for dropped slip catches.
England dropped a couple of what looked like at the time very costly slip catches in the first test match against India, luckily they didn’t cost England the win they might actually have helped in the long run.
When Dawid Malan spilled the easy chance at second slip, that would have seen the India captain, Virat Kohli depart for just 21, it looked like it could be a costly mistake, when he was last man out for 149, it looked like it was a match losing mistake.
And Jimmy Anderson wasn’t happy. He did his full grumpy teapot turning to sugar bowl. But it’s his fault the catch went down. It’s Jimmy Anderson to blame for Malan being at second slip and his mates in the commentators booth and media are too cowardly to point it out.
When the catch was dropped by Malan, the likes of Michael Vaughan, Mark Nicholas and the screechy woman, were all screeching asking why Joe Root, England’s best slip catcher, wasn’t in the slip cordon.
Well, the answer is because of Jimmy Anderson.
Joe Root is stood at mid-on and not at slip because, as has been shown on many an occasion, he has to be standing as close to Anderson as possible otherwise the Burnley Bumpkin would be running in and bowling his usual short pitched rubbish when the conditions are screaming out for a swing bowler to pitch it up and swing it. Anderson though prefers to bowl for his economy rate rather than wickets. If he had half a brain he’d have knocking on about a thousand by now.
But Anderson was sat next to Vaughan, Nicholas, Screechy, during the recent one day series, so no, don’t expect any honesty about Anderson being the real reason for dropped catches.
Though in the end it could work out to England’s benefit. These dropped catches by Malan might just have been enough to get the player dropped. Who knows even with his nothing batting he might have survived without the dropped dollies. Yes he scored in Australia but how many hard, ball coming onto you pitches like those do you see in the rest of the world? It seems the only type he can bat on at this level.
So now he’s gone and you can’t see him returning as the new selectors are looking at younger players. So thank god for Jimmy Anderson’s lack of brain.
The other stupid thing I read in the aftermath of the opening test was that Sam Curran was lucky to get the man of the match award. Yes, the man who was most instrumental in England winning the match was lucky to be named the best player. Apparent;y Kohli’s losing ton deserved it.
When Curran entered the game with the ball on the first day England were getting nowhere. After a few balls India had three wickets down. Without his knock in the second inning, over a third of England’s second inning total, England would have lost the game. When Butler was out for one that was it according to the commentators, India had won. Nearly a hundred runs later and they had enough to see out the game by 31 runs in the end. Meanwhile India needed just over 50 to win when Kohli was out. Yet Curran was lucky…