In this day and age where commerce rules most of the time even in sport, its very strange that a Test match should start on a Sunday. Not only does that guarantee fewer people at the ground over the five days, the TV audience also gets affected by the weekend only half utilised. The funny scheduling is only apt though in what has been a strange ol' series in a strange ol' year.
In 2013, it seemed like teams had no idea how to win away Test matches any more. Just 3 out of 44 Test matches in the calendar year ended in a visiting team winning and two of those were in Zimbabwe. South Africa were the only team that could claim a creditable away win (over Pakistan in Dubai). A lot of teams must therefore have had some serious amounts of "overseas-winnability" magic potion mixed into their New Year's Eve drinks. Or so you would think looking at the results in 2014 so far. Of the 14 matches that have had a result, nine have been won by the visiting team with Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India all claiming away scalps.
India's of course is the most recent with the win at Lord's less than a week ago. It puts them into the unknown territory of holding a lead in an overseas five match series anywhere other than the West Indies. That is not the best of memories though, as in that series in 2002, India surrendered their similarly hard earned 1-0 series lead after two games and rather tamely lost two of the next three. The last time they held a 1-0 lead in a five match series against England also ended in tears in 1985 and on home soil to boot. And Dhoni will also remember first hand how his team gave up a 1-0 lead against Cook's men not too long ago when the odds were all against the English. He will also know though that the 1-0 lead has been achieved without his three most aggressive men (Dhawan, Kohli, and Shami) firing so there is some gas in the tank potentially. And it will be needed as over a long series, the same players can't come to the party all the time and not every batting wobble will be recovered from. That will hopefully mean an end to the Stuart Binny experiment and Rohit Sharma coming in to bolster the batting (as seems likely?).
England are also battling the unknown with a 10 match "no-win" streak and seemingly no turnaround in sight. They are nowhere near as bad as Jarrod Kimber makes them out to be, but they do have big challenges. Like India, some of their most aggressive players (Bell, Broad, and Prior) haven't taken off and now one of them has stepped away. They will hope that Broad at least doesn't follow suit. Since his punishing return to form on India's last visit to these shores, Broad has been England's best bowler at home by a distance (whether its in terms of wickets, strike rate or averages). A matchwinning spell from him and England will believe again, no matter if Cook's poor run with the bat continues. Bell is due some runs too and Buttler's selection at least shows that not all of their intent is gone yet. Bringing back Jordan for Stokes would be the final aggressive move they need to make and I would still give them a fighting chance.
Into the mix of unknowns will be the pitch and conditions at the Ageas Bowl and it'll be interesting to see what the captain who wins the toss decides to do. Dhoni has shown a more aggressive side to him and Cook no longer has the option to be conservative. The third day is often the pivotal one in Test matches and this third match is likely to be similarly decisive. With the weather set fair, it should be fascinating watching.
In 2013, it seemed like teams had no idea how to win away Test matches any more. Just 3 out of 44 Test matches in the calendar year ended in a visiting team winning and two of those were in Zimbabwe. South Africa were the only team that could claim a creditable away win (over Pakistan in Dubai). A lot of teams must therefore have had some serious amounts of "overseas-winnability" magic potion mixed into their New Year's Eve drinks. Or so you would think looking at the results in 2014 so far. Of the 14 matches that have had a result, nine have been won by the visiting team with Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India all claiming away scalps.
India's of course is the most recent with the win at Lord's less than a week ago. It puts them into the unknown territory of holding a lead in an overseas five match series anywhere other than the West Indies. That is not the best of memories though, as in that series in 2002, India surrendered their similarly hard earned 1-0 series lead after two games and rather tamely lost two of the next three. The last time they held a 1-0 lead in a five match series against England also ended in tears in 1985 and on home soil to boot. And Dhoni will also remember first hand how his team gave up a 1-0 lead against Cook's men not too long ago when the odds were all against the English. He will also know though that the 1-0 lead has been achieved without his three most aggressive men (Dhawan, Kohli, and Shami) firing so there is some gas in the tank potentially. And it will be needed as over a long series, the same players can't come to the party all the time and not every batting wobble will be recovered from. That will hopefully mean an end to the Stuart Binny experiment and Rohit Sharma coming in to bolster the batting (as seems likely?).
England are also battling the unknown with a 10 match "no-win" streak and seemingly no turnaround in sight. They are nowhere near as bad as Jarrod Kimber makes them out to be, but they do have big challenges. Like India, some of their most aggressive players (Bell, Broad, and Prior) haven't taken off and now one of them has stepped away. They will hope that Broad at least doesn't follow suit. Since his punishing return to form on India's last visit to these shores, Broad has been England's best bowler at home by a distance (whether its in terms of wickets, strike rate or averages). A matchwinning spell from him and England will believe again, no matter if Cook's poor run with the bat continues. Bell is due some runs too and Buttler's selection at least shows that not all of their intent is gone yet. Bringing back Jordan for Stokes would be the final aggressive move they need to make and I would still give them a fighting chance.
Into the mix of unknowns will be the pitch and conditions at the Ageas Bowl and it'll be interesting to see what the captain who wins the toss decides to do. Dhoni has shown a more aggressive side to him and Cook no longer has the option to be conservative. The third day is often the pivotal one in Test matches and this third match is likely to be similarly decisive. With the weather set fair, it should be fascinating watching.
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