County News: Derbyshire Metaphors

10/02

Tom Poynton stranglers himself with metaphors and analogies

08/02

Gloucestershire are said to be interested in Cameron Green where Western Australian team mate, Cameron Bancroft is already contracted.

Hampshire have their eye on NSW's Jack Edwards.

07/02

I noticed this morning that Leicestershire's second eleven player, Nick Welch, is making his Test debut for his native Zimbabwe in their test against Ireland. scorecard

Playing his second Test for Zimbabwe is a former Northamptonshire and Notts second eleven player, Ben Curran - the middle brother of the Surrey and England pair, Tom and Sam.

03/02

It’s not all England doom and gloom – an Ashes alternative to Scott Boland has emerged

Sam Cook’s Boland-esque mastery of Australia’s pitches for England Lions suggests the Essex seamer could be perfect fit for the Ashes

Scyld Berry Daily Telegraph

Australia’s men have just beaten Sri Lanka by an innings and plenty. Australia Women have whitewashed England in the Ashes. Australia A have beaten England Lions by an innings, too, in the “A” Test in Sydney, but one bright light has emerged: an English answer to Scott Boland.

We may think of Australia as still being the land of moustached fast bowlers breathing fire and slaughter, and of visiting batsmen fending snorters into the slips, but this image is going out of date.

Most of Australia’s Test pitches have changed drastically – from old-time true, heartless and grassless surfaces to green seamers, on which the metronomically accurate Boland is king. In nine Tests in Australia at fast-medium pace, clocking only 130-132kph or just over 80mph, Boland has taken 49 wickets at only 12 runs each.

Perth’s Optus Stadium, England’s first Test venue in November, has to start damp and grassy otherwise the clay pitch cracks up. The second Test is in Brisbane, where the pink ball will dart around under lights. Melbourne is Boland’s home ground, where he took six wickets for seven runs on his Test debut against England in 2021-22. Mark Waugh, most stylish of Australian batsmen and now a commentator, said that the ball seamed more during the India Test earlier this year than he had ever seen before at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Boland was player of the match, taking 10 wickets for 76 runs.

Happily, the England Lions tour that culminated in defeat by an innings and 10 runs by Australia A, supplied an answer to Boland: the 27-year-old Essex seamer Sam Cook. Even his figures in the two red-ball games in Brisbane against a Cricket Australia XI and the “A” Test were Boland-esque: 13 wickets at 14 runs each while conceding little more than two runs per over. With his repeatable action, Cook nibbles the ball either way at Boland’s pace and the batsman, deprived of loose balls, is finally forced to take the risk of improvising a shot.

It may sound boring, and it is the type of bowling which Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have not merely eschewed but publicly poo-pooed since Ollie Robinson was dumped, but fast-medium seam-up of relentless accuracy looks as though it will be the way to go at least half the time in the next Ashes. At least that was the way it went for most of Australia’s Test series against India, from first to last.

Day one at Perth was a seam-fest in which 17 wickets fell. Of Sydney, former Australian captain Michael Clarke told ESPN: “The SCG is my favourite ground in the world, it is my home ground, and I hate saying this out loud, but that’s the worst pitch I’ve ever seen in Sydney… balls not just going up off the surface but shooting low at the end of day two.” The groundsman said he was trying out a new type of grass.

In addition to maximising such seam-bowling conditions, the 80mph fast-medium bowler has the advantage of breaking down far less often than his more glamorous mates at 90mph. Cook has been hitting the Chelmsford deck and banging out 40-plus championship wickets per season for the last four years, having started at Loughborough University; and several rounds of the championship each summer are played with the Kookaburra ball, its seam prouder when new before flattening out more than the Dukes does. So Cook is forewarned and forearmed.

No less usefully, if he has to bowl against Sam Konstas, the first Australian batsman to espouse Bazball, Cook has developed a fine range of slower balls. The Hundred has not done a lot for England’s Test cricket, hogging the school holidays in August and setting off Stokes’s hamstring injuries, but to keep his place at Trent Rockets Cook has widened his armoury of skills so that he can bowl at any stage of an innings.

