Should Ireland get Test status?

This week Ireland have announced their plans to gain full member status within the ICC. This would make them the eleventh nation with full test status, and the first new country since Bangladesh in 2000. However, opinion is split about whether or not this should happen.

There are many arguments why they should have test status. The most obvious of this is their recent successes in the international arena. They beat Pakistan to qualify for the Super 8 section of the 2007 World Cup, where they also beat Bangladesh. They also came close to beating England just this year, instead losing by a narrow three run margin. They are hoping to win their fourth consecutive Intercontinental Cup, and have been unbeaten in that four day format since 2004. They have won four of their eight Twenty20 matches, and were victorious in the World Twenty20 over Bangladesh earlier this year. They will hope these successes will help them in their push to gain Test status, as they have been competitive with the full member nations in recent years.

Ireland have also been producing players who have left their country and played for England, where they get better opportunities with more international cricket and test cricket played. Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce have both gone on to play ODI cricket for England, and pace bowler Boyd Rankin could be joining them after being selected for England’s development squad this winter. If Ireland where to gain test status it would encourage more players to stick with the country of their birth with the opportunity for test cricket.

The main argument against Ireland becoming full members however, would be the lack of a domestic game and the lesser amount of professional cricketers compared to the last country to become a full member, Bangladesh. Ireland do have players in the first class game, but they are playing in the English league rather than in Ireland. A first class struture in Ireland is planned, and a lack of money has delayed this, but countries have become full members without one. If Ireland were to gain test status, this would encourage the development of cricket there and mean that more young people would take up the game, resulting in more cricketers for them in the future.

Overall, I think it would be good if Ireland were to gain test status. They have proved they are the ‘best of the rest’ in recent years by being competitive with the full members. Ireland may be at a similar level to Bangladesh if they were to join, and I think this could have a more beneficial effect on both teams as it would mean Bangladesh would be playing competitive test cricket more frequently. Ireland have shown promise and potential, and I think it would be good for their development to continue and go on to the next step.

 

The England Wicketkeeping Position

One point in the England cricket team that constantly brings up debates is that of who should be wicketkeeper. Matt Prior is the man currently in possesion of the spot, and will be in the test team for a long time as he has excelled there with the bat and has improved with the gloves, but in the ODI and Twenty20 teams his form has not been so good. With an ODI average of 24.45 and his overall Twenty20 average being only 23.00, others are creeping up and are ready to stake a claim.

Steve Davies (Surrey) – Davies recently featured with the gloves for England in the Champions Trophy, after Prior was struck down with a virus. He has recently made a move from Worcestershire to Surrey, and still at only 23 years old, there is potential for him to improve and establish a larger role within the England set up. His List A average is greater than Prior’s, at 35.34, but he will want to improve his Twenty20 record of 20.40. His ability with the gloves also looks greater than Prior’s too.

Craig Kieswetter (Somerset) – The man is not eligible for England yet, having moved from South Africa, but as he is due to qualify in the coming months the shouts for him to play for England will get louder. He is best known for his one day batting, where he has established an opening partnership with Trescothick for Somerset with his attacking style. With England looking for more firepower in their batting line up, Kieswetter could be the one as his batting can make a difference to the innings. His List A batting average is 39.47 and his Twenty20 is 22.78.

James Foster (Essex) – Foster recently featured for England in the World Twenty20, where he impressed a lot of people with some fast stumpings and overall excellent glovework. With List A and Twenty20 averages of 27.19 and 20.94 not being in his favour however, it looks like he will be overtaken by other candidates despite his superior glovework.

Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire) – Has become a long shot for the England team, after falling behind in the pecking order. His best chance to get the gloves for England would be in the test arena, where Prior has been on form this year looks to rightly be in the team for a considerable length of time. Ambrose’s five previous ODIs do not point in his favour either, as he scored ten runs in five innings and made an awful blunder with the gloves.

