2 minute readAs you’re all no doubt aware, pretty much all DIY tasks can be embarked upon using only a dessert spoon and a hammer. They’re adaptable devices and allow you to make a start, but after a bit you may well yearn for more specialist tools which would enable you complete
Continue readingCategory: Pakistan
How costly will that dropped chance prove to be? Apparently only fate can decide
< 1 minute readLast year, Pakistan managed first innings scores in Abu Dhabi of 570-6 and 566-3 against Australia and then New Zealand. It’s not like England did especially badly in conceding 523-8. Pakistan are just good. Not that it’s impossible to take wickets there though. Those two teams’ responses were 261 and
Continue readingAli Asad explores new depths
2 minute readThere’s the shallow end, there’s the deep end and then there’s the Mariana Trench. Ali Asad didn’t just make a duck against England in the second warm-up match, he didn’t just make a pair – he made a pair in the same innings. Pakistan A finished the day on 192-12.
Continue readingIt’s time for some new source material
< 1 minute readEngland’s players have been treated to an afternoon of Beefy rest day anecdotes, while Michael Clarke’s babbling on about ‘the line’ for the billionth time (“I think everyone knows where the line is,” he said this week – if not, we certainly know where we can hear about it). It’s
Continue readingThe myths of parity
2 minute readParity on first innings isn’t really parity because one team has to bat last. When England matched New Zealand’s 350, they were behind. Not that this was where the match was decided, but it’s worth noting when so much attention is on fourth innings shot selection. Several days ago… Two
Continue readingWahab v Watson
< 1 minute readTechnically, Shane Watson won this particular duel by surviving, going on to hit the winning runs. But if it really was a victory, it was one characterised by looking like a complete div for a prolonged period. Wahab Riaz’s mistake was that he left himself reliant on the woeful catching
Continue readingPakistan, AB de Villiers, wickets and jeopardy
< 1 minute readCricket needs jeopardy. Jeopardy makes things exciting. You have jeopardy in a tournament – the chance of being knocked out – and lo, the match is exciting. Something is riding on it. Tension’s good. You have jeopardy in an innings – the chance of being bowled out – and you
Continue readingWhy the world no longer truly understands the majesty of Shahid Afridi
< 1 minute readWe watched a bunch of sixes today. Well, we say ‘watched’. What we actually mean is that we heard commentators overreacting to sixes while writing something. We didn’t look up once. We live in a different world, nowadays. We’ve tried to take you back to the old one in our
Continue readingEngland appear to be playing and beating Pakistan
< 1 minute readWe’re struggling with the build-up to the World Cup. We fundamentally believe that a World Cup is a big deal, but at the same time we’re aware of the need to ration our enthusiasm. It might be another month before one of the major teams has to play a match
Continue readingThe other 10 World Cup cricketers to watch
2 minute readWe could do the same Kohli, de Villiers, Johnson list as everyone else or we could pick out 10 players who you’ll actually have to make some effort to watch. So, in no particular order… Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan 40 years old and ostensibly a plodder, Misbah recently matched Viv Richards’ record
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