< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen has signed a four-month contract with England. If the ‘reintegration process’ goes okay, he might even play during that time. Whatever happens, it’s pretty laughable to see so much self-important business speak used in the ECB statement. We were going to satirise it, but what’s the point? The
Continue readingCategory: News
Pakistan’s spin bowling all-rounders exploit a weakness and the Twenty20 format
< 1 minute readAustralia faced two overs of pace bowling during their defeat today. Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez saw that it was not broke and therefore declined the opportunity to attempt repairs. It’s interesting how a very specific batting weakness can be exploited in Twenty20. If spin causes some damage, the incoming batsmen
Continue readingSome other reasons why England were knocked out of the World Twenty20
< 1 minute readArticles about Kevin Pietersen are very boring and entirely overlook all England’s other mistakes and problems. Dropping the captain who won the tournament Paul Collingwood is a bit of a forgotten man, but we do wonder why there was such haste to ‘build for the future’. We’re not saying that
Continue readingThere have been worse run chases
< 1 minute readBy England. This week. It’s always tempting to lay into England when they lose, but we’re going to resist today. We slagged them off for their hollow-skulled approach against India, but this was fairly respectable in its own way. You don’t have time to overcome too many obstacles in Twenty20.
Continue readingEngland try and pull off in fifth gear against India’s spinners
2 minute readHow much is it that England’s batsmen can’t play spin very well and how much is it that they can’t chase big totals? It’s probably a bit of both. It’s probably that one is compounded by the other. It’s fairly self-evident that bigger totals are harder to chase, but they
Continue readingPoor Izatullah Dawlatzai
< 1 minute readIzatullah Dawlatzai got up this morning and thought to himself: “Maybe today’s the day that I, Izatullah Dawlatzai, will make a name for myself. I will bowl so well against the World Twenty20 Champions that the name Izatullah Dawlatzai will forever be synonymous with bowling that is both spectacularly destructive
Continue readingWhat’s Damien Martyn up to these days?
< 1 minute readYeah, we know Matthew Hayden’s retired again and that there’s a batch of nonsense to savour as a consequence. You can enjoy that without our having to contribute these days. Instead, we’ve got something new. It’s Damien Martyn’s confusingly named ‘Marton Distribution’. Read their ‘about us‘ page before you go
Continue readingYuvraj Singh is a good Twenty20 bowler
< 1 minute readMuch has been made of the fact that MS Dhoni wants seven batsmen and four bowlers in his Twenty20 side, even though you have to use at least five bowlers. ‘Sacrilege’, people cry. Not really. Batsman number seven might not contribute much, but the value of a specialist bowler isn’t
Continue readingThe England Test squad for the Test tour of India is actually quite interesting
2 minute read“Root or Compton? Let’s have both and, er, James Taylor can go elsewhere to make room. He didn’t do much right or wrong, so maybe no-one will notice that he’s gone.” Root and Compton. It’s nice to see a 21-year-old and a 29-year-old both being selected for the first time
Continue readingICC World Twenty20 format
< 1 minute readWe may be cynical and world-weary, but we’ve always rather enjoyed the World Twenty20. By and large we’re a fan of grey, but in some contexts you can’t beat a bit of black and white brutality and the tournament provides just a little of that. We’re not talking about rogue
Continue reading