2 minute read There’s a trend for talking about Steven Finn like he’s some sort of charity case at the minute; as if he’s only been selected for England as some sort of favour to his mum. All the other boys are being very polite and encouraging and everyone wants something to go
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James Vince caught at slip – but he wasn’t driving
< 1 minute read James Vince wasn’t going to be caught in the slips driving today. Oh, no, no. Today he had other ideas. He announced his intentions early on by edging a sort of half-defensive shot, half-leave. Vince was going to make damn certain that when he was caught in the slips, it
Continue readingSteven Finn’s ‘knack’ for taking wickets
2 minute read We’re going to repeat ourself a bit, but it’s okay because we’re repeating things we wrote ten years ago so nobody’ll remember. Actually, let’s go the whole hog and stick in a block quote. “It is often said that he has the ‘knack’ of taking wickets; that he can get
Continue readingJames Anderson expresses a sentiment we can surely all get behind
< 1 minute read “My practice over the years has gone from searching for perfection to just doing as little as possible. The bare minimum.” – James Anderson Speaking as someone who once earned the nickname ‘Bare Minimum,’ we are delighted with this revelation of the secret behind James Anderson’s success. Perhaps if you
Continue readingShould England persist with Moeen Ali?
< 1 minute read It’s not how, it’s how many. That’s what they say of run-scoring. Does the same apply to wicket-taking? Moeen Ali is actually England’s second-highest wicket-taker in this Pakistan series. He has taken seven wickets at 32.28, which is eminently respectable. He has also conceded near enough five runs an over,
Continue readingOut with Shan Masood, in with a pair of deep sea diving boots
< 1 minute read After an hour of zesty nonsense this morning, the cricket restarted. Shan Masood continued his marvellous record of being dismissed by Jimmy Anderson for pretty much no runs. Pakistan can be fairly confident that Jimmy will play the next Test and they can be fairly confident that he will open
Continue readingBatsmen don’t win Test matches
2 minute read A few weeks ago, we spent a good long while discussing what time we should leave the County Ground in Bristol when we already knew the match was over. We stick around at the end of cricket matches. We certainly don’t leave early. Today, England made the decision to bat
Continue readingEngland hit upon innovative new strategy – hundreds from Cook and Root
< 1 minute read Someone came to Old Trafford dressed as the Cookie Monster today. Perhaps it was a reference to the hundred-scoring monster that is Alastair Cook. Or maybe all his other clothes were in the wash. Earlier today we made a comment about how we generally feel like we’ve seen Cook’s innings
Continue readingJake Ball: first look in Test cricket
< 1 minute read We don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from debut performances – but we report on them anyway. Google does currently appear to be conflating Jake Ball with the Welsh rugby player of the same name. The cricket one’s tall, but we’re pretty sure he doesn’t weigh 121kg. Our first
Continue readingPakistan celebrate Lord’s Test win with press-ups
< 1 minute read For all the good cricket Pakistan played to beat England at Lord’s, their greatest attribute was that they visibly enjoyed playing Test cricket. Throughout the match, they were like a group of 11 children revelling in some sort of collective birthday, and when they won, it seemed they’d received the
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