Eye of the Beholder

Here's a rather odd article by Kevin Mitchell in today's Observer following Englands somewhat 'below par' performance in Jaipur yesterday.

There was a lot that was praiseworthy about the Australian performance - the performances of Watson and Johnson with the ball for example, and Damian Martyn's sublime batting - but Glen McGrath's bowling must surely be quite a long way down the list.

Maybe I was watching a different game to the one he's writing about, because to my eyes McGrath's first spell bordered on dross - Bell and Strauss had determined to get after him from the word go and you could tell that 'big Glen' didn't like it - ending with the petulant throw at the stumps when Bell was half way through taking his gloves off at the end of the over.

His later spell was, I admit, a big step up - but by then England were very much on the back foot and any 'attack McGrath' gameplan had obvious gone out of the window in favour of panicky defense. His two wickets were Chris Read caught off his shirt (maybe he and Michael Yardy should try wearing Aussie Rules jerseys next time) and number eleven bat James Anderson - whoop-di-doo!

Of course, there's always the possibility that Mitchell is being a tad Machiavellian and is boosting McGrath in the eyes of the Aussie selectors to make sure he's picked for Brisbane!