So now then
That’s it for today’s blog. It’s been an unsatisfying end to a fine Test - but on the plus side, England have set off on a new unbeaten run, and we only have to wait until Thursday for the second Test. Good day!
Updated
Get the man a brolly! ☔
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 8, 2021
Player of the Match and England captain Joe Root felt his team had a real chance of victory before rain had the final say in #ENGvIND 🏴🇮🇳
What a 💯 he scored, by the way! 👌
📋 Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/XEDHaMGCF8 pic.twitter.com/2MibRTHk8E
“At the start of the year, I would have agreed with you about it being too soon to throw Hameed back in and risk all the progress he has made, but he’s been pretty solid all season now, culminating in a 100 against the Indians, so why not?” says Andrew Cosgrove. “I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that Tom Abell is the answer atNo3. He has been one of the best No3s in the championship this year. He’s well used to coming in at 5/1 in the third over and then watching a procession of wickets at the other end, before marshalling the tail to a competitive score, so he’ll fit right into this England team. His dibbly-dobblies are unlikely to be as effective at Test level, but it wouldn’t hurt to have that option. And finally, he’s a decent captain. I wouldn’t advocate bringing him in and making him captain immediately, but at some stage it surely would be worth giving Root a go at just being the best No3 he can be without having to worry about everything else.”
I’d argue that, after four torrid years, Hameed needs more credit in the bank - and more subconscious security - before he returns to Test cricket. If England were going anywhere other than Australia this winter, I’d be more inclined to bring him back. But I think an away Ashes series would be too much, too soon; they could destroy him.
I just think he should be handled with oodles of care, because he has the potential to play 130 Tests. But it’s also conceivable that his next big setback, at international level, is his last. Nobody knows anything, really, so I’d err on the side of caution. I also think Dom Sibley deserves at least one more Test.
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“Hameed & Burns to start at Lord’s,” says John Starbuck, “but drop Lawrence and have five proper bowlers from Robinson, Curran/Mahmood, Broad, Leach and Anderson. If that’s what India would do, why not us too?”
If we had their top five, I’d be all for it. As it is I think England need to pad out the batting as much as possible. They need to decide what Sam Curran’s role is, though - there were times in this game when he felt like a No8 batsman who bowls a bit.
The Player of the Match is Joe Root
“The weather has robbed us of what could have been a very entertaining final day. It’s been a great Test to play in - and I assume to watch as well - and that bodes well for the rest of the series. Hopefully we can take some of the good stuff from this week to Lord’s.
“There’s still certain areas we need to keep working on. We want to score more runs at the top of the order and taking all the chances we create; that’d make our life a bit easier. But Test cricket challenges you. You have to be remember that it’s a great game to play. It can be tough, it can be hard - but it’s fun.”
Virat Kohli speaks
“It’s going to be an exciting series - England v India is always a blockbuster. It’s most likely we will play four seamers and one spinner throughout the series, but we will be adaptable depending on the conditions.”
Hameed, or not Hameed
“You were just a tick ahead of me in turning towards Lord’s - grieving for this game obviously, but excited by the idea that after four years and nine months in the wilderness all of us who follow OBO will resume the Haseeb Hammed years!” says Pete Salmon. “I feel like its been a huge journey for all of us – there are of course people, even cricket followers, who haven’t ridden his every third ball duck, scratchy 30, and teasing 77 in five hours against Hampshire as though the world depended on it, but for those of us who have, I feel like this redemption is a shared one. I don’t care who they drop, any five of the top six will do, but let the Hameed Years begin!”
I think it’s too early to risk something so precious, but it will happen - if not this week then soon. The more pressing problem is No3. Zak Crawley will make it as a Test batter, you heard it here 12th, but he needs a break. Trouble is, you can’t have Hameed and Sibley in the top three, so it means somebody will have to bat out of position. It’s not ideal - it’s not in the same postcode as ideal - but I’d go for Ollie Pope if he’s fit. While it probably isn’t fair on him, he is a better option in that position than Bairstow or Lawrence, and there’s no point having the Root conversation for the 481st time. It depends on the pitch, but my team would be something like: Burns, Sibley, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Lawrence, Buttler, Robinson, Wood, Leach or Broad (depending on the pitch and weather), Anderson.
