Posted by The modern world is in thrall to the list. Everything has to be ranked. Everyone has this urge to say who’s better than whom, which innings was better than which, and which bowling performance was the greatest of all time.
They even abbreviate ‘greatest of all time’ to GOAT these days. You’d think the greatest in history wouldn’t change so often, but apparently the term’s used so frequently that no-one has the time to write it out in full any more.
Well we’re getting in on the action. Here’s our list of the top ten single figure scores in the first division of the County Championship so far this season.
- Jake Ball, Nottinghamshire – 9 not out
- Neil Wagner, Lancashire – 1
- Ben Stokes, Durham – 9
- Michael Richardson, Durham – 9
- Haseeb Hameed, Lancashire – 9
- Greg Smith, Nottinghamshire – 9
- Arun Harinath, Surrey – 9
- Steven Davies, Surrey – 8
- Tom Curran, Surrey – 8
- Karl Brown, Lancashire – 8
That Wagner knock in particular was all class.
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Why do the Tom Curran and Steven Davies scores of 8 rank above James Harris’s same score?
Tom Curran’s was very ordinary, if my reading of the scorecard is anything to go by. Steven Davies’s score of 8 only had two scoring shots in it.
Whereas I heard James Harris’s on the internet radio and it sounded like a fabulous 8. Perhaps even a GOAT 8.
This is the joy of lists. People can dispute them.
[Watches the web traffic roll in]
[And out again]
I would have got here earlier to comment, only I was stuck in all that web traffic.
We really need to get more people onto e-bikes to reduce congestion.
What’s wrong with e-shanks’s pony for goodness sake.
Would you please produce a piece entitled “The Five Best Ways To Dodge The Web Traffic” (or similar) KC? I’d write it myself but I’m kinda busy.
(1) Come here some time after the site’s 2009 heyday
Actually, April 2011 was our biggest month. This was back in the days when we used to cover all the important IPL stories.
Like this one.
That page alone got thousands of hits.
Thousands.
You can heyday again, KC, if you peruse and then faithfully follow the advice in Ged Ladd’s seminal piece:
“The Five GOAT Ways To Drive Web Traffic Towards Your Site”
Naturally, due to the enormous commercial value of such advice, you need to pay a modest fee for that article. Simply send a cheque or money order for £5,000 to Ged Ladd & Co Limited and within 24 hours of your cheque clearing you will receive the advice that will finally help YOU make the fortune that YOU deserve. DO IT TODAY.
Which one will shock me, though, oh King? Indeed, which one were you not expecting? And in fact, which one is guaranteed to blow my (your, everyone’s) mind?
I must be honest, oh King, I’m not convinced by this feature. There’s too little in the title, and not enough barely-related .gifs. I don’t really think this site has what it takes to be clickbait material. Sorry.
What if we’d called it “Experts HATE this free lifehack that gives you the top ten single figure innings scores in the first division of the County Championship so far this season”.
And then we’d include a picture of a woman in a bikini for no clear reason.
You’ve clearly been working on your clickbait title skillset well in the nets. As a unit.
I made sure I read it before they banned it!
Here’s a barely-related .gif for you, Balladeer.
Between Ged’s titles, KC’s lists, and Webster’s .gifs, you won’t BELIEVE what this website is capable of.
This is arguably a better one. I’ve got literally SOME more where that came from.
“Top ten single figure scores in the County Championship in 2016”
Oooh, sounds good.
“…in the first division”
Pfft.
Indeed – I was sure that Sean Dickson’s two-ball duck, out handled the ball, would feature but pahhh.
“Kent batsman Sean Dickson wrote himself into first-class cricket history on Sunday after becoming the 62nd player to be dismissed ‘handled the ball’.
Dickson, playing in just his 14th first-class game, was sent on his way after swatting away Leicestershire seamer Ben Raine’s delivery, which was rolling back towards his stumps having jumped over his foot.
While permitted to kick the ball away or even hit the ball away with his bat, Dickson’s instincts saw him reach down and swipe it away, breaking Law 33.”
Questions remain, however. Did he swipe or swat? Can one truly swat something which is rolling, as the article states? Is it really instinctive to bend over and use one’s hand to do this when one’s foot is surely a quickly and easier option? Picture a coin rolling across the floor. A pound coin if you like, to make this a more meaningful analogy for you rich southerners. What would be your initial reaction to stop the progress of said sterling monetary unit?
Also, what snakes in the pitch caused a rolling ball to jump over his foot? No wonder batting at Grace Road has been so difficult in recent years.
If it’s ‘handled the ball’ verbs you’re interested in, you might like to sign up for our weekly Cricket Badger email if you haven’t done so already.
http://www.sportsbadger.com/
“Come here some time after the site’s 2009 heyday”
I first came here in late 2009, coinciding with the site’s decline, it would seem. But post hoc ergo propter hoc, or rather, not that. Correlation does not imply causality.
Besides, there’s no reason why shifting the emphasis from fun about cricket to crosswords about cricket should have a negative effect. All the bright young things love a cricket-themed cryptic crossword. If anything, I would have thought the site enjoyed a more fashionable profile than back then.
As a Jonny-come-lately King Cricketeer I come here mainly for the ‘bants’ they have now and the dissing of higher-profile rivals such as Cricinfo.
Surely this site’s best days are still to come, while we are all around.
Form is temporary, class is permanent.