The Shorter Wisden 2013 (66 page)

The afternoon roused passions as Trott, in typically single-minded pursuit of runs, opted to hit a boundary off Jadeja from a ball that had slipped from his hand on to an adjacent strip.
Although Trott was within his rights, other batsmen might have allowed the umpire to call dead ball. At the close, Ashwin suggested it had been unsporting. Before then, India had suffered more
frustration, when Trott survived a strong (but unproven) appeal for a catch behind off Sharma. Ashwin later threatened to run Trott out at the bowler’s end for backing up too far. But Trott
remained steadfastly Trott, his self-absorption tailor-made for the situation. By the time he flicked Ashwin to leg slip to depart for 143, made in 405 minutes, England’s lead had advanced to
an impregnable 306. It proved the only wicket to fall on the final day. Bell ended a 403-minute innings with 116 not out – his first Test hundred in India – tired but satisfied, while
the home crowd were generous but resigned. England cracked open the beers, and began to think of Christmas.

Man of the Match:
J. M. Anderson.
Man of the Series:
A. N. Cook.

Sharma 28–9–49–3; Ojha 35–12–71–0; Jadeja 37–17–58–2; Chawla 21.5–1–69–4; Ashwin
24–3–66–1.
Second innings
—Sharma 15–3–42–0; Ojha 40–14–70–1; Ashwin 38–11–99–2; Chawla
26–6–64–0; Jadeja 33–17–59–1; Gambhir 2–0–4–0.

Anderson 32–5–81–4; Bresnan 26–5–69–0; Panesar 52–15–81–1; Swann 31–10–76–3; Trott
1–0–2–0; Root 1–0–5–0.

Umpires: H. D. P. K. Dharmasena and R. J. Tucker. Third umpire: S. Ravi.

Referee: J. J. Crowe.

LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP, 2012

N
EVILLE
S
COTT

There were times last summer when British life seemed so grotesque you thought you were in the pages of a novel by Tom Sharpe or Mervyn Peake. The Leveson inquiry revealed that
the prime minister shared gushing emails with the soon-to-be-arrested editor of a tabloid newspaper, who rode the ranges of Oxfordshire alongside him on a charger supplied by the Metropolitan
Police, several of whose senior officers faced allegations of corruption. Vince Cable, the government’s business secretary, described areas of British banking, so critical to the economy, as
“a massive cesspit”. And surface-to-air missiles were sited on the roofs of tower blocks up the road from where Graham Gooch first clasped a bat, in innocent days when children still
played cricket in London’s East End. To top it all, Derbyshire won their first trophy for 19 years.

Yet seeking sanity in the Championship was to find that the heavens had turned more absurd still. Snow preceded the first day of the season, sleet stopped play at Scarborough on May 4 (when
temperatures in torrid Hove soared to 5°C)), swan-upping in mid-July was cancelled due to floods, and the rain barely relented. Out of the cesspit, into the monsoon.

In the words of Captain Scott, counties “bowed to the will of Providence” and, in the face of the non-stop deluge, just 38% of Division Two matches had produced a result by August
18. The season can be starkly summed up: only 68 (of 144) games were won, and 27 of these wins arrived in the first and last fortnights. In between, summer came and went in late May, during seven
days that granted another seven results. Half the victories in 2012 were thus secured in five weeks. The rest was rain and pitch inspections.

Worse, of the 13 results that emerged from 14 games in that frigid first fortnight (all rain-interrupted), several were played on pitches that rendered cricket almost a game of chance. By May 6,
when a quarter of the campaign had already passed, the overall average cost of a wicket was 24 runs. Batsmen floundered like airline pilots suddenly having to fly without benefit of onboard
computers. There were five counties by that date who, in a combined total of 22 games, had managed three batting points between them from a potential maximum of 110; one of them, Nottinghamshire,
held second place in Division One.

But the two sides who seized the early advantage retained it. Tables can mislead, for until the final round some teams have played more games than others; but, on the basis of points per
completed match, Derbyshire led the promotion race from their third fixture to the finish, and Warwickshire led the title race from first to last.

Warwickshire
were worthy champions. Many who had seen them in 2011 (though not the bookies) tipped them for the crown because they had players with the will and nous to respond
when required. Four of their six successes had come by late May, with nine men, including Ian Bell during a rare release by England, contributing at least a match-winning performance. The title
arrived five and a half playing days from the close, and Varun Chopra was the sole England-raised batsman to hit 1,000 Championship runs.

Nottinghamshire
, their only real threat until mid-August, had also won four times by May 28, but would not prevail again in the wet. After their first ten games, the remarkable
Andre Adams – who had played in nine – had 50 Championship wickets, 12 more than his nearest rival, and it seemed the title would rest on his private battle with the collective
excellence of the Warwickshire attack. But Adams lost fitness, playing only three more games for four more wickets, and his side gave six men to England during the final quarter. When
Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire met twice in the last three games, both proved to be draws – inevitably rain-affected.

Leapfrogging Nottinghamshire, who slipped back to fifth,
Somerset
won their last two matches in that belatedly bright September to take second place, and
Middlesex
, coming third, achieved their best finish for 17 years.
Sussex
, either side of the Twenty20 hiatus, eluded the showers to win four successive home games,
in all of which they inserted their opponents in contests lasting fewer than 270 overs. They finished fourth.

Durham
, ageing in 2011, were now simply aged. In each of their first five games, they fielded at least four players who had passed their 33rd birthdays. Half their first ten
matches were lost, and another abandoned, before – with ranks refreshed by two young South Africans – they rousingly won five of their last six, thwarting relegation under Paul
Collingwood, a new captain at 36. By then, three former Championship-winning stalwarts had either retired or gone out on loan. Of eight matches on questionable pitches in Chester-le-Street, six
reached a result. Each came in the overs equivalent of under three days. In all, even discounting matches where declarations attempted to outwit bad weather, 35 victories (51% of the total) were
similarly terse.

Having lost to Middlesex in April, Surrey bitterly castigated the Lord’s pitch – “awful” was one of the milder comments, but the word gained true weight two months later.
Surrey’s season was overshadowed by the death of Tom Maynard at 23. It was the club’s third such bleak loss in two generations: Graham Kersey, the oldest at 25, had died in 1997, Ben
Hollioake in spring 2002. Their bowling, on paper, had looked strong enough to win the title, but on spinning pitches at The Oval, Surrey needed to stir themselves to win their last two home games
and stay in the first division.

Although one round remained, that second Surrey win condemned
Worcestershire
to relegation. But not for some three hours was
Lancashire’s
fate sealed over
the river at Lord’s; needing victory, they went down blazing, in an impossible attempt to score 304 in 39 overs. They joined Yorkshire in 2002 and Nottinghamshire in 2006 by being demoted the
year after taking the title. At least their failure to win any of six games in Liverpool buried the myth that they owed their 2011 triumph to Aigburth: their home and away records that summer were
in fact identical. The simpler truth was that a team of largely unspectacular individuals could not again summon the energy to prevail by collective dedication, a reality illustrated by a return of
18 expensive wickets for Kyle Hogg, one of the surprise heroes of the previous season.