Talking Cricket

England will win by 150 runs, apparently

Perhaps there will be five glorious days and England will level the series with an emphatic victory. We shouldn’t over-react to a single, tight defeat against the world champions. That said, not over-reacting is precisely what does not happen in professional sport and England are one bad Test match away from critical fire. Nasser Hussain and Ricky Ponting were surprisingly forthright in their criticism immediately after the Edgbaston Test and Kevin Pietersen, of all people, has criticized Ben Stokes’s decision to declare England’s first innings with eight down and Joe Root batting imperiously. A bad game at Lord’s, which is hardly without precedent against Australia, and those voices will be louder.

The team has evident problems. The top three are unproven at this level. Stokes is palpably unfit and can’t bowl his due share. The incapacity of the captain exacerbates the problem caused by the absence of Jack Leach. Moeen Ali cannot hold the scoring in the first innings and his attempts to bowl too much split his finger. Josh Tongue will now have to bowl some of his overs. Ollie Pope is in the wrong place in the order and he is being encouraged to display his worst aspect as a batsman – his frenetic activity – at the expense of his best – his stately elegance. Jonny Bairstow isn’t a terrible wicketkeeper but there is a lot resting on his selection.

And thereby hangs the tale. England need to stop talking. They are doing the opposite of what a good communications strategist would advise. The clever plan is to lower expectations and then exceed them. England keep talking themselves, and their methods, up to the point that they are exciting unlikely hopes. When you listen to what England are saying you realise that a period of silence on their part would now be appreciated. After his victory, Pat Cummins was measured and magnanimous. Even Nathan Lyon managed to stay calm. There is a risk here that England sound like the brash vulgarians while the Australians all turn into Peter Porter.

Brendon McCullum said that the defeat at Edgbaston vindicated their methods. As usual, he was allowed to get away with it by a press pack that has become embedded. Ollie Robinson behaved stupidly in Birmingham, chirping at Usman Khawaja who he had just dismissed for the small matter of 141. Stokes’s press conference was a lot more about what Ollie Robinson has said than it ought to have been. Zak Crawley used a radio interview to say that England would win by 150 runs and that this England team wasn’t about results so much as entertainment. He would have been hard pressed to say anything dumber. It is more or less a definition of sport that it is about results. It’s not Billy Eliott, Zak. England will soon find out whether it’s about results if they go 2-0 down in the series.

McCullum does have a point, which he expressed a little clumsily. He meant that this England team will get the best from themselves if they attack. There is a lot of truth in that and a lot of wonderful cricket is being played. But there could come a point when sticking to a method begins to look a little like arrogance. That moment may come and, five days from now, we will know whether it is approaching or receding. Don’t bet against Stokes bowling 26 overs on the first day and knocking 5 over. He’s that sort of bloke. We’re not calling time on the aggressive approach but England need to enjoy themselves while they can because time is shorter than they think.

Out In The Middle

Imagine if England had a player to call on who was better than Herbert Sutcliffe with the bat and almost as good as GA Lohmann with the ball. Well, they do. Chris Woakes’s record at Lord’s is quite extraordinary. 306 runs at 61 with the bat and 27 wickets at 11. If Woakes doesn’t play at Lord’s it’s hard to see what he is doing in the squad.

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

In retrospect the selection of Moeen Ali looks like an error. Plenty said so at the time, notably Michael Atherton. It didn’t look as if there were too many other options but from Southampton this week there came a message. Liam Dawson scored 141 and then took 12-130 in 45 overs as Hampshire bear Middlesex by an innings.

Hampshire vs Middlesex Scorecard 2023 | Cricket Scorecard (espncricinfo.com)

Back to the subject of great wicketkeepers who are not playing today, a reminder that cricketers did not always earn lavish sums. Alan Knott is selling his kit collection to raise funds.

Calling all cricket fans! | eBay. Bid on Alan Knott's collection. Ends Jul 6.