Too Much Alastair Cook Spoils the Broth

As a lover of the game it’s almost sacrilegious to say it, but there’s just too much international cricket being played at the moment. The result of the never ending pursuit of the almighty dollar (or rupee) is that the really dramatic, high octane action is being diluted by too much mediocre cricket that does little but devalue the sport.

Exhibit one is the just completed West Indies tour, be it the Test matches or the One Day Internationals, the series was characterised by some of the least inspiring cricket I can remember. Taking their lead from the captain Chris Gayle who would clearly have preferred to have been back in South Africa enjoying the sun on his back and the crash bang wallop of the IPL, the Windies – cold and unfamiliar with the conditions – put in a collection of performances as insipid, and lacking in application and basic technique as any seen for a while.

But you can’t blame them entirely, this was an ill conceived tour from the start – scheduled to meet contractual obligations to show a minimum of five home test matches each summer on Sky, the tour was far too early in the English ‘summer’ (pushed there by the addition of the World Twenty20 to an already cramped calendar), an error which was compounded by the allocation of one of the tests to the most northerly ground in the country in early May... and guess what? Yes, it was bloody Baltic.

Leading international sides are now operating a squad system, picking and choosing the battles that their top players fight to avoid burn out, and inevitable injuries. Someone at the top of the game has to realise this simply isn’t good for the sport. Lessons need to be learnt, but probably won’t, rather than quantity, the long term future of the game depends on the quality of cricket played.
A test series against the West Indies should never be a side issue again, but that’s what it was – now that it’s out of the way I’m looking forward to some truly exciting, competitive cricket in the World Twenty20, and on through the Ashes.

Bring on the Ashes

Reading through the Australia squad for the Ashes, I’m actually feeling a little more confident about England’s chances. Any team without Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist is obviously going to be significantly weaker, but I genuinely think the Aussies have some pretty serious issues to address.

Unless Mitchell Johnson continues his batting form this squad lacks a genuine test all rounder (and despite what many people are saying Andrew Symonds wouldn’t have been the answer either). Shane Watson has been around for a long time without ever looking like changing the course of a Test Match, and Andrew McDonald may just turn out to be the most limited player I’ve ever seen Australia bring to these shores.

Running through the entire squad you can make a case for most players falling into one of the categories of out of form, injured, untested, or simply not good enough. To be frank with Ponting scratching around for form (admittedly by his own high standards) only Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Katich and Brad Haddin escape the cut on all fronts.

So, no spinner to speak of, a question mark over the balance of the team without a proper all rounder, and many key men only just returning from injury all of a sudden I’m getting the feeling Australia might just be there for the taking... Famous last words.

Early Season Conclusions

• Phil Hughes’ gentle introduction to English conditions going alarmingly well, his first class scores read 118, 65*, 139, 195 and 57. Thanks for that Middlesex.

• Excellent to see Notts top of the table and looking really strong after beating Somerset, showing the depth of their squad with important performances from youngsters Luke Fletcher and Alex Hales in particular taking the slack from senior members of side missing through either international selection or injury.

• Everyone now needs to stop even mentioning Michael Vaughan in terms of England – I keep hearing of his psychological advantage over Australia, but I doubt they’ll be too intimidated by first class returns of 12, 24, 20, 5 and 16.

• Cruelly deprived of Simon Jones and Kabir Ali, Worcestershire are doomed to ignominious relegation from the County Championship division one.

• The West Indies non-performance in the first test highlights just how poorly England did to lose the away series earlier this year. The real bonus from the game though was to see us winning without a performance from the senior members of the squad, nothing of consequence from Pietersen, Strauss or Collingwood, and Flintoff didn’t even play...

• ...As the anomaly of England’s record without Flintoff continues one of Andy Flower’s most important challenges will be to discover whatever it is that gives other players the freedom or responsibility to deliver when ‘Fred-the-talisman’ isn’t in the side, and channel it whenever Flintoff is back fit.

• Graeme Swann’s transformation from outsider to number one spinner has been remarkable, and it opens up the possibility of England playing two spinners, certainly later in the summer during the Ashes. All of which makes the decision to give a test (especially the first one) to Glamorgan instead of Old Trafford stink even more than it did at the time...

• Given the money grabbing nature of that decision, starting a Test match against a flaky West Indies side in early May on a Wednesday seems incredibly naive – three days later and the game’s over before the bumper weekend crowds come through the gates. Cue much grinding of teeth at the ECB.

Fantasy Cricket 2009

If you only play one fantasy cricket game this summer, it’s got to be the Telegraph’s version, the original and best – hit http://fantasycricket.telegraph.co.uk/

It’s the most accurate, detailed version of the game, but be prepared to spend all day at work refreshing Cricinfo to see how Tim Murtagh is getting on in the second division against Glamorgan, or cursing that the clash between Northants and Leicester is being rained off. Be warned it might take over your life.

Teams need to be registered by Weds May 6th to take part from the start, if a few people are up for getting involved, I’ll create a mini-league.

There are several games this year, but the big one is the county challenge. Here’s my starting line up. I’ve tried to limit the number of enforced transfers I’ll have to make, so have looked to pick players unaffected by IPL / international call ups.

Batsmen
Marcus Trescothick: 8
A fantasy banker. One of the best players in the country, but never going to play international cricket. He’s also such a fast scorer he’ll be good for bonus points in all forms of one day cricket.

Adam Voges: 6
The Australian is clearly a class act, and has started the season well for Notts, a quality one day player, although will be lost when he joins up with the Aussies Twenty20 squad.

Dawid Malan: 5
There had to be one of Middlesex’s young batsmen, and I’ve plumped for Malan for his explosive one day play, and the fact he’s started to pick up a few wickets for a few Brucie Bonus extra points.

Ian Bell: 4
At four points, Bell’s as cheap as a Kerry Katona Iceland advert. I don’t see him getting back into the England side any time soon, but he should fill his boots on the county circuit.

All Rounders
Samit Patel: 8
A bit like Trescothick, an international class player not involved with the national team. A top performer in all formats of the game. Samit’s my pick as skipper so will deliver double points.

Josh Cobb: 3
A bargain buy, talked about as having huge promise he’s been picking up some decent runs so far this season.

Wicket Keeper
Tim Ambrose: 3
Another cheap buy, Ambrose has started superbly with the bat this season, and isn’t in immediate contention for another England call up.

Bowlers
Danish Kaneria: 7
A bit like Mushy for all those years, Kaneria’s just too good for the majority of domestic batsmen. Expect hatfuls of wickets to follow.

Andre Nel: 6
Nel’s still a class act although not to everyone’s taste, now that Gunter’s gone Kolpak I expect him to be a key bowler for Essex in their promotion push this year.

Saj Mahmood: 5
I’ve always liked Saj despite the criticism he gets for being a bit too wayward. Genuine pace, and with Freddie and Ando likely to be on England duty all season he’ll be the man to lead the Lancashire attack.

Wayne Parnell: 5
I caught a glimpse of Parnell in South Africa’s one day series against Australia, and the boy’s got a future. He also picked up runs in Kent’s game against Essex which swung his inclusion.