< 1 minute read As in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. Technically, he hasn’t been away. It just rather feels like he has. Like stumps and grass, you take for granted that Alastair Cook will at least be present for England Tests – that’s a given – however, you also expect
Continue readingCategory: England
Short of knives, England deploy yet another spoon
2 minute read England have heard that definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – but they apparently believe they can counter it with another saying: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. England’s bowling strategy hasn’t exactly been tearing the home
Continue readingWas Joe Root responsible for Adil Rashid being dumped from England’s Test squad?
< 1 minute read Everyone was weirdly fine with Adil Rashid’s omission from England’s Ashes squad, even though he was England’s only consistent wicket-taker on flat pitches last winter. Considering England have spent much of this tour looking decidedly fast-medium, it seems a fair time to revisit the decision. We took a look at
Continue readingThe Ashes on the BT Sport app – a review
2 minute read We’re not generally enamoured with apps, as they often seem to make the absolute least of storage space and processing power to deliver much the same content that can be found on the equivalent website. However, as a result of the televisual shenanigans that have seen BT broadcasting this Ashes
Continue readingJoe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face
2 minute read Now is not the time to analyse. Now is the time to look at Joe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face. Oh, England have lost the Ashes, by the way. Don’t know if you’ve heard. Before we look at Joe Root’s losing-the-Ashes face, it’s worth pointing out that you have to be a
Continue readingThe day James Vince didn’t edge one
< 1 minute read It had to happen eventually. Today was the day James Vince finally managed to avoid edging one to slip. And it was so easy to avoid. All he had to do was persuade an opposition bowler to aim a 90mph delivery about a foot wide of leg stump only for
Continue readingWhere is Stuart Broad, the tall, experienced bowler who should, on paper, be getting a wicket or two Down Under?
2 minute read The pitch is flat, say tetchy England fans. This is the short version of the recurring Test match question: the pitch is flat, so what are you going to do about it? England went with a bit of fast-medium. After that, they tried a bit more fast-medium, then a bit
Continue reading
England end up looking a bit fast-medium
< 1 minute read Things getting a bit fast-medium is pretty much our worst nightmare when it comes to watching England. We might start using the phrase in other contexts. “How was dinner?” “It was… fine…” “Fine? What does ‘fine’ mean?” “Well, you know. It was just…” “What? It was just what?” “It was
Continue reading
The four stages of Steve Smith’s recurring metamorphosis into a batsman
2 minute read Steve Smith is not a good batsman. Not always. Very rarely, in fact. As far as we can tell, he’s generally only half-decent at the moment bat strikes ball and only very rarely before or afterwards. Here are the four stages Smith passes through for every single delivery he faces.
Continue readingThe Waca blunts Australia’s best bowler
2 minute read The most significant question ahead of the Waca’s final appearance as an Ashes venue was not whether or not it would recover the pace of old – because it clearly wouldn’t – it was whether or not the ball would turn. The Waca is Australia’s most over-hyped pitch and the
Continue reading