< 1 minute read But there’s a fair distance between ‘bad’ and ‘good’. Even further between ‘bad’ and ‘the best’. England are in that grey netherland now and no-one really cares about shades of grey when you’ve arrived there from somewhere altogether brighter. England’s batting was a lighter shade of grey in the second
Continue readingMonth: March 2012
Lahiru Thirimanne makes himself big
2 minute read Brace yourself, we’re going to mention football. One thing we learned from our years watching that soap opera-cum-sport is that a goalie should ‘make himself big’ when a forward is bearing down on him. The purpose of this is not, as you might think, to ward off predators. It is
Continue readingAndrew Strauss – Test specialist
< 1 minute read Say what you like about the cheap, oversized banquet that is one-day international cricket – at least it gives batsmen a bit of practice for the matches we give a toss about. When Andrew Strauss played one-day cricket, he scored more Test runs. He’s averaged 25.50 since he decided he
Continue readingEngland’s batsmen give the bowlers a rest
< 1 minute read Ian Bell was the only batsman not to be toss today. He said: “We all know we have to get better at playing in the subcontinent. It’s a long-term goal and it isn’t going to just happen overnight.” This is a shame, because England will almost certainly be batting again
Continue readingJames Anderson’s 30 this year
< 1 minute read This might not seem all that significant. After all, not a year – not one single year – goes by without some international cricketer or other turning 30. This is different though. James Anderson was one of those players who loomed into view early in life and we still think
Continue readingPlaying the long game in Sri Lanka
< 1 minute read Samit Patel’s cricket statistics are being weighed against his vital statistics even more frequently of late. Is he fit enough for five-day cricket? It’s an interesting question, but we’re actually more interested in how the other England players cope. Even if Patel plays, we can’t see a debutant playing the
Continue readingWhy Bangladesh will DEFINITELY win the Asia Cup
2 minute read Okay, we’ve had a slight about-turn. We’ve decided that Bangladesh aren’t certain to lose the Asia Cup final to Pakistan. We’ve decided they’re definitely going to win instead. This sudden heartfelt belief has come about because we spent four minutes thinking about Shakib Al Hasan yesterday and we remembered how
Continue readingBangladesh to lose Asia Cup final to Pakistan
< 1 minute read In our book, that’s progress. Sri Lanka are knackered, India are emotionally spent and these days Bangladesh can take advantage of that to get themselves into a position to lose to Pakistan. It’s not full-on, double-shifts-at-the-bunting-factory glory, but it’s not bad. Life’s all about taking pride in minuscule progress anyway,
Continue readingVirat Kohli likes a run chase
< 1 minute read If Virati Kohli ‘batted out of his skins’ against Sri Lanka last month, he can only have batted out of his flesh against Pakistan yesterday, hitting 183 off 148 balls as India chased down 330. There can only be skellington left. But set Kohli another steep run-chase and you wouldn’t
Continue readingTendulkar hits his hundredth hundred and proves nothing to us
2 minute read These sorts of landmarks are like birthdays. They get a lot of attention, but they don’t change much. People whinge about how they’re getting older when it’s their birthday, but the truth is that every day of your life you’re a day older than the day before and your birthday’s
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