Late, but I wanted to wait till the end of the Ashes

Zimbabwe v New Zealand
Opening Ratings: Zim: 707.44 NZ: 1034.08
1st Test: New Zealand by an innings and 294 runs
2nd Test: New Zealand by an innings and 46 runs
Closing Ratings: Zim: 682.83 NZ: 1051.26

As incredible as it sounds, New Zealand actually got a little ranking boost from pummelling Zimbabwe. Mostly because the magnitude of the pummelling was so large and so quick they couldn't help it. A five day series isn't good for cricket. I want more teams in the test arena, but those on the bottom rung need to be playing each other, not teams 300 ranking points ahead who will unsurprisingly thrash them. Assessing the players, well for New Zealand, Bond is back from injury, but whether the centuries or the low scores are more significant for the top order is hard to say. For Zimbabwe, Mahwire had a useful series, a few wickets and some runs, and Taibu shows a lot of spirit. Streak, on return, had a mare, 5 runs and two golden ducks in 4 innings. Taylor and Masakdza also showed a little, but a little is not terribly much.

England v Australia
Opening Ratings: Eng: 1211.20 Aus: 1389.17
1st Test: Australia by 239 runs
2nd Test: England by 2 runs
3rd Test: Drawn
4th Test: England by 3 wickets
5th Test: Drawn
Closing Ratings: Eng: 1252.93 Aus: 1342.10

The worst you can say of this series is that last three hours of the last test fizzled out. The remaining 120 odd hours was fascinating, intense, exciting, and brilliant. For an Australian their performance was too often frustrating and below par. Part of that was England's skill and discipline while bowling. Part of it was Australia's ill-disciplined bowling and poor catching that ultimately cost them both a series win and in one final moment, the draw.

This was a bowler's series, from first to last. No batsman fired, Pieterson being the only player with an average over 50, but that had a not out to help it and I remain unconvinced by him. Strauss scored two hundreds but was out early just as often and averaged less than 40. Langer and Trescothick were the most consistent but never really went on. Ponting, Vaughan and Hayden scored centuries but otherwise struggled.

The bowling was impressive however, and in the end the difference between the sides. Warne was immense. His competitive drive when things weren't going well, with bat and ball, in the field, and without doubt tactically while Ponting floundered. 40 wickets at 19 with an economy rate of 3.15 must rate as one of the greatest of all Ashes returns. McGrath was brilliant at Lord's, providing Australia's first and most significant riposte by reducing them to 5/21. After that, injuries and a lack of bite reduced him to holding up an end. That was still invaluable though. The most significant statistic of the series are the economy rates of English bowlers: all below 4. Except for Warne and McGrath the Australians were loose and punished accordingly.

The English bowling never really ran through Australia. Most often there were starts, but the pressure built, they all contributed, Jones was the best with 18 wickets at 21, Flintoff the man thrown the ball when needed, taking 24 wickets at 27.29 and capable of some brutal spells. Hoggard and Harmison too. They went at roughly 30 but both kept the runs down and took important wickets. By contrast, Lee and Tait were being scored off at well over 4 an over. No pressure, no wickets. Even though Lee took 20 his comeback veered from impressive to hair-pulling for the watching fan.

The other difference was fielding. England dropped a few. Pietersen and (criminally) Jones especially. It even cost them at Lord's when Clarke escaped. But for Australia dropped catches (and no-balls) were killer blows. Trescothick going on to 90. Vaughan on to 166. Jones onto 85. Pietersen onto 158. Wickets thrown away, in close tests decided by a few overs, and a few runs. An Australian side that had of taken catches could conceivably have won 5-0. That is how costly they were. But that is the way of close tests. It was unfortunate that poor umpiring decisions came into play as well, of which there were too many regardless of whether they evened out.

In general, the trend was for England, and Australia were chasing. My earlier prediction that they wouldn't be able to close out games nor make comebacks was partially true. They couldn't, and it will be a few years more till they can. But Australia never got going, or was never allowed to get going. This side is past it now, and needs to be shuffled either as fast as can be managed, or faster than it will be able to handle. In four years we can expect eight new faces but I won't make predictions for who might go by the next series in 14 months time.

What I will conclude on is another comment on the state of cricket. It should be obvious from the interest in and the spirit of a real contest, over five tests, that the strength of test cricket is its traditions and rivalries. For newer nations this is a weakness, because they don't have them, but it is never too soon to start them. The test program with its small, pointless two-test series is an abomination. A home-and-away season without a trophy or finish. Noone cares what the table says. Ratings are only interesting because they provide fuel for an argument. What matters is the cricket, and the contest. I support a test championship, held every four years, because that would be a contest. But the Ashes remains what matters, as to a lesser extent do the Frank Worrell trophy, the Trans-Tasman trophy and whatever we play for against South Africa. Because they are Australia's true rivals, and true rivalry can only exist over a whole summer.

Forthcoming Series:

Zimbabwe (682.83) v India (1142.64) - 2 Tests.

Another month, another pointless two-match series between two unevenly matched sides. Even India's appalling away record won't prevent this being a thrashing. Three consecutive days of rain might make it interesting, but even then I'd put money on India.

Sri Lanka (1086.46) v Bangladesh (614.29) - 2 Tests.

Speaking of which. Bangladesh is rated below Zimbabwe for now, but they are more likely to challenge Sri Lanka than the Africans their sub-continental neighbours. In future years these two countries could become great rivals. It is worth watching the results for that reason alone.

South Africa (4th) 1127.19
Pakistan (7th) 1046.49
West Indies (8th) 816.39

Cricket - Ratings - Test 13th September, 2005 18:49:10   [#] 

Comments

Ratings - September 2005
Surprisingly, the Zimbos have held up fairly well on day 1. Normally a day's play would see them all out and about to be passed, but they have batted out 93 overs and are still going.

Will wonders never cease?
Bruce  14th September, 2005 15:41:33  

Ratings - September 2005
Bruce, how could you?

As if Zimbabwe wasn't going badly enough you put the mozz on them. 3/14 in 6 overs this morning. Looks like they'll be chasing leather for a while too.
Russ  14th September, 2005 21:26:59