Forewarned is not necessarily forearmed. Alastair Cook counselled that he was “a conservative bloke” upon borrowing the captaincy from Andrew Strauss, yet it was still a shock to see the extent of that conservatism during the first Test in Bangladesh. It seems peculiar to criticise somebody who scored 212 runs in their first Test as captain, yet Cook’s performance in the field reinforced the perception that he is mainly in charge because of a process of elimination.

If his first-innings 174 was a splendid example of Cook finally turning a century into what his mentor Graham Gooch calls a “Daddy”, then in the field he was too often a little boy lost: his field placings were reactive and negative, and his bowling changes mechanical. Brilliant with the bat, mediocre in the field: it might have been an homage to Andrew Strauss’s first series as captain, against Pakistan in 2006.

Read the rest of this entry »

England’s 181-run victory wasn’t the most convincing, so what did it tell us?

Read the rest of this entry »

A day to go in Chittagong and England are five wickets away from a comprehensive victory. And no one is happy.

Why exactly? England have eschewed risk. Six batsmen. Three seamers. Trying to grind Bangladesh into the dust by not enforcing the follow-on. Pragmatism has reigned. And, barring rain (fittingly it is now raining in Dhaka) or a miracle, it will get them a win.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, The KP Story is into a sixth season and our hero is back in the runs. As if there was any doubt this Bangladesh series would see him climbing the rankings (before today he lay 25th, his tale in increasing danger of being discontinued).

Failure upon failure in the warm-up matches thickened the anticipation. But we knew he would respond – get up in pressure’s grill and make this series about his redemption.

Read the rest of this entry »

The latest rumours coming out of the England camp suggest a debut for Middlesex’s Steven Finn against Bangladesh tomorrow. The surprise is that it appears likely to come at the expense of James Tredwell, who seemed to have secured the second spinner’s position with eight wickets against Bangladesh A in Chittagong earlier this week.

England’s balance has been the source of much speculation. With Kevin Pietersen’s scratchy form and the safety-first tendencies of this regime, it was always the safe bet that Michael Carberry would make a debut at the top of the order. Six batsmen and Matt Prior leaves room for four bowlers, which under normal circumstances in Bangladesh would comprise two seamers and two spinners (the home side are likely to field two quicks and three spinners).

Read the rest of this entry »

Try telling Steven Finn that England’s tour to Bangladesh is inconsequential. If Finn, the 20-year-old Middlesex seamer, makes his Test debut in Chittagong on Friday, it will complete a startling rise for a player who has played just 31 first-class games and one full season for his county.

Finn is used to being blooded early – he made his Middlesex debut at 16 (their youngest debutant since Fred Titmus) – and has represented England all the way up, but it was not until last summer that his form demanded a regular place at Middlesex, with 53 wickets at 30.64. He showed few signs of nerves after stepping off the plane in Chittagong, impressing against Bangladesh ‘A’ with his hostility and economy.

Read the rest of this entry »

A game has developed in recent times during press conferences with Andy Flower. Football commentators would probably call it a game of chess.

A journalist prefaces a question in which he wants to elicit a clue about selection for the Test team by saying: “I know you’re not going to give away any clues about selection for the Test team, but…” Everyone chuckles, including Flower, who proceeds to give an answer of studied caution, elegantly saying not very much really. Then another journalist tries, and Flower deadbats him too. And so on until we’re all none the wiser. Cats and mice could scarcely be less playful.

Read the rest of this entry »

What, for an England fan, do these two Tests against Bangladesh hold? What will get us up at 3am on Friday?

A preview of Alastair Cook’s captaincy? Two Tests against Bangladesh will offer crumbs at best.

Read the rest of this entry »

In his thoroughly researched biography of Imran Khan, the author Christopher Sandford quotes his subject’s despairing views of the captaincy of Mushtaq Mohammad, who led Pakistan for a while in the late 1970s. According to Imran, “Mushtaq would use the phraseology of English team captains about ‘pitching the ball up and let[ting] it do the work’, even when this was courting disaster.”

Sandford, who describes Mushtaq as an “Anglophile”, continues: “It was part of a larger mindset that had seen successive Pakistan touring sides be almost absurdly deferential, both on and off the field, to their British hosts.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you seen The Invention of Lying? It’s a Ricky Gervais film about a society where people can’t lie to each other: “What are you doing?” / “I was gonna rob your house.” / “I don’t like that idea. Not a fan of that at all”. It’s not really very good, but it seems that England’s chief selector Geoff Miller has given it a good watch and picked up some tips.

On announcing England’s provisional 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 yesterday, Miller was asked why Alastair Cook had been omitted. After all, he’s the current England captain and had a good tournament with Essex last season.

Read the rest of this entry »