Why Graham Onions Deserves To Be in the Ashes Squad

Whilst England continue to step up their preparations for the Ashes with their final warm-up game, Graham Onions is currently slugging it out for the Dolphins franchise in South African domestic cricket. Onions was not an unexpected omission from the Ashes squad, but he is certainly the most unfortunate of those who got left behind.

It has been a long and frustrating battle back to the top after a debilitating and career-threatening back injury. It came at the worst possible time in early 2010; Onions was beginning to establish himself in the international set-up after making his Test debut in 2009 against the West Indies. He went on to play a major role in England’s Ashes success later in the summer.

He then went on to secure a place in English cricket folklore, by saving not one but two Tests against South Africa. By batting out the final deliveries of the two respective matches from No.11, he delivered a calmness and steely determination that was lacking in some of his more senior colleagues.

His reward for these efforts was to be dropped for the final Test of the series, which England promptly lost. Then came the back injury, it would be nearly two and a half years before he played Test cricket again, although this was only a solitary game against the West Indies when the series had already been won.

He was in and around the squad all this summer, yet never got a game for England. Instead Onions had to settle on simply being on the outside looking in. All the while the accurate fast bowler was busy combining his drinks carrying duties with another extraordinary season for Durham.

He took 70 wickets in the County Championship at an average comfortably below 20. It is a magnificent record; the form of Onions undoubtedly one of the key reasons why Durham clinched the title.

Yet when it came to the announcement for the squad Down Under, the England selectors ignored this impressive form and went for a predictable if somewhat risky decision. James Anderson aside, they selected a group of giant fast bowlers in Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Boyd Rankin and Chris Tremlett. This left the English seam attack looking increasingly like the Monstars from Space Jam, as England look to fully exploit the much livelier and bouncier pitches that they will likely encounter in Australia.

There is clearly a feeling that Australia’s flaky top-order aren’t the biggest fans of hostile fast bowlers (mind you who is?), especially Captain Michael Clarke. England repeatedly went after Clarke with the short ball all summer, and often had success giving credence to this particular tactic. However this sledgehammer strategy does lack a lot of finesse.

If the pitches aren’t as quick and bouncy as they’re expected to be, then what? England’s attack is in danger of looking very samey with the enforced absence of Tim Bresnan through injury and the non-selection of Onions.

In these days of DRS, the value of an accurate wicket-to-wicket bowler increases. Add into the fact that Shane Watson’s front leg is more deeply rooted than most of Sherwood Forest, then there is no doubt that Onions would be a major asset for this side. I’m not arguing that he should be in the side for every Test, but there are few who deserve a place in the squad more than Onions.

Andy Flower and the England selectors seem to have a real disdain for County cricket, to the extent where this blind-spot could become a weakness. Onions is the biggest victim of this and must be left wondering if he’s destined to never add to the nine Test caps that he already has.

I for one hope that his spell at Dolphins is interrupted by a delayed call-up, after all it’s the very least he deserves.

Ponting’s Last Hurrah Ends In Defeat

All four corners of the WACA stood together in appreciation for one of Australia’s true cricketing greats. Ricky Ponting soaked up the atmosphere as he took to the field for the final time to a guard of honour from the South African team. This was a day to say farewell, the game was almost certainly gone with the home team chasing a huge total of 632 to complete the most unlikely of wins.

This was a chance for the second highest run scorer in the history of Test cricket to bow out with his head held high. There was little pressure, just the hope that maybe ‘Punter’ could score one last hundred to help delay the inevitable. Sadly it simply wasn’t to be, less than forty minutes and only eight runs later, Ponting edged Robin Peterson to slip where arguably the sport’s greatest all-rounder, Jacques Kallis took a fine catch.

There was a flash of frustration on the face of the great man, perhaps even anger before finally a resigned acceptance that this was the end. The South African team rushed to him to shake his hand, to wish him the best, to thank him for being such a brilliant opponent. Eventually he slowly trudged off back to the pavilion to another standing ovation, pausing to salute the Perth faithful, arms aloft.

From there the South Africans pressed on, showing why they are the best Test team in the world by completing a crushing 309 run win to take the series 1-0. They have gone unbeaten over the whole of 2012 and will seek to build a dominant side to match Ponting’s own imperious Australian team. The Aussies themselves have a lot to consider; the high they felt last year after the crushing defeat of India has well and truly evaporated ahead of back-to-back Ashes series in 2013.

Ponting can look back on his career with a huge amount of satisfaction. Over 13,000 Test runs and 41 Test 100s give an indication of just how good he really was. Add in three World Cups, an Ashes whitewash as skipper and all manner of records and accolades, and you really start to see the scale of his achievements in the game.

Sure there will be detractors who question his ability as captain. He will always be remembered as a man who lost three Ashes series to England and of course the man who was run out by English cult hero Gary Pratt. It is fair to say that the transition between Australia’s golden era to now has been challenging to say the least. However if you’re replacing the great Glenn McGrath with the likes of Ben Hilfenhaus then it’s understandable that results might start to go South.

Perhaps Ponting should have retired after the Ashes humbling two years ago but he simply felt he couldn’t go out like that. His form since has been patchy, there were flashes of brilliance against India with yet another double century. However his form dipped again culminating in this series where his top score was a meagre 16.

The Ponting that will be remembered will not be the shadow that has taken to the field in recent weeks, but the imperious warrior who plundered runs all over the world for almost two decades. He was a great fighter if not a great leader. A man who we loved to hate but secretly always wished that he was on our side. Now’s the time for Ponting to put his feet up, relax and enjoy his retirement. You will be sorely missed Ricky.

