< 1 minute read668 Neighbour of the Beast writes: Cricket festival season and so to the outground of Guildford – a venue where you and the boundary rope can become acquainted. It’s quite spiritual to sit on the grass and not look at the back of an advertising hoarding. Sadly, on a less
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Laurence Elderbrook bolsters the middle order
2 minute readOur fragile top order frequently lands the middle order in trouble. In a bid to rectify this, I am asked to bat at five to add a bit of experience and resilience. On this occasion I am fortunate enough that the top four all get good scores, so when the
Continue readingMike Selvey leaves TMS
< 1 minute readOr rather, Mike Selvey is asked to leave TMS. We’ve had a few goes at writing this where we’ve tried to compare Selvey to his likely replacements, but that’s not the point. The point is simple. Mike Selvey has spent a lifetime thinking about cricket. He has interesting thoughts on
Continue readingLaurence Elderbrook accommodates an extra opener
2 minute readWe have one too many openers in this match, so I offer to move down to number four to allow one of them to bat at three. He doesn’t have the range of shots to profit in the middle order, whereas I do. The second wicket falls and the slight
Continue readingSummer’s not over
< 1 minute readThe Tests are over, the weather’s cooling down, we’re nearly out of bank holidays. It’s about this time of year that all our thoughts turn to suicide – but wait! Before we wade through the pessimism of another laboured one-day series, there’s a redeeming feature. There it is, midway down
Continue readingEngland v South Africa match report
2 minute readOur inbox is perilously close to empty. One of you better go to a cricket match or something. D Charlton writes: I have recently become an associate member of MCC. This means I can sit in the pavilion at Lord’s and watch all but the biggest match days. I can’t
Continue readingMore Neil Manthorp
< 1 minute readNeil has been earnestly telling Test Match Special listeners how sandwiches are 99p after 7pm in the shop near where he’s staying. TMS make a grave, grave error every time they don’t use this man for a match.
Continue readingIntroducing Laurence Elderbrook
2 minute readMy name is Laurence Elderbrook and I am a cricker. No. More than that. I am a damn fine cricketer. I am a number three batsman, as adaptable as I am unflappable. I have all the shots and know when to use them. I am the rock on which our
Continue readingSomerset v South Africa match report
2 minute readLemon Bella writes: Indian Skimmer and I went to see all three days of the South African tour match against Somerset. We hate the ground at Taunton, it’s rubbish. It’s only picturesque if you look at it from a certain angle, and not once did we see anyone with a
Continue readingSurrey v Middlesex Twenty20 match report
2 minute readLong-serving King Cricket contributor, SimonC, writes: Twenty20 being the all new whizzbang format that appeals to even the most curmudgeonly of non-cricket fans, we rounded up twelve grumbling malcontents to see this completely dead rubber at the Oval. Many were the piercing questions we were forced to field from our
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