Overall, the most likely to take the gloves for England in limited overs – should Prior be dropped – currently looks to be Davies. Davies is a promising young keeper who you should expect to be challenging and playing for England in years to come. Personally, I would bring Kieswetter into the England ODI team once he has qualified, as I think he is the type of batsman England are needing in this form of the game. With a few months to go until he is eligible however, it looks like Prior will be kept in the team in the upcoming tour and he will want to be proving that he can perform in the ODI and Twenty20 arenas like he has in the Test arena.

England’s Test and ODI squads announced

England’s test and ODI squads for the forthcoming tour of South Africa have been announced. The test squad is as follows:

• Andrew Strauss (Middlesex – captain)
• Alastair Cook (Essex – vice captain)
• James Anderson (Lancashire)
• Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
• Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
• Paul Collingwood (Durham)
• Steven Davies (Surrey, wicketkeeper)
• Graham Onions (Durham)
• Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
• Liam Plunkett (Durham)
• Matt Prior (Sussex, wicketkeeper)
• Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
• Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)
• Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)
• Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)
• Luke Wright (Sussex)

There was no place for Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison, probably signalling the end of his international career. Harmison was the best bowler in the world after a hugely successful period in 2004, but since then he has only shone occaisonally. Although it is always sad to see a player go, I think this is the right choice as in the recent years he has lacked consistency. Ravi Bopara also misses out on a place, after a disappointing later part of the summer. However at 24, he will still be part of England’s future plans. The squad sees a recall for Durham all rounder Liam Plunkett, who has enjoyed a successful season in county cricket and at 24 still has much to offer. The test squad also sees places for the uncapped Adil Rashid, Luke Wright and Steven Davies.

The ODI squad is as follows:

• Andrew Strauss (Middlesex – captain)
• James Anderson (Lancashire)
• Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)
• Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
• Paul Collingwood (Durham)
• Alastair Cook (Essex)
• Joe Denly (Kent)
• Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire)
• Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
• Graham Onions (Durham)
• Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)
• Matt Prior (Sussex)
• Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
• Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)
• Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)
• Luke Wright (Sussex)

The most surprising omission from this squad is that of Owais Shah, who performed well in the recent Champions’ Trophy. It may have been his poor running between the wickets and fielding which counted against him, but he will be hoping to bounce back strongly and regain his squad. Sajid Mahmood and Alastair Cook are recalled to the team. Mahmood has been pushing strongly in county cricket recently, and, as a firey fast bowler, offers a different aspect to England’s sometimes one-paced attack. Cook has had a good domestic one day season too, and will want to prove his worth in the shorterned format of the game.

Players To Watch: A Catch-up

At the beginning of the season, when I was writing previews for each English county for the 2009 season, I listed one promising young player for each county. In this post I will look at how these players did over the season.

Jonathan Clare (Derbyshire) – Managed just five matches this season, and didn’t impress as much as the previous time. Averaged just 2.60 with the bat after five innings, and took ten wickets at 40.70. Despite not having as much success as the previous year, at 23 he is still one to look out for.

Mark Stoneman (Durham) – Became a regular in the successful Durham team, but lost his place later in the season after averaging only 23.30 and making one fifty in his 13 matches. Will hope to regain his place in the team next year.

Tom Westley (Essex) – Played seven matches for Essex in the County Championship with moderate success – averaging 38.70 with one century and one half century to his name.

James Harris (Glamorgan) – Was a key member of the Glamorgan bowling attack, taking 43 wickets at 34.83 apiece, behind only Croft as the county’s leading wicket taker. He averaged 19.69 with his lower order batting, making one fifty. He was less successful in the one day form, but still looks to be developing into a promising player.

Rob Woodman (Gloucestershire) – Played six matches and got little chance with the ball, bowling five overs and taking one wicket. Averaged 16.00 with the bat.

Liam Dawson (Hampshire) – Moved up to the top of the batting order as he became more of a genuine all rounder. Averaged 30.05 with the bat and 42.10 with the bal in first class cricketl, so there is still room for improvement.

