Monday Mash-up: Smokin' Joseph
A cricket-heavy weekend wrap shows that tests are best, PLUS: Ko go, Klopp out, and a good Sinner.
Being a public holiday up these parts, there were no plans to push out The Bounce today… but then last night happened.
A good cricket test match just hits differently. It’s more than a simple calculation of time-investment versus pay-off, although that’s certainly part of it.
You won’t find me knocking T20 cricket. It doesn’t just pay the bills, it also provides a dynamic entry point for generations of new fans. Some won’t move past that format because, well, not all of us have a spare seven or so hours for five days in a row to spare. But it doesn’t matter how many last-ball thrillers you throw at the casual fan - purists know that T20 can’t do last night.
Exhibit A: West Indies beat Australia by 8 runs, Brisbane
If you saw this coming then stop what you’re doing right now and start working on the long-awaited sequel to Les Prophéties.
The West Indies have become a punchline in recent years and CWI, the administrative body administering the sport in the region, has served as nothing more than a “How Not To…” powerpoint presentation.
Yet here they are with a team of virtual no-names, taking down the world test and one-day champions in their own backyard, playing with a lot more spark and fight than the last New Zealand test team to tour there did at any rate.
That they did it on the shoulders and mangled toe of a kid raised in Baracara, an isolated maroon village settled by escaped slaves and accessible only by boat, only adds to the impossible romance of the story.
Shamar Joseph’s spell was ascendant. Think the heart of Neil Wagner bowling on broken toes allied to the lightning pace of a peak Ian Bishop. The run he set off on after talking that final wicket elevated my heart rate, so I can only imagine what it felt like if you were watching in the early hours of the morning in Georgetown, Bridgetown, Port of Spain, St Johns, Kingston or points in between.
Here is the story of his extraordinary seven-wicket day.
Shamar is not expecting to take the field and doesn't even initially bother heading to the ground on Sunday morning before deciding to go and support his team-mates in their victory push.
The team doctor gives him some pills and Brathwaite tells him he's going to take the field. But he's only come to the ground in his training kit and hasn't even brought his whites. A member of the support staff is hastily dispatched to the hotel. He says at one point he was [standing] in the [changing rooms] wearing his shoes, cap and a pair of boxers. In the meantime, he borrows Zachary McCaskie’s top and has to tape over the name and number to be allowed to field in it. A short while later he quickly changes his top on the boundary. Now, in every way, Shamar Joseph is ready to go.
A couple more points of interest from this match:
Joseph is 24; Kevin Sinclair (50, 14* and 1-53), another Guyanaese, is 24; Josh da Silva (79 and 6 catches) is 25; Jamaican Kirk McKenzie (138 runs for the series) is 23; Alick Athanaze is 25; Alzarri Joseph and Tagenarine Chanderpaul are 27. The West Indies have genuine talent to build around IF they can offer enough incentives to keep them in the red-ball game.
Travis Head’s last four balls he has faced in Tests at the Gabba have resulted in his dismissal. That would be scarcely believable if it was Chris Martin, let alone a batter as brilliant as Head.
The only factor that prevents me from pushing this into the all-time upper echelons of test matches is the pink-ball factor. There is too much contrivance, which we saw when England toured here last season and declared on the first day at Mount Maunganui (which worked pretty well for them with NZ 37-3 at stumps), and at the Gabba when Pat Cummins declared Australia’s first innings behind at 289-9 (still worked pretty well for them, taking a wicket before stumps, but you know, those potential eight runs might have uninterrupted his sleep last night).
Exhibit B: England beat India by 28 runs, Hyderabad
Toggling between the two matches, which both started at the same time, was a continual challenge but on balance this was the better test across four days.
This summary will go to great lengths to avoid using the ‘B’ word that has become the crutch for correspondents trying to explain England’s approach and instead drill down on the idea that this is almost certainly the first time in history a test has been won off the back of a single shot - the reverse sweep.
Slightly simplistic, yes, because England employed a range of reverses (including reverse scoops and wrong-foot-forward reverses) but the point stands. England’s brainstrust realised that to go to India, to be presented with a bunsen burner of a pitch, and to try to win using MCC-approved test-batting technique, would be inviting the same result as every other team that visits that part of the world.
So they swept the bejesus out of the ball.
What was really clever about the plan was that it wasn’t just an exercise of field manipulation, of putting pressure back on the bowlers, but, counterintuitively, it was also a sound defensive technique. On a wicket like this one that turned and had variable bounce, it was a far safer option than the conventional forward defence.