Updated
It’s over/You don’t need to tell me
Play has been abandoned and the first Test ends in a draw.
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 8, 2021
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/s8ctdMUblv
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/ETyyNRVZ1k
“Lord’s selection,” says Andrew Thomas. “I remember a time when, if the selectors were in doubt, the answer was to drop Ramprakash.”
Or, failing that, recall Ramprakash. Actually, as time passes I get more rather than less angry about the way Ramprakash was handled, particularly 1992. On reflection, that year did irreparable damage. He wasn’t treated brilliantly in 1993, either, or 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997.
Updated
PLAY HAS BEEN ABANDONED
I won’t lie to you, it’s not a JFK moment. On reflection, I’m not sure why I bothered with the capital letters. Bloody breaking-news culture. Anyway, the umpires have surrendered to the inevitable, and the first Test is drawn. Joe Root’s glorious innings wasn’t in vain after all.
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“Loving the OBO community today,” says Toby Sims. “I’ve been up and down for 20 years and there’s some been great stuff today. If any OBOers are are north Kent, East Sussex/Surrey way, I’m happy to come out for a quiet pint, local match, wild swim or a walk to keep the nerves down. Been there, still there. Happy for the OBO to pass on my email. Also - can the rain go away!”
You tell me now, after I’ve moved from Kent to Orkney. Yeah, cheers. Thanks a lot. No, really: thanks.
But seriously folks, if you’d like Toby’s email, let me know and I’ll introduce you.
And so to Lord’s Assuming this match is over, what would be your England team for the second Test? Let’s stick to the 17-man squad that they picked for the first two games: the XI here plus Hameed, Leach, Bess, Wood, Pope and Overton.
“Much appreciating the wide-ranging conversation during the rain,” says Peter Bower. “It occured to me that a charity T20 cricket match, with both teams in full fancy dress (and listed on the scorecard as the characters they are dressed as) could be wonderfully entertaining. Imagine Machiavelli bowling wicked spin to a batsman like Hercules, weiding his club. Or Medusa bowling against Marie Antionette. Hours of fun. Imagine Guy the Gorilla batting at no 11.”
Beefy has already done enough for charity, surely. Honk honk.
Ian Ward says there are puddles all over the outfield. With that, and the news that Nasa are hiring people to watch Netflix for a year, I’m off. Seeya! Bye!
“Afternoon Rob,” says Matt Emerson. “I’ve taken No 2 son to Trent Bridge today for his first taste of Test cricket. I’m telling him to treat this as a metaphor for life…”
A metaphor for life? You’ve been listening to Don’t Tell Me The Score, haven’t you? (If you haven’t, I can unequivocally recommend it.)
Updated
It’s a little brighter at Trent Bridge, though there is no suggestion of an inspection just yet. The exasperating thing is that the forecast is extremely good from 7ish. I won’t lie to you, I have no idea what it says in the playing conditions, but I suspect somebody, somewhere is going to lose their temper before the day is out.
“Just reflecting further on our philosophical discussion today, and the way that the OBO and cricket can be a metaphor for life - keen anticipation, inclement weather, covers laid, removed (and replaced), hopes for further play, wry observations, idle distractions, questions asked, small acts of kindness between strangers,” says Brian Withington. “And for those of a more spiritual persuasion, let’s not forget the wisdom and compassion of the great but humble facilitator in the cloud. Nice going, Geoff.”
Thanks very much.
Updated
Sky’s Ian Ward reports that it has been “hammering down” for the last 15-20 minutes. Even if it does stop raining this instant, forever, I’d imagine the outfield will be prohibitively wet for the next hour or so. Like I said, nine per cent.
Weatherwatch You’ll never guess!
“Must say that all the talk from the media in England about Indian being favourites today made me queasy (they have a lot more to lose in this game than England),” says Digvijay Yadav. “When the coverage started it seemed that bowling conditions were perfect for England but as the day wears on, India’s task becomes clearer - give it a thump and if a few wickets fall then shut up shop.”
India need 157 more to win. If we can get 16.4 overs in, it’s game on.
Thanks Geoff, hello everyone. The forecast is for dry weather from - and you’ll like this - 7pm. But it’s not beyond the realms that we will get some cricket during the ICC-approved hours of play. Let’s just say there’s a nine per cent chance, okay?
