All-round Success

Simply astonishing stuff. Truly one of the most remarkable games of cricket, with records falling, reputations being restored and stars being born. The match itself ebbed and flowed with England's initial collapse (30-4) sparking all the Pietersen chat before the ridiculously long batting line-up proving its value. New Zealand's batting display then demonstrated how blunt and one-dimensional our bowling attack was. Early wickets in our reply left the Kiwi victory simply a matter of time until Cook's infuriating stubbornness put itself to good use and Stokes batted like he'd got confused with the IPL final happening at the same time. The blunt bowling attack which we all know is so reliant on Anderson then came good, with wickets coming from all over the place. 

As outstanding and dramatic a game as it was, the end result unquestionably papers over a few cracks. With all of the attention on Stokes' remarkable performance, there remains a few questions over the opening partner for Cook, the feasibility of Moeen as a genuine spin-bowler and the genuine threat posed by the fast bowlers when the going gets tough. That being said, there are a lot of positive signs and just an outside glimmer of hope now that we might not get totally obliterated in the Ashes. 

To the matter at hand; the Ben Stokes bandwagon. A brilliant performance from an exciting prospect with undoubted potential but a long way to go before being a top quality performer. He has talent, desire and a fiercely competitive spirit but what he'll need to learn from players like Cook is application. Two outstanding and destructive innings could each have been big hundreds. Am I being too harsh or is it good to expect big things? Certainly if Stokes is hoping to be the next big thing, he has a whole host of a way to go. 

Widely accepted as the greatest all-rounder in history is Gary Sobers, with the likes of Jacques Kallis, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan knocking on the door. The great measure of an all-rounder is of the differential between their batting and bowling averages. The below table shows test all-rounders with at least 100 wickets at less than 40 AND 3000 test runs at greater than 30

Player	Mat	Runs	Bat Av	Wkts	Bowl Av	Ave Diff
GS Sobers (WI)	93	8032	57.78	235	34.03	23.74
JH Kallis (ICC/SA)	166	13289	55.37	292	32.65	22.71
Imran Khan (Pak)	88	3807	37.69	362	22.81	14.88
KR Miller (Aus)	55	2958	36.97	170	22.97	13.99
SM Pollock (SA)	108	3781	32.31	421	23.11	9.19
TL Goddard (SA)	41	2516	34.46	123	26.22	8.23
AW Greig (Eng)	58	3599	40.43	141	32.20	8.23
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	39	2732	40.17	142	33.29	6.88
IT Botham (Eng)	102	5200	33.54	383	28.40	5.14
CL Cairns (NZ)	62	3320	33.53	218	29.40	4.13
W Rhodes (Eng)	58	2325	30.19	127	26.96	3.22
N Kapil Dev (India)	131	5248	31.05	434	29.64	1.40
MH Mankad (India)	44	2109	31.47	162	32.32	-0.84
A Flintoff (Eng/ICC)	79	3845	31.77	226	32.78	-1.01
DL Vettori (ICC/NZ)	113	4531	30.00	362	34.36	-4.36

Miller, Sobers, Kallis, Khan & Dev

The results demonstrate what we'd expect to see, Sobers and Kallis with incredible batting averages and very solid bowling stats, with the likes of Khan and Pollock the other way round. Here are Stokes' figures at the moment:

	Mat	Runs	Bat Av	Wkts	Bowl Av	Ave Diff
Ben Stokes	10	648	36.00	28	40.10	-4.10

Evidently a long way to go! But of course how can you compare him so early in his career to those more established? Have a look at their stats after 10 test matches of course:

Player	Runs	Bat Av	Wkts	Bowl Av	Ave Diff
GS Sobers	419	29.92	12	35	-5.07
JH Kallis	340	22.66	11	30	-7.33
Imran Khan	288	20.57	37	33.86	-13.29
SM Pollock	344	28.66	30	23.96	4.7
IT Botham	479	43.54	53	17.33	26.2
N Kapil Dev	510	42.5	29	39.06	3.43
A Flintoff	255	15.93	7	66.42	-50.49

What can we learn from this? The same as with a lot of statistics, especially with such a small quantity of data to look, they're meaningless. Stokes' career could go either way.

A side note is that if we simply look at the difference between batting & bowling averages then it becomes clear who the real best all-rounders are in history:

Player	Mat	Runs	Bat Av	Wkts	Bowl Av	Ave Diff
DG Bradman (Aus)	52	6996	99.94	2	36.00	63.94
AN Cook (Eng)	113	8869	46.67	1	7.00	39.67

Statistically the best two all-rounders
in all of test cricket history

The Neverending Story (Or the emotional rollercoaster of being an English sports fan)

An inspiring tale of adversity
and ultimately, Redemption

We all want a good movie to have a few ups and downs, plot twists and to put the us through a range of emotions. We want to be engaged and affected by the characters, to feel disconsolate and despairing because of their troubles, inspired and encouraged by their fortitude, and ultimately uplifted and contented by their triumphs. We want to feel like they've earned the happy ending, they've demonstrated enough vivacity and vigour to warrant our affections. We want to see them grow and develop as time progresses, overcome frailties and conquer obstacles. We accept their mistakes and lapses in judgement, we endure the frustrations and we retain a glimmer of hope regardless of the dire circumstance. Overall, we want some kind of satisfactory conclusion, ideally a famous and emphatic victory.

Beckham's England career - the ultimate
footballing redemption story

Is it not the same with the saga of supporting a national sports team? The players and managers, wins and losses, injuries and suspensions, qualification and seemingly inevitable elimination, the undying hope of ultimate success? Teams show growth and development, promise and aspirations, they suffer disappointments and under-achievements, they demonstrate great skill and physicality before lapsing into old habits and insipid performances. Forever our teams seem to be showing encouraging signs, in a period of rebuilding and looking to the future. 