Sam Northeast (Kent) – Played in eleven of Kent’s first class games, and looked good as he averaged 39.23 with the bat – with one century and three fifties.

Steven Mullaney (Lancashire) – Didn’t play a game in the first class arena, and made 10 in his solitary one day innings. However, he took four wickets in his eleven overs in one day matches despite going for 5.54 an over. Has now left Lancashire, hoping to further his career elsewhere.

Joshua Cobb (Leicestershire) – Had a poor season in the first class game as he averaged 19.61 with the bat. Also had a hard time in the one day game where he averaged 17.20

Steven Finn (Middlesex) – Impressed a lot with 53 first class wickets at 30.64 and 13 one day wickets at 32.07. Looks like a good player for the future, and may be one to make the England Lions tour this winter.

Alex Wakely (Northants) – Made his first century for Northants but can do much better after averaging 24.05 in first class and 17.00 in one day matches.

Mark Footitt (Nottinghamshire) – Unfortuantely suffered further injuries, resulting in him being released from his contract at the end of the season. Took 3-58 in the single first class match he played.

Robin Lett (Somerset) – With a strong batting lineup, Lett didn’t manage to break into the Somerset team this season but represented Oxford University.

Laurie Evans (Surrey) – Played two further first class games early in the season due to Surrey’s injury woes, and made only 23 runs in four innings. Made 36* in his single one day match.

Joe Gatting (Sussex) – Looked good in his four first class matches, averaging 51.66 with a fifty and a hundred. Made two fifties in twelve one day innings, where he averaged 29.54.

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) – A regular member of the Warwickshire team, featuring in 17 first class games. Averaged 32.86 with the bat and 37.78 with the ball in first class cricket, with his 38 wickets making him Warwickshire’s joint leading wicket taker. Took nine wickets at 33.66 in the one day format.

Alexei Kervezee (Worcestershire) – Averaged 27.21 with the bat in his eight first class games for Worcestershire, and has been a regular in the Netherlands international team.

Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) – Averaged 30 with the bat in five first class matches for Yorkshire, featuring more regularly in the one day game. There he scored one of Yorkshire’s two one day centuries this season and averaged 33.90 in eleven one day games.

And another county season ends…

Well, that’s it. The 2009 county season is now over, with Durham winning the County Championship title for the second season running. Here is a roundup of the season:

County Championship

It’s been all about Durham in the first division this year, as they have been miles ahead of the other teams. It’s the second successive year they’ve won the competition and with a strong team blending experience and home grown talent, they still look the team to beat. Things got close towards the end at the bottom of the table as teams battled it out to avoid the final relegation spot. It was Sussex who ended up going down with Worcestershire (who have once again gone straight down after going straight up) and it will put a downer on a fine one day season for the county.

The table shows matches played, won, lost, drawn, the amount of batting points, the amount of bowling points, points deducted and the total amount.

1	Durham	16	8	0	8	49	48	1.0	240.0
2	Nottinghamshire	16	4	2	10	56	41	0.0	193.0
3	Somerset	16	3	1	12	50	43	1.0	182.0
4	Lancashire	16	4	2	10	35	44	0.0	175.0
5	Warwickshire	16	3	3	10	54	38	0.0	174.0
6	Hampshire	16	3	3	10	50	40	3.0	169.0
7	Yorkshire	16	2	2	12	46	44	0.0	166.0
8	Sussex	16	2	6	8	45	39	1.0	143.0
9	Worcestershire	16	0	10	6	30	40	0.0	94.0

Meanwhile, in Division two, Kent were in control in their first season in the second tier. They went straight back up, with 219 points, whilst a close battle for the second promotion spot ended with joy for Essex as they finished one point ahead of Northants on the final day of the season. Surrey and Middlesex, teams possibly expected to challenge for promotion, finished in a low seventh and eight respectively.

