Skip to main content

THE TOP SPIN: Hunted England wear haunted look as they struggle in New Zealand

0 shares 3

View comments

What a scoop for our man Booth

Lawrence Booth was honoured at the Sports Journalists' Association Awards last night - winning scoop of the year for his story about the Kevin Pietersen text scandal. Read more HERE

Last summer, after the defeat at Lord’s by South Africa, Andrew Strauss made one of his periodic sensible points. England, he said, preferred being the ‘hunter’ rather than the ‘hunted’.

At the time, this seemed to apply only to its immediate context: England’s shaky reign at the top of the Test rankings was at an end. They could now revert, Strauss appeared to be saying, to what they do best: knocking others off their perch. In fact, he was probably making a broader point too – he always did choose his words carefully. And exhibit A is the Test series in New Zealand.

Put simply, England have become a self-conscious side: vulnerable when all eyes are on them, they tend to thrive when expectations and gazes have been lowered.

Scroll down for video

Digging in: Matt Prior and Monty Panesar (right) secured a draw n the third Test against New Zealand

      More from Lawrence Booth...   THE TOP SPIN: It was a thrilling win but England can't bat away concerns over plodding top order 20/05/13   THE TOP SPIN: Prior's award is a deserved reward for being England's Mr Selfless 14/05/13   THE TOP SPIN: Australia will want to summon up the spirit of '89 but England should leave it well alone 30/04/13   The Top Spin: Weather warning for England's spinners - Is this a golden era for Swann and Panesar? 23/04/13   THE TOP SPIN: Compton goes back to the future to show that cricket's past and present can form a solid partnership 16/04/13   THE TOP SPIN: Let's hope there's a happy medium pace between slow turn of county game and 90mph barrage from the IPL 08/04/13   The Top Spin: It's the end of an era as throwback Blackwell calls it a day (and ensures he will be a permanent one-cap wonder) 19/03/13   The Top Spin: England slow out of the blocks again... but second innings shows they've nipped it in the bud 12/03/13   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

Their struggles in New Zealand are easy to depict as a function of hubris, of cricketers brought low by their own arrogance (for England’s rugby players in New Zealand, this is a familiar tale).

But that’s too simple. For how else were we supposed to read the runes? This series pitted the team ranked second against the team ranked eighth. And other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, New Zealand had not beaten anyone in a Test series for seven years. Any sensible pre-series prediction focused only on the margin of England’s triumph.

And yet time and again in recent years they seem to have preferred challenges where they have history to make and nothing to lose. Their tendency to stumble in the first Test of an overseas series is merely symptomatic: they know it is an obstacle they must avoid – and so they walk straight into it.

In Bounce: The myth of talent and the power of practice, Matthew Syed devotes a chapter to ‘The curse of choking and how to avoid it’.

And while England did not necessarily choke when they slipped to 167 at Dunedin and 204 at Auckland, they certainly batted with a self-consciousness that Syed discerns in some of sport’s greatest examples of the genre: Scott Hoch’s 18-inch miss at the 1989 US Masters, Jana Novotna’s disintegration in the 1993 Wimbledon final against Martina Navratilova, Jimmy White’s defeat in the world snooker final in 1994.

addCustomPlayer('72erfgnqd9fb1jgkie2jvi8u7', '2a5b4ae6646e4ad59118486d4d810d60', 'vagi0294y5a21lq8f0ub1sjol', 636, 438, 'perf72erfgnqd9fb1jgkie2jvi8u7-vagi0294y5a21lq8f0ub1sjol', 'eplayer17');

In all these cases Syed suggests that ‘explicit monitoring was vying with implicit execution’. In other words, as soon as Hoch, Novotna and White became aware both of their situation and the specific and highly attuned mechanics demanded by their sport, they ceased to be the unthinking automatons who can successfully put thousands of hours of training into practice.

England expected to beat New Zealand and they were aware of their first-overseas-Test weakness. Is it stretching a point to wonder whether they mislaid their ‘implicit execution’?

No better example has occurred in the last few years than Ian Bell’s first-ball dismissal at Ahmedabad back in November. Bell, you may recall, chipped Pragyan Ojha to deep mid-off as England collapsed in their first innings. And he has since admitted what most people intuitively grasped at the time: that he was trying to prove a point and impose himself on the spinners in a country where he had previously struggled.