How can it be with a constant turnover of personnel involved there is no significant change in the relentless cycle each of our major international teams follow? It's like a Bond movie, the characters are different each time and the events vary slightly but ultimately the same basic things happen. The only difference is Bond always come out winning. 

We've all known a bit too
much of this in the last 25  years

Let's look at the football team and our endless pattern of:
a) promising major tournament qualification campaign with new players involved and a building sense of hope and expectation
b) a few poor performances & results in friendlies against major nations to keep our feet on the ground
c) some kind of drama / media storm in the months before the tournament itself
d) an ultimately disappointing tournament with "wholesale changes needed"
e) back to the start, rebuilding, getting rid of dead wood and bringing in new faces to refresh the whole cycle

The truth is that our young players, initially showing so much promise and excitement, rarely become anything spectacular. Over the last 20 years there has been 13 English winners of the Young Player of the Year award but just 7 Player of the Year awards. Only Gerrard and Rooney have won the Young Player and gone onto win the main one. Even worse, the Football Writers award has gone to just 5 Englishmen in 20 years. The issue of an increasing influx of foreigners is for another time, but the lack of development from promising youngster to world-class talent is sadly reflected by our national team never quite making the step up. 

The table shows our FIFA world ranking since 1992. I nearly used the word "progress" but evidently that's not really suitable. What it does show is that with all the ups and downs in rankings, we should have done better than one semi-final in the last 25 years.

Following the cricket or rugby teams is hardly much better. The rugby team have of course known some recent success with the World Cup in 2003 and some 6 Nations wins but when you see the coach describe your team as "courageous" you know there's something wrong. Similar to how Scotland are repeatedly described as brave without ever improving, we have now come runner up 4 years in a row and are apparently still a young team maturing and building towards the world cup. Rarely do you hear a blunt opinion such as that of the RFU Chief Exec who is demanding higher standards. With less range of teams to compete against there is more consistency in terms of rankings but the same cycle of hope and disappointment goes on here.

I can't bring myself to write about the cricket team at the moment, and I don't think series against New Zealand and Australia this summer are going to help much.

NFL Week 3

Week 3 saw the last round of fixtures with all 32 teams playing. This coming week there are 6 teams (Bengals, Broncos, Browns, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks) with a week off. It happens to include 4 of the strongest teams in the entire league (sorry Rams & Browns, I didn't mean you) so the rest need to make the most of the chance to get wins on the board and add pressure to the big guns. 

Let's have a quick review of some of the big games from Week 3:

Russell Wilson destroyed Denver
with his feet in overtime

Seattle Seahawks 26-20 Denver Broncos (overtime)
Another dominant defensive display from Seattle looked to be leading them to a convincing win in the Superbowl rematch until a late rally from Denver took the game into overtime. A safety (when a team is tackled in their own endzone), followed by a first Russell Wilson interception in about 3 million attempts and suddenly momentum was with the Broncos. An incredible drive led by Peyton Manning resulted in a touchdown, two point conversion and overtime. The Seahawks then won the toss, drove all the way down the field and scored the "golden goal" touchdown to extinguish the Broncos' hopes of revenge. That might have to wait until 1st February 2015.

Carolina Panthers 19-37 Pittsburgh Steelers

A big away win for the impressive Pittsburgh Steelers. Carolina are widely accepted as having one of the best defenses in the league but the combined running of Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount trampled all over them. After a very disappointing loss against the Ravens in Week 2, suddenly you have to consider the Steelers as genuine AFC contenders. 

Bortles vs Luck could be a rivalry
for years to come

Jacksonville Jaguars 17-44 Indianapolis Colts

A thumping win for the Colts to get them off the mark this season, after defeats in their first two matches. London's adopted team Jacksonville are in all sorts of trouble this year. Already 0-3, it isn't going to get any better this Sunday away at the Chargers (who beat Seattle last week). The one bright spot is the introduction of Blake Bortles who will now be the starting quarterback, and a positive step towards the future of the franchise. 

Arizona Cardinals 23-14 San Francisco 49ers

The ultra-high quality NFC West took another interesting turn as the less fancied Cardinals moved to 3-0. The 49ers have been to the NFC Championship game for the last 3 seasons but face a real challenge to even reach the playoffs in such a competitive division. Going on the assumption that Seattle pull through to win the division, it's not going to be possible for both Arizona and SF to take a wildcard. 

High scoring clash in the NFC East

Philadelphia Eagles 37-34 Washington Redskins

The Eagles are definitely the team to watch for entertainment value if nothing else. Nick Foles certainly knows how to throw a pass and with McCoy and Sproles running the ball, they basically aim to simply outscore their opponents however many points that means. The Redskins put up a great show, with DeSean Jackson unable to get the win against his old team, but Philly just have too many weapons. Could be a very dangerous team come playoff time. 

The rest of the results from Week 3:

The Bengals may be a team to watch

Chicago Bears 27-17 New York Jets

Buffalo Bills 10-22 San Diego Chargers

Cincinnati Bengals 33-7 Tennessee Titans

Cleveland Browns 21-23 Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions 19-7 Green Bay Packers

Miami Dolphins 15-34 Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots 16-9 Oakland Raiders

New Orleans Saints 20-9 Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants 30-17 Houston Texans

St Louis Rams 31-34 Dallas Cowboys

Atlanta Falcons 56-14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Looking at Week 4, there are obviously less matches but a few tasty clashes in store still. The Eagles have a chance to show they're genuine contenders when they travel to San Francisco; the Packers and the Bears came into the season with high hopes but have both been somewhat underwhelming - they clash in Chicago. The Bucs were slaughtered in Atlanta (trailing 56-0 at one point) and next travel to a reinvigorated Pittsburgh, that could get messy.