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Cricket Blog from the BBC

Reflections on a gripping series

In the end, England were not able to produce a third great escape to win the Test series here in South Africa. But had they held on for a couple of extra hours at the Wanderers on Sunday they might have just managed to do it.

Johannesburg was hit by a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon which would have washed out any play after tea - and on Monday the city was hit by heavy rain and dark cloud which may have made conditions impossible on what would have been the scheduled final day.

Whether it would have been right for England to win the series is obviously highly debatable although this morning's newspapers here in South Africa leave you in little doubt about what they think.

Stuart Hess, writing in the Johannesburg Star, states: "There are those who believe that England deserved to get something out of the Test series. They'd be wrong. The outcome was not a true reflection of the standard these two sides displayed, for South Africa were much the better team. England were resilient throughout, showed a lot of character, but even their own captain recognised they were the inferior team."

Despite England's rather disappointing capitulation yesterday morning it has overall been a gripping Test series. As England clung on to nail-biting draws at Centurion and Newlands we got a great picture through your e-mails and texts of how you were nervously listening to Test Match Special.

It was almost too much for TMS new boy Michael Vaughan at Newlands who turned to Jonathan Agnew during the final over to say "I'm sorry Aggers, I just can't watch this". Jonathan quickly replied: "I'm sorry you've got to. Remember how many times you put us through this sort of thing when you were captain."

One of my favourite stories of people listening to the series came from Steve in Oxford who e-mailed us when England were taking important wickets one afternoon. He told us: "I am currently invigilating an exam and just jumped for joy at that wicket, disturbed everyone, but I don't care! A few more and I might never be doing this job again!"

At Cape Town we were joined by Duncan Fletcher, who I think surprised many by displaying a great sense of humour which was rather kept under wraps during his tenure as England coach.

"Fletch" did, however, discover the danger of taking the mickey out of someone on air. After mentioning ex-England physio Dean Conway's penchant for cakes he was disturbed to receive a text straight away from the Welshman with a few choice phrases which thankfully Duncan did not divulge on air!

As for Vaughan he has been able to offer some fascinating insight into the current players and it has been incredible how many times he managed to predict what was going to happen. However Michael did also manage to quickly master the infamous commentators curse. It got so bad at Centurion that listeners were begging me not to allow him back on the radio because he was taking so many wickets!

It has been a series not without controversy, especially surrounding the Decision Review System, described on Saturday by ECB chairman Giles Clarke on TMS as a "shambles".

From a commentary point of view it can be a real shame that the dramatic moment of a wicket being taken is slightly lost with the often prolonged process of a decision going to review. On the other hand, if more decisions are made correctly then that is good for the game and I suspect we will all get used to extra delays.

TMS listeners believe the crowd at games has to be included in the process. They sit in complete ignorance not knowing what has been asked for and why a decision is overturned or not. This is simply not good enough for people who have paid a lot of money to go to games to be excluded from one of the key parts of play. The ICC must act to sort this out.

We shall see how the review system goes down in Bangladesh, where England are next in action following a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates.

It will also be fascinating to see how Alastair Cook gets on as England captain and it will be interesting to find out how good Yorkshire bowler Ajmal Shahzad is. Both Michael Vaughan and Geoff Boycott have been singing his praises over the last few weeks.

I feel a bit sorry for another Yorkshire player Adil Rashid, who after bowling in the nets all over the world in the past few years is not included on a tour where he may have had a real chance of playing in a Test.

The resting of Andrew Strauss will of course be controversial with several former England captains already saying he should be leading the team on the tour - although our own Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan have backed the decision.

Boycott told us that the focus has to be on the Ashes next year rather than Bangladesh whilst Vaughan said in his question-and-answer piece for BBC Sport "just because I didn't get a break as England captain doesn't mean that it was right."

Our own radio coverage of the Bangladesh tour is still being finalised. Keep checking bbc.co.uk/cricket and we'll bring you news as soon as we have it.

Finally, thanks for listening to our coverage of this South Africa tour and thanks for all your e-mails and texts. And sorry if at times it was not the most relaxing listen for you, but that's what happens when you follow the fortunes of the England cricket team!

If, as is often said of Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, a good side is one which manages to avoid defeat while not playing to its full potential, then England's 1-1 Test series draw in South Africa should be considered a success.

Soundly beaten in Johannesburg and forced to cling on for dear life in Centurion and Cape Town, future statisticians will pore over the series averages with wonder.

While five of South Africa's batsmen averaged between 39 and 61, four of England's averaged in the twenties. And while England's top wicket-taker Graeme Swann took 21 scalps at 31.38, five Proteas bowlers took their wickets more cheaply.

Averages, schmaverages, you may well be muttering: the bottom line is England managed not to lose a series that, in the recent past, they almost certainly would have. Against a side, you might add, who are second in the Test rankings, and which boasts the nastiest pace attack in world cricket.

I would argue, however, that the series result is not the bottom line, but that the bottom line, in an Ashes year at least, is how the side is shaping for the future. And if you agree on my bottom line, then you will no doubt agree that, while it is heartening that England have grown a backbone, they will need more than guts to match their oldest enemy next winter.

It was Jim Laker who said "the aim of English cricket is, in fact, to beat Australia", and while much has changed since Laker was weaving his magic for England back in the 1950s, his old adage still applies.

England's Jonathan Trott struggled to deal with South Africa's pace bowlers

Playing like they did against South Africa, England are likely to be beaten handily by an Australian side bent on terrible revenge.

England's players are like the planets of an orrery: when one is passing close to the sun and in decent nick, another will inevitably be orbiting on the dark side and struggling for form - and so the cycle continues with each passing series. The planets will need to be perfectly aligned against the Aussies, or England could get buried.

