2 minute readA lot of people – seemingly a majority – are saying that Peter Moores ‘has to go’. There is probably some truth in this because the pressure and scrutiny he will be subjected to should he be allowed to remain would most likely be crushing for the team. However, we
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Five different four-year plans in every World Cup cycle – the illusion of stability in English cricket
5 minute readAfter six months of solid one-day cricket, England started the World Cup with a different side. Chris Woakes had been opening the bowling and doing well – he came on first change. Gary Ballance hadn’t played one-day cricket for six months – he came in at number three. James Taylor
Continue readingEngland World Cup feedback
< 1 minute readYou probably have something to say about England getting bundled out of the World Cup by Bangladesh’s seam bowlers. You can leave your thoughts in the comments of this article while we keep ourself busy writing some sort of… actually, we’re not too sure what you’d call it. To quote
Continue readingMop-up of the day – not really as related to cricket as you might think
< 1 minute readMuch as we enjoy writing about administrative staff, what they think and what they may or may not have meant when they said something in an interview, we rather feel that the World Cup is a time for writing about actual cricket. Colin Graves has said some things, the ECB
Continue readingParties, par, pace and predictability
2 minute readIn a run-chase, pressure doesn’t just come from the bowling you face. It comes from the relationship between the bowling you face and the runs you need. We haven’t yet seen England’s defence of 310, but our initial feeling is that Eoin Morgan’s belief that the bowlers were at fault
Continue readingLower orders and the last 10 overs
3 minute readAt the start of the tournament, we highlighted a weakness of South Africa’s – the fact that their batting order “quite quickly becomes a little bit Farhaan Behardien”. This weekend, it just as quickly became a little bit Wayne Parnell. That’s a long tail. South Africa’s best batsmen are so
Continue readingWhen Southee and McCullum skinned England
2 minute readSkinned them alive? Probably not. Skinned them undead maybe, for England increasingly seem like zombies. Asked to explain England’s latest defeat, all Eoin Morgan could muster was “braaaains” in a long, drawn-out moan. “Skiiiill” and “caaaaalmness” were also lacking. In contrast to England’s rotting flesh, New Zealand have a surfeit
Continue readingEngland hit the ground, not running, but with exceptional conservation of energy
< 1 minute readThis World Cup’s a marathon not a sprint. The last thing you want to do is hit the ground running. You want to hit the ground with a wet splat; look up; slowly get your bearings; and then start crawling in about a fortnight’s time. You want to reach a
Continue readingWhy we want England to win the World Cup
2 minute readThis shouldn’t really need writing on an England cricket website, but there’s a lot of cynicism about so we thought we’d state our position. We had what may or may not be considered a ‘Twitter rant’ earlier. We’d been reading various previews from various writers from various nations and had
Continue readingWhich cricketers are world class?
< 1 minute readWhen the England captain ain’t making runs, the drill goes like this: journalist asks one of his team-mates about his loss of form; team-mate describes him as ‘world class’ and says there’s nothing to worry about. It was Joe Root earlier in the week and now it’s Jimmy Anderson’s turn.
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