Free The Shorter Wisden 2013 by Co., John Wisden Page B

England’s most respected captains. Diplomatic and authoritative, he emitted just the right sort of anger – steam, not lava. And when he told team-mates of his retirement, he did
so by letter. He treated others with respect as a matter of course; usually, they returned the favour.
    Like Cook, Strauss had inherited a mess involving Pietersen, and set about the repair work with diligence and honesty. Between England’s defeat on his first trip in charge, in the West
Indies in early 2009, and the loss to Pakistan nearly three years later, Strauss led them to seven Test series wins and a draw. He won the Ashes home and away, becoming only the second Englishman
– after Len Hutton – to achieve the feat in two full series against a full-strength Australia. All that had been missing was victory in Asia and against South Africa, though even the
1–1 draw there in 2009-10 was cast in his own unflappable image.
    It was odd to think that, less than a month before everything unravelled, England might have topped the world rankings in all three formats had it not rained in Birmingham during the one-day
thrashing of Australia. While it’s true that Strauss quit Twenty20s in 2009 and 50-over internationals in 2011, he could claim some credit for creating a dressing-room which had grown to
expect success. That – and not the confusion at Lord’s – was his true gift to the English game.
    Yet there was a regret that went beyond the events of the summer. Strauss had been full-time captain for only three and a half years. Graeme Smith, his resilient South African counterpart, took
charge in April 2003. Smith did assume the job as a far younger man, but there was a more significant discrepancy: in the period in which Strauss captained in 45 Tests, Smith did so in 27. Neither
figure was ideal. South Africa don’t play enough series of four games or more; England play too much full stop. Even without the burdens of the limited-overs roles, Strauss had every right to
be worn out. Here’s wishing Cook a prosperous reign. It may be too much to hope for a long one.
    The roaring forties
    It is often said, usually by bowlers, that cricket is a batsman’s game. But South Africa’s pace attack have blithely ignored the maxim. Not long before they
dismantled England, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel had blown Australia away for 47 at Cape Town. Then, at the start of 2013, they humiliated New Zealand (45 at Cape Town) and, with
the help of Jacques Kallis, Pakistan (49 at Johannesburg). There had been only 17 totals of under 50 in Tests before this trail of destruction, and 11 of those came before the Second World War.
England’s nadir against the South Africans last summer was a positively zenith-like 240, which history may yet record as some kind of triumph.
    The power of three
    Perhaps we should have been surprised they were playing South Africa at all. In between their 2012 meeting and the next, in 2015-16, England will have played 24 Tests against
either Australia or India. By the end of the 2015 Ashes, the Australians will have visited this country for bilateral series five summers out of seven. And when Australia arrived in India in
February 2013, it was for the fifth Border–Gavaskar Trophy series in six years. The main reason given for England’s hosting of Australia for five one-day internationals last season was
mutual back-scratching: Australia are hosting England in a pre-World Cup triangular tournament in 2014-15. The third nation? That will be India.
    The players from these three teams may grow sick of the sight of each other, but the accountants will probably not. Last summer’s downgrade of South Africa’s visit to a three-Test
series for the first time in 18 years was a woeful piece of planning that could not be explained away entirely by the Olympics.
    Part of the charm of the big series resides in its sense of occasion. But ten straight Ashes Tests from July to January will be less of an