< 1 minute read This is how you write a match report: a week early. England put on a staggering/staggeringly inept performance against New Zealand yesterday, after a topsy-turvy/one-sided contest in which English cricket/New Zealand cricket/cricket/the weather was the only winner. James Anderson opened the bowling and delivered a virtuoso performance/a never-ending supply of
Continue readingCategory: New Zealand
New Zealand’s Test team
2 minute read We’d be very irritated if we were a New Zealand cricket supporter. We’re very irritated anyway. Admittedly, we get irritated by all of humanity on an hourly basis, but this is different. This is with reason. Bowling Shane Bond would add fire to any attack and the sooner this ICL
Continue readingThe state of England’s batting
< 1 minute read Winning a Test by an innings is not to be sniffed at. What exactly would you expect to smell? England didn’t exactly dominate the series like they dominated this last match though. Overall, the team looks okay, but there are quite a few flaws, the most glaring of which is
Continue readingJimmy Anderson: swing bowler
2 minute read And batsman. Who knew? Well, we all knew about the swing bowling. Trent Bridge might be the home ground of Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, but Jimmy Anderson’s the best swing bowler in this England side and he duly played a blinder, taking all six of the New Zealand wickets
Continue readingHopefully it’s just a series of flukes
< 1 minute read We said that due to the swing-friendly conditions Kevin Pietersen’s hundred might prove handy. For similar reasons we picked James Anderson as England’s top wicket-taker and Kyle Mills to bowl most overs in this match. In the last Test, we picked Daniel Vettori and Monty Panesar to be the top
Continue readingIs James Anderson a nightwatchman?
< 1 minute read Are we right in thinking that James Anderson came in as a nightwatchman in order to protect Ryan Sidebottom? This is beyond reason. Our feelings about nightwatchmen are perfectly clear, but this warrants further comment. If James Anderson is functioning as the nightwatchman, it’s been his job to protect Ryan
Continue readingKevin Pietersen out waving slightly fatiguely
< 1 minute read That’s what Simon Hughes said on Channel 5’s highlights programme, so that’s what happened. It’s probably wrong to mock commentators’ slips of the tongue when you yourself forget 98 percent of your vocabulary whenever you have to talk in front of more than one person, or to a stranger, or
Continue readingEngland’s middle order shows signs of improvement
< 1 minute read We all know how important it is to look to the positives. England’s players and coaches have taught us this for years now. Ian Bell batted at five and made a three-ball duck. Paul Collingwood batted at six and made a four-ball duck. England’s middle order batsmen are making tangible
Continue readingAndrew Strauss repairs his stats
2 minute read Fortunate to be given the opportunity to do so, Andrew Strauss saved his Test career with a whopping 177 in the third and final Test of the tour of New Zealand. Since then, he’s hit 63, 60 and now 106 and suddenly there doesn’t seem to be much of a
Continue readingMonty Panesar at Old Trafford
2 minute read It’s been three years since we last went to the Old Trafford Test and didn’t see Monty Panesar take five wickets. Actually, that’s not strictly true. We went to two days of last year’s West Indies Test and on one of the days he only took four wickets. In 2006
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