Boland, on the other hand, was surprisingly ineffective when Australia toured England for the 2023 Ashes, partly because his natural length was a bit too short for English conditions, but also because he did not have the slower balls for self-protection when England’s batsmen charged him. He went for almost five runs per over, like his fellow seamers, and nothing like the metronome he has been in Australia, taking only two wickets in his two Tests.

The focus of next winter’s Ashes will still, at times, be on how England’s batsmen react to short-of-a-length balls on and outside off stump, perhaps on days two and three in Perth, or in the afternoon sessions at the Gabba, or on the drop-in pitch at Adelaide where the Test will revert to being a daytime game.

Will Joe Root try dabbing and steering fast back-of-a-length balls past the slips and fall short of a Test hundred in Australia for the fourth tour in a row? Some of the time, however, the focus will be the knee-roll of the front pad when Boland, or Cook, makes the ball dart back: after a big appeal for lbw has been turned down, use a review or is the ball going over the stumps? Less spectacular, but pivotal moments.

Warwickshire to Tour Pakistan

Glamorgan: Richard Dawson appointed coach

Safety of Dubai was a big draw – we did not feel comfortable in UK

Will Macpherson 19/01

First, when he revealed his family home had been attacked twice in a bizarre case of mistaken identity. Second, when he announced this week that he was indefinitely recusing himself from County Championship duty with Hampshire, and stepping down after nine seasons as club captain.

A straight line can be drawn between the two. For all the talk of a lucrative deal in the Pakistan Super League and English cricket’s new rules over foreign franchise leagues, the decision to move abroad following the attacks – thus no longer being a UK resident, limiting the number of days he can work in the country – was behind the decision to stop playing first-class cricket. Vince, his wife Amy and seven- and four-year-old children settled on Dubai, a convenient hub for an itinerant cricketer.

“The first port of call was deciding as a family what the future looked like [after the attacks],” he tells Telegraph Sport from the UAE, where he is playing for Gulf Giants in the ILT20 league. “We wanted to get back to living in a home, and some normality having been in hotels since May.

“We got through the summer, and were in the process of selling the house, which has now completed. We decided we would spend the winter on the road as a family, starting with a good stint in Dubai. We liked the country, the safety aspect was a big draw. I knew a few people who had moved over so we had a good look at their life, some schools, what there was community-wise. We liked what we saw in terms of opportunities for the kids, education, the warm weather. We thought why not? As a family, we didn’t necessarily feel comfortable settling in the UK for a bit, so decided to give Dubai a crack.”

Vince is keen to stress that “we haven’t had to move abroad”. Nevertheless, he adds, “if we were in the UK just moving into another house, there would be some uncertainty and apprehension there, seeing if anything else would happen”.

Vince has been stoic, but the attacks were terrifying. In the second week of April last year, he and Amy woke to the sound of smashing glass and alarms on their house and cars. Having briefly moved out while repairs took place and extra security was installed, a second very similar attack happened – only this one was captured on camera. Again they moved out, but did not return. The whole experience has taken some getting over, and the family remains understandably shaken.


“We still don’t know what it was about,” he says. “We probably never will. We are fairly comfortable that it wasn’t intended for us, which helps. We’ve been reassured that nothing has happened since. Travelling the world, living in hotels has helped the kids forget about it to a certain degree, but it’s hard work getting them to sleep in their own beds sometimes. Hopefully we can get this place sorted in Dubai, get them back to living in a home, and some normality.”

As a result, Vince’s red-ball retirement – even if he is reluctant to call if that – was effectively “taken out of my hands” because of his residency. “It’s a decision we’ve made as a family and I am fitting the cricket in around that.”

