< 1 minute read One of the rules of cricket coverage is that Australia, England and India have results and the other teams are merely inactive participants. In 2016, India beat New Zealand, Australia lost to Sri Lanka, and England drew with Bangladesh. Technically, this also means that New Zealand lost to India, Sri
Continue readingMonth: December 2016
David Warner’s “lean” 2016 in Test cricket
< 1 minute read Some of you may have both noticed and cared that David Warner was apparently having a relatively mediocre year before this Test. His 2016 one-day record is exceptional, but his long format returns had been little more than ‘all right’. Against Pakistan Warner edged a load and also became what
Continue readingMop-up of the last couple of days – Angelo Mathews still has work to do
< 1 minute read For a good long while you could accurately gauge Sri Lanka’s score by whether or not Angelo Mathews was walking out to bat or not. If he was, they were 22-3. If he wasn’t, it was some other score. A couple of recent batting finds had encouraged the notion that
Continue readingMay you enjoy a happy Festivus full of Pakistannery and Herath
2 minute read Our Festivus post seems to get earlier by the year. We make it that today is Boxing Day Test Eve Eve Eve and so not really in any way something worth acknowledging. However, we’ve realised that if we get the “hey, have a good ‘un” tradition out of the way
Continue readingThe two ways of looking at Alastair Cook’s captaincy
2 minute read There are two ways of looking upon the England captaincy. You can see it as an important position where the incumbent can have a major positive influence on how the side performs, or you can see it as one more thing that could go horribly wrong. Rated according to the
Continue readingVideo: Cricket, penguins and lasers – together at last
< 1 minute read Finally! It’s the video for the latest version of Dwayne Bravo’s Champion song, in which our man lists everyone and everything he’s ever encountered and brands them all champions. Toast is a champion, plate is a champion, floor is a champion, wall is a champion… If you don’t immediately comprehend
Continue readingVirat Kohli had power tools while Alastair Cook only had rusty manual hand-me-downs
2 minute read England haven’t stagnated. They’re just worse at bowling and facing spin than India. And playing Test cricket in India involves bowling and facing an awful lot of spin. So rather than howling about normality, now might instead be the perfect time to revisit the monumental achievement that was England’s 2012
Continue readingZombies, ghosts and theodolites
1 minute read A pitch’s flatness extends beyond its physical characteristics. No matter what its actual nature, the fielding side is going to struggle to accept that there’s anything there to be exploited when it’s 600-5 and this mentality only smooths the surface further. By 700-6, a captain will be yearning for a
Continue readingSpin bowling is all in the pelvis
< 1 minute read Apparently. A forthcoming study on the biomechanics of elite finger spin bowling has found “very strong positive relationships between the orientation of the bowler’s pelvis and the rate at which the ball spins during flight.” The boffins (for that is what you are obliged to call academics when writing about
Continue readingJoe Root still struggling to get out in single figures
< 1 minute read When Joe Root made 254 against Pakistan earlier this year, there was much talk of how he’d cracked it; how he’d responded to the move to number three by adopting a newfound merciless approach. The responsibility of batting at three had firmed Root’s desire to eradicate errors and from now
Continue reading