International cricket returns on Wednesday as England begin their three-match Test series against the West Indies in Southampton - Richard Mann discusses the key talking points.
Cricket braces itself for new normal
Cricket is back, but it won’t be quite as we remember.
While it might not universally be the case, Test cricket in England is consistently well supported, but the stands at the Ageas Bowl in the coming days will be empty. There will be no Barmy Army singing from start to finish and the marking of a milestone, be it a hundred or a five-wicket haul, will not be to thousands of standing, adoring fans, but to only a handful of teammates. The 'new normal', cricket style.
The sight of James Anderson sanitising his hands on the boundary in last week’s intra-squad warm-up match caused something of a stir on social media but we can expect more of the same in the coming weeks and months, while the sporting of headbands appears here to stay for a good while yet.
Seeing opposition players shake hands at the end of a hard day's play or conclusion of a close Test match is all part of the beauty of our game: play hard on the field, but come together off it. For now at least, that too will be lost, as will be much of the access media outlets such as Sky Sports are able to get with the players and coaching staff to deliver the special insight that television viewers have become so accustomed to.
There are so many other measures and drawbacks that the players will have to deal with this summer in order to allow the game to return but most crucially, it is the absence of the crowd that will leave the biggest hole.
Atmosphere makes sport and as we have seen with the earlier returns of racing, football and snooker, crowds have been badly missed over the past few weeks.
Royal Ascot, for all it was a significant achievement to stage the meeting at all, wasn’t the same this year without the usual razzamatazz and the sight of Derby emphatic winner Serpentine returning to an almost empty winners’ enclosure at Epsom on Saturday was a slightly deflating one.
Empty football stands have left impressive stadia feeling soulless, and watching snooker without the inevitable ‘oohs and ahs’ from the crowd has no doubt detracted from a game that relies so heavily on atmosphere, the almost claustrophobic feeling some players experience when entering the pressure cooker of a venue like the Crucible Theatre only adding to the drama of a sport that thrives on it.
If the wicket is flat in Southampton and the West Indies batsmen happen to build a big partnership, there will be no Barmy Army singing Anderson’s name this time, or a chorus of clapping as Stuart Broad turns at the top of his mark before breaking into his run-up; legs pumping faster and harder with every clap.
Will Broad be able to recapture those hot spells that have made him such a wonderful, streaky bowler when getting on a roll; an irresistible force who once getting a sniff, who has so often proven unstoppable for bursts of mesmerising cricket?
Broad, like so many other great fast bowlers, feeds off the crowd to produce his best and home or away, he has invariably found a way to work it to his advantage.
When Jofra Archer felled Steve Smith with a brutal bouncer at Lord’s last summer, the packed crowd and those watching at home were on the edge of their seats; Archer regular topping 90mph as a previously unbreachable Smith was left hopping, bruised and genuinely rattled.
It was one of the best passages of play imaginable, made by two fine cricketers at the peak of their powers in front an engrossed crowd who rode the emotion of every delivery. Great theatre at one of the most special of cricket venues but without that crowd; no cheering, no clapping, that void of atmosphere, there is no theatre.
Players will do what they can; whether it be to fire themselves up in an attempt to get into the battle, focus on themselves and the importance of playing for personal pride and job security, or even hone in a dislike of a member of the opposition.
Still, it can’t be the same while the usually packed stands remain empty, and for players and cricket lovers alike, the new normal is going to take plenty of getting used to.
Denly dilemma
Batting at number three in England is no easy task and the fact that current incumbent Joe Denly is a shoo-in at first drop for the opening Test against the West Indies despite averaging only 30.00 in his 14 Tests to date – with no hundreds – says everything about just what a tough gig it is.
Gone are the days of Jonathan Trott feverishly marking his guard with his worn-out spikes, adjusting the peak of his helmet before driving opposition bowlers insane with his trademark shuffle across the stumps and whip through the leg side that helped establish him as the rock of England’s batting order in the all-conquering Andrew Strauss era.
Michael Vaughan before Trott wasn’t anything like as extreme with his mannerisms but if you saw him bat at his peak in the early 2000s you wouldn’t forget him, and how England have missed his rare mix of gritty Yorkshire defence and natural flair that allowed him to transfer pressure onto the opposition when the situation required it.
Plenty to have tried to fill the big shoes left behind by the likes of Trott and Vaughan but while Gary Ballance's strong numbers – particularly in the early part of his England career – suggested he might be the man for the job, it is Denly who has looked the best fit since at number three since Trott’s retirement.