< 1 minute readHow’s that for a rallying cry? England are playing their least-favoured format in their least-favoured conditions. This series against India will show them at their very worst and as such, it will tell us a hell of a lot. England’s worst is not yet ‘middling’. They should aspire to middling
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England are playing India – again
< 1 minute readIt’s just a one-day series, but as it happens England’s home win and India’s World Cup win have made this quite an appealing prospect. Plus it’s only five matches, not seven matches like it will be next winter. What’s that, you say? Seven one-day matches next winter? You don’t mean
Continue reading2011 County Championship players to watch review
2 minute readSuppose we should take a look at how our 2011 County Championship players to watch fared. Adam Lyth, Yorkshire 553 runs at 26.33 Yeah, that’s pretty shoddy. James Hildreth, Somerset 893 runs at 38.82 That’s okay. Ben Stokes, Durham 628 runs at 48.30 and 17 wickets at 33.00 Three hundreds,
Continue readingMarketing England one-day matches in 2012
< 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 readingAre 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 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 readingWere you doing something else when England played India at the Rose Bowl?
< 1 minute readMaybe you were pipe-cleaner modelling or carrying out wig maintenance. Here’s what you missed: Vinay Kumar seemingly wearing clogs MS Dhoni keeping without a hat on Alastair Cook slogging a single to cow corner off the back foot about 40 times
Continue readingWhat’s the mace up to today?
< 1 minute readIt’s just chilling out, having a couple of beers with its mates.
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