< 1 minute readOne to watch veteran, Mark Davies, has finally been called into the England squad. If he plays a Test, it is not acceptable to use mundane exclamations like ‘well bowled!’ The obvious substitutes are ‘hammer of Thor!‘ and ‘great Odin’s raven!‘ but if you tire of shouting those, here are
Continue reading< 1 minute readThis is quite unusual. We’re not usually right about stuff. Normally, you can ask us questions about things that have happened to us and we’ll get the answers wrong. “Did Dan tell you he was moving to Australia?” “No!” [Long pause] “Don’t think so.” [Another long pause] “Well, maybe…” Dwayne
Continue reading< 1 minute readVirender Sehwag is a bastard because he plays too many good innings to keep track of and there aren’t enough superlatives to spread among them. Consider this: Sehwag’s last Test innings was 131. That was a failure. His first four Test hundreds were all under 150; all failures. After that,
Continue reading< 1 minute readVirender Sehwag: 284 not out overnight. This was Test cricket. The Sri Lankan players couldn’t just soak it up for 20 overs before seeing if they could do better. This problem wasn’t going away. But what they had to endure almost all day, the crowd got to enjoy all day
Continue reading< 1 minute readNot sure we’ve got Imran Khan or Garry Sobers on the cards, but it’s not looking bad. Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh, age 22 As a cricket-writer, we’re worried there’ll be no words left in a few years time, because they’ll all have been eaten by Bangladesh criticisers. Shakib Al Hasan
Continue reading< 1 minute readThe BBC are reporting that Sussex are furious with Surrey because the latter approached one of their players. Sussex chairman, Jim May, was red-faced with fury, ranting: “The approach is unwelcome and the timing very unfortunate.” Peppering the interviewer with flecks of spit and bile, May’s rage later reached its
Continue reading2 minute readDapper Dan writes: My day began as most of my days have begun recently: Girlfriend’s alarm goes off at 6.15am, she gets up, goes in shower, I go back to sleep. Girlfriend leaves for work approximately 7.15am, wakes me up to say goodbye, I go back to sleep. Sunlight in
Continue reading2 minute readWe were supposed to review this ages ago. Note to publishers: don’t push cricket stuff during the Ashes. We know it’s the cricket Christmas, but everyone’s a bit busy. Ask Bearders is subtitled Answers to the World’s Most Challenging Cricket Questions. It’s a compilation of Bill Frindall’s columns for the
Continue reading< 1 minute readWhen England took the fourth wicket of what seemed like a mesmerisingly unstrenuous dismantling of the South African batting line-up, we wondered where the real South Africa were. Mark Boucher at six? Where was the breathtaking conservatism for which South African cricket is so renowned? Think back to the glory
Continue reading< 1 minute readIt’s good if it’s your side that’s won, but if you’re impartial, it means that a Test has been one-sided. Australia’s innings victory over West Indies also raises uncomfortable and unwelcome questions about the future of the West Indies as a Test team, even if their best player, Adrian Barath,
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