2 minute readWe don’t mean that in the sense that we’ve tried Test cricket and it should now be abandoned. What we’re saying is that Test cricket is essentially a shoddily-designed framework for testing all sorts of hypotheses and the lack of clarity is what makes it so compelling. Take India v
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Phillip Hughes against India’s spinners
< 1 minute readAround 95 per cent of cricket statistics are 85 per cent meaningless, but here’s a nice one: In his last 39 deliveries against spin, Phillip Hughes has scored zero runs and been dismissed four times. Earlier in the year, Hughes was overlooked for the Tests against South Africa because the
Continue readingHow will Australia win Tests in India?
< 1 minute readEngland fans appear to be making the most of Australia’s eight wicket defeat to India, drawing all sorts of conclusions based on this one Test match. This shows a certain lack of awareness when their own team recently lost the first Test in a series in India by nine wickets.
Continue readingMS Dhoni does much of the job himself
< 1 minute readIf we had to sum up the opinions aired regarding Dhoni’s captaincy yesterday, it basically boils down to something like: “Yes, he could do a bit more to support and encourage his bowlers, but it probably doesn’t matter all that much because they’d still be pretty middling even then –
Continue readingDoes MS Dhoni make Test cricket interesting?
< 1 minute readSpeaking about captaincy in his interview with the Guardian, Ian Chappell said: “I also felt – and I think this is overlooked a bit – that it was your job to make the cricket interesting for the players. In doing that, you get the best out of your best players.
Continue readingOne of Australia’s bowlers can kind of bat
< 1 minute readThat’s the big news for the Australians today. Moises Henriques might well turn into the next Jacques Kallis or the next Imran Khan, but at present there’s a vague scent of bits and the distinct whiff of pieces in the air. Henriques is one of the better Test players born
Continue readingGautam Gambhir’s arse senses boot
2 minute readMore often than not, an out of form batsman needs to be treated sensitively and given reassurance. If their confidence returns, they tend to discover it was actually all that was ever absent. Then again, sometimes a batsman needs the bracing reality check that comes with having someone’s lace holes
Continue readingWhat would you do if landed with a £275m tax bill?
< 1 minute readWell, on the assumption that you are employing a treasurer, why not do what the BCCI has done. From Cricinfo: “The BCCI has been hit with a Rs 2300 crore (approx $433m) notice from the income tax department and has asked its treasurer Ajay Shirke to suggest how to deal
Continue readingAcquiescence and the art of securing an unremarkable defeat
< 1 minute readEngland scored not-enough-runs and then India made slightly more. England’s wasn’t so much a one-day innings as an impression of a one-day innings; an approximation involving steady accumulation and later acceleration, only without either segment being quite what it should have been. We get the impression that Alastair Cook had
Continue readingRavindra Jadeja, school cricket and playing for the turn
2 minute readIn some parts of England, they talk about ‘schools cricket’ – note the plural. This is a bizarre, alien form of the game in which posh 15-year-olds play on immaculate grounds in exquisite locations having been expertly coached by former internationals. ‘School cricket’ (singular) is rather different. In school cricket,
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