< 1 minute readThe marketing men and women have got a tough task on their hands trying to generate interest in England’s 13 one-day internationals and four Twenty20 internationals next summer. This is because: There are far, far, far too many matches No-one in England gives a toss about short-form cricket outside of
Continue readingMonth: September 2011
Are you convinced by Jade Dernbach and his variations?
2 minute readWe’re not making a point of criticising England’s newer bowlers. We’re just pointing out that we aren’t living in a bounteous land of champagne fountains and gold furniture. Players are being talked about as if they’re staggeringly gifted when they’re not. The English treat one-day cricket like some mystical oddity.
Continue readingStuart Meaker and England selection
< 1 minute readIn years gone by, you wouldn’t have trusted the England selectors to identify the best cricketer on an episode of A Question Of Sport, but this batch, led by Geoff Miller, has earned respect. Even so, it doesn’t pay to get too clever. Earlier this year, we said that Stuart
Continue reading2,000th Test match report
< 1 minute readOur mum writes: As a thank you to KC’s dad for the loan of his DIY skills, a friend gave us two tickets for this historic day. There is nothing like a day in the members’ stand at Lord’s to make one feel young. We must have considerably reduced the
Continue readingThe English cricket backslapathon and what it means for Ravi Bopara
2 minute readWe sometimes experience this phenomenon where the girl driving the car behind seems to be the most beautiful woman in the world. This is true when we catch a glimpse of her for a fraction of a second, from a distance, while we’re both moving, but then she pulls up
Continue readingRemembering Dominic Cork
< 1 minute readRetiring from cricket at the age of 40 is a bit like dying at a grand old age. People naturally focus on what’s fresh in the memory. People remember your interests as being duck-feeding and ailment comparison with your peers, even though you were once a fighter pilot and later
Continue readingWe wrote about India losing over at Cricinfo
< 1 minute readWe’re hoping to attract some decent ill-feeling in the comments section, but there’s little so far. Maybe there’s a great pile of vitriol just waiting to be approved by a moderator. We did have a bit about Sachin Tendulkar failing to score his hundredth international hundred, but something similar had
Continue readingSurrey v Middlesex match report
2 minute readSam writes: Angry clouds greeted my arrival at the second day of the Guildford cricket festival. A colleague had promised a press pass would be waiting for me “at the gate.” Predictably, no such pass materialised, and said colleague was incommunicado, away on an all expenses paid trip to Spain.
Continue readingGlen Chapple might be superhuman
2 minute read1992. It was the year that Jimmy Nail would top the charts with Ain’t No Doubt. It was also the year that Glen Chapple made his debut for Lancashire. While the halcyon days of Spender and Crocodile Shoes are gone for Nail, Chapple soldiers on. He’s 37 now, but seems
Continue readingThe art of coming second
< 1 minute readIf ever you happen to find yourself in the final of a coin-tossing competition against Somerset, put all your money on yourself. Technically, the odds are even. In practice, this is Somerset and it’s a final. Somerset have now lost four of the last four domestic short format finals. If
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