< 1 minute readWe always wondered what happened to flaxen-haired wrong-handed Nineties seam bowlers when they retired. Turns out they go all corporate. After retiring from cricket, Mullally spent quite some time working for Boeing, where he rose to become executive vice president despite his CV being stained by the fact that he
Continue readingCategory: England
Are you watching Nick Compton?
< 1 minute readWe knew he was worth watching this season. He’s currently 19 not out off 88 balls against Nottinghamshire, including a boundary which we damn well hope was an accident. That’s the stuff. That’s why we picked him. Few players have the iron will required to be less entertaining than a
Continue readingKing Cricket’s county players to watch in 2012
3 minute readRight, let’s get this over with. First, let’s restate the qualification criteria: Qualified to play for England No established internationals Youngish Playing in the first division of the County Championship Think that’s it. There might be other things. Who knows? Presumably us, but we don’t like to scrutinise the workings
Continue readingIs a draw in Sri Lanka a good result?
< 1 minute readHistorically, a drawn Test series in Sri Lanka is a pretty good result for England. Set against that is the fact that Muttiah Muralitharan doesn’t play any more. Sri Lanka’s bowlers are a bit middling. Should England have done better? Well we’re pretty happy with a draw, particularly after watching
Continue readingKevin Pietersen applies a good thick layer of Polyfilla to his insecurities
2 minute readSome 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 readingEngland batsmen score runs
< 1 minute readIt 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 readEngland 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 readNot 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 readBut 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 readSay 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
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