< 1 minute read The received wisdom is that you don’t get wickets in Test cricket with dibbly-dobbly medium-pace. This is actually entirely accurate – but only because nobody picks dibbly-dobbly medium-pacers for Tests. The truth is that dibbly-dobbly is tough for Test batsmen. Their net bowlers are 85mph, their bowling machines are 85mph.
Continue readingCategory: England
Some sort of James Vince type substance
< 1 minute read James Vince is stylish. We don’t generally trust that in a batsman and the feeling has been compounded by a nameless county bowler who recently told the Guardian’s Mike Selvey: “He likes to look good.” Despite this, it is technically possible that we could warm to a player likely to
Continue readingWhere next for Chris Woakes?
2 minute read Chris Woakes played in England’s last Test. He dismissed Stephen Cook for 115. Now he’s out of the team and out of the squad. England like the idea of Woakes, but they don’t like that idea enough to commit to giving him a long run in the side. It’s understandable.
Continue readingCharlotte Edwards’ bit is done – good work
2 minute read When Charlotte Edwards first played for England, she wore a skirt. She didn’t choose to. She was obliged to. That debut came when she was 16 (she played for the under-19s at 12) The women’s game has moved on since then and you might have expected her to have been
Continue readingWhat is a format-spanning points system for?
3 minute read Last week we asked whether you would care if the Ashes included limited overs matches. This was slightly mischievous on our part because while the series could in theory be affected by the mooted system which would see points accrued across formats and an overall winner recognised, the truth is
Continue readingWould you care if the Ashes included limited overs matches?
3 minute read Ben Stokes would. Reacting to plans to implement a points system spanning the formats for cricket tours, he said: “I think it would be rubbish. They’ve changed a lot of things, but Ashes is Ashes, it’s a massive series for England and Australia and I don’t see why it should
Continue readingRob Key and the art of being selective in one’s giving of shits
< 1 minute read If you’re wondering where we’ve been, we’ve unfortunately been too busy writing things to write things. One of these written distractions was about Rob Key. Cricinfo gave it the coveted midnight on a Friday slot at the top of the homepage, clearly of a mind that this would be perfect
Continue reading
Robert Key, the ruddy-faced southern me
5 minute read This article was first published on Cricinfo in April 2016, but they seem to have deleted it so we’re republishing it. For a fair few years, from the early Nineties onwards, there was a phenomenon in British newspapers where Australian opinions of England cricketers were given greater weight. Seasoned cricket
Continue readingThis is how you share a Rob Key picture with the world, you bloody idiots
2 minute read Rob Key has retired. It is a sad day. We’re going to don a black cardigan instead of a beige one by way of mourning. We will wear it for 221 minutes in tribute to the number of runs Rob once made in a single Test innings. Adam Gilchrist’s highest
Continue readingPoints mean prizes
2 minute read Or, more accurately, points “may” mean a presentation ceremony (at which something would presumably be presented). This is the barely-reported story that England are looking to implement a points system for the two tours this summer, meaning an all-formats winner could be crowned for each. The Times ran something behind
Continue reading