England’s defeat, Pak’s win, Test vs ODI

Hats off to Pak. These guys are looking like a different team under Woolmer. If Inzy is around in this form for the next World Cup, I think these guys have an excellent chance to pull off a World Cup victory.

On a pitch where Pak scored more then 600 runs, England team could not survive for a day to save the Test. Surviving to bat through a day on a pitch that was a batting delight was a no brainer in the past. But these days its a different story. Batting is mostly about stroke play. 90 overs a day producing over 300 runs seems to be the norm for one day of Test cricket. The classic Sunil Gavaskar style of cricket is “out the window”. Its all about slam bang. How else can you explain the complete failure of the England (supposedly a team in supreme form) team to bat through a day?

England sorely lacked a Dravid equivalent. Someone who can “park his ass” in the middle and frustrate the opposition to the point of submission. Graham Thorpe would have been a great asset in this Test match.

Test cricket now produces results more often than ever before. But there is still room for cricketers in the classic Test cricket mould. Unfortunately, we are not going to see them as long as teams gravitate towards playing the same team for Tests and ODIs. Have you noticed that there is hardly any difference between Test and ODI teams for most countries?

Survival at the wicket without necessarily scoring a bunch of runs has become an art form of yester years, thanks to ODIs. Test cricket is more entertaining, no doubt. But….