< 1 minute readIan Bell gets some unwarranted abuse, but if Paul Harris bowls a ball that will hit the stumps if it goes straight on, you bloody well get your bat in the way. We distinctly remember Ian Bell leaving a straight one from Shane Warne before now and that was bad
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Graeme Swann is probably underrated
< 1 minute readGraeme Swann saved England with five wickets and in an earlier pre-referral era, he might have had seven. Not bad for an off-spinner in the first innings of a match. Not bad for an off-spinner in any innings, many say. Maybe Warne and Murali are to blame, but everyone thinks
Continue readingShould England pick Luke Wright for the first Test?
< 1 minute readProbably not. We don’t see Luke Wright getting a great many more runs than Ryan Sidebottom and we don’t see him taking many more wickets than Ian Bell. We quite like him, but bouncing around like a giddy dog does not a Test cricketer make. It would be good if
Continue readingKevin Pietersen booed in South Africa
< 1 minute readIf you’re relatively new to cricket, you might think Kevin Pietersen came to prominence because of a shit haircut and an Ashes-winning hundred. You’d be wrong and not just because cricket series are won by bowlers and not by batsmen ensuring a draw in the final Test of a series.
Continue readingECB priorities – geraniums and counties
< 1 minute readAn ECB statement describes how they’re going to try and persuade the government that the Ashes should remain on subscription TV. “In the coming weeks we will set out to them the hugely detrimental impact the panel’s recommendations would have on our successful community projects as well as the potential
Continue readingICC Test rankings system
< 1 minute readIndia have risen to be number one in the rankings and many people will say that the rankings are questionable. Are India the best Test cricket team? A lot of people say the rankings are meaningless. When they make this criticism, they always do it according to a team’s position.
Continue readingMark Davies’ England call-up demands some new exclamations
< 1 minute readOne to watch veteran, Mark Davies, has finally been called into the England squad. If he plays a Test, it is not acceptable to use mundane exclamations like ‘well bowled!’ The obvious substitutes are ‘hammer of Thor!‘ and ‘great Odin’s raven!‘ but if you tire of shouting those, here are
Continue readingThe five best all-rounders over the next five years
< 1 minute readNot sure we’ve got Imran Khan or Garry Sobers on the cards, but it’s not looking bad. Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh, age 22 As a cricket-writer, we’re worried there’ll be no words left in a few years time, because they’ll all have been eaten by Bangladesh criticisers. Shakib Al Hasan
Continue readingThe five best batsmen over the next five years
< 1 minute readThe big names are generally old bastards. Who’s next? Ross Taylor, New Zealand, age 25 Ross Taylor tends to look like he’s the man who’s going to win the match for New Zealand shortly before doing something slightly spacky. Pretty soon those fifties will become hundreds and those hundreds will
Continue readingAdil Rashid treated like an English leg spinner
< 1 minute readEngland are going to have to watch this. It’s not deliberate, but if you had to design some tactics to erode a player’s confidence, what they’re doing to Adil Rashid might be what you’d come up with. In the summer, Rashid started the one-day series against Australia well and promptly
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