Right, that’s it for me. Thanks so much for your company, which was sorely needed and provided with generosity in quality and quantity. Time for me to watch the rest of the rain in quiet contemplation, after handing over to your friend and mine, Rob Smyth.
Oh, and guess what? Ali Martin just texted two words. “Bright sunshine!”
I’ll let Robert Wilson have the last word. I’m sure he’s not used to that.
“In response to Damian Clarke’s mild protestations of love for me (the word ‘slightly’ does NOT belong to the form), I’m tempted to go full Dylan Moran and say ‘Gimme Cake. Where’s my cake?’ Is it time to set up an OBO matchmaking service with you and Adam Collins as yentas? Or perhaps we should just have an evening of OBO erotica? I can pump out Viv Richards and Robin Smith slash/fic at the drop of a hat and have a four page thing about Peter Beardsley that would curl your eyebrows and make your socks roll up and down simultaneously.
“It’s a corker today. Kindness, depression-advice; and massive piling onto a blameless physicist for being completely right. The OBO is one of the best mood-alterers going.”
Still raining, still raining... but you know what? The rainy days on the OBO can be some of the best. I wish we didn’t have an exciting Test result being washed away but it’s still been fun.
A couple of emails on that theme. Here’s a very nice one from Robert Ellson.
“I was trying to explain to someone the other day why spending the day at the Test match is a worthwhile thing to do. Part of my answer was the way that cricket creates space for conversation to develop, for the unlikeliest of topics to be discussed in between overs and during breaks in play. I think the way the OBO reflects this has always been one of its great strengths, perversely at its best when there’s no actual cricket. Today has perhaps been the pinnacle of that. I wasn’t expecting to read a penetrating discussion of mental health problems when I clicked to see if it was still raining, but I’m glad I did. To paraphrase the great Joe Root, I just hope everyone is ok.
And thanks for your work as always. Far from just a pair of shoes.”
A lovely contribution in the emails from Sam, following on from earlier.
“Thank you for your reply to Aditi. I have known the slow and pulsing ache of depression in myself and too many others. I have also asked that question on many, many occasions. Fortunately the answers have gently revealed themselves over time, sometimes hiding away but then coming back with friends. For some I have known that didn’t happen. I find it quite poignant that your beautiful reply was in a place where I have found much comfort over the years, yet was quite unexpected. Thank you. I hope the sun shines on this game eventually, and for you and others when the sky darkens.”
Ok, I thought that would be as good as it might get. The covers are going back on.
At Trent Bridge, there will be an inspection in 15 minutes. Which will be 2:30pm Nottingham time.
Might as well do another sport before we get inundated with cricket. Sport climbing! My new favourite along with the rhythmic gymnastics. (Seriously. They were both amazing.) This is via Ross Moulden, re the Olympic blog.
“I appreciate it must have been incredibly difficult to keep an eye on so many things at once while providing quality updates, and I thought you did a fantastic job, along with the rest of your colleagues. One thing I especially liked was the enjoyment and enthusiasm you seemed to have to for watching sport climbing for the first time. I thought I’d send you a link in case you want to see more of Janja Garnbret’s ridiculous ability to cakewalk climbs everyone else is struggling with.
“The IFSC channel on Youtube has all of the World Cup competitions in all three disciplines, as well as highlight packages. They have a playlist section with one for each competition, and if you really fancy it they have another playlist for each of the categories if you feel like binge watching a lot of one event.”
He’s quite right, Janja Garnbret in the bouldering was supreme. I’ve rarely seen an athlete that much better than the elite competitors around them. For good measure, Ross nominated a favourite bouldering problem.
The covers are coming off
There might be more rain coming, as per the Met, but Ali Martin says the covers are being removed. So we might as well enjoy this wonderful moment, considering it may be all we get.
Re our baseball metaphor, Håkan Burden emails with a good bilingual one.
Swedish: Det duger inte att bara ställa skorna på plan, man måste göra jobbet också.
English: It’s not enough to put your shoes on the pitch, you need to make the effort as well.
If I were to render this into Australian, I’d say “Don’t just bring ya shoes, mate.”
Phil Sawyer writes in about the important subject of Bad Horse.
