< 1 minute read“My practice over the years has gone from searching for perfection to just doing as little as possible. The bare minimum.” – James Anderson Speaking as someone who once earned the nickname ‘Bare Minimum,’ we are delighted with this revelation of the secret behind James Anderson’s success. Perhaps if you
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Should England persist with Moeen Ali?
< 1 minute readIt’s not how, it’s how many. That’s what they say of run-scoring. Does the same apply to wicket-taking? Moeen Ali is actually England’s second-highest wicket-taker in this Pakistan series. He has taken seven wickets at 32.28, which is eminently respectable. He has also conceded near enough five runs an over,
Continue readingOut with Shan Masood, in with a pair of deep sea diving boots
< 1 minute readAfter an hour of zesty nonsense this morning, the cricket restarted. Shan Masood continued his marvellous record of being dismissed by Jimmy Anderson for pretty much no runs. Pakistan can be fairly confident that Jimmy will play the next Test and they can be fairly confident that he will open
Continue readingBatsmen don’t win Test matches
2 minute readA few weeks ago, we spent a good long while discussing what time we should leave the County Ground in Bristol when we already knew the match was over. We stick around at the end of cricket matches. We certainly don’t leave early. Today, England made the decision to bat
Continue readingEngland hit upon innovative new strategy – hundreds from Cook and Root
< 1 minute readSomeone came to Old Trafford dressed as the Cookie Monster today. Perhaps it was a reference to the hundred-scoring monster that is Alastair Cook. Or maybe all his other clothes were in the wash. Earlier today we made a comment about how we generally feel like we’ve seen Cook’s innings
Continue readingJake Ball: first look in Test cricket
< 1 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from debut performances – but we report on them anyway. Google does currently appear to be conflating Jake Ball with the Welsh rugby player of the same name. The cricket one’s tall, but we’re pretty sure he doesn’t weigh 121kg. Our first
Continue readingPakistan celebrate Lord’s Test win with press-ups
< 1 minute readFor all the good cricket Pakistan played to beat England at Lord’s, their greatest attribute was that they visibly enjoyed playing Test cricket. Throughout the match, they were like a group of 11 children revelling in some sort of collective birthday, and when they won, it seemed they’d received the
Continue readingJames Vince’s batting average in the second division, first division and Test cricket
< 1 minute readWe had a first look at James Vince in Test cricket and weren’t much impressed – but we did add the proviso that we don’t ascribe much value to debut performances anyway. We’ve had a few more looks now and we’re still not particularly impressed. We generally find people’s decisiveness
Continue readingMisbah-ul-Haq sweeps Moeen Ali for four
< 1 minute readThen reverse sweeps him for four. Then sweeps him for four again. Then he blocks one because he fancies a change of tempo. Then he sweeps him for four again. It could be a long summer for Moeen Ali. In amongst all the sweeping and reverse sweeping for four, Misbah-ul-Haq
Continue readingAirborne Younus Khan
< 1 minute readYounus Khan’s record is even more remarkable when you consider that he seemingly makes contact with most deliveries while airborne. We made this observation on Twitter and Karthik pointed us in the direction of the Airborne Younis Khan Tumblr, which is rather delightful (and also reminds us of a time
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