3 minute readWith live cricket broadcast at a reasonable hour, a Test tour of the West Indies is one of our favourites when it comes to watching the game on TV. It’s a shame it comes hot on the heels of the World Cup, ahead of an Ashes and in conflict with
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Bring out your dead – the mortician’s cart rolls by the ECB
2 minute readWe’ve a slight concern that the ECB’s new chief executive referred to ‘the England Cricket Department’ in announcing Paul Downton’s sacking, as if English cricket really were a corporation in which broad, curved desks were every bit as important pieces of equipment as bats and balls. Nevertheless, it’s hard not
Continue readingThe multi-coloured Excel monster that is the English domestic season
2 minute readEach year, The Cricketer produces a wall chart detailing all of the summer fixtures. It works well as a visual representation of the way the English domestic game is organised. White space is in short supply. It is as much an assault on the senses as a paper wall chart
Continue readingWho is Rahkeem Cornwall?
< 1 minute readHe’s this guy. And here’s his Cricinfo page which currently features a spectacularly poor headshot (and we of all people know one when we see one). It’s rather as if the photographer has instructed the Antiguan: “Make a sad face. Now do some mouth-breathing. Perfect!” According to Tony Cozier, Rahkeem
Continue readingThe man who wrote his own textbook in illegible handwriting
< 1 minute readOur final King of Cricket appeared on the All Out Cricket website a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t link to it at the time because we thought it would get lost amid all the World Cup stuff. We didn’t want that to happen because it’s Shiv and you all
Continue readingMS Dhoni’s conviction isn’t swayed by anything so prosaic as evidence
< 1 minute readThat’s what we’ve written about for the Mumbai Mirror. It’s not just about Dhoni though. It’s also about conviction in general and how an epidemic of uncertainty can sweep through a side at a major tournament. In other words, it’s yet another piece about stuff England did wrong masquerading as
Continue readingWe tried to write about Martin Guptill
< 1 minute readBut it seemed to come out as a Dan Vettori piece. Big beardy Dan. Back from retirement. Keeping it tight like one-day cricket hasn’t changed at all in the last decade and leaping about like a man roughly the same age but not quite so decrepit.
Continue readingWahab v Watson
< 1 minute readTechnically, Shane Watson won this particular duel by surviving, going on to hit the winning runs. But if it really was a victory, it was one characterised by looking like a complete div for a prolonged period. Wahab Riaz’s mistake was that he left himself reliant on the woeful catching
Continue readingFor India a run a ball seems to be enough
< 1 minute readThe players, the coaches, the fans and the media told England that they needed to be making 350-plus scores to do well in this tournament. The 2015 World Cup wasn’t just going to be about run-scoring; it was going to be about phenomenal, unimaginable run-scoring. Look at what India are
Continue readingHat-tricks are handy
< 1 minute readThis and other insights in our latest piece for the Mumbai Mirror which is about the South African team, why it’s good and why it’s bad. For all that the Saffers have some great batsmen and a strong pace attack, there’s also another version of the side that’s fragile with
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