2 minute readSouth Africa coach Mark Boucher has been charged with gross misconduct by his employers. The hearing isn’t until May 16. This is a slightly odd way to embark on a Test tour. The charge is a pretty hefty one. Racism, basically. Former team-mate Paul Adams (of frog-in-a-blender bowling action fame)
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Marco Jansen can both bat and bowl but looks like he can do neither
3 minute readSouth Africa v India has been an excellent series that has thrown up some really significant talking points. King Cricket being King Cricket we’d instead like to focus on one of the insignificant ones: Marco Jansen and how awkward he looks. If you’ve not been paying attention, Jansen is South
Continue readingThe 2021 Festivus holding page: The Boxing Day Tests and ancient Ashes
< 1 minute readA few years ago we hit on a suitably half-arsed approach to covering the Boxing Day Tests. We flag what matches are taking place in advance, wish everyone a happy Festivus and then leave you all to cobble together a kind of fragmentary, disjointed log of any major developments in
Continue readingDale Steyn was a trier
3 minute readCalling someone a trier is usually seen as damning them with faint praise, so we’re going to have to expand on that headline a little bit to ensure the praise is significantly less faint. The early days Dale Steyn’s just retired from cricket. We remember his Test debut. For his
Continue readingWhy ‘overnight’ is such an important part of a five-day Test match
2 minute readWhenever a Test is decided late on the fifth day, there’s much talk about how that kind of tension and excitement wouldn’t happen with four-day Tests. It’s half true. This is why. If you move a deadline, you don’t negate it. Even if a Test match has no fifth day,
Continue readingDanish Kaneria or Dane Vilas – who is most Danish?
4 minute readDanish Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer who has been banned from the sport for life for spot-fixing. Dane Vilas is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Lancashire. Despite what their names suggest, neither player is from Denmark. So who is most Danish? Let’s measure the two men against
Continue readingFour of the weirdest eight-fors of the last 25 years (plus one nine-for and one ten-for)
8 minute readThere have been 28 occasions in the last 25 years when a bowler has taken eight wickets or more in a Test innings. Some of these were weirder than others. At what point does a bowling performance become really, truly, freakishly remarkable? We’d say at the seventh wicket. Five-fors are
Continue readingRoot’s Moose Cup Powered by Daraz | Mop-up of the day
3 minute readThree things, okay? Thing 1 Just as with Botham’s Ashes, the 2021 Moose Cup Powered by Daraz seems destined to be forever remembered as Root’s Moose Cup Powered by Daraz. In the first Test, Sri Lanka made 135 and then Joe Root made 228. In the second Test, Root made
Continue readingDawid Malan has used ‘being the best batsman in the world’ as a stepping stone to competence
< 1 minute readIt’s like they always say: being the top-ranked batsman in the world can be a real confidence-booster and may even help you secure a place in the first team. When Dawid Malan became the number one batsman in T20 internationals in September, the general reaction could be summed up as,
Continue readingTemba Bavuma’s ramp shot is not polished
2 minute readTemba Bavuma has contributed all of 18 runs to the current T20 series between South Africa and England, so it’s odd that he should be responsible for one of the recurring highlights. His ramp shot is undeniably that though. This is how Temba Bavuma played a ramp shot in the
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