< 1 minute readSomeone should look into irregular betting patterns surrounding ‘Alastair Cook caught hooking’ because he seems to be hell-bent on getting out this way. In the last Test, he leant back and poked one into the air in an enticingly gentle parabola. In yesterday’s innings, he popped one up towards Sulieman
Continue readingCategory: News
Phil Hughes’ Australia debut
< 1 minute readPhil Hughes has now faced four balls in Test cricket. Hopefully in his next innings he’ll score his first run. We mentioned Phil Hughes a month or so ago when we pondered whether Australia were the worst team in the world or not. He was one of many reasons why
Continue readingAndrew Strauss – a fitting end to a top innings
< 1 minute readThe pitch may have been as flat as a well-ironed pancake, but Andrew Strauss has continued his spectacular winter form. This was his fourth hundred for eight times out. He attacked as well. Strauss scored 142 of England’s 301-3 and he was out almost immediately after tea. He batted so
Continue readingGiles Clarke – this is what we think of you
< 1 minute read“It’s true that I have received a lot of criticism in the media, some of it hysterical and utterly irrational, some of it immensely rude. I discard those people.” Everybody ready? Let’s get discarded. Giles Clarke is the public face of the ECB. He is there to be ridiculed. He
Continue readingMomentum in cricket
< 1 minute readChris Gayle knows how important momentum is in cricket: “After the first game, we picked up that momentum but after that disaster at the Sir Viv Stadium and the change of venue, it kind of put us on the back foot.” He also seems to know how quickly you can
Continue readingYounus Khan hits 300-and-whatever
< 1 minute readYounus Khan is a sublime batsman, but this innings has little to do with that. All this innings has shown us is that Younus has even more concentration and resolve than we thought he had. A triple hundred’s always impressive, but in a match that’s already had two individual double
Continue readingRavi Bopara should be allowed to have a bat
< 1 minute readRavi Bopara or Ian Bell? We’re saying Ravi Bopara. If you’re going to drop someone, you have to do it properly. Ian Bell has been dropped like a hot pan full of cymbals that’s been grasped with bare hands. Bopara might be crap at tiling and even worse at promoting
Continue readingThilan Samaraweera averages WAY more than 40
< 1 minute readEngland’s batsmen are very fond of telling anyone who’ll listen how they all average over 40, like it’s a benchmark for greatness. Maybe it was 10 years ago, but not now. Take Thilan Samaraweera for example. Here’s a very decent Test batsman, but by no means a great. In the
Continue readingAllen Stanford can be found through the simple method of conspicuously dropping some change
< 1 minute readYou probably saw yesterday that Mexican authorities had a mooch around one of Stanford’s private planes. There were some cheques in there which were allegedly related to the Gulf cartel, Mexico’s most violent gang. Now the media are hinting that Allen Stanford is involved in money laundering. As we said
Continue readingWest Indies cricket not so flimsy
< 1 minute readSome people think that the West Indies are a team who buckle, like a belt. People think they fold, like a clean pair of trousers. But this West Indies team stood defiantly like a man who can’t find his belt or his trousers and doesn’t care about that fact. He
Continue reading