To understand how this works you’re going to have to grab your bat and go to that quiet place in your house or basement where you do your shadow batting out of the view of family or flatmates. Now prop yourself forward to block the ball. Even quite an extravagant lunge and playing the ball just in front of the pad sees me meeting the ball slightly less than a metre from the popping crease. Now get down into a sweep and measure where you’d be meeting the ball. It’s close to 1.8m in front of the crease. It’s a massive difference on a turning wicket. You’re essentially smothering the ball before it gets a chance to play tricks.
It’s not without risks, though England’s batters shuffled to get their pads outside the line of off stump more often than not, but bowled and caught off top edges are still in play. The latter is why the reverse was so effective. A top edge from a conventional sweep is in danger of being snaffled by the fielder on the 45 saving one or by the backward square on the fence. To have the same double jeopardy for the reverse, captains are going to have to start putting fielders in positions they have never before.
Said century maker Pope: “Out here [the sweep] could be as safe as playing a defence... If we can keep nailing them we get more bad balls as batters if we can hit their best ball for four with a reverse sweep. That is going to lead to more short balls and more half-volleys and open up the outfield.”
The tactic was crazily effective for the likes of Ben Duckett (35 and 47) and in particular Pope (196) in Hyderabad but here’s the rub: India were flummoxed - it was the first time at home both Ravi Jadeja (2-131) and Ravi Ashwin (3-126) had conceded 100+ in the opposition’s second innings - and yet they still came within 28 runs of winning.
They will be a lot better in Visakhapatnam later this week.
Cannot wait to see how they respond and whether England have anything else in their batting lockers.
We’ve come this far and not even mentioned Tom Hartley, who survived a rocky start to outshine the aforementioned Jadeja and Ashwin.
Read a bit more about him in this piece, where Stokes claims this win as his “greatest victory”.
“It didn’t go how he wanted [on day one] but I was committed to giving him that long spell. Whether or not that is a big reason he’s got seven-for I don’t know. It is just a lesson to quite a lot of people that if you are saying stuff to people and want them to believe in it, you have really got to back it up by your actions.”
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You think Herschelle Gibbs is sending a message to South African cricket?
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I’m aware there was important cricket in New Zealand yesterday but sometimes if you have nothing nice to say about something it’s best not to say anything.
Actually, the women’s Super Smash final was close (somehow), so there was that, but have you ever seen a more soulless venue for a domestic final? There’s that, too.
The Australian Open women’s final on Saturday was a bit of a one-sided blow out, but the men produced a classic.
Jannik Sinner chose tennis over skiing and last night it paid off, coming from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 and win his first Grand Slam title.
If you’re thinking Jannik Sinner doesn’t sound like much of an Italian name, it’s because he grew up in northern Italy in the German-speaking region of South Tyrol, which sits on the border with Austria.
Last night he thanked his “perfect” parents for letting him follow his dreams.
“I went away from home when I was 14 years old,” Sinner told reporters. “So I had to grow up quite fast, trying to cook for myself, trying to do laundry. The first time it is different, but then in the other way that was maybe the fastest way to grow up.
“It was tough, but for the parents to leave their son when 14 years old, it’s also not easy.”
It’s been said prematurely in the past, but this really did feel like the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era, though Rafa and Novak might have more to say on that.
I think we can safely say that Lydia Ko is in a decent patch of form.
Ko played brilliantly to force a playoff with Nelly Korda, but fell short on the second playoff hole.
The Silver Ferns finished third after falling to England by a solitary goal. The general consensus seems to be that they are moving in the right direction.
“There were moments, especially at the start and during the third and fourth quarters, when we were down by six but there was a lot [of] grit shown out there,” [coach Noeline] Taurua said. “Our ability to finalise some of those plays at the end, whether it’s a pass through court or the connections are the things we have to learn on the job.
“When it came down to it, we should have got that last goal in. But you’ve got to learn to play to win and we’re not quite there.”
Ever since being force fed The Beatles as a youngster I’ve been a follower of Liverpool FC (learning only later that Lennon and Harrison couldn’t give a fig about football, McCartney was an Evertonian and Ringo liked Arsenal). Too late. My son has turned my casual support into something more fervent so he got a bit of a shock when manager Jurgen Klopp pulled the pin last week.
Cue up a multitude of stories about Klopp and his singular appeal. This one probably gets closest to explaining why he is beloved by all Liverpool fans, no matter where they sit on the spectrum that ranges from the club crest tattooed on the chest to watching only the three-minute highlights package each week.
