< 1 minute readA lot of the life seems to have gone out of Sri Lanka since Murali’s retirement. On the face of it, the team’s much the same, but there’s a wrinkling and lack of solidity about them. They’re like yesterday’s balloon. They haven’t shown much heart according to Russell Arnold. Maybe
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A two match Test series that was a success on every level
< 1 minute readAustralian defeats, South African defeats, brilliant fast bowling, feisty batting, 47 all out and everyone feeling profoundly irritated at being massively short-changed by there only being two matches – this was the perfect Test series. It was better than anything. It was better than turning up at a restaurant and
Continue readingWhen the fifth day of a Test match has the right ingredients
< 1 minute readThe fifth day of a Test can be dreadful. It can also be the best thing ever. When you get the right ingredients, it’s rich and intoxicating, like a creamy mustard sauce laced with smack. The second (and final) Test between South Africa and Australia is set up perfectly. South
Continue readingOne down in a two Test series
< 1 minute readIt’s a generalisation to say that long-term cricket fans gravitate towards the longest format, but it’s not an outrageous generalisation, like saying that all left-handed people are agents of Lucifer. We’ve twice this year had perfectly civil interaction with someone who has later revealed themselves to be sickeningly wrong-handed, but
Continue readingJacques Kallis’s odd days
< 1 minute readEvery now and again, Jacques Kallis has an odd day where he suddenly starts thrashing the ball around like he’s been possessed by one of Shahid Afrid’s many personalities. He holds the record for the fastest Test fifty off 24 balls. Yes, it was against Zimbabwe, but plenty of other
Continue readingBrad Haddin’s wicket was our favourite
< 1 minute readWhen they manufacture a girl band or a boy band, they often work on a simple principle: put enough reasonably attractive people in one place and it’s hard to assess the visual merits of any one individual. When it comes to girl bands, we subconsciously take the best features of
Continue readingAustralia’s lowest Test total of all time
< 1 minute readAs we write, Australia are 22-9 in 12.5 overs. Their lowest total ever is 36 and the lowest Test total of all time is New Zealand’s 26 (both those scores were against England, incidentally). Bizarrely, Australia are actually 210 ahead, thanks to Michael Clarke’s increasingly spectacular 151 in the first
Continue readingDale Steyn has genuine ambition
< 1 minute readDale Steyn doesn’t want to be the guy who gets a standing ovation for three wickets in a Twenty20 match. He’s prepared to put in the hard yards. This is what he said before this Test series: ”There’s a lot of guys who can bowl 150km/h when you give them
Continue readingMohammad Amir – don’t mourn the loss of a future great
2 minute read“Please don’t let it be the kid,” said Nasser Hussain at the start of all of this. He spoke for most of us. We wanted Mohammad Amir to be innocent, but it turns out that he wasn’t and believing that he might have become a future great makes no sense
Continue readingNew Zealand were the ones who beat South Africa
< 1 minute readExceptional cricket. That is how you exploit a weakness. At 108-2 chasing 222, South Africa seemed untroubled, but there was a spot on their face. It was very small, but it was there. With the dismissal of Jacques Kallis, they gave it a little bit of a scratch and took
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