1	Kent	16	8	3	5	43	44	0.0	219.0
2	Essex	16	6	3	7	40	43	1.0	194.0
3	Northamptonshire	16	6	4	6	40	45	0.0	193.0
4	Gloucestershire	16	6	6	4	39	46	0.0	185.0
5	Glamorgan	16	2	2	12	56	43	0.0	175.0
6	Derbyshire	16	2	3	11	55	45	0.0	172.0
7	Surrey	16	1	4	11	54	36	0.0	148.0
8	Middlesex	16	2	7	7	43	41	0.0	140.0
9	Leicestershire	16	2	3	11	31	35	0.0	138.0

Pro40

After much debate over the future of the one day competitions, it was decided that the Pro40 would be the one to stay ahead of the Friends Provident Trophy – despite players wanting a 50 over competition. Sussex were the victorious team in the top division, beating nearest rivals Somerset by a point. Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire were the two teams to go down, with Yorkshire scraping with their victory over Gloucs keeping them up after finishing equal on points. Warwickshire and Middlesex were the two teams to go up from Division two, with Surrey getting the wooden spoon.

The tables show matches played, won, lost, tied, no results, run-rate and total points.

Division One table:

1	Sussex	8	6	2	0	0	1.25	12.0
2	Somerset	8	5	2	0	1	1.14	11.0
3	Worcestershire	8	5	2	0	1	-0.33	11.0
4	Essex	8	5	3	0	0	0.33	10.0
5	Hampshire	8	4	4	0	0	0.23	8.0
6	Durham	8	4	4	0	0	-0.35	8.0
7	Yorkshire	8	2	5	0	1	-0.18	5.0
8	Gloucestershire	8	2	5	0	1	0.35	5.0
9	Nottinghamshire	8	0	6	0	2	-2.41	2.0

Division Two:

1	Warwickshire	8	5	0	1	2	1.28	13.0
2	Middlesex	8	5	1	0	2	0.99	12.0
3	Kent	8	4	3	0	1	-0.63	9.0
4	Northamptonshire	8	3	2	1	2	0.6	9.0
5	Lancashire	8	3	3	0	2	-0.19	8.0
6	Glamorgan	8	2	4	0	2	-0.36	6.0
7	Derbyshire	8	2	4	0	2	-0.57	6.0
8	Leicestershire	8	2	5	0	1	-0.23	5.0
9	Surrey	8	2	6	0	0	-0.77	4.0

Twenty20

Twenty20 Cup: Finals Day The popular Twenty20 competition was won by Sussex, who picked up their first silverware of the season after losing the Friends Provident Trophy final a short time before. Somerset were the other team in the final, and therefore will also be going on the big trip to India for the Champions’ League.

Friends Provident Trophy

Hampshire lift the Friends Provident Trophy The first silverware of the season was picked up by Hampshire, with Sussex being the losing finalists.

England vs Australia: Final ODI

England finally won a game in the final match of the ODI series, but still lost 6-1 overall.

Once again, they won the toss and decided to bowl. Instantly they made a breakthrough: James Anderson dismissing Shane Watson on the fourth ball of the match. Tim Paine followed for 4 a few overs later, a wicket for the debutant Graham Onions who came into the team in place of Ryan Sidebottom. Australia made a brief recovery through Ponting (53 off 67) and Clarke (38 off 81), but Swann’s entrance to the fold began a collapse. Every ball looked dangerous for Swann, and he dismissed Ponting and White in a short period with the wicket of Clarke (run out by Morgan) in between. At 112-5, Australia were in trouble. Wickets continued to fall for Australia, with a fantastic spell of bowling for Swann who ended with figures of 10-1-28-5, his first ODI five wicket haul. Bresnan finished the job off with the wicket of Hussey for 49 off 54, and Australia were out for 176.

England had their best chance in the series of winning a match, and Strauss (47 from 74) and Denly (53 from 78) got them off to a fine start with an opening partnership of 106. A stutter then came as England got nervous and fell to 141-5, but cameos from Collingwood (13*), Prior (11) and Bresnan (10*) ensured that England safely reached their target with four wickets to spare.

