Our cricket writer points out some of the most interesting things he has noticed this past week in the world of cricket.
England rising
In the glow of England’s series-levelling triumph against Australia on Friday, their performances at the World Cup feel like they were a century ago, not six months.
Their ODI side has not looked like a new England side this summer as much as a different country altogether. Young, free-spirited, resilient, smart, flexible; they have been good to watch, too, which has not happened often with England’s ODI cricket.
But – and there always is one – England’s ODI set-up has had so many false dawns that two series in home conditions is no sample from which to get excited. The surfaces have been more conducive to modern ODI batting than before. A series in the UAE, on slower surfaces, will provide a better indicator of where they stand.
Welcome back Moises
The collision in June during an English Twenty20 game between teammates Moises Henriques and Rory Burns made for a pretty horrific video. For a while, as both lay still and unconscious, it felt as if cricket was on the verge of another on-field tragedy.
It was not to be, thankfully, but Henriques suffered serious injury, breaking his jaw and requiring three surgeries to fix it. He returned to the game on Sunday, captaining his side and making 34 in a local game in Australia.
Cricket has learnt anew during the past year that it can be a physical enough game to be of serious consequence to the human body. Henriques said he had not been hit that hard even playing rugby.
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Yorkshire pride
The most successful domestic side in English cricket became even more successful last week. It will not matter much that Yorkshire ultimately lost to Middlesex because, on the first day of the game, they confirmed a 32nd county title (plus one shared) and second in succession.
The defeat broke a 26-match unbeaten run, and it was only their fourth loss in 62 matches under the Australian coach Jason Gillespie. This season the squad has been particularly impressive, playing at times without six first-choice players on England duty. Joe Root has not played a single game for them this season.
England’s Ashes success and the number of Yorkshire players in the squad give strength to the old maxim, likely coined by Geoffrey Boycott, that a strong Yorkshire leads to a strong England.
Goodbye Haddin
Barely a day has gone by this summer without an Australian cricketer bidding farewell to the international game. Last week, it was the turn of Brad Haddin, wicketkeeper, vice-captain, leader and guardian of an older, harder, gnarled Australian style.
Haddin joins Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Ryan Harris and Shane Watson in retirement, near enough an entire spine of the Test side. Australia will recover but, as after the 2006/07 Ashes, when their last great side broke apart, regeneration will take time.
Haddin did his bit in the brief, wobbly resurgence under Michael Clarke, and he will be missed. But his career had a strange incompleteness to it. He spent half his international career in line behind Adam Gilchrist and then, at his peak, missed a year because of his daughter’s health. He will go, however, secure in the knowledge that he was the pivotal player in one of the greatest Ashes results, the 5-0 whitewash in Australia in 2013/14.
Coming up
Two enticing clashes between the Netherlands and Scotland in the World Cricket League Championship on Monday and Wednesday in Amstelveen. The sides are joint top of the WCL table currently, both with two wins out of two. Wins will count towards qualification for the 2019 World Cup, via a qualifier in Bangladesh in 2018.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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