2 minute readWhile we’re coming clean about these things, we might as well ‘fess up on this one as well. South Africa are probably the least popular Test team other than England (sorry people, but we have a richly questionable history as a nation, largely at the expense of other cricketing countries).
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Paul Collingwood a gritty fighter full of character
< 1 minute readPaul Collingwood is made entirely out of balls. It must be downright murder to walk, eat or do pretty much anything. To get a hundred in what seemed likely to be your last Test innings is one thing. To do it with a six is quite another. Kevin Pietersen was
Continue readingFlintoff to Kallis
< 1 minute readWe don’t know about you, but we’re glad Aleem Dar turned down that blatantly out lbw appeal against Kallis. What followed was as electric as that innocuous-looking, ankle-high, three-holed square of plastic in the corner there. It was proper fast bowling; the kind you just don’t get in the shorter
Continue readingCome in number six – your time is up
2 minute readShove Michael Vaughan down to number six – that’s where England keep their worst batsman. Paul Collingwood seems likely to lose his place. He has another innings, but does he honestly look like a man who’ll make use of it? It’s the latest chapter in England’s number six saga and
Continue readingBack to the important stuff
< 1 minute readWe’re generally in favour of Twenty20, but one downside is that it seems to necessitate the reading of one too many articles about cricket politics. Cricket politics is dull and it eats into time that could better be spent keeping abreast of developments in the monkey kingdom. Hopefully someone’s on
Continue readingMore Andre Nel depravity
< 1 minute readWhat is it with Andre Nel and this sort of quote? If he’s not saying it himself, someone else is saying it about him. South Africa coach, Mickey Arthur, said: “Any time Andre plays for South Africa he’s fired up. I can’t wait to see him bowl hard.” It doesn’t
Continue readingMorne Morkel seems rather handy
< 1 minute readWho needs spinners when you’ve got bowlers like Morne Morkel? Pace, bounce, seam, swing, accuracy and stamina. It’s a quick bowling full house. England need a five-man attack to cover all those bases. Can he stay free from injury? Will he bowl well in tighter matches than these? Probably –
Continue readingDoes anyone else feel like it’s the Nineties?
< 1 minute readTotally unpredictable team selection, a batting line-up that’s five-out all-out and a bowling attack that seems to spend its time waiting for the clouds to roll in and which is utterly ineffective otherwise. But it can’t be the Nineties, because the worry lines caused by English cricket of that era
Continue readingDarren Pattinson jumps the queue
< 1 minute readWe’ll give Darren Pattinson a chance, but… (1) It’s not being Australian that makes someone a good cricketer. Australia themselves leave out plenty of Australians from their Test side. (2) Trent Bridge, where Pattinson plays half his cricket, is kind to swing bowlers. (3) If Chris Tremlett is first reserve, then
Continue readingAndrew Flintoff playing for England
< 1 minute readWe were hugely, hugely impressed with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in the Lord’s Test. We don’t care what the pitch was like – just imagine coming out to bat after you’ve been so comprehensively trampled for three days. Imagine what would have happened to England in the same situation.
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