England

Alastair Cook seems to be England’s best one-day batsman at the minute

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Alastair Cook and all that them battings and that and them and that

And after all of 12 matches, Steven Finn would seem to be their best bowler. How do you feel about these things? Angry or amazed?

Before this series, each of Sky’s commentary team picked their preferred England one-day side. We weren’t really paying attention (cooking, eating, playing games or just zoning out most likely) but we’re pretty sure at least one of them didn’t want Alastair Cook in the team. Whoever it was – if it was anyone – wanted Craig Kieswetter opening instead, because of his ‘big shots’ or something like that.

The person who may or not have said this is clearly wrong. Craig Kieswetter may well have bigger shots, but he generally only gets to play five of them. Alastair Cook plays dozens of his slightly smaller shots and scores hundreds. He middles the ball into gaps. It’s what you’re supposed to do.

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10 comments

    1. Thanks. Sometimes it all just flows and it feels like we don’t even have to try.

      So we don’t.

  2. I’ve just sat down to watch the highlights, and you’ve ruined it. Here I am wondering whether Cook did well or not, and you’ve directly suggested that he did. Judging by the wording, you’ve clearly implied that he scored over 136. Well thanks for that!

    What next? An article about how sorry you are that Finn didn’t get five wickets, thus implying that he got four? An article asking what when wrong on Finn’s hat-trick ball, thus implying that he got two in two? Well if you are planning anything like this, keep it to yourself.

  3. Has Sarah started putting watermarks on the photos in order to keep you from stealing them?

    Fickle.

  4. Pretty sure it was Athers…he was also calling for him to be replaced as captain by Swanny. Good call that Athers.

    1. He’s got good form for assessing players, has Michael. Under the headline “Journeymen Put England on Brink of Victory”, this was Atherton’s analysis of the 2009 Lord’s test against the West Indies:

      “The first day at Lord’s witnessed the arrival of a special talent; now it was the turn of the journeymen. For Ravi Bopara, the possibilities are endless, but we know, as much as we can know anything in sport, that Graeme Swann and Graham Onions will not finish their international careers as greats of the game.”

      I discarded him as a Lancastrian some years ago. Any true Lancastrian would be able to tell the difference between Graeme Swann and a journeyman, and between Ravi Bopara and a great of the game, and would also be able to captain a team to international glory through sheer force of Lancastrianism. His journalism is following his cricketing career – immensely stylish, very classy, rather short on results.

    2. Using Bert’s analysis I have estimated the “true” population of Lancashire to be 0, due to the one man who arguably fulfils the latter qualification having died before the opportunity to test the former two qualifications.

    4. What about all those great Lancastrians who never had a go at captaining England?

      John of Gaunt
      Henry Bollingbroke
      Henry of Monmouth
      Me
      The Queen
      Stuart Hall

      All of these and more would have done a proper job.

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