. Getting your name at the honors board. Leading the team to position of fortitude. Converting the hundred into a daddy one. Leading from the front. That's Joe Root for you. Root de Force.

Just before this match, I saw his interview at Lords. He spoke about his nervousness and the immense pressure the job brings with it. The constant scrutiny is just the nature of this beast. He got a cold and sore throat just before the match began. It looked like bad omen. At 76 for 4 at Lunch, the situation looked perilous. England were in usual mess again.

But, Root found a way to overcome it. He didn't only put England out of trouble, but he put them in a commanding position. He, along with Moeen plummeted 175 runs in the final session to give South Africa a bad night's sleep. At the end of day 1, he was unbeaten on 184. It was magical and surreal.
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Joe Root on 149. He comes down the pitch. Maharaj is bowling from Nursery end. He gets a sharp turn and beats the outside edge. De Kock does the rest. It is all over. Root gets a handshake from Philander. But, wait a minute. They are checking the front foot. No. It can't be. Not a spinner. No kidding. He had overstepped. God was watching and enjoying Root's innings equally well as 29,000 spectators at the ground.

Next ball, he pushes to sweeper cover to reach 150. Applause begins. It doesn't fade for the rest of the day.

In many ways, this was a day destined to happen. It was inevitable. All other 3 members of Fab-4 of this generation (Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson) are already the captains of their countries. Kohli and Smith got hundreds in their first test as captain, while Kane got 91. It was almost as if Joe was due to get a ton at the ground he relishes batting so much. He is now also the fastest to reach 1000 runs at Lords(17 innings) surpassing Strauss (19 innings). He is sixth England captain to get a 100 in his first test. (Previous all 3 captains Strauss, KP, Cook had done it)

He is undoubtedly the best batsman England have ever produced. I remember his debut against India in Nagpur where he scored 73 and 20*. I had a special feeling about him. He looked like a school boy ready to take on the world. Little did I notice that he will go on to become this good. He has an insatiable hunger to improve. He is one of few players who play all formats for England. He has all the shots in the book, can play any situation.

This hundred will definitely settle him into this new England captain role. Admittedly, it was riding on a lot of luck. 2 dropped chances and once out off a no-ball, but like they say, "fortune favors the brave". Root made sure that he made most of it. He was aggressive throughout the day and in the evening session at one stage he had scored 94 off 83 balls in 150 runs partnership with Moeen. He wasn't ready to slow down to savor the moment. He was there to put South Africa out of the match. There is a lot of work to be done, but it is nice start for sure.

The butterflies in the stomach are gone. The monkey is off the back. Highest score in first innings as England skipper. Captain Root sets a new marker for England. Shine Joe, Shine.

Crisis looming Test Cricket?

Test cricket is dying. Not yet. But, soon it will if it keeps on getting ignored by ICC and the current state is very delicate. Let's investigate it a little further.

Test cricket is the ultimate form of not only cricket, but all forms of sports. It tests you like nothing else. It will peel you off gradually layer by layer and finds out all about you. It will reveal what you are made of from inside. The highest possible form. The summit. There is nothing like it. It explores you 6 hours a day continuously for 5 days. You don't lose or win a test match by fluke. Victory has to be absolute. You won't lose a test match by a one-over disaster. You will lose it slowly and there are hardly any upsets. If you have got a flaw, it will be exposed over and over and unless you find a cure for it, you will be gone. Just like that. There are no fielding restrictions, one bowler will keep on probing you till he gets you or you get him. There is follow-on, night-watchman, declaration, Lunch, Tea and all those things. You have to use the best conditions for bowling, batting and give the opposition what they like the least. It is a battle of patience, technique, temperament, character and skill. As Sir Ian Botham said, "What's not to like in test cricket?" It is pure joy. It is a class above all other formats.

But, current state of Test cricket is abysmal. So many problems have loomed test cricket. Crowd attendance is getting poorer each day. Star Players are not playing test cricket. There are games without context. The pay players get for playing test cricket is not matching to that to T20 leagues and so on. It warrants immediate attention from ICC. If unchecked, this may lead to extinction of test cricket as we know it altogether.

One of the big factors causing slump in test cricket is the fact that big players Like AB deVilliers, Chris Gayle etc. are opting out of it. The usual excuse is to keep themselves fit for the world cup or extend their cricket careers. Or the ostensibly palpable fact that they can earn a lot more money by playing just a few weeks of ludicrous T20 leagues than they would if they play test cricket for whole year. To me, world cup build up is one of the most overrated things in cricket. There are knockouts in a world cup and cricket is one of the sports in which you don't have to play bad to lose. The opposition brilliance might do it. One player in opposition can take the game away from you. You can't prepare for something like that with complete certainty. Of course, you can do a lot of drills, play a lot of matches to acclimatize yourself, but it will remain uncertain till the day. Why prepare ourselves for an ideal situation which doesn't exist? Why not enjoy a full career involving test and limited overs cricket side by side if you are good at it? Why restrict ourselves to doing half the work? Why not savor the longest format? It is disheartening to see the current state of affairs involving test cricket.  Because of these T20 leagues hampering the availability of players, hardly any team is putting their best XI on the field for a test game at all. Players pull crowd and if good players aren't around, crowd won't come.

Well. Let's talk about T20 leagues. There are T20 leagues going on in every country now. Very recently, Cricket South Africa announced the onset of their own T20 league. So, there we have it. T20 leagues in India, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and so on. Even England are planning to  remodel their T20 blast structures to a city based structure. How far it will go can't be said at this stage. It is certainly a potential threat to the very existence of test cricket. If people don't go to watch test matches, the game won't survive. A big part of cricket will die.

For International cricket to thrive and prosper, more teams should be playing test cricket and above all, all great players should be playing test cricket. Very recently, ICC added two more teams Afghanistan and Ireland to their test arena and I certainly couldn't be happier about it. To me, it was an absolute moment of joy. Test cricket needs more teams and competitive matches. The crowd attendance in countries (other than England and Australia) have been deteriorating continuously for test cricket. In some parts of the world, the perception of test cricket is diminishing. They prefer T20. There is music, slam-bang batting, starting the game with a fire and all that. It is certainly exciting and undoubtedly, cricket has grown a notch up because of it. But, by abandoning test cricket, we risk losing the sacred legacy of the beautiful game we love. Test cricket needs safeguarding and desperate measures are needed. It is really frightening to see that if the current stage continues, then it may reach the point of no return.

Test cricket is all about heritage and tradition. Bring on pink ball, day-night, four-day tests or test championship. It hardly matters. As long as superstars are opting out of it, it won't be the same. Spectators go to watch cricket to watch quality cricket and only the reinstatement of good players can provide them that. The gap between earning due to T20 leagues and national contracts for test cricket needs to lessen. ICC could provide giving more context to the test matches by launching test championship.  That would encourage interest among players, spectators and broadcasters. Talks about it have been going on for a while and it is time that something actually happens in this direction.

Test cricket needs its fans. It needs protection from ICC. After all, it is the mother of all forms. Hopefully, things will sort themselves out and the inheritance of test cricket will last forever.