Man of the Match: Graeme Swann – in England’s best bowling performance of the series, he was the key man.

Man of the Series: Cameron White was the leading runscorer and impressed on several occasions with the bat.

England vs Australia: 6th ODI

Australia headed further towards a historic 7-0 series whitewash as they thrashed a dismal England.

For the first time in the series, Ricky Ponting won the toss and put his team in to bat. James Anderson, returning to the team after a rest, picked up the two early wickets of Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting, but then Australia did what they have done so well in this series. A partnership of 163 between Tim Paine and Mike Hussey put Australia firmly in control as they went from 40-2 to 203-3. Hussey’s 69-ball 65 was an exciting aggressive innings but Paine’s 111 off 148 was the highlight. Paine has been impressive with both bat and the gloves throughout the series, and this was the icing on the cake. A flurry of wickets then fell, and the run rate was also increasing in a typical last ten overs. White (35 off 23) and Hopes (38 off 22) made important cameos to carry Australia’s total towards 300. A challenging total of 296-8 was made, with James Anderson the pick of the English bowlers with 5-50.

England’s innings got off to the worst possible start when Strauss was given out caught off a ball which hit his shoulder on the second ball of the innings. They managed to recover to a reasonable position however, until Denly was caught for 25 off Hopes. Then things went from bad to worse. Ricky Ponting proved again that you shouldn’t take a run to him, with two run outs (of Prior for 6 and Bopara for 24) in successive overs. England were in trouble at 60-4, and again failing to put together decent partnerships. More batsmen came and went, with economic and wicket taking bowling for Siddle (8-1-22-1), Bracken (10-0-42-2) and Hopes (9-0-32-3). Tim Bresnan top scored with a late 31* off 38, but it was all in vain as England never looked like winning. They were all out for 185, meaning Australia won by 111 runs. Australia will now head into the final ODI hoping to score the first ever 7-0 ODI series whitewash.

Man of the Match: Tim Paine, for his maiden ODI century which helped Australia to a total England never challenged.

England vs Australia: 5th ODI

Australia won their fifth match of the series and came closer to making it a clean sweep in the ODIs with another victory over England.

England won their fifth consecutive toss of the series, but the result still stayed the same. They batted first, and made their way to 61 without loss until Strauss (35 off 38) was unluckily given LBW off a ball he may have got an edge on. Bopara fell again after making a start but not major score, going for 18 off Watson. Denly was impressive in his opening role with Strauss; he made 45 off 68 in his second match of the series and looked like he could become a good international player. The two new batsmen at the crease were Matt Prior and Owais Shah. Prior’s 37 will give him more confidence after a poor showing so far in the series, but he went for one shot too many and was stumped by Paine. Shah made 31, but his new partner Morgan became the star of the innings. Having recently qualified to play for England, he has been looking to make his mark and hit seven boundaries in his 41-ball 58. He batted in the batting powerplay, in which Mascarenhas – brought in after an injury to Luke Wright – also contributed with 19 off 13. Cameos from Broad (22) and Rashid (18) brought England up to 299 all out – their best total of the series and gave them a chance of a first victory.

Whilst Australia were scoring quickly, England got off to a decent start as they removed two early wickets to leave Australia at 76-2, with Watson making 36 from 34. Then came Australia’s match winning partnership. Ricky Ponting gave a ODI batting masterclass, and Michael Clarke ably provided his support as the score went from 76-2 to 209-3 by the time the next wicket fell – Clarke for 52 from 64 balls. Ponting made 126 from 109 balls, and despite falling in a small flurry of wickets, the job was more or less done. White and Johnson made small cameos of 24* and 18* respectively to complete the job – a four wicket victory for Australia.

Man of the Match: Ricky Ponting – he looked at his best in a magnificent innings.