Captain Andrew Strauss, so assured in 2009, managed only 170 runs against the Proteas, while Matt Prior, who looked to be coming into full bloom against Australia last summer, withered when exposed to South Africa's no-holds-barred attack.

Jonathan Trott, who many thought was the answer to England's problems at number three following his Ashes-winning performance at The Oval last August, experienced a chastening tour of his homeland, while Kevin Pietersen also struggled.

Critics of Pietersen seem to forget that he has only recently returned from a long-term injury, and facing Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn is not the ideal way to bat yourself into form. There should be cheaper runs up for grabs against Bangladesh, home and away, before Pakistan provide a sterner test at the end of the summer.

Ian Bell, on the other hand, had a decent series, although the Warwickshire man seems to be stuck in a vicious circle only partially of his own making: on the back of 313 runs batting at six, there are those who will be calling for him to replace Trott at three, but we've already seen what happens when Bell bats at three, so it's perhaps best to leave him where he is.

Pietersen, if anyone could persuade him, might be a better fit, although one rough series does not make Trott a bad player. England would be right to persevere with him at first wicket down, as far as the tour of Bangladesh at least.

As it stands, England's batting cannot be trusted, and were it not for Paul Collingwood's contributions, Strauss's team would almost certainly have lost the Test series in South Africa.

Strauss and coach Andy Flower have little to fall back on, with only Michael Carberry, who scored a stack of runs for Hampshire last summer, making a really convincing case for inclusion.

Certainly, and as the BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew has already pointed out, England cannot afford the luxury of playing five front-line batsmen against top-draw opposition, which only increases the pressure on the bowling.

While England's seam attack can sometimes be highly effective on English wickets, it is often rendered toothless abroad, where the Kookaburra ball holds sway everywhere except India, and bowlers can generate less swing as a result.

In Johannesburg, Morkel and Steyn illustrated perfectly the value of a few miles-per-hour of extra pace, and the worry, with an Ashes series on the horizon, is that England don't have anyone express coming through. Swann has developed into a very useful cricketer, but England badly need some gas to complement his guile.

With so many rough edges in need of a polish, Strauss's decision to sit out the trip to Bangladesh will be debated ad nauseam.

Were most of his players in decent nick, then you could understand his decision to stay home and recharge the batteries. But Strauss will wave goodbye to a handful of men who are clearly struggling, and you might think he'd want to be by their side to monitor their progress and help nurse them back to form. It is, after all, his team.

Former skipper Michael Vaughan has spoken of the "bigger picture", ie. making sure Strauss is fit and mentally refreshed for the rather more taxing challenges in Australia.
But Bangladesh, as they are currently proving in a Test match at home against India, aren't the mugs many would have you believe.

Take a wrong turn in Chittagong or Mirpur, and England will have strayed so far from the bigger picture, they might struggle to find their way back in time for the Ashes.

As well as my blogs, you can follow me when I'm out and about at http://twitter.com/bendirs1

South Africa put in a tremendous display to thrash England by an innings and 74 runs in the final Test, and as a result retain the Basil D'Oliveira trophy.

But no assessment of any England performance is complete without some player ratings. These are my marks out of 10 for the England XI at the Wanderers.

I found these particularly tough to do. (It's much easier when they play reasonably well). But as ever I'd like to know what you think.

Andrew Strauss - 3
Elected to drop Graham Onions, chose to bat first when bowling looked the more obvious choice, and could not really blame brilliant bowling for either of his two cheap dismissals. A match to forget for England's captain

Alastair Cook - 4
Got over the new ball well on the difficult first morning before falling lbw to what later appeared a possible no-ball. Nicked off early to a good delivery from Morne Morkel in the second innings when the tall paceman posed serious problems.

Jonathan Trott - 3
Did not seem to relish the challenge one iota, looking distinctly ill-at-ease throughout his two brief stays at the crease. Could the Jonathan Trott who made a century on debut in an Ashes decider please come back? The current model's not the same.

Kevin Pietersen - 3
Like Strauss and Trott, he ended a bad series with two poor scores. The pull shot that brought his downfall in the first innings was the right shot to play, but the execution woeful. The less said about his wild drive on the final morning the better.

Paul Collingwood - 8
Just how difficult was this pitch for batting? Mark Boucher almost got a century on it, and Collingwood's scores of 47 and 71 ensured he was the only England batsman - apart from the twice unbeaten James Anderson - to improve his average on it.

Ian Bell - 4
Bell had a decent series generally, but was looking for the Dale Steyn outswinger when cleaned up by the straight one in the first innings, and fenced weakly at a quick one from Morne Morkel during the collapse on the final day.

Matt Prior - 3
If he could have been forgiven for the pull shot that brought his downfall on day one, with the top six all gone, there was less excuse for the shocking shot he attempted to his second ball on Sunday, with Collingwood still there. Good keeping though.

Stuart Broad - 6
Got more wickets than either Sidebottom or Anderson combined, although they were the ones who got to use the new ball and caused a bit of discomfort with the shorter balls. South Africa were not really able to get after his bowling.

Graeme Swann - 6
With some more luck on reviews he would have been able to add a couple of wickets to his two, and was England's second best contributor of runs in the match too. Will he ever bat above Broad for England? My feeling is that he maybe should.

Ryan Sidebottom - 5
Like Swann, he deserved more in the wickets column - and this was by no means a poor performance from someone entering such a vital match with no meaningful recent cricket behind him. Very close to a six for the sheer effort he threw into it.

James Anderson - 4
Took a great catch to get rid of Kallis, but on a wicket that should have been ideal for him proved a great disappointment. Sure, he bowled one or two magical deliveries but they were frequently interspersed with some disappointing stuff.

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