< 1 minute readRavi Bopara and Alastair Cook have batted together for Essex for ten years or so. They make an odd, but effective, couple. Cook’s a gangling left-handed posho who’s lumpen at the crease and nervy in front of the camera. Bopara’s a podgy, right-handed bloke, who’s often aggressive at the crease
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Eoin Morgan does something mental with his cricket bat
< 1 minute readWe saw this plastered across Jrod’s Balls yesterday. It’s Eoin Morgan doing something quite ridiculous in the name of batting. It’s pretty impressive, but is he really that good? He can play that shot well enough in those circumstances, but how well would he bat with his upper arms tied
Continue readingGraeme Swann loves dismissing left-hand batsmen
< 1 minute readWe dare say Graeme Swann quite likes dismissing right-hand batsmen as well, but he doesn’t do it half as often. Of his six wickets in this match, only one was right-handed – Jerome Taylor. This is by no means unusual for Swann. Against right-handers he looks an everyday bowler. Against
Continue readingWhy Graham Onions’ five-fer ain’t all that
< 1 minute readAfter being clean bowled for a golden duck and then seeing his first ball carted for four, Graham Onions didn’t immediately knock Test cricket sideways with his brilliance. A bit later, after three wickets in an over and 5-38, things looked a bit better. But… Have England found a great
Continue readingWho are England’s best bowlers at the moment?
2 minute readGraham Onions and Tim Bresnan come in. One’s already done well, but wouldn’t it be nice if they were clearly – CLEARLY – the best men for the job? The truth is everyone’s mostly just hoping for the best. This has long been the problem with English cricket. There are
Continue readingRavi Bopara celebrates
< 1 minute readIt’s nice to have a batsman who celebrates his hundreds through the lost art of mime. In Barbados he did a funny bow and arrow thing upon reaching three figures. Yesterday, he outlined the Lord’s honours board and scribbled his name on it. Ravi Bopara could have played flawlessly for
Continue readingAdvice for Fidel Edwards
< 1 minute readMaybe just bowl at the stumps, eh? Surely by now you’ve realised that your team mates have tiny, rigid, Lego man hands with unbending fingers that can’t catch cricket balls. Give it up. They’re only going to let you down. Fidel Edwards took 4-53 today and could quite realistically have
Continue readingIan Bell finds something amusing in the field
< 1 minute readThat’s the caption to this picture on Cricinfo. We’d rather this were a slip from a Cricinfo staff member, but we suspect it was done knowingly. Thanks to Sam for pointing this out, although we’re increasingly concerned by the frequency with which he sends Ian Bell pictures to us.
Continue readingRob Key – England opening batsman
< 1 minute readJust imagine the match announcer saying: “Opening the batting for England: Robert Key and someone else.” Because that’s what they’d say. They wouldn’t name the second batsman, because there would be NO POINT. The announcer has already given you all the information you could ever need: It’s England and it’s
Continue readingRavi Bopara: England number three
< 1 minute readWe like it. Let’s put some mundane banalities into bullet point format to in no way support that. Ravi Bopara Proper batsman who bats at three for his county One of the few batsmen in county cricket who you could consider to have been exceptional over the last few years
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