< 1 minute read Paul Collingwood’s bowling was always a bit too canny to be proper dibbly dobbly medium-pace. There were too many cutters; too much innovation. You don’t get any of that crap from Jonathan Trott. England’s four bowler policy means the batsmen have to chip in with a few overs. Ravi Bopara’s
Continue reading< 1 minute read England have faced Michael Beer, Xavier Doherty and a guy who looks a bit like Harbhajan Singh in the last year. They haven’t really had to combat any spin bowlers. Saeed Ajmal is a spin bowler – he’s a good spin bowler, in fact. He’s not a 7-55 on day
Continue reading2 minute read England fans: You don’t know how lucky you are right now. This is what it was like in the Nineties… 1. English batsmen who averaged over 40 during the Nineties (The Smudge’s suggestion) This is the FULL list. Alex Tudor – 55.33 (six innings) David Gower – 53 Graham Gooch
Continue reading< 1 minute read It’s just taking a while to put together because there’s so much disappointment to wade through. Our potted history of English cricket in the Nineties should appear later today and if you’re English, it can’t help but make you appreciate how lucky you are right now. If England lose their
Continue reading2 minute read The India team as a whole has been pleading for attention for a while now. Not content with being overshadowed by Sachin Tendulkar’s apparently forever imminent 100th hundred, they’ve sought the spotlight through rank incompetence. Well, the good news is that after getting within a handful of runs of conceding
Continue reading< 1 minute read In a not-entirely-surprising move, Chris Gayle has signed to play for Somerset in next season’s Twenty20 Cup. Gayle’s ‘people’ released a statement quoting him as saying: “I’m delighted to be heading to [insert name of cricket team]. Hopefully I can make a key contribution to their T20 campaign this year.”
Continue reading< 1 minute read We’re concerned that some English people don’t fully appreciate their team’s success. Specifically, we worry that younger cricket fans don’t have perspective. We want to provide that perspective by documenting English cricket in the Nineties. Why would we do this? Well maybe if these people can appreciate how bad the
Continue reading2 minute read “Hi, I’ve only got seven quid. Could you cut 80 per cent of my hair?” Some things have to be done in full. Incompletion is unsatisfactory. As another example, if you have some sort of sports competition, it’s preferable to have everyone competing on an equal footing. If each team
Continue reading2 minute read England are overrated. We’re not saying they don’t deserve to be considered the best Test side around at the minute; we’re saying the best Test side isn’t automatically the favourite to win a given series. While England have mullered most sides in home conditions, it’s been a while since they
Continue reading< 1 minute read The fourth instalment of our episodic short story has been published over at Cricinfo and there’s still little sign of administrative fiction becoming a popular new literary genre. Part one Part two Part three Part four The final part should appear later in the week.
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