2 minute read We’ve written about Ian Botham’s record as England captain before and we’ve now reached his final Test in charge in our podcast looking back on the most ridiculous moments of the 1981 Ashes. Beefy’s resignation/sacking wasn’t the only significant event in that match though. We feel we must draw your
Continue readingMonth: November 2023
No offence to Tilak Varma or Nathan Ellis but these India v Australia T20s are probably even less of a big deal than the last “irrelevant” post World Cup series
3 minute read Where were you when Ruturaj Gaikwad was run out by Nathan Ellis? You almost certainly have no idea because you almost certainly weren’t paying attention and quite possibly don’t even realise that it happened in an India v Australia match. International cricket teams aren’t guitars: in an ideal world you’d
Continue readingThe 1981 Ridiculous Ashes
2 minute read After losing out to the BBC and The Independent after being shortlisted in two categories of the Sports Podcast Awards earlier this year, ourself and Dan Liebke have dusted ourselves down and climbed back on our (pantomime) horse for another series of the Ridiculous Ashes. This time around we’ve gone
Continue reading10 staggeringly indecent highlights and lowlights from the 2023 World Cup – featuring Rohit Sharma, Glenn Maxwell, Ravi Shastri + more
5 minute read There’s been a World Cup. Some things happened in it. Here are a few that we found ourselves thinking about a fair bit for one reason or another. We’ve labelled this selection ‘indecent’ as a sort of broad, catch-all term that can be interpreted either positively or negatively. It’s essentially
Continue readingWhen Glenn Maxwell went largely unseen and the Narendra Modi Stadium went anticlimactically unheard – the surprisingly good World Cup final that no-one asked for
4 minute read If you’d asked anyone, at any point in the last year, how this ever-so-predictable World Cup would climax, they’d have all given exactly the same answer. It was always going to end with Welcome to the Jungle blaring out over the PA as Marnus Labuschagne punched the air with 58
Continue readingDid you see… Steve Smith’s skyer?
2 minute read Commentators often say that a ball has gone “straight up” but few have gone up quite so straight as the one that resulted in Steve Smith’s dismissal against South Africa in today’s World Cup semi-final. It is astonishingly hard to propel a ball straight up. Hit a ball any serious
Continue readingDid you see… Mohammed Shami refusing to cede a wicket to Jasprit Bumrah?
< 1 minute read Today Mohammed Shami’s insatiable thirst for World Cup wickets spilled over into his fielding when he utterly failed to secure an easy wicket from a delivery bowled by someone else. What happened was: Jasprit Bumrah bowled, Kane Williamson hit it straight to Shami, and Shami for some reason went all
Continue readingHave Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid got things running too smoothly? India haven’t had to win a game yet
3 minute read On Wednesday – near enough six weeks after the World Cup began – India play their first game that they actually have to win. The form guide suggests New Zealand will be swept away, but the form guide hasn’t been measuring must-win games. The truism here is that Indian players
Continue readingFrom Moeen Ali to Mark Wood, England are about to have a proper clear-out – will any of this World Cup squad still be around in four years’ time (or even next week)?
3 minute read It’s the nature of modern cricket that international cricketers don’t so much retire as go part-time. But while a good few members of this England World Cup squad will also be part of the England T20 World Cup next year, when it comes to one-day internationals (ODIs), this is pretty
Continue readingDavid Willey: six and out from a selfless, dutiful player who England always seemed to take for granted
2 minute read David Willey had two balls to face today and he tried to make full use of both of them. It was typically selfless stuff from a committed player who rarely seems to have got much love or respect from England, even when he’s been one of their top performers. Willey
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