< 1 minute readEpic, 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 readingCategory: News
Alastair Cook does the big shop
< 1 minute readAfter 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 readLast 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
Continue readingBen Stokes makes things happen
< 1 minute readTo which one can only say: who doesn’t make things happen? We just made a typo happen, for example. Shortly afterwards, we made a correction happen. A littler earlier, we made a cup of coffee happen. Jade Dernbach makes wide long hops happen. Shaun Marsh makes hard-handed edges to the
Continue readingAggressive cricket can be all about playing really defensively
< 1 minute readWe’ve written about ‘aggressive cricket’ about a billion times, but that’s largely because – like a snipped clothing label that hasn’t quite been fully removed – it continues to irritate us. Different people mean different things by ‘aggression’ and also confuse cricketing aggression with actual aggression. The latest to say
Continue readingAli Asad explores new depths
2 minute readThere’s the shallow end, there’s the deep end and then there’s the Mariana Trench. Ali Asad didn’t just make a duck against England in the second warm-up match, he didn’t just make a pair – he made a pair in the same innings. Pakistan A finished the day on 192-12.
Continue readingJos Buttler wearing an ice bra
< 1 minute readWe think that’s what it is. Or maybe it’s just a conventional sports bra and therefore entirely normal. The image comes from an ECB video that’s largely about how hot it is in the UAE. Jos appears shortly after Mark Wood has said: “We’ve had lads grabbing ice and putting
Continue readingIndia got bowled out for 92
< 1 minute readThey even managed to lose three wickets to Albie Morkel, who apparently still exists. Confusingly, with age he’s starting to look like Morne Morkel’s younger, chubbier brother. Guess the fat pushes out the wrinkles. There could also be some sort of Dorian Gray style arrangement which sees team-mate Chris Morris
Continue readingHotwiring Jonny Bairstow
< 1 minute readDespite recent media coverage, Alex Hales is not actually in competition with Moeen Ali. He is, we’d guess, competing with Jonny Bairstow. Alastair Cook wants plenty of bowlers in 40 degree heat which means Adil Rashid will finally get to play a Test in the UAE. In which case who
Continue readingWest Indies board sacks Phil Simmons, hires new coach and then immediately suspends him
< 1 minute readA statement from the West Indies Cricket Board reads: “Phil Simmons has been an excellent servant of West Indies cricket, but the board feels it can no longer tolerate his continued desire to field the strongest team possible in one-day internationals. As such, his contract has been terminated with immediate
Continue reading