< 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
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Thilan 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 readingEngland beat Pakistan at the Oval
< 1 minute readNearly three years on and still they’re arguing about whether England ‘won’ via a Pakistan forfeiture or whether it was ‘match abandoned’. At best it’s splitting hairs. Everyone knows what it was: a balls-up. The match should be officially reclassified as such. Sport is of the moment. Except for a
Continue readingShoaib Akhtar is a ‘what’
< 1 minute readPakistan captain, Shoaib Malik, is fed up with waddly, disinterested purveyor of two-over spells, Shoaib Akhtar. “Everyone can see what is out there,” he said about everyone’s favourite one-time fast bowler. Rumour has it that Malik has asked the selectors to replace Akhtar with a patch of slightly longer grass
Continue readingButt cracks balls and more
< 1 minute readWe dread to think what search engine traffic we’re going to get from that title, but you can’t sashay through life being called ‘Butt’ without some sort of consequences. It’ll teach some visitors the importance of the humble comma at any rate. Prior to the first one-day international against Sri
Continue readingSafety concerns when touring India or Pakistan
2 minute readWe didn’t want to say anything on this subject, because we feel fairly certain it will show up our ignorance and that’s something we can comfortably highlight without remotely stretching ourself. This issue is monopolising the cricket news though, so it deserves comment. Feel free to put us straight on
Continue readingKamran Akmal slogs some sixes
< 1 minute readWe’re worried about Pakistan. No-one will tour there and they’re hardly playing. We don’t want their side to deteriorate. If Pakistan become an unofficial second tier nation, cricket will lose its most wilfully unpredictable team. Pakistan have banned their best batsman and had their best bowler banned for them. You
Continue readingMohammad Yousuf joins the ICL
< 1 minute readWell this is a steaming pile of brown stuff. Mohammad Yousuf is probably one of the top Test batsmen in the world and Pakistan have a policy of banning ICL players from the national side. That said, the way the Pakistan Cricket Board found out is quite amusing. They phoned
Continue readingYou’re reading about the Test when there’s Twenty20 on?
< 1 minute readThere are two articles. One says Twenty20’s clearly going to kill Test cricket. One says that probably, on balance, that won’t happen. Newspaper editors will tend to publish the first one. The former’s punchier and it provokes debate, so we get to read a disproportionate number of articles about how
Continue readingWhen is a country too dangerous to tour?
2 minute readTim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations, explains why Australia are likely to tour India, but wouldn’t visit Pakistan (like usual) for the Champions Trophy: “Pakistan has had 66 suicide bombings within its country over the past 12 months with over 3,000 people killed and 17
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