2 minute read Some innings are more important that the numbers might indicate, but we always feel thankful when Kevin Pietersen reaches three figures. The resultant fist-pumping’s cheering in a laughable kind of way, but more importantly it means that detractors have to revise the ‘hasn’t scored a hundred since [insert date]’ statement
Continue readingCategory: England
England batsmen score runs
< 1 minute read It warrants a headline. Even if Jonathan Trott got a ton in the last match, this time it’s plural. More than one England batsman has scored some runs. One of them was even Andrew Strauss. It’s remarkably easy to catch up with a match that’s going badly. Last week, we
Continue readingMonty got a raw deal
< 1 minute read England drop Monty Panesar readily. Whether it’s because of form, the pitch or ‘the balance of the side’, they don’t seem shy about leaving him out. Maybe the decision will be vindicated, but he seems to have been collateral damage following a line of thinking that betrays England’s lack of
Continue readingTim Bresnan near a pirate’s fantasy
< 1 minute read Not as exciting as it sounds, but probably a little bit funnier. Damith of The Fly Slip drew our attention to a photo of Tim Bresnan standing near a really expensive cake called Pirate’s Fantasy. We’ve always felt that Tim Bresnan isn’t as chunky as people think he is. We
Continue readingEngland haven’t become a bad Test team
< 1 minute read But there’s a fair distance between ‘bad’ and ‘good’. Even further between ‘bad’ and ‘the best’. England are in that grey netherland now and no-one really cares about shades of grey when you’ve arrived there from somewhere altogether brighter. England’s batting was a lighter shade of grey in the second
Continue readingAndrew Strauss – Test specialist
< 1 minute read Say what you like about the cheap, oversized banquet that is one-day international cricket – at least it gives batsmen a bit of practice for the matches we give a toss about. When Andrew Strauss played one-day cricket, he scored more Test runs. He’s averaged 25.50 since he decided he
Continue readingEngland’s batsmen give the bowlers a rest
< 1 minute read Ian Bell was the only batsman not to be toss today. He said: “We all know we have to get better at playing in the subcontinent. It’s a long-term goal and it isn’t going to just happen overnight.” This is a shame, because England will almost certainly be batting again
Continue readingJames Anderson’s 30 this year
< 1 minute read This might not seem all that significant. After all, not a year – not one single year – goes by without some international cricketer or other turning 30. This is different though. James Anderson was one of those players who loomed into view early in life and we still think
Continue readingPlaying the long game in Sri Lanka
< 1 minute read Samit Patel’s cricket statistics are being weighed against his vital statistics even more frequently of late. Is he fit enough for five-day cricket? It’s an interesting question, but we’re actually more interested in how the other England players cope. Even if Patel plays, we can’t see a debutant playing the
Continue readingEnglish players in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka
< 1 minute read We’ve read a couple of things today about how English players will struggle with the heat and humidity in Sri Lanka. Graham Gooch described the conditions as ‘unnatural,’ which isn’t strictly accurate. It strikes us that English cricketers should buck their ideas up. Sri Lanka may well be hot and
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