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 readingAustralia add two spinners and subtract one
< 1 minute readYesterday, we wrote about Australia’s firmly held belief that there’s a better spinner out there despite there being absolutely no evidence whatsoever that that’s the case. Today they dropped Nathan Lyon. But this isn’t exactly the cut-and-dried lack of faith in Lyon that you might think. Instead, it seems that
Continue readingFawad Ahmed and Australian spin belief
2 minute readIf you don’t know who Fawad Ahmed is, he’s a Pakistani refugee who’s looking to get an Australian passport and he also bowls a bit of spin in his spare time. Now, before we continue, let us be clear that Fawad Ahmed might well be an excellent bowler. He might
Continue readingSponsored cricket grounds
< 1 minute readWhat are names for? We give things names so that we know what the bloody hell they are. Old Trafford Cricket Ground is going to be known as ‘Emirates Old Trafford’ and as long as we all shorten that to ‘Old Trafford’, there shouldn’t be any problems. Sponsors make a
Continue readingEdwina Currie on the death of Tom Maynard
< 1 minute readIt’s always reassuring when someone you suspect of being a complete dickhead confirms that yes, in fact they really are a complete dickhead. “@courtnewsuk: Tom Maynard abandoned his Mercedes with the engine still running,Blackberry logged in to his Facebook page” Darwinism at work — Edwina Currie (@Edwina_Currie) February 26, 2013
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 readingIan Chappell’s view of squad rotation
2 minute readThere’s an interview with Ian Chappell over at The Guardian (in which he comes across very well) and there’s a couple of things in it that we want to talk about. The first is Chappell’s view of the modern world of rest and rotation: “I can understand that you’ve got
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