2 minute read Boundaries are smaller, the white ball does sod all, fielding restrictions are imposed. There are all sorts of reasons why one-day cricket is different from Tests, but all are of secondary importance to the simple fact that it is. England’s quadruple nelson was built around a record hundred for Alex
Continue readingMonth: August 2016
A quite possibly harrowing development involving a car number plate
< 1 minute read Bert writes: It’s been months now since The Revered One departed this plane of existence and ascended to the Sky (Sports studio). Such elevation cannot but affect a man, but I must say I had thought that Robert the Great would be immune, that he would be able to maintain
Continue readingWhat Jason Gillespie taught us as Yorkshire coach
< 1 minute read Jason Gillespie’s leaving Yorkshire at the end of the season. Disappointingly, he never picked up the accent. We always thought that Gillespie would make a terrible coach on the grounds that he did a really bad job of explaining his nickname in a TV interview in about 2003. He has
Continue readingA new low for cricket – a new low for the world
< 1 minute read This represents so much of what’s wrong with the world. England organise a penalty shoot out before a nets session #eng #EngvsPak ???? @jwsportsphoto – https://t.co/q9QOEDst5Y pic.twitter.com/Ojdiv2HJUE — PA Images (@PAImages) August 26, 2016 You can’t even see the full horror from that. We saw it because it had been
Continue readingWarwickshire v Middlesex match report
< 1 minute read You may or may not know that the one quality we always look for in a piece of writing is brevity. If you have submitted a match report and seen it hacked to a skeleton, you will know this. Ged has submitted countless match reports. We semi-regularly tell him to
Continue readingThe ins, outs and merits of England’s one-day plan
2 minute read It’s not an elaborate plan. It’s not particularly intricate. It is however consistent and that is perhaps of greater importance than anything else. Previously, England seemed to pick 11 players before deciding how to play based on what they ended up with. This led to an ever-changing formula from which
Continue readingTypical Pakistan: magnificent one day, diabolical the next (according to the format)
< 1 minute read Pakistan have actually achieved an even more impressive feat than becoming the top-ranked Test side. It takes a particular kind of artistry to become the top-ranked Test side while also maintaining ninth position in the one-day rankings. Hats off. So what’s the difference? An obvious answer would be ‘Misbah-ul-Haq and
Continue readingPakistan are slightly number one
< 1 minute read If there is one great benefit to the ongoing turmoil at the top of the ICC’s Test rankings, it is that it is slowly starting to dawn on people that rankings are relative. Top can mean ‘out on your own, everyone else trailing in your wake’ or it can mean
Continue readingWhat are they feeding them in Northamptonshire?
< 1 minute read It must be very calorifically dense. Earlier in the year, we pointed out that Rory Kleinveldt’s nickname could never be Kleinsvelte, but the South African doesn’t appear to be an outlier. He plays in a muscular-yet-flabby team that appears to be getting most its protein from pork belly and fried
Continue readingI Don’t Like Cricket, I Hate It
2 minute read Welcome to ‘I Don’t Like Cricket, I Hate It,’ our innovative new feature in which we ask someone who hates cricket about cricket. How do you feel about becoming King Cricket’s largely uninformed cricket correspondent? Don’t care. I only did it because you said I definitely wouldn’t. Now I’m a
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