“Oh, Geoff, why did you have to post the Thoroughbred of Sin? Now I’m going through the full song list as I drag my hungover frame around Sawyer Towers doing chores. Incidentally, the company who supplied the bad Doctor’s goggles and gloves are very friendly and happy to ship a set across the pond, although it’ll cost you a fair whack. Erm, so a friend tells me...”
Never a bad time to do a full play-through.
On our philosophical topic, a practical message comes in from Olly.
“I am writing this from a psychiatric hospital which is full of people with lots of mental health and addiction issues. The one piece of advice I’d give is to ask for help. Speak to your GP and they will provide you with multiple options, including the well known Samaritans but also probably some local help. Do not bottle it up and be ashamed, depression is an illness and can be treated with medication and counselling like many other illnesses. I know this is heavy for the OBO but we all need to be there for each other.”
Thanks Olly.
It’s still raining. Emma John references my favourite part of Trent Bridge. “There are people actually waiting in the Hadlee waiting area. I have never seen that before. I always thought those three seats under the stairwell in the Radcliffe Road stand were an existential joke.”
“I’m an American who got interested in cricket because I like the words. I asked the other day what ‘pants’ are and got an answer. Told a baseball fan friend, and she wrote this:
Dennis Eckersley, a hall-of-famer who played for Boston and other teams and now does color commentary for the Red Sox has his own lingo, and his expression for somebody who strikes out looking, meaning they didn’t swing the bat at a third strike, is “a pair of shoes”. Meaning he just stood there. Unique expression to Eck. Sounds like it could transfer to Cricket...
“What do you think? Are there other sports metaphors about clothing?”
Mary Pratt, I bloody love this. What a great phrase. A pair of shoes.
Yesterday facing Shardul Thakur’s inducker, Jos Buttler was a pair of shoes.
More punchy Parisians, what is it with that city? Mike Gibb this time.
“So-called physicist David Holder is forgetting to take relativistic effects into account. As the ball will be travelling a small fraction of the speed of light, the ball will fore-shorten, rendering it more dense. A sensitive batsman will pick this up as a heavier ball.”
Sensitive new-age batsman?
Onto matchmaking then, as I try to make people happy. This for Damian Clarke.
“After thirty-one years of monogamous devotion to my wife, I have never once even considered another human being with thoughts of possible dalliance (well, apart from Dr. Alice Roberts, and that is obviously forgiveable). But may I say that I am surprised to find that I may just be slightly in love with Robert Wilson.”
It happens to the best of us, Damian. Pick up one of his novels and see if the attraction deepens.
“Any philosophical advice to someone who’s depressed and doesn’t know what to do with her life?”
Well. Hello Aditi, thanks for giving me something to think about during the rain. That’s a good question, and a perennial one.
First it depends what kind of depression. There’s the kind with specific provenance, due to grief or hurt or disappointment, and it can be savage but it’s also a storm that you can try to ride out if you have enough to hold onto. People around matter most there. If it’s the other kind, the kind that keeps coming back or never goes away, and gets you even when everything else in your life is going well, it’s a much tricker prospect.
Every media sport story about mental health funnels it to an uplifting ending. “I had these demons, then I overcame them.” Frustrating for people whose issues don’t stop. I’ve still never found an answer about how to get through it. Perhaps it’s partly about accepting that there isn’t a solution per se, there are just ways of trying to manage a condition, and ease the sharpest points. All I know so far is that we have to persevere, because there’s no better alternative. That’s what existence is.
As for what to do with a life, that’s complicated too. And maybe simple. There are so many things that you could do, and you probably feel this pressure to do something grand and memorable, to choose from the panoply and be grand. But ultimately you are the one who will live the existence, only you. And you can only do what makes you happy with it. Moments of small happiness are as beautiful as big ones. Find the ones that sing to you, and repeat those notes for as long as they do.
Increasingly, it seems to me that the only worthwhile thing is making people happy. In one way or another, big or small. Including ourselves. Being generous makes us better. To people close to you, or those just passing through your orbit. One day all of us will be gone and forgotten, and any grand achievements will be gone the same way. But a life worth having was one that made people smile. I’ve failed to do that plenty of times, and succceeded sometimes. It still feels like the best thing to achieve, being thought of like that by the people who remember you, until they too move on into the endless whirl of time.
