Success through succession

It is the season of pantomines and the ICC has laid on its best comic pairing to perform for us in February next year with a double act of India's Peter Pans trying to ham it up with Australia's Wizards of Oz. Us cricket fans looking for a few belly laughs to shake off the winter blues are in for a real treat as India look to keep Sachin in the same line up as Sewag and Gumbair (Bashful, Dopey and Grumpy?) in a desperate attempt to cast their own spells over the Aussies.

Indian selectors are rigorously rubbing their magic lamps in the hope that an IPL Genie will appear and grant them a wish for a batsman or two who can score runs and not get stage fright at the sound of the tick tock of a croc in a frock. For sure enough in a puff of marijuana smoke, the arch Aussie villainous wizard, Shane Warne, is trying to make his own comeback as Peter Pan. Mind you, after his Liz Hurley makeover, at least Shane will look the part.

So long boys - and thanks for the fish

How is it that the two former great nations of world cricket have been reduced to playing the ugly sisters to the Cinderella and Prince Charming that are England and South Africa at the moment? In a word - succession - or more accurately, two words - no succession.

The Aussies were taken by surprise as some the best players ever to grace world cricket all decided to leave the stage at the same time with the crowd still wanting more. Ponting has now gone as well and Hussey can't be too far behind. Not surprisingly the remaining Aussie cast look more than a bit luck lustre without their star performers. Whilst the Aussie batting is being held together by their new leading man, they have not found any suitable stand-ins for the magical bowling pairing of Warney and McGrath. In particular Australia do not currently have a spin bowler that would scare even the Cowardly Lion. For Australia's own Lyon has, despite some early snarling, shown to be toothless - he recently toiled for 32 wicket-less overs against Sri Lanka before being booed off the stage. Any repeat performance from Lyon is likely to be greeted with cries of 'he's behind you' as Shane tries to convince the selectors that his new slim foot can squeeze into the glass slipper and once again become the belle of the ball.

Exit stage left

India's woeful performance against England showed just how much they missed experienced batsmen who knew how to withstand the pressures of Test cricket and bat for long periods. Sachin (38) looked like he was batting in treacle most of the time, unable to move quickly enough, and the other senior batsmen of Gumbhir (31), Yuvraj (31) and Sehwag (34) played only cameo parts at best but at least Pujara showed what the new boys can do and Kohli sneaked in a performance that confirmed he will be part of the batting line up for some time to come. But it was the bowlers that looked most in need of some new talent. Zaher Khan (34), who out-bowled the England seamers in their own back yard when India won the Pataudi trophy and the series 1-0  in 2007, was dropped before the last Test for being unfit and out of form - Harbhajan (32), so often a talisman for India, followed him out of the door.

So faced with ageing players what have Australia and India done about succession? Well if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then you may forgive the ECB for looking a bit pleased with themselves as Australia instigated their own report after the humiliating 2010 Ashes big bashing handed out to the baggy greens on their own turf. The Angus review was the result and with it the appointment of Pat Howard as performance manager of the Australian team. In my view this could be a brilliant left field appointment, for although Howard is primarily a rugby player and coach, he is definately an innovator and achiever who will have clear plan of what he thinks needs to be done. It's early days and the jury is still out for Howard as although young players are coming through, the injury list of fast bowlers is hampering his plan - and of course the search for a decent spin bowler is now becoming desparate.

As for India, well of course Indian cricket and all it decisions are political first and based upon performance second. Only very recently have cricket academies been set up in India - mostly through the IPL franchises - and in answer to the selectors' recent call to identify new young talent, the independantly minded and proud states in India loudly proclaimed their own sons and handed down a list of 124 players to the national selectors. The next Kumble may be in that list somewhere but he will take some finding.

So come the Australia test series in India I think it will be safe to say that not one bowler from the combined teams would find a place in either the current England or South Africa line ups - and when did that last happen? It could be years before the recently instigated succession plans bear any fruit for these once overly blessed nations. In the meanwhile India could be driven further away from Test cricket as lack of success kills off any lingering public interest that has not already been seduced away by the obvious charms of the IPL - but that's a story for another day.

Who to boo now?

Time to come clean - I have always had a love/hate relationship with Ricky Ponting (as in I love to hate him). But with Ricky's last Test innings looming it is only right to admit to some 'previous' and take you back to Edgbaston, day 4, in that fabulous Ashes winning 2009 series.

 

On 2nd August 2009 on Sky Sports TV, and again in the Times the following morning, Michael Atherton called my behaviour ‘disgraceful’. This was not a personal attack you understand, but his comment on the behaviour of the Edgbaston crowd (of which I was part – but not the Barmy Army) when we booed Ricky Ponting’s arrival at the crease. No doubt my fellow Surrey members and Valley team mates agreed with Mr Atherton’s comments as they watched TV with a beer or read their newspaper over breakfast and may be surprised to learn of my involvement. However, to coin a phrase, ‘they weren’t there’ and an explanation is therefore required.

 

Michael Atherton understandably defended a fellow professional sportsman against what he thought was a lack of respect. I am part of a group to which neither of these outstanding players belongs – the professional spectator who also deserves some respect. We not only directly fund their profession but we unreservedly support the national teams for whom they play. Some of the English section of this group risked divorce and poverty to support our team in Australia in the forgotten (but unfortunately not by ‘those who were there’) Ashes tour of 2007/8. Despite less than wonderful performances by our team I do not recall anything other than great unstinting support, with almost no bad language and plenty of black humour, from this group of professional spectators. Certainly there was no booing however deserved that might have been.

I say this to make the point that we know our cricket and we also know that our support can lift a team when it’s down as well as provide that 12^th man effect to achieve a special performance – as it certainly did at Edgbaston on this particular Sunday.

I think that the subtlety of the booing (or negative cheering as I prefer to think of it) on this day was lost on Athers – understandably as he has no supporter experience in such matters. But I have no doubt it was not lost on our favourite Australian captain. He had already heard our ironic cheers for Mitchell Johnston (‘Super, Super Mitch’) and knew our support was lifting the English team as both Broad and then Swann followed Freddie’s lead in facing up to Australia’s wonder bowler.

 

The spontaneous negative cheering of Ricky by us supporters that greeted his walk to the wicket was precisely because we do respect his wonderful batting. We know his talent can turn a match and make the difference between a win and a draw and that at this moment getting him out quickly was vital to our progress. However we also know that it is possible to get under his skin and we were doing the only thing we could to do so.

 

Ricky played his part in this theatrical performance – he was late arriving from the changing room and his walk to the wicket was slow and defiant as the booing reached the level of a howling gale. I have no doubt Ponting relished the challenge and accepted the supporters’ performance for what it was – a gauntlet being thrown down. So too, I have to say, did Swann who, always one to rise to the occasion, then bowled a magnificent set of almost unplayable balls to RP.

 

Swann may have bowled the ball that opened up Ricky’s defence but we provided the special atmosphere and partisan support that set the stage for him to do so. Ten minutes of wonderful sport and pulsating theatre later Ricky walked back to the biggest cheer of the day – English supporters 1, Australia’s captain 0 - and I was there.