2 minute readThis isn’t really about Ian Bell. It’s about English cricket’s attitude to age and the impact of the international schedule as it is now. When an England player has a spell of poor form, it is generally described in one of two ways. Young players are ‘found out’ while older
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Why David Warner doesn’t do ‘reading’
< 1 minute readThis week David Warner gave many people the impression that he thinks the activity known as ‘reading’ is some bizarre pastime reserved for 17th Century English gentlemen. Of the differences between himself and Chris Rogers, he said simply: “He reads a lot of books – I wouldn’t read a book.”
Continue readingAt number three you will find only an exit door
< 1 minute readTime was, if a batsman needed to get a drink in the Last Chance Saloon, he donned his whites and went to number six. If he turns up there now, he’ll find that Ben Stokes has taken out a long-term lease on the premises. The Last Chance Saloon has moved
Continue readingResolve is a finite resource
2 minute readAbsolutely true. You don’t possess a bottomless pit of willpower. It’s why New Year’s resolutions fizzle out. It’s why you can only resist easily-accessible snack food for so long. Anything that takes mental effort drains your resources and without time to recuperate, eventually you’ll have nothing left. Winning is easy.
Continue readingWho’s your favourite Mitch? And who’s your least favourite?
< 1 minute readNot much is happening in the cricket at the minute, so we might as well busy ourselves tackling the difficult philosophical questions. If three Mitches play cricket for Australia, is it possible to have a favourite? For us, this is the order in which we’d place them – best at
Continue readingPitch flatter than Snowdonia, more uneven than billiard table
< 1 minute readYou may have noticed that we didn’t complain about the pitch after day one. That’s something we only allow ourself to do once both teams have batted. Sadly, this policy appears to have been vindicated. Sometimes it’s not a dead pitch. Sometimes it’s merely in a deep, deep sleep and
Continue readingChris Rogers in the 21st Century
< 1 minute readThere is a famous oak tree in the middle of a field near Bakewell in Derbyshire. It is weathered and gnarled and its enormous branches reach halfway to the road. Some say it is lucky. Some say it is cursed. The only thing that is known about it for certain
Continue readingLord’s – why ‘The Home of Cricket’ pisses some of us off
< 1 minute readIt’s the Lord’s Test. Mark Nicholas is rheumy-eyed already, prepping a few oleaginous soundbites ahead of Channel 5’s highlights show. However, for many of us it’s just another Test match – albeit one that brings more than its fair share of aggrandising waffle. We’re the first to admit that we
Continue readingEngland and Australia have too many very good batsmen
< 1 minute readMaybe this statement would seem more accurate to some of you if we said ‘too many fair batsmen’ – but that would fly in the face of the universally-accepted Premier Manager 2 scale where ‘fair’ actually means ‘really rather shit’. No, England and Australia have too many Very Good batsmen.
Continue readingWill Australia cobble together a new side?
2 minute readOne of Darren Lehmann’s strengths as a coach is his pragmatism. When he first took over, he assessed the various players available to him and concluded that he was going to have to make do with a few who were less than ideal. David Warner was a tool, but he
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