< 1 minute readWhen the England captain ain’t making runs, the drill goes like this: journalist asks one of his team-mates about his loss of form; team-mate describes him as ‘world class’ and says there’s nothing to worry about. It was Joe Root earlier in the week and now it’s Jimmy Anderson’s turn.
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England appear to be playing and beating Pakistan
< 1 minute readWe’re struggling with the build-up to the World Cup. We fundamentally believe that a World Cup is a big deal, but at the same time we’re aware of the need to ration our enthusiasm. It might be another month before one of the major teams has to play a match
Continue readingKP: The Autobiography – book review
3 minute readA guest review of KP: The Autobiography by Dandy Dan. Having met KP and most of team, I feel I’m very qualified to review this book – especially as he came across to me as actually being all right. I didn’t buy it. I got it out from the library.
Continue readingThe lollop, the leap and physics-defying bounce
< 1 minute readSay what you like about Steve Harmison’s overall record, but he could lollop in and hit you on the elbow with the best of them. That uncanny ability to make the ball bounce considerably more than should have been physically possible brought him a bunch of wickets and England a
Continue readingApparently we’ve covered Eoin Morgan’s personal life once before
< 1 minute readWe 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 readingThe 85mph right-arm seam bowler basket
< 1 minute readWe’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 readAsked 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 readIan 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 readThere 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 readIn 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
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