< 1 minute readWe’re not interested in anyone’s actual opinion, but we are interested in who people have opinions about. If we were a mainstream media outlet, we’d bill this as being ‘Twitter’s verdict’ as if Twitter’s a single person with a single opinion and a single voice. What we will instead say
Continue readingCategory: England
How many Tests before you can fairly judge a batsman?
2 minute readBased on their returns in this series, many are calling for some combination of Alex Hales, Nick Compton and James Taylor to be dropped. Then again, based on their returns in this series it’s equally valid to suggest that Alastair Cook and James Anderson should be dropped. It’s almost as
Continue readingThe incompetence deception – England’s greatest ruse
< 1 minute readTruly, it is the best of times. England have hit upon a quite brilliant ploy whereby they disguise themselves as a crap team and yet still win Test series. Expectations remain low, meaning every win is a glorious and uplifting surprise for fans. After the fourth day’s play, Rob Key
Continue readingEngland – select patient
< 1 minute readThis would be the slogan of England under Trevor Bayliss if they went to a crappy marketing company and paid them a billion pounds for branding. That’s how you do slogans these days. You make them grammatically jarring. That’s the old rope you get for your stacks of cash. Here’s
Continue readingJames Taylor at short leg
< 1 minute readSky just broadcast a slow-mo of James Taylor plucking the ball out of his arse. That’s what it looked like anyway. Kneeling down, he reached behind him and lo, there it was. South Africa were doubtless already wary of Taylor’s short leg fielding after a couple of shots ended up
Continue readingWhy Nick Compton is failing
3 minute readWhen England dropped Nick Compton last time around, did they drop him for batting slowly and ineffectively or did they drop him for how he responded to pressure? George Dobell has written what basically amounts to a plea for Compton to ‘dare to be dull’ over at Cricinfo. The term
Continue readingWhen South Africa were Stued
2 minute readBack in August, Stuart Broad tore Australia a new one. But that was last year. How many new ones had he torn in 2016? Not a single one. Disgraceful. He doubtless wanted to address this grave situation in South Africa’s first innings, but was apparently struck down by the wild
Continue readingRoot and Stokes – a certain chemistry
2 minute readAlchemy was when they used to try and turn base metals into gold. It was a load of cobblers. Tell you what isn’t a load of cobblers though – Joe Root and Ben Stokes batting together. Quite often when these two substances are combined, true magic happens. In this year’s
Continue readingSteven Finn bowls well a lot
2 minute readWay back when, there was an advert for Lancashire theme park Camelot in which they made great play of the second half of the name. We can’t remember exactly how it went, but it was something like: “Laugh a lot. Scare a lot. Fun a lot. CAMELOT!” Fun a lot?
Continue readingWhy a declaration from both teams is rarely a good sign
2 minute readTo have one team declaring indicates dominance. To have two teams declaring generally indicates a poor pitch. Catching the ball helps of course – unless you’re playing a Shane Watson XI and therefore have no need of such frivolities. With nothing to bat for beyond a draw, England did at
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