< 1 minute readHave we updated the site today? No. Did we forget? Yes. Will this be one of our all-time greatest updates? Definitely not. India and England will play five-Test series in 2014 and 2018. That’s good, isn’t it? Five-Test series allow for a proper narrative to develop. The term ‘five-Test series’
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Sanath Jayasuriya’s last match
< 1 minute readSanath Jayasuriya has finally bowed out of cricket just three days short of his 70th birthday. He departed how he had thrived, with a ferocious cut shot. Asked to reflect on his career, Jayasuriya may or may not have said: “Eh? What? Speak up. Why does everybody mumble these days?
Continue readingAlastair Cook as a one-day opener
< 1 minute readDunno. Give him a chance? The best players are adaptable, but we can’t shake the feeling that even if Alastair Cook can survive as a one-day batsman, he isn’t an opener. Batsmen sometimes get branded as being ‘openers’ in England, but one-day opening is different. Successful one-day openers generally come
Continue readingCall Rahul Dravid if you need a grown-up to do a job for you
2 minute readGambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar and Yuvraj aren’t playing against the West Indies, so there were plenty of chances for India’s up-and-coming batsmen to make their mark. Suresh Raina got 82 in the first innings and Harbhajan 70, but other than that it’s all been eights, twelves and fifteens. But batting’s been
Continue readingPraveen Kumar brings medium-pace back to Test cricket
< 1 minute readWe didn’t even recognise Praveen Kumar when we switched on the first Test between the West Indies and India. His is a familiar face, but we’d never seen him in white clothes before. It had also never really occurred to us just how slowly he bowls. While Ishant Sharma’s pace
Continue readingKumar Sangakkara and holes in batting averages
< 1 minute readBuilding a reputation as a batsman is not unlike being a contestant on the perennially disappointing Nineties game show, The Crystal Maze. You spend your life in the nets, honing your technique and earning crystals and then you get to try and make the most of it in the Crystal
Continue readingIan Bell and middle-order batting
< 1 minute readBatsmen always want to play at the top of the order. This might be because they realise that you get more recognition up there. Well we’d like to recognise Ian Bell’s middle-order skills. Runs equal plaudits and while top-order batsmen face the new ball, they can also approach batting however
Continue readingPietersen, Strauss and recent Test innings
< 1 minute readKevin Pietersen’s out of form. Andrew Strauss has developed a problem against left-arm pace. Those were the stories at the start of yesterday’s play and the evidence came in the form of their recent Test records. When play did occur, Pietersen looked amazing, but he made the grave error of
Continue readingChris Tremlett should open the bowling for England
< 1 minute readLots of people have said this, saying Tremlett is more consistent than Stuart Broad and pitches the ball further up. Those things are true, but our point is much simpler: Just look at him. Chris Tremlett is terrifying. It actually doesn’t much matter that he rarely tops 85mph. If you
Continue readingReturn of Sangakkara – this time it’s temporary and he doesn’t really want to do it
< 1 minute readIt’s not a great film title, but we’d watch. We will watch, in fact. Kumar Sangakkara had two years as captain, but, like Mahela Jayawardene before him, jacked the job in because of the pressure. Unfortunately, Tillakaratne Dilshan’s minced thumb has meant Sri Lanka need a stand-in and after much
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