< 1 minute readAfter losing the first Test to Pakistan, South Africa captain Graeme Smith said: “It should hurt. But this team has too much ability to make this a habit.” We immediately thought about the distinction between confidence and delusion and how the only real difference is what happens afterwards. These seemed
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Pakistan cricket likes to stay in balance
< 1 minute readThis is the conclusion we’ve reached. Far from being a see-saw on a roundabout in an earthquake, Pakistan cricket is actually very stable. It’s just that different branches of it have to compensate when there’s upheaval elsewhere so that the whole remains perfectly balanced. Last month, Pakistan lost a Test
Continue readingWas Graeme Smith overprepared?
< 1 minute readWe assume this was why he was just dismissed for 15 in the first Test against Pakistan. Last week, in the only warm-up match for this series, Smith made two against Pakistan A. The innings before that was for Surrey in May. You might think he’d have wanted a bit
Continue readingApparently, the BCCI are waiting
2 minute readHave you been following this India-South Africa brouhaha over the last few weeks? Just because something’s reported as if it’s not massively childish, doesn’t mean it isn’t massively childish. Basically, there’s a whole load of politics going on, which is sod all to do with cricket and everything to do
Continue readingEngland are better than South Africa
< 1 minute readYou know what? We knew this. We intimated as much this morning. This South African team hasn’t choked, it just isn’t really all that good. This particular XI had a couple of good batsmen and no bowlers. You don’t win much with a line-up like that. You may point out
Continue readingBoring, boring England
< 1 minute readThis seems to be a common assessment at the minute, but it’s a bit unfair. They’re more polarised, polarised England – steady upper order batting and then the three dementos at five, six and seven. Admittedly, two of the dementos – Morgan and Buttler – have mostly failed in this
Continue readingGeneric ‘someone is better than someone else’ post
< 1 minute readSouth Africa are supposed to be playing the Windies today, then India play Pakistan before England play New Zealand. However, we’re away for the weekend with no plans to use the internet, so you’re going to have to fill in the gaps yourselves in the comments section. We’re not really
Continue readingSouth Africa are better than Pakistan
< 1 minute readLargely because Pakistan never actually got round to chasing the target. Instead, the batsmen just sort of stood there and hoped that it would go away on its own. It didn’t.
Continue readingIndia are better than South Africa
< 1 minute readIf we’d have bothered writing a Champions Trophy preview, we might have had India down as fair weather favourites. It’s as much the lack of alternatives as anything else. India have their weaknesses, but despite the absence of some extraordinarily familiar faces they’re experienced and they play to their strengths.
Continue readingSouth African fire v Pakistani ice
< 1 minute readThat is a deeply unsatisfactory title and we’ll tell you why – fire and ice are not equal. No matter how dangerous ice can be, fire is just fundamentally scarier. Talk about fire and it conjures images of blazing infernos. Talk about ice and you think of slipping over and
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