< 1 minute read Well that was – actually, what was that? It’s probably a bit early to be committing to specific words, so let’s not. England have won the Ashes. That’s a functional way of saying it. You can add your own emotions internally. England won every Test in which Ian Bell scored
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When every run matters
< 1 minute read We’ve almost certainly written about this 12 times before, but cricket is at its best when the value of a run is greatest. A drop of rain is more gratefully received in the Outback than in the Lake District. It’s hard to judge what would be a decisive lead going
Continue readingChris Rogers is pretty good at edging it
2 minute read That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but as a right-hander who bats left-handed, Rogers shouldn’t see backhand as being necessarily inferior. Edges We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a batsman miss and edge the ball quite as much as Chris Rogers did today. It was unreal. You can take it
Continue readingBatting stagnation’s not what you need
2 minute read One of our greatest attributes is being annoying. One of the ways in which we achieve this is by inserting words ending in -ation into the Record Breakers theme tune instead of ‘dedication’. You can read the title again now, if you want – although we advise against it. Jonathan
Continue readingJackson Bird is not a 1970s American rock band
< 1 minute read We’re telling ourself this as much as anyone else. It’s the first thing we think whenever we see his name. Maybe stating the thought in a post title will finally purge it, allowing us to concentrate on other things. We’re guessing that Jackson Bird is going to play the fourth
Continue readingDavid Warner’s inner chimp
2 minute read British Cycling’s psychiatrist, Steve Peters, wrote a book called The Chimp Paradox. The basic premise is that the emotional, impulsive parts of your brain can almost be considered a separate being – the inner chimp. We respond to things emotionally, but it’s often better to suppress these reactions and first
Continue readingTinkering with spaghetti
2 minute read So where does this leave us? Ashes retention is technically ticked off, but the series is not yet decided. Australia have returned to Test cricket and England have been a little bit disappointing in how they’ve responded to that. England’s bowling, Australia’s batting Young Australian batsmen like Chris Rogers and
Continue readingEthereal watercolours and skittering Mekons
< 1 minute read There was a bit more fast-medium today, or maybe we finally dropped to medium-fast. Either way, it was all a bit ethereal. There’s a point in every massive innings where everyone in the field’s just resigned themselves to things. It’s usually about 430. After that, you get a watercolour painting
Continue readingThird Test Australia team selection dissection
< 1 minute read The first morning of an Ashes Test has become a time when we all look forward to finding out who the hell Australia have picked and what sequence they’ve been arbitrarily put into. David Warner replaces Phil Hughes Nathan Lyon replaces Ashton Agar Mitchell Starc replaces James Pattinson It’s probably
Continue readingPhil Hughes’ position in the batting order
< 1 minute read Phil Hughes has been talking about how frustrating it has been to have batted at every position from one to six on this Ashes tour, seemingly oblivious to the fact that all six slots have basically meant being an opener. He also said: “I feel like I’m very comfortable at
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