11 Wickets; Andre Adams, Looking Good!

With just the 5 wickets in the first innings and 6 in the second, Andre has just put in the first big wicket haul of the season for Nottingham.  He helped blow away Hampshire at Trent Bridge within three days.

Of 7 Championship matches, only Yorkshire v Durham and Glamorgan v Gloucestershire are still in play.  Wickets have been the order of the day.

Championship cricket boring?

Bunny’s Back!

An emotional day in a lot of ways.  Not only was Graham Onions back on the competitive field for the first time in 14 months.  He took 5 for 53, nice, as he seems to have come back where he left off; taking plenty of wickets.

But it also saw our whole attack looking like the attack of old, the attack of Championship winning form.  Demolishing Yorkshire for 149 in 60 overs.  After us not getting any bowling points in this fixture this time last year it was just the best to see the attack back to how we know it can be.  I wish had been there.

40 Wicket Heaven; But Their Bowling Attack is Better Than Ours

Today was Ryan’s day he ended up with 6 for 47, and 9 wickets in total.

Mitch also took a total of 9 wickets in the match.

Hilf kept it tight.

So did Siddle.  And that is what you want from an attack.  I rather like this attack.

England did ok, we didn’t bowl too badly.  But on todays evidence – the Australian attack is better than ours.  Yes the pitch suited the seamers, and they were used well.  But our batters were on good form coming in from a triumphal win.  The Aus seamers all bowled peerlessly and with control, and that is what you need to win a match.  And win they did, by 267 runs, in competitive conditions.

Another venue, another pitch type, and we have Swann, but their seam attack works better than ours.  Well it certainly does when it played like it played during this match.

There are times when it does not matter who wins, as long as it has been a competitive exciting hard fought match.  A match were the balance between bat and ball is equal.  This does not happen as much as it should in Test cricket.

The Third Test at Perth, for a change the bowlers were on top, and I think that is as it should be.

Mitch; He was Bound to Show up at Some Point!

He may have turned up earlier, except I made him captain of my fantasy cricket teams; Mitch, I know, unfair hobbling.  I apologise.

The majority of modern day fast bowlers are generally quite mercurial.  Something that gets glossed over as the post match stats stack up.  Speed and control are found regularly only in the form of the cartoon apparition – machine like, aggressive mean tall mega macho quick.  The real life version wangs it to 2nd slip and ends up in rehab faster than a rat up a drain pipe.  If not it just wasn’t ‘his’ day!  Harmisonesque, a descriptive that sums it up for most.

But we know this, we have been watching and waiting, and duly thrilled with the unplayable spell yielding 4 wickets for 20 runs.  And with 6 for 38 against a set of batsmen who up until now looked to be in fine form, a truly sublime performance.

Just a shame he had to do it to England!

Finn on Fire!

I’ve not really rated Steven Finn, having seen him toil away for many an hour with the Middle.   For his time on the field he just did not get many 5 wicket hauls.  It seems that this season he is out to prove me wrong!

It is day 2 of the Worcester v Middlesex match and he has taken 9 for 37 and 14 for 106 for the match.  A bowler that England has not managed to knacker and now the stuff of legend!!

14 for 99; That Was Some Test Bowling

Do they make them like that any more?  Legendary England and Surrey cricketer Sir Alec Bedser has passed on.

236 Test wickets at 24.89 and a staggering 1924 first class wickets at 20.41, that really is quite something.  Perhaps bringing back the balance between bat and ball to the longer forms of cricket might be a fitting lasting tribute?

Take Your Eye off Mitch at Your Peril

I suspend Mitch watch for a moment to turn my attention to my own team playing with the pink balls in the desert and what does Mitch go and do?  He goes and bags a 10 wicket hall against New Zealand.

10 for 132, his second test 10 fer and 41 wickets for 25.90 this season, looks like he has got over the Styris indecent!

Synth Boy and his Backing Band

An imperious bowling performance and an innings and 6 runs win for South Africa.  This is the kind of Test match and Test match bowling I like.  I like Dale Steyn – you might have guessed. But I like him because he tends to be good at what he does – Teutonic even.  And yes, I have always thought of him as looking like the synth operator in a Germanic electronic band.  [Yep I like electronic music].  Yes he does not smile much and yes he often looks like he is sucking a lemon.  But I kinda like that.

But he cannot do all this without backup.  So a well tuned performance from the Saffer bowling attack. [one is tempted to say Durhamesque!]   So if Dale is the Synth player – this could be the rest of the line up.  Kallis the solid drummer, Morkle the suicidal looking bass player, Harris the silly haired guitarist, and Parnell the rebellious singer.  [Duminy comes on and does occasional procession and the odd bit of back up singing.]   So not quite a German electopop outfit then, but they make a good noise.   What they are called? You can think up the name.

And of course  an excuse for a Paul Harris picture.  Harris; a tall man who does not spin the ball much, but who does what he does very well.  I like that.

But the super efficient Steyn is not a tall man.  Not for a fast bowler.  Do you think anyone else has noticed this?

So two cricketers who perform much better than you would expect from looking at them.  Anyone in the England squad development noticed this too do you think?

Dale Steyn’s Indian Wicket Bonanza!

Red Hot? I knew this picture would come in handy.  He ain’t the world’s top ranked bowler for nothing.  Dale Steyn*; 8 upper and lower order wickets in a day on an Indian pitch – Dale Steyn we salute you!

* Dale Steyn is South African so this is the outstanding seam bowling bit [he does not play for Durham].