I have always been a lover of cricket, right back to the days when I saw Cyril Washbrook, Brian Statham and Roy Tattersall at Old Trafford but sometimes the England cricket team can make you want to weep and abandon the game for good. Today has been one of those days. England playing in Dubai against Pakistan lost the second test by 72 runs. Set to score 145 to win they were short by 72. They were all out for 72. This was pathetic beyond belief. Nine of their players — I cannot call them batsmen — compiled a grand total of 13 runs between them! Andrew Strauss was far and away the highest scorer with 32 and Prior made 18. The third highest scorer was Cook with 7. Of the other eight men who walked out onto the field kitted out as though they were going to play cricket, only one scored more than a single run. Four of them scored nil.
I was not there to watch this débâcle but let me quote someone who was. Geoff Boycott may be a bit of a misery guts but he does know a thing or two about cricket — and he has been around for a long time. Here's what he said on Test Match Special :
"I've seen some bad performances over the years but that's as bad as I've seen. I couldn't find any excuses and I wouldn't want to. They had to change the batting order, but to not be able to make 150? That was as bad as you could get. Rehman is an orthodox left-arm spinner, but he's not Hedley Verity or Derek Underwood. Monty [Panesar] bowled two people out by pitching leg and middle and hitting off, but I didn't see any of that from Rehman. They were missing straight balls. And Morgan? If he's a Test player, I'm going to eat that famous hat. You'd have to see it to believe how bad it was."
What can we say? A team that a few months ago was lauded as No1 in the world plays Pakistan on a dry dusty pitch and instantaneously becomes rubbish. They can complain about pitches and the weather and the bowlers but a test team that is incapable of doing better than this is still rubbish.
Michael Vaughan thinks this team has a problem against spinners. What, all of them? No, it's rubbish batting — if you can call it batting, even.
Mark Smith on the TMS In-Box said "I resign as an England supporter. This lot do not deserve fans."
He's not wrong.
/
No comments:
Post a Comment