2 minute read You can ask any England fan what qualities a bowling attack needs to bowl the opposition out in Australia. We all know. You need as many as possible of the following: Extreme pace Freakishly tall bowlers Mystery spin Reverse swing How many of those can you find in the current
Continue readingMonth: December 2010
Australia’s batsmen in the 2010 Ashes
2 minute read Let us say that we don’t actually think that Australia’s batsmen are all that bad. They are good players playing badly, which is slightly different. Batsmen under pressure are exposed more than bowlers because they don’t get second chances. You do something stupid that gets you out and that’s your
Continue readingAustralia’s captain and spinners
2 minute read The more we think about it, the more these two things go hand-in-hand. The situation was this. Nathan Hauritz got the boot because he got wellied in India like just about every other spinner who ever goes over there. Demented selections ensued. Maybe Hauritz offended Ricky Ponting by suggesting that
Continue readingAustralia’s Ashes team – an English perspective on what went wrong
< 1 minute read As an Englishman in his thirties, there’s nothing we don’t know about pointing out a team’s flaws after it’s failed to win the Ashes. Might as well put our skills to more joyous use this year. Today, captaincy and spin bowling. Tomorrow, batting and pace bowling.
Continue readingEngland cricketers’ Ashes sprinkler celebration
< 1 minute read This is another good way of celebrating the retention of the Ashes. If you don’t know about ‘the sprinkler’, it’s become the England cricketers’ official dance of the tour. It’s a stupid dance and they’re all awful at it, but you can’t help but warm to them even more when
Continue readingThe only way to celebrate an Ashes win
< 1 minute read You’ve got to pull out all the stops at a time like this. So here’s a Venn diagram made by someone else: Never let it be said that we don’t make the effort. Thanks Ged.
Continue readingTim Bresnan is two players in one
< 1 minute read More specifically, Tim Bresnan, England’s fifth-choice seamer, is Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle rolled into one. Bresnan has the fitness, pace and accuracy of Siddle. He also bowls away swing with the new ball and reverse swing later on like Ben Hilfenhaus. Oh, and he can bat. Bresnan’s reputation as
Continue readingJonathan Trott – unarsed England number three
< 1 minute read Generally being unarsed about stuff is a fantastic quality for a Test batsman to have. Jonathan Trott’s got it in spades. You can have all the shots and the best hand-eye co-ordination, but if you wobble when things don’t go perfectly, you’ll never make it as a Test batsman, because
Continue readingRicky Ponting talking to the umpires
< 1 minute read Whinging Poms? Has the world ever seen a whingier cricketer than Ricky Thomas Ponting? Sport needs a bit of ‘us and them’ so that you can enjoy it properly, so it was perversely enjoyable to see Ponting spend three-quarters of an hour bending Aleem Dar’s ear. As he stamped his
Continue readingA Boxing Day Test thank you letter
< 1 minute read Dear Father Christmas, Thanks for all the presents you brought us. You really outdid yourself. We know we’ve been good this year, but some of the things you got us were just plain ridiculous. Thanks for the house. We’re not sure we need quite that many bedrooms and we really
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