< 1 minute readLancashire started their must-win-by-a-mile match quite well, but James Harris and Ravi Patel secured a batting bonus point for Middlesex which means we now have a clearer idea of exactly what each team needs to do to survive. Lancashire need to either score 350, or declare with fewer than eight
Continue readingCategory: England
Durham do the dishes and then take out the recycling
< 1 minute readThe final of the domestic 50-over competition is an odd thing. It took place yesterday, in late September – a fortnight after the semi-finals, three weeks after the quarter finals and a month after the main bit of the tournament. You can see why it works that way, but with
Continue readingMop-up of the day – England won two games
< 1 minute readEngland finally found a modicum of limited overs success. They’ve analysed the stats and apparently scoring hundreds and making big totals will give them a better chance of success in the World Cup. Common sense might also tell you such a thing. The fifth one-day international Joe Root became the
Continue readingOvertraining in cricket – a plea for an off season
3 minute readWe’ve written a rather hefty piece for Cricinfo about overtraining in cricket. We think it’s a big deal, but we get the distinct impression that no-one else really does. It’s partly that people don’t really understand the concept. Understandably, they think it just means training too much, but overtraining is
Continue readingName England’s first choice one-day bowling attack
< 1 minute readMoeen Ali made 44, 10 and 55 in his first three one-day internationals (ODIs). He was opening the batting. Then they dropped him. Today he made 67 batting at seven. Chris Woakes opened the bowling at Cardiff and took 4-52. He also opened the bowling in Nottingham. Today he was
Continue readingThe hidden reason why England won’t win the World Cup
2 minute readThe main criticism of England’s one-day batting approach recently has been that they lack the dynamic hitting which is supposed to characterise the modern game. While that’s true up to a point, we actually don’t think that it’s the worst of their problems. There’s something else going on during the
Continue readingSuresh Raina v England – what this means for the World Cup
2 minute readBefore today, Suresh Raina had made three ODI hundreds in 193 matches. He made them against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. But Raina bats in the middle order, so that doesn’t tell us a lot. Let’s look at fifties instead. Against New Zealand, he has one in 11 innings;
Continue readingNo you can’t come up for air
2 minute readTomorrow, a view on India’s Test series, but today let’s look at England’s – or at least at how it finished. Some of the later events are being ruled ineligible for analyss on the grounds that India were too crap, but we found England’s approach quite interesting. 178 all out,
Continue readingBlood and panned
< 1 minute readWe think you’ll agree that it’s been very difficult to watch England methodically pan India without concluding that they are vampires. If you see Alastair Cook in your neighbourhood, don’t invite him into your home. While England have found ever greater vitality, India have been looking more and more tired.
Continue readingMS Dhoni has lost everyone
< 1 minute readHere’s a question: can you lead by example if no-one follows that example? If there’s no-one behind you, you’re not really leading, are you? You’re just ambling around on your own while everyone else sits around having cakes and tea. In the first innings at Old Trafford, MS Dhoni played
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