A hat-tip to Joe Root and his declarations

HUWZAT ON WEDNESDAY: Maybe it’s a stereotype to say English Test captains tend to be cautious: ensure you can’t lose before you try to win, and all that

Joe Root is very good at declaring

Well, I declare! Joe Root is rather good at calling time, isn’t he?

It’s quite refreshing, after the cautious declarations of Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss as England captain before him.

Of course over-aggressive declarations can backfire.

The BBC2 archive series before this summer’s rubber between England and West Indies reminded us how David Gower’s decision to stick on 300 for 9 at Lord’s in 1984 – a rare luxury against those mighty opponents – backfired.

But Root brought his batsmen in three times in the last two Tests  (after missing the first on paternity leave) and successive victories suggests he made the correct calls.

He nipped out two wickets on day three of the third Test at Emirates Old Trafford, anticipating that the grisly forecast for the fourth day would be correct (it was).

In the second Test at the same venue he allowed his bowlers to have a decent crack at the tourists at the end of day two, with the third day suffering a familiar watery fate thanks to those pesky Pennines nimbostrati.

Perhaps Root has learned his lesson from the Christchurch Test in 2017/18, when New Zealand middle- and lower-order batsmen Colin de Grandhomme and Ishant Sodhi thwarted his plans.

Maybe it’s a stereotype to say English Test captains tend to be cautious: ensure you can’t lose before you try to win, and all that.

Strauss did play it safe in his first Test as England captain (a locum for Michael Vaughan) at Lord’s against Pakistan in 2006, though.

And again in the series opener against West Indies the following summer.

Most annoying was the third Test in the Caribbean in 2008/09, once he had the post permanently, when his side were trailing 1-0 in the series. England set the hosts 503 to win and they batted out 128 overs for the draw. West Indies held on to draw the final two Tests and take the series, Andy Flower’s first as coach.

Better things were to come, of course, and he and Flower took England to an Ashes win in Australia in the 2010/11 series – one of only five since the War – and No.1 in the Test rankings.

Cook was cautious against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2014, and West Indies at Antigua that winter.

It was an era when England worshipped at the altar of Nathan Leamon’s analytical abacus… but Root appears to be showing a bit more gut feel and enterprise.

^{Joe Root with the Wisden Trophy at the end of a hard-fought series}

Don’t overdo the Aussies

Here they come again!

When the Australians took to the field for the opening match of their tour to England it used to be a near-mystical sight (that was if you had not seen them stagger off the plane at Heathrow, some of them after drinking their bodyweight in amber nectar).

Those beautiful cable-knit sweaters and the old Baggy Greens of Allan Border’s men made for an arresting picture when they left the pavilion to face a Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk’s XI on May 5, 1985.

The memory cheats a little actually, as in 1989, for some reason, they only arrived at Arundel for the second match. Their opener was against a League Conference XI at Sandwell Park, West Bromwich, two days earlier, Dean Jones making 170 against an attack that included India’s Maninder Singh (10-0-88-0). Ouch!

Again in 1993 Arundel had to wait, with Radlett first up, although the Australians did revert in 1997, facing a Duke of Norfolk’s XI.

But I digress.

The key point is that the Australians only came here once every four years from about 1985 onwards (the World Cups of 1975, 1979 and 1983 ensured we saw them a bit more in the decade before, in addition to the home Ashes series of 1975, 1977 and 1981).

That has changed in recent times, however.

This summer they are back for three ODIs and three T20Is.

Last year was the World Cup and the Ashes.

In 2018 it was for a five-match ODI series that they lost 5-0.

In 2017 it was the Champions Trophy (they were eliminated in the group stages).

In 2013 and 2015 it was for the Ashes, of course.

This will be the sixth time they have been here in eight years.

Yes I know this is a special occasion – they are helping to raise money and get the game back on after the Covid crisis… just as England going to Australia in 1979/80 was to celebrate their making peace with Packer.

But you can have too much of a good thing Mr Administrator – let’s protect the mystique!

^{England last faced Australia just a year ago...}

Topley’s Trophy concerns

Former Essex seamer Don Topley is concerned about the standard – especially of the bowling – that will be on show in the forthcoming Bob Willis Trophy.

The one-off four-day competition, named after the former England captain who died last year, starts on Saturday. And the previews on this website have been enthusiastically received by a thirsty cricket-mad public.

Topley is fearful, though. “I’m excited we have some county cricket,” he told us. “But with two sets of England players – red ball and white ball – away, plus most overseas players and Kolpaks, I am worried about the quality.

“For instance, Sussex will have neither David Wiese nor Stiaan van Zyl for the four-day competition. Surrey will be without Morne Morkel and Hashim Amla, while Hampshire could be missing Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw and Fidel Edwards. Other counties are also missing significant players.

“I believe it was a golden chance to combine the talents of counties: Hampshire and Sussex, Kent and Surrey, Essex and Middlesex, and so on this year. In essence we have one month of longer-form cricket and we could have combined to ensure the quality is the very best it can be, and we could have even offered a second-string set of fixtures at the away ground.”

Topley acknowledges and understands the importance of county members and suggests that the ECB are rewarding their allegiance by staging the competition involving all 18 counties.

He will be back on the airwaves with BBC local radio commentating on Essex’s fixtures, and he fully expects to witness Sir Alastair Cook “book in for ‘bed and breakfast”.

He predicts Cook will average 60-plus and score more than 600 runs in his five matches/10 innings against the depleted attacks.

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