The Met Office prediction has now changed to a thunderstorm at 3pm (that’s bad) but clearing to 10% likelihood of precipitation after that. In Jim Carrey limo-driver style, I’m saying there’s a chance.
“How many overs do you think India would need to try and chase the score down?” asks Vincent Barreto with acuity. “Go into one-day mode and hope for 30 or so? Send in Pant and Jadeja to try and whack their way to the figure and if it doesn’t work out play for the draw?”
We’re not quite at that point yet, because the last session can go to at least 7pm with the delays, and once we’re into the last hour then 15 overs have to be bowled, so it might be possible to get something like 45 overs into a long third session.
But yes, if it gets to that sort of squeeze I wouldn’t be surprised. India probably wish they had still had Pujara in reserve, to float down the order. But if he can play the steady role, as in Sydney and Brisbane, then Rohit could start by attacking from the other end. Cycle through Pant and Jadeja, then leave Kohli and Rahane to clean up if there’s a mess. Worth a shot.
Here’s another level. Robert Wilson has just emerged into the fray from Paris, fists swinging, proclaiming that it’s metaphysics or nothing.
“I’d like to riposte to sweetly irascible physicist, David Holder, who would like us to stop using the term ‘heavy ball’ for the deeply insufficient reason that there is no such thing. As a metaphysicist of no little repute may I suggest that this is the merest of mechanicalism. Of course there’s a heavy ball. Because that’s how it feels, morally and emotionally. And such things beat Newtonian laws of motion into a cocked hat. And that’s without dealing with the ‘accusing ball’, the ‘false hope leg-hop’, the ‘short-of-a-length sociopath’ or my favourite reverse swinger ‘the nameless sensation of guilt’. The matchless Shane Warne’s entire career of epic piffle and persiflage is proof that metaphysics steals physics’ lunch money every day of the week.”
Science Fight just reminded me of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, for some reason. Bad Horse, Bad Horse.
Ah ha. Some rumblings in the lab. Here is Hugh Molloy.
“The physicist has neglected to take into account that the ball not only has linear velocity but also rotational velocity. Some bowlers such as Bumrah use a whippy flick of the wrist to apply back spin which will slow the ball off the pitch unlike someone like Flintoff who bowls from the shoulder with far less spin so is quicker off the pitch. Also, a spinning ball interacts with a surface differently because the spin reduces the contact time with the bat. Spinning balls skid off hard surfaces more, i.e. a bat, whereas a less spinning ball gives more of a thud, or heavy feeling.”
SCIENCE FIGHT!
“Now pooling it down,” writes Ali, which is a bit of presumably Brum vernacular with which I’ve not had the pleasure of being acquainted. It makes sense.
“It’s been raining all day here in Sydney too,” writes Arthur Graves. Poor old Sydney, that’s all that it needs. “I reckon the slow over rate penalty would work if it was increased. Set the amount of overs per full day at a minimum (80). Then reduce runs got by the bowling team at five per over under that. If that doesn’t do the job, increase it to ten per over. At some point the reduction in runs will find a sweet-spot all on it’s own.”
I’d say it has to be runs added as extras rather than subtracted - we can’t make runs disappear that have actually been scored. But yes, that’s a method. Again, it can only work if the batting side’s avenues to waste time are closed first.
Ali Martin: “Bright sunshine has broken out ... for how long, we know not. The direction the wet stuff is coming from remains filled in.”
The mysterious TM has been reading. “This over-rate chat reminded me of a passage in Derek Pringle’s memoirs about quirks of the era and fines for players and counties for not achieving what would be 19.5 hours per hour. In one match against Middlesex they were well behind and so with the collusion of John Emburey who was pals with Graham Gooch they got the over-rate up to 48 an hour with Goochie completing an over in 18s. So, err, it can be done.”
Imagine, 19.5 an hour. The golden fingers of God shining down onto the fields of Kent or Worcestershire. A holy promised land.
Early lunch
Big news, the reverberations of which will be felt through the ages. My colleague Ali Martin has front row seats at the Bridge.
“The all-important lunch is being taken at 12:30, so nowt before 1.10pm. It’s a pretty bleak scene, covers on. They’ve not even started the mop-up during the little dry spells as they’ve known more is coming.”
David Holder is putting the foot down.
