2 minute readNot a raw deal, like Chris Read got, but pretty rare – bloodier than he asked for in the middle. Plunkett was picked to go on the tour to the UAE and then somehow found himself three places down the pecking order for the South Africa tour despite not having
Continue reading3 minute readBack when we reviewed Start the Car: The World According to Bumble, we suggested that rather than majoring on Lloyd’s zaniness, they might have been better off writing a traditional autobiography. Well this is what they’ve done. The result is indeed a better book. For those that don’t know, before
Continue reading3 minute readAfter watching Jos Buttler hit over a third of the deliveries he faced for boundaries against Pakistan, it’s tempting to wonder whether maybe, just maybe, he might do well to shelve his watchful, deliberate approach to Test batting. It seems to us that he’s much, much safer at the crease,
Continue reading2 minute readBack in 2013, we suggested that England couldn’t refreeze Nick Compton having already defrosted him (this makes fractionally more sense if you read the article). Turns out they did. They stuck him back and now they’re defrosting him for a second time. Nick Compton’s back in the fridge! At least
Continue reading< 1 minute readThey’ve only gone and dropped him. Dropped him as if he were a cricket ball and they were him standing in the slips at some point in the last 12 months. There’s a hideous video on the ECB Twitter feed where selector James Whitaker mouths the usual platitudes about Bell
Continue reading2 minute readMitchell Johnson contributed some extremely interesting cricket and you can’t ask for much more than that from a player. Overall, his record is very good, but that long-term-very-goodness was created by opposing short-term extremes. At his best, Johnson was as exciting to watch as pretty much any cricketer ever. If
Continue reading< 1 minute readWe could write about Mitchell Johnson’s Test retirement. We could write about some actual cricket. Or we could publish some tweets in which Sourav Ganguly looks frighteningly sickly. Hey Sourav, do an impression of a zombie. Top drawer. Now do an impression of a ghost. Not bad. Note Murali’s T-shirt
Continue reading< 1 minute readAh, the Waca. Fast bowlers love it because it gives them an opportunity to bowl plenty of overs. Batsmen are terrified of it because of the humiliating possibility that they might not make a ton. The pitch has been so challenging in the second Test between Australia and New Zealand
Continue reading< 1 minute readIt’s the only conclusion to draw from recent history. The question is, what can other sides learn from the way England approach this format and can England stay ahead of them all up until the next World Cup? In the second one-day international against Pakistan, Abu Dhabi played host to
Continue reading2 minute readNot so long ago, we were in a public house with a friend when his neighbour turned up. This neighbour had been to watch Manchester City win five-nil earlier that day. She said it hadn’t been a good game; that City had seemingly lost interest in the second half. How
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