6 minute read The most powerful ‘no’ in film is the one in Rise of the Planet of the Apes when Caesar reveals that he is far more than a “damn dirty ape”. It happens a surprisingly long way into the film, which allows for quite a lot of emotional build-up. It’s well-timed
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2 minute read Dom Sibley’s first-class bowling average is 67.75. The remarkable thing about this is that it means he has taken a wicket – four of them, to be precise. On the fifth day of an intolerably moist match against Pakistan, Dom Sibley had his first bowl in Test cricket. He bowled
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5 minute read If England’s 2020 Test summer is remembered for anything, it will not be for the return of BBC highlights, Ben Stokes doing absolutely everything against the West Indies or the bizarre sights and sounds of matches played without crowds. No, if England’s 2020 Test summer is remembered for anything it
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3 minute read The notion of being a natural at something is a wonderful and seductive and funny and misleading thing. Let’s say that you wanted to start playing an instrument again. You used to play the flute when you were at school but then subsequently neglected it and you haven’t picked the
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3 minute read You might be expecting some sort of pithy takedown of Colin Graves’ tenure as ECB chairman here. Don’t get your hopes up. Our headline is brutally literal. We just watched Graves defending The Hundred and other things on Sky Sports and it struck us that his hand gestures were feeble.
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2 minute read It’s probably social media that’s sapped our taste for talent-spotting. The online world is awash with people predicting great things for players. They’re usually wrong but we know as well as anyone that it’s a numbers game: predict great things for absolutely everyone and then flag up only your ‘hits’
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2 minute read “Sir Ian Botham is arguably one of the greatest cricketers that England has ever produced. Known as an all-rounder of the sport, his bowling skills were as feared by opponents as his batting triumphs were rejoiced by his team-mates and country. “For the last 40 years, Sir Ian has been
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2 minute read There’s a phenomenon this summer where bad weather is tailing the England cricket team as it bounces between Manchester and Southampton. We are near the former and whenever there hasn’t been cricket, the harsh Mancunian sun has been baking the turf to concrete. We are currently experiencing – and really,
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2 minute read Chris Woakes swings the ball less than Jimmy Anderson and seams it less than Stuart Broad. As an all-rounder, he isn’t as striking or dynamic as Ben Stokes. He’s still good though, isn’t he? For several years, England figured that even if there wasn’t an exact Chris-Woakes-shaped hole in their
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3 minute read “I’m putting a team together for a job.” “You son of a bitch. I’m in.” In heist movies, whenever they put a team together, everyone’s always the best of the best; the best there’s ever been. You never make do with members of your heist team. You never settle. You
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