Even to play in the Vitality Blast (14 matches, plus possible knockouts) and the Hundred (eight, plus knockouts) was tight given Vince’s new residency situation, and a possible 56 days of the championship became impossible. At that point, a PSL retention – thought to be worth £100,000 – became a “no-brainer”, he says, because he was not busy in April and May, the tournament’s new slot. The decision to retire from red-ball cricket coincided with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new edict that said to play in the PSL, a player could not be contracted by his county for all formats.

Despite being a consistently outstanding performer, and perhaps the most prized wicket on the circuit, Vince could not quite guide Hampshire to their first championship title since 1973, even if they finished in the top three in each of the last three seasons, with other near-misses before that. There is sadness that it is ending now.

“I’ll miss it,” he says. “Winning the championship with Hampshire is something I was desperate to do, given we hadn’t done that for such a long time. That was one of my big career goals. And there’s nothing better than a red-ball win. Until the season starts it probably won’t hit home because I’m often playing overseas at this time of year. I’ll be watching the stream and following the scorecard and it’ll be strange not to be involved.

“I think if all this had never happened, there probably would have come a time when I would have gone white-ball only, but I doubt it would have been just yet. The decision has been made for me for now. I will miss it. I’ve not retired from red-ball cricket, the chances are that I am unlikely to be playing a full domestic season again. Maybe I could play a game or two at some stage.”

As a regular in franchise leagues – he has played in the Abu Dhabi T10, the Big Bash and ILT20 this winter – Vince admits he found the ECB’s new rules on No-Objection certificates “very strange”.

“They were trying to make decisions that feel like they are for the ICC to make,” he says. “The landscape and the crossover between competitions is not ideal. But a lot of what they said I just didn’t really understand. Take allowing red-ball players to play the IPL and not the PSL. From a cricketing position there is no logic there – the PSL is actually a shorter competition. There is probably some stuff going on behind the scenes that is having an influence on what they are doing, but without knowing what it’s quite hard to understand.”

Vince believes that “100 per cent” the rules will end up pushing more older players away from the red-ball games.

“Players will ask, ‘can I justify playing the first half of the red-ball season, if I am going to be better off by x amount?’ It’s frowned upon in sport and society to look purely at money but as guys get older you have to start thinking about that at some point, maximising your income. For the young guys still chasing higher honours, it’s not an issue, but at the other end of your career it’s normal to think like that.

“Rather than changing these rules, it would probably be better for the ECB to look at the schedule and a few other bits to help keep players in England.”

Vince is sanguine about the future. The last of his 55 England appearances came two years ago, and his decision all but confirms the closure of that door. “Had a taste, but didn’t really nail it, but very proud to have played for England and given it my best,” is his succinct verdict on an international career that saw him win a World Cup but left many asking what if? What if he had not been run out on 83 in Brisbane? What if Ed Smith had not dropped him in 2018, citing the need for more big championship scores, just days after he had made an unbeaten double hundred against Somerset.

Either way, that is for others to ask, as Vince is not the sort to dwell on the past.

“Nine months ago I wouldn’t have ever anticipated any of this happening, or having this conversation,” he says. “Life has changed fast, and we’ve had to adapt as a family, but I’m optimistic about the next chapter for my family and in my career. I’ve learnt you can’t rule anything out in life.”

16/01

James Vince driven to Dubai by attacks last spring

14/01

James Vince to concentrate on T20 in 2025

Lancs thrilled

13/01

Jimmy to play for Lancashire in 2025

12/01

Malan New Deal

10/01

Anderson in Lancs Talks

Hartley Injured with the Lions

09/01

Fancy a survey, then try this one from the Grumbler 

or via this QR code.
hopefully that's the right one and not one for me to collect a parcel from the post office - lol.

08/01

Shakib Action Tests

Why the ‘Kookaburra' ball has become a batter’s nightmare.

Simon Wilde.
London Times.
Sunday, 5 January 2024.
PTG 4727-22691.

