2 minute readIt’s hard to say whether memories are fading faster these days – because who can honestly remember how things were previously? This was nevertheless a thought that has crossed our mind a few times of late – generally when some commentator or other has claimed that England have ‘worked Yasir
Continue readingCategory: England
Younus Khan knows what he’s doing – even if it doesn’t look like it
< 1 minute readWe really wanted Younus Khan to get runs in this Test. A lot of commentators who have at no point in their lives been able to bat even half as well as him have not just been criticising his batting during this series, but actually making fun of it. We’ve
Continue readingThe beard that smeared – Moeen Ali enjoys the evening session
2 minute readSmeared with exquisite timing and grace, we should say. It was poetic smearage. Smearage without breaking sweat. Smearage that involved all moving parts working in perfect harmony to pan the ball to the fence. Morning session It’ll be interesting to read the reports about this morning’s play. Was Alex Hales
Continue readingWhere is the ICC’s Test mace?
2 minute readNot much more than a week ago, Australia captain Steve Smith was presented with the ICC Test Championship mace in a closed ceremony. The media and public would of course have been clamouring to attend such a spectacular and meaningful event. The nature of the presentation gave rise to an
Continue readingEngland’s age of all-rounders
< 1 minute readEngland fielded eight batsmen to Pakistan’s seven in this match and five bowlers to their four. That is quite an advantage to carry. It was most notable when England batted in the second innings, when the duration of a Test match was really starting to bite. Pakistan’s quartet held it
Continue readingWill Alastair Cook deploy the carrot?
< 1 minute readHistory tells us that when it comes to declarations, Alastair Cook is not a carrot-dangler. History tells us that when the moment comes, the carrot will be unsighted for Pakistan and they will in fact be only dimly aware of its existence. The match and series situation also hint at
Continue readingPakistan play spin better than Australia
< 1 minute readDifferent matches and – to be fair to Australia – different degrees of difficulty too. All the same, it seems a fair conclusion to draw. In England, Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam seemed uncertain whether to milk Moeen Ali or just belt him for sixes. In the end, they reached
Continue readingSteven Finn is setting them up for the full one
2 minute readThere’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
Continue readingJames Vince caught at slip – but he wasn’t driving
< 1 minute readJames 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 readWe’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
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