“Good morning to you from alternately sunny and very wet Warrington! Why don’t we have a minimum of 30 overs per session? The players would have to eat into their lunch and tea breaks; this would affect both the bowling side (who would want to rest their bowlers) and the batsmen (who would like to put their feet up too). If either side procrastinates they’d lose that time at the intervals. Also, as a physicist, please can people stop referring to bowlers bowling ‘a heavy ball’ when the batsmen suggest it hits the bat harder than they’d expect for the speed of the bowler. The only variable that will affect the force of the blow is its velocity... nothing else.”
The rain has just got harder at Trent Bridge.
What else to fill your time? I could direct you to a couple of long Final Word interviews that we did recently, which were special.
We spoke to Clare Connor in one episode, initially about the Hundred and what it was for, but then went very deep into her story, life, achievements.
Then we had Felix White from Tailenders shortly afterwards, about the memoir that he’s written: an account of using cricket as a way to hide from grief, and from a lot of other things. It’s a stunning read.
Speaking of the Olympics, if you have memories of Roy and HG from the Sydney games, I wrote this last week on a special book written by one of their creators.
While we’re waiting, you could also be keeping one eye on the last gasps of the Olympic blog, as I’ve been doing. Writing this thing was the single most difficult and interesting task I’ve had in this line of work: trying to cover up to 20 sports in a five-hour session, trying to watch four screens at once while checking results elsewhere, having to learn the rules of judo or sport climbing or whatever else while live on the keys, because however diligent you were there was no time to prepare for everything. Good times.
Onto other things, here’s Andrew Benton. “May we have your expert take on the Bangladesh T20 series victory? Wrapped up inside the minimum number of games, does this signal the beginning of a major decline for Australia, the start of a phenomenal rise for Bangladesh, or is it just a blip in the world of averages?”
Go on, then, I’ll bang on. I don’t think it tells us anything new. It just reminds us that Australia has mostly been pretty bad at T20 International cricket for some reason, and that Australia has been especially bad on slow spinners’ wickets for more obvious reasons. In the 2016 T20 World Cup, most of the pitches were similar and Australia struggled. Ditto in the UAE in 2018, and the Caribbean recently.
Anywhere without that nice true bounce that we get in the Big Bash League, Australian players struggle to attack. They hole out routinely. They also forget how to rotate strike effectively. The conditions just don’t gel with that particular style of batting.
Add in that this is a pretty makeshift batting squad by now, entirely made of wicketkeepers and all-rounders, and it’s no real surprise they’re struggling. The first-choice Australian batting order would likely be Finch, Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, none of whom are there.
Bangladesh are good in their own conditions, and Australians generally are not. Can’t see them going far in the World Cup later this year.
Maybe the most uniformly annoying penalty for a bowling side would be that until they catch up the rate, the batters in the middle get to choose who bowls.
@GeoffLemonSport re over rates, tickets are refunded really easily straight back onto the cards that bought them now. Would be super simple to refund 1/90th back to paying fans for every over lost. I also like the Hundred rule re fielding restrictions.
— Daniel Forman (@dannyforman) August 8, 2021
Yep, this does work pretty well in the white ball stuff. Not quite the same for red, though the earlier idea of taking one fielder off the field completely has its charms. There would still be times when that would hurt bowling teams less than others, like if the 10 and 11 were batting. But every penalty will be variable in its effect. A team defending 500 won’t care if they concede a few penalty runs, if it lets them optimise their wicket-taking potential.
Kim Thonger’s suggestion: “I’ve thought for some time that the penalty for slow over rates should simply be restricted run ups, say 5 metres, until the bowling side gets back to the required rate.”
This would definitely be funny. And in this house, we respect the Liebke Equation that funny cricket > good cricket.
“In answer to Phil Rutovitz, who seems to think India should reach 209,” writes Jen Oram, “start of Day 5 against NZ, India (only the third innings, not the last) have 64 for 2. Shortly thereafter Kyle Jamieson has them 72 for 4. They make 170. That’s without input from the weather, which seems to be disrupting India’s batting rather more than England’s.”
Nathaniel Rogers takes his turn down memory lane.
