< 1 minute readThis early season is taking us back. Before Panesar and then Swann, picking an England spin bowler was like buying discounted fruit and veg. There was something wrong with whatever you chose, but could you find a way of using it somehow? You needed the vitamins, after all. We feel
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Sharpen the England Test team pencil
< 1 minute readThird seamer – Chris Jordan? Can we start assuming this now, or is that going too far? It’s just it would mean one less thing to keep track of, and the less we have to keep track of, the more we can concentrate on the important stuff, like moaning about
Continue readingEngland hire a Maxonian
< 1 minute readIs it a good idea for a team that can’t bat to hire the coach of a team that can’t bat? It’s probably okay. The England coach is basically just a management figure, after all and Peter Moores seems pretty good at that side of things. He brought in many
Continue readingBen Stokes and the cure-all that is ‘passion’
< 1 minute readOne worrying, but entirely predictable, revelation from Ben Stokes’ recent interview in the Guardian is that he’s broken bones punching inanimate objects before. He reckons he’s going to learn this time. “I don’t think punching lockers is the way forward for anyone. There’s only going to be one winner there.”
Continue readingEngland Squad Watch – part one
2 minute readWho plays for England these days? NO-ONE KNOWS. They don’t even have a coach and the uncertainty pours down from there, covering everyone in a sticky, unctuous goo that at first you think might be some sort of over-ripe berry that’s fallen from a tree, before realising that there’s no
Continue readingOf new eras and transitional periods
< 1 minute readWe wrote for someone else. Since we stopped writing for The Cricketer’s website a few years back, we haven’t really had an outlet for non-satirical longer articles, so we reckon that’s what we’ll do for Cricket365 and we’ll link to anything that goes up there. This first piece is about
Continue readingOh for complacency to be an option
< 1 minute readStuart Broad cited batting complacency as the main reason for England losing to the Netherlands. Ashley Giles agreed, saying that was the only possible reason for the defeat. “They’re not playing well enough to be complacent,” pointed out Mike Atherton. We’re not as downbeat as you might think about this
Continue readingDeath by seam bowling
2 minute readWe’re not in favour of demonising individuals. But three runs, Jade. Three runs. That’s all that was in it. Couldn’t someone have saved three runs somewhere along the way? Maybe Jos Buttler’s missed stumping proved costly. Would a specialist wicketkeeper have made the difference, or would that merely have meant
Continue readingMoeen Ali and “planning for the future”
< 1 minute readThe concept of ‘planning for the future’ is often used to explain the inclusion of younger players in favour of perhaps superior older players. This preference is often presented as being ‘an investment’. That, on the face of it, is a perfectly valid modus operandi. It gives the sense that
Continue readingAlex Hales gets England’s first T20 hundred – and a surprise win
< 1 minute read“It’s all over baby, because this one’s headed to the moon!” You can always rely on Danny Morrison to deliver fitting commentary on the denouement of a compelling match. A few minutes earlier, he’d used the word ‘whippage’. He was on form. So was Alex Hales, who hit the first
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