3 minute readA semi-regular feature in which we ask a fella going by the name of Prince Prefab about cricket – even though he hates cricket. We are in bold. Prince Prefab is not. King Cricket: We’re speaking now on the eve of the County Championship and I am all the way
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Who will initially be named as a County Championship title contender but actually end up getting relegated?
2 minute readThe first week of the County Championship is a great time for predictions. We’ve gone through a whole bunch of previews to pick out the three teams who have most often been mentioned as favourites this year and we’re now going to try and predict which of those favourites will
Continue readingTwo reasons why squad rotation in county cricket is a very bad thing
< 1 minute readCounty cricket doesn’t get enough media coverage that it can get away with resting players. That’s the two-second version of the point I’m making over at Wisden. Whether they say as much or not, counties rotate their squads. There are two problems with this. 1. It makes teams shitter There
Continue readingReece Topley postpones overuse injury for a year
< 1 minute readReece Topley’s not going to play first-class cricket this year. He’s been injured a lot – stress fractures mostly – so Hampshire asked the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) what they should do. The ECB pretty much said that there’s altogether too much domestic cricket for a pace bowler
Continue readingAlex Hales is not ‘turning his back’ on Test or first-class cricket
< 1 minute readNot least because he isn’t currently a Test cricketer. But that’s not really our point. Imagine you have three important things to do today, but you’re kind of pressed for time. If you’re anything like us, you’ll favour the ingenious solution of doing a really half-arsed job on all three.
Continue readingWhy is Adil Rashid giving up first-class cricket and becoming a white ball specialist?
3 minute readBecause he’s pressed for time. Adil Rashid has signed a white-ball only contract with Yorkshire for the 2018 season. Some will say he’s looking to become a short format specialist because it’ll allow him to buy a bigger car or house or whatever, but that’s missing the point. The point
Continue readingWho is Tom Helm?
2 minute readWe experienced a delightful nostalgic moment earlier this week when we read that Tom Helm had narrowly lost out to Tom Curran for an Ashes call-up. “Who’s Tom Helm?” we thought. We knew the name, we knew he was a bowler, but it’s been a long, long time since we
Continue readingWe should probably mention Middlesex being relegated
< 1 minute readIn a way, Middlesex were unlucky to be relegated as they only finished two points off fourth place. In another way, they weren’t unlucky because Somerset, Hampshire and Yorkshire all finished with more points than they did, which is kind of the aim of this whole endeavour. As title defences
Continue readingWhere are your ‘bad pitch’ thresholds?
2 minute readWhat is a bad pitch? We can get some sort of an idea by working out what we deem to be a good pitch – but there’s more to it than that. Most people will say a pitch is bad when wickets fall too easily. When a pitch gives too
Continue readingSpin bowling is abnormal – ask any county cricket supporter
2 minute readIn England, spin academies aren’t so much schools of excellence as institutions built to keep the weirdos away from the normals. Seam bowling is normal; not to be remarked upon. Spin bowling is other. If people see a lot of something, they become conditioned into thinking it’s the default. So
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