Buzzin Cricket

Let’s get one thing straight – England were completely outclassed by South Africa in the second test match at Headingley. They fully deserved their ten wicket victory and their 1-0 lead in the series. In all honesty though, as soon as I saw the England team for this match – or more specifically the batting order – I had an incline Graeme Smith’s men would be celebrating come the end of the test match.

First of all, let’s talk about Darren Pattinson. Why on earth was this man included? Basically, he is a 29-year-old Australian raised swing bowler who has only played 12 first-class matches. The fact that he was picked above Matthew Hoggard on his home ground or the in-form duo of Simon Jones and Steve Harmison is quite bizarre.

Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison are obviously now concerned for their England futures. Are they really behind an unknown Australian raised 29-year-old in the pecking order? Matthew Hoggard has said that he is bowling ‘better and better’ and is fearful that his international career could be over. Steve Harmison was critical of the selection and questioned whether the ECB believe the young bowlers in this country were good enough to make the step up after they ignored them for this test match.

The ECB line on Darren Pattinson’s call up seems to be that it was a ‘horses for courses’ selection. They wanted someone to make the most of the Headingley conditions. If that was the case, why on earth wasn’t Matthew Hoggard chosen? He is one of the best swing bowlers in the world on his day, has taken 248 test wickets and knows the Headingley pitch better than anyone. I would have put all my cricket betting money on the Yorkshire bowler causing plenty of problems to the South African batting line up.

However, this test match is gone now – it’s all about England trying to level things up when the third test starts at Edgbaston on 30th July. How will Michael Vaughn’s men line up? Well, Ryan Sidebottom has a chance of being fit, so I would imagine he will come in for Darren Pattinson.

Other than that, I’d love to see Simon Jones involved again. If that means Sidebottom misses out, then so be it. Simon Jones is in great form for Worcestershire and he could provide the England attack with that extra spark that it is lacking right now.

My final word for today though is with reference to Tim Ambrose. He has to be dropped in my opinion. I feel sorry for him after the ludicrous decision to bat him at six. He hasn’t scored a run all summer so how can he warrant a move up the order? He quite simply doesn’t appear to be up to the task – with the gloves or the bat. I’d personally pick Essex’s James Foster, but I think the selectors are more likely to turn to Matt Prior again if Tim Ambrose is dropped. Especially after he scored a majestic 137 for Sussex the other day.

There are certainly more questions than answers in terms of England’s selection policy right now and I for one will be intrigued to see how they line up against South Africa against Edgbaston.

Jonathan Agnew stated in one of his recent blogs that if Andrew Flintoff comes through Lancashire’s County Championship game with Hampshire –which starts today – then he will be playing in the second test against South Africa. The BBC pundit came to this conclusion after Andrew Flintoff netted with the England side ahead of the first test.

So, instead of a debate about whether he should be selected, it now seems that it is a case of – who will Andrew Flintoff replace? In my mind, there is no doubting that, if fit, Andrew Flintoff should play for England. His bowling has been especially missed and his batting appears to be showing signs of improvement recently. Overall, it seems difficult to leave him out.

Let’s presume he is fit for the second test match at Headingley and he is going to play. Who would be the man to miss out? Well, after scoring an impressive 75 not out yesterday, Ian Bell appears to have secured his place for now. The Warwickshire batsman shared a 192 run partnership with the majestic Kevin Pietersen – who finished unbeaten on 104 – to leave England 309-3 at the end of day one.

Ideally for England, if Andrew Flintoff is to return to the fold, he would do so batting at number six. This means that he would add to, rather than disrupt, the current bowling trio of Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. It would provide a great balance to the England side.

With this in mind, Paul Collingwood must have had a fairly restless evening. He knows that Andrew Flintoff is set to replace somebody and he knows that Ian Bell – who was the other England batsman under pressure – has performed admirably to all but secure his place. When Paul Collingwood walks to the crease later today, this won’t be too far from his thoughts. Talk about pressure. I’d put all my cricket betting money on the fact that the Durham batsman will be more nervous than ever when he walks out today.

Paul Collingwood needs to take it upon himself to make the selectors think twice before dropping him. He needs to get himself some runs and do all he can to keep his place in the side. I do wonder though, that secretly, the England selectors wouldn’t mind if Paul Collingwood failed to deliver in this test. It would certainly make there job much, much easier.