“I remember getting back from a stag do on a Sunday morning in 2004, switching the telly on and being told Headingley were offering tickets at £10 to watch 80 remaining overs after lunch against New Zealand. So off I went with the lass and a couple of mates and got to watch Flintoff and Jones racing each other to 50 and then 100, with Jones getting his only Test century and Flintoff holing out on 96 ish trying to hit a six. Must have been 110 overs that day. Cant have finished till after 20:00.
“Roll forward a year and the powers that be have succumbed to the power of TV. Sat at the Ashes, 2005, Old Trafford. Rained at the start of the day, rained during the day, plenty of drinking at the ground and in town and rushing back to the ground to watch play resume. Sun out, not a cloud in the sky, sun cream being applied, England with Aussie batsmen on the ropes, teams walk off 30 mins after scheduled end of play at 1830. With probably 30-odd overs bowled if that.
“Result a draw, and if England had had 3 more overs probably would have won it. About time the powers that be put paying fans back at the top of priorities instead of the TV companies. With so many dedicated sport cricket channels now, I’d imagine they would be happy for cricket to go on till 20:30 at night to help fill the schedules.”
That is one solution to the over rates thing, as well: make the bowlers stay until they’re done. That would probably get them moving. Not great for the batting side though.
Updated
Right on cue, Emma says the rain has got heavier in Nottingham.
“Why cant they have a running counter as to how far behind the over rate a team is (allowing for injuries etc) and at the top every hour, have them field with one man less for that period of time? Fines won’t work. Fines haven’t worked,” writes Shankar Mony.
Spot on. The penalty must be in play, and significant enough to draw a response. Fielding restrictions is one, run penalties another. But again, the batting side’s contribution has to be monitored and accounted for.
Again, the tricky thing is where to draw the cut-off for where the over rate should be, given the different timing of different bowlers. Each hour, each session, each day?
“On the subject of slow over rates, why not penalise the offending bowler by giving him or her a yellow card that would mean being unable to bowl during the next, say, 20 overs or 90 minutes?” asks Darryl Accone.
Because it’s not really down to one bowler being too slow. At 30 overs a session, each over should take four minutes on average. Take out time for drinks and wickets falling and so on, and call that three and a half minutes. That doesn’t mean that every over must be three and a half minutes. I’ve timed Ravindra Jadeja bowling overs in 70 seconds, sometimes. Which means his fast bowlers can take longer. Even having a slow morning session with the quicks is alright if the spinners make it up later in the day. The thing is, nobody bothers making up the deficit now.
And the batting side plays into it as well. Calling for new gloves every five minutes. Calling for drinks every couple of overs, outside the drink breaks. And umpires do have the power to direct what happens on the field, but in this regard they let players walk all over them.
I would love to hear frankly from the current elite panel umpires why they don’t take a harder line. But basically, it’s hard to penalise the bowling side when the batting side can also waste time.
If you ban batters from calling out substitutes whenever they feel like it, and rule that they have to be ready to face up when the bowler is ready, rather than the other way around, then any time wasted could be fairly slated to the fielding side.
Good English morning to John Starbuck.
“Hello there. If we genuinely need more recovery time for bowlers teams should be picked with at least six who are able to turn their arms over. It upsets our idea of a balanced side but look what happens when a real all-rounder is missing. Also, at least two of the bowlers should be spinners able to take on a longer workload, which is one reason why over-rates have been going down. Like a Tory dazzled by money, too many selectors are obsessed with speed. Speed costs time.”
I don’t think it’s really a matter of need - plenty of previous generations of fast bowlers with long run-ups got through the overs. It’s just that they’ve realised they can take the extra time, so why wouldn’t they?
It's raining
So the scheduled start time will not be met. Sorry.
“Apparently my piece from yesterday has really pissed off the weather gods,” says my colleague Emma John from Nottingham.
“Surely only one job for Chris Silverwood this morning,” writes Peter Salmon. “Tell Stuart Broad he’s thinking of replacing him with Jack Leach at Lord’s.”
Rather, the key factor has been identified by Isabelle.
Stuart Broad since the onset of the pandemic...
— Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury) August 8, 2021
• with headband: 33w for 519r @ 15.7
• without headband: 6w for 244r @ 40.7
The only statistics you need, tbh.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/zKn5Jb5aSK
Andrew Goldie casts his mind back.
