England are paper tigers

England have a good team - for the T20s. Having beaten a terrible Australian team in Australia, bandwagon-wallahs, MCC membership suck ups, Anglo-philes, "slurpy" desis, tourists, latte-liberals, spot-fixers and ex-captains have begun questioning India's claim to being world number one.

 

The latest offering is that England have an 'all weather bowling attack' and that they have a "world class spinner" and Kevin Pietersen. The "so-called" world class spinner has an average of nearly 40 in the current series against a pathetic Australian team that Harbhajan eats for lunch every time his average starts dipping. The "world-class" hyper-spinner's overall average is further inflated due to an average of around 12 vs a "spot-fixing" Pakistan. The only two tests that he played in India he was shown his due place among the pantheon of greats. Well that was a little too much. I actually like Swann. He is a good bowler, but with Vettori and Harbhajan around, he's a definite third in my list of good spinners. Lately Harbhajan has been terrible, but he's displayed a welcome return to form in Durban whereas Swann is averaging forty. Swann's reckoning will be at Sydney where he will have the opportunity to showcase his "greatness" in friendly conditions against a sub-test class batting line up.

 

Kevin Pietersen may have struck form again, but so has Sachin Tendulkar for several years. Plus Tendulkar in his old age is playing better than Pietersen and my guess is that when Sachin plays with a cane in one hand, he will still do better than Pietersen. At Perth, Pietersen and the rest of the team obviously didn't want to disturb India's number one ranking and were merely trying to make the series competitive. Last time India played at Perth, the results against a much better bowling attack were somewhat different. Add Sehwag, Gambhir and Laxman to the lineup and they clearly out-do Strauss, Cook, Trott and Bell. Dhoni over Prior anytime with twice on difficult pitches. On the England side, I'm afraid the Collingwood conundrum continues to not help. India too are carrying a suspect number six, so that perhaps evens out. Plus, India can swiftly replace Gambhir or Sehwag with Vijay and not miss a beat, whereas England will probably shrivel and die should Cook or Strauss catch a cold. Add Harbhajan's two centuries, Ishant and Zaheer's support for Laxman and I see no comparison on the England side.

 

Let's talk about the 'all weather bowling' that recently got belted at Perth by Mike Hussey. He was about the only player who played like VVS is playing these days. India too have an 'all-weather bowling attack' (whatever that means). With one bowler and half a spinner India is winning tests overseas with a regularity that makes Ex-Lax makers nervous.

 

When the pitches provide the bowling some help, they become unplayable, unlike England whose bowlers decided to let Hussey get back into form after running through the top order. Plus, they couldn't make use of the conditions the same way an out-of-form Mitchell Johnson did. What the Perth test proved is that Australia is one bowler away from exposing England. India on the other hand have overcome Steyn and Morkel on a Kingsmead wicket. It's clear to me who the better batting team is.

 

This post is somewhat mean spirited because I'm tired of people questioning India's recent home wins. There were no tailor made pitches. If anything they were batting paradises. India's bowling has developed well and legitimately wins games for India without appearing too flashy. A good match by an incoming Bresnan and England earns the "all-weather" tag. Let's give Indian bowling it's due. Harbhajan was a worry, but his performance in Kingsmead is a top-class one.

 

My due apologies to my partner, but clearly we disagree and so we've covered all bases.

Posts that got me mad...

1. Ashes 4.4: How Good Are England?
2. Ashes 4.2: The New India v Australia
3. Ashes 2.5: This Changes Everything