The Worlds Apart for Test Cricket...

And the cheeky stat (everyone) missed at Headingley

There’s a world of difference, a five-Test series between two members of the ‘Big Three’ at the start of a new two-year cycle of World Test Championship fixtures and a two-Test series between the reigning champions and Zimbabwe, which is not part of the WTC.

For decades South Africa’s international cricketers tried to pretend that every match they played for their country was equally important, when they were patently not. Pardon the repetition, but being selected for a meaningless bilateral series against Sri Lanka 10 days after an (emotionally) arduous IPL season was the reason AB de Villiers retired prematurely.

Let me correct myself. Every match IS equally important, but only if the right players are selected. What would Kagiso Rabada make of spending two weeks at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo compared to Kwena Maphaka’s experience of leading the attack in two Test matches?

Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis will be fulfilling childhood dreams of playing Test cricket while Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen will, hopefully, be enjoying the afterglow of the Lord’s triumph and recharging their physical and emotional reserves for what lies ahead.

It was a concern when head coach Shukri Conrad said on his appointment that South Africa would field “full-strength” teams for every series under his stewardship. There was an element of populism about the statement which was, thankfully, quickly overtaken by pragmatism. It was a peculiar edict anyway given how much ‘building for the future’ is a part of Conrad’s methodology. He prefers ‘ruthless’ over ‘kind’ and ‘honest’ over ‘subtle’ which can damage some players but, as he said: “Cricket was never a democracy.”

The World Test Champions should hammer Zimbabwe. If that happens, what might be fascinating is how they chose to do so. Mightily or quickly? Bat for 600, or more, enforce the follow-on? Bat again and score another 400? Zimbabwe, finally, are making genuine making strides towards their stated goal of WTC inclusion but there is a long way to go. What purpose for the Proteas in playing three days out of five?

Back to England. It quickly became apparent at Headingley that India had become the first team in Test history to score five centuries and lose. It was one of those ‘first’ stats which seemed to perfectly capture the unlikeliness of the result but it only scratched the surface.

The only person on earth I know who could expand on it, did exactly that. The great ‘Wizz’ sent me a message on Wednesday morning: “It seems a little more interesting to me that it was the first time in over 63,000 matches it had happened rather than just 2,500+ matches.” You don’t need to be a stats geek, or even a cricket geek, to find that interesting.

That’s right. It was the first time ever in first-class cricket that a team had scored five centuries and lost. It’s enough to make your eyes water. Equally remarkable is that Andrew Samson, the best statistician I’ve ever met or worked with, is currently without a gig. But he is writing his own Substack, the ‘Notcher’s Natter.’ If rare and/or amusing stats nuggets are your thing, you’d be mad not to subscribe. And he’s as affordable (cheap) as me. And worth more than every penny.

Finally, another word about the TalkSPORT commentary on the England/India series. In order to preserve BBC Test Match Special’s historic exclusivity of home internationals, the ECB granted (sold) ‘overseas’ rights to the newcomer, the first time ever that a second ball-by-ball commentary has been available from an international match in England.

Listeners in England are, as always, well served by TMS but it was strangely rewarding on an unprecedented level in my years of broadcasting to receive acknowledgements and thanks from listeners in the following countries during our broadcast on the TS Cricket YouTube channel from Leeds:

South Africa, Peru, Australia, United States, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Zanzibar, Spain, Norway, Nigeria, Thailand, Malta, Ireland, Vietnam, Portugal, China, Mauritius, Japan, Philippines, Tunisia, Antarctic, Ecuador, Gran Canaria, Morocco, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kenya, Romania, Indonesia, Tenerife, Lithuania, Switzerland, Madagascar, Hong Kong, Albania, Mallorca, Italy, Singapore, Egypt, Cape Verde, Sri Lanka, Croatia, Jersey, Rwanda, Guyana, Jamaica, Fuerteventura, Fiji, Dominican Republic, Russia, Papa New Guinea, Hungary, Brazil, Denmark, Guatemala, Qatar, Bosnia & Herzegovina, France, Laos, Mexico, Colombia, Slovenia, Slovakia

The list was compiled by our relentlessly hard-working producer, Scott Taylor. I guess we have two Canary Islands in there, and I’m not sure whether Fuenteventura qualifies for a place on the list, but it’s still around 70 nations…

Like Rabada and co, I’m hiding away for a week. Small but comfortable room in an anonymous but pretty English town. Birmingham and Edgbaston beckon.