< 1 minute readBoth Ian Bell and Matt Prior withstood the Sri Lankans for quite some time, but they couldn’t finish the job. Muttiah Muralitharan got both of them – with the new ball, no less. Bell had a good match, but if you’re the batsman in form, you need to influence proceedings.
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Why we hate the nightwatchman
< 1 minute readWe hate nightwatchmen because we think it’s just a habit. A thoughtless habit borne of tradition. The idea is that if a wicket falls near the end of the day, you put in a lower-order batsman to protect the proper batsman from the strike and martyr himself if there’s a
Continue readingKumar Sangakkara pushes finely-balanced Test over Sri Lanka-wards
2 minute readThings were so well-poised overnight. Sri Lanka had started their second innings really well, but both openers were out meaning their two best batsmen were at the crease. If England had managed to nick them out, they’d have been odds-on favourites. But being the best batsmen in your team tends
Continue readingSanath Jayasuriya bowing out in style
2 minute readTest cricket is losing its pirate. Sanath Jayasuriya has boomed his last ‘ha-haaaa’ to the point boundary. He’s carrying on in one-day internationals, so it’s not the ‘end-end’. It’s just an end. A bit of a sad one. It wasn’t sad watching him, though. He larruped every ball of one
Continue readingLike Matthew Hoggard’s never been away
< 1 minute readMatthey Hoggard says nobody’s a dead cert for the England team. We’d dispute that. Matthew Hoggard’s a dead cert, surely. Today he took four top order wickets for just 29 runs and it’s like he’s never been away. We’ve missed Matthew Hoggard (he was injured over the summer) and we’ve
Continue readingMatthew Hoggard will be in the Test team then
< 1 minute readIf 240 Test wickets weren’t enough, there’s the fact that Stephen Harmison and James Anderson are both a bit injured to help Hoggy along. And if his 6-57 against India at Nagpur last year – a herculean bowling performance hewn from pure nous – wasn’t proof that he could bowl
Continue readingEngland warm-up Sri Lanka
< 1 minute readIt’s been very generous of England to attempt to sort out Sri Lanka’s opening vacancy within 24 hours of the retirment of Marvan Atapattu. Upul Tharanga made a hundred for the Board President’s XI and Sri Lanka’s muppets would appear to have an easy decision to make. If there are
Continue readingNick Compton and some other people attempt to break ‘Everest record’
2 minute readThat’s what the BBC say. What image does ‘Everest record’ conjure up? Are you imagining a group of people playing cricket on the Gorak Shep Glacier at 5,184m? No? Well, you should be, because that’s what they’re doing. (Actually, we reckon it’s the Khumbu Glacier – Gorak Shep appears to
Continue readingDuncan Fletcher’s crappy book
2 minute readIt is if the extracts are anything to go by. Duncan Fletcher’s book is called ‘Behind The Shades‘ – a reference to his inscrutable public appearance. Fletcher didn’t care what the media said about him and he didn’t have a lot to say to them. Well, it turns out that
Continue readingDuncan Fletcher on Ian Botham
< 1 minute readNot literally. That would be hideous. That would be really, really, world-class, title-taking hideous. No. This is the view of Ian Botham expressed in Duncan Fletcher’s book: “‘Get rid of all the guys like Atherton, Caddick and Tufnell,’ he [Botham] told me. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because they’re too old, rather
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