< 1 minute readThis is so perfect we actually had a little bit of a cry to express our gratitude. We struggle to explain our feelings about this unbelievable format, but if pushed, we’d go for ‘super psyched’. Brace yourself. Group stages There are 10 IPL teams. They are split into two groups
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Has anything happened in the IPL yet?
< 1 minute readNo, nothing has yet happened in the IPL. Matches have been played, teams have won, teams have lost, but nothing of any importance has taken place. Teams who have won a match are probably about one-seventh of the way to a play-off place. If you are excited about a particular
Continue readingShane Watson is a batsman
< 1 minute readIf you want to be taken seriously as a batsman, one of the worst things you can do is bowl. Every team is desperate for all-rounders, but the label gets misapplied so much it tars those who actually warrant it. Shane Watson probably just about qualifies as an all-rounder –
Continue readingAdil Rashid is getting worse
< 1 minute readHow much worse? One worse. Having taken 6-77 in Worcestershire’s first innings, Adil Rashid could only manage 5-37 in their second innings. This grave loss of form is deeply worrying. Ben Stokes is getting better How much better? 125 better. Having scored 10 in Durham’s first innings, Ben Stokes then
Continue readingAdil Rashid has day one of the County Championship
< 1 minute read“Day one of the County Championship?” thought Adil Rashid. “I’ll have that.” So he did. Rashid has kicked off with 6-77 against Worcestershire. That’s called ‘being better than everyone else,’ that is. We recognise it well from all the millions of times we’ve been one small part of the ‘everyone
Continue readingCounty Championship players to watch in 2011
< 1 minute readCounty Championship only. First division only. We’re also lumping them all together in one post this year, because multiple posts feels like quite a big commitment. Adam Lyth, Yorkshire Our reasons for picking batsmen to watch are invariably the same: they’re young and we’ve got a general sense that they
Continue readingWhy 10 World Cup teams won’t make the tournament any better
< 1 minute readIn sport, excitement comes from tension. In a knock-out competition, the excitement comes from the danger of being knocked out. You can’t just have India play every other day and expect people to get worked up about it. Something has to be at stake. This is the basic principle behind
Continue readingMS Dhoni is a big match player
< 1 minute readGautham Gambhir played very well, but MS Dhoni is unique. He wasn’t Lord Megachief of Gold for no reason. People talk about big match players all the time, but they often mislabel matches as being big when they’re no such thing. Genuine big matches are rare and genuine big match
Continue readingWe’re supporting Zaheer Khan
< 1 minute readWe’re supporting India, but we’re struggling with that because we’ve got quite a big reservation. A win for India would, to some extent, be a victory for batting over bowling and we hate batsmen. For us, much of the joy of cricket is in the fall of wickets and we
Continue readingTendulkar v Murali
< 1 minute readWe wrote about the various World Cup storylines during the quarter-finals. The stories of Tendulkar and Murali, two ageing greats, seem to be the strongest now, but that’s mostly due to hindsight. All the same, it makes for a good narrative. There’s also a minor subplot that no-one will care
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