< 1 minute readWill Alastair Cook learn his lesson? Most people know that it’s incredibly unwise for the England captain to demand that critics be less critical. But not Cook, apparently. He recently said that “something needs to be done” about Shane Warne’s relentless criticism of his captaincy. The headline of Warne’s latest
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Middlesex are slightly top
< 1 minute readAfter whipping the first division’s whipping boys, Northamptonshire, with their whipping boy whipping whip, Middlesex are now 19 points ahead of Yorkshire and 22 ahead of Sussex, both of whom have a game in hand. Yorkshire would need to win to go top. Sussex would need to really, really handsomely
Continue readingMichael Clarke and ‘the line’
2 minute readOne of the most annoying things about the Australian cricket team is not its verbal aggression but the players’ relentless self-righteousness about it. Here’s a quote from Michael Clarke that you’ll feel like you’ve read a thousand times before. “I think we play our cricket hard on the field but
Continue readingJames Faulkner can even make Chris Gayle lose his cool
< 1 minute read“I don’t particularly like them,” said James Faulkner before Australia played the West Indies. He must positively detest them now. Here’s another Faulkner quote. “If you can do something to upset somebody and upset their team, it goes a long way towards doing well as a group.” He got that the
Continue readingDavid Warner’s good, isn’t he?
2 minute readNobody’s happy about that fact, but we might as well get used to it because when he shuts that toolish mouth and plays cricket, he can score some runs. Diversity One thing we really like about this Australian team is that it’s a lesson to everyone on the importance of
Continue readingRyan Harris versus Lillee’s bag o’ bairns
< 1 minute readIt’s been suggested that this could be Ryan Harris’s last Test. He’s scheduled to have a load of loose knobbles and flakes of bone dug out of his crappy knee shortly after it finishes. Although he’s then got seven months or so to recuperate before Australia’s next Test, he hasn’t
Continue readingDissecting ‘momentum’ for the millionth time
< 1 minute readAhead of the third Test between South Africa and Australia, Hashim Amla has said: “There’s a lot riding on the last Test and fortunately we’ve got a bit of momentum.” Let’s very quickly examine how ‘momentum‘ has influenced the series thus far. Australia won the first Test and thus gained
Continue readingShaun Marsh holds up South Africa
< 1 minute readNo, he did. One of the three deliveries he faced in this Test match didn’t see the fall of his wicket. He really hung around. When Shaun Marsh was brought back into the Test side, we wrote: “Whether you think he’s good or not largely depends on whether you consider
Continue readingHow Steve Smith makes the most of what he’s got
< 1 minute readWe’ve not actually seen it yet, but we’re hearing great things about Quinton de Kock’s dismissal; that maybe it was the stupidest in a winter which has seen its fair share of stupid dismissals. It’s surely no coincidence that Steve Smith was the bowler. Much is made of the fact
Continue readingDean Elgar will probably be out by the time we’ve finished typing this
< 1 minute readCricinfo are making reference to ‘toss drama’ but don’t be misled. The second Test between South Africa and Australia demands your attention in a relentless, whinging, shirt-tugging way. We briefly wondered why we hadn’t really latched onto the Under-19 World Cup or why we didn’t feel moved to write anything
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