Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

Peter Obornes book, “Basil D’Oliviera: Cricket andConspiracy, the untold story”, gives a detailed look into the political and personal surrounding the career of Basil D’Oliviera, the South African-born English cricketer who (indirectly) led to South Africa being banned from Test cricket.

The book is a fascinating read and aside from the obvious racist and political outrages, gives a fascinating insight into how sporting administrators put the purpose of their role (promote sport, improve society) behind personal prejudice.

With that in mind, its time to take a look at This Week in Cricket:

All Change, All Change

Coming off a mediocre drawn Test series in the West Indies in which they were supposed to build momentum towards the Ashes, the England and Wales Cricket Board have appointed former Captain Andrew Strauss as Director of Cricket and sacked Coach Peter Moores.

The appointment of Strauss is an interesting one, given the strategic nous he has shown in commentary (e.g. referring to Englands bestbatsman as a c*nt) doesn’t really suggest he will move away from the boys-clubissues that have riddled English cricket of late.

Still, there is a lot to like about the potential of the English team, certainly the inclusion of players like Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali will provide a team that at least cares.

Ben Stokes, seen here at a family picnic

Further, the speculation is that Jason Gillespie may take over as head coach from Peter Moores, which should see the team start to enjoy itself in the way the Australian team has under man manager (not data manager), Darren Lehmann.  Is it too late to make an impact before the Ashes?  Probably.

Respect the Long White Cloud

Before the Ashes though, England has a chance to settle and build some momentum in a home series against New Zealand.  The likelihood of this, though, is slim.

New Zealand are vastly under-rated and have the talent to take 20 wickets and build 400+ scores in any conditions, anywhere in the world.  I expect New Zealand to dominate the series against England.

More to their credit, the Black Caps have achieved this without a massive population to draw cricketers from, or regular major cricketing trophies to pique interest from the crowds at home.

While Australia is supposed to play the “Chappell Hadlee” trophy every year, there was a break of 4 years between the latest contests. 

If the International Cricket Council is series about the future of the game and growing it, the Chappell Hadlee trophy should be played at least every second year, perhaps as a 3-test series in conjunction with another 3-test series with another team.

This would allow Australia to honour its commitments to India, England and South Africa by playing a 5 or 6 test series against them every other year.

Here's something I wrote on the issue a while back.

Regardless, the Black Caps are one of the most exciting teams in the world right now and deserve to be seen and challenged at the highest level.

The anxious tourists

Speaking of excitement, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that a Test cricket team will be touring their country for the first time since the Sri Lankan team was attacked there in 2009.

The International Cricketers Association have voiced strongconcerns over the series and advocating that it doesn’t go ahead, it’s a wonder that it has gotten up at all. 

The PCB must be thankful that Zimbabwe Cricket is so broke and value their players so poorly that they will send them anywhere for a buck.

With Pakistan proving that it is still a force in Test cricket in the last few weeks, none of these Tests should last more than 3 days, which will be a relief to the Zimbabwean players who will likely be surprised to find a place less appealing to play cricket than Zimbabwe.