Football has never been purely an intellectual exercise and it has never been purely a professional pursuit. At its best it is the background music to life, the backdrop to nights in and nights out and comedowns and breakdowns and hook-ups and break-ups. Not everybody in the navel-adoring world of football really gets that. Somehow, you always felt Klopp did. Liverpool are not my club and Klopp has never been my manager, but perhaps the greatest tribute you could pay him is that sometimes I wished he was...
Somehow, whether by design or by projection, he did come to represent a kind of resistance: putting the human being back in the machine, the idea that superior wealth and autocratic power could be overcome through the ingenuity of collective spirit.
If you measure by silverware, there have been more successful managers than Klopp, even at Liverpool. But none that made you feel like you were riding shotgun with him and his emotions. There will never be a trophy for that, but perhaps more than ever in this era of amortised contracts and petrostate ownership1, it matters.
Canadian hockey and by extension the NHL is mired in a sexual assault scandal that shows little sign of abating.
Five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior championshipship-winning team will surrender to the London, Ontario, police to face sexual assault charges. It is the culmination of a years-long investigation into Hockey Canada and the allegations that members of the 2018 World Junior team sexually assaulted a woman.
It is a troubling story, with four of the players now on leave from their NHL franchises. Most troubling, along with the actual assault, is the lengths Hockey Canada went to cover up the scandal, including paying a settlement to the alleged victim out of a slush fund in part funded by junior hockey registrations.
The details are all here, from USA Today, including this doozy:
Hockey Canada was put under investigation by Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Sport. During this time, TSN reported that that Hockey Canada used money from its organization’s National Equity Fund — made up partially from player registration fees — to pay out $7.6 million in settlements across nine sexual assault cases since 1989.
In no way should that be read as a paean to poverty. Forbes last year had Liverpool valued at US$5.29 billion (fourth most valuable club in the world behind Real Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona, none of whom are state-owned), with revenue last year of $793 million, revenue
I watched a lot of the Australia vs West Indies test. Watching yesterday was one of the most joyous few hours of any sport I’ve watched in a long time (and not because Australia lost, this iteration doesn’t bother me at all, however I may change my mind by the middle of March). When Shamar Joseph took his fifth wicket in the second innings, my husband happened to walk past me - “is your hayfever back?” “No, that extraordinary bowler just took his fifth wicket and he’s overcome with emotion and I may be a little bit misty eyed”. When Hazelwood’s stump went, I punched the air. What a story. What a match.
I attempted to watch both the domestic T20 finals. I watched the women’s game - impressive to defend such a small total (had a slight meltdown with Devine’s last over but never mind). Lost interest in the men’s game after an over or two so turned it off. Soulless is right, Dylan. I get the idea (or what I think the idea was) but it didn’t work. Wellington women should have been playing at the Basin and the Auckland men should have been playing on Number Two, or somewhere other than the main ground of Eden Park.
Roll on Sunday!
Great work again Dylan, especially conjuring up the energy and grey matter on a public holiday!
West Indies result was brilliant. As you say the challenge will be keeping the team together. One imagines Joseph will be hot property now and hard to see test cricket for WI being more attractive to him than the riches of white ball contracts, whatever he chooses good luck to him, what a performance. Despite the woes of the team itself the WI have continued to produce world class talent throughout....
Fair play to England too, despite them quickly becoming insufferable as they win more games, made even worse by the Bazball kool-aid drinking going on. Perhaps I’ve lost perspective but I can’t see them winning another test, yes there was turn on that wicket, but it was very slow turn. Future wickets should have more fizz and suit the more accurate Jadeja & Ashwin.
Re: super smash, a bit of a fizzing finish. The women struggled on the wicket at Eden Park and 90 plays 90 wasn’t a great finish despite it being close - the lack of batting firepower in both sides was the main contributor to that. How Rosemary Mair didn’t take the POD honours is beyond me, a bright future for her full, direct swing bowling.
Moving onto the mens the rain was a shame but it was the sight of Latham and Nicholls owning the game that put things in perspective. Neither are NZ prospects or proper T20 players *really* but they looked set to play the winning hands and head and shoulders of most of the batting I’ve seen. Great to have a feeder comp as good as it is, but it does lack quality across the board. A couple of bright lights for me were Tim Robinson (Wellington) and Zac Foulkes (Canty). Some of the other better fringe players are unfortunately on the wrong side of 30 - McConchie, Younghusband etc.
The less said about Eden Park and choosing the finals venue in advance the better.