3 minute readSome have questioned why Tests are scheduled for the North of England in May. The weather has been used as one argument against doing so, but attendances have earned a few mentions too. Let’s take a look at where Test cricket is played in England and when, and examine the
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James Anderson fully capable of spending nine years at the wrong end
< 1 minute readIf ever you want to form a pantomime horse with James Anderson, don’t expect him to dress appropriately the first time. Don’t expect him to get it right the second time, third time, or fourth time either. But give him a while. After nine years of equine double-arsedness, he might
Continue readingThe impossible James Anderson
< 1 minute readPeople often say of a spell that a bowler ‘looked like taking a wicket every ball’. It’s rhetoric. What they mean is that the player in question looked far more likely to take a wicket than you would normally expect. So let’s word it differently. In his second spell against
Continue readingJonny Bairstow has a fridge door full of hundreds
2 minute readAbout a year ago, we started getting milk delivered – you know, like how people used to back in the Eighties. No longer do we have to carry weighty flagons of milk in amongst the rest of the big shop; now it just materialises on our doorstep, as if by
Continue readingEngland’s dodgy drivers dobbled by deadly Dasun
< 1 minute readThe received wisdom is that you don’t get wickets in Test cricket with dibbly-dobbly medium-pace. This is actually entirely accurate – but only because nobody picks dibbly-dobbly medium-pacers for Tests. The truth is that dibbly-dobbly is tough for Test batsmen. Their net bowlers are 85mph, their bowling machines are 85mph.
Continue readingSome sort of James Vince type substance
< 1 minute readJames Vince is stylish. We don’t generally trust that in a batsman and the feeling has been compounded by a nameless county bowler who recently told the Guardian’s Mike Selvey: “He likes to look good.” Despite this, it is technically possible that we could warm to a player likely to
Continue readingWhere next for Chris Woakes?
2 minute readChris Woakes played in England’s last Test. He dismissed Stephen Cook for 115. Now he’s out of the team and out of the squad. England like the idea of Woakes, but they don’t like that idea enough to commit to giving him a long run in the side. It’s understandable.
Continue readingCharlotte Edwards’ bit is done – good work
2 minute readWhen Charlotte Edwards first played for England, she wore a skirt. She didn’t choose to. She was obliged to. That debut came when she was 16 (she played for the under-19s at 12) The women’s game has moved on since then and you might have expected her to have been
Continue readingWhat is a format-spanning points system for?
3 minute readLast week we asked whether you would care if the Ashes included limited overs matches. This was slightly mischievous on our part because while the series could in theory be affected by the mooted system which would see points accrued across formats and an overall winner recognised, the truth is
Continue readingWould you care if the Ashes included limited overs matches?
3 minute readBen Stokes would. Reacting to plans to implement a points system spanning the formats for cricket tours, he said: “I think it would be rubbish. They’ve changed a lot of things, but Ashes is Ashes, it’s a massive series for England and Australia and I don’t see why it should
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