So much of T20 has happened. The intriguing battles that were fought out at Old Trafford and Trent Bridge were largely pushed into dont care categories by many indian cricket fans. Thankfully for some reason i decided to pay some attention to it. The match provided the best turn arounds in recent times. After all it is not too often a team wins by 7 wickets after almost following on. And poor Daniel Flynn didn't have too many people talking about him here. Monty and Vettori bowled neck to neck in terms of their left arm spin talents, and both were rewarded with 5 wicket hauls.
Notably, Daryl Harper the test umpire said that he can vividly remember the progress of quality test matches, but can't remember a T20 he saw a week ago except if it involved a demolition of sorts. Quite true i would say for one who follows test cricket regularly. It is not always that a talented left handed opener who was dropped comes back and plays a role in win like that. Not always does a right arm hit the deck bowler on debut make a big impact. Ian O'brien's 4 for in the 3rd test should have got a different result for New Zealand. But instead it was Pietersen and the impressive Tim Ambrose who got England out of a mess at 86-5. Stuart Broads antics with a 64 odd propelled them to 364. In the end it was James Anderson's snake charm swing bowling that caught the worlds eyes. The wickets of Redmond and McCullum, with them playing around the ball are the delicious sights of cricket. And the wicket of Daniel Flynn was a intruiging mind game. And Ryan Sidebottom finished them off in the second innings with 6-67, and england won by an innings and 9 runs. Quite contrary to the start.
Meanwhile the Windies held on resoundingly to a draw. Ramnaresh Sarwan with help of a 2nd day interuption nullifeid the effects of Katich, Clarke centuries, and a Venom Spitting spell from Brett Lee that made Windies collapse from 316-4 to 360 odd all out. And Stuart Macgills retirement didn't get due attention.
Come On, Test Cricket must live.
thats very true actually....fans might just neglect test crciket..but the originality of the game lies in test itself...hope the future matches btween india and australia regains momentum for test cricket...well written article
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