< 1 minute readLooks like we’re gonna need a bigger skull. A year ago we wrote about how New Zealand’s first few vertebrae – the batsmen at three, four, five and six – needed to be (metaphorically) full of brainy gloop to make up for shortcomings at the top. After a 148-run opening
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Joe Root hasn’t made a hundred in England for almost a year
2 minute readWe’re thinking about trying to get more into selective use of statistics. It seems to be a big thing in cricket, but we’re not off to a great start. Truth is it’s barely been nine months since Joe Root last made a hundred in England. Actually, we didn’t specify Test
Continue readingEngland captain, coach and director – how are the roles defined?
< 1 minute readToo many cooks? Too many Cooks? Who’s responsible for what in this new England team hierarchy? We’ve just spent half an hour writing and rewriting a paragraph trying to explain how we think things are going to work. Clearly, we have no idea. We came up with some sort of
Continue readingThe week in politics
2 minute readLike a tired bear in winter, let’s try and put this to bed for a few days. Maybe it’ll have to get up again at some point next week to go for a wee, but we’re kind of hoping that we can concentrate on the New Zealand series from now
Continue readingThe ECB takes aim at its prosthetic foot
3 minute readWhat may eventually prove to be Kevin Pietersen’s final six scoring strokes in first-class cricket were, in order, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. At that point, there was nowhere left to go. A friend of ours was referred to a heart specialist once. As he sat in the
Continue readingKevin Pietersen and the lonely ends of the spectra
2 minute readThe Kevin Pietersen saga is often described as a soap opera. This is quite accurate because the defining feature of a soap opera is that IT NEVER ENDS. Okay, Crossroads and Eldorado did, but you get what we’re saying. For the most part they just rumble on, day after day,
Continue readingAnother day, another long-term plan
< 1 minute readEngland have sacked their coach; the coach they hired about a year ago with a view to rebuilding the side in time for the Ashes series which starts in about 45 minutes’ time. We’re increasingly wondering whether they should just scrap long-term plans in favour of short-termism. It seems a
Continue readingEngland mistakes that we too would have made
2 minute readBeing as so many people seem to have very clear ideas about what England did wrong in the West Indies, we thought it might be nice to list some of the mistakes that England made that we too would have made – a kind of wilful spurning of hindsight, if
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Jonathan Trott: the totem who knew his mind
4 minute readThis article was first published on the All Out Cricket website in May 2015, but the All Out Cricket website no longer exists so we’re republishing it here. Jonathan Trott was never a cash-in player. He was never the guy who exploited tired bowling. He never stood on anyone else’s
Continue readingJonathan Trott – the king of relentlessness finally relents
< 1 minute readOur proper Jonathan Trott retirement piece is over on All Out Cricket. Other than that, here are two old posts which sum up different aspects of a top, top player. The first focuses on the sheer relentlessness of the man – surely his defining quality. If we have a happier
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