Bell ceased to do what came naturally to him, and tried instead to force the issue. He was ‘explicitly monitoring’. In that moment, he was a self-conscious cricketer – with terminal consequences.

Nice one lads: Prior and Panesar are congratulated as they leave the field in Auckland

 

Look back over recent years, and England have become dab hands at the phenomenon. When success is expected of them, they have floundered as often as not. They lost a high-profile series at home to South Africa, began their reign as world No 1 with a 3-0 defeat by Pakistan, and contrived to lose in the West Indies four years ago. And that’s before we get into their poor record at the start of away series.

Conversely, they seem to enjoy overcoming hurdles, possibly even proving people wrong. England brushed aside that loss in Ahmedabad to win in India for the first time in 28 years, just as they had won in Australia two winters earlier for the first time in 24 (and that after Australia had given them a scare by levelling the series at Perth).

Similarly, they knocked India off their perch with a 4-0 win in 2011, and somehow came away from South Africa in 2009-10 with a 1-1 draw. The previous summer, it needed a disastrous defeat at Headingley to provide the kick up the backside England needed to secure the Ashes at The Oval.

Onwards and upwards: England now face a Test series back home against New Zealand

THE TOP SPIN ON TWITTER...

For more cricket-related snippets, feel free to go to @the_topspin

And the last time they were in New Zealand? That’s right: England lost at Hamilton, before casting caution to the wind, dropping Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, and claiming wins at Wellington and Napier.

Of course, there is a degree of cherry-picking here. England have always won Test series against Bangladesh, for example. And last summer, South Africa were simply the classier side. But there are too many examples to ignore the possibility that the psychology of this England side is flawed.

None of this should be to demean the efforts of the New Zealanders, who have been a revelation, not least the batting of Peter Fulton, the captaincy of Brendon McCullum, and the new-ball bowling of Trent Boult and the scandalously under-rewarded Tim Southee. But, really, they should have been England’s for the taking.

Leading edge: Cook (left) has been comprehensively beaten by McCullum in the battle of the captains

In Bounce, Syed quotes a sports psychologist who worked with the British Olympic speed-skater Sarah Lindsay. Lindsay prepared for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City by telling herself, moments before races, that ‘it’s only bloody speed skating’.

According to the psychologist: ‘In order to make all the sacrifices necessary to reach world-class levels of performance, an athlete has to believe that performing well means everything. They have to cleave to the belief that winning an Olympic gold is of life-changing significance.

‘But that is precisely the belief that is most likely to trigger a choking response. So, the key psychological skill for someone with a tendency to choke is to ditch that belief in the minutes before competition and to replace it with the belief that the race does not really matter. It is a form of psychological manipulation, and it takes a lot of work to master.’

The psychologist in question was Mark Bawden – now working closely with England’s cricket team. He has a point. But are the players listening?

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WASThanks, skip

Ishant Sharma looked a touch sheepish at the end of the Delhi Test on Sunday – and not only because he was in trouble with the match referee for giving James Pattinson a right royal send-off as India completed their 4-0 demolition of Australia. No, Sharma had been singled out by MS Dhoni during the post-match presentation for taking particular offence to the crowd’s behaviour. And, for a mean fast bowler, he blushed rather fetchingly.India had reached 123 for one in pursuit of 155 and the locals were growing restless. The next home Test is currently pencilled in for late 2014, and the penny had dropped: Delhi risked being deprived of what may be Sachin Tendulkar’s final innings on home soil. And so they started to bay for the blood of Virat Kohli, who was doing his best at No 3 to win India a Test match, poor bloke. Dhoni mentioned Sharma’s irritation with this behaviour – possibly gambling on the fact that Sharma was born in Delhi, and thus had plenty of credit in the bank with the good folk of the Feroz Shah Kotla. Or maybe he just landed him in it, as even the best captains are wont to do from time to time.

Taking the flak: Sharma was wheeled out by Dhoni to face a hostile Delhi crowd

Shades of the Don

So, yes, that final home Test innings – if that is what it turns out to be (and Tendulkar is not a man consigned easily to posterity’s waste-paper basket). He fell lbw to Nathan Lyon for a single, which history may yet record as not being a million miles away from Don Bradman’s second-ball duck at The Oval in 1948. Four more runs, famously, and Bradman would have averaged 100 in Tests. Seven more runs, slightly more obscurely, and Tendulkar would have passed Jack Hobbs’s record of 3,636 Test runs against Australia. And so The Master still has one over the Little Master. Even after all these years, cricket remains the great leveller.

