2 minute read Everyone has a favourite batter. Everyone has a favourite fast bowler. Everyone also has a favourite fast-medium short ball workhorse bowler… and it’s always Neil Wagner, because no-one else in the history of cricket has ever made that work. Unique cricketers usually stand out for very obviously freakish physical reasons.
Continue readingCategory: New Zealand
By the largest of margins – but Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra should be pacing themselves like, ooh, let’s say Dawid Malan
2 minute read 2023 Cricket World Cup, Game 1, England v New Zealand There’s not much sign that New Zealand have many batters in form, while two of the three we’ve seen are clearly peaking too soon. England, in contrast, are pacing their ascent to top form beautifully. Starting here at ‘dogshit’, they
Continue readingDid you see… Glenn Phillips catch Moeen Ali?
2 minute read We’re in the era of the boundary juggler. It was therefore quite refreshing to deploy an ‘oh wow’ for a good old diving catch yesterday, as Glenn Phillips briefly turned into a glider to dispatch Moeen Ali. England levelled the one-day series against New Zealand yesterday and in so doing
Continue readingThat game when Kane Williamson’s most exciting contribution was a bye
2 minute read Cricket is a mad and contrary sport. In a Test where he masterminded a successful fourth-innings run-chase with 121 not out, Kane Williamson’s most exciting contribution was to completely bloody miss the ball and run a bye. For those that don’t know, Williamson faced the scheduled final ball of the
Continue readingJimmy Anderson, majestic island of chuntering irritation and sadness
3 minute read Jimmy Anderson has played 179 Test matches and he was completely pissed off to lose this one by a single run. Jimmy Anderson is a quite majestically irritable cricketer. The penultimate ball of the second Test between New Zealand and England could, and probably technically should, have been called a
Continue readingAgainst all odds Jonny Bairstow might have to make a different spot his own
3 minute read We once joked that England’s plan for Jonny Bairstow was to keep him guessing. It always seemed like the aim was to treat him as inconsistently as possible to keep him on his toes. After scoring four hundreds and a fifty in five innings last summer, it seemed safe to
Continue readingPeak Nighthawk? Let’s not be too hasty
2 minute read With 15 minutes to go on day two, Stuart Broad walked out to bat at number four as England’s “Nighthawk”. Second ball he skied a hook that fell to earth after bowler and keeper left it for each other. It is hard to envisage a more Broad passage of play.
Continue readingHow do you stop Harry Brook? We’ll tell you how
< 1 minute read There was a moment during the first Test against New Zealand when England’s number five, Harry Brook, boasted a Test average and strike-rate that were both 94. Either of those would be ridiculous. Both is preposterous. Then he got out. How did Harry Brook get out? We could have told
Continue readingScott Kuggeleijn over Trent Boult? Really?
3 minute read When the weather allows New Zealand to get onto the field for the first Test against England, their attack will be without Kyle Jamieson (stress fracture) and Matt Henry (looming child). It will also be without Trent Boult because apparently no one has really decided on a selection policy for
Continue readingAshwin, Warner and run-rates – a recap of the 2022 Boxing Day Tests
2 minute read We previewed the Boxing Day Tests. We may as well take a look at what happened in them. Australia v South Africa Signs of an upturn for South Africa, who finally passed 200 for the first time in many attempts. Their second innings 204 all out was enough to secure
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