4 minute read What’s Sky’s upcoming documentary, The Greatest Game, about then? It should be obvious really, shouldn’t it? You know, with a title like that. The Greatest Game. Let’s look for some clues. Well, it’s a moodily-lit Ben Stokes kinda documentary. But that doesn’t really pinpoint things. Now here is looking thoughtful-yet-resolute.
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Cook’s captaincy v Clarke’s captaincy and The Summer of Bell
< 1 minute read We’re a bit behind with our nagging reminders to listen to episodes of our podcast about the 2013 Ridiculous Ashes. So consider yourself nagged and reminded to listen to episode three (about the third Test) and also episode four (about the fourth Test). These are the last episodes before the
Continue readingSlog of the Day: Paul Stirling v England
2 minute read A paean to pace, the pivot-pan and the perils of the pair of them today. If you’re unaware of the shot known as the pivot-pan, it’s probably because we only just labelled it. As you’ve no doubt guessed, the nomenclature in large part arose because we wanted to slot a
Continue readingShane Watson’s legendary front pad, the worst piece of cricket in Test history + more
< 1 minute read Episode two of the 2013 Ridiculous Ashes has gone up this week. It focuses on the second Test, which England won by a long, long way going by conventional cricket metrics, but which featured a strong showing from the tourists in ridiculous terms. We’ve a couple of videos to share
Continue readingThe 2013 Ridiculous Ashes
2 minute read We do a podcast with Dan Liebke in which we revisit the funnier moments of historic Ashes series. It’s called The Ridiculous Ashes and the latest series, focusing on England’s memorable 2013 win, is now underway. Have a listen! (Or don’t, if you’re busy. It’s not going to be significantly
Continue readingAll downhill from here | a Pakistan v England T20 series recap
4 minute read A seven-match T20 series wouldn’t ordinarily be an appealing prospect, but the sheer novelty of England playing Pakistan in Pakistan never really wore off. Does this mean that seven-match limited overs series are a legitimate and appealing thing to schedule? Yes, absolutely. Provided you haven’t toured one of the major
Continue readingHaris Rauf has a look and no respect for physics
2 minute read Haris Rauf looks tired. Not sleepy tired. The kind of tired where you have no patience for anything. The kind of tired where if you say the wrong thing he will very quickly go from quiet and reserved to absolutely going off his head at you in a highly terrifying
Continue reading12 England things that happened in the summer of 2022 – maybe they tell a story of some kind (or maybe they don’t)
6 minute read We did this last year, reasoning that a collage of moments from England’s home season might somehow paint a broader picture of where they stand right now. It feels like it does a little bit – but then who knows what’ll come next. New dawns are widely regarded as immaculately
Continue readingOllie Robinson’s wicket celebration is becoming very familiar
2 minute read Ollie Robinson doesn’t do his pointing upper-cut celebration every time he takes a wicket, but he does it often enough that it certainly feels like he does. Plenty of bowlers have had signature celebrations over the years – little sequences of actions they reflexively do in response to each dismissal.
Continue readingRain and reign and the annual carry-over Test
< 1 minute read Is this a thing now? Is the scheduled last Test of each summer forever destined to be played the following year? We’re jumping the gun here, but there’s at least some sort of a chance we’re going to have to run a Sim Series here, isn’t there? After first rain
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