< 1 minute read Mark Wood’s duff ankle means he won’t play the third Test against Pakistan. So who should replace him? Over at Cricinfo, Andrew McGlashan argues that Liam Plunkett is the logical choice. Being as Chris Jordan was only a late call-up to replace Steven Finn, Plunkett is the next pace bowler
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Is it okay to drop Jos Buttler?
2 minute read Yeah, why not? It’s not like he’s scoring any runs at the minute. We’re also a great believer in the redemptive power of “I could do better than that.” Have you ever found yourself believing you weren’t qualified to carry out a given task, only for someone else to complete
Continue readingWahab Riaz achieves the impossible
< 1 minute read The formula for deciding on the man of the match is as follows: Which team won? Which of that team’s batsmen scored the biggest hundred? And that’s your man of the match. In the event that no-one made a hundred, you pick the guy who took most wickets. However, in
Continue readingEngland’s batsmen roll onto thorny hedge cuttings
< 1 minute read Good bowling exacerbates uncertainty. This is a very inexperienced England batting line-up and it therefore has good cause for self-doubt – particularly in unfamiliar conditions. When confronted with the contrasting threats of Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah, it was no surprise that it collapsed in on itself like a cheap
Continue readingJoe Root’s back
< 1 minute read Not as in ‘returned’ because he hasn’t been away. We’re more worried that he might have ankylosing spondylitis. If Alastair Cook doesn’t get the runs, Joe Root will, and if Joe Root doesn’t get them, then England fans better hope that the team can cobble together a good number of
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England unclear on whether or not Ben Stokes has been suffering ‘the wild shits’
< 1 minute read You’d think with all their well-paid medical staff they’d be able to distinguish between the wild shits and the common-or-garden variety, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Alastair Cook said: “He’s had a 24-hour bug, he didn’t look very well yesterday apparently but he’s here now and we’ll
Continue readingAdil Rashid conveys the crumble
2 minute read As you’re all no doubt aware, pretty much all DIY tasks can be embarked upon using only a dessert spoon and a hammer. They’re adaptable devices and allow you to make a start, but after a bit you may well yearn for more specialist tools which would enable you complete
Continue readingAlastair Cook is a complete part-timer
< 1 minute read Epic, they say. Monumental. Alastair Cook batted for 836 minutes against Pakistan. That’s almost 14 hours. Or, in other words, not even two days’ work for a normal person. So before we start lauding Cook’s extraordinary powers of concentration, let’s just stop a minute and ponder whether he could spend
Continue readingAlastair Cook does the big shop
< 1 minute read After sizing up the bowling and briefly treating himself to a strange and hugely entertaining ‘mustn’t handle the ball’ dance, Alastair Cook quickly moved up through the gears. At times he got as high as third. Mostly he sat in second. When there was a break in play, he refuelled,
Continue readingHow costly will that dropped chance prove to be? Apparently only fate can decide
< 1 minute read Last year, Pakistan managed first innings scores in Abu Dhabi of 570-6 and 566-3 against Australia and then New Zealand. It’s not like England did especially badly in conceding 523-8. Pakistan are just good. Not that it’s impossible to take wickets there though. Those two teams’ responses were 261 and
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