Test cricket has witnessed something of a perfect storm. Bowlers are having things their own way far more than they used to, and it is not just because we are in an era of exceptionally skilled fast bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada and Matt Henry. The dice are now weighted in their favour in a way they were not ten or twenty years ago, one factor being changes to the Australia-made ‘Kookaburra' ball, which is not used for Tests only in Australia but in several other countries as well. 

The alterations to the ‘Kookaburra' since 2020-21 have not been widely publicised but are starting to come under scrutiny as a result of the sharp shift in the returns of top-order batsmen. There has been talk about extra lacquer being applied to make the balls last longer, to counter long standing criticisms of the ‘Kookaburra' that it has little seam, quickly goes soft and cannot be coaxed into extended life through shining. 

There may be other motives at play. Test cricket around the world has been under threat from the shorter formats for years, but there was a view amongst some that Test cricket in Australia had become stale — too homogenised, too predictable. Spicier pitches and balls offering more help have made for a more interesting, if speedier, spectacle.

Additional lacquer is only one suspected piece of fine-tuning to the ball. Another is the presence of a ridge under the seam, created by the centre of the ball being encased in two plastic hemispheres, or cups, which are raised at the point at which they meet. This ridge sits beneath the stitching of the seam — a seam that notoriously used to go flat within 10-15 overs of use, but which now sits prouder for longer, thanks to the ’Saturn’s rings - the three rings of stichings either side of the seam.  Any bowler now hitting the pitch with the seam may hope to see the ball deviate more than before. 

The Laws of Cricket, incidentally, allow some leeway in how a cricket ball is internally constructed, so there is nothing wrong with such modifications. Some insiders, however, think there is a risk that the ridge might become angled and out of line with the seam, to the further advantage of bowlers looking for movement through the air or off the pitch. 

A more bowler-friendly ‘Kookaburra' ball could have a significant impact on the next men's Ashes later this year, making it a lower-scoring series than anticipated, with potential consequences for the kind of team England need. Might they always want to include a spinner, for instance? In Australia’s past two home seasons of Test cricket bowlers have taken wickets faster than at any time since the 1880s.

The ‘Kookaburra' balls used in four rounds of the County Championship last year were not obviously helpful to bowlers — on the contrary — but pitches may have been mainly responsible for that. The ‘Kookaburra' is due to be used in the Championship this coming northern summer as well, but more around mid-summer than previously (PTG 4652-22392, 24 October 2024)..

There are a variety of reasons why seam bowlers may now be enjoying rich picking, chief among them the eagerness of batsmen to bring their white-ball shots into the Test arena. Just as bowlers are taking wickets faster than at any time since 1907, so too their economy rate is higher than it has ever been. Teams are also more intent on winning than they have ever been, rather than playing for a draw, an appetite no doubt sharpened by the advent of a World Test Championship. 

The rise of data analysis, and its focus on match-ups, has also benefited bowlers more than batsmen. Batting at the top of the order in Test cricket has certainly become tougher.  There were only four century stands for the first wicket in the 53 Tests played last year. None of these were in England, where the new ‘Dukes' ball is always a threat, and only one in Australia.

The numbers bear that view out. Pre and post-January 2021, David Warner’s average in Tests in Australia dropped from 66 to 37, while (before this weekend’s Sydney Test) Marnus Labuschagne’s fell from 72 to 51, Steve Smith’s from 67 to 51 and Usman Khawaja’s from 53 to 44. Travis Head is Australia’s only frontline player to have improved his average — from 47 to 55 — but he bats number five. 

Smith said after his hundred at the Gabba. “The seam probably starts to settle down around 30-40 overs and the ball stays quite hard. You see guys batting at five, six, seven that are able to hit the ball hard and get good value for their shots”.

Globally, the period from 2020-24 has been one of the hardest for top-order players, with numbers 1-4 collectively averaging 34.77 compared with the heyday of 2003-07, when their combined figure was 42.40, and first Matthew Hayden, with a score of 380 as an opener, and then Brian Lara, with 400 not out at number three, successively broke the world Test record.