Sunday, November 28, 2010

Ashes 1.4: A Rare Captain's Knock



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  1. What a day for England... from thinking of a draw as a win, they must now wish they had scored a tad faster and been in a position to force a win
  2. It was the kind of opening partnership that usually ignites the "save test cricket from subcontinental pitches" movement. This one by Strauss and Cook came in the 3rd innings in fightback. This calls for questioning the skills of the Australian bowlers and sanity of selectoral decision makers In recent times 3rd innings of test matches in the subcontinent have been tricky for the batters. They usually throw open a game in stalemate. This one effectively killed any hope of a decision by knockout. Yet ESPN cricinfo curiously think Strauss and Cook Reignite Contest. Perhaps they meant "contest" as in not this test but the entire series. Or may be they have a thing for draws
  3. Strauss's counter attacking innings reminded me of Saurav Ganguly's century at the same venue in 2003. It set the tone for the series and any talk of "targeting" the opposition captain was resigned to the dustbin. The last time a visiting English skipper scored a 100 in the 3rd innings of an Ashes Test match, they ended up winning the test match. It was 115 years ago though. Gooch scored one in 1991 saving a test match in the 4th innings.
  4. For Australia, they must think they are still in the game. If they can remove England by mid-day they can have a go at the total.Seems quite outrageous but that's what McGrath, Warne and Hayden did for a living.

9 comments:

Mahek said...

Are you sure about the last time an England captain scored a hundred in the third innings? Even in the Ashes there have been 3 captains who have done it during the 115 year period.

Golandaaz said...

In the Ashes yes....I am sure there are many who have scored in the 3rd innings. Perhaps I need to clarify; thanks

Mahek said...

Even in the Ashes there have been 3 other captains who scored third innings hundreds. Not that it's particularly relevant to the post.

Golandaaz said...

but only 2 have been in Australia; this one and the one 115 years ago. Not that I am reciting this from memory :-) Here's the stat's guru query

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?captain=1;class=1;filter=advanced;home_or_away=2;opposition=2;orderby=batted_score;runsmin1=100;runsval1=runs;team=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

Mahek said...

Ah I missed the visiting bit. My mistake :)

Another interesting stat to look at would be the last time both openers scored a hundred in an Ashes test, more specifically English openers in Australia.

Golandaaz said...

This is the third time....

Wilfred Rhodes and Jack Hobbs 1912 - http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62514.html

Jack Hobbs and Sutcliffe 1924 - http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62545.html

This is really rare; this is the 3rd pair to both score a 100 in the same innings for England in Australia. The first time involving a skipper.

Vidooshak said...

The parallel to the Ganguly century is really insightful. England went into their second innings staring at an oft-repeated plot. What Strauss and Cook have done is to show everyone (including me) that this is not the same old English team. This test may or may not produce a result, but what England have shown is that they are in Australia to win and it's going to be a "dog-fight" to quote Finn.

straight point said...

vidoo... even for a 'dog-fight' one needs a platform... but current australia batting ensures that we will see more of gabba types roads in upcoming tests...

Golandaaz said...

Hey SP, this series is supposed to "revive" test cricket remember.....All others are meant to pound it into oblivion...