Shane Warne- From Spin Bowler to Spin Doctor

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and Shane Warne criticising Alastair Cook’s captaincy. Everyone’s favourite Australian commentator/comedy act has delivered again this week, spouting the sort of ludicrous nonsense that we’ve become accustomed to hearing from him since he hung up his boots.

Warne has stated that in his not so humble opinion, Alastair Cook should be sacked as England captain immediately and replaced with either Graeme Swann or Kevin Pietersen. Warne said that Cook was simply too negative and England would never become the best side in the world under his leadership.

This isn’t the first time that Warne has spouted off about Cook, indeed in recent months he has mentioned it to such an extent that he is starting to sound less like a broken record but increasingly like a section of prose by David Peace. So if we take away the sheer ridiculousness of suggesting that the ECB sack their captain two weeks before the start of an Ashes series, does Warne begin to have a point?  

Cook’s captaincy hasn’t always been inspired, indeed one of the hallmarks of the regime of Andy Flower has been conservatism at times. However the other rather noticeable aspect on the Flower/Cook partnership has been winning and plenty of it.

Indeed in the last ten test matches that he has led England, Cook has faced two captains who have been widely lauded for their aggressive and dynamic captaincy. Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke set interesting fields and tried a number of unorthodox things in their quest to defeat England. They were praised and loved for their attacking instincts, while Cook faced some criticism for a job that he has occupied for barely a year. Between them over the course of five matches each against Cook, Messrs McCullum and Clarke won a grand total of zero test matches against Cook. That’s right, nada.

So what can we draw from this? Basically the Englishman is a winning captain. By hook or by crook, Cook finds a way to win Test matches. At Durham, when Australia appeared to be cruising to a victory that would have kept the series alive, what did Cook do? Panic? No, as usual he found a way to win. 

While Clarke and Australia were being whitewashed in India, Cook was busy reflecting on a historic 2-1 win on the sub-continent, not bad for a man with “negative” and “boring” tactics.

On a wider note this barrage of criticism from Warne reveals something that we already knew, the extent to which the Australians fear Cook. This is the man that plundered runs with an alarming ease during the last series Down Under, and is now set to be the man who captains a side to multiple Ashes series victories. The unassuming man from Gloucester really has Australia rattled, if anything the criticism is the most sincere of compliments.

He may not be Michael Clarke, but then again he does win test matches. Ask any English fan whether they’d rather win 3-0 with Cook’s ‘brand’ of cricket or lose 3-0 playing Clarke’s way. I think we all know which they’d prefer.

As for Warne, it’s sad to see such a legend of the game diminish himself by spouting such drivel. A man who has over 700 Test wickets has become Liz Hurley’s real-life Ken doll and continues to invite ridicule whenever he speaks. He has gone from world-class spin bowler, to second-rate spin doctor, each rant looks more embittered than the last.

So sit back and enjoy as Warne completes his transformation into an increasingly naff Malcolm Tucker, and don’t be surprised if he advocates replacing Cook with Dan Miller before the series is over.   

It’s Time for England Fans to Embrace Winning

It is a rather curious feeling for fans of English cricket to approach an Ashes series with confidence. It is a strange, tingling sensation caveated by the mental scars accumulated from almost twenty years of consecutive, savage beatings at the hands of the Australians. It is so peculiar, that this summer while England were suitably dispatching the at times hapless tourists, everyone just didn’t know what do to with themselves.

A bizarre sort of sympathy for the Australians broke out among some, a sort of shouldering of arms with the old enemy. “We know how it feels, don’t worry us Poms won’t be at the top for long!” Of course the default position when beating Australia is to grind them into the dirt, bat for days, and generally display the sort of ruthlessness that defined the Australians’ of the 90s and early 00s.

The weirdness of this response to being in the ascendancy hit its peak, when some even went to the point of wishing Australia would start winning to keep the series alive. It was all rather English of course. A dull approach to winning where the aim is to make sure we don’t enjoy it too much as this could all come back to bite us on the arse again in the future.

The problem with that attitude is that it really isn’t any fun at all. This cautious attitude is infectious. It sweeps across the nation and saps away the enjoyment of it all. The greatest Australian sides displayed the sort of self-assured arrogance that is usually only reserved for irritating MTV reality show participants. They were brilliant and they made sure everyone else knew they it.

Glenn McGrath would confidently predict a 5-0 Whitewash before every series and invariably the Aussies would have retained the urn after just three tests. Eventually a Whitewash did come, the wounded Australians gained revenge for 2005 in emphatic style. Promptly half the team retired handing the initiative back to an England side badly lacking in self-belief. The dream team of Strauss and Flower duly completed the revitalisation of English cricket, building on the groundwork laid by Fletcher, Hussain and Vaughan.

Three Ashes series were won on the trot, the pinnacle being a 3-1 win Down Under. Australia transformed themselves into the England of the dark ages, reports into the state of the game were commissioned, selection appeared to be done through some sort of raffle and most importantly defeats came at an alarming rate.

The aura of invincibility wasn’t so much lifted but decimated. The previously feared Baggy Green became the most comical bit of headwear since Charlie Chaplin started playing around with a bowler hat. The unquestionable faith in the team was broken, the fans turned their backs (just look at the crowd for the 5^th day of the 1^st Test in 2010/11). The arrogance was replaced with a real fear of the opposition.

So now really is the time for the whole of English cricket to grow a swagger and a confidence badly lacking this summer.  Let us mock them, rub their noses in it, and don’t produce such faux outrage if the players occasionally urinate on the pitch during victory celebrations (it was a lot more raucous in 2005 and nobody cared then).  This is the time to dare I say it, embrace our inner Australians and really enjoy this period of superiority.

However if it is to all go wrong and the Aussies rally to an unlikely victory, well at least we’ll have had a lot of fun taunting them along the way.