Weathering the storm
When I was at school in the sixties I had a friend in my class whose father, an early sporting entrepreneur ran the International Cavaliers. They were a group of strolling cricket minstrels a sort of equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters. The sponsors were tobacco company Rothmans who had the Cavalier brand. On one occasion their tour training was disrupted by terrible weather and my friend arranged for them to play a game against the school side. We duly turned up at the playing fields of Osterley- I remember the Pakistani spin bowler Saeed Ahmed was late and defeated by the Tube system – only for the heavens to open. My friend remarked that you can never organise anything in England because of the weather. The organisers of the ICC Champions Trophy might have taken such a warning on board as the group stages have been spoiled by poor weather – Australia have yet to complete a game. Last year the decision to award Durham a test in May was marred by poor weather which cost them nigh on £1 million and was one of the reasons for their financial meltdown. This is why I remain dubious how a second T20 competition will fit in with unreliable weather as well as 3 other competitions and any tests.
I followed England’s victory on the radio. It reflected an exponential improvement as a year ago New Zealand ignominiously turfed them out of the World Cup. The Kiwis can no longer can call upon Brendan McCallum but have one of the best batters in the world in Kane Williamson. They are no mugs. England have Joe Root and Ben Stokes who are world class and a core of player all of whom except for the out of form Jason Roy contribute with bat or ball. Alex Hales is not a test opener but a more than useful big hitting batsman. Liam Plunkett is down the pecking order in the test match queue but took 4 wickets and Rashid looks to have filled the spinner’s gap. Crucially we now understand the mindset of white ball cricket but like Pargie, I cannot see England beating India even if they have a finalist’s air about them.
