2 minute readIf you watched the final overs of England’s feat of escapology against South Africa, you already know why Test cricket can never die. We’ve said it before and we’ll happily say it again. Test cricket can offer something that no other sport can. It offers more than any other form
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Jacques Kallis went big
< 1 minute readFor once, this isn’t about that period when Jacques Kallis lost sight of his genitals for a few months. It’s about him hitting a hundred. Once upon a time, hitting a hundred was an achievement. Nowadays you hit 170 and the man of the match award goes to someone who
Continue readingSouth Africa’s strongest batting line-up
< 1 minute readNot so long ago, this South Africa batting line-up looked stronger than Geoff Capes crossed with a grizzly bear. Now? Not so much. Ashwell Prince isn’t an opener; Hashim Amla might as well paint a bullseye on his front leg; while if JP Duminy could ever get past his first
Continue readingHow England win Test matches
< 1 minute readBasically, through ambush. They plod along, being solid and unspectacular and then in one innings in the field, they completely steamroller the opposition. Think of England’s wins since Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss took over. West Indies were rolled for 152 at Lord’s; the same opponents were dispatched for 176
Continue readingFriedel de Wet and his hop/jump at the start of his run-up
< 1 minute readEvery cricketer’s got a ‘thing’. It is immediately apparent that Friedel de Wet’s ‘thing’ is his entirely superfluous bunny hop at the start of his run-up. De Wet cut through England’s lower order like urine through snow and we can only think that it was because most of them were
Continue readingIs Jacques Kallis a boring batsman?
< 1 minute readWell, maybe a bit, but Jacques Kallis’s reputation seems to be etched in stone now and nothing he ever does will change it. “He just accumulates,” said Nasser Hussain shortly after Kallis passed 100. ‘Didn’t he drop to one knee and thock the ball over the boundary at one point?’
Continue readingAshwell Prince is “organised”
< 1 minute readWe’ve heard it a few times this morning: Ashwell Prince is “organised”. This means that he is patient and a bit boring. It’s a great cricket euphemism. You could just as easily describe him as “compact” which means much the same. But for the referrals system, Prince would also have
Continue readingThe four best bowlers over the next five years
2 minute readPicking the bowlers was much harder than picking the batsmen and all-rounders. We’re not going to pretend that we’re 100% happy with what we’ve come up with because that would be dishonest and we save the dishonesty for getting out of social events. Dale Steyn, South Africa, age 26 We’ve
Continue readingMakhaya Ntini’s 100th Test cap
< 1 minute readMakhaya Ntini should make his 100th Test appearance this week. What strikes us about this is that an African nation’s first black cricketer is still playing.
Continue readingICC Test rankings system
< 1 minute readIndia have risen to be number one in the rankings and many people will say that the rankings are questionable. Are India the best Test cricket team? A lot of people say the rankings are meaningless. When they make this criticism, they always do it according to a team’s position.
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