3 minute readWhen the opposition make 550, it’s rarely because of a missed catch. It’s more a result of all the other chances that weren’t even created. At the same time, an innings of 550 will tend to feature a fair few misses, if only because it’s such a huge volume of
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3 minute readEverything’s amazing and fun and positive under the new England captain. Remember that previous guy? Man was he a miserable arsehole. Didn’t have a clue, did he? Whatever happened to him? Sometimes you accidentally reveal something about the past. We remember being on this cookery course in Thailand once with
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2 minute readStuart Broad has always been a bowler who makes the absolute least of his height. But Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum may have a plan… Height is an attribute for a quick bowler. You don’t need data analysis to deduce this – a team photo’s enough. In most international teams
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2 minute readAppealing is one of the great aspects of cricket and Stuart Broad is, in his own way, one of the all-time great appealers. At Lord’s, against New Zealand, he delivered a very fine secondary appeal. If you missed it, Colin de Grandhomme was run out by Ollie Pope at slip
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2 minute readWe don’t believe you can draw meaningful conclusions from players’ debuts – but we report on them anyway. Before this match, we wondered whether Matty Potts was unusually tall or unusually quick. Turns out he’s neither, which makes Rob Key’s comment that he saw him as a “point of difference”
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6 minute readHas any man credited with such great influence over two teams ever had less direct influence on either? Brendon McCullum undoubtedly laid foundations for the current New Zealand side. Just as Nasser Hussain added vertebrae to England between 1999 and 2003 before they delivered higher profile successes, McCullum set the
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< 1 minute readGreat news, England fans. Ollie Robinson’s come up with a far more efficient way of getting through his very many injuries and illnesses. To recap Ollie Robinson’s recent fitness record: a back spasm in Hobart; three missed Tests in the West Indies for much the same reason; a tooth infection
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< 1 minute readAs in his back – his actual back. Also Jofra Archer’s back, Saqib Mahmood’s back and Matt Fisher’s back, as well as Mark Wood’s elbow, Olly Stone’s ankle and Chris Woakes’ knee. There’s a bit in Kilimanjaro: Going for Broke when one of the four disabled climbers lists how many
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3 minute readA First Class Counties XI is playing New Zealand this week. First Class Counties XI is not a good team name. The issue here is that this is not a Lions team because the Lions team is England’s formally recognised second-string. The First Class Counties XI isn’t even third-string really.
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2 minute readIt is hard to think of a bowler better tailored to the the high workloads and nibbly conditions of the County Championship than Hampshire’s Keith Barker. Hampshire’s Mohammad Abbas maybe. We’ve reached the point in the season where we’ll drop our coverage of the County Championship like a hot Le
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