Mastered: The best batsman ever, Bradman (left), still has one over on the best of the modern era, Tendulkar

Boom Boom and bust

Last week we celebrated a long overdue Shahid Afridi special: 88 off 48 balls in a one-dayer at Johannesburg. We’re sorry to have to record we got carried away. On Sunday, with Pakistan and South Africa locked at 2-2 going into the decider at Benoni, Afridi performed a special of a different kind.

Batting first, Pakistan had just lost Shoaib Malik and found themselves a precarious 151 for five in the 35th over. Out came the clichés: the game was both on a knife-edge and hanging by a thread. And so Afridi duly pulled his third ball into the hands of Colin Ingram at deep square leg: 151 for six – and game all but over. Still, it’s the way he plays, right?

It's all come to nought: Shahid Afridi walks after being out for a duck during the fifth and final ODI against South Africa

Et tu, Kumble?

One of the many interesting points made by ICC chief executive in an interview with Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special during the Auckland Test concerned the ongoing DRS impasse. Particularly eye-opening was Richardson’s decision to cite one of the most reasonable men in Indian cricket as a major obstacle to a technological peace deal.

‘India are a long way from saying, “It’s a good idea”,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it’s necessarily only the administrators, say people like Anil Kumble, for example. He’s going to take some persuading.’ If someone as sharp as Kumble can’t see the benefit of ridding the game of howlers, there may be little hope.

  More... Sportsmail's Booth wins scoop of the year at SJA awards for revealing Pietersen texts Prior the hero as England save the series with just one wicket to spare in New Zealand LIVE: New Zealand v England - the action as it happened on the final day of the third Test It was great fun! Auckland hero Prior says spirit of 2009 inspired England rearguard









Popular posts from this blog

Study Abroad USA, College of Charleston, Popular Courses, Alumni

Thinking for Study Abroad USA. School of Charleston, the wonderful grounds is situated in the actual middle of a verifiable city - Charleston. Get snatched up by the wonderful and customary engineering, beautiful pathways, or look at the advanced steel and glass building which houses the School of Business. The grounds additionally gives students simple admittance to a few major tech organizations like Amazon's CreateSpace, Google, TwitPic, and so on. The school offers students nearby as well as off-grounds convenience going from completely outfitted home lobbies to memorable homes. It is prepared to offer different types of assistance and facilities like clubs, associations, sporting exercises, support administrations, etc. To put it plainly, the school grounds is rising with energy and there will never be a dull second for students at the College of Charleston. Concentrate on Abroad USA is improving and remunerating for your future. The energetic grounds likewise houses various

Best MBA Online Colleges in the USA

“Opportunities never open, instead we create them for us”. Beginning with this amazing saying, let’s unbox today’s knowledge. Love Business and marketing? Want to make a high-paid career in business administration? Well, if yes, then mate, we have got you something amazing to do!   We all imagine an effortless future with a cozy house and a laptop. Well, well! You can make this happen. Today, with this guide, we will be exploring some of the top-notch online MBA universities and institutes in the USA. Let’s get started! Why learn Online MBA from the USA? Access to More Options This online era has given a second chance to children who want to reflect on their careers while managing their hectic schedules. In this, the internet has played a very crucial in rejuvenating schools, institutes, and colleges to give the best education to students across the globe. Graduating with Less Debt Regular classes from high reputed institutes often charge heavy tuition fees. However onl

Sickening moment maskless 'Karen' COUGHS in the face of grocery store customer, then claims she doesn't have to wear a mask because she 'isn't sick'

A woman was captured on camera following a customer through a supermarket as she coughs on her after claiming she does not need a mask because she is not sick.  Video of the incident, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on Twitter alone, allegedly took place in a Su per Saver in Lincoln, Nebraska according to Twitter user @davenewworld_2. In it, an unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of the customer recording her. Scroll down for video An unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of a woman recording her A woman was captured on camera following a customer as she coughs on her in a supermarket without a mask on claiming she does not need one because she is not sick @chaiteabugz #karen #covid #karens #karensgonewild #karensalert #masks we were just wearing a mask at the store. ¿ o