2 minute readScotland’s obvious delight at beating England at the weekend was in no way matched by the anger of the England fans or the embarrassment of the players. It’s not an exact mathematical thing, but normally in sport you’d expect similar sorts of weight on both sides. Why was that not
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Will Jos Buttler prove that the best Test teams contain the best T20 players?
2 minute readThat’s a terrible headline. It labels Jos Buttler a T20 player when a key aspect of the point we’re about to make is that players shouldn’t be categorised. Over at Wisden, we’ve picked up almost exactly where we left off earlier in the week, arguing that England’s Test team would
Continue readingAustralia redefine “the line” (again)
< 1 minute readWe always do our best to keep you updated on the exact whereabouts of “the line,” according to its official custodians, the Australia cricket team. In news that will be hugely reassuring to everyone, Australia’s new captain and coach say that they are well aware of the location of the
Continue readingHow Jos Buttler has brought a bit of culture to England’s Test team
3 minute readWe’ve always said that Jos Buttler seems much, much safer at the crease – and a far more reassuring presence for England fans – when he’s just standing there spanking sixes, all bionic eyes and adamantium wrists. We wrote about this in 2015 and Buttler himself seems to have been
Continue readingSam Curran is almost the right choice
< 1 minute readIf Sam Curran could bat a bit better or bowl a bit better, he would definitely be a good addition to the England team. If that sounds dismissive, it’s only because it made for a better opening sentence. Scurran is close. He’s just not quite there. Strengths Left-armer Swings it
Continue readingEngland’s batsmen are insecure and complacent
3 minute readEngland’s batting is bad. England are bad at batting. Bad batting is a thing that England’s batsmen generally do. Before we get into the ins and outs of the badness, let’s contextualise it with the players’ career Test averages because that way we can really get a sense of the
Continue readingWho was your favourite ineffective opening partner for Alastair Cook?
< 1 minute readIf we were to ask, ‘who has been your favourite England Test opener since Andrew Strauss retired?’ the answer is obvious. If you say anyone other than Alastair Cook, you are either (a) a contrarian hipster (b) not an England supporter or (c) mental. That’s an easy one. A far
Continue readingWhat the hell is up with Hasan Ali’s hand?
< 1 minute readWe honestly haven’t got much left to say about England’s batting, so let’s instead turn our attention to Hasan Ali’s hand and whatever the hell is up with it. Here’s Hasan Ali’s hand midway through delivering the (apparently) fiendishly tempting wide one that did for Joe Root. Strapping is a
Continue readingAB de Villiers finally picks a cake
< 1 minute readAB de Villiers spent rather a long time desperately trying to engineer a cake monopoly. He wanted to retain and eat The Cake of International Cricket; he wanted to retain and eat The Lucrative Cake of T20 Franchise Cricket; and he also wanted to retain and eat The Cake of
Continue readingWhat proportion of Mohammad Amir will play the Tests against England?
3 minute readWe were a tremendously big fan of Mohammad Amir even back when he was called Mohammad Aamer. Things have not always been smooth since then. There have been blips. They say that prison changes a man. We ourself have never been incarcerated. One time we accidentally ran a red light
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