INTRIGUING CONTEST ON THE CARDS

It is not very often that Australia trails behind in a test series and more so in the Ashes at home.It was more than two decades ago that this happened and the Ashes went all the way to England.

The last time the English went to the land down under, they were wiped clean, losing all the five matches.But now things are different with the home lacking the firepower in both the batting and the bowling departments to crush their traditional rivals.

It is true that the home team was regarded as not too strong going into the Ashes but after two test matches, the edge lies with the English.Of course, only a fool would be courageous enough the write-off the Aussies.

In a selection policy that is best practiced in the sub-continent, Cricket Australia has been busy in picking and dropping players.Add to this is the public clamour building up for the comeback of Shane Warne.

As a neutral, I would still love to see the Ashes being taken to England

HOMING ON THE FACTS

South Africa won their test match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg by taking advantage of the home conditions. The pace and the bounce proved too much for the visiting Kiwis. Home conditions played a role too in the win of Australia over Sri Lanka in Brisbane. The bowlers and the batsmen of the home team deserve all the appreciation.

England managed to beat the Aussies in the Ashes of 2005 and it was the English bowlers who proved to be the decisive factor. Call it reverse swing or not, the swing generated by the likes of Simon Jones proved to be the undoing of the Aussies.

New Zealand is always a tough proposition when it comes to playing them at home. Teams from the subcontinent are often at sea when it comes to the rising ball.

In their pomp, the West Indies bowlers succeeded everywhere and at home they were truly devastating. It is an entirely different story now.

But it is altogether different when it comes to the teams from the subcontinent in general and India in particular. The wins are never attributed to the skills of the players. The pitches are given all the dubious credit. Cricket analysts who are otherwise balanced seem to lose their judgment once the results go in the direction of the home team. Seemingly, it gives more delight to watch a batsman duck to a bouncer than be fooled by the spinning ball.

What is appalling is the fact that the local media also takes jibes at the pitches. The statisticians take delight in calling batsmen ‘fat track bullies’. It is quite another thing when batsmen from teams outside of the subcontinent fail to tackle the spin. The pitch is blamed. The spin bowlers are not at all given the credit. Of course, even a mediocre spinner like Ashley Giles is praised for his acumen when bowling on the wickets of the subcontinent.

Things have gone to such a pass that the cricket administration has appointed a committee to look after the pitches and produce wickets that are more suitable to the visiting teams!

Home teams have always taken the advantage of the conditions and this is something that is not peculiar to cricket alone. Of course, to be fair, good teams possess the talent and the skill to beat any opponent anywhere, be it at home or away.

A BAD START

By any standard, the Indians played bad cricket and deserved to lose the first one dayer at Southampton. After a long time, England looked good in the limited over format.

The change of captaincy has injected some kind of dynamism into the English time that was sorely lacking during the time of Michael Vaughan. Vaughan has an extremely poor record as a batsman in the one dayers and this got reflected in his captaincy as well. Of course, Duncan Fletcher had certain strange ideas about the shorter format of the game.

The Indians failed miserably in the departments of the game. If the batting was sub-standard, the bowling was ragged, the fielding was miserable. With specialist coaches in the side, it makes difficult to find no improvement. Dravid cannot defend the fielding lapses on the fact that the match was played on a relatively large ground.

India is not yet out of the series with six more matches to be played. If the showing is the same as yesterday, the series loss cannot be ruled out.

RAIN IS THE SAVIOUR

The test match at Lords’ was expected to give India a good chance in view of the absence of key bowlers in the England line up. The ‘experienced’ Indian batsmen were expected to pile up a big score and put the home team on the defensive.

The Indian bowlers were impressive except for the first day. They managed to restrict the English totals to manageable proportions but for the shoddy display by the Indian batsmen. The first innings lead proved to be decisive with only the rain putting a spanner into the efforts of Vaughn and his men.

Rain has in the past, put paid to the efforts of India. In the last home series against Australia, rain in Chennai led to a draw with Sehwag in great touch. That win would have leveled the series. In 2002, a test match in the West Indies could have been saved if only the Indians managed to stay at the wicket for a few more overs. This time Dhoni and Sreesanth stayed long enough to let the weather goods shower some blessings.

The rain has reversed a trend that has hurt India in the past. The team has survived the first test jinx. Of course, in South Africa, the team won the first test only to lose the next two and the series.

It is time for the big guns to fire may be for the last time on English soil.

BACK TO WINNING WAYS!

India trashed Bangladesh at Mirpur and England routed the West Indies at Leeds. Both India and England had not performed well in the World Cup. Of course, England went into the Super 8s whereas India was sent packing in the first round itself.

In the first test at Chittagong, rain played the spoilsport and the match ended in a draw. The late batting effort from Mortaza helped his team avert the follow on. Far away, the batsmen from the Carribbean islands put up a good batting display in the first test. Also, rain prevented the home team a shot at a win.

In the second tests, both England and India posted huge wins. In case of England, Leeds has always been a good ground with the local conditions creating havoc with the visiting batting line-ups. The absence of the likes of Sarwan and Chanderpaul only weakened the batting further. The swing and seam reduced the West Indies to shambles.

India was not expected to face much resistance in the test matches, despite the loss in the World Cup. In the first test, not too many runs could be posted even after the centuries from Sachin and Saurav. That might have given some hope to the home team. But things became clear in the second test. There is no indication on the improvement of Bangladesh in the test matches.

England are a good team in home conditions while India can always put up a fight in sub-continental conditions. England was beaten soundly in Australia while India was defeated in South Africa. Now these two teams are on the winning track.