INTERVIEW: MATTHEW HOGGARD

HOGGY ON INDIA, THE WOBBLIES, AND A BOY NAMED SUE

Work to be done

England would have been disappointed to draw the series 2-2 at home, but Pakistan are a good team, Misbah’s men will be ecstatic with the result. There is work to be done for England if they want to be the best in the world. They are going to have to beat the likes Pakistan home and away.

To go from losing The Oval Test match, to going 4-0 up against an exciting Pakistan side in the one-day series, and to play the brand of cricket which they did, and to win in the style that they have was great to see. They would have loved to have gone unbeaten in the series, which will be a disappointment, and they did not turn up at Old Trafford one-off T20.

They score 444 in a 50-over game, you get one batsman scoring the highest individual score, another scoring the quickest fifty (for England), and you rock up to the T20 thinking, ‘what’s happened?’ They did not seem to have the urgency in the match, you thought there would be fireworks but it fizzled out into a damp squib. England have got batting down to No.11, everybody can clear the rope, therefore they should be going hell-for-leather. There wasn’t the sense of urgency or intent that we saw in the one-day series.

Opening up

There are still question marks. Hales in one-day cricket has a game plan, he goes out and hits the ball. I think he is caught in two minds in Test match cricket, whether to go for his shots or not. For me, the likes of a David Warner for Australia, or going further back, Michael Slater, are players he should look to replicate. If it was short or wide Slater smashed it and that puts the pressure back onto the bowler.

I’d like him to go out - and not be reckless - but if it is there to be hit, smash it. He is stuck in that mould that he’s just a free-scoring batsman that can’t play Test cricket. He has to have, not just a clear game plan, but also the confidence that the selectors want him to go out and play positively.

When you had Cook, Trott and Ballance, people were saying ‘where are the runs coming from?’ Three very slow batsmen that take their time, you need an injection of urgency and run scoring in the side, and that’s what Hales can provide. But when you look at him play Test cricket, he reverts back to being Geoffrey Boycott-esque. You want him to go out and put the fear of God into opposition bowlers and say right then, if you stray off line this exciting batsman is going to smack you. I think that is a little bit lacking in his game, I don’t know if that is confidence, if he is fearing for his place, or if it is miscommunication from the coaching staff.

Young blood and selection headaches

Ben Duckett is scoring mountains of runs, but unfortunately it is second-division cricket. There is a gulf between first division and second with the bowling that they face, but he can’t do any more. He is knocking out the runs, he’s scored big runs for England A as well, so he’s knocking loudly on the door. It’s whether the selectors give him the chance because he is the batsman in form. I am a great believer in picking people that are in form, rather than people that were in form, or were next in line.

Zafar Ansari has got a chance to go to Bangladesh. He was in rich form before he broke his thumb. And then of course there's his team-mate Gareth Batty. I know Gaz really well. As a spinner he is one of the best in the country.

There are headaches, and that’s what selectors want because you can argue a case for everyone. I love the fact that there are headaches for every place, people knocking on the door. I’m glad I am not a selector! If it works out, they are geniuses, if it doesn’t, ‘why the hell did they pick them in the first place!’ Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Middling it

As Boycott calls them, ‘The Wobblies”! The middle-order is very unsettled, you’ve got the likes of Vince and Ballance who have not really held down their spots given the chance. I’d love to see Jason Roy get a place in the Test team. Just to come in and attack, give the innings some impetus. Then again, you are going to places like Bangladesh and India, it is going to spin, so you can’t rule out someone like Ian Bell, one of the best players of spin. They need to know whether they are playing for the here and now, or building for the future. You’ve still got to win games now. If you want to be the best in the world you have to pick your best XI, the selectors need to make sure they have the best squad of players that are best suited for the conditions they are going to find themselves in on the subcontinent.

Below the middle you have got Stokes who can bat, Woakes who can bat, Rashid who can bat, and Ali who can bat. The options are limitless, once you have got quality allrounders in the side, you can tinker with the balance of the team.

Woakes has had the chance, and how well has he played? He has been the player of the series, the find of the summer. He’s gone from strength to strength. To have Woakes and Stokes in the same team, you have got two players that can get in as bowlers, Stokes could get in as a batsman alone. Woakes in a genuine allrounder, I don’t think he is good enough to get in as a batsman, but as an allrounder he has been fantastic.

Then there is Mo, who has come on in leaps and bounds as a Test bowler. He has had to learn in the Test arena, because he was a part-time bowler for Worcestershire. To come from a part-time bowler to the primary spinner for England is a massive jump. He’s done an amazing job, he’s still learning but he keeps proving himself and taking wickets, and as a batter he is another allrounder.

2002 under Nasser

In 2002, I went to India as the leading and most experienced Test bowler, I had played two Test matches. You are going to India, one of the most difficult places to go win a series. To go out as the leading seamer with two Test matches under your belt, you’re struggling.

We had Richard Dawson as a spinner because Andrew Caddick and Robert Croft didn’t go. Some of the experienced players chose not to go because of the terrorist threat. There was myself, Richard, Jonno from Middlesex, Andrew Flintoff as the allrounder, Jimmy Ormond. Our bowling attack was seriously lacking.

2006 under Freddie

How did Nasser and Freddie differ as captains? “Massively!”

Nasser was a very intense captain; Freddie was a very relaxed captain. Poles apart personality-wise, poles apart as leaders.

To be fair cricket is a very individualistic sport, once you’ve the ball in the hand, nobody else can bowl for you. It didn’t really matter who the captain was because you have a pride in personal performance. Once you’ve got the ball you can be told to do something but they can’t make you do it. I’m a massive believer in you are only as good as your last performance, and I wanted to pay for England as many times as I could so I just went out there and tried to put in the best performance that I could in each given day.

Cashing in

Was Johnny Cash responsible for victory in Mumbai?

I like country music, I like folk music, and there was a lot of The Boy Named Sue being played. Come teatime, we put Ring of Fire on, it was such a spontaneous moment. Even Duncan Fletcher was clapping, stamping his feet and singing!

The Indians must have been thinking ‘what the f... is going on?’ They were comfortable in the game of course, then Shaun ‘Shaggy’ Udal went out and bowled India out. I think I took the final catch at square leg. It’s just one of those things that you can never recreate, it just went on and everybody was singing, clapping, stamping their feet, it was a one off. We dedicate that match Johnny Cash and Alastair Cook’s Test debut.

Matthew was playing in the 5^th annual Cricket in the City event which raised £56,766 for The Sick Children’s Trust which supports families with seriously ill children in hospital.