“I raced home from school in 1979 hoping for an exciting denouement to England v India at the Oval - it had been four pretty turgid days in a rain-affected series. Switched on he telly, the big Oval scoreboard focussed on 160. I felt flat. It was going to be a dull draw. Then it pans out. That was Gavaskar’s not out score. India, chasing 438, were on course for a win. The last hour of that match was possibly the most giddying watch I’ve ever seen, as all four results were possible, everyone was trying not to panic, only a controversial low catch at extra cover that did for Viswanath put the India win out of the picture, and it finished 429-8.”
@GeoffLemonSport ok so I know that England has a theoretical chance of getting a draw or even winning, but how likely do you think it really is that India will not manage 157 with 9 wickets in hand and a full day to play?
— Philip Rutovitz (@philrutovitz) August 8, 2021
Absolutely! Well, not the draw, unless it rains. Take rain out of the equation, there’s no way that India bats a day and doesn’t make 157. But it’s very possible, with many many precedents, to be bowled out for that sort of score on the final day of a Test. Just takes a wicket or two early and suddenly the whole side slides away.
Conversely, put on a 50 partnership first up and the match will look like a stroll. But in cloudy English conditions games tend to be low scoring, and can change in a trice.
I’m being told by comrades at Trent Bridge that the outlook weather-wise is not good. The Met Office has the dark cloud icon coming in at bang on our start time, 11am. And the precipitation odds don’t drop below 30% all day.
We do already use the early start in Australia and other places, though only when there are overs lost to weather and such, not when lost to teams just not bowling enough.
Some people try to cast slow over rates as the obsession of old fogeys, but as a relatively young fogey it’s still a problem. It’s easy to say that 8o or 90 overs a day doesn’t matter if the cricket is good. There’s logic to that. But at its base, you need to set a minimum amount of play for a match to be fair and a result to be likely.
So if you think that 80 overs a day and 400 a Test fits that bill, then make the argument, but that would still need to be the legislated minimum. And there would still need to be recourse when players dipped under 80 a day. Which from what we’ve seen with the continual slowing of rates, they soon would. More recovery time for bowlers, more overs from your best, more chance to avoid losing if the match is getting away.
Like the front-foot no-ball, the line has to be set somewhere. And players that breach it need to face genuine in-play consequences. Anything else doesn’t work, yet administrators have ignored it for years and years and years. If they did have to cough up costs for a sixth day, they would stamp out the problem within minutes. But they’ll never bring in rules to penalise themselves.
Can’t argue with any of this, Anand.
@GeoffLemonSport
— Anand (@anandkumarn) August 8, 2021
Can't we make our glorious sport gloriouser by
1.Having a reserve day for all tests (board(s) pay all costs due to slow rates if we play on day 6)
2.Starting earlier(weather permitting)to make up for lost time
3.Shorter lunch, tea breaks on interrupted days#obo
Drop us a cheerio
As ever, the lines are open via email or the birdphone. Just ring and ask for Geoff. I’ll take it in my room. Claudia, stop listening!
Preamble
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, and welcome to (whisper it gently) day five. That’s right, just say it to yourself. Find a quiet room in the house, stand in the furthest corner, and allow the self-satisfaction of sounding out the syllables. You can share it later, but this moment is just for you.
The fifth day. The finest treat of Test cricket. The thing that no other forms can offer. For four days we’ve veered between rain and sun, light and shade, frustration and absorption. We’ve been off, we’ve been on, and so has the game. Wrestling back and forth with some deep ranks of quality bowling and a couple of batting performances of admirable resistance.
So here we are: with nine Bumrah wickets and one Root century in the bank, ahead of the closing chapter. India at 52 for 1 need a further 157 runs to reach the 209 required for victory. They lost that wicket last night to some wicked Stuart Broad bowling - KL Rahul, the top-scorer from the first innings. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshawar Pujara are at the crease.
That Indian batting lineup looks imposing down to Pant and Jadeja but the engine room of Pujara, Kohli, Rahane struggled in the WTC final against New Zealand, and struggled again in the first innings here. India might be favourites to win, but that could very easily change.
It all depends how much assistance England’s bowlers can get early in the day, and what their champion operators can produce. As we saw last time India visisted in 2018, this supposedly slow game can move very quickly indeed.
Ready?
