Published: 11 Aug 08, By

Hello one and all and welcome to this weeks edition of Paul Seaborne on cricket.

We'll start in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Sri Lanka look like pulling off an excellent series victory over India. Currently India are just 16 runs ahead in the second innings of the final test with only five wickets in hand.

 

Whilst, as expected Ajentha Mendis and Murali have taken ten of the fifteen Indian wickets to fall, it has been debutant pace man Dammika Prasad who has done the early damage in both innings, so far removing Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulker in the first innings, and both openers in the second, this guy looks to have a decent future at international level.

 

Prasad has been in the frame for a Test call for some time now, after impressing in one day games for Sri Lanka, however, unfortunately for him he endured a persistent back injury in 2006 that kept him out of the game for six months. It seems to be that he is now back firing on all cylinders, and if he can stay injury free, then Sri Lanka have the makings of a very fine young fast bowler in their ranks, which if they’re honest, will admit they have been missing for the last few years. They certainly have the spin option, and they also have the wily swing bowling of Chaminder Vaas, but they have certainly missed an out and out, accurate pace bowler. Lasith Malinga does a fine job, but can be erratic. But in Prasad, they seem to have found the real deal.

 

Sri Lanka seem to have the knack recently for finding young up and coming bowlers, and with Mendis only 23 years old, the future certainly looks bright for them. With Murali certain to go on for a good few years yet, Sri Lanka could become a dominant force in World Cricket sooner rather than later. Under the captaincy of Mahela Jayawardene, and with the experience of Sangakarra, Dilshan and Vaas, I personally think Sri Lanka are going to overtake India as Asia’s number one team. They already have the Asia Cup in the bag after overcoming India, Pakistan and Bangladesh earlier in the year, and after triumphing over India in this test series, one must come to the conclusion that Sri Lanka are going to be an extremely tough side to beat, especially on home soil.

 

India on the other hand have quite a few headaches creeping into their camp. For the first time, it seems doubts are appearing over the so called “Fab Five”, which include Sachin Tendulker, Surav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid VVS Laxman and  Virender Sehwag.

 

Sehwag can be excused for now, as he has been playing exceptionally well, however the other four’s cult status is slowly disappearing. Between them, they have scored just 471 runs in the entire series, that’s an average of just 19.62 per player. Quite simply, this isn’t good enough, especially when India’s hopes rest quite proudly on the performance of their star players.

 

With Australia due to tour there in October this year, in what should be an extremely tight series, India will need their Fab Five to start performing sooner rather than later, otherwise it could be fairly one way traffic to a series defeat. Something which could spell the end of a couple of careers. 

 

Obviously India have Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come back into the test team, but I can’t help get the feeling that the end may well be nigh for the untouchables.

 

Moving away from Asia and into England, Kevin Pieterson appears to be able to do no wrong at the beginning of his international captaincy. He lost the toss on Thursday morning as the sun enveloped the Oval in South East London, and since that moment, he has done little wrong.

 

South Africa opted to bat on a flat wicket  with the sun shining. It had all the ingredients for a large South Africa first innings total. At 100/1 at lunch, those fears appeared to be coming to the fore. Cue Midas Pieterson, he chopped and changed his bowlers regularly and England ended up dismissing the visitors for under 200, and England had a real chance to salvage some pride from the series.

 

It was written in the stars wasn’t it? My colleague here at Priceform wisely tipped Pieterson to score a century, and he didn’t disappoint. From the moment he arrogantly strolled to the crease, he cut, drove and hooked his way to a quite magnificent century. One can only sit back and admire the way he bullies the bowlers from so early in his innings. If I have one criticism of him (and believe me, it is quite hard, seeing as how he is King Kev in England at the moment) it is that he has this annoying habit of throwing his wicket away once he has achieved his success. Scoring a hundred as captain for the first time is a remarkable achievement, and one only duplicated by a handful of cricketers, but I can’t help get the feeling he could do so much more if he applied himself. Still, it is hard to be critical, and he does look like leading England to a consolation victory over South Africa, presuming they can knock off the 197 they need on the final day at the Oval.

 

Taking a closer look at Pieterson’s captaincy style, what can we deduce? Well for a start, he has done away with the tedious “team huddle” that was a favourite with predecessor Michael Vaughan. Secondly, he appears far more attacking in his field placing. Ok so England have been on top for the majority of this game, but I cannot remember that last time England had five slips and two gullies.

 

He has had help with the return to form of Steve Harmison. Vaughan, who tried so desperately to get his No 1 pace man firing on all cylinders, must have been screaming blue murder at the TV screen on Thursday afternoon, as Harmison, aided by a fast Oval wicket, bounced, swung and blasted his way through the South African batting line up. If he wasn’t taking wickets, he was unsettling the batsman, allowing his colleague from the other end the chance to get a wicket.

