2 minute readAs you’re all no doubt aware, pretty much all DIY tasks can be embarked upon using only a dessert spoon and a hammer. They’re adaptable devices and allow you to make a start, but after a bit you may well yearn for more specialist tools which would enable you complete
Continue readingCategory: England
Alastair Cook is a complete part-timer
< 1 minute readEpic, they say. Monumental. Alastair Cook batted for 836 minutes against Pakistan. That’s almost 14 hours. Or, in other words, not even two days’ work for a normal person. So before we start lauding Cook’s extraordinary powers of concentration, let’s just stop a minute and ponder whether he could spend
Continue readingAlastair Cook does the big shop
< 1 minute readAfter sizing up the bowling and briefly treating himself to a strange and hugely entertaining ‘mustn’t handle the ball’ dance, Alastair Cook quickly moved up through the gears. At times he got as high as third. Mostly he sat in second. When there was a break in play, he refuelled,
Continue readingHow costly will that dropped chance prove to be? Apparently only fate can decide
< 1 minute readLast year, Pakistan managed first innings scores in Abu Dhabi of 570-6 and 566-3 against Australia and then New Zealand. It’s not like England did especially badly in conceding 523-8. Pakistan are just good. Not that it’s impossible to take wickets there though. Those two teams’ responses were 261 and
Continue readingBen Stokes makes things happen
< 1 minute readTo which one can only say: who doesn’t make things happen? We just made a typo happen, for example. Shortly afterwards, we made a correction happen. A littler earlier, we made a cup of coffee happen. Jade Dernbach makes wide long hops happen. Shaun Marsh makes hard-handed edges to the
Continue readingJos Buttler wearing an ice bra
< 1 minute readWe think that’s what it is. Or maybe it’s just a conventional sports bra and therefore entirely normal. The image comes from an ECB video that’s largely about how hot it is in the UAE. Jos appears shortly after Mark Wood has said: “We’ve had lads grabbing ice and putting
Continue readingHotwiring Jonny Bairstow
< 1 minute readDespite recent media coverage, Alex Hales is not actually in competition with Moeen Ali. He is, we’d guess, competing with Jonny Bairstow. Alastair Cook wants plenty of bowlers in 40 degree heat which means Adil Rashid will finally get to play a Test in the UAE. In which case who
Continue readingMark Wood and Steve and Ben Harmison play cricket together
< 1 minute readIn their normal clothes. The video this image is taken from is the very definition of ‘intensity’. Brace yourselves for some electrifying cricket before clicking the link.
Continue readingMark Wood and Steve and Ben Harmison have all joined Ashington Leisure Centre
< 1 minute readHere’s a picture of them brandishing their membership cards whilst wearing their normal clothes. It’s like they always say in Ashington: ‘No matter what you’re doing, always remain visible while protecting your head, hands and eyes.’ They have some damn catchy slogans up in Ashington.
Continue readingSamit Patel’s back
< 1 minute readAs in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. Or maybe he has. Maybe he’s not fat and it’s chronic inflammation. Big boned and all that. He’s also back in the England squad. We’ve said it about Samit Patel before and we’ll say it again, but sometimes picking an
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