3 minute readIt’s funny how people described as “ageless” are always, always, without exception, old. People age in different ways. This is a phenomenon that first becomes apparent, and is arguably at its most jarring, when you’re in your late 20s or early 30s. At some point during that period, you’ll bump
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Dan Lawrence: first look in Test cricket
2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. As a connoisseur of part-time bowling, we are greatly disappointed to have missed the two overs Dan Lawrence bowled on his debut (0-10). Fortunately, his batting (73 and 21 not out) provided
Continue readingAt what exact point does a Joe Root innings become noteworthy?
2 minute readJoe Root has always been a batsman who’s scored about 40 more runs than you thought he had. Like a man on an e-bike, he glides along far quicker than seems to make sense given the effort he appears to be putting in. People really didn’t talk about Root all
Continue readingDom Bess’s terrible five-for: the not-very-highs, lows and lower-stills of one of the flukiest match-shaping bowling performances you’re ever likely to see
3 minute readSomeone has to carefully document Dom Bess’s absolutely dreadful 5-30 against Sri Lanka and that person has to be us. The stats people at CricViz do a thing where they estimate how many wickets a bowler could realistically expect to have taken in a given spell based on the deliveries
Continue readingSeven incredibly-well-researched team talking points for the Sri Lanka v England Test
2 minute readThe tyre-flipping is over and the gloves are off (or on, if the player in question is batting or wicket-keeping). The first Test between Sri Lanka and England is, by the time you read this, quite possibly underway. It isn’t underway as we write though, which means we are now
Continue readingWhat Ben Stokes, Jack Leach and Headingley 2019 tell us about Test cricket
5 minute readEngland v Australia, third Test, day four It’s six or out… … It’s six! Jonathan Agnew, Test Match Special Have you seen No Country For Old Men? You should watch No Country For Old Men. No Country For Old Men is a striking and excellent film and while the ending
Continue readingLord Megachiefs on Hold
3 minute readAt this time of year, we normally bestow the greatest honour in cricket by naming Lord Megachief of Gold. It’s a title that is earned through freakish cricket performance across the previous calendar year, but after much rumination we have concluded that 2020 wasn’t actually a proper year. There were
Continue readingLet’s try and identify England’s purest and greatest bits and pieces cricketer
8 minute readA bits-and-pieces cricketer is a player who wouldn’t warrant a place in the side as a batsman or a bowler but somehow gets picked anyway based on cumulative all-round ability. Let’s try and find England’s purest and greatest bits and pieces cricketer. Before we get into this, you may be
Continue readingDawid Malan has used ‘being the best batsman in the world’ as a stepping stone to competence
< 1 minute readIt’s like they always say: being the top-ranked batsman in the world can be a real confidence-booster and may even help you secure a place in the first team. When Dawid Malan became the number one batsman in T20 internationals in September, the general reaction could be summed up as,
Continue readingTemba Bavuma’s ramp shot is not polished
2 minute readTemba Bavuma has contributed all of 18 runs to the current T20 series between South Africa and England, so it’s odd that he should be responsible for one of the recurring highlights. His ramp shot is undeniably that though. This is how Temba Bavuma played a ramp shot in the
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