Something else that has been suggested is that Michael Vaughan’s poor batting form has gone rather unnoticed. He hasn’t exactly been getting many runs has he? In my opinion, his excellent captaincy warrants a place in the side on its own, but a century in the second innings at Lords wouldn’t go a miss.

England’s focus over the next four days though has to be winning this test match. They need to put selection issues to the back of their minds. If that means they win by an innings with each batsman getting some runs, then so be it. Andrew Flintoff will just have to wait his turn.

England reached 309-3 at stumps on day one of the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s.  The day belonged to Kevin Pietersen who finished on 104*.  He was well supported by the under-pressure Ian Bell who reached 75* - the pair adding an unbeaten 192 for the fourth wicket.

Pietersen received a tremendous ovation from the normally staid Lord’s crowd, probably in recognition of just how much effort he has put in for his adopted country.  There was a lot of talk about how the visitors would be targeting Pietersen, sledging him etc - his innings today was the most marvellous response.

SA skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and put England in - I bet he regrets that now, although Vaughan also said he would have bowled.  The recent rain in London seems to have taken all the life and pace out of the track leaving the visitors’ hyped-up pace attack looking distinctly unthreatening.

On other days on other pitches they may well be a handful, but here they never adjusted to the conditions - constantly bowling too short and wide to be a threat.  England’s batsmen - especially KP - must be looking to kill off the game tomorrow.

After a 2-0 series victory in the test matches, Australia have secured a 5-0 victory in the one day series after beating the West Indies by a massive 169 runs in St Kitts. It has been a very successful tour for the Australians, who leave the hosts feeling bruised and battered with just a Twenty20 victory to their name against Ricky Ponting’s men.

Before the final game of the series, any cricket odds would have told you that Australia were favourites – and they didn’t fail to deliver. Batting first, they posted a huge total of 341-8 in their 50 overs. Despite there not being a century, there were a number of stand out innings.

Luke Ronchi – who was making his fourth appearance for Australia – hit 64 from just 28 balls, Michael Hussey and Andrew Symonds scored brisk fifties, while David Hussey was explosive as he hit 52 from just 21 balls. Michael Clarke – who was standing in for the injured Ricky Ponting as captain – was the only man that failed to make double figures.

Chasing 342 to win, the West Indies were always up against it. When Mitchell Johnson removed Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan early on to leave the hosts 21-2, the chase was over before it had even begun. Only debutant Shawn Findlay put up a fight for the West Indies, he was unbeaten on 59 as Mitchell Johnson took five wickets to dismiss the Windies for just 172. They didn’t even make it past 40 overs and as one day victories go – this was very, very substantial.

There is no doubting that there is a lot of depth to this Australian team. After the loss of players like Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath they have coped well. In this match, they even showed a glimpse of life ‘post-Ponting’ with Michael Clarke leading a young side to a comprehensive victory.

Final word for today though goes to Luke Ronchi.  As wicket-keeper, he has been very tidy during this one-day series and in the most recent match he showed he can be explosive with the bat as well. He will certainly push Brad Haddin all the way for a spot in the test team as Australia seeks a long term replacement for Adam Gilchrist.

Kent secured their place in the FP Trophy final with a comfortable 83 run win over Durham at Chester-Le-Street earlier today.

Having been put in by the hosts the Kent batsmen played fantastically, building a platform and then going full on at the end of the innings to set a challenging target of 301 for 4 from their 50 overs.  The innings focused around centuries from Van Jaarsveld (122 no) and Denly (102).  Harmison was the only successful Durham bowler, taking all four wickets to fall for 47 runs from his 10 overs.

In reply the home side lost big hitters Mustard and Di Venuto quickly, and were always behind the odds.  Benkenstein finished on 80 no but wickets fell around him as the pressure of Kent’s big total, and tight bowling, began to tell.  The innings finished on 218, with a late flurry of wickets for Tredwell (3-37) and a couple of inglorious run outs.

Kent now await the outcome of tomorrow’s match between Essex and Yorkshire at Chelmsford to see who they will face in the final at Lord’s on August 16th.