England vs Australia: 4th ODI

Australia completed the series win with three matches to spare after another victory over England.

England made three changes to their team from the last match: Stuart Broad returned after being rested, with Anderson being rested for this match; Collingwood was also rested as Denly came back from injury to make his debut; and Graeme Swann missed out in favour of legspinner Adil Rashid. Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting returned after a ten day rest, with James Hopes being the man to miss out and Cameron White moving back down the order.

England batted first again, after Strauss winning the toss. Denly was the first wicket to fall, going for eleven to Brett Lee in the fifth over. Strauss and Bopara got England off to another strong start however, but when Bopara was dismissed by Hauritz for 26 it began another middle order failure. The players made starts this time, but were failing to capitalise on the strong start by scoring sluggishly. The best batsman, Strauss, made 60 before making a poor shot to give Hauritz his second wicket. Hauritz was successful in pinning down the England batsmen, finishing with figures of 2-23 from ten overs. When Shah was out for 39 from 53 to a dubiously waist-high delivery from Watson in the powerplay, and the other players were struggling against some magnificent bowling from Brett Lee, England weren’t going to reach a satisfactory total. Brett Lee gave a masterclass of yorker bowling, as he ripped out the stumps of Prior, Wright, Broad and Rashid – the latter three in a 95mph+ spell at the end – to bowl England out in 46.3 overs for just 220.

Australia got off to a fast start in reply, allowing them to knock off the runs in singles later in the innings. Watson made 26 off 32 before being caught LBW again, this time by Bresnan. Tim Paine made his first ODI fifty (51 off 62) before being caught off Rashid’s bowling, and Ricky Ponting made 48 from 60 on his return to the team. Australia always looked settled, and 62* off 81 balls from Michael Clarke simply sealed the seven wicket victory with ease. Australia have been far on top in this series, and deserve the series win. Now England will be looking to regain some pride and some momentum ahead of the Champions’ Trophy by gaining some consolation wins in the remaining dead matches, though if they perform like this then that isn’t likely.

Man of the Match: His second ODI five-for at Lords gives Brett Lee man of the match. A fantastic performance with the ball.

England vs Australia: 3rd ODI

Australia moved a step closer to taking the ODI series with a third successive win over England at The Rose Bowl.

For the first time in the series, England chose to bat after winning the toss. Strauss again looked to be the best of the top order England batsmen, as England fell to 62-3 with Bopara, Prior and Shah making no impact and falling to Bracken and Johnson. Strauss fell for 63 from 72 when he gave Michael Clarke a low catch off Haurtiz’s bowling, and it looked like England could be in trouble at 98-4. Collingwood and Morgan made a start to another partnership which looked like it could show promise, until Collingwood fell for 28 to give Watson his first wicket of the day. With Luke Wright falling shortly afterwards, England’s were losing their firepower. Morgan impressed with his 57 ball 43, and Bresnan and Sidebottom shared a 40 run partnership in the last three overs with 31* from 37 and 24 from 28 respectively. Watson was the main wicket taker with 8-0-36-3, whilst Johnson was the pick with 10-1-39-2. England were 228-9 from their fifty and it looked like Australia would be able to make it three out of three.

Australia stuttered early on, as Shane Watson fell LBW for 7 to give Anderson his first wicket since the Ashes test at Edgbaston. Tim Paine also fell LBW to Collingwood in the 14th over, and it looked like there was a chance that England could force their way back into the game and series. That ended though, as Cameron White and Michael Clarke shared a match winning partnership to take the game away from England’s hands. Clarke made 52 from 92, but he was just playing the supporting act as Cameron White made his maiden ODI hundred. White has impressed in his new role at number three so far in the series, and it culminated in a 105 off 124 balls. It was left to Ferguson and Hussey to finish the job off which they did with small cameo performances to complete a five wicket win for Australia.

Man of the Match: Cameron White made an accomplished century, and will be unlucky to be demoted from number three when Ponting returns to the team.