Spirits Cricket

Jason Roy is a great prospect for England with the view of the 2019 World Cup.

Aggressive opening batsmen in ODI Cricket were a rarity for England in the last 5 years and that’s why, they couldn’t create a sense of fear among the international bowlers.

However, now, the Three Lions have two such batsmen, Roy and Hales, who don’t play the waiting game and instead, like to tear into the bowlers.

In his innings against Sri Lanka yesterday in London where he plays his domestic Cricket as well, Roy was fearless to say the least.

Caring very little about the length of the faster men, he was forcing himself on the front foot on each ball which was almost disrespectful and embarrassing to Sri Lanka. And, his dismissiveness of the visitors’ strongest department, that is spin, was exhilarating too. He did not have any kind of regard for the ability of their spinners.

Playing it off the pitch is the general way of playing spin in England, but, for Roy, it’s about reducing the distance between him and the bowler to change the length of the ball to his liking and to take the turn out of the scene, much like an Asian.

Also, the elbows of Roy remain so upright. There is probably no player in the world who keeps his elbows more upright than that. Read the rest of this entry »

Stuart Broad reckons there is not much difference between England and South Africa in terms of conditions, but, it would still be very difficult for his team to emerge victorious in the upcoming test series in the rainbow nation.

The English guys are going to make their way to South Africa next month for 4 test matches, 5 One Day Internationals and a couple of Twenty 20 internationals.

The action will kick off with the Boxing Day game in Durban.

According to Broad, test victories playing abroad are absolutely rare nowadays as almost all the teams thrive in home conditions and you have to play out of their skins to beat them in their backyard.

Speaking in a talk show, the tally lanky speedster from Nottinghamshire said, “I would like to believe South Africa is a place where we should not be having too many troubles in regard to the conditions. Most of the surfaces over there happen to be slightly bouncy and you would be able get the ball to nip around a little bit as well.”

“But, touring abroad, it’s never easy. If you see the overseas records of the teams over the recent years, you would not find too many impressive numbers there. It’s been quite difficult for almost everyone.” Read the rest of this entry »

England was standing on the verge of a shocking win in Abu Dhabi before bad light came into play and spoilt the party for them.

It was a classic example of how quickly things change in the test matches in subcontinent.

At the completion of the 4^th day, nobody would have foreseen that game producing a result.

But, what unfolded the day after just showed everyone what test Cricket means.

It’s about patience and skill. You’ve got to play well every single session or you would slip down.

Pakistan just had a couple of poor sessions with the bat and they were in serious danger of a defeat.

Some poor shot selections had almost cost them the test match there.

However, this is not to take any credit away from the English bowlers especially Adil Rashid who was playing his first test match and was taken to the cleaners by the Pakistanis in the first innings.

Still, when he came on to bowl on the final day, he was looping the ball, was tempting the batsman to try and go after him and that was remarkable for a debutant.

Moeen Ali too was pretty good and James Anderson, as always, was there with early breakthroughs with the new ball.

From England’s point of view, they might not have won the game, but, they would not be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Root started his work in this year’s Ashes in an expected fashion as he thumped a cracking ton yesterday to help England post a substantial total on the board at the end of day 1 in the first Ashes test match being played in Cardiff.

He had had some nervy moments at the start though. In fact, he could have returned to the pavilion on zero if the Australian wicketkeeper, Brad Haddin, had held on to a catch diving to his right.

It was only the second ball that Root was facing in his innings. He tried to dig out a wide Yorker and got a leading edge.

The ball flew to Haddin at a good height, but, it was, by no means, an easy catch. He had to dive full stretch.

Those types of catches actually stick in the gloves, but, unluckily for Australia, it hit the hard part of the gloves and popped out.

Root counter attacked thereafter and took the attack to the Australian camp.

He was not afraid of playing the ball in the air.

Michael Clarke, as he naturally does, was on the attack with three slips, two gulleys, and backward point and there was no fielder back on the boundary square of the wicket on the off side.

Root took advantage of that and played some lofted cut shots whenever presented with a little bit of width.

His shots on the front foot were quite watchable too. Read the rest of this entry »

England might have had a very difficult time over the last few years, but, the selectors would be happy with the fact that during this period, they have found somebody who is going to be an absolute legend in a few years’ time.

Joe Root, the cheesy, little Yorkshire man, has been a great shining light for England recently.

After absolutely thumping the bowling attacks of India and Sri Lanka in the summer of 2014, Root carried on his form in limited-over Cricket too, doing fairly well in Sri Lanka and then, in Australia, both in the triangular and the World Cup.

And, now, he has had a similar start to the ongoing season as he scored a hundred on the first day of the first match of 3-test match series between England and West Indies.

He just does not get tired of scoring runs, Root and his temperament at this age is incredible.

In his short career so far, very rarely it has happened that he has tried to play an irresponsible shot at a crucial time and has got out.

He does not do that. He plays the situation every time and plays it very well. Read the rest of this entry »

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