2 minute readLet’s write a pointless opening sentence so that the formatting doesn’t look quite so weird when we give the Warwickshire v Durham game its own subheading. Warwickshire v Durham Warwickshire were very much on top after two days, but somehow, after making 313 and bowling Durham out for 190, they
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Samit Patel is a big fat loser – a majestic, admirable, envied, big fat loser (plus a round-up of this week’s other first division matches)
2 minute readIf respect were something tangible and delicious rather than an abstract concept, Samit Patel earned more of it than even he could eat this week. He also won the battle of the Patels. What he did not win was ‘the match for Nottinghamshire against Warwickshire’. The man Kevin Pietersen calls
Continue readingWhere next for Chris Woakes?
2 minute readChris Woakes played in England’s last Test. He dismissed Stephen Cook for 115. Now he’s out of the team and out of the squad. England like the idea of Woakes, but they don’t like that idea enough to commit to giving him a long run in the side. It’s understandable.
Continue readingThey’re finally using robots to promote cricket tournaments
< 1 minute readAbout time. This particular robot’s got flames for eyes and is, quite frankly, a bit of a tosser. Also keep an eye out for the guy who doesn’t know how to clap. That’s our favourite bit. It’s here. The epic conclusion to the #CricketHasLanded trilogy. Watch Cricket Has Landed 3:
Continue readingCricket was played either side of the Pennines – a County Championship round-up
< 1 minute readIt was an uncharacteristically eventful week by the standards of the 2016 County Championship with two whole wins in the first division. Two losses as well, we suppose. The wins/losses After three successive draws, Yorkshire soared like a heron to their habitual place at the top of the table. Surrey
Continue readingA hatful of willow
2 minute readWill Smith just got off the mark from the 43rd delivery he faced. Hampshire are currently careering along at 1.25 runs an over knowing that the rain that has hit the rest of the country will soon arrive in Manchester. So far, this round of County Championship matches has been
Continue readingNorth v South one-day series is the future of county cricket
< 1 minute readCounties or franchises? Let’s discard both and instead play endless North v South matches. Imagine the crowds. Nothing gets people in like a rivalry and this new series has the potential to divide the nation. They’ll have to properly define North and South first, but all it will take is
Continue readingA veritable smorgasbord of draws in the latest exciting instalment of the 2016 County Championship
2 minute readThis week’s matches varied incredibly. We had fraught, tense, hard-fought draws; ambling draws that were obvious from a mile out; and everything in between. The 2016 County Championship is not yet proving to be a competition in which people win cricket matches. The fraught, tense, hard-fought draw Yorkshire gamely went
Continue readingAlastair Cook in the second division of the County Championship
2 minute readWe always say that the second division of the County Championship doesn’t count. Hopefully it’s obvious that this is rhetoric. Our exaggerated stance is not borne of a belief that the cricket played is worthless, but of a perception that some still haven’t quite accepted that it is in any
Continue readingLast week’s County Championship cricket was even less consequential than the week before
< 1 minute readAt least last time around someone won. Halcyon days. Out of the three draws in the latest round of matches, the points scored ranged from Middlesex’s 10 to Warwickshire and Surrey’s 13. Surrey v Somerset was the only fixture to reach the fourth innings and Durham v Middlesex didn’t even
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