< 1 minute readThe unstoppable fun train is careering around the UK during summer 2010 and no mistake. England will play no fewer than 13 one-day internationals. This commitment to 50-over cricket has been reinforced by the ECB’s parallel decision to not play any 50-over county cricket ever again. Instead, county cricketers will
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England fast bowlers have short lives
< 1 minute readFollowing Andrew Flintoff’s Test retirement, Steve Harmison is now making rumblings about leaving the international game. He says his body couldn’t last the 18 months that would take him up to the next Ashes series. Steve Harmison is 30 years old. Flintoff has been in hospital about once a fortnight
Continue readingWhy Australia lost the Ashes
< 1 minute readThe thing about Australians is that when it comes to the crunch situations, they’ve got no backbone. It’s because of how they’re brought up. They’ve got a gentle, sunny climate, they’ve got a high standard of living and they’re all too well off. They don’t have to endure any hardships,
Continue readingAndrew Strauss moulds the world into a shape of his choosing
2 minute readIt’s the shape of a club with nails sticking out of it and he’s clumping towards Australia with it, looking like Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York (although Strauss hasn’t got the nauseating stench of an unbearably dull film accompanying him). It seems such a long, long time
Continue readingEngland 2009 Ashes victory gloating to last all week
< 1 minute readWhen Australia first landed in the UK, we renounced level-headed reportage in favour of mindless jingoistic cheerleading. Many of you might have thought that this reached a peak when we asked ‘are England going to win the Ashes?‘ last week and concluded ‘yes, of course they are’. But they did,
Continue readingWinning the Ashes isn’t shit
< 1 minute readThat was nice, wasn’t it? Did you enjoy it?
Continue readingJonathan Trott’s Test debut
< 1 minute readBy any stretch, Jonathan Trott’s Test debut has gone okay. Making a hundred on your debut is generally considered to be satisfactory. Making a hundred when you arrived at the crease with the score reading 39-3 on a day when 15 wickets fell – that’s better than satisfactory. Doing all
Continue readingRavi Bopara lowers himself from Test cricket to county cricket
< 1 minute readThere’s a big step up from county cricket to Test cricket, which means there’s a big step down when you get dropped. Ravi Bopara’s returned to Essex and has promptly made 201 against Surrey. Essex play in the second division, so it’s no so much a step down as a
Continue readingStuart Broad snatches the all-rounder baton off Andrew Flintoff
< 1 minute readAndrew Flintoff should keep a close eye on all his cricket gear. Stuart Broad will have his bats, his pads and even his box given half a chance. He’s not waiting until the big man’s gone before taking over. When Swann got North, we yelped like a female coati. When
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The team with no spinner should lose
< 1 minute readAlways play a spinner. Always. Always, always, always. It offers variety; a change of pace that might unsettle the batsman. Maybe the odd ball will turn more than you think. Or maybe – just maybe – a batsman who’s untroubled by pace will, for some inexplicable reason, be totally unable
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