< 1 minute readOnly once you’ve had an experience like this can you be considered a true Test match viewing veteran. What follows is a true story. “I think it’s brightening up.” “Yeah, it is. It’s definitely getting brighter. Look over there, the sun’s trying to break through.” [Time passes] “I think it’s
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5 minute readIn 2018, the ICC released a promotional video for the 2019 World Cup. It starred Freddie Flintoff (definitely Freddie and not Andrew or Andy in this instance) and you can still find it on YouTube here. We have a bunch of questions about it. Is this what Fred does now?
Continue reading2 minute readWe found ourself talking about Ollie Pope quite a bit early this season, way back when they played County Championship cricket semi-regularly. The ability to counter green pitch dobblery in April may not be wholly relevant to the challenge of facing India at the back end of an arid British
Continue reading2 minute readTom writes: Having not been to Sophia Gardens before, I was a little unsure what to expect. However, having been to international matches before, I knew that I would be at least £60 less well off before I started. Nevertheless, we got in, only to find out they can’t serve
Continue reading3 minute readThere’s this odd belief in cricket that people want to see fours and sixes. They don’t. They want to see jeopardy. What is jeopardy? It’s when wickets matter. It’s when everything you see has an impact on the outcome of the game. When one team makes 400 and the other
Continue reading3 minute readThere were three phases to Virat Kohli’s hundred. There was the bit where he kept being beaten by the bowlers; there was the bit where the ball wasn’t doing quite so much but he was still shaken up; and there was the bit where everything went back to normal and
Continue reading2 minute readWe don’t know if the following is fair or not. You could probably prove it one way or the other using ‘statistics’ or ‘facts’. It certainly feels true though and if modern politics tells us anything, it’s that what feels true is of far greater significance that what actually is
Continue reading2 minute readIt’s England’s 1,000th Test match. In honour of this inevitable round number, we thought it would be nice to pick out the most mediocre Test they’ve played. Not poor. Mediocre. Just middling and neither here nor there really. Method We went through all of England’s 999 men’s Test matches and
Continue reading2 minute readMany things will happen when England play India from tomorrow. It’s tempting to imagine that the first Test match is some sort of newspaper headline final which will only feature those who were prominent during the quarters and semis in recent weeks. Viewed from that perspective, which is more likely:
Continue reading2 minute readYou may or may not remember the Lord’s Throdkin. If you do, you will be very excited to hear that there has been a development… Ged writes: Lancastrian nephew-in-law Escamillo Escapillo is partial to my Lord’s Throdkin cookies. I was to spend the first of three days at Lord’s watching
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