< 1 minute read People thinking second division cricket is just as first-class as first division cricket have bothered us in the past, but now that this view can be exploited, we don’t care quite so much. ‘Not really caring’ is a state we can slip into pretty much at will. Rob Key‘s last
Continue readingMonth: August 2009
Headline hero of the week
< 1 minute read The BBC go with: Cool Laxman steers Lancs to win Which is fair enough. Laxman did hit 38 not out off 37 balls to get Lancashire home. However, he was dropped twice and had a relatively easy task as Tom Smith hit 43 off 28 balls. This is what happens
Continue readingJonathan Trott of Warwickshire and England
< 1 minute read England’s selectors have sprung a slight surprise in picking Warwickshire’s Jonathan Trott. We’ll say two things: Trott has scored a lorryload of runs on a pretty flat Edgbaston pitch (Jeetan Patel and Rikki Clarke have hit hundreds there this year). Test cricket is played on pretty flat pitches these days.
Continue readingPeter Siddle runs in all day
< 1 minute read This seems to be Peter Siddle’s greatest strength in the eyes of his team mates. When asked about their bowling attack, Australian players refer to Johnson’s speed, Hilfenhaus’s swing, Clark’s control and Siddle’s ability to run in all day. You don’t want bowlers to run in all day. You want
Continue readingSky’s speed guns
< 1 minute read We’d say they gave readings about 3mph more than other cricket speed guns. That’s based on years of watching Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson and pretty much knowing their bowling speeds by now. How should we react to this? We should all try and make the effort to be 3mph
Continue readingThe Edgbaston crowd
< 1 minute read Cardiff and Lord’s hosted great Test matches, but the Ashes has really got going at Edgbaston. It’s the crowd. We went on Saturday and much as we love eating sandwiches in the rain, Sunday showed what we missed. It clearly affects the players who were suddenly all very interested in
Continue readingThe Gospel According to Haydos
< 1 minute read During his appearances on Test Match Special, Matthew Hayden has rather surprisingly revealed a hitherto concealed ability to talk sense. More reassuringly, he’s also been showcasing his nonsense, which is what we’re more interested in. No-one talks meaningless bollocks quite like Matthew Hayden. Consider the following examples – all from
Continue readingPhil Hughes isn’t playing
< 1 minute read A few weeks ago, back when you couldn’t take a crap without someone knocking on the door and telling you how great he was, we said that Phil Hughes might just be a massive disappointment. Being dropped for Shane Watson is probably classed as disappointing. But don’t worry. The stumpy
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