England 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

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Andrew 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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James Anderson’s 30 this year

< 1 minute readThis 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

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Playing the long game in Sri Lanka

< 1 minute readSamit 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

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