3 minute readWe’re not saying that the delivery with which Jasprit Bumrah bowled Ollie Pope was the best post-Waqar yorker. All we’re saying is that a decent case can be made and that’ll do for today. First things first, the greatest yorker of all time was bowled by Waqar Younis at some
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3 minute readAfter rather improbably sweeping and spinning a win in Hyderabad, England head to Visakhapatnam hoping to do something similar in the second Test. But can we expect similar conditions? All of the world’s great grounds have big, bold, powerful names that hit you hard and fast: Lord’s, Newlands, Eden Gardens,
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3 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. If there was a key moment for Tom Hartley on his debut, it was when Ben Stokes didn’t whip him out of the attack to ‘protect’ him after an over or two in
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2 minute readDoing your cricket things slightly earlier in the match is all the rage this month. Steve Smith’s become an opening batter. Jack Leach (or Rehan Ahmed or Tom Hartley or Joe Root) has become an opening bowler. England have picked just one quick bowler, Mark Wood, for the first Test
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3 minute readSome pretty big news has broken since England (finally) touched down in India for their five-Test series. It’s not Virat Kohli missing the first two games for personal reasons. It’s not Harry Brook missing (probably, maybe) the whole series, also for personal reasons. It’s to do with Ben Stokes. We
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4 minute readA Test tour of India feels like a bit of a free hit these days. England are supposed to lose… heavily. Captain and coach talk a good game and their ambitions and belief are genuine, but if the tourists emerge with anything less than a 5-0 defeat, those oh-so-familiar clichéd
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< 1 minute readGraham Thorpe was a dynamite bowler in Brian Lara Cricket. Graham Thorpe was not a dynamite bowler in real life. The various mechanics and failings of Brian Lara Cricket (which was apparently called Shane Warne Cricket in Australia) resulted in some innovative strategies, back in the day. Sixes were about
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< 1 minute readRoll up, roll up for the fifth and somehow not final Test of the 1981 Ridiculous Ashes. This one’s got Chris Tavaré in it, failing to keep pace with Geoff Boycott as the Yorkshireman tore along at just under two an over. It wasn’t just Boycott who outscored Tavaré in
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4 minute readIn our lower moments, we’ve all imagined-up some preposterously narrow niche within which we can consider ourselves the best in a bid to bolster our hollow confidence. Sympathy then for Phil Mustard, who can no longer consider himself the best wicketkeeper-batter called Phil Condiment to have opened the batting in
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4 minute readYou may have noticed from this website’s Patreon ‘benefits’ that we’re not big on paywalls. We’re therefore very excited to see that John Spellar MP wants to change the law so that England’s home Test matches would become ‘protected’ sports events and consequently broadcast on free-to-air TV. It’s a shame
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