 

I watched Harmison closely at the Oval on Thursday and Sunday, and it was clear from very early on he was enjoying his cricket once more. He was the first one on the outfield, practising his bowling and loosening up, he wanted the ball in his hand as soon as the game was under way, and was a far cry from the distant and forlorn figure I witnessed in Wellington.

 

Whether Harmison will fare so well when England travel to India this winter is another question that needs answering. Renowned for his bouts of homesickness, I have the horrible feeling that we may witness that forlorn figure once more.

 

Pieterson will do well to swallow some pride and take a close look at the fortunes of his nemesis and opposite number Graeme Smith.

 

Smith has built himself into one of the games finest captains. His quite superb 150 not out at Edgbaston, sealed the series, and Vaughan’s fate. It was a true captain's innings, and add that to the brilliant hundred he scored at Lords in their second innings, to save the game and ultimately change the series completely. Smith has South Africa firing, he has all his players playing for him as a unit, and commands a respect he has earned wherever he goes.

 

Anyway, one final note on Pieterson. The legendary Richie Benaud once said “To be a successful captain you need 90% skill and 10% luck, but don’t try it without that 10%”
Well, it’s safe to say so far,  Pieterson certainly has that 10%.

 

Away from test match cricket, the players of the West Indies have been busy training in the Caribbean for a shot at the $20m winner takes all Stanford 20/20 games against England.

 

As thirty West Indian players turned up in Antigua for a two week training camp, we could be excused for thinking this was a training camp for the thirty man squad announced for the Champions Trophy. Never before have thirty West Indies players trained with such intensity and determination. Perhaps if they did, they wouldn’t be languishing at the foot of the international league table.

 

For the time being however, they have to return to reality, as they travel to Toronto, Canada, for a one day series against Bermuda, Pakistan and Canada, before travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy which commences in September.

 

Talking of the Champions Trophy, the ICC have this week put to bed all rumours surrounding Pakistan and quashed rumours that other nations, including England, were on standby to host the event.

 

Quotes from the ICC spokesman include “Pakistan is the confirmed venue and our preparations are moving ahead on that basis”

 

"Members of the task team will head there this week to see for themselves the measures in place and we look forward to a great tournament with 15 matches involving the world's top eight teams in cricket's second major tournament."

 

An ICC task force is set to arrive in Pakistan on Sunday this week for a three-day visit, and Sri Lanka is understood to be the first stand-by venue if the tournament is moved, while South Africa is another possibility.

 

It does seem pretty clear that the event will be held in the chosen country, but I assure you the competition will suffer, as I can guarantee that most nations outside of Asia will send teams diluted of their major stars.

 

Meanwhile in Australia, Adam Gilchrist is a content man after retiring from the international scene just under a year ago. Speaking in his native country this week, Gilchrist has told how he impressed with his replacements since hanging up the gloves. Both Brad Haddin and Luke Ronchi have impressed in their short stay on the international scene. Gilchrist said “Haddin is ready to go and has been for quite some time. It’s nice as a few of older players leave the game that the cupboards are fairly well stocked.”

 

It seems the rest of the world will receive no respite from the Australian juggernaut, which seems set to continue rolling on for years to come.

 

I was saddened this week to hear the news that former New Zealand bowler Bob Cunis passed away in his home this week. Bob was a very good bowler in his day, so good that he was selected for the World XI alongside such greats as Gary Sobers, Clive Lloyd and Sunil Gavaskar. He played twenty tests for New Zealand between 1964 and 1972.

 

Finally this week, our favourite comedian come-cricketer Robert Key, captain of Kent County Cricket Club, has somehow again managed to make the headlines. Key’s men were involved in a fairly farcical game at Durham this week, which was finished in a little over two days, thanks to a pretty horrendous pitch. So much so that the ECB sent a pitch inspector to look at the surface, and report back. This didn’t please our man Key, who commented “The pitch liaison officers, we had a few of them down here yesterday for an interview, which was just a bit of a Muppet Show”

 

Never one to mix his words is Key, and he has produced another gem to send us into the week smiling.

 

Well that’s about all for this week, congratulations to South Africa on series victory away in England, and I shall be reviewing the series as a whole in next weeks article, as I will the Sri Lanka series, which is still in the balance although I expect Sri Lanka will emerge victorious in that.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week's article. For any feedback, feel free to drop me a line on the forum and I will endeavour to respond.

 

Look after yourselves, be sure to keep checking back for all the tips and previews we have to offer.

 

Until then, be lucky.

 

Paul