4 minute readOur annual Lord Megachief of Gold award is the highest honour in cricket. The title is recognition of performance over the previous calendar year. Here are all the winners. From a personal perspective, one of the great tragedies of modern Test cricket is that we don’t draw the curtains, switch
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In praise of part-time bowlers
2 minute readWe’ve always loved part-time bowlers. Just as many of our favourite batsmen are tail-enders, so many of our favourite bowlers are occasional fill-ins, such as Gary Ballance, Alastair Cook and James Vince. Sadly for us, it always feels like England are far more part-timer-averse than the other Test-playing nations. Michael
Continue readingThe Ashes on the BT Sport app – a review
2 minute readWe’re not generally enamoured with apps, as they often seem to make the absolute least of storage space and processing power to deliver much the same content that can be found on the equivalent website. However, as a result of the televisual shenanigans that have seen BT broadcasting this Ashes
Continue readingEngland v South Africa Lord’s ODI report from 2008
< 1 minute readGed Ladd writes: A Sunday at Lord’s with Daisy. We sat in the Mound Stand, next to a charming South African gentleman and his Zimbabwean friend. We chatted with them. In particular, the Zimbabwean gentleman explained the currency chaos prevailing in Zimbabwe at that time; sacks full of bank notes
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Books to read at the cricket? Herding Cats: The Art of Amateur Cricket Captaincy by Charlie Campbell
< 1 minute readEdwardian writes Charlie Campbell is the captain of the Author’s XI. I’ve seen these roosters a couple of times at the Wormsley ‘Words and Wickets’ festival. In 2014 there was a tent displaying the latest Jaguar cars and the food was provided by Jamie Oliver. I marvelled at the burgers
Continue readingCricket’s doping crisis hasn’t arrived yet
2 minute readThis week’s edition of The Spin reports that the ICC “stepped up” its dope testing at this year’s Champions Trophy when it started conducting blood tests. As someone who spends a significant proportion of his working life reading about the shortcomings of even blood testing, the idea that a sport
Continue readingA match report from the Eric Hollies stand
2 minute readNigel writes (with pictures kindly supplied by Charles): A group of us, The Heavy Rollers, have been going to Edgbaston for every Test match since the last century. We enjoy our cricket in the peace and relative tranquillity of the Priory Stand or latterly the Raglan. But in 2008, Charles
Continue readingA dog who may or may not look like Ben Stokes
< 1 minute readEdwardian writes: “I think my dog looks like Ben Stokes, especially in the eyebrows department. The difference between Stokes and my dog is that Digger is tucked up in his bed by 10pm every night.” Edwardian later added: “Digger is a rescue dog (I’ve had him for three months) and
Continue readingA handmade county cricket sticker album
2 minute readHonestly, what could be better than this? It’s a homemade county cricket sticker album. Here’s Darren Stevens. Here’s Vernon Philander. Here’s the England team. The album was created by John, who got in touch with us having seen Sam’s ‘artwork’ last week. You can see loads more of the stickers
Continue readingLife Beyond the Airing Cupboard by former Sussex captain John Barclay – a holiday reading review by Ged Ladd
2 minute readI read Life Beyond The Airing Cupboard in September 2009, while Daisy and I were on a short holiday in Burgundy. We had joined Daisy’s sister, Lavender and her husband, Antonio Ordóñez for a few days, then we stayed on for an extra day or two before returning home. Lavender
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