< 1 minute read We knew this site would become a hub for celebrity gossip one day. We received a surge in traffic yesterday off the back of the fully weird news that someone tried to blackmail the ECB over some sort of relationship Eoin Morgan once had with a human woman. The landing
Continue readingCategory: England
The 85mph right-arm seam bowler basket
< 1 minute read We’re not intending to be a naysayer here, trotting around saying ‘nay’ like a horse that can’t spell (so a horse then). We just want to muddy the unmitigated positivity because one win is not much of a sample from which to draw conclusions. One of our main concerns centres
Continue readingWhither James Tredwell?
2 minute read Asked which of his team-mates he least enjoyed facing in the nets recently, Moeen Ali said: “James Tredwell. Annoying. You just try and smack him and you can’t hit him anywhere.” It’s one of the mysteries of the age how Tredders doesn’t go for seven an over, but it’s a
Continue readingIan Bell making a half-decent fist of things
< 1 minute read Ian Bell made 187 off 145 balls against the Prime Minister’s XI in England’s latest warm-up match. Okay, so it’s not exactly the biggest match ever – Chris Rogers bowled two overs – but what’s more reassuring, making 187 off 145 balls or making 26 off 38? This constitutes further
Continue readingIan Bell is not Alastair Cook
4 minute read There are a lot of optimists in the world and the problem with positive people is that they assume that positivity itself is some sort of positive. It’s all well and good swanning about thinking everything will work out, but really you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment and failure.
Continue readingWhen should a team start planning for the World Cup?
< 1 minute read In this new Morganian one-day world, with its unexpectedly stumbling approach to a major tournament, we’d like to ask: when should a team start planning for the World Cup? England have often cobbled together a strategy at the 11th hour, bringing in players with little or no experience of high
Continue readingIs Alastair Cook a plodder? How long does it take to diagnose ploditis?
3 minute read Alastair Cook says that he’s doing everything he possibly can to try and turn his form around. This begs a rather obvious question. If you’re practising really, really hard and doing everything you possibly can to prepare, but you’re still not scoring runs – what does that actually say about
Continue readingMuralimania and English cricket’s monomania
2 minute read Today we’re going to direct you towards two pieces of ours which appeared outside the kingdom. First up, our latest King of Cricket is Murali. Don’t worry, it ain’t all numbers. It’s about the joints, the graft and the batting really. Secondly, last week’s Cricinfo piece, entitled English cricket rocked
Continue readingAlastair Cook attempts to beat wall down with head
2 minute read One of Alastair Cook’s problems is that he plays every one-day innings as if it might be his last. He positively clings to the crease, grimly trying not to make a mistake. The better approach might be to play as if he doesn’t give a toss, but say what you
Continue readingAlastair Cook, James Taylor, some other guy and uncooked spaghetti
2 minute read It’s hard to argue that this wasn’t the perfect England one-day performance. One, England won, which satisfied most of their fans; and two, there was enough evidence to suggest that England will never win one-day games with Alastair Cook at the helm, which will have satisfied his detractors. The ideal
Continue reading